The original idea of the sacrificial meal was that the kinsmen in
concert partook of the body of the god, thereby renewing their kinship
with him and with each other. By analogy, however, the tie thus formed
was extended to the whole practice of eating together. It has been
seen how a stranger who partook of food with an Arab became sacred
and as a kinsman to his host and all the latter's clan for such time
as any part of the food might remain in his system, a period which
was conventionally taken as about three days. "The Old Testament
records many cases where a covenant was sealed by the parties eating
and drinking together. In most of these the meal is sacrificial,
and the deity is taken in as a third party to the covenant. But in
Joshua i. 14 the Israelites enter into alliance with the Gibeonites by
taking of their victuals without consulting Jehovah. A formal league
confirmed by an oath follows, but by accepting the proffered food
the Israelites are already committed to the alliance." [363] From
the belief in the strength and sanctity of the tie formed by eating
together the obligation of hospitality appears to be derived. And
this is one of the few moral ideas which are more binding in primitive
than in civilised society.