such as the Song of the Well, the Hymn of Moses, the
triumphal Ode of Deborah, and the blessing of Jacob.* They were able to
draw upon traditions which preserved the memory of what had taken
place in the time of the Judges;** and when that patriarchal form of
government was succeeded by a monarchy, they had narratives of the ark
of the Lord and its wanderings, of Samuel, Saul, David, and Solomon,***
not to mention the official records which, since then, had been
continuously produced and accumulated by the court historians.****

* The books of _Jashar_ and of the _Wars of the Lord_ appear
to date from the IXth century B.C.; as the latter is quoted
in the Elohist narrative, it cannot have been compiled later
than the beginning of the VIIIth century B.C. The passage in
Numb. xxi. lib, 15, is the only one expressly attributed by
the testimony of the ancients to the _Book of the Wars of
the Lord,_ but modern writers add to this the _Song of the
Well _(Numb. xxi. 17b, 18), and the Song of Victory over
Moab (Numb. xxi. 27&-30). The _Song of the Bow_ (2 Sam. i.
19-27) admittedly formed part of the _Book of Jashar_.
Joshua's Song of Victory over the Amorites (Josh. x. 13),
and very probably the couplet recited by Solomon at the
dedication of the Temple (1 Kings viii, 12, 13, placed by
the LXX. after verse 53), also formed part of it, as also
the _Song of Deborah_ and the Blessing of Jacob (Gen. xlix.
1-27).

** Wellhausen was the first to admit the existence of a Book
of Judges prior to the epoch of Deuteronomy, and his opinion
has been adopted by Kuenen and Driver. This book was
probably drawn upon by the two historians of the IXth and
VIIIth centuries B.C. of whom we are about to speak; some of
the narratives, such as the story of Abimelech, and possibly
that of Ehud, may have been taken from a document written at
the end of the Xth or the beginning of the IXth centuries
B.C.

*** The revolutions which occurred in the family of David (2
Sam. ix.-xx.) bear so evident a stamp of authenticity that
they have been attributed to a contemporary writer, perhaps
Ahimaaz, son of Zadok (2 Sam. xv. 27), who took part in the
events in question. But apart from this, the existence is
generally admitted of two or three books which were drawn up
shortly after the separation of the