thunder "which shaketh the wilderness," His breath was as "a
consuming fire," and He was decked with light "as with a garment." When
His anger was aroused, He withheld the dew and rain from watering the
earth; but when His wrath was appeased, the heavens again poured their
fruitful showers upon the fields.***

* Simeon is derived by some from a word which at times
denotes a hyena, at others a cross between a dog and a
hyena, according to Arab lexicography. With regard to Caleb,
Renan prefers a different interpretation; it is supposed to
be a shortened form of Kalbel, and "Dog of El" is a strong
expression to denote the devotion of a tribe to its patron
god.

** Cf. the graphic description of the signs which
accompanied the manifestations of Jahveh in the _Song of
Deborah (Judges_ v. 4, 5), and also in 1 _Kings_ xix. 11-13.

*** See 1 _Kings_ xvii., xviii., where the conflict between
Elijah and the prophets of Baal for the obtaining of rain is
described.

He is described as being a "jealous God," brooking no rival, and
"visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third
and fourth generation." We hear of His having been adored under the
figure of a "calf,"* and of His Spirit inspiring His prophets, as well
as of the anointed stones which were dedicated in His honour. The common
ancestor of the nation was acknowledged to have been Jacob, who, by his
wrestling with God, had obtained the name of Israel; the people were
divided theoretically into as many tribes as he had sons, but the number
twelve to which they were limited does not entirely correspond with all
that we know up to the present time of these "children of Israel." Some
of the tribes appear never to have had any political existence, as for
example that of Levi,** or they were merged at an early date into some
fellow-tribe, as in the case of Reuben with Gad;*** others, such as
Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin, and Judah, apparently did not attain their
normal development until a much later date.

* The most common of these animal forms was that of a calf
or bull (Exod. xxxii.; Deut. ix. 21; and in the kingly
period, 1 Kings xii. 28-30; 2 Kings x. 29); we are not told
the form of the image of Micah the Ephraimite (Judges xviii.
14, 17, 18, 20, 30, 31).

** Levi appears to have suffered dispersion after the events
of which there are two separat