The Evolution of Theology: An Anthropological Study | Page 8

the most ruthless severity; or as smiting Uzzah
to death because the unfortunate man thoughtlessly, but naturally
enough, put out his hand to stay the ark from falling--can any one deny
that the old Israelites conceived Jahveh not only in the image of a man,
but in that of a changeable, irritable, and, occasionally, violent man?
There appears to me, then, to be no reason to doubt that the notion of

likeness to man, which was indubitably held of the ghost Elohim, was
carried out consistently throughout the whole series of Elohim, and that
Jahveh-Elohim was thought of as a being of the same substantially
human nature as the rest, only immeasurably more powerful for good
and for evil.
The absence of any real distinction between the Elohim of different
ranks is further clearly illustrated by the corresponding absence of any
sharp delimitation between the various kinds of people who serve as
the media of communication between them and men. The agents
through whom the lower Elohim are consulted are called necromancers,
wizards, and diviners, and are looked down upon by the prophets and
priests of the higher Elohim; but the "seer"<7> connects the two, and
they are all alike in their essential characters of media. The wise
woman of Endor was believed by others, and, I have little doubt,
believed herself, to be able to "bring up" whom she would from Sheol,
and to be inspired, whether in virtue of actual possession by the evoked
Elohim, or otherwise, with a knowledge of hidden things, I am unable
to see that Saul's servant took any really different view of Samuel's
powers, though he may have believed that he obtained them by the
grace of the higher Elohim. For when Saul fails to find his father's asses,
his servant says to him--
Behold, there is in this city a man of Elohim, and he is a man
that is held in honour; all that he saith cometh surely to pass; now let us
go thither; peradventure, he can tell us concerning our journey whereon
we go. Then said Saul to his servant, But behold if we go, what shall
we bring the man? for the bread is spent in our vessels and there is not
a present to bring to the man of Elohim. What have we? And the
servant answered Saul again and said, Behold I have in my hand the
fourth part of a shekel of silver: that will I give to the man of Elohim to
tell us our way. (Beforetime in Israel when a man went to inquire of
Elohim, then he said, Come and let us go to the Seer: for he that is now
called a Prophet was beforetime called a Seer<8>) (1 Sam. ix. 6-10).

In fact, when, shortly afterwards, Saul accidentally meets Samuel, he
says, "Tell me, I pray thee, where the Seer's house is." Samuel answers,
"I am the Seer." Immediately afterwards Samuel informs Saul that the
asses are found, though how he obtained his knowledge of the fact is

not stated. It will be observed that Samuel is not spoken of here as, in
any special sense, a seer or prophet of Jahveh, but as a "man of
Elohim"-- that is to say, a seer having access to the "spiritual powers,"
just as the wise woman of Endor might have been said to be a "woman
of Elohim"--and the narrator's or editor's explanatory note seems to
indicate that "Prophet" is merely a name, introduced later than the time
of Samuel, for a superior kind of "Seer," or "man of Elohim."<9>
Another very instructive passage shows that Samuel was not only
considered to be diviner, seer, and prophet in one, but that he was also,
to all intents and purposes, priest of Jahveh--though, according to his
biographer, he was not a member of the tribe of Levi. At the outset of
their acquaintance, Samuel says to Saul, "Go up before me into the high
place," where, as the young maidens of the city had just before told
Saul, the Seer was going, "for the people will not eat till he come,
because he doth bless the sacrifice" (1 Sam. x. 12). The use of the word
"bless" here--as if Samuel were not going to sacrifice, but only to offer
a blessing or thanksgiving--is curious. But that Samuel really acted as
priest seems plain from what follows. For he not only asks Saul to
share in the customary sacrificial feast, but he disposes in Saul's favour
of that portion of the victim which the Levitical legislation, doubtless
embodying old customs, recognises as the priest's special
property.<10>
Although particular persons adopted the profession of media between
men and Elohim, there was no limitation of the power, in the view of
ancient Israel, to