22. The history of the operation of this principle upon the Jewish
religion is very similar, and extremely interesting. Although they do
not seem to have ever had any system of ancestor-worship, as the Greeks
had, yet the Jews appear originally to have recognized the deities of
their neighbours as existing spirits, but inferior in power to the God
of Israel. "All the gods of the nations are idols" are words that
entirely fail to convey the idea of the Psalmist; for the word
translated "idols" is _Elohim_, the very term usually employed to
designate Jehovah; and the true sense of the passage therefore is: "All
the gods of the nations are gods, but Jehovah made the heavens."[1] In
another place we read that "The Lord is a great God, and a great King
above all gods."[2] As, however, the Jews gradually became acquainted
with the barbarous rites with which their neighbours did honour to their
gods, the foreigners seem to have fallen more and more in estimation,
until they came to be classed as evil spirits. To this process such
names as Beelzebub, Moloch, Ashtaroth, and Belial bear witness;
Beelzebub, "the prince of the devils" of later time, being one of the
gods of the hostile Philistines.
[Footnote 1: Psalm xcvi. 5 (xcv. Sept.).]
[Footnote 2: Psalm xcv. 3 (xciv. Sept.). Maury, p. 98.]
23. The introduction of Christianity made no difference in this respect.
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