As we learn from the New Testament, the Jews and the Samaritans in
the days of Jesus were not agreed on the question which was the
proper place of worship, but that there could be only one was
taken to be as certain as the unity of God Himself. The Jews
maintained that place to be the temple at Jerusalem, and when it
was destroyed they ceased to sacrifice. But this oneness of the
sanctuary in Israel was not originally recognised either in fact
or in law; it was a slow growth of time. With the help of the Old
Testament we are still quite able to trace the process. In doing
so, it is possible to distinguish several stages of development.
We shall accordingly proceed to inquire whether the three
constituent parts of the Pentateuch give tokens of any
relationship to one or other of these; whether and how they fall
in with the course of the historical development which we are able
to follow by the aid of the historical and prophetic books from
the period of the Judges onwards.

I.I.1. For the earliest period of the history of Israel, all
that precedes the building of the temple, not a trace can be found
of any sanctuary of exclusive legitimacy. In the Books of Judges
and Samuel hardly a place is mentioned at which we have not at
least casual mention of an altar and of sacrifice. In great
measure this multiplicity of sanctuaries was part of the heritage
taken over from the Canaanites by the Hebrews; as they
appropriated the towns and the culture generally of the previous
inhabitants, so also did they take possession of their sacred
piaces. The system of high places (Bamoth), with all the
apparatus thereto belonging, is certainly Canaanite originally
(Deut. xii.2, 30; Num. xxxiii.52; Exodus xxxiv.12 seq.), but