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evince towards the popular cultus an attitude of friendly toleration, with a disposition to ignore its cruder aspects; and this tendency is carried somewhat further in J than in E. Thus, while neither countenances the Asherah, or sacred pole, E alludes, without offence, to the Maẓẓebah, or sacred pillar (28^{18. 22} 31^{13. 45ff.} 35²⁰); whereas J nowhere allows to the maẓẓebah a legitimate function in the worship of Yahwe. A very singular circumstance is that while both frequently record the erection of altars by the patriarchs, they are remarkably reticent as to the actual offering of sacrifice: E refers to it only twice (22. 46¹), and J never at all in the patriarchal history (ct. 4^3ff. 8^20ff.). It is difficult to imagine that the omission is other than accidental: the idea that it indicates an indifference (Gu.), or a conscious opposition (Lu.), to the cultus, can hardly be entertained; for after all the altar had no use or significance except as a means of sacrifice.—The most striking diversity appears in the representation of the Deity, and especially of the manner of His revelation to men. The antique form of the theophany, in which Yahwe (or the Angel of Yahwe) appears visibly in human form, and in broad daylight, is peculiar to J (chs. 16. 18. 19), and corresponds to the highly anthropomorphic language which is observed in other parts of the document (chs. 2. 3. 7. 8. 11^{5. 7}). E, on the contrary, records no daylight theophanies, but prefers the least sensible forms of revelation,—the dream or night-vision (15¹ 20^{3. 6} 21¹² [cf. ¹⁴] 22^1ff. 28^10ff. 31^{11. 24} 46²),^[1] or the voice of the angel from heaven (21¹⁷). In this respect E undoubtedly represents a more advanced stage of theological reflexion than J.—The national feeling in both sources is buoyant and hopeful: the 'scheue heidnische Stimmung,' the sombre and melancholy view of life which marks the primæval history of J disappears absolutely when the history of the immediate ancestors of Israel is reached. The strongly pessimistic strain which some

1. We do not include the dreams of the Joseph-stories, which seem to stand on a somewhat different footing (p. 345). Nocturnal revelations occur, however, in J (26²⁴ 28¹³), but whether in the oldest parts of the document is not quite certain.