The Jewish quarterly review Volume 18

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1906 Excerpt: ...and endogamy coexist, but M. Levy holds that the latter was the more usual. The evolution of the family appears in the various stages of blood-revenge, and--in the author's opinion--in the steady improvement of the status of women, and the growth of monogamy. Promiscuity comes under the 1 La Familie dam tAniiipiite Israelite (Alcan, Paris). VOL. XVIII. B b ban of the law, and feelings of morality give the impulse to the ever increasingly strict legislation. Thus the family in ancient Israel improves in notions of right, equality and benevolence, and forms a school of respect, purity, and reciprocal devotion which unites the respective members of its generations (p. 276). Altogether, the Rabbi of Dijon's manual is a useful contribution to Hebrew sociology for the wealth of his material and the abundance of his resources. It is admittedly based upon the results of literary criticism, for, as the writer candidly admits:--"On ne saurait se former une idee exacte du developpement de la civilisation israelite, si Ton ignore ou Ton m£connait la nature, l'origine, la composition, l'histoire des ecrits bibliques qui constituent notre plus importante source d'infonnation " (p. 5). It will doubtless be agreed that whatever may be the arguments of those who are opposed to literary criticism, it is rather significant that those who apply themselves to questions of scientific research in Old Testament subjects find themselves compelled to adopt the standpoint of "moderate criticism." The question of the family figures prominently in yet another book, this time only as far as external points of detail are concerned. In an elaborate and painstaking work B. Jacob1 discusses the evidence in the Pentateuch regarding the arrangement of family and genea...