t h i s e p o c h , a s to th e e x tr em e p a r t i c u l a r i ty ( I shmael b e in g o u tlaw e d )
w i t h w h i c h t h e y p r e s e r v e d t h e p u r i ty o f t h e i r b lo o d , a s w e ll a s t h e
c u s tom o f “ s l e e p in g w i t h t h e i r f a th e r s .”
Who the Canaanites were has been amply treated in Part II. It
suffices here to note that Kna means “ low;” and that Canaanites,
as lowlanders, were naturally repugnant, at first, to the ABRaMidas,
or “ highlanders” of Chaldsean hills.
Let us follow this peculiar people through the next remarkable page
of their history. The whole sept amounted to seventy persons in
number, viz.: Jacob and his eleven sons, who, with their families,,
by the invitation of Joseph, the twelfth, migrated to Egypt; and were
thereupon settled in the land of Goshen, apart from the Egyptians.
Thus secluded, they must have preserved their national type tolerably
unchanged down to the time of the Exodus, when they carried it back
with them to the land of Canaan. Exceptional instances fortify the
rule: else why should the genesiacal writer particularize the marriage
of J o s e p h with ASHeiTA (the devoted to the goddess Neith), daughter
of P o t i p h a r (PET-HER-PHRE, the belonging to the gods Horus and
R a— “ priest of On,” Heliopolis), an Egyptian woman ?68 J u d a h had
begotten illegitimate children by the Canaanite S h u a h ;69 M o s e s , bom,
and educated in Egypt so thoroughly as to be called a “ Mizrite-
man,”m had wedded an Arabian Z ip p o r a h , Tsi-PARaH (literally,
daughter of the god Ra), the daughter of J e t h r o , a pagan “ priest
of M id i a n 71 and, besides the GouM AaRaB, Arab-horde (falsely
rendered “mixed multitude” 72), that journeyed with the Sinaic Israelites,
and with whom there must have been illicit connexions, there was
at least one son of an Egyptian man, by an Israelitish woman, in the
camp.73 Other examples of early Hebrew proclivity can be found;
but these suffice to indicate exceptions to the law afterwards promulgated.
TJnder the command of Joshua, the land of Canaan was conquered,
and divided amongst the twelve tribes; and from that time
down to the final destruction of the Temple by Titus (70 a . p .), a
period of about 1500 years, this country was more or less occupied by
them. They were, however, almost incessantly harassed by civil and
foreign wars, captivities, and calamities of various kinds; and their
blood became more or less adulterated with that of Syro-Arabian races
around them; the type of whom, however, did not differ materially
from their own.
We shall not impose on the patience of the reader, by recapitulating
the long list of evidences which are found in history, both sacred
and profane, to prove the comparative purity of the blood of the
Israelites down to the time of their dispersion (70 a . d .). The avoidance
of marriages with other races was enjoined by their religion,
and this custom has been perpetuated, in an extraordinary degree,
through all their wanderings, and under all their oppressions, down
to the present day. ,. ‘ ,
But, while all must agree, that the Jews have, for ages, clung
together with an adhesiveness and perseverance unknown, perhaps, to
any other people, and that their lineaments, in consequence, have
been preserved with extraordinary fidelity ; it must, on the other
hand, be admitted that the «race has not entirely escaped adulteration
/ and it is for this reason that we not unfrequently see, amongst,
those professing the Jewish religion, faces which do not bear the
stamp of the pure Abrahamic stock. We have only to turn to
the records of the Old Testament, to find proofs, on almost every
page, that' the ancieiit Hebrews, like the modern, were but human
beings, and subject to all the infirmities of our nature. Even those
venerable heads of the Hebrew monarchy, whose names stand out
as the land-marks of sacred history, were not untarnished by the
moral darkness which covered the early inhabitants of the earth.
The history of fhe connubial life of the patriarchs, Abraham and
Jacob, presents a picture quite revolting to the standard of our day.
After the promulgation of the Mosaic laws, the Israelites were
expressly forbidden to intermarry with aliens ; and yet the injunction
was often disregarded. Abraham; besides his Arab wife K eto u r a ii ,
and Joseph, as just shown, had both taken women from among the
Egyptians ; and Moses had espoused an Arab (Cushite ?). David, the
man after God’s own heart, long after the promulgation of the law,
not only had his concubines, but so far forgot himself as to commit
adultery with Bathsheba, fhe wife of Hriah, the Hittite ; and, after
murdering the husband, married her, and she became the mother of
the celebrated Solomon. Kext, on the throne, came Solomon him-
■ self, whose career, opening wrtji murder, closed in Paganism. He also
married an Egyptian (a princess) ; enjoying, besides, seven hundred
other wives and three hundred concubines : for “ King Solomon loved
many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh — women
of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, Hittites, and of
other nations:” 74 and so promiscuous was his philogamy, that some
commentators have imputed scandal even to the “ Queen of Sheba,”
the sombre belle of Southern Arabia. Even the noble-hearted Judah,
the “ Lion's Whelp,” the last column of the twelve that stood erect
in the sight of Jehovah, and whose especial mission it was to règenerate
and raise up the fallen race in purity and power, even he, not
only wedded an impure Canaanite, but was tempted to crime by his
own daughter-in-law, disguised as a harlot, on the road-side ; and, so
far from repenting the sin, he had two children by her. Mor need