7
THE K I N G ' S BUS I NESS
January^ 1935
There are their idols, their altars, their Astarte figurines and their amulets. Furthermore, we find that their reli gious motifs were often worked into the common objects o f the daily use. The new Israelite houses, on the other hand, show almost nothing o f this Canaanite religion. The Israel ite house normally yields not a single object o f a religious nature. Israel was practicing— that is, most o f Israel was practicing—a pure monotheism, and monotheism leaves no objects for an archaeologist to find. Even in the days of Joshua, however, we know that a certain percentage o f Israel was turning from the pure faith o f Jehovah, to Baalism. There is something pathetic in Joshua’s farewell address when he says: “ Now therefore put away the strange gods which are among you, and in cline your heart unto the Lord, the God o f Israel.” Aqd it is true that in some o f the earlier Israelite houses little plaques of the goddess Astarte are found, but they are rare in number and very soon turn from a distinct idol into an amulet or charm. G o v e r n m e n t a l C h a n g e s
diately upon the ruins o f Canaanite Bethel, the Israelites built a new city, and this new city was absolutely different from the preceding Canaanite city. It is this absolute dif ference in all phases of culture, in military and domestic architecture, in ceramics, in metals, and in religion, that gives the demonstration that the Israelites have come into Palestine and established themselves there. Furthermore, this contrast demonstrates that these Israelites are dis tinctly different in religion and practice. C o n t r a s t in g C u l t u r e s In all early Palestine we find only two major cultures— a Canaanite culture and an Israelite one. The Canaanite culture was distinctly feudal in character, and it had be hind it centuries o f practice, so that by Joshua’s time the Canaanite overlords were enjoying a degree o f material wealth and a distribution o f art and culture through all the phases o f human experience that were never again reached in Palestine until after the days o f Alexander the Great. Foreign importations o f all kinds and native imitations
o f them abound in the Canaanite cities. The architecture o f their cities shows public works that are built only by serf or slave labor, and their private houses are of such magnificence that only a su perfluity o f wealth could either build or maintain them. Now contrast this brilliant Canaanite civilization at its peak with the culture shown by the Is l raelite cities which rise from the ashes o f these conquered Ca naanite cities. That generation o f Israel which was skilled in the arts and crafts o f Egypt had all died during the wilderness jour ney, and their children who were born in the wilderness were by
With the destruction o f the Canaanite feudalism comes a new type o f life founded upon the equality o f men. It is much like modern democracy, and when one studies the Mosaic code and the prophets, he discovers a sur prising relationship between the American theory o f government and the old Mosaic law. Israel conquered a wealthy Canaanite civilization, but it was unable to a p p r o p r i a t e this wealth or to create new wealth. The study o f these old houses from t h e d a y s o f J o s h u a and the Judges shows that Is- r a e l ’ s o n e c o n c e r n w a s
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Imprint of a seal cylinder, showing the Canaanite god Baal and the goddess Astarte in the phase of war deities. This picture, and those on the preceding page, were pro vided by Dr. Kelso, who was a member of the staff in the Palestinian excavations conducted by the late Melvin Grove Kyle in 1926, 1930, and 1932.
for food and shelter. Their granaries and little homes clut ter up the area inside the city walls, whereas in Canaanite days palatial homes with their accommodations for the lord and his slaves occupied the same area. Israel knew pros perity in the days o f Solomon, but not in the days o f Joshua and the Judges. And it is after the prosperity o f the days o f Solomon and his successors in both kingdoms that the great prophetic voices burst out, saying that Israel has for saken its simplicity, its democracy, and its monotheism, and has degenerated into the feudalism and heathenism o f the old Canaanite. A t Debir, also called Kirjath-Sepher, Joshua’s conquest tHIs the same story o f the complete change o f cultures. Here there is the additional evidence o f the Philistine in vasion o f Palestine which followed so shortly upon Josh ua’s conquest, for shortly after the conquest o f Joshua the Philistines won the city and continued to hold it until the time o f David. This Philistine invasion is another reason why we date Joshua’s conquest late. The Philistines did not enter Palestine until after they were defeated by Ram ses the Great, some little time after 1200 B. C. I r o n i n P a l e s t in e In Joshua’s conquest of Palestine, a significant military item appears— the Israelites are unable to conquer parts o f Palestine, especially the plains, because o f the iron char iots o f the Canaanites. Now there is no question whatso ever as to when iron came into Palestine. Every one is agreed that that date was somewhere close to 1200 B. C. Even in the days o f Tut-ankh-amon, who ruled in Egypt [Continued on page 10]
the very nature o f this wilderness denied any opportunity o f learning the arts and crafts from their parents. The re sult was thatwhenever they rebuild a Palestinian city which they have conquered, it lacks all the cultural marks of the conquered Canaanite city. Whenever the Israelites destroyed only a part o f the fortifications o f an old Canaanite city, you can instantly tell the reconstruction work which they put in, for it is vastly inferior both in the type o f masonry used and in the method of building. All distinctly new military works that were put in by the Israelites represent a new principle of construction. Incoming Israel lacked the serf and slave class o f the Canaanites, and thus they did not use a solid type o f masonry which the Canaanites had been able to build with their cheap labor. The Israelite was a free man, and he would not spend all his time carrying rock. Since the conquest, the normal Palestinian city has no longer a solid massive city wall, but two thinner walls bound to gether by casemates. It is a poorer type o f construction, but it represents the work of a democracy versus a feudal state. The new Israelite houses within the city have nothing o f the luxury o f the old Canaanite houses, either in size, con struction, or in furnishings. In comparison with the old Canaanite houses, these little Israelite homes seem more like hovels, The old Canaanite city had wealthSit showed it in every object—but the mere necessities o f existence are all that we can find in these new Israelite homes. Luxury is missing in these houses until about the time o f Solomon. B a a l i s m a n d M o n o t h e is m In the old Canaanite houses we find the objects o f the old Baal-Astarte religion which dominated all o f Canaan.
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