there, but it was averted by those whom their adversaries
called the disturbers of Israel. And even to the last, when the sway
of Judaism was undisputed, the Hebraic culture could not be severed
from the soil in which it was rooted. It was part of a world-culture
just as it contributed itself thereto.

Whether living in amity or in warfare, nations influence each other to
a marked degree. They exchange the products of their soils and their
industry--they also give and take spiritual possessions. Culture is a
compound product. The factors that are contributory to its make-up are
the soil and the racial endowment recoiling against the domination
from without which, though not wholly overcome, is resisted with might
and main. Cultures are national amidst an international culture. They
express themselves in a variety of ways, chiefly in language and
literature. For while blood is thicker than water, the pen is mightier
than the sword. Out of a mass of myth and legend and worldly wisdom
the Hebrews constructed, in accordance with their own bent of mind,
their cosmogonies and ballads and collections of proverbs. At every
shrine the priests narrated to the throngs of worshippers the
marvelous stories of local or national interest.

_The Difference Between Hebraic Culture and Judaism_

THE chief feature of the Hebraic culture was that it was joyous. The
somber seriousness of latter-day Judaism had not yet penetrated it.
Israel rejoiced like the nations. The young men and maidens danced and
wooed in the precincts of the sanctuaries which dotted the country
from Dan to Beersheba. The festivals were seasons of joy, the
festivals of the harvest and of the vintage. The prophets called them
carousals and dubbed the gentlemen of Samaria drunkards. Probably
there were excesses. But life was enjoyed so long as the heavens
withdrew not the moisture which the husbandman was in need of. The
wars which the Kings waged were the wars of the Lord, and the exploits
of the warriors were rehearsed throughout the land--they were spoken
of as the Lord's righteous acts. National victories strengthened the
national consciousness. Taunt songs were scattered on broadsides. The
enemy was lampooned. At the height of national prosperity, when Israel
dwelt in safety in a land of corn and wine moistened with the dew of
the heavens, the pride of the nation expressed itself in the paean,
"Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, a people victorio