y and flourishing period appeared the book of the Wars of
Jehovah,(31) a heroic anthology, celebrating warlike deeds; and the book
of Jashar,(32) also poetical. Jehoshaphat is mentioned as court-annalist
to David and Solomon.(33) Above all, the Elohists now appeared, the first
of whom, in the reign of Saul, was author of annals, beginning at the
earliest time which were distinguished by genealogical and chronological
details as well as systematic minuteness, by archaic simplicity, and by
legal prescriptions more theoretical than practical. The long genealogical
registers with an artificial chronology and a statement of the years of
men's lives, the dry narratives, the precise accounts of the gradual
enlargement of divine laws, the copious description of the tabernacle and
the institution of divine worship, are wearisome, though pervaded by a
theoretic interest which looks at everything from a legal point of view. A
second or junior Elohist was less methodical and more fragmentary,
supplying additional information, furnishing new theocratic details, and
setting forth the relation of Israel to heathen nations and to God. In
contrast with his predecessor, he has great beauty of description, which
is exemplified in the account of Isaac's sacrifice and the history of
Joseph; in picturesque and graphic narratives interspersed with few
reflections. His parallels to the later writer commonly called the
Jehovist, are numerous. The third author, who lived in the time of Uzziah,
though more mythological than the Elohists, was less formal. His
stand-point is prophetic. The third document incorporated with the
Elohistic ones formed an important part of the whole, exhibiting a
vividness which the first lacked; with descriptions of persons and things
from another stand-point. The Jehovist belonged to the northern kingdom;
the Elohists were of Judah.

The state of the nation after Rehoboam was unfavorable to literature. When
the people were threatened and attacked by other nations, divided among
themselves in worship and all higher interests, rent by conflicting
parties, the theocratic principle which was the true bond of union could
not assert itself with effect. The people were corrupt; their religious
life debased. The example of the kings was usually prejudicial to
political healthiness. Contact with foreigners as well as with the older
inhabitants of the land, hindered progress. In these circumstances the
prophets were the true ref