s of worship, Moses is said to have made the
Tabernacle--a pavilion of wood covered with skins and hangings. It was
a portable temple which the Hebrews carried with them until they could
erect a true temple in the promised land.

=The Temple.=--The Temple of Jerusalem, built at last under Solomon,
was divided into three parts:

1.--To the rear, the Holy of Holies, in which rested the ark of
the covenant; the high-priest only had the right to enter here,
and that but once a year.

2.--In the middle, the Holy Place, in which were kept the altar of
incense, the candle-stick with the seven arms, the table of
shew-bread; the priests entered to burn incense and to present the
offerings.

3.--At the front, the Court open to the people, where the victims
were sacrificed on the great altar.

The Temple of Jerusalem was from the first the centre of the nation;
from all Palestine the people came to be present at the ceremonies.
The high-priest who directed the worship was a person sometimes of
greater power than the king.

THE PROPHETS

=Disasters of Israel.=--Solomon was the last king who enjoyed great
power. After him ten tribes separated themselves and constituted the
kingdom of Israel, whose inhabitants worshipped the golden calves and
the gods of the Phoenicians. Two tribes only remained faithful to
Jehovah and to the king at Jerusalem; these formed the kingdom of
Judah (977).[42] The two kingdoms exhausted their energies in making
war on each other. Then came the armies of the Eastern conquerors;
Israel was destroyed by Sargon, king of Assyria (722); Judah, by
Nabuchodonosor (Nebuchadrezzar), king of Chaldea (586).

=Sentiments of the Israelites.=--Faithful Israelites regarded these
woes as a chastisement: God was punishing his people for their
disobedience; as before, he delivered them from their conquerors. "The
children of Israel had sinned against Jehovah, their God, they had
built them high places in every city, they imitated the nations around
them, although the Lord had forbidden them to do like them; they made
them idols of brass; they bowed themselves before all the host of
heaven [the stars], they worshipped Baal. It is for this that Jehovah
rejected all the race of Israel, he afflicted them and delivered them
into the hands of those that plundered them."

=The Prophets.=--Then appeared the prophets, or as they were called,
the Seers: Elijah, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel. Usually they c