15 



It seems to me that Mr. Robertson Smith has made out a 

 strong case with regard to the Arabs in their praa- 

 Mohammedan ages ; and he is quite right in tracing the in- 

 fluence of their tribes in southern and eastern Palestine ; and 

 perhaps in a great degree he justly connects even in the days 

 of David the outrages against Mosaic rules of domestic 

 morality to such sources as he indicates. Some of the most 

 interesting names involved in this inquiry are such as " Oreb 

 (Raven) and Zeb (Wolf) ; Caleb (dog) whose position as a 

 proselyte from Edorn has been so well traced by Dr. Plumptre 

 in his excellent "Biblical Studies;"* Khamor of Shekhem 

 (wild ass), Ja'el (Ibex) ; Epher and Ephron (Fawn), 'Eglon 

 (calf), Akhbor (mouse), Shaphan (" cony "or rock-badger), 

 Khezer (swine) ; and the like. 



Doubtless the question thus raised will be carefully con- 

 sidered and examined in detail by those best qualified to decide 

 on its merits. The subject of Biblical names could not be 

 fairly treated without indicating this fresh departure. Let us 

 remember that it is not the judgment of the prophets that is 

 impeached by any of the painful exposures of religious defec- 

 tion in the children of faithful Abraham. There is much 

 justice in the concluding sentences of the essay. " It is a 

 favourite speculation that the Hebrews or the Semites in 

 general have a natural capacity for spiritual religion. They 

 are either represented as constitutionally monotheistic, or at 

 least, we are told, that their worship had in it from the first, 

 and apart from revelation, a lotty character from which 

 spiritual ideas were easily developed. That was not the opinion 

 of the prophets, who always deal with their nation as one 

 peculiarly inaccessible to spiritual truths, and possessing no 

 natural merit which could form the ground of its choice as the 

 people of Jehovah. Our investigations appear to confirm this 

 judgment, and to show that the superstitions with which the 

 spiritual religion had to contend were not one whit less de- 

 grading than those of the most savage nations. And, indeed, 

 the second commandment, the cardinal precept of spiritual 

 worship, is explicitly directed against the very worship of the 

 denizens of air, earth, and water, which we have been able to 

 trace out. It does not appear that Israel was, by its own 

 wisdom, more fit than any other nation to rise above the lowest 

 level of heathenism." 



* Strahan, 1870. 



