as regards broad moral principles, were based on the standpoint of a later age. The views of that later age must be discounted if we have to admit that some of the ritual innovations and legal transgressions of the kings were transgressions of laws of the very existence of which they were profoundly ignorant. That they _were_ thus ignorant of them is not only implied throughout, but appears from the direct statements of the sacred historians.[314] FOOTNOTES: [307] See, especially, Deut. xii. 5-19. In the later Priestly Code the centralisation of worship is not inculcated, but supposed to be already established. In the original Book of the Covenant it is not required at all. [308] Judg. ii. 5, vi. 24, viii. 27, xx. 1, xxi. 2, 4; 1 Sam. vii. 9, x. 8, xi. 15, xiii. 9, xvi. 5, etc. [309] ἡ νηστεία (Acts xxvii. 9); Philo, _Lib. de Septenariis_. [310] Neh. viii. 17. [311] Canon Cook in the _Speaker's Commentary_ (Leviticus, p. 496) admits: "It is by no means unlikely there are insertions of a later date, which were written and sanctioned by the prophets and holy men who _after the captivity_ arranged and edited the Scriptures of the Old Testament." [312] _Book by Book_, p. 7. [313] See Professor Robertson, _Book by Book_, p. 56. I quote Professor Robertson as one of the ablest and most competent opponents of extreme conclusions; but it does not seem to me that he touches on some of the arguments which constitute the main strength of the case against him. [314] See 2 Kings xxii. 11; Ezra ix. 1, 7; Neh. ix. 3. CHAPTER XVIII. _THE TEMPLE WORSHIP._ 1 KINGS viii. 1-11. "Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, are these.... Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit."--JER. vii. 4, 8. The actual Temple building, apart from its spacious courts, was neither for worshippers nor for priests, neither for sacrifice nor for prayer. It existed only for symbolism and, at least in later days, for expiation. No prayer was offered in the sanctuary. The propitiatory was the symbol of expiation, but even after the introduction of the Day of Atonement the atoning blood was only carried into it once a year. All the worship was in the outer court, and consisted mainly, (1) of praise, and (2) of offerings. Both were prominent in the Dedication Festival.