as in operation
till after the exile: we see in it the worship which Ezra and his
fellow-scribes aimed at introducing in the second temple at
Jerusalem. The worship of the wilderness and of the early period of
Israel in Canaan was of a very different nature. The leading features
and principles of it differed little from what we have described in
former parts of this book (chapter v., chapter x.). It was conducted
according to custom rather than statute, and its leading
characteristic was that it was a common meal at which the god was
present along with his worshippers, and assurances were given that
the good understanding still continued which bound the tribesmen to
their god and each other. It was by the person of his god rather than
by a more elaborate worship, or a more numerous priesthood, that
Israel was distinguished from Moab and Ammon.

Contact with Canaanite Religion.--After being delivered out of Egypt
by the power of Jehovah, and entering Canaan, Israel was placed in a
position in which it is wonderful, indeed, that the national
character and the national religion were not merged in those of the
surrounding population. Bringing with them the few ideas and the
scanty appliances of the wilderness, they found themselves dwelling
amid a people whose civilisation was fully formed, and who possessed
a comparatively elaborate worship. The tribes of Canaan spoke the
same language, and were of the same race with themselves, but had
advanced to the higher life of agriculture and of cities. Their
worship was the same in principle as that of Israel, but it had a
higher organisation. The land was studded with sacred places, the
sanctity of which Israel could not deny, and which formed centres of
pilgrimage and worship. The worship of the Canaanites was described
in last chapter (chapter xi.); the reader will remember the upright
stone (masseba) representing the Baal, and the tree-trunk (ashera),
if there was no living tree, representing the goddess. If all this or
most of it was new to the Israelites, so was the sacred year which
fixed the seasons of worship in Canaan. Minor festivals were fixed by
the appearance of the new moon, or by the regular return of the
seventh day (it is doubtful if the Sabbath was observed in the
wilderness, it is connected with agriculture, and is scarcely
compatible with pastoral life); greater ones by the epochs of the
year, such as harvest and vintage. The worship connected with
agricultur