therefore, the first step was to put him in good humour by
gifts; and if one desired to escape his wrath, which might be
excited by the most trifling neglect or unintentional
disrespect, the great thing was to pacify him by costly
presents. King Finow appears to have been somewhat of a
freethinker (to the great horror of his subjects), and it was
only his untimely death which prevented him from dealing with
the priest of a god, who had not returned a favourable answer to
his supplications, as Saul dealt with the priests of the
sanctuary of Jahveh at Nob. Nevertheless, Finow showed his
practical belief in the gods during the sickness of a daughter,
to whom he was fondly attached, in a fashion which has a close
parallel in the history of Israel.


"If the gods have any resentment against us, let the whole
weight of vengeance fall on my head. I fear not their vengeance
--but spare my child; and I earnestly entreat you, Toobo Totai
[the god whom he had evoked], to exert all your influence with
the other gods that I alone may suffer all the punishment they
desire to inflict (vol. i. p. 354).


So when the king of Israel has sinned by "numbering the people,"
and they are punished for his fault by a pestilence which slays
seventy thousand innocent men, David cries to Jahveh:--


Lo, I have sinned, and I have done perversely; but these sheep,
what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me,