The original idea might have been that the waters, the stones, and the trees themselves were divinities. In Jud. 5: 21, we have the statement: “The river Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon.” Now Kais was the name of an Arabian god in Pre-Islamic time. In Num. 5: 17 seq., an accused woman is tested by a sacred water. In Deut. 32: 4, “He is the rock,” “rock” is as much a term for God as El, or elohim; cf. verses 15, 18, 30, 31; II Sam. 23: 3. In Ps. 18: 2, the word rock is used of God, “the Lord is my rock.” Jacob took the stone which he had put under his head as a pillow, and raised it up as a pillar, poured oil upon it and called it the “house of God,” Gen. 28: 18, 19, 22. “The sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees” (II Sam. 5: 24), for which David was to wait, was nothing less than the divine voice speaking to David in accordance with ancient conceptions. [126] Layard: _Nineveh and Its Remains_, vol. I, p. 280. [127] Dancing might have been also a religious ceremony in the Pre-Kanaanitic religion of Israel. [128] The people in the East are under the impression that the Yezidis violate the law of morality during their festivals. According to Hurgronje (vol. 2, pp. 61-64), immorality is practised also in the sacred mosque of Mecca. This practice may be a survival of the institution of Kadeshes, who offered themselves in honor of the Deity in the sacred places where license usually prevailed during the festivals (Gen. 38: 21, and Deut. 23: 18). [129] Cf. R. W. Smith, ibid, p. 432. CHAPTER II THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS IN YEZIDISM Although comparatively few in number, ignorant, and practically without a literature of any sort, the followers of Yezid are not without definitely formulated doctrines of faith which bind them together as a sect, and distinguish them from every other religious body. They cherish two fundamental beliefs. They believe in a deity of the first degree, God; and in a deity of the second degree, who, they seem to think, is composed of three persons in one, Melek Ṭâ´ûs, Šeiḫ ‘Adi and Yezid.[130] I THE YEZIDI VIEW OF GOD