tset we are impressed by the fact that the Ethics of Judaeism
was inseparable from its religion. Moral obligations were conceived as
divine commands, and the moral law as a revelation of the divine will.
At first Jehovah was simply a tribal deity, but gradually this
restricted view gave place to the wider conception of God as the
sovereign of all men. The divine commandment is the criterion and
measure of man's obedience. Evil, while it has its source and head in
a hostile but subsidiary power, consists in violation of Jehovah's will.

There are three main channels of Hebrew revelation, commonly known as
the _Law_, the _Prophecy_, and _Poetry_ of Old Testament.

1. LAW

(1) _The Mosaic Legislation_ centering in the Decalogue[10] is the
first stage of Old Testament Ethic. The ten commandments, whether
derived from Mosaic enactment or representing a later summary of duty,
hold a supreme and formative place in the teaching of the Old
Testament. All, not even excepting the fourth, are purely moral
requirements. They are, however, largely negative; the fifth
commandment only rising to positive duty. They are also merely
external, regulative of outward conduct. The sixth and seventh protect
the rights of persons, while the eighth guards outward property.
Though these laws may be shown to have their roots in the moral
consciousness of mankind, they were at first restricted by Israel in
their scope and practice to its own tribes.

(2) _The Civil laws_ present a second factor in the ethical education
of Israel. The 'Book of the Covenant'[11] reveals a certain
advancement in political legislation. Still the {46} hard and legal
enactments of retaliation--'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a
tooth'--disclose a barbarous conception of right. Alongside of these
primitive laws must be set those of a more humane nature--laws with
regard to release, the permission of gleaning, the privileges of the
year of jubilee.

(3) _The Ceremonial laws_ embody a third element in the moral life of
Israel. These had to do chiefly with commands and prohibitions
relative to personal conduct--'Meats and drinks and diverse washings';
and with sacrifices and forms of ritual worship.[12]

With regard to the moral value of the commandments two opposite errors
are to be avoided. We must not refuse to recognise in the Old
Testament the record of a true, if elementary and imperfect, revelation
of God. But also we must beware of exalting