National Ideals in the Old Testament #263798

It is a strange fact that so little investigation has been made of the subject. Even the study of political theory usually omits the ancient Orient altogether and begins in Greece only with Plato and Aristotle. Although the Bible has been stud ied from nearly every conceivable view-point, one cannot easily name any treatise that attempts to describe the development of its national ideals. This volume is not an effort to supply that lack so much as to call attention to it. A thorough and less popular study of the subject by a com petent Old Testament scholar would be a useful contribution to modern political thought as well as to a knowledge of the Bible. As will be evi dent to the reader, the author has essayed no independent historical or critical investigations. He is indebted to the current English and Ameri can commentaries and general works about the Old Testament such as are mentioned in the foot notes. 'in the quotations from these books the spelling Jehovah has been substituted for Yahweh and other forms of the Divine name in order to be consistent with the usage of the Bible text adopted.