e in the early world is of a noisy and frantic order; and
where gods are worshipped who are connected with fertility, it is
apt, as we saw, to be marked by sexual features.

Danger of Fusion.--The Israelites were naturally prompted to adopt
what they could of the religion of the Canaanites. The old sacred
places of the land, whether connected with their own ancestral
traditions or not, they could not help adopting; it would have been
strange, indeed, if, when they became agriculturists, they had not
adopted the agricultural festivals; and if, as was natural, they
regarded the Baal of the Canaanite as the lord of the land and the
giver of its fertility, their thanks for the harvest would be
addressed to him (Hosea ii. 8). Their worship of Jehovah could not be
left poorer than that which their neighbours addressed to Baal; for
it also they erected asheras and made use of standing stones, and of
Jehovah also they had images. One of these, which was destroyed by
Hezekiah, was in the form of a serpent: in other places Jehovah was
worshipped under the form of a bull. Where an image of him was kept,
he could be consulted by means of lots or in other ways. The ark or
chest which was kept at one of the more important shrines,
represented him most fully; it was carried into battle, and he was
thought to go with it.

Religious Conflict.--But the more developed worship thus paid to
Jehovah after the settlement in Canaan, as it had not grown out of
the religion of Jehovah, did not truly express its spirit, and was
felt by those who believed most thoroughly in the national god, to be
a wrong way of serving him. If, moreover, the Israelites, who lived
scattered and far apart from each other among the older inhabitants,
went so far in adopting Canaanite practices, there was a danger that
Israel would forget the faith which had made him a nation, and thus
part entirely with his character and nationality. A contest thus
arose, which continued during the whole of Israelite history down to
the exile, between the few who cared for Jehovah only, and desired to
see the principles of his religion carried out purely and without
reserve, and the many who, while also professing to follow Jehovah,
saw no harm in worshipping him as other gods were worshipped, or even
in addressing other gods as well as him. This struggle is represented
in the histories as if Israel had from time to time become entirely
apostate from its own faith. But it is clear