itish theology, but
not for the true observers of the Sinaitic legislation. The answer to
the objection is that--so far as I can form a judgment of that which is
well ascertained in the history of Israel--there is very little ground
for believing that we know much, either about the theological and social
value of the influence of Moses, or about what happened during the
wanderings in the Desert.

The account of the Exodus and of the occurrences in the Sinaitic
peninsula; in fact, all the history of Israel before the invasion of
Canaan, is full of wonderful stories, which may be true, in so far as
they are conceivable occurrences, but which are certainly not probable,
and which I, for one, decline to accept until evidence, which deserves
that name, is offered of their historical truth. Up to this time I know
of none. [28] Furthermore, I see no answer to the argument that one
has no right to pick out of an obviously unhistorical statement the
assertions which happen to be probable and to discard the rest. But it
is also certain that a primitively veracious tradition may be smothered
under subsequent mythical additions, and that one has no right to cast
away the former along with the latter. Thus, perhaps the fairest way of
stating the case may be as follows.

There can be no _a priori_ objection to the supposition that the
Israelites were delivered from their Egyptian bondage by a leader called
Moses, and that he exerted a great influence over their subsequent
organisation in the Desert. There is no reason to doubt that, during
their residence in the land of Goshen, the Israelites knew nothing
of Jahveh; but, as their own prophets declare (see Ezek. xx.), were
polytheistic idolaters, sharing in the worst practices of their
neighbours. As to their conduct in other respects, nothing is known. But
it may fairly be suspected that their ethics were not of a higher order
than those of Jacob, their progenitor, in which case they might derive
great profit from contact with Egyptian society, which held honesty and
truthfulness in the highest esteem. Thanks to the Egyptologers, we now
know, with all requisite certainty, the moral standard of that society
in the time, and long before the time, of Moses. It can be determined
from the scrolls buried with the mummified dead and from the
inscriptions on the tombs and memorial statues of that age. For,
though the lying of epitaphs is proverbial, so far as their subject is
concerned, th