We begin our survey with that of the family relations.  Polygamy was rare, monogamy the rule; but the right of concubinage was unlimited.  While a high position was accorded both by affection and custom to the married wife, traces still existed of a state of society in which she was regarded as property that went with the inheritance.  The marriage of relations was by no means prohibited; no offence was taken at the circumstance that Abraham was the husband of his sister (by a different mother).  Parents had full power over their children; they had the right to sell and even to sacrifice them.  In this respect, however, the prevailing usage was mild, as also in regard to slaves, who socially held a position of comparative equality with their masters, and even enjoyed some measure of legal protection.  Slavery, it is plain, had not thc same political importance as with the Greeks and Romans; it could have been abolished without any shock to the foundations of the state.

Throughout this period agriculture and gardening continued to be regarded as man’s normal calling (Genesis iii. iv.); the laws contained in Exod. xxi.-xxiii. rest entirely upon this assumption.  To dwell in peace under his vine and under his fig-tree was the ideal of every genuine lsraelite.  Only in a few isolated districts, as in the country to the east of Jordan and in portions of Judah, did the pastoral life predominate.  Art and industry were undeveloped, and were confined to the production of simple domestic necessaries.

Commerce was in old time followed exclusively by the Canaanite towns, so that the word “Canaanite” was used in the general sense of “trader.”  But by and by Israel began to tread in Canaan’s footsteps (Hosea xii. 8, 9), 1

**************************** 1.  “Canaan (i.e., Ephraim Canaanised) has deceitful balances in his hand, and loves to overreach.  Ephraim indeed saith, I am become rich, I have gained weealth; but all his profits will not suffice for (expiation of) the guilt which he has incurred.” ****************************

The towns grew more influential than the country; money notably increased; and the zeal of piety was quite unable to arrest the progress of the change which set in.  The kings themselves, from Solomon onwards, were the first to set the bad example; they eagerly sought to acquire suitable harbours, and in company or in competition with the Syrians entered upon large commercial transactions.  The extortions of the corn-market, the formation of large estates, the frequency of mortgages, all show that the small peasant proprietorship was unable to hold its own against the accumulations of wealth.  The wage-receiving class increased, and cases in which free Hebrews sold themselves into slavery were not rare.

On all hands the material progress of the commonwealth made itself felt, the old simplicity of manners disappeared, and luxury increased.  Buildings of hewn stone began to be used even by private individuals.  The towns, especially the chief ones, were fortified; and in time of war refuge was sought in them, and not as formerly in woods and caves.  Even in the time of David the Israelites always fought on foot; but now horses and chariots were regarded as indispensable.  The bow came to be the principal weapon of offence, and a military class appears to have sprung up.