rews--though their calendar
was essentially a lunar one, based upon the actual observation of the
new moon--had never noticed that the moon changed its apparent form as
the month wore on, for there is no mention in the Bible of the lunar
phases.

The references to the heavenly bodies in Scripture are not numerous, and
deal with them either as time-measurers or as subjects for devout
allusion, poetic simile, or symbolic use. But there is one
characteristic of all these references to the phenomena of Nature, that
may not be ignored. None of the ancients ever approached the great
Hebrew writers in spiritual elevation; none equalled them in poetic
sublimity; and few, if any, surpassed them in keenness of observation,
or in quick sympathy with every work of the Creator.

These characteristics imply a natural fitness of the Hebrews for
successful scientific work, and we should have a right to believe that
under propitious circumstances they would have shown a pre-eminence in
the field of physical research as striking as is the superiority of
their religious conceptions over those of the surrounding nations. We
cannot, of course, conceive of the average Jew as an Isaiah, any more
than we can conceive of the average Englishman as a Shakespeare, yet the
one man, like the other, is an index of the advancement and capacity of
his race; nor could Isaiah's writings have been preserved, more than
those of Shakespeare, without a true appreciation of them on the part of
many of his countrymen.

But the necessary conditions for any great scientific development were
lacking to Israel. A small nation, planted between powerful and
aggressive empires, their history was for the most part the record of a
struggle for bare existence; and after three or four centuries of the
unequal conflict, first the one and then the other of the two sister
kingdoms was overwhelmed. There was but little opportunity during these
years of storm and stress for men to indulge in any curious searchings
into the secrets of nature.

Once only was there a long interval of prosperity and peace; viz. from
the time that David had consolidated the kingdom to the time when it
suffered disruption under his grandson, Rehoboam; and it is significant
that tradition has ascribed to Solomon and to his times just such a
scientific activity as the ability and temperament of the Hebrew race
would lead us to expect it to display when the conditions should be
favourable for it.