The remaining six were the sons of
Leah:--Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah; Issachar, Zebulon. They are
always enumerated in this order; the fact that the last two are
also invariably mentioned apart from the rest and after Joseph
has its explanation in geographical considerations.
The time of Moses is invariably regarded as the properly creative
period in Israel's history, and on that account also as giving
the pattern and norm for the ages which followed. In point of
fact the history of Israel must be held to have begun then, and
the foundations of a new epoch to have been laid. The prophets
who came after gave, it is true, greater distinctness to the peculiar
character of the nation, but they did not make it; on the contrary,
it made them. Again, it is true that the movement which
resulted in the establishment of the monarchy brought together
for the first time into organic unity the elements which
previously had existed only in an isolated condition; but
Israel's sense of national personality was a thing of much earlier
origin, which even in the time of the judges bound the
various tribes and families together, and must have had a great
hold on the mind of the nation, although there was no formal and
binding constitution to give it support.
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