ABSTRACT
The most interesting social institution among these clans, and the one that promised most for the future of Israel, was the family. 1 Though subordinate to the clan in many respects, it was destined to grow in importance. As the clans became larger and more unwieldy, and as they were slowly drawn nearer and nearer into something akin to a national life, the family acquired a self-sufficiency and local importance it had not hitherto possessed.
