CHAPTER VII

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THE JEWS.

For those the race of Israel oft forsook Their living strength, and unfrequented left His righteous altar, bowing lowly down To bestial gods; for which their heads as low Bowed down in battle, sunk before the spear Of despicable foes, with these in troop Came Astoreth, whom the Phœnicians call’d Astrate, queen of Heav’n, with crescent horns; To whose bright image nightly by the moon Sidonian virgins paid their vows and songs; In Sion also not unsung.--MILTON.

The Bible utterly condemns all idol-worship. The people of Israel from their neighbors were constantly learning of idols and were frequently led away from the worship of Jehovah to that of false gods. It will be profitable for us just here to turn aside and consider these gods. The people of Israel were descended from an idolatrous race. Joshua wrote (Chap. xxiv., 2), “Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood” (that is, the River Euphrates,) “and they served other gods.” Rachel, when she left her father’s home with Jacob, stole her father’s “teraphim.” These were images connected with magical rites and they were consulted as oracles in later days. Laban says: “I have augured, or foretold by observing signs.” The teraphim were used in Israel even in Ezekiel’s time. Laban calls his teraphim his _gods_. They were generally images with a man’s head and with bodies of various shapes, though they were quite small, being often only about two or three inches high.

THE PLAGUES AND EGYPTIAN IDOLATRY.

The people of Israel strangely sought to blend the worship of the true God and of idols, they “feared Jehovah and served strange gods.” They worshiped in turn very nearly all the gods of the Canaanites, Syrians, Assyrians and many of those of the Egyptians. They were accustomed to wear amulets and charms, which were supposed to place them under the protection of the idol gods. (See Genesis xxxv., 4.) In Egypt the people of Israel were more thoroughly tainted with false gods, and it was a long while before they were cleansed of the taint. To the gods of Egypt Moses flung down the gauntlet of defiance. He dared their wrath and defied their anger. In the punishments which God sent upon Pharaoh and his people for their refusal to let the children of Israel go, the plagues of Egypt, as we call them, smote their most sacred symbols. At the command of Moses, Aaron waved his rod over the Nile and its waters were turned to blood and its fishes died. The Nile was an object of worship to the Egyptians, as were the crocodiles and some of the fish living in its waters. The frogs, in the next plague, were among the sacred animals. It was a part of the Egyptian religion that the people and especially the priests, should keep themselves scrupulously clean, and the plague of the lice was a terrible punishment. The great Egyptian beetle, the scarabæus, was sculptured on all their monuments and was an object of worship. The plague of flies or beetles was another attack upon their religion. Selected animals among the cattle were worshiped. The murrain of beasts fell upon them, their being gods as the Egyptians believed them to be, could not avert the plague. The plague of boils and blains was another assault upon the purity of their persons required by their religion. The other plagues showed most effectually the utter inability of the Egyptian gods to help their worshipers, and that Jehovah, the God of Israel, was the one Supreme Being.

[Illustration: SCULPTURED LOCUST.]

THE GOLDEN CALF.

With the remembrance of God’s victory over the idol-worship of Egypt still fresh in their minds, the Israelites soon fell into idolatrous ways. Their leader, Moses, was absent in the mountain with God. He had gone thither to receive the commands of God, the first of which was an unqualified condemnation of all idolatry. As if to show the necessity of this command, even while Moses was so engaged, the people were demanding of Aaron that he should make them an idol. The commandments were given to warn Israel against sin. They were as a fence to keep them from falling into the mouth of hell. The Israelites recalled the visible objects of worship to which they had been accustomed in Egypt, and besought Aaron to make them gods. Weakly yielding to their urgent request, Aaron asks for their golden ear-rings, hoping, it may be, that they would not be willing to make this sacrifice. With the gold thus furnished he cast a “molten calf,” the image of the Babylonish winged bull Cherub. This he placed before the Israelites as the image of the God who had led them out of Egypt. He then built an altar before the idol. In the name of Jehovah, he proclaimed a festival. God is for this cause exceedingly angry, but in answer to Moses’ prayer He finally spares the people.

As Moses comes nearer to the camp of Israel, he hears the sound of their revelry, and when his eyes behold the disgraceful scenes attending the worship of the golden calf, in his anger he throws the stone tablets containing the commandments to the ground. He then causes the image to be ground into powder and strewn upon the water which the people must needs drink. Then came the awful slaughter of those who were not loyal to Jehovah. Just how far Israel had looked upon the golden calf as a mere symbol of Jehovah, it is impossible to say, but God condemns even the use of a symbol, though it may be truly said that the symbol is not itself worshiped.

[Illustration: GODDESS ASHTORETH, ISHTAR.]

During the rest of their wandering in the desert, the people did not again commit the sin of idolatry. The terrible punishments which had fallen upon them were quite sufficient to deter them from it.

Into the fearfully wicked worship of Baal-Peor, the Israelites were led by the daughters of Moab. God sent upon them an awful punishment for this sin also. During the lives of Joshua and the elders they remained true to their allegiance to Jehovah, but the following generation remembered not the awful penalties God visited on idolatry, and they were caught in the snare again.

BAAL-WORSHIP.

Baal was the supreme male divinity of the Phœnician and Canaanitish nations. Ashtoreth was their female divinity. The name Baal means lord. He was the sun-god. The name is generally used in connection with other names, as Baal-Gad, that is Baal the Fortune-bringer; Baal-Berith or Covenant-making Baal; Baal-Zebub, the Fly-god. The people of Israel worshiped Baal up to the time of Samuel, at whose rebuke they forsook this iniquity for nearly a hundred years. The practice was introduced again in the time of Solomon, and it continued to the days of the captivity.

[Illustration: PHŒNICIAN GODDESS ASTARTE.]

During the life of all the judges, Israel worshiped Baal. As soon as Gideon was dead, the Israelites, who had during his lifetime been less devout in this direction, returned to it again with energy. As if in mockery of the covenant made with Jehovah, they chose to worship Baal-Berith, “Baal of the Covenant.” We are told that this Baal’s temple was a fortress, and that his treasury was filled with the silver brought in great abundance by his worshipers. Before the story of Samson is told the striking words are used, “the children of Israel did evil again in the eyes of Jehovah, and Jehovah gave them again into the hands of the Philistines.” _Idolatry was their national sin._ From Judges xvii. and xviii., we see that often the Israelites tried to carry on both the worship of Jehovah and of idols, like the Saxon king who is said to have had both an altar to Christ and an altar to the devils in his chapel-cave. Strange to say, Moses’ own son, Jonathan, was the priest in the idol-temple of the gods of the tribe of Dan. These idols were destroyed by the Philistines. It was the custom of heathen nations to carry their idols before them into battle. Idolatry was not due to popularity alone, it was not followed merely as a fashion, for it was often carried on secretly. (Isaiah lvii., 8, and Hosea ix., 1, 2.)

[Illustration: THE AMMONITE FIRE-GOD MOLOCH.]

Under Samuel idolatry was formally renounced by the Israelites. But Solomon’s foreign wives brought with them the gods of their own nations. So the gods of Ammon, Moab and Sidon were openly worshiped; three of the summits of Olivet were covered with the altars of Ashtoreth, Chemosh and Moloch, the fire-god. The offering of human sacrifice was a part of the worship of Moloch. The ceremony is supposed to have been as follows: The priest stood on a platform in front of the idol, and while the people bowed down and murmured their prayers, he placed in the hands of the idol the sacrifice, frequently a little babe. By some cruel machinery the idol’s hands came together crushing the child, while the musicians beat their drums to drown its cries.

Rehoboam and Jeroboam both led Israel more deeply into idolatry. Jeroboam erected golden calves, the statues of the Egyptian god Apis, at Bethel and at Dan. To their use temples were devoted and services, copied probably from the Mosaic ritual, were held. Incense and sacrifice was offered before them. Asa, and Jehosophat after him, removed all the relics of idolatry.

With Ahab’s coming to the throne, Baal’s worship was re-established. This was done at the request of Jezebel, the Sidonian princess. Ahab did “more to provoke Jehovah, God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel before him.” From this time Baal-worship is interwoven with all the life of Israel. The idolatrous priests became more and more numerous and important, being patronized by the court and fed at the royal table. Finally came the grand trial scene. As in Egypt long before, God was once more about to vindicate His supremacy. On Mount Carmel the trial took place.

“By scores, by hundreds, chanting to their god, Clad in white stoles with frontlets of red gold, Baal’s prophets marched. The crowd through all its myriad ranks was still, With wide, expectant eyes the king in front. Forth stepped Elijah; melancholy fire Burned in his swarthy-glowing eye; he looked In angry love, impatient, scornful grief, Wonder and pity, on the multitude. ‘How long,’ he cried, with voice like autumn blast, ‘How long, O Israel, halt ye between two? If Jah be God, then serve ye Him: if Baal, Then Baal.’ The great crowd stretched to him, and rocked In mighty agitation to and fro. The gray crags caught his words, and echoed them To Carmel’s crest; it threw them to the peak, Snow-crowned, of Lebanon, which tossed them far Along the surges of the boundless sea. He spake again: ‘The God that answereth By fire, let Him be God.’ As when a wave, That rears itself, a wall of polished glass, For leagues along the shore, and hangs in air, Falls with one deafening crash, so rose the shout Of answering acclamation from the crowd. White-faced, with restless lips and anxious eyes, Baal’s prophets heard, their hundreds cowed and mute Before one man. They dared not, in mere shame, Decline the challenge. While the dusky gray Of earliest dawn was fluttering into blue They built their altar; and when first the sun Showed his clear forehead on the mountain-tops Their chanted prayer to the appearing Baal Rose loud and shrill, that he would stretch his hand With burning torch to light the sacrifice And prove himself a god. The sun rose calm, Springing as if in joy from earth’s low hills, Upon the vaulted radiance of the sky, All unregarding these his worshipers. The hymns’ last echoes died away; the sun Burned with fierce heat, swift striding up the blue. Standing on that scorched hill, we felt his rays Prick like sharp spear-points. Then I heard again Elijah’s voice. I had been watching close Baal’s prophets, but I now looked straight at him. A fearful gleam was in his eye, a mirth Too stern, methought, for man of woman born; His glance was vexing those robed prophets more Than the sun’s fire; and then be gave it words. ‘Might he not spare one little spark, but one, Your fine god riding there,’ he cried, ‘to light Your sacrifice? He surely has enough; He’s burning you, if not your offering. Poor souls, I pity you!’ They screamed for rage. ‘A little louder,’ smiled he, ‘for perhaps In his warm chariot he has fallen asleep.’ They leaped, they danced, they cut themselves with knives, Till the blood soaked their robes and poured in streams From their lanced foreheads. Then he laughed aloud Great shouts of laughter, till the echoes rang From crag to crag on Carmel. ‘Keep it up, Another dance!’ he shrieked; ‘another song! Leap rather higher; never grudge some drops Of your dear blood, so precious in his sight. Ye know he is a god, my reverend friends; How often have ye told the people so? Your pretty speeches and the miracles Which ye have shown them, these were not, of course, Mere lies accursed. He is a god, you know. Louder, I say; he’s old, perhaps, and deaf; Out with your beards--that’s hopeful--crack your throats In yelling chorus. Good, good--ha, ha, ha!’ He rubbed his hands, waved wildly in the air His sheep-skin mantle, laughed until the tears Streamed down his face, and all his body shook With paroxysms of mirth and scorn. Ah me! That laughter sounded fearfully, and seemed Not human in its fiery ruthlessness. But as he stood on Carmel, charred and gray, A dead land lay below, his native land; And the white corpse-eyes made appeal to him Against its murderers, murderers of the truth, Baal’s lying prophets. Furthermore, I think That this Elijah is not to be judged Like common men. The little rippling lake, Safe hid among the hills, can never know The ocean’s tempests.--So they writhed and tore, In ecstasies of grief and rage. At last They hung their heads in mute despair, and looked Upon the ground. Elijah stood erect, Terrible earnestness and majesty Now sitting on his brow. Twelve stones he took-- Mark, twelve; this challenge in the full name Of Israel as it stooped to David’s hand, And with one mighty throb the multitude Approved Elijah’s purpose;--twelve smooth stones From Carmel’s side, and with them he repaired Jehovah’s altar. Then, at his command, We filled the trench with water, till it ran Around the altar like a surging stream, And washed the stones, and soaked the wood beneath The sacrifice. He knelt upon the ridge, Against the golden, placid sky of eve; Brief, simple, clear, his words arose to heaven; ‘That God would testify unto Himself And to His prophet, and would turn the hearts Of His own people back to Him again.’ Scarce had he spoken, when a broad white glare, Scattering earth’s light like darkness in its path, Keener than lightning, calmer than the dawn, The sword of God that proveth Him by fire, That proveth Him by fire in every age, Stooped from above and touched the sacrifice. In the white blaze the sun grew wan, and hung Like a pale moon upon the glimmering sky. The fierce flame licked the water up, the wood Crackled aloft, the very altar stones Glowed fiery red. The pillared smoke arose Through the hushed air in towering flawlessness, Then spread out calm and broad, like God’s own face Breathing acceptance. But Baal’s prophets shook In utter fear, and smote upon their breasts, And groveled, moaning, down into the dust. Clear broke the shout from that great multitude, ‘Jah is the God! Jehovah He is God! ‘Take them,’ Elijah said; ‘let none escape.’ We closed around Baal’s prophets, thrust them down To where the thirsty Kishon slowly crawled. There made Elijah bare his arm, and score By score he slew them. From the heap of dead Oozed a broad rill of blood, that swelled the wave Of slumbrous Kishon.”

[Illustration: JEHOVAH’S TRIUMPH OVER BAAL.]

This was a severe blow to this form of idolatry in Israel for the time being. But in Judah, Baal continued to be worshiped. Baal and other gods were worshiped at their own shrines. Ahaz built altars to them at every corner of Jerusalem, and high-places in every city of Judah, replacing the brazen altar of burnt-offering by one made after the idol altar at Damascus.

The time for the final act in the drama of abominations is at hand. The last scene opens with the captivity at Babylon. One would expect that this terrible punishment would immediately cause Israel to turn to the true God, but it did not. In the land of their captivity they took to them foreign wives and with them their idols. But there were, through all the history of the Jews, a faithful few who adhered to the pure worship of one God. Even at the time when Baal-worship was most prevalent there were 7,000 in Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal (1st Kings, xxix., 18). Excepting these few, the chosen people were almost as much given to idolatry as any nation around them. “Israel for many days had no true God, and no teaching priest, and no law” (2d Chronicles, xv., 3).

Foreign wives, foreign allies, and the unnatural tendency to desire visible objects of worship caused this prevalence of idolatry in the very nation to which God made especial revelations of His character and purposes. In spite of God’s promises and threats, commands and entreaties, punishments and pardon, Israel still sinned.

The false gods mentioned in the New Testament and some of those referred to in the Old Testament, will be spoken of further on in describing the religions to which they severally belonged.

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