The purpose in the present work is to introduce the general as well as the technical Bible student to the essential features of the political, social, and religious life of the Hebrew people. To the candid and thought ful it is a cause for thanksgiving rather than regret that the earnest scholarship of today is carefully sifting the current conclusions concerning the teaching and history contained in the Bible. Although at first the results of this critical study seem only destructive and even alarm ing, yet a closer examination demonstrates that they are but necessary means to an end. That end is the acquisition of the whole instead of partial truth. The enveloping masses of cloud must be scattered by the sunlight and driving gales, before the outlines of the eternal mountains can be seen in their true proportions. That which dispels human traditions and misconcep~ tions is of inestimable value, because it discloses the real. In reconstructing the facts of Hebrew history in the light of modern biblical research, however, positive rather than negative results command attention. It is sufficient in most cases to ignore the old conceptions.