in aspect and in senses, and with many human passions, but with
immensely greater intelligence and power than any other Elohim,
whether human or divine. Further, the evidence proves that this
belief was the basis of the Jahveh-worship to which Samuel and
his followers were devoted; that there is strong reason for
believing, and none for doubting, that idolatry, in the shape of
the worship of the family gods or teraphim, was practised by
sincere and devout Jahveh-worshippers; that the ark, with its
protective tent or tabernacle, was regarded as a specially, but
by no means exclusively, favoured sanctuary of Jahveh; that the
ephod appears to have had a particular value for those who
desired to divine by the help of Jahveh; and that divination by
lots was practised before Jahveh. On the other hand, there is
not the slightest evidence of any belief in retribution after
death, but the contrary; ritual obligations have at least as
strong sanction as moral; there are clear indications that some
of the most stringent of the Levitical laws were unknown even to
Samuel; priests often appear to be superseded by laymen, even in
the performance of sacrifices and divination; and no line of
demarcation can be drawn between necromancer, wizard, seer,
prophet, and priest, each of whom is regarded, like all the
rest, as a medium of communication between the world of Elohim
and that of living men.

The theological system thus defined offers to the anthropologist
no feature which is devoid of a parallel in the known theologies
of other races of mankind, even of those who inhabit parts of
the world most remote from Palestine. And the foundation of the
whole, the ghost theory, is exactly that theological speculation
which is the most widely spread of all, and the most deeply