=Historical.= We learn from their own writings that the Jews arose from peoples that lived in the region of the Euphrates, a particular tribe of whom, under the leadership of Abraham, near 2000 B. C., migrated to the land of Canaan or Palestine. Here they lived a nomadic life till a portion of them, the descendants of Jacob, migrated to northeastern Egypt, from whence some centuries later they were led forth by Moses and after wanderings and warrings they entered again into Palestine and built up a nation. After some centuries internal dissensions arose and the larger part withdrew and were later forever lost. The smaller portion continued as a nation and later were carried captives into Babylon and then restored again to their own country. Then later they came under the dominion of the Greeks and then under the Romans. Through this contact with the various civilizations, through the effect of their environment of both the country itself and the tribes about them, but more from that something innate in themselves, they developed into a people that evolved the great religious idea which, it seems, will dominate the entire world. =Women and Marriage.= Woman was held in high esteem by the Jews. She mingled freely in private and in public with others. The Bible is full of the doings of women--as mothers, as wives, as sisters--showing courage and devotion and wisdom. She took a leading part in the life of the nation, especially in religious affairs. She was protected by a religion that did not debase her but which called for a pure home and a happy family. Woman was greatly respected in spite of some of the sayings about her as the following: "It was observed that God formed woman neither out of the head, lest she should become proud; nor out of the eye, lest she should be curious; nor out of the mouth, lest she should be too talkative; nor out of the hand, lest she should be covetous; nor out of the foot, lest she should gad about; but out of the rib, which was always covered.... As woman is formed from a rib, and man from the ground, man seeks a wife, and not _vice versa_; he only seeks what he lost. This explains why man is more easily reconciled than woman; he is made of soft earth and she of hard bone."[143]