Taurus and spread over northern Syria. Upon all these varied
elements the Israelites flung themselves, at first in hostile invasion,
afterwards in friendly admixture. The Israelitish conquest of Palestine
was a slow process, and it was only in its earlier stages that it was
accompanied by the storming of cities and the massacre of their
inhabitants. As time went on the invaders intermingled with the older
population of the land, and the heads of the captives which surmount the
names of the places captured by the Egyptian Pharaoh Shishak in the
kingdom of Judah all show the Amorite and not the Jewish type of
countenance. The main bulk of the population, in fact, must have
continued unchanged by the Israelitish conquest, and conquerors and
conquered intermarried together. The genealogies given by the Hebrew
writers prove how extensive this intermingling of racial elements must
have been; even David counted a Moabitess among his ancestors, and
surrounded himself with guards of foreign nationality. Solomon's
successor, the first king of Judah, was the son of an Ammonite mother,
and we have only to read a few pages of the Book of Judges to learn how
soon after the invasion of Canaan the Israelites adopted the gods and
religious practices of the older population, and paid homage to the old
Canaanite shrines.

A mixed race is always superior to one of purer descent. It possesses
more enterprise and energy, more originality of thought and purpose. The
virtues and failings of the different elements it embodies are alike
intensified in it. We shall probably not go far wrong if we ascribe to
this mixed character of the Israelitish people the originality which
marks their history and finds its expression in the rise of prophecy.
They were a race, moreover, which was moulded in different directions by
the nature of the country in which it lived. Palestine was partly
mountainous; the great block of limestone known as the mountains of
Ephraim formed its backbone, and was that part of it which was first
occupied by the invading Israelites. But besides mountains there were
fertile plains and valleys, while on the sea-coast there were harbours,
ill adapted, it is true, to the requirements of modern ships, but
sufficient for the needs of ancient navigation. The Israelites were thus
trained on the one hand to the habits of hardy warriors, living a life
of independence and individual freedom in the fastnesses of the hills,
and on the other