14, 20–24), a Judah consisting of fragments of an older stock replenished with families of South Palestinian, Edomite and North Arabian affinity. This half-Edomite population, recognizable also in Benjamin, manifests its presence in the official lists, and more especially in the ecclesiastical bodies inaugurated by David, from whose time the supremacy of this Judah is dated. The historical framework contains traditions of the reconstruction and repair of temple and cult, of the hostility of southern peoples and their allies, and of conflicts between king and priests. This retrospect of the Judaean kingdom must be taken with the following books, where the crucial features are (a) the presence (c. 444) of an aristocracy, partly (at all events) of half-Edomite affinity, before the return of any important body of exiles (Neh. iii.); (b) the gaps in the history between the fall of Samaria (722) and Jerusalem (586) to the rise of the hierocracy, and (c) the relation between the hints of renewed political activity in Zerubbabel’s time, when the Temple was rebuilt (c. 520–516), and the mysterious catastrophe (with perhaps another disaster to the Temple), probably due to Edom, which is implied in the book of Nehemiah (c. 444). (See Jews, § 22.) These data lead to the fundamental problem of Old Testament history. Since 1870 (Wellhausen’s De gentibus . . . Judaeis) it has been recognized that 1 Chron. ii. and iv. accord with certain details in 1 Samuel, and appear to refer to a half-Edomite Judah in David’s time (c. 1000 B.C.).[1] More recently E. Meyer, on the basis of a larger induction, has pointed out the relation of this Judah to a large group of Edomite or Edomite-Ishmaelite tribes.[2] The stories in Genesis represent a southern treatment of Palestinian tradition, with local and southern versions of legends and myths, and with interests which could only belong to the south.[3] It has long been perceived that Kadesh in South Palestine was connected with a law-giving and with some separate movement into Judah of clans associated with the family of Moses, Caleb, Kenites, &c. (see Exodus, The). With this it is natural to connect the transmission and presence in the Old Testament of specifically Kenite tradition, of the “southern” stories in Genesis, and of the stories of Levi.[4] The rise of this new Judah is generally attributed to David, but the southern clans remain independent for some five centuries, only moving a few miles nearer Jerusalem; and this vast interval severs the old half-Edomite or Arabian Judah from the sequel—the association of such names as Korah, Ethan and Heman with temple-psalms and psalmody.[5] It has long been agreed that biblical religion and history are indebted in some way to groups connected with Edom and North Arabia, and repeated endeavours have been made to explain the evidence in its bearing upon this lengthy period.[6] The problem, it is here suggested, is in the first instance a literary one—the literary treatment by southern groups, who have become Israelite, of a lengthy period of history. When the whole body of evidence is viewed comprehensively, it would seem that there was some movement northwards of semi-Edomite blood, tradition and literature, the date of which may be placed during the internal disorganization of Palestine, and presumably in the 6th century. Such a movement is in keeping with the course of Palestinian history from the traditional entrance of the Israelite tribes to the relatively recent migration of the tribe of ʽAmr.[7] In the Old Testament popular feeling knows of two phases: Edom, the more powerful brother of Jacob (or Israel)—both could share in the traditions of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—and the hatred of the treacherous Edom in the prophetical writings. Earlier phases have not survived, and the last-mentioned is relatively late,[8] after the southern influence had left itself upon history, legend, the Temple and the ecclesiastical bodies. On these grounds, then, it would seem that among the vicissitudes of the 8th and following centuries may be placed a movement of the greatest importance for Israelite history and for the growth of the Old Testament, one, however, which has been reshaped and supplemented (in the account of the Exodus and Invasion) and deliberately suppressed or ignored in the history of the age (viz. in Ezra-Nehemiah).
The unanimous recognition on the part of all biblical scholars that the Old Testament cannot be taken as it stands as a trustworthy account of the history with which it deals, necessitates a hypothesis or, it may be, a series of hypotheses, which shall enable one to approach the more detailed study of its history and religion. The curious Trend of Criticism. and popular tradition that Ezra rewrote the Old Testament (2 Esd. xiv.), the concessions of conservative scholars, and even the view that the Hebrew text is too uncertain for literary criticism, indicate that the starting-point of inquiry must be the present form of the writings. The necessary work of literary analysis reached its most definite stage in the now famous hypothesis of Graf (1865–1866) and especially Wellhausen (1878), which was made more widely known to English readers, directly and indirectly through W. Robertson Smith, in the 9th edition of this Encyclopaedia.[9] The work of literary criticism and its application to biblical history and religion passed into a new stage as external evidence accumulated, and, more particularly since 1900, the problems have assumed new shapes. The tendency has been to assign more of the Old Testament, in its present form, to the Persian age and later; and also to work upon lines which are influenced sometimes by the close agreement with Oriental conditions generally and sometimes by the very striking divergences. It is the merit of Hugo Winckler especially to have lifted biblical study out of the somewhat narrow lines upon which it had usually proceeded, but, at the time of writing (1910), Old Testament criticism still awaits a sound reconciliation of the admitted internal intricacies and of the external evidence for Palestine and that larger area of which it forms part. Upon the convergence of the manifold lines of investigation rest all reconstructions, all methodical studies of biblical religion, law and prophecy, and all endeavours to place the various developments in an adequate historical framework.
The preliminary hypotheses, it would seem, must be both literary and historical. The varied standpoints (historical, social, legal, religious, &c.) combine with the fragmentary character of much of the evidence to suggest that the literature has passed through different circles, with excision or revision of older material, and with the incorporation of other Preliminary Hypotheses. material, sometimes of older origin and of independent literary growth. Consequently, one is restricted in the first instance to such literature as survives and in the form which the last editors or compilers gave it. Different views as regards history (e.g. invasions, tribal movements, rival kingdoms) and religion (e.g. the Yahweh of Kadesh, Sinai, Jerusalem, &c.), and different priestly, prophetical and popular ideas are only to be expected, considering the character of Palestinian population. Hence to weave the data into a single historical outline or into an orderly evolution of thought is to overlook the probability of bona
- ↑ “The population of South Judah was of half-Arab origin” (W. R. Smith, Old Test. Jew. Church, p. 279).
- ↑ Meyer and Luther, op. cit., p. 446, et passim.
- ↑ So especially Meyer and Luther, op. cit.; cf. also H. Gressmann, Zeit. f. alt-test. Wissens. (1910), p. 28 seq. Note also the view that the grand book of Job (q.v.) has an Edomite background.
- ↑ A. R. Gordon, Early Trad. of Gen. (London, 1907), pp. 74, 188; Meyer, op. cit., pp. 83, 85 (on the Levites); Gressmann, loc. cit.; S. A. Cook, Amer. Journ. of Theol. (1909), pp. 382 sqq. See Genesis, Levites, and Jews, § 20.
- ↑ On the names, see Genealogy: Biblical; Levites, 2, end, and Ency. Bib. col. 1665 seq.
- ↑ W. R. Harper (Amos and Hosea, 1905, p. liv.) observes: “Every year since the work of W. R. Smith brings Israel into closer relationship with Arabia”; cf. also N. Schmidt’s conclusions (Hibbert Journal, 1908, p. 342), and the Jerahmeelite theory of T. K. Cheyne, who writes (Decline and Fall of the Kingdom of Judah, London, 1908, p. xxxvii.) “ . . . by far the greater part of the extant literary monuments of ancient Israel are precisely those monuments whose producers were most preoccupied by N. Arabia.”
- ↑ J. Dissard, Rev. Bibl., 1905, pp. 410–425. Some S. Pal. revolt is also reflected shortly before the rise of the Jehu dynasty (Jews, § 11). A few centuries later, the Edomites (Idumaeans) were again closely connected with the Jews; an Idumaean dynasty—that of the Herods—ruled in Judah, and once more there must have been a considerable amount of intermixture.
- ↑ Cf. R. H. Kennett, Journ. Theol. Stud. (1906), p. 487; Camb. Bibl. Essays (ed. Swete), p. 117. For an Edomite invasion between 586 and the Greek period, see also H. Winckler, Altor. Forsch. (1900), pp. 428 sqq., 455.
- ↑ Especially Wellhausen’s articles, “Pentateuch,” “Israel,” “Moab,” and W. R. Smith’s large series including “Bible,” “David,” “Decalogue,” “Judges,” “Kings,” “Levites,” “Messiah,” “Priest,” “Prophet,” “Psalms,” &c.
