The Evolution of Theology: An Anthropological Study | Page 9

any special class of the population. Saul inquires of
Jahveh and builds him altars on his own account; and in the very
remarkable story told in the fourteenth chapter of the first book of
Samuel (v. 37-46), Saul appears to conduct the whole process of
divination, although he has a priest at his elbow. David seems to do the
same.
Moreover, Elohim constantly appear in dreams--which in old Israel did
not mean that, as we should say, the subject of the appearance
"dreamed he saw the spirit"; but that he veritably saw the Elohim which,
as a soul, visited his soul while his body was asleep. And, in the course
of the history of Israel Jahveh himself thus appears to all sorts of
persons, non-Israelites as well as Israelites. Again, the Elohim possess,
or inspire, people against their will, as in the case of Saul and Saul's

messengers, and then these people prophesy--that is to say, "rave"--and
exhibit the ungoverned gestures attributed by a later age to possession
by malignant spirits. Apart from other evidence to be adduced by and
by, the history of ancient demonology and of modern revivalism does
not permit me to doubt that the accounts of these phenomena given in
the history of Saul may be perfectly historical.
In the ritual practices, of which evidence is to be found in the books of
Judges and Samuel, the chief part is played by sacrifices, usually burnt
offerings. Whenever the aid of the Elohim of Israel is sought, or thanks
are considered due to him, an altar is built, and oxen, sheep, and goats
are slaughtered and offered up. Sometimes the entire victim is burnt as
a holocaust; more frequently only certain parts, notably the fat about
the kidneys, are burnt on the altar. The rest is properly cooked; and,
after the reservation of a part for the priest, is made the foundation of a
joyous banquet, in which the sacrificer, his family, and such guests as
he thinks fit to invite, participate.<11> Elohim was supposed to share
in the feast, and it has been already shown that that which was set apart
on the altar, or consumed by fire, was spoken of as the food of Elohim,
who was thought to be influenced by the costliness, or by the pleasant
smell, of the sacrifice in favour of the sacrificer.
All this bears out the view that, in the mind of the old Israelite, there
was no difference, save one of degree, between one Elohim and another.
It is true that there is but little direct evidence to show that the old
Israelites shared the widespread belief of their own, and indeed of all
times, that the spirits of the dead not only continue to exist, but are
capable of a ghostly kind of feeding and are grateful for such aliment as
can be assimilated by their attenuated substance, and even for clothes,
ornaments, and weapons.<12> That they were familiar with this
doctrine in the time of the captivity is suggested by the well-known
reference of Ezekiel (xxxii. 27) to the "mighty that are fallen of the
uncircumcised, which are gone down to [Sheol] hell with their weapons
of war, and have laid their swords under their heads." Perhaps there is a
still earlier allusion in the "giving of food for the dead" spoken of in
Deuteronomy (xxvi. 14).<13>
It must be remembered that the literature of the old Israelites, as it lies
before us, has been subjected to the revisal of strictly monotheistic
editors, violently opposed to all kinds of idolatry, who are not likely to

have selected from the materials at their disposal any obvious evidence,
either of the practice under discussion, or of that ancestor-worship
which is so closely related to it, for preservation in the permanent
records of their people.
The mysterious objects known as Teraphim, which are
occasionally mentioned in Judges, Samuel, and elsewhere, however,
can hardly be interpreted otherwise than as indications of the existence
both of ancestor-worship and of image-worship in old Israel. The
teraphim were certainly images of family gods, and, as such, in all
probability represented deceased ancestors. Laban indignantly demands
of his son-in-law, "Wherefore hast thou stolen my Elohim?" which
Rachel, who must be assumed to have worshipped Jacob's God, Jahveh,
had carried off, obviously because she, like her father, believed in their
divinity. It is not suggested that Jacob was in any way scandalised by
the idolatrous practices of his favourite wife, whatever he may have
thought of her honesty when the truth came to light; for the teraphim
seem to have remained in his camp, at least until he "hid" his strange
gods "under the oak that was by Shechem" (Gen. xxxv. 4). And indeed
it is open to question if he got rid of them then, for