It cannot have been known at all to the Book of the Covenant, for
there (Exodus xxii. 29, 30) the command is to leave the firstling
seven days with its dam and on the eighth day to give it to
Jehovah. Probably through the predominance gained by agriculture
and the feasts founded on it the passover fell into disuse in many
parts of Israel, and kept its ground only in districts where the
pastoral and wilderness life still retained its importance. This
would also explain why the passover first comes clearly into
light when Judah alone survives after the fall of Samaria. In
2Kings xxiii. 21 seq. we are told that in the eighteenth year of
King Josiah the passover was held according to the precept of the
law (Deut xvi.), and that for the first time,--never until then from
the days of the Judges had it been so observed. If in this passage
the novelty of the institution is so strongly insisted on, the
reference is less to the essence of the thing than to the manner of
celebration as enjoined in Deuteronomy. Agriculture was learned by
the Hebrews from the Canaanites in whose land they settled, and
in commingling with whom they, during the period of the Judges,
made the transition to a sedentary life.
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