decline that followed his death, the incentive to take up the pen and
record the departed glories became strong. With a large body of definite
oral traditions dealing with all the important men and events of the
earlier periods, the task of the historian was chiefly that of writing
down and coordinating what was already at hand.

[Sidenote: _The early Judean prophetic history_]

The oldest Hebrew history that has been preserved in the Old Testament
was the work of an unknown Judean prophet or group of prophets who lived
and labored probably during the latter part of the ninth century before
Christ. This history corresponds closely in relative age and aim to
Mark's graphic narrative of the chief facts in the life of Jesus. The
motive which influenced the earliest historians both of the Old and New
Testaments to write was primarily the religious significance of the
events which they thus recorded. This early Judean prophetic history
(technically known as J) begins with the account of the creation of man
from the dust by the hand of Jehovah, and tells of the first sin and its
dire consequences (Gen. ii. 4 to iii. 24); then it gives an ancient list
of those who stood as the fathers of nomads, of musicians and workers in
metal (Gen. iv. 1, l6b-26). This is followed by the primitive stories
of the sons of God and the daughters of men (Gen. vi. 1-4), of Noah the
first vineyard-keeper (ix. 20-27), and of the tower of Babel and the
origin of different languages (xi. 1-9). In a series of more or less
closely connected narratives the character and experiences of the
patriarchs, the life of the Hebrews in Egypt and the wilderness, and the
settlement in Canaan are presented. Its basis for the history of the
united kingdom was for the most part the wonderfully graphic group of
Saul and David stories which occupy the bulk of the books of Samuel.
Thus this remarkable early Judean prophetic history begins with the