VIII THE EVOLUTION OF THEOLOGY 301 



come reasonable in the first verse of the same 

 chapter ? 



But let us go further. Is not the Jahveh who 

 " walks in the garden in the cool of the day " ; 

 from whom one may hope to " hide oneself among 

 the trees" ; of whom it is expressly said that 

 " Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and 

 seventy of the elders of Israel," saw the Elohim 

 of Israel (Exod. xxiv. 9-11) ; and that, although 

 the seeing Jahveh was understood to be a high 

 crime and misdemeanour, worthy of death, under 

 ordinary circumstances, yet, for this once, he " laid 

 not his hand on the nobles of Israel " ; " that they 

 beheld Elohim and did eat and drink " ; and that 

 afterwards Moses saw his back (Exod. xxxiii. 23) 

 is not this Deity conceived as manlike in form ? 

 Again, is not the Jahveh who eats with Abraham 

 under the oaks at Mamre, who is pleased with the 

 " sweet savour " of Noah's sacrifice, to whom 

 sacrifices are said to be " food " l is not this 

 Deity depicted as possessed of human appetites ? 

 If this were not the current Israelitish idea of 

 Jahveh even in the eighth century B.C., where is 

 the point of Isaiah's scathing admonitions to his" 

 countrymen : " To what purpose is the multitude 

 of your sacrifices unto me ? saith Jahveh : I am 

 full of the burnt-offerings of rams and the fat 



1 For example: "My oblation, my food for my offerings 

 made by fire, of a sweet savour to me, shall ye observe to offer 

 unto me in their due season " (Num. xxviii. 2). 



