feast, and it has been already shown that that which was set
apart on the altar, or consumed by fire, was spoken of as the
food of Elohim, who was thought to be influenced by the
costliness, or by the pleasant smell, of the sacrifice in favour
of the sacrificer.

All this bears out the view that, in the mind of the old
Israelite, there was no difference, save one of degree, between
one Elohim and another. It is true that there is but little
direct evidence to show that the old Israelites shared the
widespread belief of their own, and indeed of all times, that
the spirits of the dead not only continue to exist, but are
capable of a ghostly kind of feeding and are grateful for such
aliment as can be assimilated by their attenuated substance, and
even for clothes, ornaments, and weapons.<12> That they were
familiar with this doctrine in the time of the captivity is
suggested by the well-known reference of Ezekiel (xxxii. 27) to
the "mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, which are gone
down to [Sheol] hell with their weapons of war, and have laid
their swords under their heads." Perhaps there is a still
earlier allusion in the "giving of food for the dead" spoken of
in Deuteronomy (xxvi. 14).<13>

It must be remembered that the literature of the old Israelites,
as it lies before us, has been subjected to the revisal of
strictly monotheistic editors, violently opposed to all kinds of
idolatry, who are not likely to have selected from the materials
at their disposal any obvious evidence, either of the practice
under discussion, or of that ancestor-worship which is so
closely related to it, for preservation in the permanent records