THE chief feature of the Hebraic culture was that it was joyous. The somber seriousness of latter-day Judaism had not yet penetrated it. Israel rejoiced like the nations. The young men and maidens danced and wooed in the precincts of the sanctuaries which dotted the country from Dan to Beersheba. The festivals were seasons of joy, the festivals of the harvest and of the vintage. The prophets called them carousals and dubbed the gentlemen of Samaria drunkards. Probably there were excesses. But life was enjoyed so long as the heavens withdrew not the moisture which the husbandman was in need of. The wars which the Kings waged were the wars of the Lord, and the exploits of the warriors were rehearsed throughout the land--they were spoken of as the Lord's righteous acts. National victories strengthened the national consciousness. Taunt songs were scattered on broadsides. The enemy was lampooned. At the height of national prosperity, when Israel dwelt in safety in a land of corn and wine moistened with the dew of the heavens, the pride of the nation expressed itself in the pæan, "Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, a people victorious through the Lord, the shield of thy help, and that is the Sword of thy excellency!" Excellency then meant national independence and welfare. It was the period of the Omrides whose exploits are merely hinted at in our sources, whose sway marked the nascent struggle between Hebraism and Judaism. For the time being, Hebraic culture was on the ascendant, successor to the indigenous Canaanite civilization which it had absorbed, remodelled, developed.