communities sacrifice is of the character of a communion. The blood-communion between god and worshipper cannot be regarded as a vera causa till it has been shown to exist among savage tribes with the avowed object of restoring communion between the totem or god and his worshipper.[1]
With regard to the application of Prof. Smith’s theory to the Semites, there is the further difficulty that those Semites whose ritual we know best the Hebrews were rigidly scrupulous in avoiding the taste of blood. No reason is given for this tabu, and this is just one of those seemingly irrational practices that are most likely to be primitive, or at least archaic. And on the ordinarily accepted view of the origin of sacrifice—which regards it as a gift to propitiate a superior being—this can be easily understood as the avoidance of the worshipper of taking what belongs especially to the god, the essence of the victim’s life, the blood. In a similar way, almost all the practices of Hebrew ritual may be explained on the tributary theory of sacrifice,[2] where we do have a utilitarian basis for the practice. As a savage, I give the most precious gift I can to the god, my own blood, the life of an animal, or the most precious food I know, in order to prevent him injuring me, or to induce him to do me good. The analogy is with a tribute to a king, not, as Prof. Smith would have it, with a carouse with a comrade.
It will thus be seen that Prof. Smith’s theory traces religion to a sort of friendship rather than, as on the older tributary theory of sacrifice, to a feeling of fear. “It is not with a vague fear of unknown powers,” he says, p. 55, “but with a loving reverence for known gods, who
- ↑ I may refer the reader to my discussion of the question, “Are there Totem Clans in the Old Testament?” in the Archæological Review, vol. iii.
- ↑ It is, perhaps, worth while remarking that the most general Hebrew term for sacrifice, Corban (familiar to the reader from the New Testament), simply means offering or gift, and there is no doubt about the etymology.
