1. Before the biblical revelation. The pagans of the ancient East know nothing of a covenant which binds the divinity to man. But they know that there are relations between man and his god. Not only is the divinity witness and guarantor of pacts between men, it also intervenes in the life of man; it hears prayers and supplications; it can heal and give long years of life; it has certain wishes, not always clear, and is irritated with those who transgress them and they fall thereby into misery. It ha…