I. EARLIEST CONCEPTIONS OF THE SOUL From the earliest period of the Hebrew religion no literary records have come down to us. In lack of direct historical evidence, accordingly, we are compelled to turn to the indirect testimony of comparative religion. Beliefs and rites that existed among all ancient peoples, and that still exist among savages, may safely be regarded as primitive. When these are found also among the Babylonians, Aramaeans, Canaanites, and Arabs, we may conclude that they were

more »

... part of primitive Semitic religion. If, now, we find in the Old Testament conceptions that are identical with those of the other Semites and of primitive races throughout the world, we are justified in inferring that these are survivals from the earliest period of the religion of Israel. Applying this method to the study of the Hebrew conception of the future life, we reach the following conclusions: a) The distinction between soul and body.-When men first began to think, they were confronted with the fact of death. Their companion, felled by a blow, or smitten by a disease, lay prostrate before them. In outward appearance he was the same, but he was unconscious of all that they did, and he could not respond either by word or by motion. It was evident even to the most rudimentary intelligence that an invisible something had gone out of the man. Most primitive peoples observed the fact that breathing ceases at death, and therefore identified the vital principle with the breath. In many languages the words for "spirit" denote primarily "breath," or "wind," e.g., Skr. prdna; Gr., pneuma, anemos; Lat., spiritus, anima; Germ. and Eng., Geist, ghost, which are etymologically connected with gust. This was also the conception of the Semites. For them man consisted of two elements, "flesh" (Heb. bdsdr) and "breath" (Heb. Phoen. nefesh, Arab. nafs, Eth. nafls, Syr. nafshd, Bab. Ass. napishtu). The "breath" was the seat of knowledge, appetite, emotion, and 8 This content downloaded from 138.073.9 activity; accordingly it was identical with the person. In all the Semitic dialects nafshi, "my breath," means " myself." At death the "breath" with all its powers went out of a man. With this primitive Semitic conception of spirit the theology of the Old Testament is in complete agreement. b) The continued existence of the disembodied soul.-Primitive man believed not only in the distinction between soul and body but also in the ability of the soul to survive the catastrophe of death. The paleolithic cave-dwellers of the quaternary period placed with their dead ornaments, implements, arms, and food for use in the other life, and celebrated funeral feasts in their honor. The same was true of the cave-dwellers of the neolithic age.' Anthropologists are agreed that no savage race exists which does not believe in some sort of immortality and practice some rites in honor of the dead.2 In view of these facts it is evident that immortality was one of the original beliefs of our race. Among the Semites this belief existed from the earliest times. The ancient tombs at Nippur and Tello in Babylonia contain the usual offerings to the dead.3 In the oldest tombs of Palestine4 the dead were commonly deposited in the contracted position of an unborn child, in witness to the faith that death was birth into another life; and with them were placed offerings of food and of other useful articles. According to Wellhausen5 the Jinn, or "hidden beings" of the Arabs, who were for the most part nature-spirits, also included spirits of the dead. Like other primitive peoples, the pre-Muhammadan Arabs buried the dead with care, provided for their needs in the other world, invoked their assistance, and even swore by their life.6 The most ancient Hebrew tombs in Palestine contain precisely the 1 D'Alviella, Hibbert Lectures, pp.