ideal of an undivided possession of Canaan could be fully realised. CHAPTER III. NEIGHBOURING NATIONS. The Phœnicians, Aramæans, Philistines, Idumæans--Their Customs and Mythology--The Moabites and Ammonites--Intercourse of the Israelites with their Neighbours and Adoption of their Manners--Disintegration of the Tribes--Consequent Weakness--Temporary Deliverers. The sons of Israel, who had been severely tried in Egypt, seemed destined to undergo trials still more severe. Their new scene of activity was surrounded by various nations, and they could have escaped the influences of their surroundings only by either destroying the homes of the bordering populations, or by being proof against the strongest temptations. The neighbouring Phœnicians, Canaanites, Aramæans, Philistines, Idumæans, Moabites, Ammonites, Amalekites, Arabs and half-castes of Arabs, had their own peculiar customs, manners, and religious observances. The tribes came into more or less close contact with their neighbours, and were soon dominated by the same law of attraction and assimilation that is felt even in more cultured spheres. Hence arose the strange phenomenon, during a prolonged period of Israel's history, of a nation's forfeiting every species of self-dependence, regaining it, again relapsing, and thus passing from change to change. But these changes eventually gave shape and tenacity to the character of the people. In the interim, however, Israel became intimately united with the Phœnicians; the northern tribes of Asher, Zebulon and Issachar stood in especially close connection with them. This people had already, particularly in Sidon, attained a high degree of culture, when the Israelites entered Canaan. But, from an ethical and a religious point of view, they were as backward as the most uncultured races of men, with the exception, perhaps, of the Egyptians, than whom they were on a higher level. The Canaanites worshipped the male and female divinities, Baal and Astarte, who, in some cities, were designated by the names of Adonis and Baaltis. Baal was intended to be a personification of the sun, and Astarte of the moon; they did not, however, figure as luminous beings within the celestial space, but as the procreative powers of nature. The Canaanites also worshipped the then known seven planets termed _Cabiri_, _i. e._ the Mighty; as an eighth god they adored Ashmun, the restorer of health, who was depicted as a serpent. The rites, by which men and women dedicated themselves to the male and female deities, were of a loathsome description. The degraded priestesses of the temple were termed "consecrated women" (_Kedeshoth_).