descent through Esau from Abraham, and were acknowledged' by the Israelites (Deut.
14) who refused passage to the Israelites in their wanderings.
The Sabbath did not share the same fate, but with the abolition of local sacrifices it became for most Israelites an institution of humanity divorced from ritual.
This was the first Canaanite city to be attacked and reduced by the victorious Israelites.
- The Israelites appear to have been originally a nomadic tribe akin to the Arabs, whom they resemble in their want of political instinct and in their extraordinary religious genius.