Threshold Covenant , Clay Trumbull SEP 24 3L6I r THE THRESHOLD COVENANT OR THE BEGINNING OF RELIGIOUS RITES H. CLAY TRUMBULL Author of " Kadesh-barnea," "The Blood Covenant," "Studies in Oriental Social Life," etc. NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1896 Copyright, 1896 BY H. CLAY TRUMBULL PREFACE. This work does not treat of the origin of man's religious faculty, or of the origin of the sentiment of religion ; nor does it enter the domain of theological discussion. It simply attempts to show the beginning of religious rites, by which man evidenced a belief, however obtained, in the possibility of covenant rela- tions between God and man ; and the gradual devel- opment of those rites, with the progress of the race toward a higher degree of civilization and enlighten- ment. Necessarily the volume is not addressed to a popular audience, but to students in the lessons of primitive life and culture. In a former volume, " The Blood Covenant," I sought to show the origin of sacrifice, and the signifi- cance of transferred or proffered blood or life. The facts given in that work have been widely accepted as lying at the basis of fundamental doctrines declared in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, and have also been recognized as the source of perverted views which have had prominence in the principal ethnic re- ligions of the world. Scholars of as divergent schools of thought as Professors William Henry Green of iv PREFACE. Princeton, Charles A. Briggs of New York, George E. Day of Yale, John A. Broadus of Louisville, Samuel Ives Curtiss of Chicago, President Mark Hopkins of Williams, Rev. Drs. Alfred Edersheim of Oxford and Cunningham Geikie of Bournemouth, Professor Fred- eric Godet of Neuchatel, and many others, were agreed in recognizing the freshness and importance of its investigations, and the value of its conclusions. Pro- fessor W. Robertson Smith, of Cambridge, in thanking me for that work, expressed regret that he had not seen it before writing his " Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia." He afterwards made repeated mention of the work as an authority in its field, in his Burnett Lectures on the " Religion of the Semites." This volume grew out of that one. It looks back to a still earlier date. That began as it were with Cain and Abel, while this begins with Adam and Eve. It was while preparing a Supplement for a second edition of that volume that the main idea of this work assumed such importance in my mind that I was led to make a separate study of it, and present it independently. The special theory here advanced is wholly a result of induction. The theory came out of the gathered facts, instead of the facts being gathered in support of the theory. Of course, these facts are not new, but it is believed that their synthetic arrangement is. It has been a PREFACE. V favorite method with students of primitive religions to point out widely different objects of primitive worship and their corresponding cults among dif- ferent peoples, and then to try to show how the cere- monials of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures were made up from these primitive cults. But the course of investigation here pursued seems to show that the earlier cult was the simple one, which has been developed in the line of the Bible story, and that the other cults, even those baser and more degraded, are only natural perversions of the original simple one. This is a reversal of the usual order in studies of primitive religious rites. Here it is first the simple, then the complex ; first the one germ, then the many varieties of growth from that germ. As this particular subject of investigation seems to be a hitherto untrodden field, I am unable to refer to any published works as my principal sources of in- formation. But I have gathered important related facts from various directions, giving full credit in ex- plicit foot-notes, page by page. Many added facts confirmatory of my position might, undoubtedly, have been found through yet wider and more discerning research, and they will be brought to light by other gleaners in the same field. Indeed, a chief value of this volume will be in the fresh study it provokes on the part of those whom it stimulates to more thorough vi PREFACE. investigation in the direction here pointed out. And if such study shows an added agreement between some of the main facts of modern scientific investiga- tion and those disclosed in the Bible narrative, that will not be a matter of regret to any fair-minded scholar. In my earlier studies for this work, I had valuable assistance from the late Mr. John T. Napier; and in my later researches I have been materially assisted by Professors Herman V. Hilprecht, E. Washburn Hop- kins, William R. Lamberton, John Henry Wright, Robert Ellis Thompson, Morris Jastrow, Jr., D. G. Brinton, Adolph Erman, W. Max Muller, W, Hayes Ward, M. B. Riddle, Minton Warren, Alfred Gudeman, John P. Peters, M. W. Easton, and A. L. Frothing- ham, Jr., President George Washburn, Rev. Drs. Marcus Jastrow, H. H. Jessup, George A. Ford, Wil- liam W. Eddy, and Benjamin Labaree, Rev. William Ewing, Rev. Paulus Moort, Dr. Talcott Williams, Dr. Dr. T. H. Powers J. Solis Cohen, Dr. A. T. Clay, Sailer, Judge Mayer Sulzberger, Mr. S. Schecter, Mr. Frank Hamilton Cushing, Captain John G. Bourke, Mr. Khaleel Sarkis, Mr. John T. Haddad, Mr. Mon- tague Cockle, Mr. Le Roy Bliss Peckham, the late Mr. William John Potts, and other specialists. To all these I return my sincere thanks. Facts and suggestions that came to my notice after PREFACE. vii the main work was completed, or that, while known to me before, did not seem to have a place in the direct presentation of the argument, have been given a place in the Appendix. These may prove helpful to scholars who would pursue the investigation be- yond my limits of treatment. Comments of eminent specialists in Europe and America, to whom the proof-sheets of the volume were submitted before publication, are given in a Supplement. Important additions are thus made to the results of my researches, which are sure to be valued accordingly. H. C. T. Philadelphia, Passover Week, i8g6. CONTENTS. I. PRIMITIVE FAMILY ALTAR. (i.) A Blood Welcome at the Door, 3. (2.) Reverence for the Threshold Altar, 10. (3.) Threshold Covenanting in the Marriage Ceremony, 25. (4.) Stepping or Being Lifted across the Threshold, 36. (5.) Laying Foundations in Blood, 45. (6.) Appeals at the Altar, 57. (7.) Covenant Tokens on the Doorway, 66. (8.) Symbol of the Red Hand, 74. (9.) Deities of the Doorway, 94. II. EARLIEST TEMPLE ALTAR. (1.) From House to Temple, 99. (2.) Sacredness of the Door, 102. (3.) Temple Thresholds in Asia, 108. (4.) Temple Thresh- olds in Africa, 126. (5.) Temple Thresholds in Europe, 132. (6.) Temple Thresholds in America, 144. (7.) Temple Thresh- olds in Islands of the Sea, 148. (8.) Only One Foundation, 153. III. SACRED BOUNDARY LINE. (1.) From Temple to Domain, 165. (2.) Local Landmarks, 166. (3.) National Borders, 177. (4.) Border Sacrifices, 184. ix X CONTENTS. IV. ORIGIN OF THE RITE. (i.) A Natural Question, 193. (2.) An Answer by Induction, 194. (3.) No Covenant without Blood, 196. (4.) Confirmation of this View, 197. V. HEBREW PASS-OVER, OR CROSS-OVER, SACRIFICE. (1.) New Meaning in an Old Rite, 203. (2.) A Welcome with Blood, 204. (3.) Bason, or Threshold, 206. (4.) Pass-over or Pass-by, 209. (5.) Marriage of Jehovah with Israel, 212. VI. CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. (1.) Old Covenant and New, 215. (2.) Proffered Welcome by the Father, 216. (3.) Bridegroom and Bride, 218. (4.) Sur- vivals of the Rite, 221. VII. OUTGROWTHS AND PERVERSIONS OF THIS RITE. (1.) Elemental Beginnings, 223. (2.) Main Outgrowths, 225. (3.) Chief Perversions, 228. APPENDIX. Significance of Blood in the Marriage Rite, 243. Exhibit- ing the Evidences, 245. Substitute Blood for Deception, 248. Public Performance of the Rite, 250. Bible Testimony, 251. CONTENTS. xi Woman as a Door, 252. Symbolism of the Two Sexes, 257. Sym- bolism of Tree and Serpent, 258. Covenant of Threshold- Crossing, 259. Doorkeeper, and Carrier, 263. Passing over into a Covenant, 266. England's Coronation Stone, 268. INDEXES. Topical Index, 273. Scriptural Index, 301. SUPPLEMENT. COMMENTS OF SPECIALISTS. From the Rev. Dr. Marcus Jastrow, 307. From Professor Dr. Herman V. Hilprecht, 309. From Professor Dr. Fritz Hommel, 313. From Professor Dr. A. H. Sayce, 314. From Pro- fessor Dr. W. Max Muller, 315. From Professor Dr. C. P. Tiele, 317. From Professor Dr. E. Washburn Hopkins, 318. From the Rev. Dr. William Elliot Griffis, 319. From Pro- fessor Dr. John P. Mahaffy, 324. From Professor Dr. William A. Lamberton, 326. From Professor Dr. Daniel G. Brinton, 328. From the Rev. Dr. Edward T. Bartlett, 329. From Pro- fessor Dr. T. K. Cheyne, 330. Additional from Professor Dr. Fritz Hommel, 333. THE THRESHOLD COVENANT. I. PRIMITIVE FAMILY ALTAR. I. A BLOOD WELCOME AT THE DOOR. The primitive altar of the family would seem to have been the threshold, or door -sill, or entrance- way, of the home dwelling-place. This is indicated by surviving customs, in the East and elsewhere among primitive peoples, and by the earliest historic records of the human race. It is obvious that houses preceded temples, and that the house-father was the earliest priest. Sacrifices for the family were, there- fore, within or at the entrance of the family domicile. In Syria and in Egypt, at the present time, when a guest who is worthy of special honor is to be wel- comed to a home, the blood of a slaughtered, or a " sacrificed," animal is shed on the threshold of that home, as a means of adopting the new-comer into the family, or of making a covenant union with him.