father; fear not
to go down into Egypt, for I will make of thee there a great nation."
When Moses asks his name, he replies, "Thou shalt say to the children
of Israel, The Lord, the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, the
God of Isaac, the God of Jacob hath sent me unto you. This is my name
forever."

=The Covenant.=--There is, then, a covenant between the Israelites and
God. Jehovah (the Eternal) loves and protects the Israelites, they are
"a holy nation," "his most precious jewel among all the nations." He
promises to make them mighty and happy. In return, the Israelites
swear to worship him, to serve him, to obey him in everything as a
lawgiver, a judge, and a sovereign.

=The Ten Commandments.=--Jehovah, lawgiver of the Israelites, dictated
his precepts to Moses on Mount Sinai amidst lightnings and
thunderings. They were inscribed on two tables, the Tables of the Law,
in these terms:

"Hear, O Israel, I am Jehovah, thy God, who brought you out of the
land of Egypt, from the land of bondage." (Then follow the ten
commandments to be found in the twentieth chapter of the book of
Exodus.)

=The Law.=--Beside the ten commandments, the Israelites are required
to obey many other divine ordinances. These are all delivered to them
in the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch, and constitute
the Law of Israel. The Law regulates the ceremonies of religion,
establishes the feasts--including the Sabbath every seven days, the
Passover in memory of the escape from Egypt, the week of harvest, the
feast of Tabernacles during the vintage; it organizes marriage, the
family, property, government, fixes the penalty of crimes, indicates
even foods and remedies. It is a code at once religious, political,
civil and penal. God the ruler of the Israelites has the right to
regulate all the details of their lives.

=Religion has made the Jewish People.=--The Israelites did not receive
with docility the government of God. Moses on his death-bed could say
to the Levites in delivering to them the book of the law, "Take this
book that it may be a witness against you, Israel, for I know thy
rebellion and thy stiff neck" (Deut. xxxi. 27). "During my life you
have been rebellious against the Lord, and how much more after my
death." During these centuries some of the Israelites, often the
majority of the nation, had been idolaters. They became similar to the
other Semites of Syria. Only the Israelites who remained faithful to
God