iving voice, but from a book which is
regarded as having divine authority. This principle once introduced
could not fail to develop; to Deuteronomy other books were afterwards
added as part of the same law, though in reality they superseded it,
and it thus proved the nucleus of the whole Jewish canon.

Earlier Codes.--Deuteronomy was not the earliest law drawn up under
prophetic influence. Leviticus xvii.-xxvi. is recognised as being a
code by itself, and is an earlier attempt in the same direction as
Deuteronomy. The decalogue contained in Deuteronomy v., identical in
the main with that of Exodus xx., is of earlier origin than
Deuteronomy itself, but is also a prophetical work. It deals with
ritual only to the extent of removing certain obstacles to a right
worship of God, and places the chief weight of his requirements in
the fulfilment of the natural duties. An earlier decalogue which
deals principally with ritual, and which contains an early prophetic
attempt to free the worship of Jehovah from heathen abuses, is found
in Exodus xxxiv. 10-26. The oldest legislation of all is the code
found in Exodus xx. 22 to xxiii. 33, which goes by the name of the
Book of the Covenant. It is true that in form and in many of its
precepts it is identical with the Code of Hammurabi (2250 B.C.), and
so bears strong testimony to Babylonian influence. It is, however,
much more humane than that old code, and in many particulars is
independent of it. As it appears in Exodus it belongs to the times of
the early canonical prophets, and as it scarcely deals with ritual at
all, it shows the just and humane spirit cultivated by the religion
of Jehovah in an agricultural community.

The Exile.--The reformation of Josiah was quickly undone by his
successor on the throne, and there was no further opportunity for a
reform while the people remained in Palestine. But the exile did not
cause the friends of reform to abandon their ideas. The prophets had
foretold the exile, and had maintained that the religion of Israel
would not be destroyed but rather would be saved by it, and the event
proved that they were right in this point also. The exile cured the
people definitely of idolatry, and gave them a strong grasp of the
idea that they were a peculiar people, called to a work which no
other people could accomplish or indeed understand, namely to hold
aloft in the world, and for the benefit of the world, the true
religion. This conviction forms the b