The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-10-20


| may come most easily into the hands of
those who can work for the most rapid
| production of wealth. If piece Of
| land can be made more productive as
| kitchen garden than as vineyard, civ
| ilization demands that it be taken, by
| force if necessary, from him who obsti-
| nately persists in growing grapes on II
| and be given to him who will raise veg
| etables.
The Hebrew system, on the contrary,
| was based on the very primitive idea
| that the ancestral farm was gift of
the deity to be held by the present own
| er in trust for his descendants. 1t was
| a quasi-relgious aspect of land, and
too much religion is often hindrance
| to the most rapid development of ma
terialistic civilization. No matter how
rundown a farm might become, He
brew custom forbade the owner to give
| clear title in sale, or to ALLEVIATE Tor
| more than fifty years the famlly'S right
| of reVersion or to surrender his own
standing right of redemption. In the
walled towns indeed civilization had
! made such progress that the Tight OF
| redemption was limited to one year, but
the country population still chung to the
| old uneconomc system. They thought
that the economic advantages of the
| more civilized system did not outweigh
the value of the old plan as conducive
| to individual independence and self
| respect In this they resembled certain
| alf-civilized peoples of modern times
who value independence and the right
of self-government, even on a low in
| all tl,n
and moral blessings that more advanced
nations feel it their duty to thrust upon
| them.
In Israel the question of land tenure
came to test case in the affair of Ma
| both of Jezree. Naboth refused to
part with his vineyard to King Ahab at
any price, alleging the ancient custom
| of his people with emphasis upon its
religious aspects. Ahab, himself an Is
raelite, and hide bound by custom and
conscience, weakly yielded to these con-
| siderations though the disappointment
almost made him sick. Civilization
seemed likely to lose its case, but for
tunately Jezebel was equal to the occa-
sion. Conscientious scruples are we'll
enough in their place, and theories
| about individual rights of property and
| about government are very fine In
| the abstract but it was intolerable that
an ancient custom of an old fogy farm
| ing population should stand in the way
| of the principle of free transfer of land
recognized by the leading nations of
| the day. 1t was intolerable, too that
weakness should stand in the way of
power And anyway it was too late to
| had happin1n known that
Ahab wanted Naboth's vineyard, and
it would be a dreadful disgrace to have
to admit that Ahab, the king, had
failed to get what he wanted. What
would her father and the Phoenicans
and Dido and the Carthaginians say!
| So in the interests of civilization and
| in loyalty to the king Jezebel did the
| only thing there was to be done, she
| had Naboth put to death, under the
forms of statute law, of course for
| lynch law is abhorrent to civilized
person.
The trial was public and in legal
form, but there were those who believed
that the witnesses had been tempered
with and that evidence unfavorable to
the king had been excluded. The same
party that had formerly opposed Jeze-
bel in defense of the exclusive worship
of Jahweh, as against the claims of
Baal and Mammon and other gods,
made the affair of Naboth campaign
issue and so indoctrinated the masses
with their pernicious views that they
soon rose in rebellion and overthrow the
administration. The leading spirit in
this reaction against civilization, as in
the former, was that same Elijah, that
rude, half-naked fanatic from Gilead
beyond Jordan, district even less civ
ilized than western ] srael. Meeting
Ahab shortly after the execution of Ma
both, he cursed him and all his house in
language that In the opinion Of the re-
visors is not unsuitable for reading in
mixed assembly.
The successive deaths by violence of
Ahab and Jezebel and over one hun
dred and sixteen of their descendants
were regarded by his bigoted people as
the direct fulfilment of this curse, and
their national literature ranks Elijah |
first among their heroes as the exponent |
of divine Justice. In New Testament |
times he is honored by a place with
Moses and Jesus in the TRANSPORTATION
and the prejudice is still so strong |
against Ahab and Jezebel that Mat
thew in his genealogy of Jesus of Naz-
areth deliberately omits those three |
kings of the royal line Of David. who |
being also descended from Ahab and |
Jezebel, were murdered in fulfilment of |
Elijah'S curse on Ahab
Finally, my beloved brethren, it Is |
sad fact that even to-day, at the close
of the nineteenth century and in the
full blaze Of it's material and moral |
grandeur, there are not a few misguid
ed people, traitors to their country and |
enemies of civilization, who exalt the |
crazy fanaticsm of Elijah and John
Brown above the far-seeing statesman
ship of Jezebel and Cecil Rhodes and |
William Mckinley. But nothing can be |
clearer in these days than that cvili-
cation must have the right of way and
such obstruetionists as Elijah and |
Aguina lido, who impiously take up arms
to defend the right of the uncivilized
must be crushed into unconditional sur
render. As for Jesus of Nazareth we
need not trouble ourselves about him.
for he was foolish enough to suppose
that He could esta blish His kingdom on
earth without fighting, and so long as
His followers cling to that idea, they |