ured for them. Then began a
period of priestly domination and corruption, a period of subjugation to
Rome, of insurrection against Rome, and the capture and destruction of
Jerusalem in 70 A.D. With the capture of Jerusalem, the Hebrew nation
was finally dispersed.

Just as the Martian was able to trace the evolution of the Hebrews from
the stage of the marauding tribes of the Arabian desert who wandered
into Egypt, Canaan, and Babylonia, and finally established a kingdom for
themselves which was dispersed by Rome; just so could he trace the
evolution of their religious beliefs from their incipient crudities to
their not too great refinement at 70 A.D. This evolution of the Hebrew
religion is best exemplified by an analysis of the Old Testament itself.

There are several canons, or official collection of books which comprise
the Old Testament. The Jews and Protestants accept fewer books than the
Roman Catholics. The Jewish Canon consists of those so-called sacred
books of which the Synagogue possessed Hebrew texts about a century
before the Christian era. "About 150 B.C. the sacred books of the Jews
were translated into Greek for the use of those Egyptian Jews who could
not read Hebrew. This translation is called the Septuagint, from a
tradition that seventy or seventy-two translators had worked upon it."
(_Salomon Reinach, "Orpheus._") The earliest manuscripts of the Hebrew
Bible date only from the tenth century A.D., but there are very much
older manuscripts of the Greek and Latin translations in existence. At
the time of Jesus Christ, three divisions of the Old Testament were
recognized. These were, the Law, the Prophets, and the other Scriptures.
The first five books, Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, and
Deuteronomy, are known as the Pentateuch, and are attributed to Moses
himself; although, as has been noted, they contain the account of his
death. This conception of the Mosaic origin of the Pentateuch was
accepted by the Israelites as early as the fifth century B.C. and has
been maintained by the Synagogue since that time. Following the example
of the Hebrews, the Christian Churches accepted this version as to
origin, and the Roman Catholic Church still upholds this view. The
Jewish Synagogue and the various Christian Churches further hold that
the Old Testament is a collection of works inspired or dictated by God.
Even as late as 1861, the famous Dean Burgon, in a sermon preached at
Oxford University, declared