Evening star., 1927-11-06
BY WILL DURANT, Phi. D.,
Author of
"The Story Of Philosophy"
The Story of Civilization

always before the coming of the state;
and an Interchangeable faith in their
tribal deity, Yahveh Uahveh, Jeho-
vah), the god of thunder and war.
They needed god as strong as the
hills to bear them up in their centu-
ries of wandering and trial; for Of all
the worlds peoples none has suffered
more.
When first they appear in history
it is as Egyptian immigrants and
slaves; some had been captured in
battle. some had come in slow nomadic
migration from Eastern Arabia-the
land of Ur, where the Two Rivers
pass into the sea. Like immigrants
everywhere, they were given the hard
est work to do; little wonder that to-
ward 1850 BIC. they Joined in a re-
volt and fed from the land, welcom-
ing even the Wilderness in preference
to continued slavery. Who led them,
none now can say; we cannot tell II
Moses Is a historical character, or
the convenient fiction of an Egyptian
princess.
The tale of the Exodus has different
forms in different historians, so that
prejudice has royal choice. The an
cient Greek Choeremon tells of a
plague that broke out in Egypt, and
how the priests persuaded the King
to expel the Jews as source of 1t.
Tacitus and Diodorus Of Sicily tell the
same tale: and though we must allow
a generous discount for the anti-Semi.
tism Of classic historians, it would not
be surprising IL an enslaved people
had found cleanliness an impossible
luxury. Josephus quotes the Egyp-
tian historian Manetho (who wrote
or ID at
dus to desire Of the Egyptians to
protect themselves from a plague of
leprosy that had broken out among
the Jews; Manetho adds that Moses
was an Egyptian priest who Joined the
lepers, led them out of Egypt, and
gave them the laws of cleanliness
modelled on those of the Egyptian
priesthood. 1t Is true that Moses Is
an Egyptian rather than a Hebrew
name; but it Is truer that Manetho is
a lover Of legends. Uosephus, Anti
quities, bk. II; Tacitus, Histories, blk.
", ch. 3; Knappert, the Religion Of
Israel, PIP. 1892; Renan, History of
the People Of Israel, vol. l, p. 134)
Picture the Jews now wandering
for half a century across the PENN.
sula Of Sinai Q150.100 B. c., harassed
with hunger and thirst in a land
dirt and stones; losing faith at times
in their tribal deity. and seeking mys.
tic comfort in exotic gods. For a
while they reverted to the worship
of the serpent and the bull-stranse
phallic cults of the Egyptian peas.
antry. Legend has it that to bring
them back to Yahveh Moses went up
into mountain and came down with
tables OF stones bearing 10 command
ments. of which the first sternly bade
the people to return to their own
god. So the Persians tell how one
day as ZOroaster prayed on a high
mountain the Lord appeared to him,
amid thunder and lightning, and de-
livered to him the Book of the Law"
In the Greek story Dionysus was
called "Lawgiver," and was repre-
sented with tablets Of stone engraved
with laws. The Cretans told of King
Minos receiving laws from God on
Mount Dicta; and Hammurabi. as we
have seen, relied upon the same
diplomacy. Doubles the Decalogue
developed gradually out of the "mores"
or vital customs Of the tribe, as SINH.
lar codes have arisen everywhere, and
not for half a thousand years yet were
they to receive their final formulation.
At last the weary Jews emerged
from the desert and entered the fertile
fields Of Canaan. Story has it that
they fought their way in ruthlessly,
but people could be forgiven a Ger.
tain pertinacity in refusing to re-enter
the Wilderness. Perhaps, too. some
of that creulty was invented by their
own historians, for cruelty was ad.
mired in those days. as it still is in
husbands. What war there was was
soon forgotten: we find the Jews mar.
rying freely with the Canaanites. with
a Semitic people whom they called
Phiiistines. and even with the distant
Hittites, who contributed to the mix.
ture their majestic noses.
Il u
Established in Canaan, the Jews
formed state. and to be in the fash
ion set up king. But their priests
erred in choosing Saul. Nature some
times countermands our coronations
and raises up kings of her own. with
no pedigree but a native power. Out
in the desert a handsome young
brigand by the name of David was
lifting himself to such wealth and in.
fiuence that Hiram, Prince of Tyre.
CONTINUED on Fourteenth Page.)