=The Promised Land.=—­It was called the land of Canaan or Palestine; the Jews named it the land of Israel, later Judea.  Christians have termed it =the= Holy Land.  It is an arid country, burning with heat in the summer, but a country of mountains.  The Bible describes it thus:  “Jehovah thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills, a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive and honey, wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it.”  The Israelites according to their estimate were then 601,700 men capable of bearing arms, divided among twelve tribes, ten descended from Jacob, two from Joseph; this enumeration does not include the Levites or priests to the number of 23,000.  The land was occupied by several small peoples who were called Canaanites.  The Israelites exterminated them and at last occupied their territory.

THE RELIGION OF ISRAEL

=One God.=—­The other ancient peoples adored many gods; the Israelites believed in but one God, immaterial, who made the world and governs it.  “In the beginning,” says the book of Genesis, “God created the heavens and the earth.”  He created plants and animals, he “created man in his own image.”  All men are the handiwork of God.

=The People of God.=—­But among all mankind God has chosen the children of Israel to make of them “his people.”  He called Abraham and said to him, “I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after me ... to be a God unto thee and to thy seed.”  He appeared to Jacob:  “I am God,” said he to him, “the God of thy father; fear not to go down into Egypt, for I will make of thee there a great nation.”  When Moses asks his name, he replies, “Thou shalt say to the children of Israel, The Lord, the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob hath sent me unto you.  This is my name forever.”

=The Covenant.=—­There is, then, a covenant between the Israelites and God.  Jehovah (the Eternal) loves and protects the Israelites, they are “a holy nation,” “his most precious jewel among all the nations.”  He promises to make them mighty and happy.  In return, the Israelites swear to worship him, to serve him, to obey him in everything as a lawgiver, a judge, and a sovereign.

=The Ten Commandments.=—­Jehovah, lawgiver of the Israelites, dictated his precepts to Moses on Mount Sinai amidst lightnings and thunderings.  They were inscribed on two tables, the Tables of the Law, in these terms: 

“Hear, O Israel, I am Jehovah, thy God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the land of bondage.” (Then follow the ten commandments to be found in the twentieth chapter of the book of Exodus.)