Hammurabi, belonged to that wave of nomadic emigration which swept out
of overpopulated northern Arabia about 2500 B.C., part of it to settle
finally in Babylonia and part in Palestine.

[Sidenote: _Why were they the chosen people?_]

Whatever be the exact date of their advent, the much mooted and more
fundamental question at once presents itself, Why were the Hebrews "the
chosen people"? It is safe to assert at once that this was not arbitrary
nor without reason. Moreover, the choice was not that of a moment, but
gradual. Rather the real question is, By what divine process were the
Israelites prepared to be the chosen people that their later prophets
and the event of history declare them to be? Certain definite historical
reasons at once suggest themselves; and these in turn throw new light
upon the true relation of the Old Testament to divine revelation as a
whole.

[Sidenote: _Their preparation to be the chosen people: genius for
religion_]

There is undoubtedly a basis for what Renan was pleased to call, "the
Semitic genius for religion." It is a truly significant fact that the
three great conquering religions of the world, Judaism, Christianity,
and Mohammedanism, sprang from Semitic soil. To this might be added the
religion of Babylonia, which, was unquestionably the noblest of early
antiquity. In general the Semitic mind is keen, alert, receptive, and
intuitional rather than logical. Restless energy and the tendency to
acquire have also tended to make them leaders in the widely different
fields of commerce and religion. The patriarch Jacob is a remarkable
example of these combined qualities and results. By day he got the