THE EVOLUTION OF OLD TESTAMENT RELIGION THE EVOLUTION OF OLD TESTAMENT RELIGION BY W. E. ORCHARD, B.D. LONDON JAMES CLARKE & CO., 13 & 14, FLEET STREET 1908 TO My Wife PREFACE The substance of this book was originally delivered as a Course of Lectures to a week-night congregation. The Lecture form has been retained, and this accounts for the repetition of the leading ideas, while the practical interests of Church life account for the insistence on the religious value and lesson. It is hoped that this, which might be irritating to the professional student, may be helpful to the ordinary reader who is repelled by the technicality of critical works, and often fails to discern the devout spirit by which such works are inspired, or to discover what religious interest is served by them. Where everything is borrowed from other writers, and no claim to originality is made, detailed acknowledgment would be impossible, but the resolve to attempt some such course in place of the usual form of a week-night service was formed in the Hebrew class-room of Westminster College, Cambridge, while listening to the Lectures on Old Testament Theology and Messianic Prophecy, delivered by the Rev. Professor Dr. Skinner (now Principal), in which accurate scholarship was combined with a deep insight into the present religious importance of these subjects. Grateful acknowledgment is also due to the Rev. J.R. Coates, B.A., who kindly read through the proofs and made many valuable suggestions. W. E. ORCHARD. ENFIELD, _August, 1908_. CONTENTS LECTURE PAGE INTRODUCTION vii I. THE SEMITIC RACES 19 II. THE PRIMITIVE RELIGION OF THE HEBREWS 31 III. MOSAISM 55 IV. THE INFLUENCE OF CANAAN 83 V. PROPHETISM--EARLY STAGES 107 VI. THE RELIGION OF THE LITERARY PROPHETS 135 VII. THE EFFECT OF THE EXILE 169 VIII. THE WORK OF THE PRIESTS 195 IX. THE RELIGION OF THE PSALMISTS 215 X. THE RELIGION OF THE WISE 241 XI. MESSIANIC EXPECTATIONS 265 INTRODUCTION