ABSTRACT
The designation of the period of Hebrew life which is considered in this part of the present work is not as easy as it at first thought seems, for the term here employed, the usual one, is misleading, though perhaps not as misleading to many as some other might be. The time covered is from the settlement of Canaan to the monarchy. This was a period when the Hebrews for the most part were wanting in unity, when the clans grouped themselves in certain parts of Canaan, revealing in some instances their kinship, as in the case of the Leah and Rachel clans. If there had been something akin to national life prior to the settlement, during their nomadic wanderings, it must have grown very largely out of the circumstances of that life. When they entered Canaan, as there will be an endeavour to show later, they went up in groups to their various allotments or destinations and established themselves as best they could. Later, on rare occasions, clan aided clan, and on occasions rarer still, group or tribe aided some clan in extremity. Not apparently until near the close of this period, when the Philistines, more capable of united action than the Canaanites, came into prominence and set themselves to harry and to oppress the Hebrews, was there developed and manifested some considerable national spirit. The clans were then measurably drawn together under Saul, the son of Kish, 1 who stood at the parting of the ways, partaking of the character of a local vindicator or deliverer. He prepared the way for David, in whom the monarchy really had its origin.
