Max Beer

“ The people began dimly to realise the contradiction between their external conditions and their spiritual life. To save them from their perplexities two ways suggested themselves, either to adapt the conception of Yahve to the new conditions, or to worship Baal. As far as we may gather from JUDGES, the spiritual crisis was long in finding any solution. The Beni Israel drifted. Many of them abandoned Yahve and hankered after Baal, while others adhered unswervingly to the stern worship of Yahve, and fought the influences of the Canaanite religion. ”

“ Similar relations must have existed between the Hebrew lands lying on the flank of the Egypto-Syrian trade route. By their capacity of exporting agricultural products, the Hebrews were drawn into the vortex of international commerce. The effect of commerce and money transactions on communist settlements is necessarily a dissolving one. The families who enter into commercial relations are not long in developing a sense of private property, which can only be realised by alienating lands in possession of the tribe ”

“ After the defeat of the petty chiefs of Canaan and the conquest of their territories, the Beni Israel surveyed the land and divided it among the tribes. The division of the lands is related with much detail in the Hebrew Domesday Book, which is to be found in the last chapters of NUMBERS and in chapters 12 to 22 in JOSHUA. The lands were taken in possession by the tribes and not by the individuals composing the new Hebrew society. ”