i8 79 ] WELLHAUSEN S GESCHICHTE ISRAELS 603 



of the sanctuary, the sacrifices, the feasts, the priesthood, 

 and the provision for the support of the clergy. Under 

 each head an historical development is traced, beginning 

 with observances of spontaneous and natural character, 

 and advancing by stages corresponding to the develop 

 ment of the law from the Jehovistic ordinances of the 

 Book of the Covenant through Deuteronomy to the priestly 

 code. That this is the historical order of progress appears 

 to be indisputable, and the main lines of evidence are not 

 new. But Wellhausen has strengthened them by many 

 subtle and original observations, and has greatly in 

 creased the cumulative force of the argument by showing 

 that it is possible to work the scattered data into a con 

 sistent and intelligible historical picture more complete 

 than anything that has been hitherto attempted. Of 

 course such a picture must contain problematic elements. 

 Among these must be placed what is, nevertheless, one 

 of the most interesting things in the volume the account 

 of the tribe of Levi. According to our author the ancient 

 tribe of Levi wholly disappeared during the period of the 

 Judges under circumstances to which Gen. xlix. compared 

 with Gen. xxxiv. supplies our only key. The later sacred 

 tribe of Levi is an entirely new formation, which may have 

 derived its name from the family of Moses, but cannot be 

 regarded as connected with him by blood, inasmuch as 

 the notion of a properly hereditary priesthood was only 

 developed in the period of the later kings of Judah. 

 It is impossible to reproduce the whole argument, but 

 it involves among other points the following positions : 

 (i) That Zadok had no hereditary title to priesthood 

 or, in other words, was not a Levite by birth ; (2) that 

 Jonathan (Judges xvii. 7) was of Judean extraction ; (3) 

 that, according to Deut. xxxiii. 8, 9, the Levites of the 

 northern kingdom appear as a guild based on the denial 

 of all ties of blood, who honour Moses, not as their an 

 cestor, but only as the founder of their profession. The 

 first and second of these assumptions involve doubtful 



