direction. Canaan, on the contrary, is shut in, with no good harbors
along the Mediterranean; and its largest river system leads to the Dead
Sea, far below the surface of the ocean,--an effective negation to all
commerce. Although thus shut in by itself, Canaan lies on the isthmus of
fertile land that connects the great empires of the Nile and the
Euphrates. On the east and south it is always subject to the influences
and waves of immigration, that come from the Arabian desert. It
attracted from their nomadic life the ancestors of the Israelites, and
during their early period of development gave them a secluded home. When
they were ready to learn the larger lessons in the stream of life, Egypt
and the great empires of the Tigris and Euphrates valley contended for
them, conquered and ultimately scattered them throughout the then known
world. While their conquerors, Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Persia,
Greece, and Rome, the greatest powers of the ancient world, took from
them their gold and their freedom, from the same conquerors they appear
to have received the infinitely more precious treasures of tradition and
thought.

[Sidenote: _Trained by remarkable national experience_]

Great as was their heritage from the past, the truth that came through
the Hebrews themselves constitutes by far the greatest and most
significant part of that revelation which the Old Testament records.
Their history suggests the ways in which, Jehovah opened the spiritual
eyes of the people. From the beginning to the present day it has been
characterized by a series of crises unparalleled in the life of any
other race. Experiences, intense and often superlatively painful, have
come to them in rapid succession, forcing them to think and develop. The
little street Arab, alert, resourceful, uncanny in his prematurity, is a
modern illustration of what grim necessity and experience can produce.