If the prophets raised their eyes beyond and above the relation of this one Lord of heaven and earth to the people of Israel to the conception of a divine government of the world; if Isaiah had spoken of the plan according to which Jehovah had arranged the fortunes of the nations and lands since the beginning of days; the law is naturally confined to the relation of Jehovah to Israel. But this relation is conceived chiefly in the feeling of the prophets. We saw how the prophets had been led by the conception of the peculiar fortunes experienced by the Israelites to reconstruct the relation of the tribal god in such a manner that the one Almighty Lord of heaven was regarded as having chosen Israel as his people: a relation which is brought forward by the prophets in the most various applications. Owing to this peculiar relation Jehovah gave Canaan to the Israelites; for this reason he chose Sion for his mountain, Jerusalem for his dwelling-place, and the temple for his house; for this reason Jehovah was, to the prophets, the real king of Israel. Like the old, the new book of the law regards the relation of Jehovah to the Israelites as a covenant, a treaty between two parties, each of whom can stand on his rights; Jehovah on his worship; Israel on the services rendered in return by Jehovah, on the land granted to him for the service of Jehovah, on the enjoyment of his fields and vineyards, on peace and security against enemies, on the increase of his race and prosperity. Jehovah is the master, and Israel the servant; the servant must serve, but the master cannot keep back the wages. Jehovah has announced his commands to Israel; the Israelites have pledged themselves to fulfil them, and so long as they perform their obligation, Jehovah will not shorten the reward of their service. If on the ground of such a covenant the prophets regard all the evil which overtakes Israel as a consequence of the breach of it; if the "strife" between Jehovah and Israel concerning the observation and non-observation of the contract is a current idea with them, with which is connected the announcement of a day of judgment, and of the severe punishment which Jehovah will execute on those who transgress the covenant (p. 28); the book of the law is here marked by something of the priestly character, inasmuch as it concludes with the blessing which will attend the maintenance of the covenant, and the curse which will follow upon the breach of it: to which Moses adds; "he knows that the Israelites will do evil after his death."[425] In the first case "the fruit of the womb will be blessed in Israel," "the fruit of the fields, the increase of the kine, and the lambs of the sheep, the basket, and the kneading trough," and "Israel will lend to many nations and borrow of none;"[426] in the second case Jehovah will visit them "with the scab, with boils of Egypt on the knees and thighs, from the top of the head to the sole of