(3) The essentially and necessarily national character of the older
phases of the religion of Jehovah completely disappears in the quite
universal code of morals which is given in the Decalogue as the
fundamental law of Israel; but the entire series of religious
personalities throughout the period of the judges and the kings--
from Deborah, who praised Jael's treacherous act of murder, to David,
who treated his prisoners of war with the utmost cruelty--make it
very difficult to believe that the religion of Israel was from
the outset one of a specifically moral character. The true spirit
of the old religion may be gathered much more truly from Judges v.
than from Exod. xx.
(4) It is extremely doubtful whether the actual monotheism which
is undoubtedly pre-supposed in the universal moral precepts of
the Decalogue could have formed the foundation of a national
religion. It was first developed out of the national religion at
the downfall of the nation, and thereupon kept its hold upon the
people in an artificial manner by means of the idea of a covenant
formed by the God of the universe with, in the first instance,
Israel alone (compare sections 6-10).
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