The picture which W. ROBERTSON SMITH draws of the state of society contemplated by the Book of the Covenant is founded on the assumption that there was no more of it. The basis of life is agriculture, cattle and agricultural produce constitute the chief part of wealth, and the laws of property deal almost exclusively with them. Only we cannot say that this was all. True, there is no longer preserved any regulation of the relations between principal and agent, if such ever existed. There is no widely extended tariff of wages for artificers and workpeople. Too much cannot be made of the fact that the Code of Hammurabi proves the existence of such specialized classes in Babylonia. For it does so without ever mentioning them in just those laws which can best be compared with the Book of the Covenant. If we were acquainted only with that part of the Code of Hammurabi which does correspond to the Book of the Covenant we might similarly construct from it a picture of the state of society in Babylonia just as simple as the Book of the Covenant warrants us in recognizing in Israel. Nevertheless it was not so. The fact is that the Book of the Covenant does not present a complete picture of the state of society in Israel in the early days of the monarchy. That may not have been so advanced as in the days of Hammurabi. But the kings of Israel at any rate had need of skilled workmen. We read, indeed, that Solomon had to send to Hiram of Tyre for certain workmen, but this is not enough to prove the entire absence from his dominions of other classes of artisans. The absence of blacksmiths in Saul’s time is ascribed to an exceptional cause. In fact, the only way in which the entire absence in Israel of all but agriculturalists and shepherds could possibly be accounted for is by supposing that the Israelites had killed out all the Canaanites. We know they did not. We may point out other ways in which it would be dangerous to deduce from the absence of mention in the Book of the Covenant the non-existence of any particular institution whatever. It is of more importance to notice that the principles of criminal and civil justice are those still current among the Arabs of the desert, namely, retaliation and money compensation. It is precisely the same with the Code of Hammurabi. If these features in the Book of the Covenant compel us to consider the Israelites for whom it was compiled as nomads in much the same state of civilization as the Bedawin, the same features compel us in the case of the Code to ascribe similar civilization to the Babylonians of Hammurabi’s period. The fact probably is that in both cases the dominant folk, Amorites or Hebrews, really were conservative of customs once in place in the desert if not too unsuitable for a settled life to retain.