SACRED ANNALS: OR, RESEARCHES INTO THE HISTORY AND RELIGION OF MANKIND. VOLUME II. The Hebrew People. THE HEBREW PEOPLE: OR, The History and Religion of the Israelites, FROM THE ORIGIN OF THE NATION TO THE TIME OF CHRIST: DEDUCED FROM THE WRITINGS OF MOSES, AND OTHER INSPIRED AUTHORS; AND ILLUSTRATED BY COPIOUS REFERENCES TO THE ANCIENT RECORDS, BY GEORGE SMITH, F. S. A., MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, New-York: PUBLISHED BY CARLTON & PHILLIPS, 200 MULBERRY-STREET. 1856. HARVARD COLLEGE AN 18 1919 inatio ANDOVER-İLAL WARD THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY FEB 1) 1919 HARVARD DIVINITY SCHOOL H45957 DS 57 S55 1854 PREFACE. THE second part of the "SACRED ANNALS," which is now presented to the public, comprises the History and Religion of the Hebrew People, from the Origin of the Nation to the Time of Christ. In the preparation of this portion of the work, the Author has steadily kept in view the purpose which he announced in the Preface to the preceding volume; namely, to "present a complete view of the history and religion" of this nation in a decidedly religious manner. In the prosecution of this attempt he has encountered great, and, in some respects, unexpected, difficulty. To arrange and condense into a limited compass the civil and religious history of a great people during seventeen centuries, would, under any circumstances, be a work sufficiently onerous; but this has been greatly increased by numerous collateral subjects, of the most embarrassing character, with which the history of the Jews is involved. The most important questions in theology, the most recondite inquiries in ancient history, the most perplexing cases of Biblical criticism, the most difficult problems in early geography,—all obtruded themselves upon the attention of the writer; and required to be investigated, adjusted, reconciled, and wrought up into a homogeneous narrative. Beyond all the embarrassments from these sources, has been that occasioned by the irreligious and unscriptural tendency of the productions of certain authors, whose great talents, extensive learning, and high character, have invested their opinions with some degree of authority, and might have served the cause of truth, instead of imperiling its best interests. The Author has, however, devoted his best energies to the work; and, although impeded by many other engagements, has spared neither expense nor labor to present to the reader, in a combined form, an ample epitome of Jewish history, and a complete exhibition of Hebrew religion, intended in all its parts to illustrate the great purpose of God in the redemption of man. In the commencement of the Epistle to the Hebrews we are taught, that "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners |