THE WORLD OF SPIRITS
+Awe.+--A fundamental sense of awe was felt in the presence of anything
unusual or contrary to experience, and man's instinctive philosophy
shaped his ideas from the suggestions of daily life, accounting for all
cases of causation by assimilating them to the intentional acts of
voluntary agents like himself. There was no doubt of the existence and
influence of surrounding unseen powers; they must be cajoled, appeased,
bribed and rewarded. Some were inevitably malevolent; with others man
could enter into relations which were mutually beneficial. Even at the
present day there is no clear distinction between what we should call
the natural and the supernatural; a demon or a saint can appear in
human or animal form; and the marvel or miracle is that which happens
to lie outside the intellectual horizon of the individual. The modern
phenomena can be traced back through {51} early sources and appear now
in grosser and now in more elevated forms; even the presence of any
advanced material culture, or of more spiritual conceptions of the
Godhead does not annihilate that lower supernaturalism which flourishes
uncontrolled among more rudimentary races. It would be unreasonable to
suppose that the religion of our period was more free from imprecision
than that of more progressive peoples: the whole routine of life
brought the individual into constant contact with unseen agencies, and
the world of spirits involved a medley of beliefs, more embarrassing to
the modern inquirer who seeks to systematise them, than to the Oriental
mind which has always been able and willing to accept the incredible
and the contradictory.
Man's relations with the spirits whom he shuns or seeks are illustrated
in magical practices; _e.g._ incantation, symbolic magic (p. 34).
+Charms,+ on the other hand, possess a magical virtue which is
effective without interference on the part of the possessor. Many
little objects of this character have been unearthed: pendants of red
coral (still a prophylactic against the evil eye), beads (still
supposed to possess curative properties), small articles cut out of
bone {52} (especially the heads of human femora, sawn off and
perforated). Here may be included the occasional jewels (_e.g._ a
silver pendant crescent)--amulets and ornaments were closely
associated, and the latter continue to convey ideas which could be
regarded as idolatrous (compare Gen. xxxv. 4). The representations of
Egyptian gods and the 'Horus-eyes' should also be mentioned here.
'Eyes' are still on sale in the East, they are expected to be on the
watch for evil influences. But the anxiety to avert evil and to
procure favour need not involve an intelligent interest in the means
employed, and some of the objects (when not originally possessed by
Egyptian settlers) may have as much bearing upon the question of
Egyptian influence upon the religion of Palestine as the use of foreign
(Phoenician?) formulæ in Egyptian magical texts.
+Oracles+ are obtained at those places where supernatural beings have
manifested themselves, or from their symbols or their human
representatives. In the stone enclosures at Serabit Professor Petrie
would recognise the sacred places visited by those who worked the mines
and hoped for useful dreams. The value attached to visions of the
night needs no telling, and when the {53} Egyptian king Merneptah saw
in his sleep the god Ptah offering him the sword of victory, or when
the god Ashur directed the Lydian Gyges to 'lay hold of the feet' of
Ashurbanipal (_i.e._ place himself under his protection), we perceive
among relatively advanced societies important factors in the growth of
all religions. Divine advice and help could be granted by the statues
of the gods: a cuneiform tablet from Taanach refers to an omen given by
the finger of the goddess Ashirat, and the writer asks for the sign and
its interpretation. As in the 'nodding' of the gods in Egyptian
records the _modus operandi_ must not be too closely examined. Some of
the old caverns of Palestine were certainly used for magical or
religious purposes, and when we find them connected by small and curved
passages, it is not improbable that they were the scenes of oracles,
theophanies, and the like (p. 15 _sq._). As Mr. Macalister has
observed, apropos of such caverns in the lowlands of Judah and at
Gezer, mysterious responses and wonders could be easily contrived, and
would be as convincing to the ignorant as the Miracle of the Holy Fire
is to the modern Russian pilgrim in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at
Jerusalem. The association of caves and other hidden resorts with the
{54} worship of deities and oracles is well-known in other fields
(_e.g._ Greece). Susa also had a god of oracles who dwelt in secret
retreats, and other deities whose remote haunts were burned by
Ashurbanipal when he carried them off.
+The representatives of the supernatural powers+ include prophets,
priests, and even kings; they are also the possessors of supernatural
qualities, the one involved the other. Between the modern Palestinian
_majnūn_ ('possessed by the jinn') and fakir, and the prophet of
old--contemptuously called 'madman'--the difference is one of degree.
The frenzied utterer is capable of incalculable good or harm, and often
enjoys a respect out of all keeping with his merits. His very sanctity
places him in a class by himself, and he is allowed a licence which
would not be tolerated in others. An early example of inspiration
appears in the story of Wenamon of Egypt who visited Zakarbaal of
Byblos, probably in the reign of Ramses XII. (about 1100 B.C.).
Although the envoy had with him the statue of the great Egyptian god
Amon, for nineteen days he received scant courtesy and was unable to
obtain the desired interview. At length, as the king was sacrificing
to his gods, one of his noble youths {55} was seized with ecstasy which
lasted the whole night, and in this state he demanded that 'the
messenger of Amon' be summoned (for the sequel see below, p. 74 _sq._).
Prophecy, as Dr. Frazer has shown, by means of numerous examples, is 'a
phenomenon of almost world-wide occurrence,' and it is important to
remember that the relations between man and the spirit-world are not to
be estimated in the light of modern preconceptions. There were
orthodox and unorthodox relations, legitimate and illegitimate
communion, true and false representatives of the supernatural powers;
distinctions were maintained although the evidence is often
insufficient for us to appreciate older standpoints. Broadly speaking,
it may be affirmed that the test lay in the communal aspect of religion
(whether of clan, tribe, or people) which was opposed to practices
which were private or independent of the official cult.
+The dead,+ in their turn, depart into the mysterious unseen which
looms so largely in the thoughts of the living, and burial and mourning
rites are shaped by many different principles depending upon theories
of the nature of spirits, affection for the dead, the safety of his
soul, fear of malignant influences, etc. But the {56} interpretation
of the religious rites which attended every crisis in life becomes
unusually difficult when the community suffer a loss, and perhaps no
other study stands so much in need of careful 'comparative' treatment.
Unfortunately Palestine has furnished no funerary texts, and little
direct evidence; the dead 'go to their fate,' the king of Mitanni fasts
on the day he hears of the death of Amenhotep III., and Zakarbaal of
Byblos offers to show Wenamon the tomb where the members of a former
embassy sleep (_lit._ lie, or pass the night). A people accustomed to
the annual death and revival of nature might easily formulate theories
of the survival of the dead, and care is accordingly taken to provide
for the needs of the deceased (p. 35). But the same thoughts are not
necessarily symbolised by the same rites. Thus, cremation, the earlier
custom, may have been intended to sever the soul from the body, to
destroy the haunting spirit, or to prevent contamination and contagion.
However, the subsequent use of the Gezer crematorium by those who
practised inhumation involved a continuity of thought, albeit with some
adaptation and adjustment, since identical conceptions of death and the
dead scarcely encircled the two distinct customs. This is instructive
for the growth of {57} complex ideas, and the subsequent prohibition in
Palestine of certain mourning rites may find a probable explanation in
their association with cults which were regarded as illegitimate.
The attitude of the living towards the dead raises the problem of
ancestor-worship and the relation between deified ancestors and gods.
In the absence of contemporary evidence from Ancient Palestine, we may
notice the inscription of King Panammu of North Syria (eighth century),
where he acknowledges his indebtedness to his gods, especially Hadad,
to whose honour he erects a colossal statue of the deity. The text
invokes the god's blessing upon the successor to the throne, provided
that the latter when he sacrifices makes mention of Panammu's soul with
Hadad or prays that Panammu's soul may eat and drink with the god.
Should these duties be neglected, Hadad is besought not to accept the
sacrifices, to refuse his requests; and sleeplessness and other
troubles are called down upon the unfilial descendant. It appears from
this, therefore, that while the dead relies upon the attentions of the
living, and it was necessary that his name should be kept fresh; the
dead could only exert an indirect influence, and the soul or vital
principle, apart from the body, could be {58} regarded as potent only
through its companionship with the deity. This may be supplemented
from Egypt in the account of the relations between Ramses II. and his
dead father, Sety I. The latter is reminded of the benefits which his
son had conferred upon him, his statue, and his _ka_ or vital force.
These he may still continue to enjoy, and, since he now has the
companionship of the gods, Ramses beseeches him to influence them to
grant him a long reign. The deceased king acknowledges the bread and
water which had been regularly offered to him; and relates that he has
become a god more beautiful than before; he now mingles with the great
gods, and he declares that he has successfully interceded on his son's
behalf.
The dead relied upon his descendants and upon the benevolence of future
generations, and Egyptian kings (at least) hoped to partake of the food
offered to the recognised deities. Religious and other works were
undertaken that the 'name' might 'live.' Promises and threats were
freely made to ensure due attention, and were usually respected by the
living; but the frequent acts of desecration would indicate that fear
of the dead was not necessarily a predominating or lasting feeling, at
all events outside a man's {59} own family. The above-mentioned
Panammu and Ramses are somewhat exceptional cases since individuals,
distinguished by rank, sanctity, or even more ordinary qualifications,
readily acquire distinguished positions in after-life. Moreover,
Ramses, at all events, was already a god, in his life-time, in
accordance with Egyptian belief, and all those who had had the
advantage of being representatives of the supernatural powers scarcely
lost this relative superiority. The protection afforded by famous
tombs and the virtues of the dust taken from such sacred spots are
recognised to the present day. The venerated shrines regularly found
their justification in the traditions which encircled the illustrious
occupant: to violate them was not merely an insult, it struck a blow at
one of the centres of cult and prosperity. Unfortunately for the
problem, by the side of the tendency to elevate an illustrious ancestor
must be placed the very human and inveterate weakness of tracing for
oneself a noble ancestry. Like the claim of the modern Palestinian
peasant to be descended from the alleged occupant of the local shrine
which he venerates, every apparent case of ancestor-worship stands in
need of a critical examination. As in most problems of religion,
ambiguity of terminology (viz. 'worship') {60} is responsible for much
confusion. It must be admitted that there would be a natural
inclination for every individual to regard his dead ancestor in the
spirit-world as more powerful and influential than himself. If this
were so even when there were recognised gods, it is obvious that
allowance must be made for the crucial stages, before the deities
gained that recognition, and after they had lost it.
Space prevents any adequate reference to the part which +animism+ has
held in the history of Palestinian religion; without a recognition of
this fundamental factor in all religions much of our evidence would be
unintelligible.[1] When we take the ideas which are associated with
the _name_, we find that it has magical powers, its use enlists or
confers protection or possession; it is the nature or essence of the
thing which bears it--indeed, almost identical with it (comp. Is. xxx.
27). Hence the meaning of names is always instructive. The
supposition that the child who bears an animal-name will acquire
something of the quality of the animal in question (whatever be the
original {61} motive) preserves more than metaphor, and indicates a
stage when man saw little difference between animals and himself. Even
at the present day it is still believed that the soul of an ancestor
can reappear in an animal (comp. p. 50). In like manner, the personal
names of our period which denote kinship with a deity point to a belief
in a physical relationship as natural as the conviction of the modern
native when he refers to Allah in terms which imply that man is in
every detail the literal image of the Almighty. A difference between
human and superhuman is scarcely recognised at the present day. The
women of the land continue to visit the holy sites to obtain offspring,
and it is freely acknowledged that welis and spirits of the dead can be
physical fathers. This absence of any clear dividing-line between
natural and supernatural is inveterate. The Egyptian Pharaoh of old
was both a god and the son of a god, and a record is preserved of the
visit of the god Amon to queen Ahmose in the form of her husband. The
halo of divinity was perhaps not so distinct as in earlier times, but
in their king the people still saw the earthly likeness of the deity.
[1] It must suffice to refer to works dealing with primitive religion,
see E. Clodd, _Animism, the Seed of Religion_ (London, 1905), A. C.
Haddon, _Magic and Fetishism_ (1906), in this series.
+The Divinity of kings+ was a fundamental belief {62} which reveals
itself in a variety of forms through Western Asia and Egypt. The
inscriptions of Gudea, the code of Khammurabi, the Assyrian records and
the praises of the Pharaohs reflect conceptions which are materialised
now in the insignia of the kings, and now in their costume and toilet.
In a Babylonian myth the royal ornaments lay before the supreme god
awaiting the monarch; in Egypt the king is the god's _ka_, his
first-born; chosen, created and crowned by the divine father. The
kings stood in the closest relationship to the gods; they were not only
the heads of the state, they were also (in early Assyria) priest-kings,
and in Egypt theoretically all offerings for the living and the dead
were made by the Pharaoh. All this was neither mere empty formality
nor an isolated eccentricity. It is quite in accordance with the
powers commonly ascribed to divine representatives, that the control of
the rain and storm is held to depend upon the influence of Ramses II.
with the weather-god. It is equally intelligible (from anthropological
evidence) when the same king caused the gods to take up their abode in
the images which had been prepared for them!
Khammurabi could declare that he carried in his bosom the people of
Sumer and Akkad, and {63} the Pharaoh could call himself the husband of
Egypt, while Egypt was 'the only daughter of Re (the sun-god) whose son
sits upon the throne.' Not only was he the incarnation and the son of
the deity (or of all the recognised deities), but he was the cause of
the land's fruitfulness, prosperity, and protection. The Pharaoh, 'the
god of all people' (as he is once called), received the adoration of
his subjects, and one could sometimes believe that he was more
essentially a deity than the gods themselves, were it not that the
subordinate gods always maintained their hold upon the people locally.
With all allowance for the difference between conventional and
practical religion, the fundamental relations between land, people,
ruler and the deity persisted in many related though varying forms,
which are extremely interesting in any consideration of the social
changes at the rise of a monarchy and after its downfall.
This digression is necessary, because, although the practical working
of such beliefs as these may perplex us, the fact remains that they
were shared in Palestine. The petty rulers in the Amarna letters
thoroughly recognise the divine nature of the king who was a god and
had the god for his father (see p. 78 _sq._). Later, when Palestine
had its {64} own king, the 'Lord's anointed' was almost as the deity
himself (Ex. xxii. 28, cp. 2 Sam. xiv. 17); king and cult were one
(Hos. iii. 4), and the king's death could be regarded as the extinction
of the nation's lamp (2 Sam. xxi. 17). Not to mention other details,
the Messianic ideals of the divinely-begotten son and of the ruler
whose origin was of aforetime preserve the inveterate belief in the
divine ancestry of rulers, an honour which in other lands continued to
be conferred upon rather than claimed by them.
+Recognised gods.+--It is very important to find that the
representatives or possessors of divine powers are the worshippers of
their deity in life and his inferiors in death. The recognised gods
have their definite circles of clients, and if their human
representatives are subsequently worshipped or even deified, this is a
not unnatural development, especially as the official deities are apt
to be at the mercy of political and religious changes. The older gods
can be degraded and sink to the rank of demons (from newer
stand-points), but the petty deities and the lower supernatural beings
are as little influenced by external vicissitudes as the lower ranks of
humanity with whom they always stand in closer relationship. {65}
Their persistence in popular belief is as typical as the descent of the
more august beings, although even the latter are understood to retain
an influence which those of more recent introduction have not yet
acquired or are unable to exert. While the general fundamental
conceptions remain virtually unchanged, they are shaped by the social
and political institutions, for religious and political life formed
part of the same social organism.
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