BIBLICAL SOCIOLOGY 235
to follow it out consistently in order to see whether it will carry us forward to a less difficult and more intelligible explanation of the Bible than that which is given by the traditional view.
In the period described by Judges, Samuel, and Kings, the worship of Yahweh, as actually practiced, is merely one among many worships. Yahweh is regarded as a real god among real gods. The officially established religion of Israel has nothing to distinguish it in principle from the religions of contemporary peoples until a very late date. Not until several generations after the Exile was the religion of Israel finally and firmly established in its distinctive biblical character. This proposition is, of course, denied by adherents of the older view, the most recent notable instance being that of Professor James Orr, whose elaborate work, The Problem of the Old Testament, is a defense of the traditional theory. Professor Orr argues that the most reasonable assumption is that the religion of Israel acquired its distinctive character in the Sinai period, precisely as narrated in the Hexateuch; and that the burden of proof rests upon those who deny this. Yet Dr. Orr admits, as a matter of course, that the supernatural traditions of other ancient peoples are not credible. On the contrary, we assume at the start that the burden of proof rests upon those who, with Professor Orr, draw a line between biblical and non-biblical traditions about the super- natural. We expect to show that the ground upon which this distinction is based is not well taken, and that the traditional view raises more difficulties than it solves.
Our serial treatment of the social process through which the distinctive biblical religion was evolved begins, therefore, with the settlement in Canaan as described in Judges. It is well to emphasize again that we have to choose between two competing accounts of the settlement. This feature of our problem has been treated briefly at an earlier stage of our examination. We now take it up more fully, and for a different purpose. The first of the rival narratives, as we have observed, is found in the Book of Joshua; the second, in the Book of Judges. As the Joshua version presents the same supernatural features that we encounter in the preceding books, we have counted it as a part
