that Israel never forgot
Jehovah so far as to be incapable of being called back to him. The
call was generally a call to war. The people, having forgotten the
true source of their strength, and so lost spirit and became a prey
to their enemies, were summoned by one in whom the spirit of Jehovah
was burning freshly, to follow him to battle against their enemies.
The spirit of Jehovah, thus applied anew to the hearts of his people,
did not fail of its effect. The wave of courage and of martial ardour
spread from place to place, from tribe to tribe, and soon an army
stood in the field which struck with the old vigour, and soon shook
off the yoke of the oppressor. Jehovah thus proved himself to be
Jehovah Sebaoth, _i.e._, in the most probable rendering of the
phrase, the God of the armies of his people. A religion which proved
itself in this way could never cease to be a power in the heart of
the nation; even if the tribes, dispersing again after a victory,
soon seemed to lose touch of each other, and to be sinking deeper
than ever in the surrounding tide of Canaanite life, yet the faith,
which was associated with all the highest moments of their past
history, and was the secret of all their victories, could not die.

The Monarchy.--It was a great advance, however, in the history of the
religion of Israel, when the judges or heroes who appeared, at
distant intervals of time and in different parts of the country, to
summon Israel to fight for freedom in the name of Jehovah, were
succeeded by the monarchy. This was a step which those most zealous
for the national faith warmly approved, and, indeed, themselves
brought about; the monarchy was founded, in the case of the first two
kings, on religious enthusiasm. The religion of Jehovah at once
became the state religion, and a more satisfactory worship was formed
at the court. The permanent union of the tribes under the monarchy
soon showed Israel to be possessed of much greater force than could
have been imagined, and within a century the people of Jehovah formed
a considerable power, which was heard of in all ends of the earth.
Instead of a set of scattered tribes they were now a homogeneous
people, conscious of a great past and looking forward to a still
greater future. As they passed rapidly from barbarism to
civilisation, Jehovah shared their rise. His energy had always been
undoubted, but he now put on in addition all the settled attributes
of kingly power--he was a great