Prolegomena to the History of IsraelWellhausen, Julius
Religion
Prolegomena to the History of Israel
Wellhausen, Julius
Bible. Old Testament -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.; Jews -- History -- To 70 A.D.; Judaism -- History -- To 70 A.D.
"Behold, I rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will
give ten tribes to thee; but he shall have one tribe for my servant
David's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake, the city which I have chosen;
because he has forsaken me, and worshipped Astarte of Sidon, and
Chemosh of Moab, and Milcom of Ammon, and has not walked in my ways
to do that which is right in my eyes, my statutes, and my judgments,
like David his father. And it shall be, if thou wilt hearken unto
all that I command thee, and wilt walk in my ways, and do what is
right in my sight, to keep my statutes and my commandments as David
my servant did, that I will be with thee and build thee a sure house
as I built for David, and will give Israel unto thee. And I will
for this afflict the seed of David, but not for ever."
We pass over a series of prophecies in a similar strain which occur
regularly at the changes of dynasty in the northern kingdom, and
cite only the concluding words which accompany the fall of the
kingdom of the ten tribes (2Kings xvii.). This fall came about
"because the children of Israel sinned against Jehovah their God,
which brought them up out of the land of Egypt, and feared other
gods, and walked in the statutes of the heathen whom they had
driven out, and in the innovations of the kings of Israel; and
because the children of Israel imputed to Jehovah their God things
which are not so, and built them high places in all their cities,
from the tower of the watchman to the fenced city; and they set up
pillars and Asheras on every high hill and under every green tree,
and there they sacrificed in all the high places, as did the people
whom Jehovah had driven out before them: and wrought wicked things
to provoke Jehovah to anger, and served the abominations which
Jehovah had forbidden. Yet Jehovah testified to them by all the
prophets and seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep
my commandments and my statutes according to all the torah which
I commanded your fathers, and which I sent unto you by my servants
the prophets; but they would not hear, but hardened their necks
like their fathers, that they did not believe in Jehovah their
God; and they rejected His statutes and His covenant that He
made with their fathers, and His testimonies with which He warned
them, and they followed vanity and became vain, and went after
the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom Jehovah
had charged them that they should not do like them. And they
left all the commandments of Jehovah their God, and made them
molten images and an Asherah, and worshipped the whole host of
heaven, and served Baal; and they caused their children to pass
through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold
themselves to do evil in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke Him to
anger. And Jehovah was very wroth with Israel, and removed them
out of His sight; there was none left but the men of Judah only.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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