better of his kinsmen, and by night he wrestled with God. These combined
and highly developed characteristics of mind and nature at least suggest
why the Semites have furnished the greatest prophets and prophet nations
for the moulding of the faith of the world.

[Sidenote: _Inheritance through their Arabian antecedents_]

In contrast with contemporary Semitic nations, and especially the highly
civilized Babylonians, the Hebrews were fortunate in their immediate
inheritances through Arabian or Aramean ancestors. The wandering,
nomadic life leaves no place for established sanctuaries, with their
elaborate ceremonial customs and debasing institutions inherited from
more primitive ages. Instead, that life imposes limitations that make
for simplicity. The mysteries and constant dangers of the wild desert
existence also emphasize the constant necessity of divine help. The long
marches by night under the silent stars inspire awe and enforce
contemplation. The close unity of the tribe suggests the worship of one
tribal god rather than many. From the desert the ancestors of the
Hebrews brought strong bodies, inured to hardship, and a grim austerity
that found frequent expression on the lips of their prophets and a
response in the minds of the people, when luxury threatened to engulf
them. They also inherited from their desert days those democratic ideas
and high ideals of individual liberty which, enabled Elijah and Isaiah
to stand up add champion the rights of the people even though it
involved a public denunciation of their kings.

[Sidenote: _Contact with Babylonian civilization_]

On the other hand, the Israelites undoubtedly became in time the
inheritors of the best in religion and law that had been attained by the