72 THE TEUE POSITION OF THE HEBREWS 



are peculiar. That they were no representatives of 

 the official religion is well known. They were what 

 people of loose economic ideas would now call 

 " Socialist agitators." Judsea had become rich and 

 corrupt. There were in Jerusalem extremes of wealth 

 and poverty, and the prophets were the spokesmen 

 of the poor. Even in this respect the moral standard 

 was higher in Egypt and Babylonia, for there it was 

 the rulers (Hammurabi, etc.) and middle-class writers 

 (Ptah-hotep) who taught justice to the advantage of 

 others. Yet the rise of the prophets — call them 

 1 'dervishes" or what you will — was a great event in 

 history. As far as literary remains go they are our 

 first indication that the mass of the people had a 

 voice and claimed a right to use it. 



To the monotheism of the Hebrew writings we 

 may attach less importance. If the gods are con- 

 cerned about justice, it matters little whether they 

 are one or many. Osiris or Ba of Egypt, Marduk 

 or Shamash of Babylon, or Ahura Mazda of Persia, 

 was supreme enough for ethical purposes. It is, in 

 fact, curious to note that a typical modern scholar 

 like Professor W. James found polytheism nearer the 

 facts and more easy to accept than monotheism. At 

 all events, Persia and Greece would have imposed 

 monotheism on the world without Jewish aid. The 



i only really important new element in Judaea is the 

 ' voice of the people ; and it is ironic to reflect that it 



] led to no democracy in Judsea, and has nowhere been 

 recognized as the voice of the people until quite 

 modern times. It still remained for Greece and 

 Borne to invent the ideal of democracy. 



