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 1 
 
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THE 
 
 HEBREWS AT HOME 
 
 OB 
 
 AN HISTORICAL SKETCH 
 
 OF THB 
 
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 [ife, mnnmt%, ^ttstums, anb %^tttmm\t% 
 
 or THB 
 
 ANCIENT HEBREWS. 
 
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 THE HON. THOMAS TALBOT, 
 
 Author op jlncibnt philosophy, bto. 
 
 «•«> 
 
 P0tttval: 
 
 JOHN LOVELL, 28 AND 25 ST. NICHOLAS STBEBT, 
 
 1874. 
 
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TO TBI 
 
 BIGHT HONOUBABLB 
 
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 EABL OF DUFFERIN AND CLANDEBOYB, 
 THIS WORK IS INSCRIBED, 
 
 AS A 
 
 TfilBUTE OP BESPEGT AND ADMIRATION 
 
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PREFACE. 
 
 The following pages were, for the most part, originally 
 written in the form of Lectures ; and partly used in that 
 form. In preparing them, however, for the Press, it has 
 appeared to me more advisable to change the original plan, 
 and to arrange the whole subject under different chapters, 
 with appropriate titles. With this view I have recast that 
 portion of the Work that had been written in the Lecture 
 form, and made such an adaptation Of the whole subject as 
 to produce an even and uniform construction of the 
 material which I desired to employ. The convenience of 
 this arrangement will be manifest from the facility of 
 reference which will be thus afforded, as well as from the 
 superior advantage which the statement and discussion of 
 separate topics under their distinct and limited headings are 
 calculated to produce. 
 
 My main object in the preparation of this Work was to 
 facilitate the reading of the Holy Scriptures. Many persons 
 who open the Old or the New Testament find great difficulty 
 in comprehending all the passages that present themselves to 
 their notice : — I do not now speak of mere ordinary readers ; 
 but of persons of cultivated intellect and refined education. 
 I can speak for myself, and freely declare that I have 
 never opened a page of the Bible in which I have not been 
 confronted with passages which I did not feel satisfied that 
 I fully and correctly understood. This, I take it, arises in 
 great part from a want of proper acquaintance with the 
 manners and customs, and laws and ceremonies of the 
 Hebrew people in the times spoken of and referred to by 
 
 '•.'.' ^''''l li). !| 
 
VI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 the Inspired Writers. How very agreeable, therefore, mii8t 
 it not be to one who feels an interest in the Word of God — 
 and who does not? — to be in a position, from previously ^ 
 acquired knowledge, to understand exactly the references, 
 illustrations, figures, and various allusions which are so 
 thickly strewn throughout the pages of the Sacred Volume. 
 But, how necessary is this, also ! for, of little advantage can 
 any species of reading be imless the mind be illumined by 
 the clear unobstructed light of truth shining in upon it. 
 Distorted rays of intelligence, worse almost than total 
 obscurity, only mislead the mind ; and instead of strength- 
 ening the intelligence, only warp and weaken it — Via 
 incertam per lunam incerta ibit. 
 
 But besides all this, there is something refreshing in 
 turning aside from the noisy and dusty paths of every day 
 life, and contemplaHiing the ways and manners of other 
 times, and the sayings and doings of people who lived in 
 the dewy morning of this world's life, and fresh, as it were, 
 from the hands of God, the Creator and Father of the 
 Universe. — What was life in their eyes? What did they 
 think and say of it ? How did they demean themselves in 
 it? In what aims, ambitions, and practices did they believe, 
 and hope, and strive as the great objects of their being, — as 
 the destiny set before them by Him who alone knew what 
 was good for them ; who alone knows what is good for us all ? 
 There is much of true interest in all this ; especially in an 
 era of the World's history when passion, impulsive and 
 blind, — the head-long striving after wealth, and power, 
 and luxurious ease, and sensual gratification would seem to 
 usurp men's whole faculties, and to impel them into a vortex 
 of folly and vanity, not to speak of crime. 
 
 
 II III' I' 
 
 1 1 I 
 
PBEFAOB. 
 
 VU 
 
 To withdraw ourselves sometimes from the giddy scene 
 before us ; to lift ourselves above the tumult which swells 
 and heaves and roars around us; and to fix our gaze on 
 scenes of tranquil labour, and calm benevolence, and gentle 
 endeavour ; — to do this, is, at least, a pleasing variety, even 
 though no other effect should follow from it. 
 
 God's chosen people. His own fair household with whom 
 and through whom He lived and communicated His own 
 thoughts, and wishes, and laws — those must be a people 
 worth studying, — whose every day acts and practices, 
 thoughts and expressions, aims and ambitions must be of 
 great importance in the view of arriving at some knowledge 
 of what the "World is worth ; of what it was intended for ; 
 and of men's destiny in it. If to lie and cheat, to intrigue 
 and deceive, to amass wealth, and to indulge in luxury and 
 case was the end for which man was put into this beauteous 
 scene of the Universe, the great Designer and Architect of 
 Creation must have intimated this from the beginning, and 
 thus laid down the law for His own chosen people sitting 
 round about His threshold, expunge and moved into action by 
 His immediate presence and His personal direction. But here 
 we look in amongst them, and what do we behold ? No high 
 bold speculation of worldly interest; noHiing skillfully 
 knavish, or dishonestly wise, or brilliantly mean throughout 
 the whole economy of the people of God — ^that people who 
 were the especial care and concern and inheritance of Him 
 who is all-knowing, all-wise, all-beneficent — the Father, the 
 Creator, the Fountain of all that is great, and grand, and 
 glorious. . 
 
 Surely this is all interesting, to say the least of it ; — nay 
 more, it is a matter deberving of our most serious and 
 earnest attention. 
 
 ' ( 
 
Vlll 
 
 FRBVAOB. 
 
 In dealing with this subjeot I havo consulted some of the 
 oldest as well as the best Anthors who have written npon it ; 
 and especially one who has treated it very extensively, and 
 with much learning and ability, and in whose footsteps I 
 have followed as closely as the nature and limits of the plan 
 I had laid down for myself would warrant. But, in no 
 instance have I adopted any statement or assertion of impor- 
 tance without fortifying myself with the authority of the 
 Sacred Penmen. 
 
 As I have already stated, the main object I have in view 
 in giving tiiis volume to the press, apart from the general 
 interest that must necessarily attach to a subject involving 
 the laws and dispensation of GkKl in the direction and 
 government of mankind, is to facilitate the reading of the 
 Sacred Scriptures by illustrating such passages as depend 
 for their meaning upbn the laws and customs, practices and 
 ceremonies of the Hebrew people. In this respect many of 
 the most difficult portions of the Several Books of the Old 
 and New Testaments will be rendered easy of comprehension, 
 and consequently the more attractive to the general reader. 
 
 Having thus stated the nature and object of these pages, 
 I have only now to express the hope that my readers will 
 derive from their perusal the same interest and pleasure 
 which I have experienced in writing them ; and that they 
 will kindly overlook any defect or imperfection which I am 
 but too conscious a critical eye may easily detect in them. 
 Enough, if they serve a good purpose by directing the 
 mind to the contemplation of the highest human interest, 
 and by indicating the ways of God to Man. 
 
 1- 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Page 
 Description of Judea— The Hebrew Commonwealth 9 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Publicans — Two Classes of Jews — ^Israelites and Proselytes 17 
 
 CHAPTER m. 
 Kings— Priests 22 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Prophets — The Title Rabbi — The Nazarites and Recha- 
 
 bites 36 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 The Assideans — The Pharisees 47 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 The Sadduoees— The Essenes 67 
 
 .CHAPTER Vn. 
 The Jewish Temple—Synagogues, and Schools ••••••/ ''I 
 
It' 
 
 i I 
 
 f- . 
 
 t, I 
 
 \ 
 
 r i 
 X CONTENTS. ^ 
 
 il 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The Gates of Jerusalem — ^Idolatry — Cities of Refuge — Division ^ - 
 ofTime 83 
 
 CHAPTER IX. ; 
 
 Ordinary Meals and Feasts — ^How far the customs of the 
 Hebrews and the Heathens bore resemblance on this 
 point 96 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The Jewish Sabbath — The Passover—Feasts of Unleavened 
 
 Bread 104 
 
 CHAPTER Xi: 
 Pentecost— Feast of Tab«rnaoleB H 
 
 CHAPTER xn; 
 
 The Feast of Expiation— The Sabbatical Year, or Seventh Year's 
 Rest— Jubilee — Other Feasts, not of Divine Origin — 
 The commencement of Idolatry 127 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 The Principal Gods into whose Worship the Israelites fell 137 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 More Gods, or rather Different Names of the same Gods 147 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Prophecy — True and false systems of prophecy— True prophecy 
 
 divided into four kinder 159 ' 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 XI 
 
 CHAP'l'ER XVI. ' 
 
 Teraphim ; or, Household Gods of the Hebrews— The different 
 
 kinds of unlawful Divination 169 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 Courts, Civil and Ecclesiastical— Two kinds of Civil Courts. . . . 177 
 
 rt--' . ■: y] .'Y ' ' * 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Election of Judges— Mode of procedure iu Capital Sentences- 
 The different kinds of Carjital Punishment 
 
 -" "T 5 • *■ f.TL^ ■ .vW 
 
 192 
 
 CHAPT£^R XIX, 
 
 Other Punishments besides those of Death — These divided into 
 
 fourltinds. 200 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 ■ 4 \ i -1: 
 
 Circumciflionf->lt0 meanirig and applicsttion— First Fruitft— 
 
 Their different kinds 209 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 I Tithes, or Tenths— The time and manner of paying them—- The "^ ' 
 difficulty of collecting them previous to the birth of our 
 Saviour 221 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 [arriages — Two kinds of Wives— Modes of Betrothal — Three 
 kinds of Engagement— The Marriage Feastr— Dowry, 
 and Divorce 226 
 
M 
 
 : 
 
 * \ - ■ 
 
 xii -^ CONTENTS. K 
 
 '' CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Burials— Ablution of the Dead — Three kinds of Ablution among 
 i^ , the Ancients— Embalming the bodies of the Dead- 
 Burial Flaceo ; and Mourning 237 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 Oaths— Three modes of taking Oaths 244 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 The Writing of the Jews — Various Opinions as to the Origin of , -'; 
 letters— The Instruments and Materials used in Writing 
 — The Masorites and their Works 248 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 The Camps of Israel — The Tabernacle ; the Tente of the Priests 
 
 and Levites ; urid the Tents of the Twelve Tribes 256 
 
 CHAPTER XX Vn. 
 
 Measures in use among the Hebrews — The two kinds of Mea- 
 sures—The Hebrew Coins— The different Material and 
 Values 262 
 
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 CHAPTER I. ^s /-'-'/ 
 
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 1 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF JUDEA. — THE HEBREW COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 HE interest create-l by Judea ariseB from its being 
 the land appointed by God for the abode of His 
 chosen people. Its situation on the eastern 
 border of the Mediterranean Sea is peculiarly 
 agreeable ; its soil is fertile in a remarkable degree ; and its 
 climate is of the most salubrious character. The description 
 which I am about to give of it, is condensed from the writ- 
 ings of Josephns, one of its most celebrated writers ; and 
 gonerall}'^, a trustworthy historian. 
 
 The northern limits of the Country of Samaria and Judea, 
 according to this authority, was marked by what, in his time, 
 was called the village of Anuath or Borceos, and the southern 
 limits by the village called Jordan, near the confines of 
 Arabia. In breadth, it extended from the river Jordan on 
 the east, to Joppa on the west. In the centre was situa- 
 ted the city of Jerusalem : from which circumstance it has 
 been called the navel of the Country. It had the Mediter- 
 ranean on its western side ; and the Dead Sea on its eastern 
 side, towards its southern extremity. It was divided into 
 eleven sections or districts, of which Jerusalem was the 
 principal or metropolitan district. There was in each sec- 
 tion a chief city which, like Jerusalem over the whole, held 
 jurisdiction over the district in which it was situated. The 
 names of these principal cities were Gophna, Acrabatta, 
 Thamna, Lydda, EmmauR, Pelln. Idumea, Engaddi, Hero- 
 dium, and Jcrielio. Tlicro wore aiso Jamnia, and Joppa ^ 
 
v 
 
 I, 
 
 10 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 ^ f 
 
 ' ii 
 
 which hold the chief jurisdiction over the localities in which 
 they were situated. Besides these several jurisdictions or 
 toparchies, there were those of Gamala, Gaulanitis, Ba- 
 tanea, and Trachonitis: this last-named district extended 
 from mount Lebanon, or Libanus, and the sources of the 
 Jordan to the lake of Tiberias, and its inhabitants were 
 a mixture of Jews and Syrians. 
 
 The whole country of Palestine may be regarded under 
 the view of four great divisions, viz. the two Galilees, Sa- 
 maria, Judea, and Porea ; having the Mediterranean Sea and 
 the country of the Phoenicians on the west, Syria and Ara- 
 bia on the east, the country of the Edomites on the South, 
 and mount Libai ns as its northern boundary. The two 
 Galilees constituted the northern portion of the country, hav, 
 ing on the westei?n side the territory belonging to Ptolemais 
 and Mount Carmel ; on the eastern side, Hippene and Ga- 
 daris, and also Gaulanitia and the Kingdom of Agrippa; on 
 the northern extremity the country of the Syrians ; and on 
 the southern Samaria, and Scythopolis as far as the river 
 Jordan. This formed a country of considerable magnitude, 
 and was inhabited by a people who were trained to arms 
 from their infancy, and who, whenever they were attacked 
 by the neighbouring hostile nations, were able to defend 
 themselves with valour and skill. It possessed a rich and 
 fertile soil, and abounded with plantations of trees of various 
 kinds : its inhabitants were skilful and active in its cultiva- 
 tion, and allowed no portion of it to remain idle. The po- 
 pulation was thick over the whole surface of the land, in 
 consequence of the richness and fertility of the soil ; and of 
 the numerous towns and villages which covered it there was 
 not one which had less than fifteen thousand inhabitants. 
 
 Perea, which was situated to the east of the Galileos, was 
 
 r 
 
DESCRIPTION OP JUDEA. 
 
 11 
 
 of greater magnitude, but inferior in the fertility of the soil, 
 and the beauty of the country. The greater part of it, in- 
 deed, consisted of a rough and barren soil, unfavourable to 
 the production of the milder kinds of fruits ; yet there were 
 portions of it whose soil was moist and fertile, and which 
 produced all kinds of fruits, and were planted with differ- 
 ent kinds of trees ; but the trees which were principally 
 cultivated were the olive, the vine, and the palm. It was 
 well watered with never-failing springs, and with torrents 
 which for a great part of the year flowed down from the 
 mountains. The length of Porea was marked by Pella on 
 the north, and Macherus on the south ; and its breadth by 
 the river Jordan on the west, and Philadelphia on the east. 
 The countries in its immediate neighbourhood were, that of 
 the Moabites on the south, Arabia on the East, and the Ga- 
 lilees and Gaulanitia on the north ; the river Jordan and the 
 Dead Sea forming the eastern boundary, which separated it 
 from Samaria, Judea, and the lower Galilee. Samaria lay to 
 the south of Galilee, and the north of Judea; and with 
 respect to surface and soil was of the same character and 
 nature as the latter country. Both countries consisted of a 
 succession of hills and valleys ; were sufficiently moist for the 
 purposes of agriculture; and possessed, particularly in the 
 valleys, a great degree of fertility. They abounded in fruit 
 trees, both wild and cultivated; their rivers were but few, 
 their moisture being chiefly derived from rain water ; but 
 the water of thos« rivers was remarkable for its sweetness. 
 The quality of the grass which grew here was such that the 
 cows which were fed upon it yielded more milk than those 
 which were fed in other parts. Both Samaria and Judea 
 were very thickly inhabited. Josephus cites one Hecateus, 
 a heathen writer who had preceded himself by a long period, 
 
12 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOM^. 
 
 , 
 
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 \ 'i 
 
 (time of Alexander the Great), as an authority touching the 
 extent and fertility of Judea. — "The land which the Jews 
 inhabit contain^ three millions of arourae, and is generally 
 of a most excellent and most fruitful soil." The aroura was 
 about equal to three quarters of an English acre. The same 
 writer still goes on to say,—" There are many strong places 
 and villages in the country of Judea ; but one strong city 
 there is, about fifty furlongs in circumference, which is in- 
 habited by one hundred and twenty thousand men, or there- 
 abouts: they call it Jerusalem." Josephus in defending the 
 antiquity and high moral and social status of his country 
 against the attacks of those writers who depreciated the Jews 
 because they had obtained no notice from the Greek histo- 
 rians, thus discourses: — " As for ourselves, therefore, we 
 neither inhabit a» maritime country, nor do we delight in 
 msrchandise, nor in such a mixture with other men as arises 
 from it; but the cities we dwell in are remote from the sea; 
 and having a fruitful country for our habitation, we take 
 pains in cultivating that only. Our principal care of all is 
 this, to educate our children well : and we think it to be the 
 most necessary business of our whole life to observe the laws 
 that have been given to us, and to keep tiiose rules of piety 
 that have been delivered down to us. Since, therefore, be- 
 sides what we have already taken notice of, we have had a 
 peculiar way of living of our own, there was no occasion of- 
 fered us in ancient ages for intermixing among the Greeks, 
 as they had for mixing among the Egyptians by their inter- 
 course of exporting and importing their several goods ; as 
 they also mixed with the PhoGnicians, who lived by the sea- 
 side, by means of their love of lucre in trade and merchan- 
 dise. Nor did our forGfuthcrs betake thoinwolves, us did some 
 others, to robbery: nor did thoy, in order to gain more 
 
DESCRIPTION OF JUDBA. 
 
 13 
 
 11 n more 
 
 wealth, fall into foreign wars, although our country contain- 
 ed many ten thousands of men, of courage sufficient for that 
 purpose. For this reason it was that the Phoenicians them- 
 selves came soon, by trading and navigation, to be known to 
 the Grecians ; and by their means the Egyptians became 
 known tc the Grecians also, as did all those people whence 
 the Phoenicians, in long voyages over the seas, carried wares 
 to the Grecians. The Medes also, and the Persians, when they 
 were lords of Asia, became well known to them ; and this 
 was especially true of the Persians, who led their armies as 
 far as the other continent [Europe.] The Thracians were 
 also known to them by the nearness of their countries ; andf 
 the Scytheans, by the means of those that sailed to Pontus ; 
 for it was so in general, that all maritime nations, and those 
 that inhabited near the eastern or western seas, became most 
 known to those that were desirous to be writers ; but such as 
 had their habitations farther from the sea were for the most 
 part unknown to them : which things appear to have hap- 
 pened as to Europe also, where the city of Eome, that hath 
 this long time been possesed of so much power, and hath 
 performed such great actions in war, is never yet mention- 
 ed by Herodotus, nor by Thucydides, nor by any one of their 
 cotemporaries ; and ifc was very late, and with great difficul- 
 ty that the Eomans became known to the Greeks." 
 
 In the early nations of the world the forms of govern- 
 ment were various, and subject to continual change. Among 
 the Hebrews, as among all nations, at the first formation of 
 society, the patriarchal form of government was that 
 which was first established. Nature and necessity exercised 
 the supreme control in this, as in all other cases of human 
 exigency. The father of a family was naturally the guide 
 and protector of those whom God had entrusted to his care; 
 
rr 
 
 14 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 i 
 
 ^ 
 
 and the necessity, in the absence of all organised spiritual 
 and temporal authority, of directing their footsteps in divine 
 and civil matters, became imperative. Accordingly tl\e 
 heads or fathers of families were in their own households 
 both priests and princes ; and, as such, it was competent for 
 them to bless or curse, to promote to authority or disinherit, 
 to reprove, or even to punish by death, the various members 
 of their families, as it seemed good and just to them. Such 
 was the early government of the Hebrews. Examples of 
 this supreme authority, as exercised by the fathers of families, 
 may be drawn from the writings of Moses ; as in the case 
 of Noah and his grandson Canaan : — " He said, cursed be 
 Canaan ; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren," 
 (Genesis, 9c. 25 v.) ; and of Abraham and his bondwoman 
 Agar, and son I^hmael : — " So Abraham rose up in the 
 morning, and taking bread and a bottle of water, put it upon 
 her shoulder, and delivered the boy, and sent her away. 
 And she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beer- 
 sheba ;" (Gen. 21c. 14v.) ; and of Jacob and his sons Simeon 
 and Levi, — " Let not my soul go into their council, nor my 
 glory be in their assembly ; because in their fury they slew 
 a man, and in their self-will they undermined a wall. Cursed 
 be their fury because it was stubborn: and their wrath 
 because it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and 
 scatter them in Israel ;" (Gen., 49c. 67v.) ; and of Juda 
 and his daughter-in-law Thamar, — "And Juda said, bring 
 her out that she may be burnt,"(Gen., 38c. 24v.). The 
 succession to the authority thus vested in the father of a 
 family was in the first-born or eldest son : and this form of 
 government continued until the time of Moses, when tne 
 ecclesiastical and civil power became seperate and distinct, 
 and were respectively placed under a new dynasty; the 
 
 I ^ 
 
THE HEBREW COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 16 
 
 ecclesiastical prerogative being committed to Aai-on and his 
 posterity, and the civil authority to Moses, and after him to 
 Josue. The monarchical authority thus exercised by Moses, 
 and his successor, Josue, was, upon the death of the latter, 
 changed into the Judicial ; which was elective in its form, 
 but absolute in its spirit and action. This system of Judicial 
 Government, however, cannot be regarded in the light of a 
 continual Monarchicr' Eule, because it was frequently 
 interrupted, or rather not resorted to, except in cases of 
 disturbance, or of imminent danger to the Commonwealth. 
 Upon the death of a judge, his successor was not elected 
 until some disorder among the people, or some threatening 
 peril, rendered such ©lection necessary : and then, upon the 
 re-establishment of good order and the restoration of public 
 security, the judge ruler retired into private life. In this 
 respect the Hebrew Government under the Judges resembled 
 that of the Eomans under the Dictators. The only excep- 
 tion to this general usage in the judicial regime of the 
 Hebrews was the reign of Samuel, who " judged Israel all 
 the days of his life," (1 Sam. 1c. 15 c). The length of time 
 during which this form of Government continued was, 
 according to St. Augustine, 329 years (De Civ. Dei, L. 18. 
 C. 21.) It is necessary to observe that in the interregna, or 
 intervals between judge and judge, that is, during the terms of 
 quiet and repose, the civil affairs of the Commonwealth were 
 conducted by the Council called Senadrin, which consisted of 
 seventy wise and experienced men selected from the people. 
 So that we might, with great propriety, divide the Govern- 
 ment, during the dynasty of the Judges, into the two designa- 
 tions of Dictatorship and Aristocracy ; for when it was not 
 the one, it was the other. 
 
 This form of Government was succeeded by that of the 
 
 ,« 
 
16 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 kingly, or monarchical, which, commencing with the reign of 
 Saul, ended with the captivity of Babylon, embracing a period 
 of about 502 years. j>om this time to the coming of our 
 Saviour, a period of a'>out 636 years, the condition and 
 government of the Jews were of an anomalous character. 
 For a portion of this period they were ruled by Governors 
 or Deputies appointed by the Persian monarchs, and called 
 Basche galiuth, or in the Greek, Aichmalotarchai, Heads of 
 the Captivity. Such was Zorobabel, and such his successors, 
 Mesullam, Hananiah, Berachiah, and Hosadiah, all of whom 
 are said to have been descended from the line of David : as 
 well as the succeeding ten governors who came after the 
 time of Alexander the Great. The Government, after these, 
 was transferred to the Maccabees, and thus passed from the 
 House of David to the descendants of the Tribe of Levi, 
 These derived thek* distinctive title of Maccabees from Judas, 
 the great Captain, who was called Maccabeus from the initials 
 of the motto inscribed upon his banner; these initials being 
 M. C. B. A. I. The signification of the motto was, " Who 
 among the Gods is like unto Thee, O Lord ?" 
 
 In the hands of these the Government continued until the 
 reign of Herod the Askalonite, when our Saviour was born : 
 and thus was fulfilled the prophecy of Jacob, " The 
 sceptre shall not be taken away from Juda, nor a Euler 
 from his thigh, till he come that is to be sent, and he shall 
 be the expectation of Nations," (Gen. 49c. lOv.). 
 
 . , ^ 
 
CHAPTER 11. 
 
 PUBLICANS — TWO CLASSES, ISRAELITES AND PROSELYTES. 
 
 AVING thus glanced at the diflferent changes of gov- 
 ernment which took place among the Hebrews, 
 I shall now direct attention, throughout the fol- 
 lowing pages, to the various Sects, Eeligious Practices and 
 Ceremonies, Customs and Manners, and to the Names and 
 Duties of Public Officers, as well as to other matters con- 
 nected with the history of the Jewish Nation which it may 
 be desirable to know, and interesting to enquire into. 
 
 After Judea had fallen under the sway of the Romans, a 
 certain tribute was imposed upon the people, for the collec- 
 tion of which there were several officers appointed, caljed 
 Publicani, or Publicans. This subjugation of the Jews to 
 the Eoman power was effected by Pompey, about 60 years 
 before our era; and the Senate immediately afterwards 
 passed a decree, as was usual on the conquest of foreign 
 countries, for the purpose of levying a tax from this new 
 Province. Distasteful as these collectors were to the people 
 of the Eoman Provinces generally, they, in an especial 
 degree, incurred the displeasure of the Jews. The hatred 
 which they bore them was intense ; and this arose princi- 
 pally from two causes, — first, from the circumstance that 
 the Jews did not consider that they should have been 
 subjected to this tribute at all; and secondly, from the 
 relentless severity with which it was exacted. The Galileans, 
 or inhabitants of Galilee, were especially distinguished for 
 their hostility in this respect ; and the general feeling of 
 
ill 
 
 18 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 dissatisfaction which prevailed among them on the subject 
 is expressed in the rabbinical proverb, "Take not a wife out 
 of that family wherein there is a publican, for such are ,all 
 publicans." 
 
 The grinding rapacity of these publicans or tax gatherers 
 was such, throughout all the Roman provinces, that it was 
 looked upon as a most extraordinary thing in Eome to find 
 an honest man among them at all. And hence it happened 
 that on one occasion a member of this class, named Sabinus, 
 who had discharged his office with fidelity and honesty, had 
 certain figures, with tablets, publicly erected to his honour in 
 Rome, inscribed with the words, " kalos telonesanti," " To the 
 honest Publican.'* It is, therefore, not surprising that we 
 find the words "publicans," and " sinners" coupled together 
 in the writings of the Evangelists. These publicans were 
 not separate arid independent officers, and thus directly 
 amenable to the Roman Senate ; but they were formed into 
 companies in the several provinces, each province having its 
 own particular company, which was presided over by a chief 
 publican, as Governor. Thus Sacheus, in the Evangelists, 
 is called Architelones, that is, head publican (Luke, 19c. 2v.) 
 But these heads or governors also had a superior chief, resid- 
 ing in Rome, to whom they were amenable for their accounts. 
 It is worthy of remark, however, that notwithstanding the 
 general detestation in which these public officers were held, 
 and the particular intensity of hatred which was entertained 
 for them in Judea, some of the Jews themselves were publicans. 
 It is true that TertuUian entertained the belief that they 
 were all Heathens, and that no person of the Jewish per- 
 suasion had ever participated in the hateful employment ; 
 but St. Jerome has confuted that opinion. "We know that 
 Matthew was a publican ; and the fact of his becoming an 
 
 ' .' 
 
 1i! 
 
PUBLICANS. 
 
 19 
 
 joming an 
 
 apostle would warrant us in supposing that he was a Jew, 
 and not a Heathen. If we may judge by the name, wo should 
 be inclined to say that Sacheus, the chief publican mentioned 
 by St. Luke, was not a Heathen, but a Jew ; for certainly 
 Sacheus has no affinity with Roman names. 
 
 The Hebrew nation, with respect to birth and religion, 
 were divided into two classes, or rather designated by two 
 distinct appellations, namely, Israelites or Hebrews, and 
 Proselytes. He who was born a Hebrew^ of Hebrew parents, 
 was styled emphatically a Hebrew of Hebrews ; while he 
 who was born a Hebrew, either parent being a proselyte, 
 was simply styled a Hebrew. But he who was born a prose- 
 lyte, if of a proGelyte father, was called Bengar ; and if of a 
 proselyte mother, Bengara ; and if of both, Baghag : the 
 meaning of these terms being, " the son of a male prose- 
 lyte," the son of a female proselyte," and " the son of male i\Ti^ 
 female proselytes." St. Paul, according to his own account, 
 was an Hebrew of the Hebrevrs ; that is, he was born a He- 
 brew of Hebrew parents. "Being," he says, talking of him- 
 self, " circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the 
 tribe of Benjamin,an Hebrew of the Hebrews ; according to the 
 law, a Pharisee," (Phil., 3c. 5v.) There was a further dis- 
 tinction of the Hebrews with respect to country ; all those 
 who lived in Palestine went by the general name of Hebrews, 
 while those who resided in dilferent parts of Greece were, by 
 way of distinction, called Grcecists. The former used the 
 Hebrew text, while the latter used the Greek ; but both 
 were the same as to birth and religion ; and were, in con- 
 tradistinction to the heathens, called by the general name of 
 Hebrews, or Israelites. It is well to observe here that, 
 whereas we find mention made in the New Testament of 
 Grecians and Grsecists, or, in the Greek text, of EUenes 
 
'TlTT 
 
 ,-- 1 
 
 20 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 i 
 
 ^lijli 
 
 i^ 
 
 and Ellenistai, we are to understand the former as having 
 reference to the heathen Greeks, and the latter to the He- 
 brews residing in Greece : and also, where Grfiocists are 
 put in opposition to Hebrews, we are to understand that the 
 former are the Hebrews of Greece, and the latter those of 
 Palestine: — "And in those days the number of the discipleii 
 increasing, there arose a murmur of the Gra)cists (EUonis- 
 ton) against the Hebrews, for that their widows were ne- 
 glected in the daily ministration" (Acts 6c. Iv.). The whole 
 people of Israel was divided into twelve tribes, and the 
 names of all were registered, according to their tribe, in pub- 
 lic records kept for that purpose. These records wore burnt 
 by Herod, who was an usurper of the Crown, with the view, 
 it is thought, of confounding the diiferent families, and there- 
 by diverting the, line of succession from the house of David, 
 and securing it to his own posterity. 
 
 With respect to the persons called Proselytes, who liave 
 been so frequently mentioned, it is as well to observe that 
 these were people who, from having been pagans, became 
 members of the Jewish faith ; and were so called from the 
 Greek word proselehithenai, to come over, because they came 
 over from Pagauicm to Judaism. There were two kinds of 
 proselytes ; first, Gerherith. or a proselyte of the covenant, 
 who submitted himself to circumcision, and accepted the 
 whole law of Moses ; these were styled by the Rabbies. prose- 
 lytes of righteousness : second, Gersahar/ne, or a proselyte of 
 the Gate; heneither submitted to circumcision, nor accepted 
 the Mosaic laws and ordinances, but merely bound himself 
 to the observance of certain laws of a moral and political 
 character, which the Hebrew doctors call the Seven Com- 
 mandments of Noah : these prescribed judgments and punish- 
 ments for malefactors ; blessing God'a name and keepir.g his 
 KSabbath ; abjuring idolatry ; keeping the person covered ; 
 
 H 
 
PROSELYTES. 
 
 n 
 
 abstaining from tlio shedding of blood, and also from rob- 
 bery ; and also from eating any member of a beast tai-en 
 from it alive. Naaman, the Syrian, was of this class of prose- 
 lytes ; as was also the eunuch Cornelius, and all those of 
 whom St. Luke speaks in the Acts of the Apostles, — " Kow 
 there were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men out of 
 every nation under heaven." (Acts 2c. 5v.) The ceremonial 
 of admission into the rank of a proselyte of the Covenant 
 was simple, but varied according to the sex of the candidate, 
 and also with respect to time. For the admission of a male 
 there were required circumcision, ])urification by water, and 
 the blood of oblation, — the oblation consisting most com- 
 monly of two turtles or pigeons : for that of a female, purifi- 
 cation by water and oblation were the only things required. 
 In the time of David, it is said that many thousands were 
 admitted into the Church by purification alone. However, 
 after the oftcring of sacrifices had ceased among the Jews, 
 the oblation likewise ceased to be a part of the ceremonial 
 of initiation into their Church; and circumcision and purifi- 
 cation were alone rcquied for males, and purification only 
 for females. 
 
 The behaviour of the Jews towards the proselytes was 
 kind and benevolent ; they never addressed opjH-obrious lan- 
 guage to them, nor insultingly reminded them of their for- 
 mer condition ; but on the contrary studiously avoided every 
 thing, in word and act, that was calculated to give pain to 
 their feelings. They excluded them, however, from the 
 ]irivilege of being members of the Court of Sanhedrin ; and 
 exercised great caution in their general intercourse with 
 them ; which may appear from the comniop proverb among 
 them, ''I3eware of jH'oselytcs, even to the tenth generation ;" 
 "Vclad dccimam usque gencrationcm a proselytis cave," 
 (Casaubon ndvcrs. Ijaroii. 27.) 
 
(■?''■' 
 
 f!' ';; 
 
 
 I ^i 
 
 ^ -•'■ ' , 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 KINGS — PRIESTS. 
 
 MONG the Jews, as well as Heathens, it often hap- 
 penad that the ecclesiastical and civil power were 
 united in the game person : thus, among the Jews, 
 Melchisedec was both King and Priest ; and David both King 
 and Prophet. When Joash was anointed King, he also re- 
 ceived the Testimony or Book of the Law. — " And he (the 
 priest Joiada) brought forth the King's son (Joash) and put 
 the diadem upon him and the testimony : and they made him 
 King, and anointed him : and clapping their hands, they said, 
 God sare the King," (4K. lie. 12v.) By the way it may here 
 be remarked, tha^j the ceremony of anointing Kings and 
 Emperors in our own time is sometliing more than a mimic 
 representation of the ancient practice, at least in those coun- 
 tries where Protestantism is the religion of the State, for in 
 Lx?8e we find that the ecclesiastical and civil power are com- 
 bined in the Chief Magistrate. • Her Majesty, the Queen of 
 England, our own beloved Sovereign, is at once the head of 
 the State, and of the Church. 
 
 Yirgil informs us that Anius, the King of the Island Dclos, 
 ■eras both king and priest, — "Rex Aniub, rex idemhominum 
 l*hoebique Sacerdos," (^neid, 3. 6) ; and wo also learn, from 
 Alexander IS'epolitanus, that King Trismegistus Avas at once 
 king, philosopher, and priest, and that he derived his name 
 from this circumstance, being ter maximus, or thrice the 
 greatest; that is, pMlosophus maximus, rex maximus, and 
 
 \\ \ , 
 
KINGS— PRIESTS. 
 
 sacerdos maximus. It was not deemed necessary among the 
 Jews to perform the ceremony of anointing every king; but 
 when the succession was interrupted, the first of each dynas- 
 ty was subjected to that ceremony, which was also renewed 
 upon the occurrence of a dissension, in order to confirm the 
 authority of the King. Hence it was thai Solomon, the son 
 of David, was a.iointed, in consequence >f the contention 
 between him and Adonijah. 
 
 There was also a prophetic intimation in the mode of 
 anointing, ibr we find that Saul and Jehu were each anointed 
 with a cruise of oil (^Bepae) ; while the measure used in this 
 ceremony with respect to David and Solomon was a horn of 
 oil (Bekeren). In the one case the shortness of the reign of 
 each of the kings was intimated ; while in the other case 
 the length of each reign was foreshadowed. 
 
 Besides the peculiar ensigns of roj^alty, such as the throne, 
 the crown, and the sceptre, we find that among the Jews, as 
 well as the heathen nations of antiquity, a distinction was 
 observed in the colour of the royal robes; purple and white 
 being the principal colours adopted in this respect, the former 
 by the heathen kings and nobility, and the latter by the 
 kings and nobility of the Jews. It was in compliance with 
 this distinction that Ahab, King of Israel, changed his dress 
 when going into battle, — " But the King of Israel changed 
 his dress, and went into the battle," (3K. 22c. 30v.) And we 
 learn that the HebreA\s distinguished their nobility and men 
 of rank by the cognomen of Chorim, that is, white-robed ; 
 while people of inferior grades were designated Chaschucim, 
 that is Meanly-Clad. To this distinction of dress St. James 
 alludes, when ho says, — '' For if thero shall come into your 
 assembly a man having a gold ring, in fine apparel (accord- 
 ing to the Greek, in white garment, estheti lampra,) and 
 
r 
 
 f 
 
 ♦' 
 
 < 1 
 
 \\ 
 
 4lll!i 
 
 U 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 V 
 
 there come in also a poor man in mean attire ; and you have 
 respect to him that is clothed with the fine ajiparel, and shall 
 say to him, * sit thou here well'; but say to the poor man, ' stand 
 thou there or sit under my footstool :' do you not judge with- 
 in yourselves, and are become judges of unjust thoughts ?" 
 (St. James, 2c. 2, 3, 4v.) 
 
 The diff( '-ent customs of the Hebrews and the Heathens 
 in this respect appear from the treatment to which our Sa- 
 viour was subjected on two occasions, first, when the soldiers 
 of the Eoman governor, Pilate, clad him in purple ; (Matt., 
 27( .28v.) and second, when Herod, the Tetrarch of Galilee, 
 put upon him a white garment, (Luke, 23c. llv.) ; thus each 
 party deriding Him, by vesting Him with the royal robes of 
 their respective nations. 
 
 Among the Jews there were three orders of ministers ap- 
 pointed for the service of the Temple: these were called res- 
 pectively Priests, Lcvites, and Nethenims; and over all 
 presided a chief, called High-priest. As among the Greeks 
 and Eomans, the order of priesthood was limited with cer- 
 tain families, or a certain class; so among the Hebrews it 
 was confined to one family, namely, that of Aaron ; the 
 eldest born throughout the line of desc nt being always high 
 priest. The posterity of Levi, who was the groat-grand- 
 father of Moses and Aaron, and the son of Jacob, were all 
 called Levites ; and these were also devoted to the service 
 of the altar in an inferior capacity to that of the priests. 
 The third or lowest rank, who were called Nethenims, from 
 Nathan, to give, because they wore given to the service of the 
 Temple, were the hewers of wood and drawers of water to 
 llic house of God. The}- were not of the line of Israel ; but 
 were Gibconitos,whom, for their friuululent conduct, Josuc 
 had made tributary to the Israolites, 
 
 3*; 
 
1/ 
 
 PRIESTS. 
 
 25 
 
 Besides these three orders of attendants upon the altar, 
 there was another class of persons whose business it was to 
 offer gifts and sacrifices at the altar on behalf of the whole 
 people. These were called Ansche Magnamad, that is, Sta^ 
 tionary men. The institution of this order occurred in this 
 way : it was the law that every person who offered a gift or 
 sacrifice to the Lord should do so with his own hands, and 
 be present during the time of oblation ; now, whenever an 
 offering was made for the whole people, it was impossible 
 for them all to be present ; hence it became necessary to ap. 
 point persons to represent them, and who should be always 
 present for the purpose. These persons were selected in- 
 differently, from the whole people, to fulfil this office ; and 
 
 [formed into a permanent class or order ; and hence their 
 
 [name oi Stationary men. 
 
 The mode of admission to office, called Consecration, was 
 
 [of course different, with respect to the priests, and the high- 
 )rie8t; as were also their duties of office. The high-priest 
 ras abundantly anointed with the prescribed holy oil, while 
 |,he priests were merely sprinkled with a mixture of this oil 
 ^nd the blood of the Sacrifice. Aaron underwent the former 
 Mocess, — " And he poured it upon Aaron's head, and he au- 
 )inted and consecrated him," (Levit., 8c. 12v.) And again, 
 [' Like the precious ointment on the head, that ran down upon 
 |;he beard, the beard of Aaron," (Ps., 132. 2.) This superior 
 jonsecration of Aaron was typical of the unction of our Sa- 
 dour, who was anointed "above his fellows," — "Thou hast 
 )ved justice and hated iniquity ; therefore God, thy God, 
 lath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows," 
 [Ps. 44., 8). 
 
 The vestments of the high-priest differed also from those 
 )f the priests ; the former being distinguished for their ri^h- 
 
 
 
II 
 
 I 
 
 ■ i: 
 
 A« 
 
 26 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 k 
 
 I 
 
 ness and splendor, as the latter were for their simplicity. 
 The twenty-eighth chapter of Exodus is devoted to a des- 
 cription of thec;o ditferent vestments. 
 
 The high-priest, when engaged in his ordinary ministra- 
 tion in the sanctuary, wore eight different articles of dress ; 
 namely, an inner dress of linen ; a coat of fine linen ; an em- 
 broidered girdle of fine linen, blue, purjile, and scarlet ; a 
 robe of blue, with seventy-two bells of gold, and the 
 same number of pomegranates — blue, purple and scarlet, 
 upon the skirts of it ; an ephod of gold, blue, purple, and 
 scarlet; and fine twisted linen, with two onyx stones or 
 beryls, on the shoulders, engraven with the names of the 
 children of Israel (the twelve tribes) ; a rational or breast- 
 plate of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, a span 
 square, and fastened by gold rings and chains to the ephod, — 
 four rows of precious stones, three in each row,being inserted 
 in it, on which were engraven the names of the twelve 
 tribes. On this breastplate were placed the Urim and 
 Thummim. To these articles were added a mitre of fine 
 linen, sixteen cubits long, wrapped around his head; and a 
 plate of purest gold, two fingers broad, on which was en- 
 graven " holy to the Lord;" this was tied with a violet fillet | 
 on the front of the mitre. These ve8^.ments the Eabbies 
 designate Bigde Sahab, that is, golden vestments, on account 
 of their costliness and splendor. On the day of Propitiation, 
 however, which occurred only once every year, when the j 
 high priest entered the Holy of Holies, a simple dress only, 
 consisting of four articles, was worn : these articles were, an I 
 inner covering, a coat, a girdle, and a mitre, — all of white 
 linen. They were called Bigde Ldban, that is, the ichite\ 
 vesimcnts. Upon the rebuilding of the temple, the oil of con- 
 secration was lost; and from this circumstance the highi 
 
PRIESTS. 
 
 27 
 
 priest, instead of being denominated by the Talmudista the 
 anointed, {Mithrabe Mischa,) was styled the clothed, {Mithrahe 
 Begadim.) It is proper to observe, with respect to the vcit- 
 ments of the high priest already described, that 't was con- 
 sidered unlawful for him to wear them outside the temple, 
 except on some extraordinary occasion ; as in the instance 
 of Simeon, the Just, who wore them when he went forih to 
 meet Alexander the Great. 
 
 Now looking upon these vestments as a typo of the mis- 
 sion of our Saviour, and the objects of that mission, the 
 mitre or crown may be regarded as foreshadowing his 
 Eoyal Dignity; the Urim and Thummim as indicative of 
 his prophetic power ; the bells as indicating the announce- 
 ment and sound of his doctrine ; and the pomegranates as 
 emblematic of the sweet savour of a holy life. The names 
 of the twelve tribes engraven upon the ephod, and the ration- 
 al or breastplate, were significant of His priestly functions, 
 by which He presented to His divine Father the whole Church, 
 interceding for its eternal welfare and happiness. As re- 
 igards the vestments of the priests, they were few and simple, 
 [consisting merely of an inside covering of linen, a linen 
 [coat, a linen girdle, and a linen head-dress. 
 
 With respect to the marriage of the priesthood, it was 
 not permitted the high priest to marry a widow, or a divorced 
 woman, or any other than a virgin : — " He shall take a vir- 
 gin unto his wife." [Levit. 21, 14.] But the priests were 
 allowed to marry a widow, though forbidden to marry a 
 [divorced woman, or a woman of bad repute. 
 
 Here, in the case of the high priest, we have a type of the 
 first pure and holy love which oui' Saviour expected from 
 His Church. », 
 
 For admission into the order of priests it was indispensibl© 
 
I 
 
 lip 
 
 
 is 
 
 " V. 
 
 /» , 
 
 tHE HEBREWS AT HOME). 
 
 that the candidates should be sound of body :-" Say to Aaron : 
 Whosoever of thy seed throughout their familiet* hath a blem- 
 ish, he shall not offer bread to his God," [Levit. 21. IT ;]'and 
 that he should be presented to the Lord at the door of the 
 Tabernacle, and washed with water : — " And thou shalt 
 bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the Tabernacle of 
 the Testimony. And when thou hast washed the father and 
 his sons with water, thou shalt clothe Aaron with his vest- 
 ments, that is, with the linen garment and the tunic, and the 
 ephod and the rational, which thou shall gird with the gir- 
 dle," [Exod., 29. 4:] that certain sacrifices should then be 
 offered for consecration ; and that the blood of one of the 
 rams of sacrifice should be put on the tip of the right ear of 
 the candidate, on the thumb of his right hand, and the great 
 toe of his right foot : — "Thou shalt take also the other ram, 
 upon whose head Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands. 
 And when thou hast sacrificed him, thou shalt take of his 
 blood and put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron and 
 of his sons, and upon the thumb and great toe of their right 
 hand and foot, and thou shalt pour the blood upon the altar 
 round about," [Exod., 29. 19-20.] After this the candidate 
 and his vestments were sprinkled with the blood, and the oil 
 of unction; and certain portions of the fat of the ram, 
 together with a wafer or piece of unleavened bread were put 
 into his hand, which he raised up to sanctify them : these 
 were then burnt as a holocaust pleasing to the Lord : — "And 
 when thou hast taken of the blood that is upon the altar, 
 and of the oil of unction, thou shalt sprinkle Aaron and his 
 vestments, his sons and their vestments. And after they 
 and their vestments are consecrated, thou shalt take the fat 
 of the ram, and the rump, and the fat that covereth the lungs, 
 and the caul of the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat 
 
PRIESTS. 
 
 29 
 
 that is upon them, and the right shoulder, because it is the 
 ram of consecration : and one roll of bread, a cake tempered 
 with oil, a wafer out of the basket of unleavened bread 
 which is set in the sight of the Lord : and thou shalt take 
 all from their hands, and shalt burn them upon the altar for 
 a holocaust, a most sweet savour in the sight of the Lord : 
 because it is his oblation," [Exod., 29, 21-25.] 
 
 It was not lawful fov the Jewish priests to enter into the 
 Holy of Holies : this was a privilege exclusively reserved for 
 the high-priest, who, as I have already observed, could en- 
 ter it once a year, on the day of propitiation. But it was 
 forbidden the high-priest to assume the symbols of mourning, 
 which were the uncovering of the head, and the rending of 
 the garments : — " The high priest, that is to say, the priest, 
 is the greatest among his brethren, upon whose head the oil 
 of unction hath been poured, and whose hands have been 
 consecrated for the priesthood, and who hath been vested 
 with the holy vestments, shall not uncover his] head : he 
 shall not rend his garments," (Levit., 21. 10.) 
 
 The Talmudists say that it was lawful for the high priest 
 to tear the lower part of his garments, but not the upper. 
 The high-priest Caiphas did this when our Saviour, in reply 
 to his question, " if he were the Christ, the Son of God," 
 acknowledged that he was so: — "Then the high priest rent 
 his garments, saying : He hath blasphemed, what further 
 need have we of witnesses ? Behold, now you havo heard the 
 blasphemy," (Matt., 26. 65.) It was, however, lawful for 
 the inferior priests to go into mourning, but only for a 
 father, a mother, a son, a daughter, a brother, and an un- 
 married sister, (Levit., 21. 2.) 
 
 It was the duty of the high priest, as well as of the inferior 
 priests, to offer sacrifice and burn incense ; to slay the victims 
 

 r t 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 k 
 
 If 
 
 Hi 
 
 for the sacrifice, to sound the trumpets, both in the case of 
 approaching war, and for the purpose of assembling the 
 people and their rulers ; to give instructions to the people ; 
 and to judge of leprosy. The high priest had an assistant, 
 or suffragan, called Sagan, who, in his absence from any un- 
 avoidable cause, discharged the duties of his office. Sophonias 
 was a Sagan: — "And the general took Saraias the chief 
 priest, and Sophonias the second priest, and the three keep- 
 ers of the entry," [Jer. 25. 24]. 
 
 For the better regulation and arrangement of the priestly 
 office, king David divided the whole inferior priesthood into 
 twenty-four courses or classes, according to the families of 
 Aaron's surviving sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, who were the 
 more numerous j of the former he selected sixteen principal 
 men ; and of the latter eight ; making in all twenty-four 
 courses or classes. These were arranged according to lot ; 
 when the first fell to Joiarab, the second to Jedei, the third 
 to Harim, the fourth to Scorim ; and so on, until each of the 
 twenty-four classes was assigned its proper rank. Each rank, 
 or course, which was designated by the name of its chief or 
 head, served the Temple a week in turn ; and every priest of 
 each rank had his particular duty assigned to him by lot; 
 These duties were, the burning of tl d incense, the slaying of 
 the victims for the sacrifice, the placing them upon the altar, 
 the preparation and dressing of the lamps, and so on. Now, 
 as there were twenty-four ranks, there were also twenty-four 
 chiefs or heads ; and hence is illustrated that allusion, in the 
 gospel of St. Mark, to the chief priests:—'* Now the feast of 
 the pasch and of the Azymes was after two days ; and the 
 chief priests and the scribes sought how they might by some 
 wile lay hold on him and kill him," (St. Mark, 24. 1.) 
 
 Zacharias, who was of the eighth coui'se, that is, the course 
 
t»RIESTS. 
 
 81 
 
 of Abia, was appointed by lot to burn incense : — " According 
 to the custom of the priestly office, it was his lot to offer 
 incense, going into the Temple of the Lord," — (Luke, 1. 9.) 
 The Jewish historian, Josephus, says that each of these cour- 
 ses contained five thousand priests ; so that, according to this 
 computation, the number of the priesthood amounted to one 
 hundred and twenty thousand, they being about one tenth of 
 the whole of the people. Josephus, himself, was of a sacerdo- 
 tal family ; and, according to his own evidence, he belonged 
 not only to the first course of priests, but also to the chief 
 family of the first course. 
 
 The Levites, or second order of the priesthood, which we 
 may regard as corresponding with the order of deacons in 
 the Christian Churches, had assigned to them the duties of 
 pitching, removing, and carrying about the Tabernacle, and 
 taking charge of the vessels belonging to it. They consisted 
 of three orders, called respectively after the three sons of 
 Levi, Gershonites, Cohathites, and Merarites ; the first named, 
 or Gershonites, carried the coverings and h ngings of the 
 Tabernacle; the Cohathites had charge of the principal 
 things placed within the sanctuary ; and the Merarites looked 
 after the woodwork and materials composing the body of 
 the Tabernacle. Such were the respective duties of the 
 Levites, according to their order, while travelling through 
 the wilderness under the direction and guidance of Moses ; 
 but afterwards David effected a change in their offices, for 
 he gave to some of the Levites the charge of the treasures 
 of the Temple ; others he made overseers and judges ; others 
 porters ; and others singers : — " And David being old and full 
 of days, made Solomon, his son, King over Israel. And he 
 gathered together all the princes of Israel, and the priests and 
 Levites. And the Levites were numbered from the age of 
 
h 
 
 32 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 A« 
 
 ni'ii 
 
 •l! 
 
 
 : i 
 
 rlj i! 
 
 Mi » 
 il'l 
 
 thirty years and upwards ; and there were found of tliem 
 thirty-eight thousand men. Of these twenty-four thousand 
 were chosen, ^nd distributed unto the ministry of the hpuse 
 of the Lord : and six thousand wore overseers and judges. 
 Moreover four thousand were porters ; and as many singers 
 singing to the Lord with the instruments which he had made 
 to sing with," (1 Chron. 23. 4 — Paralip idem.) " Now Achaias 
 was over the treasureo of the house of God, and the holy 
 vessels," (1 Chron. 26. 20.) The singers who wore arrayed 
 in linen robes, were, like the priests, divided into twenty- 
 four courses or orders ; as were also the porters ; and they 
 respectively discharged their duties in turn, and according 
 to lot. (1 Chron. 5. 12 and 2. 58.) In the time of Moses the 
 consecration of the Levites, preliminary to their assump- 
 tion of the sacred office, took place in the twenty-fifth year 
 of their age ; bul in that of David it was performed in their 
 twentieth year. Here we may observe that it was compe- 
 tent for the Jewish Church to make such changes with res- 
 pect to ceremony as it might from time to time deem advi- 
 sable ; for, as in the offices of the Levites, so, as to the age at 
 which they became admissible to those offices, Moses and 
 David followed a different >^ule. Similar changes may be 
 observed as having taken p^ace from time to time in the 
 Christian Church, as, for instance, in the election of Matthias 
 to the Apostleship by the medium of lots ; which was dif- 
 ferent from that of St. Paul and the other Apostles. The 
 ceremony of the holy kiss between the Apostles at their meet- 
 ing, as well as the practice of Love feasts have been aban- 
 doned in the modern Church. 
 
 At the age of one month the Levites were subjected to the 
 rite of initiation : — " Number the sons of Levi by the houses 
 of their fathers and their families, every male from one 
 
P&IB8TS. 
 
 month and upward," (Num. 3.15). And at the age of twenty- 
 livo they were consecrated by the impot^ition of handii : — 
 " This is the law of the Lovites ; from twenty-five years old 
 and upwardf., they shall go in to minister in the Taber^ 
 nacle of the Oovenant," (Num. 8. 24). For the next four years 
 after the consecration by the impositiou of hands the Levi- 
 tical order of the priesthood devoted themselves to the acqui- 
 sition of the knowledge necessary for the proper discharge of 
 their duties. At the age of thirty years, therefore, their 
 ministration commenced ; which consisted, as I have already 
 said, in pitching, removing, and carrying the Tabernacle 
 about ; and in this they continued until their fiftieth year, 
 when they were released or discharged from the service. 
 They were then employed in guarding the tent, in singing, 
 in preventing strangers from entering the Temple, and in 
 o)ierseeing and instructinir the younger Levites. It must 
 be observed that I am now speaking of the state of things 
 in the time of Moses, and during the passage through the 
 wilderness. 
 Tj this progressive advancement, or degrees of office of the 
 jevites, St. Paul would seem to make allusion where he says, 
 '*' For they that have ministered well, shall purchase to 
 themselves a good degree, and much confidence in the faith 
 [which is in Christ Jesus,"(l Tim. 3. 13). They who perform- 
 led the act of consecration of the Levites by the imposition 
 (of hands are called the " children of Israel," that is the First- 
 \ horn of Israel : — " And when the Levites are before the Lord 
 the children of Israel shall put their hands upon them," 
 [(Num. 8. 10). The First-born of Israel constituted the depo- 
 sitary of the law, or the representative Church; and hence 
 I St. Paul calls Christ's Church, the Church of the First-born, 
 I — " But you are come to Mount Sion, and to the city of the 
 
 -45 
 
t^W^ 
 
 T;giTi.'"i rrw Bi 
 
 iif* 
 
 :!'i 
 
 i1i 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 '* 
 
 S4 
 
 /■ ! 
 
 THF HEBREWS AT^HOMB. 
 
 k 
 
 living God, — And to tho Church of the First-born who ard 
 written in the heavens." (Heb. 12. 22). This form of con- 
 secration by the imposition of hands was followed by the 
 Apostles, and is still followed in the Christian Churches. 
 St. Luke, in the Acts of the Apostles, alluding to the conse- 
 cration of Stephen and the rest of the seven deacons, says, 
 " These they set before the Apostles, and thoy, praying, im- 
 posed hands upon them" (St. Luke 6. 6). 
 
 . - . :■ \i 
 
/-v 
 
 CHAVTEB lY. 
 
 )■■■ 
 
 THE PROPHETS, — THE TITLE RABBI, — THE NAZARITES 
 AND REOHABITES. 
 
 N considering the application of the term propnotj 
 
 it is necessary to go back to the earliest stages of 
 
 mankind, and there learn the sense in which the 
 
 term was employed. The first man, Adam, was a prophet 
 
 and a king, as well as a priest. His prophecy consisted 
 
 in his expoimding to his children the law as given to him by 
 
 Grod himself His royalty, or princedom, lay in the power 
 
 which he possessed over his family and all living things. 
 
 And his priestly authority was contained in the duty en- 
 
 [ joined upon him to offer up sacrifices; which various offices 
 
 : were continued in the First-born. Thus then we find that 
 
 jthe original signification of the term prophet is one who 
 
 receives the law directly from the mouth of the Lord, and 
 
 lexpounds it to those committed to his guidance and instruc- 
 
 ftion. 
 
 This combination of the three offices of prophet,prince, and 
 jpriest, which we find in Adam, was continued in the First- 
 [born down to the time of Moses, when the dispensation was 
 changed, and the three offices were made separate, — the 
 fathers of families retaining only the privilege, which was 
 ilso a duty, of giving private cateclietical instruction to 
 their children. 
 
 The public authoritative exposition of the law was now 
 )laced in tho hands of priests and prophets; and this ar^ 
 
 ^^\ 
 
.1 H 
 
 86 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 /- I 
 
 I 
 
 
 rangement continued down to the time when the Hebrews 
 returned from their cajitivity. Then another change took 
 place in this respoct : for the office of prophet became abol- 
 ished ; that is, in the original sense of the term, — the sense 
 in which I have been hitherto regarding it, — pnd other 
 expounders of the law followed. These were called by 
 the three several names of Wisemen, Scribes, and Disputers. 
 St. Paul refers to them in these words, — " where is the Wise ? 
 where is the Scribe ? where is the Disputer of this world ? 
 Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world," (I 
 Cor. 1. 20). These, as well as all other eminent teachers of 
 the law, were called by the general name of Babbies. But to 
 return to the term prophet. I must observe that there were 
 other kinds of prophets than that of which I have been 
 speaking,— the difference consisting in the modes of their 
 revelation. Thtore were the prophets of vision ; that is 
 those who beheld, as in a vision, the revelations of God, and 
 communicated them to men : and the prophets of judgments ■ 
 that is, those who foretold the judgments of God upon 
 men. But prophets, in the original sense of the term in 
 which I have been considering it, were, as I have before 
 stated, those who received the words of God from His own 
 mouth : and such wore Adam, Noah, Abraham and Moses • 
 and such also was the prophetess Miriam, or Mary, the sister 
 of Aaron. The torms prophet and prophecy, however, have 
 in different parts of the Sacred Writings other significations 
 than those I have mentioned : for instance, the word prophet 
 is sometimes taken for the writings of a prophet, as when 
 St. Luke says, " And Abraham said to him ; they hav« 
 Moses and the prophets ; let them hear them." And again 
 prophecy is sometimes intended to represent the whole body 
 of God's laws ; as when St. Peter says, " Understanding this 
 
 ii' 
 
 n 
 
 % 
 
THE PROPHETS. 
 
 ST 
 
 ion ; that is, 
 
 iry, the sister 
 
 first, that no prophecy of Scripture is made by private inter- 
 pretation. For prophecy came not by the will of man at 
 any time; but the holy men of God spoke, inspired by the 
 Holy Ghost," (I Pet. 1. 20, 23). 
 
 By the term prophet is also meant an ordinary teacher or 
 interpreter of the law : as in the gospel of St. Matthew, " He 
 that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet, shall 
 receive the reward of a prophet" (St. Mat. 10-4). We also 
 find mention made in the Scriptures of the " sons of the 
 prophets." These were the scholars of the prophets or teach- 
 ers of the law ; — " And the sons of the propheti said to 
 Eliseus : Behold the place where we dwell with thee is too 
 straight for us." (4 Kings 6. 1). And hence the prophets 
 were sometimes called fathers ; as when Elias went up in 
 a whirlwind to heaven, Eliseus saw him, and cried : " My 
 father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the driver 
 thereof," (4 K. 2.12). From this cause the Eabbies were am- 
 bitious of the name of father ; and thereby drew upon them 
 the rebuke of our Saviour, in Matthew, — " Call none your 
 fathor upon earth ; for on«* is your father, who is in heaven," 
 (Mat. 2. 3-9). We find that the names of the prophets are, 
 in the Scriptures sometimes simply mentioned, — without 
 any addition whatever ; and sometimes with an addition sig- 
 nifying their descent, or their place of birth, as, " Osee the 
 son of Beeri." Whenever the name of a prophet is men- 
 tioned without any addition, the Hebrews interpret it as 
 signifying that the prophet is a prophet of Jerusalem : when 
 the name is coupled with a certain city, they represent him 
 as a prophet of that city : when connected with his father's 
 name, they declare him to bo not only a prophet but also the 
 son of a prophet ; whereas, if not connected with the father's 
 name, they take him to bo a prophet, but not the son of a 
 prophet. 
 
 
»i!TpW5: 
 
 88 
 
 THE IIEliRBWS AT UOMK. 
 
 From llio return of tlio Tsrnolitos from captivity, when 
 propliocy coatwd, to tho ])irth of our Saviour and afterwavds, 
 tlio nanioM by which tlio ToacliorH or tho Doctors of tho Uiw 
 woro <losi^na(oil were, a« 1 havo l)oforo Htalod, Wisefnen, 
 /Scribes, and Dispiiters: — tho general nan\e of Kabbi being 
 given to tliem indiHcriminately, m well an to any other por- 
 ion diHtingiMHhed above his fellows for his learning and 
 ability in the exposition of tho law. liut the appellation of 
 Wisemcn, though conin\on to all learne<l men and teachers of 
 the law, was altogether arrogated by the Phai'iHees for many 
 years before the birth of our Saviour; and it was freely 
 granted to them by tho ignorant multitude, from the impres- 
 sion of their sn])erior wisdom in teaching the Traditions 
 which were regarded with greater interest than tho law 
 it8<Uf. Hence i\u>y were called J/(t5f<^;r&' of the Traditions ; and 
 the peoj)le were instructed to place tlieir children under their 
 direction. The learned men among the (Jreeks alfected tho 
 same kind of superiority ; and used every effort to be styled 
 Sophoi or Wisemen ; until Pythagoras put an end to It by 
 modestly styling Wnnt^olf philosophus, that is lover of ivisdom. 
 The Hebrew doctors afterwards followed this example; and 
 rejecting the pompous title of Wisemen (jOhacamini) styled 
 themselves disciples or learners of tcisdoni. 
 
 The Scribes were the expositors of the law ; their duty 
 being to write, read, and explain the law of Moses to the 
 people. They did not belong to any particular tribe ; for 
 some were of one, and some of another : and tho name of 
 Scribes (So}>herim) which literally signifies numberers or 
 computers, was given to them from the exactitude of tneir 
 interpretation of the law, — the Masorites being so called from 
 the fact of their numbering the verses, and even the very 
 words of each book throughout tho Bible. They wore hold 
 
 I i 
 
THE SCRIBES. 
 
 » 
 
 undor their 
 
 in the highest esteem and reputation among the Hebrews, 
 even as the Magi wore among the Chaldeans, and the 
 (^uindocemviri, or Interpreters of the Sybil's Oracles among 
 tiie Komans. They were styled Text-men, or Masters of the 
 Text in contradistinction to the Wisemen or Pharisees who 
 wore Htylod Masters of the Traditions. And hence we find 
 that thoy accused our Saviour of blasphemy, — " And behold 
 some of the Scrjl^os said within themselves: Ho blasphe- 
 moth," (Mat. 9. 3) ; whereas the Pharisees charged him with 
 eating with publicans and sinners, — " And the Pharisees 
 seeing it, said to his disciples : why doth your master eat 
 with publicans and sinners?" (Mat. 9. 11). The charge 
 made by the Scribes was founded upon the law ; while that 
 put forward by the Pharisees rested upon tradition. 
 
 Besides this order of Scribes, who were clerics hy profes- 
 sion, there wore others who were laymen, and whose business 
 was unconnected with the interpretation of the law. They 
 jwero such as taught the elements of reading and writing to 
 [children ; and were Simeonites, being- of the Tribe of Simeon. 
 *ublic notaries, and writers of deeds and contracts were called 
 Scribes ; as were also the clerks of courts and consistories, 
 [and the king's secretaries. To these allusion is made in dif- 
 [feront parts of the Scriptures, as " My tongue is the pen of a 
 jBcribe; that writeth swiftly," (Ps. 44. 2). Again, "And when 
 {they saw that there was very much money in the chest, the 
 Iking, scribe and the hight-priest came up and poured it out 
 [and counted the money that was found in the house of theLord, 
 1(4 K. 12. 10). Furthermore, " And Siva was scribe : and 
 jSadoc and Abiathor, priests," [2K. 20. 26]. The clerks of the 
 (courts wore called " Scribes of the people" : and to those St. 
 [Matthew alludes when ho says, " And assembling together 
 ill the chief priests and thescribosof the people, he in(]|,uiro4 
 
r 
 
 r t 
 
 40 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 of them where Christ should be born," (Mat. 2. 4). And 
 in the first book of Machabees (5, 42) we find the following 
 allusion to them, " Now when Judas came near the torrent 
 of water, he set the scribe^ of the people by the torrent, and 
 commanded them, saying : suflfer no man to stay behind : but 
 let all come to the battle." 
 
 The Disputera dijifered from the other doctors of the law — 
 from the Scribes, and the Wisemen or Pharisees, in this, that 
 they allegorized the Sacred Text, that is, they endeavoured 
 to interpret it in a mystical sense. The Hebrews called this 
 sort of interpreting of the word, Darschan, and the inter- 
 pretation itself MidraHch. They were looked upon as men 
 of great depth of rejisoning in consequence of the multiplied 
 and mysterious mode of argument in which they delighted 
 to indulge. , 
 
 Thus wo find that the Scribes were those teachers who in- 
 terpreted the Sacred Writings according to the letter ; the 
 Parisees those who applied themselves to the teaching of 
 the Traditions : and the Disputers, those who taught 
 allegories and mysteries from the Sacred Text. 
 
 About the time of our Saviour's Nativity the Hebrews 
 were remarkable for their love of titles. Tho^e which were 
 especially in use^ and greatly Bought after were Eab, and Ribi, 
 and Rabbi and Rabban. They are all derived from the word 
 Eabab, which signifies, lie has been multiplied : and the idea 
 conveyed by these woi-ds is that the person so titled is mul- 
 tiplied in knowledge ; that is, that he is a learned person. 
 Of the four titles, that of Rabban was esteemed the most ex- 
 cellent; and Rabbi more excellent than Rab or Ribbi. The 
 simple names, however, were held in the highest estimation ; 
 probably as being established in worth beyond the possibility 
 of cavil. For instance, Zachary, Malachy, and Haggai were 
 
i t 
 
 THE TITLE RABBI. 
 
 more esteemed than the titled name of Eabban. About this 
 time the schools of the Hebrews were conducted upon an 
 established system of discipline. The name given to a pupil 
 was Talmid, that is, disciple, in reference to his learning ; 
 Katan, that is Junior, in respect to his youth : and he was also 
 called Bachur, that is chosen, on account of his being chosen 
 as a disciple. After having made some progress in his 
 learning, and been deemed worthy of a degree, he obtained, 
 by the imposition of hands, the name of Chaber, that is, 
 companion to a Rabbi ; or, as we may term it, graduate. 
 This ceremony of the imposition of hands in conferring a 
 degree, they practised in imitation of the similar ceremony 
 of Moses towards .Tosue, — "And the Lord said to him. Take 
 Josue, the son of Nun, in whom is the spirit, and put thine 
 hand upon him," (Num. 27.13). The form of words used in 
 this ceremony is, " I associate thee, and be thou associated." 
 As soon as the pupil was thought qualified to commence 
 teaching, he was styled Rahhi. During the course of his 
 studies he underwent a gradual change of name: for, during 
 his minority he was known only by the name of his father, 
 as the son of such a person; after obtaining his degree of com- 
 panion, or associate, he was called by his own name, as such 
 a person, the son of such a person ; but after having been pre- 
 ferred to the office of teacher he was styled Rabbi such aper- 
 son, the son of such a person. Thus the Rabbi Levi, during his 
 minority, was called the son of Gerson; after his degree of 
 associate he -was styled Levi, the son of Gerson ; and when 
 appointed teacher, he received the designation of Rabbi 
 Levi, the son of Gerson; or, by abbreviation, Ralbag ; which 
 abbreviation is composed of the capitals of the name and 
 title in Hebrew, namely. Rabbi, Levi, Ben, Gersm. This 
 graduatory progress of the pupil is expressed in the speech 
 
/ 1 
 
 
 iH 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 iin'il 
 
 42 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 of an ancient Eabbi, (mentioned by Pagium in his ScholiaB,) 
 where he says, " I learned much of my Babbies, (or masters) 
 more o{ 7ny companions, most ofallof wiy scholars. 
 
 Our Saviour was styled Rabbi by His disciples ; as in the 
 the instance of Judas, — " And forthwith coming to Jesus, he 
 said : Hail Eabbi. And ho kissed him," ( Mat. 26. 49). 
 John the Evangelist wns also styled Rabbi by his disciples, 
 — " And they came to John, and said to him, Rabbi, ho tb t 
 was with thee beyond the Jordan, to whom thou ga . est 
 testimony, behold, he baptiseth, and all men come to him," 
 (John 3. 26). John's disciples addressed our Saviour a^so 
 by the title of Rabbi, — " And Jesus turning, and seeing them 
 following him, saith to them ; What seek you? Who said to 
 him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master) 
 where dwellestt^DU?" (John 1. 38). 
 
 The discipline of their meetings in the Synagogues and 
 Schools was this : the principal Rabbles sat in reserved 
 seats; those seats which the Scribes and Pharisees exhibited 
 BO much anxiety to occupy, — "And they love the first 
 places at feasts, and the first chairs in the Synagogues," 
 (Mat. 23. 6.) The Associates, or Companions occupied 
 lower seats or benches, and the disciples ©r scholars sat on 
 the ground at the feet of their teachers. We learn that St. 
 Paul sat at the feet of his master, Gamaliel, — "And he 
 saith : I am a Jew, born at Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought 
 up in this city (Jerusalem) at the feet of Gamaliel, taught 
 according to the truth of the law of the fathers, zealous 
 for the law, as also all you are this day," (Acts 22. 3.) 
 Mary, the sister of Martha, occupied a similar position 
 when she attended to the teaching of our Saviour, — " And 
 she hc.d a sister called Mary, who sitting also at the Lord's 
 fpet, hoard his word," (Luke 10, 3-9.) In estimating thq 
 
 m 
 
 oirpi 
 
NAZAFTTES AND RECHABITES. 
 
 43 
 
 era, zealous 
 
 relative capacities of their scholars they were wont to 
 employ comparisons taken from familiar objects : as in the 
 case of a pupil who took in all species of knowledge, with- 
 out any exercise of judgment, they compared him to a 
 sponge. The boy who learned quickly, and forgot as 
 quickly all he learned, they compared to an hour glass. 
 Another they compared to a wine sack ; that is, he who 
 retained the more dregs of learning, while the pure and 
 valuable portions drained out. ' ther who possessed the 
 best de8crij)tion of intellect, th»;^ likened to a rying sieve, 
 which in winnowing throws off the coarser part of the 
 grain, with the chaff and foreign seed, while the sound and 
 pure grain is retained. 
 
 There wore two descrij)tions of Votaries among the Jews 
 of whom we find mention made in the Sacred Writings, 
 namely, the Nuzaritos and Eechabites. Of the former we 
 have an account in the sixth chapter of Numbers as follows : 
 " And the Lord spoke to Moses saying: speak to the childen 
 of Israel, and thou shalt say to them : when a man or 
 woman shall make a vow to be sanctified, and will 
 consecrate themselves to the Lord : They shall abstain from 
 wine, and from everything that may make a man drunk. 
 They shall not drink vinegar of wine, or of any other drink, 
 nor anything that is pressed out of the grape; nor shall 
 they eat grapes either fresh or dried. All the time ot his 
 separation no razor shall pass over his head until the day be 
 fulfilled of his consecration to the Lord. He shall be holy, 
 and shall let the hair of his head grow. All the time of his 
 consecration he shall not go into any dead." Then follows 
 an account of the sacrifices of consecration and of the 
 fulfilment of the vow; and the text concludes, " This is th© 
 Jaw of the Nazarite, when he hath vowed his oblation tg 
 
!i 
 
 / i 
 
 !|! 
 
 44 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 the Lord in the time of his consecration, besides those things 
 which his hand shall find, according to that which he had 
 vowed in his mind, so shall he do for the fulfilling of his 
 sanctification." These were called Nazarites from the 
 Hebrew word Nazar^ to separate; for they separated them- 
 selves from the three things mentioned in the text, namely, 
 wine, the use of the razor, and contact with the dead. The 
 time of separation was eitJier a limited number of days, or 
 the whole term of life. The Hebrew doctors state the 
 limited period to be tliirty days, though, the Scriptures do 
 not define it. St. Paul was a Kazarito for the limited 
 period ; as were also those four men of the ancients whom 
 he sanctified with himself, — " Take these, and sanctify thy- 
 self with them : and bestow on them that they may shave 
 their heads ; anid all will know that the things which they 
 have heard of thee are false: but that thou thyself also 
 walkest keeping the law. Then Paul took the men, and the 
 next day being purified with them, entered into the temple, 
 giving notice of the accomplishment of the days of purifica- 
 tion, until an oblation should be offered for every one of 
 them," (Acts 21. 24). Sampson was a Nazaritefor life. An 
 angel appeared to his mother, and said, " Thou shalt con- 
 ceive and bear a son. Now therefore beware and drink no 
 wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing. 
 Because thou shalt conceive and bear a son, and no razor 
 shall touch his head ; for ho shall be a Nazarite o<' God from 
 his infancy." 
 
 The inhabitants of the village of iNTazareth in Galilee 
 were also called Nazarites: hence our Saviour was 
 designated a Nazarite, because ho was conceived and brought 
 up in that village. His followers also were called Nazarites 
 from this circumstance. But these Nazarites must not be 
 
NAZARITES AND RECHABTTES. 
 
 45 
 
 confounded with tho othera, who wore altogether different. 
 But besides all these, there was a sect of heretics called 
 Nuzarites, who united the doctrines and practices of Moses 
 with those of Christ ; thus combining the Law and the 
 Gospel, and forming a* system different from each, nearly 
 in the manner of the Samaritans who united heathen and 
 Jewish ceremonies. We learn the origin and commence- 
 ment of this sect from the fifteenth chapter of the Acts of 
 the Apostles, " And some coming down from Judea, taught 
 the brethren : -That ' except you be circumcised after the 
 manner of Moses you cannot be saved." Why these were 
 called Nazarites is not quite clear, unless it was that they 
 were at first followers of Christ, and became afterwards 
 corrupted ; or that the Jews fastened the name upon them 
 in contempt and derision of the Christian religion. We 
 find that the name of Christians was first assumed by the 
 disciples at tho city of Antioch (Acts 11. 26) ; and this 
 probably on account of the heresy of the Nazarites, with 
 which they would [not have themselves identified even in 
 name. These Nazarites were af< erwards called Symmachiani, 
 from Symmachus, the celebrated intei^^recer of the Old 
 Testament, who became a great advocate of their doctrines. 
 Tho Jews held them in as great -detestation as they did the 
 Samaritans; and ended their prayers morning, noon, and 
 night, with a malediction upon them, Maledic Domine 
 Nazarceis. 
 
 There was still another sort called Nazarites, from Nazar, 
 to cut oft", or separate, because they cut off, or rejected the 
 five books of Moses as uncanonical. 
 
 The Kechabites were of the race of Jethro, the father-in- 
 law of Moses. They neither drank wine nor built houses 
 nor cultivated the land ; but they lived in tents. The only 
 
 ).i 
 
 '» 
 
 ''1^^- 
 
r I 
 
 46 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT UOME. 
 
 k 
 
 reliable account we have of them is contained in the thirty- 
 lifth chapter of Jeremias the prophet, — " And I took 
 Jezonias, the 6on of Jeremias, the Bon of Habsanias, and his 
 brethren, and all his sons, and the whole house of the 
 Eechabites. And I brought them into the house of the Lord, 
 to the treasure house of the sons of Hanan. And I set 
 before the sons of the house of the Eechabites pots ftiU of 
 wine and cups : and I said to them : drink ye wine. And 
 they answered : we will not drink wine: because Jonadab, 
 the son of Eechab, our father, commanded us saying : you 
 shall drink no wine, neither you, nor your children forever : 
 Neither shall ye build houses, nor sow seed, nor plant vine- 
 yards, nor have any : but shall dwell in tents all your days, 
 that you may live many days upon the face of the earth in 
 which you are i strangers. Therefore we have obeyed the 
 voice of Jonadab the son of Eechab, our father, in all things 
 that he commanded us : so as to drink no wine in all our 
 days: neither we, nor our wives, nor our sons, nor our 
 daughters : nor to build houses to dwell in, nor to have 
 vineyards, or field, or seed. But we have dwelt in --ents, 
 and have been obedient according to all that Jonadab our 
 father commanded us." 
 
 ..,.. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE A88IDIANS — THE PHARISEES. 
 
 EFORE tho Captivity of the Jews in Babylon thd 
 
 whole people were distinguished by the epithets of 
 
 Chasidim, and BescJiagnim : that is, Good and Bad. 
 
 The Chasidim, or Assideans, as the word is translated, wore 
 
 in effect the same as tho Tsadikim, the just, or good, both 
 
 words conveying the same idea ; but after the Captivity these 
 
 terms came to bear distinct significations ; and the Chasidim 
 
 were known as hob persons who laboured to add to tho 
 
 Scriptures by pursuing a stricter course of life than those 
 
 [inculcated; while the Tsadikim studied only to conform 
 
 their conduct to the Law. In consequence of this distinction 
 
 [between the good and just, the people became distinguished 
 
 [into three general classes, that is, the Chasidim, or Holy 
 
 len, the Tsadikim, or Just men, and the Reschagnim, or 
 
 ricked men. Of all these the Chasidim were held in the 
 
 lighest esteem among the people. We read in Maccabees 
 
 [1. T-IS) that King Demetrius sent his army into Judea 
 
 mder Bacchides and Alcimus; and that Alcimus, who though 
 
 wicked man, had been made high-priest by the king, slew 
 
 jixty of the Assideans. — " And first the Assidears that were 
 
 imong the children of Israel, and they sought peace of them 
 
 [that is, of Bacchides and Alcimus) And he (that is, Alci- 
 
 lus) took three score of them and slew them in one day." 
 
 To this distinction of the people into holy, just, and wicked, 
 
 le Apostle Paul alludes where he says, — " For why di(i 
 
48 
 
 ,<■ I 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 i 
 
 
 ; I.I' . HJHh 
 i ■ I' 
 
 1 ifi: '^ 
 
 
 I'! 
 
 !'! 
 
 
 Christ, when as yet we were weak according to the time, 
 die for the ungodly ? For scarce for a just man will one die ; 
 yet perhaps for a good man some one would dare to die* 
 But God comraendeth his charity towards us : because when 
 as yet we were sinners according to the time, Christ died 
 for us." ( Rom. 5. 6). However, as long as the Chasidim, 
 or Assideans confined their zeal for good works even beyond 
 what th© Scriptures enjoined, within just and legitimate 
 bounds ; and left it a matter of private and individual feeling 
 whether or not the precepts of the written law should be barely 
 compiled with, or exceeded in the spirit of religious fervour, 
 no excitement was created ; nor was the spirit of opposition 
 roused from any impression of the tendency to >rror which 
 such a view of the teaching of the Scriptures was calculated to 
 produce. But as soon as the extraneous precepts and rules thus 
 followed by the Assideans were digested into regular canons 
 to be observed as of necessity, then sprung up the Pharisees, 
 and Essenes with their unwritten traditions; which they 
 pressed upon the attention of the people as a more perfect 
 rule of sanctity than the Scriptures, and as necessary to 
 salvation. Opposition was aroused ; and the Tsadikim, that 
 is, those just men who had hitherto adhered to the letter of 
 the Scriptures without denying the Traditions, now rejected 
 the Traditions, and held forth the Scriptures as the only rule 
 of life. They thus became known by the name of Karaim, 
 or Text men. In the course of time, however, they narrowed 
 the field still further, by denying at once the efficacy of good 
 works as conducive to future rewards, and the punishment 
 attendant hereafter on evil deeds ; as well as the resurrection 
 of the dead. Thus they became Sadducees, which name they 
 took from one of their leaders, Sadok. Here we see that 
 these two classes of nien who had been distinguished in their 
 

 <0 
 
 *t 
 
 THE PHARISEES. 
 
 ?*f^ 49 
 
 nation for their virtue and holiness — the one for their strict 
 adherence to the precepts of the Sacred "Writings, and the 
 other for their extreme sanctity of life, became the forerun- 
 ners and founders of two heretical and, at the same time, 
 most opposite sects in religion and morals. We may learn 
 from this event how dangerous it is either to go beyond, or 
 to fall short of the exact law and precepts which God has 
 left to his Church, for our safe guidance here and our eternal 
 felicity hereafter. 
 
 The name Pharisee is thought to be derived either from 
 the Hebrew word Parash, which signifies to expand, because 
 the sect of Pharisees delighted in expanded or wide Philac- 
 teries; or from the similar Hebrew word, Parasch, which 
 signifies to expound, because they were regarded as the 
 groat expounders of the Law. Others again derive it from 
 the former word in a different signification, that is to separate, 
 because they .separated themselves from the ordinary customs 
 and manners of the world. In this last sense the Greeks 
 called them Aphorisiuenoi, that is, Separatists. In this idea 
 of Hcparation they affected extraordinary sanctity: which 
 feeling is illustrated in the eighteenth chapter and eleventh 
 ver^e of St. Luke, whore the Pharisee is represented as pray- 
 ing in the Temple, — " O God, I give thee thanks that I am 
 not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also 
 is this publican". They kept themselves aloof from inter- 
 course with other men, whom they called " people of the 
 earth" ; and they wore garments peculiar to themselves. 
 The founder of this sect is supposed to have been Antigonus 
 Sochaeus ; for he was a Pharisee ; ho succeeded Simon the 
 Just who was contemporary of Alexander the Great, and lived 
 about tnroo hundred years before the birth of Christ. 
 
 The Pharisees did not belong to any particular Tribe; 
 
 1.) 
 
1p«" 
 
 :'!l(i 
 
 I 
 
 * 
 
 - S 
 
 '•Is*; 
 
 50 
 
 /•■»' 
 
 i'i 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 V 
 
 8ome were of one tribe and some of another. St. Paul, who 
 had been of the Sect, was of the Tribe of Benjamin ; and 
 Hyrcanus was of the Tribe of Levi. Like all the other Se<jts 
 they had their particular dogmata and canons — some hereti- 
 cal, some scriptural. They were believers in destiny to a 
 certain extent ; and also in Angels and Spirits, as we learn 
 from the Acts of the Apostles. " For the Sadducees say that 
 there is no resurrection, neither Angel nor Spirit ; but the 
 Pharisees confess both," (23. 8.) They believed in the 
 resurrection, of the dead, and in eternal punishment to be 
 inflicted on evil doers, but the souls of good men deceased 
 they believed to pass into the bodies of other men ; a doc- 
 trine similar to that of the Pythagorean philosophers called 
 the Mstempsichosis. From this doctrine, it is supposed, 
 arose the several opinions expressed by them with respect to 
 our Saviour, who having asked his disciples whom did men 
 think him to be, was answered : " Some, John the Baptist, 
 and other some, Elias, and others, Jeremias or one of the 
 prophets," (Mat. 16. 14.) But they were especially distin- 
 guished by their adherence to the traditions handed down 
 by their forefathers. They thus maintained both the written 
 and unwritten Law, as being both delivered by God to 
 Moses on Mount Sinai ; the latter, that is, the unwritten Law 
 as a glossary, or illustration of the former. These traditions, 
 they said Moses delivered to Josue ; and Josue to the Elders, 
 and the Elders to the prophets ; nnd the prophets to the 
 Teachers of the Synagogue; from whom they were 
 handed down to succeeding ages. These Traditions it was 
 that constituted the wall ofseparation between the Pharisees 
 and the Sadducees. On the one hand, the Pharisees said, 
 " Let us maintain the Law which our forefathers have de- 
 livered into our hands, expounded by the mouth of the 
 
 m 
 

 THE PHARISEES. 
 
 Wisomen, who expounded it by tradition." On the other 
 hand, the Sadducees exclaimed, " Let us not believe or hear- 
 ken to any tradition or exposition, but unto the Law of Moses 
 alone." 
 
 The traditions chiefly insisted upon by the Pharisees were 
 these : first, not to eat before they washed their hands ; 
 second, to wash iramediately after returning from market ; 
 third, to wash their cups, and pots, and brazen vessels, and 
 tables ; fourth, not to eat with sinners ; fifth, to fast twice 
 a week, on Mondays and Thursday ; and sixth, to make 
 their philacteries broad, and enlarge the borders of their gar- 
 ments. To all these reference is made throughout the Gos- 
 pels ; thus in St. Matthew, 15c. 2v., the Scribes and Pharisees 
 ask our Saviour, " Why do thy disciples transgress the 
 tradition of the Ancients, for they wash not their hands 
 when they eat bread." Again in Mark tc. 2-4v : " When 
 they (the Pharisees) had seen some of his disciples eat bread 
 with common, that is, with unwashed hands, they found 
 fault. For the Pharisees and all the Jews eat not without 
 often washing their hands, holding the tradition of the 
 Ancients : And when they come from the market, 
 unless they be washed they eat not ; and many other things 
 there are that have been delivered to them to observe, the 
 washings of cups, and of pots, and of brazen vessels, and 
 of beds." This washing of the hands before eating was 
 done in a peculiar manner : thus, the hands were first wash- 
 ed clean ; then the tops of the fingers and thumb of each 
 hand were joined together ; and in this position both hands 
 were lifted up, so that the water was down to their elbows ; 
 after which they were again turned downwards until the 
 water drop])ed upon the earth : and still further, for a more 
 abundant ablution, water was poured upon the hands when 
 
/■I 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 .k 
 
 '' ;i!lM '<'. 
 
 ! ti,: .,■' 
 
 I hi!, 
 
 they were lifted uj), and again twice poured ujion them when 
 they were let down. This formality it was which constitu- 
 ted the superstitious rite ; for the heresy did not consist in 
 washing the hands, which was allowed as necessary for 
 cleanliness and decency, but in converting it into a super- 
 stitious ceremony. To neglect washing the hands before 
 eating was not looked upon merely in the lio-ht of a non- 
 observance of a proper and decent act, but of the commission 
 of a crime of a very heinous character. Not only was the 
 washing of the hands allowed, but it was even enforced by 
 the Elders or Teachers as a proof of innocence under 
 accusation : thus in the twenty first chapter of Deutero- 
 nomy, " And the ancients of that city shall come to the 
 person slain, and shall wash their hands over the heifer that 
 was killed in the, valley, And shall say: our hands did not 
 shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it." Pilate, the Roman 
 governor, observed the same ceremony in the instance of 
 our Saviour, — " And Pilato, seeing that he prevailed nothing, 
 but that rather a tumult was made, taking water, washed 
 his bands before the people, saj'ing : I am innocent of the 
 blood of this just man : look you to it." (Mark 27, 24). It is 
 thought that Peter inclined to the superstition of washing 
 the hands, when in reply to our Saviour who had said, upon 
 Peter's refusal to have his feet washed by him, " If 1 wash 
 thee not thou shalt have no part with me," he said, " Lord, 
 not only my feet, but also my hands, and my head," (John 
 13, 9). This circumstance gave rise to the Sect called Hcmero 
 Baptistce, or Daily Baptists, who washed themselves in this 
 manner every day. 
 
 I have said that according to their traditions the Pharisees 
 held it unlawful to eat with sinners : nay more, they deemed 
 it pollution to be touched by them, — " And the Pharisees 
 
'..// 
 
 THE PHARISEES. 
 
 53 
 
 seeing it, said to his disciples : why doth your Master eat 
 with publicans and sinners ?" (Mat 9. 11). Again, — " And 
 the Pharisee who had invited him, seeing it, spoke within 
 himself, saying: This man, if he were a proj)het, would 
 know surely who and what manner of woman this is that 
 toiieheth him, that she is a sinner." (Luke 7. 39). 
 
 The Samaritans were equally studious to avoid the touch 
 of strangers ; for when meeting a stranger they would ex- 
 claim, " Touch me not." That the Pharisees fasted twice a 
 week we learn from St. Luke 18c. 20v. — " I fast twice a week. 
 I give tithes of all that I possess." And these two days 
 were Monday and Thursday because, as they said, Moses 
 wo.it up to Mount Sinai on a Thursday, and came down on 
 a Monday. That they made broad their philacteries and 
 jCuhxrgod the edges, or borders of their garments we learn 
 I from St. Matthew 23c. 5v. — ''And all their works they do in 
 order to bo seen of men. For they make their philacteries 
 broad, and enlarge their fringes." These philacteries were 
 scrolls of parchment worn on the forehead and on the left 
 [arm ; and on which were inscribed the ton commandments, 
 according to St. Chrysostome and St. Jerome ; although other 
 [authorities state that the inscription consisted of four certain 
 [portions of the Law, namely, that part of the thirteenth 
 [chapter of Exodus from the second to the tenth verse inclu- 
 sive ; that part of the same chapter from the eleventh to the 
 jsixteonth verse inclusive; that part of Deuteronomy, sixth 
 Ichaptor, and fourth to ninth verse inclusive ; and Deutero- 
 Inomy eleventh chapter, and thirteenth to twenty-first verse 
 jiiiclusive. However, they were worn by all the Jews with- 
 jout distinction in order that they might thereby keep the 
 jaw in constant remembrance. Our Saviour himself wore 
 ^hom ; the law was a general one, — " And thou shalt bind them 
 

 r< 
 
 54 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 m^ 
 
 as a sign on Lhy hand, and they shall be, and shall move 
 between thy eyes." (Deuter. 6.8). Again, " And it shall 
 be as a sign in thy hand, and as a memorial before thy eyes ; 
 and that the law of the Lord bo always in thy mouth, for 
 with a strong hand the Lord hath brought thee out of the 
 land of Egypt." (Exod. 13. 9.) 
 
 The Pharisees, however, instead of wearing the scroll on 
 the hand, wore it, for greater ostentation, on the left arm 
 above the elbow, and on the inside, that it might be near the 
 heart. The Sadducees wore it on the palm of the hand. It 
 will be here observed that from the general command given 
 to the Jews to wear those scrolls, the rebuke given by our 
 Saviour to the Pharisees on this point was not for wearing 
 them, but for making them broader and more showy than 
 was usual ; and for the hypocrisy which this pretension to 
 superior sanctity manifested. In seasons of persecution 
 when they were obliged to put off those philacteries they 
 wore a red thread tied around the wrist or hand to keep 
 them in remembrance of the blood of the covenant of the 
 Law. The derivation of philacteries is j^hulattein, a Greek 
 word signifying to preserve, because by the use of these the 
 law was preserved in the memory. But the Pharisees con- 
 nected a superstitious meaning with them, for they regarded 
 them as a sort of amulet or charm, by which they would be 
 preserved from dangers. St. Jerome compares the Phari- 
 sees, in this respect, with certain superstitious women of his 
 day, who carried about them short sentences out of the gos- 
 pels, and small pieces of the wood of the cross as a spell or 
 charm against evil accidents. In later times many persons 
 carried suspended around their necks, the first part of the 
 gospel of St. John, for a similar purpose ; and in the year 
 G92 of our era certain sorcerers who were designated 2)hil- 
 
'^ v 
 
 '. ,» 
 
 % 
 
 THE PHARISEES. 
 
 55 
 
 acterioi, that is philacterians, were condemned to death for 
 magical practices of the same description. 
 
 The original name of these scrolls, as given by Moses, is 
 Mitaphoth, the application of which is disputed, — the word 
 itself signifying to move ; but taking it in connection with 
 I the Greek term asaleuta, immoveable things, the name given 
 to them in the Septuagint, it may be made to bear that sig- 
 nification, by the figure antiphrase; and thus the name given 
 jthem by Moses might be translated immoveable ornaments. 
 
 The Eabbins call them Tephillim, that is, prayer ornaments ; 
 \p)ittacia, and pittaciola are other names given to them, from 
 I the Greek, pittakion, signifying a piece of cloth. The fringes 
 worn on the garments were, like the philacteries, commanded 
 by the law ; and consequently the reproof given in the gos- 
 pel to the Pharisees on that head was not for we^^ring them, 
 but for enlarging them from notions of vain-glory, as in the 
 jformer case, — " Speak to the children of Israel, and thou 
 jshalt tell them to make to themselves fringes in the corners 
 jof their garments, putting in them ribands of blue," (Num. 
 |l5. 38). Again, " Thou shalt make strings in the hem of 
 [the four corners of thy cloak, wherewith thou shalt be 
 Icovered," (Deut. 22. 12). Our Saviour himself wore such an 
 [ornament to his garment, — " She came behind him, and 
 touched the hem of his garment ; and immediately the issue 
 )f her blood stopped," (Luke 8. 44.) The object for whicli 
 those fringes were worn was the same as that in the former 
 [case relative to the philacteries, that the commandments of 
 God might be ever in the minds of the wearers. — " That when 
 they shall see them, they may remember all the command- 
 nonts of the Lord, and not follow their own thoughts and 
 jyes going astray after divers things." (Num. 15. 39) . They 
 )vcn wore thorns in their fringes, that by their touching 
 
 \l 
 
jr!" : 
 
 -1 
 
 r i 
 
 66 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 % 
 
 the flesh through the garments as they walked or sat, they 
 might thereby be the more forcibly reminded of the com- 
 mandments. 
 
 There were seven sorts of Pharisees ; namely, the SicTie- 
 mita, who became a Pharisee for gain ; and so called from 
 the Sichemites who suffered themselves to be circumcised : 
 the legless Pharisee ; so called from the creeping pace with 
 which he walked, scarcely lifting his feet from the ground, 
 in order to convey an impression of his great gravity and 
 sanctified meditation : the dash-head Pharisee, who had his 
 name from dashing his head against walls and other obstacles, 
 in consequence of his going along with his eyes closed to 
 avoid seeing women, of whom he affected a great abhorrence : 
 the do what I ought Pharisee, who had his name from his 
 favourite sentimfent expressed by the words, " Tell me what 
 I ought to do, and I shall do it." Of this description was 
 the ruler mentioned in the gospel, — " And a certain ruler 
 asked him, saying : Good master, what shall I do to possess 
 everlasting life ?" : — the Mortar Pharisee, whose (designation 
 was derived from the circumstance of his wearing a deep 
 hat in the shape of a mortar for pounding spices i.-i ; so that 
 he was obliged to keep his eyes on the ground, and could 
 neithe. look upward nor around him : the Pharisee of Love 
 was he who affected obedience to the Law from the pure 
 love of virtue : and the ' Pharisee of Fear, ho who obeyed 
 the law for fear of punishment hereafter. 
 
 ! :r! 
 
 : h 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE SADDUCEE8 — THE E8SEKES. 
 
 HE sect of Pharisees were regarded as the best 
 and soundest interpreters of the law among 
 the Jews ; all other sects l^eing looked upon as 
 heretics. In this point of view the Sadducees 
 were heretics. I have already stated that the name of 
 this sect was derived from Sadoc, who was one of the 
 first promoters of the heresy. He was brougiit up under 
 the patronage and instruction of Antigonus Sochaeus who 
 was the successor of Simeon the Just, and of course a Phari- 
 see. It often happens that when a sound doctrine is pushed 
 to extremity, a misconception of the truth is produced, 
 and error flows from the very source of purity. In this way 
 precisely, occurred the heresy of the Sadducees ; for when 
 Antigonus taught the sublime principle that God ought to 
 to worshipped for his own excellence alone without regard 
 to any future rewards which might flow from such worship, 
 his pupils, Sadoc and Baithus, conceived the opinion that 
 there were no such future rewards, and that a virtuous life 
 contained its own recompense, present, not future. They, 
 therefore, denied the resurrection of the dead, a future world, 
 angels, and spirits, and all the other doctrines springing 
 from the belief of a future state. Followers soon crowded 
 to their standard : and thus was established the set of Sadoc, 
 or the Sad lucees. 
 
 There arose a sect of heretics after the time of our Saviour, 
 who were called Dositheans, after Dositheus their leader. 
 
 n 
 
 \t- 
 
58 
 
 'xitB HBBRBWS Al: HOME. 
 
 
 I < 
 
 fl: i! 
 
 who, in most respects, resembled the Sadducoes, though they 
 differed from them in the main point, — as to the resurrection 
 of the dc/«1, which, with all its cograto doctrines, they be- 
 lieved. 
 
 The leading doctrines of the Sadducees were these : — 
 Rejecting the prophets and other portions of the Scriptures, 
 they adopted only the five books of Moses as their true and 
 faithful guides Hence was it that our Savioui*, when he 
 w )uld confute their false doctrine as to the resurrection of 
 the dead, adopts the teaching of the books of Moses, and says, 
 out of Exodus, — " I am the God of thy fathei', the God of 
 Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the G^d of Jacob," (Exod. 
 3. 6, and Mat. 22. 32). All traditions they threw overboard ; 
 whence they were calltd, as I have elsewhere remarked, 
 Karain, that is. Text men, or Scripturists. They rejected 
 the doctrine of i^e wards and panishments hereafter : hence 
 that allusion of St. Paul to the hope of the dead : — " And Paul 
 knowing that the one part were Sadducees, and the other 
 Pharisees, cried out in the council : men, brethren, I am a 
 Pharisee, the son of Pharisees: concerning the hope and 
 resuri'ection of the dead lam called in question," (Acts 23. 6). 
 They denied the resurrection of the dead, — " That day there 
 came to him the Sadducees who say there is no resurrec- 
 tion," (Mat. 22. 23). They held the doctrine that men's 
 souls were annihilated at their death (Joseph wars 2-8-14). 
 They did not believe in angels or spirits, — '' For the Saddu- 
 cees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel nor 
 spirit; but the Pharisees confess both," (Acts 23. 8). Josephus 
 informs us that they rejected Fate or Destiny altogether, 
 ascribing all things to man's free will (Antiq. 13 B., 9 chap). 
 The Samaritans, who were a sect held in peculiar hatred by 
 all the Jews, agreed generally in point of doctrine with the 
 
 It! 
 
1?HB SADDUCEE9. 
 
 5d 
 
 Smkliiccos. Thoy rejected the iirophct.s ; and of all the 
 Scriptures they retaine<l only the five books ot'MosoH. Thoy 
 denied the resurrection of the dead as well as the doctrine 
 of rewards and punisiiments hereafter; and rejected all the 
 traditions. Thoy believed, however, that there were angels ; 
 v.'hich was contrary to the doctrine of the Sadducees. Not- 
 withstanding the great similarity of doctrine between the 
 Sadducces and Samaritans, yet the hatred which they bore 
 each other was of the most unmitigated character. The 
 Samaritans would hold no intercourse whatsoever with the 
 Jews ; they would neither sit, eat, or drink with them. 
 When our Saviour asked the Samarilan woman for a drink, 
 she answered, — " How dost thou being a Jew, ask of me to 
 drink, who am a Samaritan woman ? for the Jews do not 
 communicate with the Samaritans," (John 4. 9). The Jewd 
 would not even admit a Samaritan proselyte, though all 
 other people of the earth were allowed to join them: this 
 appears from Drusius who gives a certain form of excommu- 
 nication which was believed to have been applied by Ezra 
 and NehemJah to the Samaritans, and in which they are 
 f'ursed according to a certain form ; all Israelites being at 
 li.o same time forbidden to eat of their bread, or to hold any 
 intercourse whatsoever with them. This is called excommu- 
 nicatlo in secreto nominis tetragrammatis. 
 
 On the contrary the Sadducees lived in mutual intercourse 
 with the Pharisees, and even sat in the same council with 
 them, as we have seen in the verse of the Acts just cited. 
 The Samaritans were originally a mixed people who had 
 settled in Samaria, under the auspices of Salmaneser, after the 
 Israelites had been sent into captivity. They then wor- 
 shipped various gods according to their several nations, — 
 "And every nation made gods of their own, and put them 
 
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 'Mi 
 
 ! 
 
 1 
 
 mn 
 
 
 
 
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 r 
 1 
 
 'i 
 
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 1 
 
 r- 't 
 
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 ttliliH^kl: 
 
 
 60 
 
 TUE IIEBilEWS AT UOME. 
 
 in the temples of the high places, which thoSuimiritans ]ia«l 
 iiijule, every nation in their cities where they dwelt," (4K. 
 17. 21)). But with this worship of their idols they mixed up 
 that of the true God, as taught them by the Jewish priest 
 whom the king of Assyria sent them after they had been 
 attacked by the lions. This comjiound of idolatry with the 
 true worship they continued until the retirement of Man- 
 asses, the brother of the high priest Jaddus, to Mount Gari- 
 sim ; which event happened in this way : — Manasses, who 
 had married a stranger named Sanballat, refused to obey 
 the command given by Neliomiah that he shoukl put her 
 away if ho hoped to become high-priest : but at the same 
 time, through the intercession of Sanballat witli Alexander 
 the Great, he obtained permission to build a temple on 
 Mount Garisim, which was one of the highest mountains in 
 Samaria. To this place he retired with many followers, and 
 established himself there as high-priest. Such was the com- 
 mencement of the sect known as the Samaritans. Of all 
 the heresies, however, which divided the Jewish people from 
 the true worshij), that of the Sadducees was the greatest 
 both for its boldness of dissent and the power of its support- 
 ers. Even some of the high-priests united themselves to 
 this heresy : — John Hyrcanus, and his two sons, Aristobulus 
 and Alexander, wore Sadducees ; as was also Ananus the 
 younger. 
 
 The third great sect into which the Hebrews wore divided 
 had the name of Essenes; a name most probably derived 
 from the Syi'iac word Asa, which signifies to heal or cure ; 
 for they were not only devoted to the study of the Bible, 
 but also to that of phy dc ; whence the Greek writers fre- 
 quently designate the men therapeutai, and the women thera- 
 peutr'des, that is, physicians. There are, however many 
 
TnE ESSEKES. 
 
 Gl 
 
 other oonioctural dorivations of the name; hut this Rccms 
 the most probable. Between many of the doctrines of this 
 sect, and those of the Pythagorean philosophers there exists 
 such a close afl&nity — which indeed, in many instances, 
 amounts to an identity — that it is impossible not to be 
 impressed with the opinion, that the one sect had borrow- 
 ed from the other; or that both had their origin *vom 
 tlie same source. A communion of goods was an establish- 
 ed principle of both, — none were richer than the rest ; 
 and all supplied their wants from a common fund. Over 
 the general stock were appointed overseers who prevented 
 any improper disposition of it to the relatives or kindred of 
 the fraternity. There was no buying or selling amongst the 
 Essenes ; but the necessities of all were supplied by a kind of 
 mutual barter ; while it was even allowed that one might 
 take from another whatever was required without any ex- 
 change. In passing from one town or village to another, 
 they had no need of carrying supplies with them, for they 
 were always entertained by the members of their sect with 
 every thing necessary, In fact there were public officers ot 
 the confraternity in each town and village whose especial 
 business it was to look to the wants of their travelling brethren . 
 In this respect they resembled some of the Christian frater- 
 nities of the present day. The avoidance of all pleasure, 
 and also of oaths, were alike enjoined by the Essenes and 
 Pythagoreans. Both sects held their superiors, or elders 
 in high respect : they were equally averse to wine, their only 
 beverage being water : neither offered living sacrifices, but 
 gifts ; and both ascribed all things to the power of Fate, or 
 Destiny. 
 
 The Pythagoreans were enjoined a quinquennial silence 
 in their school ; that is, they were not permitted to speak to 
 
 i( ')1 
 
P':- 
 
 
 ; : 
 
 '' ,:i 
 
 62 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 %^^ '^ 
 
 t ' I 
 
 one another for the space of five years, which was the term of 
 their scholastic novitiate ; after which — but not until then 
 — they wore brought into the presence of Pythagoras, theilr 
 Chief. The Essenes, too, were enjoined a silence at table ; 
 but their chief resemblance, in this respect, to the Pythago- 
 reans, was in their foiu* years novitiate, before which they 
 were not admitted into the society or confraternity. In the 
 first year they received a bathing dress; and the white gar- 
 ment, the peculiar dress of this sect ; and were furnished Avith 
 their food outside the dining hall. In the second year they 
 Wore admitted to take part in holy matters, and instructed 
 in the practice of them ; but in the forth, or last year, they 
 were enroled as full members of the society, after having 
 taken an oath to observe all its rules and ordinances. The 
 penalty inflicted fo^' a violation of this oath was, expulsion 
 from the Society by the decree of a Senate or Council of one 
 hundred called together for the purpose : which expulsion 
 was generally followed by death. For such as had once en- 
 tered this order would not ever afterwards receive sustenance 
 from any others ; and after expulsion they were only allow- 
 ed nauseous herbs by their own, which insufficient food 
 brought on emaciation and death. It sometimes happened 
 that they were readmitted, but this was of rare occurrence. 
 Josephus tlius bears testimony on this point, — " But for 
 those that are caught in any heinous sins, they cast them out 
 of their society; and he who is thus separated from them 
 does often die after a miserable manner ; for as he is bound 
 by the oath he hath taken, and by the customs he hath been 
 engaged in, he is not at liberty to partake of that food that 
 he meets with elsewhere, but is forced to eat grass, and to 
 famish his body with hunger until he jierish ; for which rea- 
 son they receive many of them again when they are at their 
 
 H 
 
 I'. 
 
THE ESSENES. 
 
 63 
 
 last gasp, out of compassion to them, as thinking the mise- 
 ries they have endured till they came to the very brink of 
 death to be a sufficient punishment for the sins they have 
 been guilty of," [War 2. 8. 8]. 
 
 Their time of worship was at sunrise ; and among other 
 things included in their oath at the time they entered the 
 fraternity was to preserve the names of angels j which would 
 imply a degree of worship of these beings. 
 
 The Sabbath day they kept with peculiar strictness ; and 
 they also observed every seventh week, apentecost, of which 
 there were seven in the year. On the subject of marriage 
 they were divided into two classes, one in favour of celibacy, 
 and the other opposed to it : the former class adopted the 
 children of other men, and brought them up in the doctrines 
 and discipline of the sect. *' These Essenes," observes Jo- 
 soph us, " reject pleasures as an evil, but esteem continence 
 and the conquest over our passions to be a virtue. They 
 neglect wedlock, but choose out other persons' children while 
 they are pliable and fit for learning ; and esteem them to be 
 of their kindred ; and form them according to their own man- 
 ners." 
 
 If we may credit Pliny, the Eoman historian, many of the 
 other Jews, when advanced in life, used to join this fraternity, 
 either from a weariness of the world, or from a desire of do- 
 ing penance for their past sins. Their habits and manners 
 were innocent and exemplary ; and their lives flowed on in 
 a current of sobriety, humility and peace. On this point I 
 cannot forbear quoting the account given of them by Jose- 
 phus. " And as far as their piety towards God," he observes, 
 " it is very extraordinary : for before sun-rising they speak 
 not a word about profane matters, but put up certain prayers, 
 ^Vhich they have received from their forefathers, as if they 
 
 'A *I 
 
 t"' 
 
 f .' 
 
ii'^ k 
 
 64 
 
 TfiE HEBREWS AT HOMfi. 
 
 made a supplication fox its rising, After this, every one of 
 them are sent away by their curators to ex< ;;cise some of 
 those arts wherein they are skilled ; in which they laboUr 
 with great diligence till the fifth hour. After which they 
 assemble themselves together again into one place ; and 
 when they have clothed themselves in white veils, they then 
 bathe their bodies in cold water. And after this purification 
 is over they, every one, meet together in an apartment of 
 their own, into wkich it is not permitted to any of another 
 sect to enter ; while they go, after a pui-e manner, into the 
 dining room, as into a certain holy temple, and quietly set 
 themselves down; upon which the baker lays them loaves in 
 order ; the cook also brings a single plate of one sort of food^ 
 and sets it before every one of them ; but a priest says grace 
 before meal ; and it is unlawful for any one to taste of the 
 food before grace be said. The same priest, when he has 
 dined, says grace again after meat ; and when they begin 
 and when they end they praise God, as He that bestows their 
 food upon them. After they lay aside their (white) gar- 
 ments, they betake themselves to their labour again till the 
 evening : then they return home to supper after the same 
 manner; if there be any strangers, they sit down with them. 
 Nor is there ever any clamour or disturbance to pollute their 
 house, but they give every one leave to speak in their turn ; 
 which silence thus kept in their house appears to foreigners 
 like some tremendous mystery ; the cause of which is that 
 perpetual sobriety they exercise, and the same settled mea- 
 sure of meat and drink that is allotted to them, and that, such 
 as is abundantly sufficient for them. And truly as for other 
 things they do nothing but accordiug to the injunctions of 
 their curators : only these two things are done among them 
 at everyone's fiee will, which are, to assist those that want, 
 
 : « 
 
THE ESSENES. 
 
 65 
 
 and to shew mercy ; for they are permitted of their accord 
 to afford succour to such as deserve it, when they stand in 
 teed of it ; and to bestow food on those that are in distress ; 
 but they cannot give any thing to their kindred without the 
 curators. They dispense their anger after a just manner, 
 and restrain their passion. They arc eminent for fidelity, 
 and are the ministers of peace ; whatever they say also is 
 firmer than an oath ; but swearing is avoided by them, and 
 they esteem it worse than perjury ; for they sjiy that he who 
 cannot be believed without (swearing by) God, is already 
 condemned. They also take great pains in studying the writ- 
 ings of the Ancients, and choose out of them what is most for 
 the advantage of their soul and body : and they enquire af- 
 ter such roots and medicinal stones as may cure their 
 diseases." TWars, 2. 8. 5]. 
 
 At what particular point of time, and under what circum- 
 stances this sect of religionists was first formed, there are 
 now no accurate means of ascertaining ; but certain it is that 
 it existed at least a century and a half before our Saviour's 
 time ; for the three sects of Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes 
 existed in the time of Jonathan, the brother of Judaeus 
 MaccabaeuB ; and that they also continued down to our 
 Saviour's time, and after it. It is remarkable, however, 
 that there is no direct mention made of this sect in the Now 
 Testament, a circumstance which can only be ascribed to 
 their quiet and peaceable lives, and to the unobtrusive 
 retirement in which they lived. They did not quarrel with 
 others, nor oppose our divine Redeemer, as did the Pharisees 
 and Sadducees, and consequently did not stand in the way 
 of reproof from our Saviour. And besides all this, their 
 numbers were comparatively few, and they were scattered 
 about in difibrent cities and small towns. Wo have reason 
 
 
 tui 
 
 I 
 
 1^ 
 
 !&. 
 

 66 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 11 
 
 to believe tliat during the time of our Saviour there were 
 none, or, at least, but very few of them in the city of Jerusa- 
 lem ; and their entire number, in the time of Philo and Jose- 
 phus was only about four thousand. But though we find no 
 direct mention of them as a sect in the Xew Testament, it is 
 not so with respect to some of their peculiar doctrines ; to 
 which frequent allusion is there found. Thus in St. Paul's 
 First Epistle to Timothy, 5c. 23v., we find reference made 
 to their practice of drinking only water, — '' Do not still drink 
 water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake, and thy 
 frequent infirmities." Again, in the same epistle of Paul 
 4c. 1-3 v., their doctrine and practice of celibacy, and of ab- 
 stinence from meats are reproved, — "Now the spirit mani- 
 festly saith that in the lant timas some shall depart from the 
 faith, giving heM to spirits of error, and doctrines of devils, 
 speaking lies in hypocrisy, and having their conscience 
 seared ; forbiding to marry, abstaining from meats, which 
 God had created to be received with thanksgiving by the 
 faithful, and by them that have known the tnith. For every 
 creature of God is good, and nothing to be rejected that is 
 received with thanksgiving." And the same Apostle, in his 
 Epistle to the Colossians, reproves this doctrine of abstaining 
 from meats ; and that other peculiar doctrine of the Essenes, 
 the " preserving," or worshipping of angels, — "Let no man 
 therefore judge ;yO a in meat or in drink, or in respect of a 
 
 festival day, Let no man seduce you, willing in humility 
 
 and religion of angels, walking in the things which ho J^r+h 
 not seen, in vain jjufled uj) by the sense of his flesh," ^m, 
 16-18). Throughout this second chapter of the Epistle to the 
 Colossians, the Apostle evidently points to tl.3 doctrines and 
 l)ractices of the Essenes, which, from the imposing humility 
 and modest soH-donial of the sect, were likely to make a 
 
THE ESSENES. 
 
 67 
 
 favourable impression on others ; and therefore it became 
 the more necessary to guard the faithful against their insidi- 
 ous poison. Thus in the eiifhth vorse of this Chapter the 
 Ajwstle emphatically says, " Beware lest any man cheat you 
 l)y philosophy and vain deceit ; according to the tradition 
 of men, according to the elements of the world, and not 
 according to Christ." Now Philo calls the doctrine of the 
 Kssencs patriaphilosophia, this is, philosophy derived by Ti-a- 
 (lition from their fathers : hence the direction of the Apostle's 
 censure is manifest. There we j two classes of Essenes, 
 lint as regarded their doctrines, or constitutions, for these 
 were the same ; but with respect to their mode of life : the 
 Olio being devoted altogether to contemplation ; the other to 
 the laborious pursuits of life, such as agriculture, handicrafts, 
 the rearing and tending of sheep, and so on. The food of 
 I the labouring class differed, of course, both in quantity and 
 quality, from that of the other ; for while the one used two 
 luouls a day, namely, dinner and supper, and which consist- 
 jed of bread and gruel, the other used only one meal, that is, 
 supjior, whish consisted of only bread and salt, and in the 
 lease of delicate persons of hyssop. Both drank only water. 
 [Philo calls them respectively Practicals, and Theoreticals. 
 
 Having now reviewed the three principal religious parties 
 [among the Hebrews, namely, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, 
 jaiid the Essenes, it only remains to make a few brief remarks 
 jon two other parties, or factions, — for they cannot with pro- 
 priety be called Sects, — which existed among the Jews at the 
 [time of our Saviour. These were the GaulonitcB, and the 
 jllerodians. There were divers factions of a mixed political 
 Kind religious character among the Jews at this time, and 
 ^fore it ; but the two I have mentioned are alone entitled 
 to any notice. The Gaulonita? were so called froiri their 
 
 .' t 
 
 
 ii'h 
 
I 
 
 li 
 
 I- t: 
 
 68 
 
 THE HEjJREWS at HOME. 
 
 leader Jw/f as, the Gaulonite, or the Galilean, as he was some- 
 times called. To him is the allusion in the Acts of the 
 Apostles, (6. 37) — " After this man rose np Jiulas of Galilee 
 in the days of the enrolling, and drew away the people after 
 liim." This Judas, upon the occasion of a tribute which 
 was levied upon the Jews in the reign of the Koman em- 
 peror Augustus, denied the right of any authority to impose 
 a tax upon the people of Israel ; and maintained that they 
 owed allegiance to God alone, and were therefore not to be 
 subjected to any human power. The person appointed 
 by the emperor to levy this tax was one Cja-eniiis, 
 who entering Judea for this purpose seized the goods of 
 Achelaus, the son of Herod. Then arose Judas the Galilean 
 in opposition to it. Of him and his followers Josephiis 
 writes thus, — *' These men (the Gaulonita^) agree in all 
 other things with the l^harisaic notions ; but they have an 
 inviolable attachment to liberty ; and say that God is to be 
 their only Ruler and Lord. They also do not value dyiiiij: 
 any kinds of death, nor indeed do they heed the deaths of 
 their relations and friends ; nor can any such fear make them 
 call any man Lord : and since this immoveable resolution of 
 theirs is well known to a great many, I shall speak no farther 
 about that matter." Again he says, — " All sorts of misfor- 
 tunes also sprang from these men, and the nation was infected 
 with this doctrine to an incredible degree, namely, that God 
 would abandon them unless they asserted their liberty against 
 the power of the Romans. One violent war came upon iis 
 after another, and we lost our friends who used to alleviate 
 our pains ; there were also very great robberies and murders 
 of our principal men. This was indeed done in pretence for 
 the public welfare, but in reality for the hopes of gain of them- 
 selves ; whence arose seditions, and from them, murders of I 
 
 I i 
 
THE ESSENES. 
 
 69 
 
 men, which .sometimes fell on those of their own people, (by 
 the madness of these men towards one another, while their 
 (lowire was that none of the adverse party might be left,) 
 and Bometip' .8 on their enemies. A famine also coming 
 u]ion lis reduced us to the last degree of despair, as did also 
 the taking and demolishing of cities : nay, the sedition at 
 hist increased so high that the very temple of God was burnt 
 down by their enemy's fire. Such was the consequence of 
 this, that the customs of our fathers were altered, and such 
 a change was made as added a mighty weight towards bring- 
 in<^ all to destruction, which these men occasioned by their 
 conspiring together : for Judas and Sadduc, v/ho excited a 
 fonrth philosophic sect among us, and had a great many fol- 
 lowers therein, filled our civil government with tumults at 
 present, and laid the foundation of our future miseries by 
 this system of philosophy which we were before unacquaint- 
 ed with." 
 
 Such then were the direful effects produced by this semi- 
 political, semi-religious faction under the leadership of Judas 
 Giilitaeus. To this faction St. Luke alludes as having had 
 their blood mingled vrith their sacrifices by Pilate, — " And 
 there were present at that very time some that told him 
 (Jesus) of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with 
 their sacrifices. And he answering said to them : Think 
 you that these Galileans w^ere sinners above all the men of 
 Galileo, because they suffered such things." (13. 1,2). 
 
 The faction called Herodians were, according to St. Je- 
 rome, those who advocated the justice of paying tribute to 
 Oa3sar. Herod, who was a stranger, not a Jew, had broken 
 the line of the Jewish succession ; and ho therefore relied 
 upon the power and good will of the Eoman emperor alone 
 for the sustainment and prolongation of his royal authority. 
 
 '•1 
 
 / i 
 
 i ,. 
 
|!?' f 
 
 ITVi 
 
 Tn 
 
 i 
 
 I I >■: 
 
 ■#' 
 
 70 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 His policy consequently leant in the direction of the Roman 
 supremacy: and his courtiers followed in his wake : and 
 hence arose the faction of the Herodians, who were united 
 with the Pharisees against our Saviour : — " And he charged 
 them saying : Take heed, and heware of the leaven of the 
 J Sarip: and of the leaven of Herod," (Mark 8. 15). Many 
 aivthr>v ^ay that the Herodians were a sect whose character- 
 isti uL^iiijotion consisted in the belief that Herod was the 
 
 Messiah; IJ belief being founded on the prophecy that 
 
 when the Messiah came the sceptre would depart from Ju- 
 dah. But this view of the Herodians is altogether untenable 
 inasmuch as the Jews were aware thut the Messias was to 
 bo born a Jew, and of the tribe of Judtih, whereas, Herod 
 was not a Jew , but a stranger. 
 
 I I 
 
 ■#: 
 
CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 ITHE JEWISH TEMPLE — SYNAGOGUES AND SCHOOLS. 
 
 JAVING thus far reviewed the diiferent forms of 
 Government of the Hebrew nation, and also the 
 various sects and parties into which it was divided, 
 I shall now proceed to give an account of ik Jewish 
 Temple, and of other matters connected wi^H i^ After 
 the Hebrews had gone out of Egypt, an*^ ..iieied the 
 desert on their way to the Promised La/»a_ heir first 
 undertaking was the construction of a Tabernacle for public 
 worship, by the command of God, as de. ■ bd to their 
 leader Moses. Of this I have already spoken. In about 
 six hundred years after this event Solomon, who was 
 then king over Israel, was directed by God to build a 
 Temple, which, in its object, was to supplant the Taber- 
 nacle, and thus become the seat of His earthly pre- 
 sence, and the centre of His worship. In this substitu- 
 tion of a fixed and an immoveable seat of worship for that 
 which was moveable and merely temporary wo have a 
 foreshadowing of the difference between the Jewish and 
 Christian dispensations ; the one having been but for a time, 
 while the other is to last for ever. We may further regard 
 it as exemplifying the difference between the Church mili- 
 tant and the Chui-ch triumphant; to which David alludes 
 when he says, " Lord, who shall dwell in thy Tabernacle ? 
 or who shall rest in thy holy hill?" (Ps. 14. 1]. There 
 were three hills in Palestine which lay close to each other, 
 occupying the same district or tract of country ; these were 
 
 "SHVl 
 
 ." i:.t 
 
 "\1 
 
 n 
 
 VI 
 
72 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 i\ 
 
 called respectively Sion, Moria, and Calvary ; though the 
 whole three were fronuontly designated by the general 
 name of Sion. The city of David stood on Mount Sion ; 
 our Saviour was crucified on Mount Calvary ; and the Tem- 
 ple was built on Mount Moria, though it is commonly men- 
 tioned in Scripture as standing cm Mount Sion, and this for 
 the reason I have stated. Solomon commenced to build it 
 in the fourth year of his reign, and in the second month of 
 that year (May), 592 years after the exodus out of Egypt ; 
 and after an interval of seven years it was completed. It 
 was a most superb and magnificent structure according 
 to the account given of it by Josephus, and to those descrip- 
 tions which we read in the Sacred Writings. '' Its founda- 
 tion," observes Josephus, "was laid very deep in the ground, 
 and the materials were strong stones." Its entire body, 
 quite up to the roof was of " white stone ;" its height was 
 sixty cubits, its length the same, and its breadth twenty. 
 There was another building erected over it, equal to it in 
 its proportions ; so that the entire height of the building iiTas 
 one hundred and twenty cubits. Its front was to the east. 
 It had a porch of twenty cubits in length, (which was 
 exactly the breadth of the main structure) of twelve cubits 
 in breadth, and of equal height with the principal building. 
 It was surrounded by an auxiliary building, or court, whiel 
 was divided into thirty small rooms communicating with 
 one another, each room being five cubits in length, the same 
 in breadth, and twenty cubits in height ; and of these there 
 were three tiers, one above another, and all equal in the , 
 number and size of the rooms ; so that the elevation of this 
 external building, allowing twenty cubits as the height of 
 each tier of rooms, was sixty cubits; equal to the height of[ 
 the first portion of the Temple, or to half its entire eleva- 
 
THE JEWISU TEMPLE. 
 
 73 
 
 lion. Eucli of thoHO rooms, in their several tiers, had a 
 separate roof, and each tier a common room which embraced 
 the entire series, connecting them with the main building, 
 and giving a solidity to the whole. The material of the 
 roofs, both of the main building and the surrounding court, 
 was cedar, variously ornamented, and covered with plates of 
 gold. The walls were also lined with cedar boards, covered 
 all over with sculptured plates of gold, which emitted the 
 most gorgeous lustre. The masonry of the building was 
 such, in point of compactness and smoothness, that it 
 apneared to the spectator as if the whole was one polished 
 mass of rock, without artificial combination, but springing 
 from the plastic hand of nature. The king himself had 
 access to the upper part of the building by stairs made in 
 the thickness of the wall. " He also overlaid the Temple, 
 both within and without, with boards of cedar, that were 
 kept close together by thick chains, so that this contrivance 
 was in the nature of a support and a strength to the build- 
 ing." It was divided into two parts ; the inner part, which 
 was the sanctum sanctorum, or Holy of Holies, was twenty 
 cubits in length and breadth ; and the outer part, or sanc- 
 tuary, was forty cubits long by twenty broad. The doors 
 between these divisions were of cedar overlaid with sculp- 
 tured gold, and hung with " veils of blue, and purple, and 
 scarlet, and the brightest and softest of linen, with the 
 most curious flowers wrought upon them." Within the 
 sacred place, or Holy of Holies, were placed two Cherubims 
 of solid gold, each ten cubits in height; with the two wings 
 of each extending to the breadth of live cubits on either side, 
 so that the outer wing of the one touched the southern wall, 
 and the outer wing of the other the northern wall, while the 
 other wings which touched each other formed a covering for 
 
 Q 
 
 i 
 
 
 \ 
 
 'I 
 
 M 
 
It 
 
 1 1 
 
 
 li 
 
 74 
 
 THE HEUREWS AT HOME. 
 
 tho iirk, which waw plated hotweon them. " But nolxwly 
 can toll, or conjecture," HayH Josophus, "what wan tho shape 
 of those Cherubims." Tho golden conHor, and the Ark of 
 tho Testament wore kept in tho Holy of Holies (lleh. 9. 4.). 
 In tho ark wore kept tho pot of manna, Aaron's rod that budded, 
 and tho Tables of the Testament. This was in tho time of 
 Moses; but in Solomon's days, only the Tables of the Law 
 wore kept in tho Ark. — " Now in tho Ark there was nothing 
 olso but tho two tables of stone, which Moses put there at 
 lloreb, when tho Lord made a covenant with tho children 
 of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt," (3 K. 8. 
 10.). Tho cover of tho Ark was called tho Propitiatory, or 
 Mercy Seat; ilasterion, in Greek. Christ is called a Propitiar 
 tion, in Eomans, 3c. 25v. " When God hath proposed to 
 bo a propitiation, ^through faith in his blood, to tho shewing 
 of his justice, for tho remission of former sins." 
 
 Tho floor of the Temple wai also laid with phitos of gold ; 
 and the entrance doors which wore in point of elevation pro- 
 portioned to tho height of the wall, occupied tho entire 
 breadth ; and on them were fastened plates of gold. In a 
 word there was no part of tho Temple, internal or external, 
 but was covered with gold. Over tho entrance doors were 
 also hung curtains in the same manner as over tho inner 
 doors of the Holy of Holies ; " but the porch of the temple 
 had nothing of that sort." On either side of tho entrance 
 to the porch was a hollow pillar whoso outside was of brass 
 to the thickness of " four-fingers," and whose height was 
 eighteen cubits, and circumference twelve cubits. The cap- 
 ital of eachof these pillars was combined with " lily work" 
 that stood ipon the pillars, and it was elevated five cubits, 
 round 1 about which there was net- work interwoven with 
 small palms made of brass, and covered with lily work. To 
 
THE JEWISH TEMPLE. 
 
 76 
 
 this wore also hung two hundred pomegranates in two rows, 
 Olio of these pillars, which stood on the right of the porch, 
 was called Jachin, and the other, which stood on the left, had 
 the name of Booz. In the porch was placed the brazen ves- 
 nol called the sea, in which the priests made their ablutions. 
 This laver was called the sea, from its great size, and the 
 large quantity of water it contained ; it was ton feet in di- 
 iimotor, and of the thickness of a palm ; it was supported on 
 ji pillar of ten cubits ^ diameter, and surrounded by ton 
 spirals : thoro wore also supporting it twelve figures of oxon, 
 four towards each of the cardinal points, having their hinucr 
 parts depressed, so that the vessel might rest upon them. 
 This laver contained three thousand baths. There were also 
 ton other vessels of brass of four cubits in diameter, and four 
 in height, which rested upon bases supported upon four 
 wheels ; each of those contained forty baths. The length of 
 Iho bases, which were of a quadrangular shape, was five cu- 
 hits, the breadth four, and the height six. Five of those 
 vessels were placed on each side of the Temple ; and their 
 use was for the cleansing of the entrails and feet of the 
 hojists which were to be oifered in sacrifice. Here also was 
 erected a brazen altar, of twenty cubits in length, and the 
 H:\ino in bretvdth, and ten cubits in height ; this was for the 
 hurnt offerings. All the vessels belonging to the altar, " the 
 ])ots, and the shovels, and the basins ; the snuffers, and the 
 tongs, and all other vessels and articles employed in the 
 sacrificev^ were made of brass, and such brass as was in 
 splcndouj and beauty like gold." There was likewise dedi- 
 
 cated a 
 
 groat 
 
 number of tables ; one of which was very 
 
 laro-e, and made of gold ; and on this wore " sot tho loaves of 
 (Jod," Tho other tables wore ton thousand in numbo.' , and 
 on those wore placed tho " vials and the cups," of which 
 
 i i 
 
 ♦. 
 
 I 
 
 : ■i;i 
 
 IH 
 
DHP 
 
 76 
 
 THE IIEBllEWS AT HOME. 
 
 i 
 
 twenty thousand were matlo of gold, and forty thousand of 
 silvor. There were made ten thousand candlesticks, one of 
 which was dedicated for the Temple, " that it might burn in 
 the daytime according to the law ;" this was placed on one 
 side of the sanctuar}'', and opposite to it, on the other, which 
 was the south side, was a table with loaves upon it, the golden 
 table, or altar standing between them. There were made of 
 " pouring vessels" eighty thousand ; of golden vessels, one 
 hundred thousand, and of silver vials, two hundred thousand. 
 Of golden dishes on which "kneaded fine flour" was to be 
 offered on the altar there were eighty thousand ; and of sil- 
 ver dishes for the same service, one hundred and sixty thou" 
 sand. Of large basins wherein was mixed the flour with oil, 
 there were sixty jthousand of gold, find one hundred and 
 twenty thousand of silver. Of measures called Ilin and As- 
 saron, there were twenty thousand of gold and forty thous- 
 and of silver. There were twenty thousand golden censors, 
 in which incense was carried to the altar ; and fifty thousand 
 of other censers, in which fire was carried from the great 
 altar to the little altar. The sacerdotal garments belonging 
 to the high priest, including the long robes, oracle and pre- 
 cious stone, were in number one thousand ; but the crown on 
 which Moses wrote the name of God, that is, the golden plate 
 ou the forehead of the high priest was only one. This re- 
 mained to the time of Jose])hus, and for at least a century 
 afterwards, that is, until the second, or perhaps, the third 
 century of our era. Besides those garments of the liigli 
 priest, there were for each of the priests ten thousand gar- 
 ments of fine linen, with pur])le girdles; there were made 
 two hundred thousand trumjiets, according to the command 
 of Moses; there were two hundred thousand garments of 
 fir.o linen for the singers who were Levites j and of musicid 
 
 L »' 
 
THE JEWISH TEMPLE. 
 
 77 
 
 instruments for tho singing of hymns, and wliicli were made 
 of tiie tincst brass, there were forty thousand. 
 
 After King Solomon had tinished the tem])le, lie surround- 
 ed it with a wall of tho height of three cubits, for tho pur- 
 pose of excluding tho multitude, for it was intended to be 
 entered only by tho priests. But he built another temple 
 outside this wall, which was quadrangular in shape, and 
 provided with spacious cloisters ; it had four entrances which 
 were closed by golden doors. This temple was for those 
 whose lives wore pure and in conformity with the laws. For 
 the rest of the people he built a third temple beyond this 
 second one, " which," says Josephus, " was a w^onderful one 
 indeed, and such as exceeds all description in words." In 
 order to have this one on nearly a level with the other two 
 deep vallies had to be tilled up with earth, to the height of 
 lour hundred cubits : this was encompassed with a double 
 row of cloisters, " which stood high on pillars of native stone, 
 while the roofs were of cedar, and woi'o polished in a manner 
 suitable to such high roofs : all the doors of the Tem])lo 
 were of silver." 
 
 This Temple stood for four hundred and seventy years, 
 six months, ten days, when it Avas pillaged and burnt to tho 
 ground, together with the whole city of Jerusalem b}^ the 
 Ibrces of Nabuchodonosor, King of Babylon ; when tho Isra- 
 elites were carr i ed in to ca])ti vi ty . After a period of so ve n ty 
 years King Cyrus jiermitted the captives to return to Jeru- 
 salem, and to rebuild the Toniple, under the direction of 
 their governor, Zorobabel. They accordingly commenced 
 tlio work in the second year of the reign of Cyruti, but were 
 unable, in consequence of tho hostilities of the nation of tho 
 Samaritans, to bring it to a conclusion before the ninth year 
 of the reign of Darius, tho son of Ilystaspis, an interval of 
 
 
 I 
 

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 78 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 forty-six years. It was again plundered by Antiochus Epi- 
 phanis ; and afterwards taken by Pompey, who profaned its 
 sacred place by entering it. 
 
 After having been reconstructed by ITerod, it was again 
 burnt to the ground b}^ Titus : after which no attempt was 
 ever made to restore it. The time occupied in building it the 
 third time, under Herod, was eight years. The second 
 Temple, built by Zorobabel upon the return from captivity, 
 was inferior to the first, or Solomon's Temple, both as 
 regarded the size and style of the building itself, and the 
 vessels belonging to it which were now all of brass, whereas 
 in the first Temple they were either of gold or silver. But 
 this inferiority consisted mainly in the absence from the 
 second Temple of the Ark of God, of the Urim and 
 Thummim, of the fire which, in the first Temple, used to 
 descend from heaven to consume the burnt offerings, of the 
 Giory of God between the Cherubims, and of the Holy 
 Ghost to communicate the gift of j)rophecy, for from 
 Malachy to John the Baptist there appeared no prophet. 
 The third and last, that is, Herod's Temple, exceeded even 
 the first in magnificence and splendour, and had reflected 
 upon it the glory of our Saviour's presence and discourse, 
 according to the j)rophecy of Haggai, — " Great shall be the 
 glory of this last house, more than of the first, saith the 
 Lord of Hosts : and in thiis place I will give peace, saith 
 tj^e .jJorcl of Hosts.!' (Aggaus, 2. 10), It is a remarkable 
 fact that at the time of the final destruction of the Temple 
 by Titus, about the ninety-ninth year of our era, the 
 Heathen Temple at Delphos was destroyed by an earthquake, 
 amid thunder and lightning, and was never afterwards 
 rebuilt. Thus perished at the same time the two groat foci 
 of religious practice, which concent rfi tod within thom the 
 
SYNAGOGUES AND SCHOOLS. 
 
 false belief of the Jewish and Heathen world, exhibiting 
 the hollow ceremonies of the one, and the superstitious 
 idolatries of the other. 
 
 Besides the great Temple of Jerusalem, which constituted 
 the centre of worship to God's people, there were other 
 churches or houses of prayer as well in Jerusalem as in the 
 various cities and provinces throughout the country of 
 Judea. There were of these in Jerusalem alone no less than 
 four hundred and eighty, some of them for Jews, and some 
 for strangers who were proselytes. There were synagogues 
 in Galilee, in Damascus, at Salamis and at Antioch ; in 
 .short, it was a tradition among the Jews that " wherever 
 ton men of Israel were, there a synagogue ought to be built." 
 The term Synagogue is derived from the Greek word 
 sunagein, to bring together, and means, in a general sense, 
 any assemblage of persons or of things, as sunagoge jjolemoio, 
 an assemblage of persons for purposes of war, and sunagoge 
 galaktos, a quantity of milk ; but its most common signiti- 
 cation is that of a house devoted to the worship of God. 
 The Hebrew name is Beth Ilacneseth, house of meeting. 
 The point of time at which the synagogues began first to be 
 established cannot be accurately ascertained ; but the 
 probability is, that as soon as the Israelites were settled 
 down in the land of Canaan, after having taken possession 
 of it, they commenced the erection of these liouses in the 
 different localities where they were placed. We know from 
 tlio psalms of David that they existed in his time, — " They 
 have burnt all the Synagogues of God in the land." And in 
 the Acts of the Apostles we learn that " Moses of old time 
 hath in every city them that preach him in the Synagogues, 
 where ho is read every Sabbath," (15. 21). It was a custom 
 of the Hebrews to place sacred inscriptions over the door- 
 
 
 
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80 
 
 THE UEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
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 ways of the synagogues ; such as, '' This is the gato of th6 
 Lord, the righteous shall enter into it," taken from the 
 Psalms ; and also upon the walls, such as, " Ecmemhei* thy 
 Creator, and enter into the house of the Lord thy God in 
 humility;" and, "Prayer without attention is like a body 
 without a soul ;" and, " Silence is commendable in time of 
 prayer." The Synagogue, like the Tempie, was divided by 
 a partition of lattice or wirowork into two j^arts, one for the 
 men, and one tor the women. The scribes were the persons 
 who generally officiated in the synagogues; I '^4 there pre- 
 sided over each of these houses a chief, called the Ruler of 
 the Synagogue, without whose permission no person was 
 allowed to officiate there. There was also a minister or 
 clerk attached to the synagogue, a portion of -.'Nhose duty it 
 was to hand the book to the preacher, and, wbon the text 
 was read, to receive it back from him again. Thus we find 
 that when our Saviour preached in one of them, as he was 
 accustomed to do, "the book of Isaias tl;o prophet was 
 delivered unto him:" and after hav'-j:r " -j -abided it," and 
 read the text, he folded it again, aiid ''rettored it to the 
 minister, and sat dowi;/ and preached to the people, (Luke 
 4. 18). 
 
 The schools of thu ric brows would appear to have been 
 principally devoted to philosophical and religious discus- 
 sions. Beth, or house, was the luimc sometimes given to a 
 school ; and sometimes it was called Beth hammidrasch, or 
 liouse of subtle exposition. St. Paul held disputations in 
 one of those schools, the school of Tyrannus, — " And enter- 
 ing into the Synagogue, ho spoke boldly for the space of 
 three months, disputing and exhorting concerning tlic 
 Ivingdom of God. But when some were liardened and 
 believed not, speaking evil of the way of the Lord before' 
 
 a ;«'' 
 
SYNAGOGUES AND SCHOOLS. 
 
 the multitude, departing from them, he separated the 
 disciples, disputing daily in the schools of one Tyrannus. 
 And this continued for the space of two years, so that all 
 thej' who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both 
 Jewp and Gentiles," (Acts 19. 8). These schools were held 
 in higher estimation than the synagogues as places for the 
 inculcation of knowledge and of virtue ; for according to the 
 saying, " the sanctity of a school is beyond the sanctity of a 
 synagogue. " Hence it was deemed a degree of promotion 
 to remove from the synagogue to the school, the discourses 
 in the former being addressed merely to thi multitude, but 
 in the latter to the learned. The schools, like the syna- 
 gogues, were scattered in every city and province through- 
 out the country ; and like them also, were erected on hills. 
 
 There wore certain modes of expression in use in those 
 schools, which I shall allude to merely with the view of 
 marking the similar forms in use among the ancient Eomans. 
 For instance, the masters were said to give to their scholars, 
 instead of to teach them, according to our phraseology; and 
 the scholars were said to receive from the masters, instead, 
 of to learn from them, as we say : — " Hear, O my son, and 
 receive my words, that years of life may be multiplied to 
 thee," (Prov. 4. 10). And St. Paul to Timotl: (1, 1-15.; 
 " A faithful saying, and by all means worthy je received 
 that Christ Jesus came into the world to .,>e sinners." 
 In the eighth satire of the second book of H' ice we have, 
 " da, si non est grave,'^ give (me), if it is not t( > troublesome, 
 moaning, inform me, or instruct me, &c. A aln, in Yirgil's 
 Bucolics, first eclogue, wo have, " sed tamtu, iste deus qui 
 sit, da, Tityi'e, nobis," '' but, however, give us, O Tityrus, 
 Avho that God may be," meaning, " inform us, Tityre," 
 &c. 
 
 
■S ' . 
 
 / 
 
 82 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 The Hebrews had other houses called Proscuchae, in which 
 prayers were offered, and religious instructions given; but 
 in what respect these differed from the Synagogues and 
 Schools it is difficult to say. It may be that they were of a 
 more limited and private character than those. On this 
 point authors differ very much among themselves; some 
 saying that they were the same as the synagogues, and 
 others that they were schools. It was in one of these that 
 St. Paul sat down, and exhorted the women ; as we find in 
 the Acts of the Apostles, 16. 13, — " And upon the Sabbath 
 day we went forth without the gate by a riverside, where it 
 seemed that there was prayer : and sitting down, we spoke to 
 the women that were assembled." 
 
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 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE GATES OF JERUSALEM. — IDOLATRY — CITIES OP REFUGE 
 
 — DIVISION OF TIME. 
 
 HE City of Jerusalem was surrounded by a 
 wall, in the circuit of which were nine gates. 
 Of these the following are the principal ones 
 of which we find mention made in the 
 Sacred Writings :— The Slieey Gate ; this stood near the 
 Temple, and through it the sheep, which were intended for 
 sacrifice, were conducted ; and near which was the pool of 
 Bothsaida, where the sheep were washed before being brought 
 
 to the Temple. From this circumstance it had its name, 
 
 " Then Eleasib, the high-priest arose, and his brethren the 
 priests, and they built the sheep-gate ; they sanctified it, 
 and set up the doors thereof, even unto the tower of one 
 hundred cubits they sanctified it unto the tower of Hana- 
 iiocl," (Neh. 3.1) Nehemiasis here describing the rebuilding 
 of the gates after the return of the people from captivity, 
 about four hundred and fifty four-years before Christ. The 
 Fish-Gate ; before this Judas is thought to have hung him- 
 8clf The Horse-Gate; which, as well as the other two 
 mentioned, are supposed to have had market places near 
 them for the sale of the several animals mentioned. There 
 was one called j the Old-Gate ; frojiL the circumstance, it is 
 thought, ofits'^not having been [destroyed by the Assyi-ians 
 at the time of the destruction of the city. Of the gates 
 
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 84 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 leading to the temple built by Solomon, there were two 
 principal' ones, namely, that by which new married persons 
 entered, and that which admitted mourners and excommuni- 
 cated j)er8ons : — the mourners were known by their caiTying 
 a skirt of their garments close to their lips. As the new- 
 married persons came in by their gate on the Sabbath, the 
 people who sat there addressed them, saying to each, " May 
 He whose name dwelleth in this house glad thee with 
 children." And those who sat by the other gate addressed 
 the mourners and the excommunicated, saying to each of the 
 former, " May He who dwelleth in this house glad and com- 
 fort thee ;" and to each of the latter, " May He who dwelleth 
 in this House move thy heart to hearken to the words of 
 thy follows." In the Hebrew cities the gates formed the 
 chief points of strehgth ; so that if they were once taken, 
 further resistance became unavailable ; and as long as they 
 wore defended no apprehension was entertained of the safety 
 of the city. It was in the gates too that the Judges exercised 
 a jurisdiction, and decided controversies; whence have pro- 
 ceeded these forms oi expression, — " The gates of hell shall 
 not prevail against it ;" and, " Thy seed shall possess the 
 gate of his enemies." 
 
 In the time of Othniel the Hebrews first fell into idolatry 
 which, in the course of time, grew to such an extent that they 
 had idols on every hill, and in every grove: — " And they did 
 evil in the sight of the Lord ; and they forgot their God, and 
 served Baalim and Astaroth," (Jud. 3. 1). The gods of thoir 
 idolatry they denominated prophets of the groves, and idols 
 of the groves. Elias, addressing Achab, said, '' I have not 
 troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house, who have 
 forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and have followed 
 Baalim. Nevertheless send now, and gather unto me all 
 
 i i^ 
 
IDOLATRY. 
 
 85 
 
 Israel, unto Mount Carmol, and the prophets of Baal four 
 hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hun- 
 dred, who eat at Jezabel's table," (3 K. 18. 18). Manasses 
 " ,set also an idol of the grove, which he had made, in the 
 Temple of the Lord," (4 K. 217.) The heathen people, in 
 the earlier stages of their superstitious and idolatrous creeds, 
 did not erect temples for the worship of their divinities ; 
 deeming it unworthy of their principal divinity, the Sun, 
 to be confined within walls : — Mundus universus est templum 
 soli's, the world is his temple. Even when, in the course of 
 time, the adoption of temples became general among them, 
 they made exceptions, in favour of some of their divinities, 
 from the general worship beneath roofs. Hills and moun- 
 tains wore selected as the appropriate sites of that worship 
 which embraced the universe and its presiding spirits. And 
 hence we find that the Sacred Writings are, in many places, 
 directed in reproof against those " high places," as the abodes 
 of false worship. Those hills and mountains were conse- 
 crated by solemn rites for the purpose for which they were 
 sot apart; and the divinities worshipped in those places 
 derived their several distinctive appellations from them : 
 thus, the God, Mercury was distinguished by the additional 
 appellation of Cyllenius ; Jupiter had the epithet of 
 Capitolinus ; and Yenus was denominated Erycina. To 
 make those high places worthy of the purposes to which they 
 were destined, ornate trees and groves were planted upon and 
 around them ; and hence, in the progress of time, trees, and 
 groves, and woods, became the especial seats of the 
 hoathen divinities ; for which purpose they were solemnly 
 consecrated ; and thus held in high reverence by the people. 
 Even certain trees became special objects of worship. Some 
 Celtic nations worshipped the oak tree ; and were thence 
 
 
 
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 THE IlKBREWS AT HOME. 
 
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 callod Druids, from dnis, tlic (irock nnnic of that tree. Tho 
 people of Ktruria wornhippod the holii\ li'oo. Other nations 
 had tho pophir as their chief ohject of worship; otlierH had 
 the myrtle ; and bo on.— " Poj)uliis Alcidse uratisHima," wiys 
 Virgil, " vitis laeeho: Formona^ myrtuH Venerl : sua Inuvea 
 Phd'bo" (Eel. T.) Tho poplar is most ^I'Mleful to Alcides; 
 tho vine to IJacchuH ; tho myrtle to the heaiitiful Venus; 
 and to Apollo hi.s laurel. 
 
 Sueh were the moiie.s and forms of worshi]> "which the 
 IsraeliloH saw practised by the nations around them; and 
 into these, deviating- from the worship of the true CJod, they 
 now fell. From time to tinie they widened the circle of error, 
 until at length the Ciod of their fathers, and the Author of 
 their being was forgotten altogether. Then the new Pis- 
 ]HMisation, s]iringing from the inscrutable economy of His 
 divine Providence, was established n]>on the ruins of the old 
 Law; and the Son of God wasolfored as a sacritice of re<lem)v 
 tion for a])ostale man. 
 
 There wore established anu)ng the Israelites, by the dircc 
 tion of God, those ]>laces of security Sdnrtuarics, or A/tdrs of 
 rrfiNjc, which were also so common among the heathen 
 nations. There was this dillercnce, however, between the 
 two, that, whereas any criminal who had gained the sanc- 
 tuary among the heathens was thereby secure from punish- 
 ment; none but those who were innocent in intention 
 obtained security in the Asylums of tho Hebrews: — ''If n 
 man kill his neighbour on set purpose and by lying in wait 
 for him; thou shall take him away from my Altar, that he 
 may die," (Fxod. 21.14). AVe tind that this jmu'tico of 
 flying for pr^^ection to the allar existed in the time of 
 Solomon, for Joab fled thither to avoid the wrath of tho 
 king: — '' And the news came to Joab, because Joab had 
 
OITIES OF REFUGE. 
 
 87 
 
 turned after Adonias, and liad not turned after Solomon ; 
 and Joab fled into the tabernacle of the Lord, and laid hold 
 oil the horn of the altar,*' (3 K. 2. 28). 
 
 After the Israelites had established themselves in the 
 Lund of Promise, there were certain cities appointed for 
 this purpose, in order that the people might not be debarred 
 the privilege of sanctuary by reason of the distance of the 
 tjibornacle from some portion of them. These were six in 
 number, of which three lay beyond the river Jordan, namely, 
 Bozer, in the district of the Eeubenites, Eamoth of Gilead, 
 in that of the Gadites, and Golan of Bashun, in that of the 
 Manassitos: — "Then Moses set aside three cities beyond 
 the Jordan at the eastside, that any one might flee to them 
 who should kill his neighbour unwillingly, and was not his 
 enemy a day or two before, and that he might escape to 
 some one of these cities," (Deut. 3. 40). The other three 
 which Josuo had appointed in Canaan were Cadesh of Galilee, 
 situated in mount Naphthali ; Schechem in Ephraim ; and 
 Kiriatharba, that is, Hebron, in the mountain of Juda: — 
 " These cities (that is, the six) were appointed for all the 
 children of Israel, and for the strangers that dwelt among 
 them; that whosoever had killed a person unawares might 
 flee to them, and not die by the hand of the kinsman, covet- 
 ing to revenge the blood that was shed, until he should stand 
 before the people to lay open his cause," (Jos. 20. 9). The 
 roads leading to those cities were always kept open and 
 free from all impediments, by order of the Hebrew magis- 
 trates, in order to facilitate approach to them. No hills 
 wore left in the way to them, nor unbridged rivers : and their 
 breadth was made thirty-two cubits. Wherever cross-roads 
 occurred there was ])laced a post beside that which led to the 
 City of Refuge, with the inscrijDtion Eefuge. Eefuge. On 
 
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 the fifteenth day of February ©very year the magistrate sent 
 persons to inspect and repair all those roads; and two or 
 three more persons of distinguished virtue were always 
 employed for the purpose of watching the Avengers of blood, 
 as the relatives of murdered persons were called, in order to 
 dissuade them from pursuing the fugitive, and from laying 
 violent hands upon him. The mode of dealing with the 
 accused party was this : The Consistory, orBench of Magis- 
 trates who resided at or near the place where the murder 
 was committed, having ordered the accused to be brought 
 from the City of Eefuge, and placed before them in the Court, 
 or Judgment Hall, went into a full examination of the cir- 
 cumstances attending the murder. If they found the 
 accused party guilty, they condemned him to death ; but 
 if innocent, they ordered him back to the City of Eefuge 
 where he was allowed his liberty not only in the City itself 
 but also within certain limits of the city ; and where he was 
 compelled to remain until the death of the high-priest then 
 living; after which ho might return to his own home. — 
 " And he shall dwell in that city, till he stand before judg- 
 ment to give an account of his fact, and till the death of the 
 high-priest, who shall he at that time : then shall the man- 
 slayer return, and go into his own city and house from 
 whence he fled." (Jos. 20. 6). 
 
 Thus we see that though the murder had been committed 
 without a wicked intention, and by mere accident, yet the 
 person by whose hand life had been taken away, was punish- 
 ed by exile. A law similar to this existed in Greece at the 
 time of the Areopagites ; but the term of exile there was 
 twelve months certain. Why it should have been made to 
 depend on the life of the high-priest among the Israelites no 
 reason can be found, except it bo, as is conjectured by some 
 
DIVISION OF TIME. 
 
 commentators that tho offence comnxitted, aflfocted, in an 
 especial manner, his majesty and sanctity, who was the 
 rcjiresentative of God on earth. 
 
 As there were some peculiarities in the divisions of time 
 among the Hebrews, in which they differed fi'om those 
 established in modern times, it may be desirable to take 
 .1 brief review of them. Their day, as with us, was 
 divided into the natural, and artificial; the former embrac- 
 ing the day and night, and consisting of twenty-four hours; 
 the latter confined to tho day only, and consisting of twelve 
 hours, but reckoned from sunrise to sunset. To this our 
 gaviour alludes, when he says, " Are there not twelve hours 
 of the day ? It a man walk in the day he stumbleth not 
 because he seeth the light of the world," (Joh. j.l. 9). The 
 natural day of twenty-four hours was distinguished into the 
 civil and the sacred : the civil day, which meant the working 
 day, began at sunrise, and ended at the following sunrise : 
 the sacred day, which signifies a Festival, or Holy, day, 
 commenced at sunset, and ended at the following sunset. 
 The day and night were each divided into four parts, called 
 watches, or greater hours, each watch, or greater hour, con- 
 sisting of three lesser, or ordinary hours. The first watch, 
 or greater hour of the night,commenced at six in the even- 
 ing, and ended at nine; the second, which commenced at 
 nine, ended at twelve, and was, on that account, called the 
 midnight watch ; the third ended at three ; and the fourth 
 at six, in the morning. These watches were sometimes 
 designated by other names, such as, evening, midnight, 
 cock-crowing, and dawning. We find allusion made to these 
 divisions of the night, under both designations, in several parts 
 of the New Testament : Thus in Luke 12. 38, " And if he 
 shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch? 
 
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 90 
 
 TflEBaHREWS AT HOME. 
 
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 and find thorn so, (that is, watching) blessed are those 
 servants." Again, in Matthew 14. 25, "And in the fourth 
 watch of the n'ght, he came to them, walking upon the sea." 
 And in Mark 13. 35, we find this, " Watch ye therefore, 
 for you know not when the Lord of the house cometh : at 
 even, or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the 
 morning." In the old Testament, we read the following, 
 " And Gedeon, and the three hundred men that were with 
 him, went into a part of the camp, at the beginning of the 
 midnight watch." (Jud. 7. 19). Again, " And now the 
 morning watch was come, and behold the Lord, looking 
 upon the Egyptian army through the pillar of fire and of 
 the cloud, slew their host," (Exod. 14. 24). And further, 
 " Arise, give praise in the night, in the beginning of the 
 watches," (Lamen. 2. 19.) 
 
 The divisions of the day were not called watches, but hours, 
 each hour consisting of three ordinary hours. The first 
 hour commenced at six in the morning, and ended at nine ; 
 the second ended at twelve ; the third at three ; and 
 the fourth at six, in the evening. But these divisions were 
 designated by the number at the end of the division, counting 
 by ordinary hours from six in the morning to six in the 
 evening ; thus, the third hour was nine o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, because nine o'clock was the third ordinary hour from 
 six at which the division commenced : twelve o^'.lock was 
 the sixth hour, it being the sixth hour from six o'clock in 
 the morning : and so three o'clock was called the ninth hour 
 and six in the evening, the t'A^elfth hour. The pfirable of the la- 
 bourers in the vineyard shews this division of the day into four 
 parts ; for the lord of the vineyard is represented as having gone 
 out at the third hour, that is, nine o'clock ; and at the sixth 
 hour, that is, twelve o'clock ; and at tlio ninth hour, which 
 
1)IVISI0N OP TIME. 
 
 01 
 
 was three o'clock ; and finally at the eleventh hour, which 
 was five o'clock, that is, one hour before the close of the 
 working day. Here we find that our Saviour makes the 
 fourth division of the day to consist of only two hours, that 
 is, the space between three and five o'clock, which was con- 
 trary to the common method of reckoning, which gave three 
 ordinary hours to each quarter or greater hour ; but this was 
 to shew us that God is ready to receive labourers into His 
 vineyard up to the last hour ; but when that arrives he rare- 
 ly receives any, for it is then the time for discharging and re- 
 warding labourers, and not for receiving them. The account 
 given in the Gospels of our Saviour's crucifixion is also 
 illustrative of this division of the day into four quar- 
 ters, for we find that He was tried before Pilate in the 
 third hour ; that he was suspended on the cross about the 
 sixth hour : and that he expired in the ninth hour, " And 
 Jesus said to Him (the thief on the cross) : Amen I say to 
 thee, thia day thou shalt be with me in paradise. And it was 
 almost the sixth hour ; and there was darkness over all the 
 
 earth until the ninth hour And Jesus crying with a loud 
 
 voice : Father into thy hands I commend my spirit. And 
 saying this he gave up the Ghost," (Luke 23. 44). We also 
 learn that it was at the third hour that the Holy Ghost des- 
 cended upon the Apostles ; for when Peter reproved the 
 multitude who wondered at the various languages in which 
 the Apostles began to speak after the Holy Ghost had des- 
 cended upon them, and who said, in mockery of their inspi- 
 ration, " these men are full of new wine," he said, 
 " these are not drunk, as you suppose, seeing it is 
 but the third hour of the day." (Acts 2.15). And we 
 also learn that Peter went up to the house top 
 to pray at the sixth hour, — " And on the next day 
 
 f 
 
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 I 
 
 >i 
 
 M 
 
 
92 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 Ili^ai 
 
 iiih';' 
 
 whilst thoy were going on their journey, and drawing nigh 
 the city (Joppe), Peter went up to the higher parts of the 
 house to pray about the sixth hour," (Acts 10. 9). And we 
 are further informed that Peter and John went into the 
 Temple at the ninth hour, — " Now Peter and John went up 
 into the Temple at the ninth hour of prayer," (Acts 3. 1). It 
 would thus appear that there were but three hours of prayer 
 in the day, namely, the third hour, or nine o'clock, the sixth 
 hour, that is, twelve o'clock, and the ninth hour, or three 
 o'clock : and this is an opinion expressed by learned com- 
 mentators on the Sacred Writings ; who say further that, 
 the third hour of praye . was instituted by Abraham, the 
 sixth hour by Isaac, and the ninth hour by Jacob. Hence 
 have arisen the canonical hours in the Catholic Church, 
 each of which consists of three ordinary hours ; the first, 
 or prima hora beginning at six o'clock in the morning, and 
 continuing until nine; the next, which is called tertiahoi'a, 
 being embraced between nine and twelve ; then comes what 
 is termed sexta hora, from twelve to three ; and the last hour 
 of the day, called nona hora, begins at three and ends at 
 six : then commence the canonical hours of the night ; the 
 first, which is called hora vespertina, commencing at six and 
 ending at nine; the next, called completorium, commencing 
 at nine and ending at welve ; then comes the nocturnum, 
 beginning at twelve and ending at three ; and the last, which 
 is called hora matutina, or matins, commences at three and 
 ends at six in the morning. The Hebrews reckoned two 
 kinds of weeks, namely, the ordinary week consisting of 
 seven days, and the prophetical week, which contained 
 seven years. Thus the former was called a week of days, 
 and the latter a week of years. Hence in the prophet 
 Daniel we find that, according to this estimate of time, the 
 
 l!('i '1^^ 
 
Division op ttme. 
 
 93 
 
 period between the rebuilding of the Temple at Jern ^alem 
 and the birth of Christ was four hundred and eighty-three 
 years ; " Know thou therefore, and take notice, that from 
 the going forth of the word, to build up Jerusalem again, 
 unto Christ the prince, there shall be seven weeks, and 
 sixty- two weeks : and the streets shall be built again, and 
 the walls in the straitness of times," (Dan. 9. 25). Thus 
 our Saviour was to be born in the seventieth week, that is, 
 between the four hundred and eighty-third, and four hundred 
 and ninetieth year after the rebuilding of Jerusalem. At 
 first they measured their year by the apparent revolution 
 of the sun : and hence it was called the solar year. To 
 each of their months they assigned thirty days. After 
 their departure out of Egypt, however, they began to 
 measure their year by the revolution of the moon ; and 
 then it was called the lunar year. But as the lunar year 
 fell short of the solar year by eleven days, they occasionally 
 intercalated a month in order to bring up the time ; which 
 month was placed at the end of the year, after the month, 
 Adar ; and thence called Ve Adar, or, second Adar. Their 
 lunar months contained, some, thirty days, and some, 
 twenty-nine days; and hence the former were called full 
 months, and the latter deficient months. It was not until 
 after their return from captivity that they gave names to 
 their months ; down to that period they distinguished them 
 only by numbers, as, first, second, thii*d, and so on. Before 
 they departed out of Egypt they were accustomed to begin 
 their year with our first autumn month ; or, in other words, 
 their first month began in about the middle of our September, 
 and ended about the middle of our October; their second 
 month began about the middle of October and ended 
 about the middle of November, and so on. And this 
 
94 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 ■I 
 
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 \m ■ 
 
 ¥;u 
 
 arrangoment of the months they continued ever afterwards 
 as far as regarded their civil transactions, such as buying 
 and selling, and the calculation of their Sabbatical years, 
 
 their Jubilee years, and the like. But after leaving Egypt 
 they made a new arr-^ngement of the months ; according to 
 which their first month began about the middle of our 
 month of March, and endod about the middle of our April ; 
 and thus throughout the series. Their greatest Festivals 
 they adapted to this new arrangement. 
 
 The names which they gave their months after their 
 return from the captivity of Babylon were these : 
 
 The first month was called Msin, which corresponds with 
 our March and April, that is, from the middle of March to 
 the middle of April. This month was also called Abib, 
 which means e^ of corn, because barley began to be eared 
 in this month. 
 
 liar April and May. 
 
 Siran Maj and June. 
 
 Tamuz June and July. 
 
 Ab July and August. 
 
 Elul August and September. 
 
 Tisri .September and October 
 
 Marches van. October and November. 
 
 Oaaleu November and December 
 
 Tebeth December and January. 
 
 Shebat January and February. 
 
 Adar February and March. 
 
 Ve Adar, "j 
 
 or second > Intercalated. 
 Adar ... j 
 
CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 ORDINARY MEALS AND FEASTS. — HOW PAR THE CUSTOMS 
 OP HEBREWS AND HEATHENS BORE RESEMBLANCE ON 
 THIS POINT. 
 
 ■ 
 
 HE ordinary meals among the Hebrews were 
 few and simple ; such only as were necessary 
 to support nature. They were called Arucoth, 
 which may be translated travellers* fare. We 
 have reference made to them in the prophet Jer'^niah, — 
 " And the general of the army gave him victuals and 
 presents, and let him go," (Jer. 40. 5). Again in Pro- 
 verbs, — " It is better to be invited to herbs with love, than 
 to a fatted calf with hatred," (Prov. 15. 11). But they 
 had their convivial entertainments, which were character- 
 ised by the liberal potations in which they indulged ; and 
 hence this kind of convivial feasting was called Mischte, or 
 drinking feast, and resembled the sumposion of the Greeks. 
 They had also their sacrificial feasts ; that is, entertainments 
 given after sacrifices, at which they consumed what remain, 
 ed after they had made their offerings to God. This des- 
 cription of entertainment they designated Chag, that is, 
 celehrationf because they celebrated the sacrifice by feasting 
 and making merry together. From this ancient custom of 
 the HebreTv-s sprung that of the Love feasts among the 
 early Christians, which followed the sacrifice of the Lord's 
 supper. I shall briefly glance at the ceremonious obser- 
 
 
 III 
 
96 
 
 TfiE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 Ill - .1 
 
 i::i 
 
 vances which prevailed in connection with these entertain- 
 ments. They were twofold, namely, those which took place 
 preparatory to the feast, and those which occurred at table- 
 The antecedent, or preparatory observances consisted 
 in salutation, in washing the feet of the guests ; and in pouring 
 oil upon them. Their mode of salutation was either by word 
 or gesture. The usual form of salutation by word was this, 
 " The Lord bo with you," or, " The Lord bless you." Of 
 this we find an example in the book of Euth, where Booz 
 coming into the corn field among the reapers saluted them 
 with, " The Lord be with you ; " to which they replied, 
 " The Lord bless you," (Ruth 2. 4.) In Kings 4. 4-29, we 
 find an exemplification of the custom of oft'ering salutations 
 when people met one another on the way, — " Then he said, 
 Giezi : gird up t\iy loins, and take my staff in thy hand, and 
 go. K any man meet thee, salute him not : and if any man 
 salute thee, answer him not." Again, the custom of offering 
 salutation on entering a house is shewn by our Saviour to 
 his Apostles, — "And when you come into the house, salute 
 it, saying: Peace be to this house." (Mat. 10. 11.) 
 
 Salutation by gesture consists in three different movements 
 of the body, that is, in an entire prostration of it, or in stoop- 
 ing and keeping the feet, or, in an ordinary kiss. This 
 mode of salutation was, of course, confined to relations and 
 friends, and to persons of holy and exalted stations. "When 
 our Saviour was sitting in the Pharisee's house, a woman of 
 the city who was a sinner, hearing that He was there, came 
 with an alabaster box of ointment, " And standing behind at 
 his feet, she began to wash his feet with tears, and wiped 
 them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and 
 anointed them with the ointment." (Luke T. 38.) Moses 
 meeting hie fathev-iu-Iaw, kissed him : — " And he went out 
 
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ORDINART MEALS AND VEASTS. 
 
 97 
 
 to meet his kinsman, and worshipped and kissed him : and 
 theysaluted one another with words of peace." (Exod. 18. 7.) 
 Joseph too kissed his brothers when he met them : — " And 
 Joseph kissed all his brethren, and wept upon every one of 
 them ; after which they were emboldened to speak to him." 
 (Gen. 46. 15.) This kind of kiss is by the Apostles, Peter and 
 Paul, called a " kiss of charity," and, " holy kiss ; and Ter- 
 tullian calls it a "kiss of peace." — " Salute one another witu 
 a holy kiss." (1. Pet. 6. 14.) " Salute one another in a holy 
 kiss." (1. Cor. 16. 20.) 
 
 Upon the parting of relations and friends it was usual to 
 exchange a valedictory kiss ; as when Laban complains that 
 Jacob did not allow him the opportunity of kissing his sons 
 and daughters when he had taken them away from him, — 
 " Why wouldst thou run away privately,and not acquaint me 
 that I might have brought thee on the way with joy, and 
 with songs, and with timbrels, and with harps ? Thou hast 
 not suflfered me to kiss my sons and daughters." (Gen. 31. 27.) 
 The ceremony of kissing was also used as a sign of homage 
 to princely authority : thus we find that the prophet Samuel 
 kissed Saul after he had been anointed King over the people, 
 — " And Samuel took a little vial of oil, and poured it upon 
 his head, and kissed him." (1 K. 10. 1.) Of the ceremony of 
 washing the feet of guests preparatory to sitting at table w« 
 have an instance in the conduct of the steward of Joseph's 
 house bringing water to the brothers of Joseph to wash their 
 feet, as they were to eat with him at noon, — " And having 
 brought them into the house, he fetched water, and they 
 washed their feet." (Gen. 43. 24.) This washing of the feet 
 was generally performed by the servants, or by the humblest 
 person in the family of the host ; and hence we find that our 
 Saviour, in order to inculcate a lesson of humility to Hie dis- 
 
 
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 06 
 
 "tBA aiBREWS AT HOUB. 
 
 ciples, and all thoea who should follow Him, washed with His 
 own hands the feet of His disciples. (Joh. 13. 5.). And in 
 the case of Abigail when David was abont to take 
 faef for his Wifb, we find a similar example of the hu- 
 mility involred in liie performance of this office. When 
 David's servants came to her to take her to their master, 
 <' she arose, and bowed herself down with her face to the 
 earth, and said : Behold, let thy servant be a handmaid, to 
 wash the feet of the servants of my Lord." (1 K. 25. 31.) 
 For this service they kept in their houses certain vessels, 
 Which, in the Septuagint, are called niptai, that is, washpots ; 
 tiiese were filled with water from other vessels which were 
 kept supplied for that purpose. These are probably the 
 waterpots mentioned in the Gospel of St. John, — " Now 
 there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the 
 manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three 
 measures apiece." (1. 6.) This washing of the feet of guests 
 took place both before and after meals ; for our Saviour 
 Washed the fiset of His disciples after supper. T*he next cus- 
 tomary ceremony in use among the Hebrews before sitting 
 to table was the pouring of oil upon the head and feet : of 
 this we have an example in the words of our Saviour ad- 
 dr^Sfied to Simon the Pharisee : " And turning to the woman, 
 hiB said unto Simoh : Dost thou see this woman ? I entered 
 into thy house, thou gavest me no water for my feet ; but 
 she with tears hath washed my feet, and with her hairs hath 
 wiped them. Thou gavest me no kiss, but she, since she 
 came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil 
 thou didst not anoint ; but she with ointment hath anointed 
 my feet," (Luke *l. 44.). After these preparatory ceremon- 
 iett the guests sat down to table with their en- 
 tertainer, who taking a cup of wine in his right 
 
ORDINART MBALS AND FSA8TS. 
 
 99 
 
 hand, said, " Blessed be thou, O Lord om* God, the 
 King of the world, who Greatest the fruit of the vine,'* (Be- 
 ned ictus sis tu Domine Deus noster, rex mundi, qui creaB 
 fructum vitis) : he then tasted of the cup, and passed it 
 round the table. This was called the blessing of the cup. 
 In this manner our Saviour commenced the last supper, — 
 " And having taken the cup, he gave thanks and said : Take, 
 and divide it among you. For, I say to you, that I will not 
 drink of the fruit of the vine till the kingdom of God come." 
 (Luke 22. IT). 
 
 After this blessing of the cup the host took the bread, 
 which was partially cut that it might be the more easily 
 divided, and holding it in both his hands he said " Blessed 
 be thou, OLord, our God, the King of the world, 
 who bringest forth bread out of the earth," [Dnisius]. He 
 then broke it, and distributed it around the table ; after which 
 they all commenced eating of the various dishes provided 
 for them. It must be observed here, however, that the cere- 
 mony of blessing and circulating the cup was confined to 
 Bolemn festivals: at all other feasts the bread only was blest 
 and distributed. During the time of their feasts it was cusr 
 tomary with them to exercise their judgment and wit by 
 instructive and gay conversation. Our Saviour's discourse 
 at the table of the Pharisee affords an example of the in- 
 tructive mode of conversation at table, — " And he spoke a 
 parable also to them that were invited, marking how they 
 chose the first seats at the table," [Luke 14. 1]. And Samp- 
 son's riddle at his marriage feast affords a sample of the gay 
 and witty style of convivial conversation, — ** And Sampson 
 said to them, I will propose you a riddle, which if you 
 declare unto me within the seven days of the feast, I will give 
 you thirty shirts, and as many coats : But if you shall not 
 
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 100 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
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 be able to declare it, you shall give me thirty shirts, and the 
 same number of coats, "[Jud. 14.12]. At the termination of 
 an entertainment, or feast, the host, or some person of dis- 
 tinction at the table made an act of thanksgiving in behalf 
 of himself and the company, by taking a cup of wine in 
 both his hands, and saying, " Let us bless him who hath fed 
 us with his own, and of whose goodness we live;" and then 
 continued with the expression of further thanks for the deliv- 
 erance of the people from Egyptian bondage ; for the coven- 
 ant of circumcision ; and for the Law given through the mi- 
 nistry of Moses ; after which he prayed that God would have 
 mercy on his people; on his city of Jerusalem ; on Sion, the 
 Tabernacle of his glory; and on the Kingdom of the house of 
 David his Anointed ; and further that he would send Blias the 
 prophet ; that he would make them worthy of the days of the 
 Messiah, and of the life of the world to come. Then all the 
 guests said in a low voice, " Fear the Lord all ye holy ones, 
 because there is no penury to those that fear him : The 
 young lions do want and suffer hunger, but those that seek 
 the Lord want no good thing." After this the host, or he 
 who had commenced the act of thaL.^i'=»g' ving, blessed the 
 cup, in the same form of words used when they had sat 
 down, — as, " JBlesced be thou, O Lord God, the King of the 
 world, who createst the fruit of the vine" : and then he drank 
 a little from the cup, and passed it round the table, as at the 
 commencemeut of the feast. This was called the cup of 
 thanksgiving. It was this cup, at the end of the feast, which 
 our Saviour consecrated when he instituted it as part of the 
 Blessed Sacrament at the last supper, — " This is the cup, the 
 New Testament in my blood, which shall be shed for you," 
 (Luke 22. 20.) After this cup of thanksgiving followed 
 sacred songs and psalms : which observance was also fol" 
 
ORDINAKT MEALS AKD FEASTS. 
 
 101 
 
 lowed by our Saviour at the last supper, — " And when they 
 had said an hymn, tiiey went forth to the Mount of Olives." 
 (Mar. 14. 26.) It is scarcely necessary to observe that the 
 breaking of bread, ard the blessing of the cup as practised 
 among the Jews were merely ceremonious acts, whereas the 
 similar acts performed by our Saviour at the last supper 
 were sacramental. The Jews could not say with St. Paul, 
 " The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion 
 of the blood of Christ ? And the bread which we break, is it 
 not the partaking of the body of the Lord ?" (1 Cur. 10. 16.) 
 Their :nfljiner of placing themselves at table was the same as 
 that of the Komans ; they reclined on beds around the table \ 
 each bed, of which there were two or three or more, accord, 
 ing to the number of guests, contained three persons, rarely 
 more. The shape of the table was circular ; and the beds 
 were arranged around it. If there was but one person in a 
 bed he rested the upper part of his body on his left elbow ; 
 but if there wero two or more persons on it, they reclined in 
 such a manner that the head of one rested on the bosom of 
 another, ha\ing their lower limbs extended behind each 
 other's backs, except in the case of the first who lay high up 
 on the bed resting on his left arm. It was in this way that 
 John lay on the bosom of Jesus at supper, — "Now there was 
 leaning on Jesus' bosom one of hie disciples whom Jesus 
 loved." (Joh. 1?. 23.) 
 
 To this manner of reclining on each other's bosoms at ta- 
 ble is the allusion with respect to Lazarus being carried into 
 Abraham's bosom, — "And it came to pass that the beggar 
 died, and was carried Dy the Angels into Abraham's bosom" 
 (Luk. 16.22). The meaning of which is, that he (Lazarus) 
 was placed at the same table, that is, was participator in the 
 same happiness and glory with Abraham. Wo learn that 
 
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 102 
 
 THE HEBRE\i^S AT HOME. 
 
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 the custom of reclining on beds while at table was prevalent 
 among the Hebrews at the time of the prophet Ezechiel, 
 that is, at the period of the Babylonian captivity, — " Thou 
 sittest on a very fine bed, and a table was decked before thee," 
 [Ez. 23.41]. But, how long before this, or at what precise 
 period the custom began it is not so easy to say. 
 
 The custom of taking off their shoes when going to table 
 was prevalent among them when they were in Egypt ; and 
 this would imply that the practice of reclining on beds exist- 
 ed then, as they would reasonably take off their shoes to pre- 
 vent their beds being soiled. The circumstance too of the 
 Paschal lamb being, according to specific instruction, eaten 
 with theif shoes on, and, hy implication, standing, in order 
 to ensure readiness for their departure, affords evidence that 
 this was a deviation from the usual practice. That the com- 
 mand did not extend beyond that particular occasion is 
 evident from the circumstance of our Saviour eating the 
 Paschal lamb reclining in the usual way, on a bed. That 
 the Hebrew people were of an hospitable spirit, and liberal 
 in their entertainments is abundantly shewn in the Sacred 
 Writings, The'/ always remembered the poor in their feast- 
 ings, for they sent them a portion of what they had: "And 
 he said to tbom : Go, eat fat meats, and drink sweet wine, 
 and send portions to them that have not prepared for them- 
 selves : bacause it is the holy day of the Lord, and be not sad : 
 for the jcy of the Lord is our strength," [2 Esd. 8. 10]. This 
 custom of sendi)ig portions of a feast to those who were ab- 
 sent was preval'^nt amon^ij the Heathen nations ; for they 
 sent portions of the food provided for the entertainment to 
 their absent friends ; and also gave some of it to their guests 
 to be taken home with them. The Greeks called those por- 
 tions sent to absent friends meridas ; and what was given to 
 
ORDINARY MEALS AND FEASTS. 
 
 103 
 
 the guests themselves to be carried home with theili they call- 
 ed apophoreta. This custom it was that originated the canon 
 of the Council of Laodicea which forbids Christians in their 
 Love Feasts to send portions to those who were absent. The 
 reasons for this prohibition were, no doubt, in the first place, 
 that the practices of the Christians should, not assimilate to 
 those of the Heathens ; and, in the second place, that none 
 should be induced to absent themselves from the knowledge 
 that a portion of the feast would be sent them. A third rea- 
 son might be that the poor persons who were present might 
 not be deprived of a sufficiency by having large portions of 
 the feast, and those the best, as generally happens, sent away 
 to those whe were absent. The hour of supper, which was 
 at the close of the day, was the time of their great entertain- 
 ments. The dinner hour was about noon, that is, at the sixth 
 hour, — " And when he had seen them, and Benjamii with 
 them, he commanded the steward of his house, saying: Bring 
 in the men into the houbO, and kill victims, and prepare a 
 feai4 : because they shall eat with me at noon." [Gen. 43.16]. 
 Again, " And in the next day while they were going on their 
 journey, and drawing nigh to the city, Peter went up to the 
 higher parts of the house to pray about the sixth hour. And 
 being hungry he was desirous to taste somewhat. And as 
 they were preparing there came upon him an ecstacy of 
 mind." [Acts 10. 9]. Besides the cup of blessing which thoy 
 used at their solemn feasts, as already referred to, they had 
 another cup called the cup of consolation, which was sent by 
 particular friends in time of mourning, to remove grief and 
 sorrow from the hearts of the mourners. There was also 
 the cnp of salvation, which was aually taken after their peace 
 offerings. 
 
 
 
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 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE JEWISH SABBATH — THE PASSOVER — FEASTS OF UNLEAVEN- 
 I ED BREAD. . 
 
 HE Hebrew word, Sabbath, signifies i^est; and 
 was employed by the Israelites to express 
 any solemn festival, "I am the Lord, your 
 God : walk ye in my statutes, and observe my 
 judgments, and do them. And sanctify my Sabbath," [Bze. 
 20. 19]. It was also used to express the seven days in the 
 week : but its n^ost frequent application was to the seventh 
 day which God had appointed to be kept holy ; and in which 
 sense it is used at the present day. When a solemn feast 
 occurred on this seventh day, it was then called a great Sabbath 
 [sabbatum magnum], as in St. John, " Then the Jews [be- 
 cause it was the passover] that th© bodies might not re- 
 main upon the cross on the Sabbath day [for that was a great 
 Sabbath day] besought Pilate that their legs might be bro- 
 ken, and that they might be taken away," [20. 31] . The whole 
 week was called the space between two Sabbaths (to metaxu 
 Sabbaton); and it is in this sense, according to Scaliger, we 
 are to understand that allusion to the Sabbath in the Acts of 
 the Apostles, where the Gentiles express their desire to hear 
 Paul and Barnabas on " the next Sabbath," that is, on 
 the next week : — " And as they went out they desired them 
 that on the next Sabbath they would speak unto them these 
 words," (1.^. 43). The Sabbath, as I have observed elsewhere, 
 began at six o'clock in the evening of the preceding day. 
 
1*HB JEWISH SABBATri* 
 
 105 
 
 Which was called by the Hebrews the entrance of the Sabbath 
 (Biath haschabbath). The Sabbath eve commenced at three 
 o'elock, that is, three hours before the Sabbath, which time 
 was employed in preparation for the day of holiness. The 
 ancient Fathers of the Church call this intervening period 
 by the name of coena pura, the pure supper, a phrase which 
 they borrowed from the Heathens, who, preparatory to their 
 offering sacrifices to their deities, observed certain rules and 
 ceremonies with the view of sanctifying themselves, that 
 they might the more worthily make their sacrificial offer- 
 ing ; at which time they supped together on certain choice 
 meats, such as they deemed befitting the occasion : this sup- 
 per they called the pure supper (ccena pura) . By the 
 Evangelists, however, this one is called parasceve, or time of 
 preparation, which applies as well to the entire preceding 
 day as to the hours from three to six. On this day of prepara- 
 tion certain employments were forbidden : for instance, no 
 one was permitted to travel more than three parsaj, (a parsa 
 was a measure of length of which ten were considered a 
 day's journey) ; judges were not allowed to sit in judgment 
 upon life and death ; handicraftsmen, and professional men, 
 with the exception of shoemakers, and tailors, and Scribes, 
 were forbidden to exercise their callings. The permis- 
 sion, in the excepted cases, extended only to one half 
 the day of preparation; to the shoemakers and tailors 
 this leave was given for the purpose of repairing 
 articles necessajy for the Sabbath ; and to the Scribes 
 in oixier that they might prepare themselves by previous 
 study to expound the law on that day. This Sabbath eve, or 
 day of preparation, was announced by the sound of trumpets 
 or horns, so that all might have due notice of the approach- 
 ing day, and be prepared for its due observance. With res- 
 
I 
 
 111 
 
 
 106 
 
 A< 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 poet to tho manner in which the Sabbath should be observed 
 under the direction of the law, the Jews, when they began 
 to grow corrupt, and to fall away from the obedience which 
 they owed to their prophets and elders, entertained strange 
 and inconsistent notions. They sometimes went beyond the 
 law, and sometimes halted short of it. Thus giving theij 
 own interpretation to the words addressed by Josue to the 
 Hebrews, " Let there be between you the space of two 
 cubits," (Jos. 3. 4); they put down two thousand cubits as a 
 Sabbath's day's journey, and held it unlawful to travel more 
 than that distance on any consideration : in this instance 
 they believed that, because that part of the people who were 
 nearest to the Ark, that is, within two thousand cubits of it 
 had to go precisely that distance on the Sabbath for the pub-' 
 lie worship of Go^, this rule was to be observed, with regard 
 to travelling on the Sabbath, in all time to come, forgetting 
 that a large portion of the Hebrew camp must be necessarily 
 far more remote from the Ark, and that they were obliged 
 to attend around the Ark on the Sabbath as well as those 
 who were nearest to it. Again, from the order given by 
 Moses that the Hebrews should prepare beforehand whatso- 
 ever food was necessary for the Sabbath, which was a day 
 sanctified to the Lord, — "and the meats that are to be dressed 
 dress them : and whatsoever shall remain lay it up until the 
 morning,"— they concluded that this applied to all future 
 times and circumstances, forgetting that the command was 
 adapted to the peculiar circumstances of the time • and that 
 the necessity of providing the Sabbath's supply of Manna on 
 the preceding day arose from the fact that it tvas not to be 
 found on the Sabbath. In like manner, because of this com- 
 mand given by God through Moses, « You shall kindle no 
 fire in any of your habitations on the Sabbftth day," (Exod, 
 
THE JEWISH SABBATH. 
 
 107 
 
 35.3), t he Jews in aftertime, held it to bo unlawful to kindle 
 a tire at all on the Sabbath, not regarding the peculiar cir- 
 cumstances under which the command was given, which 
 were these : the people were engaged in making the works 
 of the Tabernacle the hangings, pillars, and altar, the brass, 
 silver, and gold works ; in short, everything necessary for 
 its construction and adornment : these works they were 
 directed to proceed with every day of the week except the 
 seventh, or Sabbath, on which they were directed to cease 
 from their labours, and to put out their fires, in order that 
 they might keep it holy : — " six days you shall do work ; 
 the seventh day shall be holy unto you, the Sabbath, and the 
 rest of the Lord : he that shall do any work on it, shall be put 
 to death," (Exod.35. 2) : — therefore, thecommand that they 
 should put out their fires, given at this particular time, had 
 reference to the work of the Tabernacle, and was not intended 
 as an order applicable to ; and to be enforced at all future 
 times. And furthermore, in reference to the latter portion 
 of the text cited, " he that shall do any work on it, shall be 
 put to death," the Jews held it to be a general command 
 applicable to all times and circumstances; and, therefore, 
 th'iy believed it to be unlawful to do anything, no matter of 
 what description, on the Sabbath. They would not even 
 defend themselves from the assaults of an enemy on that 
 day ; whence it happened that on two several occasions they 
 became the easy prey of hostile armies : first, they were 
 taken by the army of Antiochus, against which they did not 
 make the slightest resistance : but, after this, Mattathias 
 made a decree declaring it to be lawful to resist their 
 enemies on the Sabbath. The second time, they were cap- 
 tured by the army of Pompey, whom they permitted without 
 molestation to carry on all the works of a siege until he had 
 
 
108 
 
 TfiE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 s :^ 
 
 actually grappled with them : for they took the decree of 
 Mattathias in tlje literal meaning, and believed that a sort of 
 passive resistance was all that they were permitted to oflfbr, 
 deeming it contrary to the law to carry on an active opera- 
 tion against the enemy on the Sabbath. Such are some of 
 the errors into which the Jews fell in aftertime, owing to 
 their misconception and misconstruction of the laws and 
 commands of God. We have, in the case of the woman 
 cured by our Saviour on the Sabbath, an instance of this devi- 
 ation from the true spirit of the law as exemplified in the 
 observation of the ruler of the Synagogue and in the reproof 
 given to him by our Saviour : — '' And the ruler of the Syna- 
 gogue, being angry that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, an- 
 swering, said to the multitude : six days there are wherein 
 you ought to work. In them therefore come,and be healed ; and 
 not on the Sabbath day. And the Lord answering him, said: 
 Yehypociites, doth not everyone of you on the Sabbath day 
 loose his ox or his ass from the manger, and lead them to 
 water ? And ought not this daughter of Abraham, whom 
 Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from 
 this bond on the Sabbath day ?" (Luke 23. 14). 
 
 Though some of the Fathers of the Chuich, as Tertullian 
 and Ambrose, would have the wordpascha to be derived from 
 the Greek word paschein, to suffer, and thus to indicate the 
 passion of our Saviour ; yet, according to St. Augustin, its 
 true derivation is from the Hebrew word pesech, to pass over, 
 and represents the Sacrifice of the Lord's Passover : — " It is 
 the victim of the passage of the Lord, when he passed over 
 the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, striking 
 the Egyptians, and saving our houses" (Bxod. 12. 27.) 
 
 The term, passover is applied in Scripture to signify three 
 different things ; first, it signifies that annual celebration by 
 
 ^C 
 
 I ni 
 
I 
 
 THE PASSOVER. 
 
 109 
 
 the Israelites in memory of the lamb slain, the blood of 
 which was sprinkled upon their door posts, as refen'ed to in 
 the passage just quoted from Exodus ; which took place on 
 the evening of the fourteenth of the month Nisan (March, 
 April) : this is emphatically called Passover. Secondly, it 
 signifies the annual festival which took place on the fifteenth 
 of the same month ; and which we may, by way of distinc- 
 tion, call the Feast of the Passover. And thirdly, it is used 
 to designate the entire period of solemnisation commencing 
 with the sacrifice of the lamb on the fourteenth of the 
 month Nisan, and ending on the twenty-first of the same 
 month, thus embracing the Feast of unleavened bread: — 
 " And in the first month, Nisan, on the fourteenth day of 
 the month shall be the pasch of the Lord. And on the 
 fifteenth day the Solemn Feast : seven days shall they eat 
 unleavened bread." (Num. 28. 16). The Feast of Unleavened 
 Bread commenced on the fifteenth of the month Nisan, that 
 is, the day after the sacrifice of the lamb, and continued to 
 the twenty- first of the same month, that is, for the space of 
 seven days, the first and last only of which were days of ob- 
 servance, in which no servile work could be performed : — 
 " The first day shall be most solemn unto you, and holy : 
 you ahall do no servile work therein. But you shall ofl:er 
 sacrifice in fire to the Lord seven days. And the seventh 
 day shall be made solemn and more holy : and you shall do 
 no servile work therein," (Levit. 23.7). It was an establish- 
 ed practice among the Jews in the ages succeeding the first 
 institution of the passover to observe it only in that place 
 where the Ark was kept, that if, where the Lord chose to 
 place his name. In the course of time, therefore, Jerusalem 
 was the only place where the passover, or paschal lamb, was 
 eaten j but the Feast of Unleavened Bread th§y deemed it 
 
 %h 
 
 It 
 
 rfeii 
 
r] 
 
 10 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 luvvriil and noco.sMary to koop in ovory placo that thoy 
 inha!»itud, aw it tlid not at all depend upon the passovcr, or 
 on ar.y part of that Holoninity; though unloavonod broad was 
 oatrn with the lamb. 
 
 The obsorvancoH at this foast of tho lamb wore the samo 
 aw thoHo maiiitainod at thoir other great feasts : there was 
 tho blosKin^ of tho cup, followed by the blessing and distri- 
 bution of the bread; and also the washing of the feet of the 
 guests, as explained in a former chapter. There was 
 observed, however, a ceremony peculiar to this pasclial feast 
 which consisted in certain explanatory remarks made by 
 tho person presiding at the table, by way of answer to a 
 question put by a child during the feast. The question was 
 this: What is the meaning of this service? To which 
 the following is, in substance, the answer, as given by 
 Scaliger: " How dirt'eront is this from all other nights; for 
 in all other nights wo wash but once; in this twice. 
 " Christ washed His disciples' feot when supper was ended." 
 
 In all other nights we eat either leavened or unleavened 
 bread, in this only unleavened. In other nights wo eat any [sort 
 of herbs, in this night bitter herbs. In all other nights we 
 eat either sitting or lying, in this we lie along." Then 
 followed an explanation of the feast, and of the different 
 l)arts of which it was composed: Thus, the feast itself was 
 explained to be in remembrance of the Lord passing over 
 the houses of their fathers in Egypt, while he smote the 
 Egyptians : then holding up some of tlie bitter herbs in his 
 hand the person explaining said, " These bitter herbs which 
 we eat are to remind us of the bitterness to which the 
 Egyi)tians subjected the lives of our lathers in Egypt." And 
 again liokling up the unleavened bread in his hand, he said, 
 '' This unleavened bread, which we eat, is to remind us that 
 
FEASTS Of UNLEAVENED fitlBAD. 
 
 Ill 
 
 tlio dough of our fathore had not had time to be leavened 
 when the Lord appeared unto them, and redeemed them 
 from the hands of the enemy." This peculiar observance 
 thoy derived from the words of Moses to their forefathers, — 
 "And when your children shall say to you: What is the 
 meaning of this service ? You shall say to them," &c. (Exod. 
 12. 26). The account of the preparation for the passover, 
 and the directions given by God, through Moses, for its being 
 observed in all succeeding generations as a memorial of the 
 deliverance of their forefathers from the bondage of Egypt, 
 18 contained in the twelfth chapter of Exodus. The seven 
 days succeeding the paschal celebration embraced the feast 
 of unleavened bread, and was entirely distinct from the 
 pasaover. During this space of time no leavened bread was 
 to be found in the houses of the Hebrews, and every thing 
 savouring of leaven was to be removed before the period of 
 celebration commenced. Their household vessels, to which 
 leaven might be clinging, were washed out ; and a general 
 search for leaven took place throughout all parts of the 
 house on the day preceding the passover ; or, as Scaliger 
 says, " in the beginning of the fourteenth day until the 
 fourth hour after the rising of the sun." Then from the 
 fourth to the sixth hour all the leaven was burned ; after 
 which followed a renunciation of all leaven and things 
 leavened within the house, in the following words, as given 
 by a writer on this subject : " Let all that leaven, or whatso- 
 ever leavened thing is in my power, whether it was seen by 
 me, or not seen, whether cleansed by me, or not cleansed, — 
 let all that be scattered, destroyed, and accounted as the dust 
 of the earth." 
 
 The penalty inflicted for eating leavened bread during 
 the space of seven days was expulsion from Israel, — 
 
 // 
 
 
 
 
 hJ 
 
 ^^ 
 
 I 
 
 iwm 
 
 
"^<^ 
 
 112 
 
 i\ 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 " Whosoever shall eat anything leavened from the first day 
 until the seventh day, that soul shall perish out of Israel," 
 (Exod. 12. 16). To kill the paschal lamb was the duty of 
 the priests, — "And being sanctified kill the phase, and 
 prepare your brethren that they may do according to the 
 words which the Lord spoke by the hand of Moses," 
 (2 Chron. 36. 6). And the place of immolation was the 
 Court of the Temple, — " Thou mayst not immolate the 
 phase in any one of thy cities, which the Lord thy God 
 will give thee : But in the place which the Lord thy God shall 
 choose, that his name may dwell there : thou shall immolate 
 the phase in the evening, at the going down of the sun, at 
 which time thou camest out of Egypt," (Deut. 16. 6). 
 
 Then the owner of the lamb took it from the priest, and 
 brought it to his own house in Jerusalem, where he ate it. 
 
 It was a custom among the Jews to liberate a prisoner on 
 the feast of the Passover, a custom originating, probably, in 
 the desire to commemorate thus practically their deliverance 
 from the Egyptian bondage. It is necessary to observe that 
 there was sometimes a second paschal Iamb slain, or a second 
 passover kept by the Jews ; this occurred whenever any per- 
 son, by reason of defilement from a dead body, or of being too 
 far away on a journey, were unable to attend the first, — 
 " Say to the children of Israel : The man that shall be un- 
 clean by occasion of one that is dead, or shall be in a journey 
 afar off in your nation, let him make the phase to the Lord, 
 in the second month, on the fourteenth day of the month, 
 &c." (Num. 9.10). The distance indicated by the words 
 afar off is supposed by commentators to be fifteen miles 
 from Jerusalem at sunrise on the day of the Pasch, which 
 distance a person was supposed not to be able to travel on 
 foot by midday.^ ^It was while celebrating the Pasch with 
 
FEASTS 07 UNLEAVENED BREAD. 
 
 118 
 
 His twelve disciples that our Saviour, following the ordinary 
 Jewish ceremonies at Great Feasts, of blessing the cup, and 
 tilso the bread, transformed that which was but a mere cere- 
 mony before into the most awful and sublime mystery that 
 could be presented to the feeble mind of man, — " And when 
 they were at supper, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and 
 broke : and gave to his disciples, and said : Take ye, and eat : 
 This is my body. And taking the chalice, he gave thanks : 
 and gave to them saying : Drink ye all of this. For this is 
 my blood of the Now Testament which shall be shed for 
 many unto the remission of sins," (Mat. 16. 26). St. Paul 
 calls Christ our Pasch ; and truly the agreement between 
 the type and the reality is sufficiently striking. As the 
 paschal lamb was without blemish, so was Christ without 
 sin. The paschal lamb was offered a sacrifice for the re- 
 demption of the Hebrews from the bondage of Egypt ; Christ 
 suifored death upon the cross for the redemption of the 
 world from the bondage of sin. The door posts of the He- 
 brews were sprinkled with the blood of the lamb, that the 
 Angel of death might pass over them : the blood of Christ in- 
 terposes to purge and purify our consciences, that sin and 
 death may not prevail against us. Various are the coinci- 
 dences that might be traced between the paschal lamb and 
 the sweet Saviour of the world to justify the implied compa- 
 rison of St. Paul, " Christ is our Pasch" ; but, it is unneces- 
 sary to pursue the subject further, as each individual mind 
 may suggest abundant points of comparison in this respect. 
 
 i5;ul 
 
I^ 
 
 CHAPTEK XI. 
 
 
 tENTECOST — FEAST OP TABERNACLES. 
 
 HE Feast called Pentecost was held about the 
 twentieth of our month of May, which was in 
 the first week of the month called Sivan by the 
 Hebrews. The name Pentecost, is but a modi- 
 fication of the Greek word Pentekoste. signifying the fiftieth 
 day ; this feast being held on the fiftieth day after the second 
 of the Passover ; that is, after the sixteenth of the month 
 Nisan. The passover was held om the fourteenth of Nisan ; 
 hence the second day after that was the sixteenth of that 
 month : and the fiftieth dav after the sixteenth of Niean 
 was Pentecost. I have said that the feast was held about the 
 twentieth day of our month of May, because the fourteenth 
 of the month Kisan, which was the Passover, corresponds 
 with about the twenty-ninth of our month of March, and the 
 second day after the Passover would answer to the last 
 day of our month of March ; so that the fiftieth day 
 from the last day of March would fall on the twentieth of 
 May. This period of fifty days was the time of their har- 
 vest, which thus commenced with the second day after the 
 Passover, or, as itis called in the Septuagint, rfewtem toupas- 
 cha, and terminated on the Pentekoste, or fiftieth day, which 
 was, on that account, a solemn day of thanksgiving. On the 
 deutera ton pascha, or first day of harvest, they were accus- 
 tomed to offer a sheaf of tiie fruits of their harvest, according 
 to the book of Leviticus, —" Speak to the children of 
 
[ PENTECOST. 
 
 115 
 
 Israel, and thou shall say to them : When you shall have 
 entered into the land which I will give you, and shall reap 
 your com, you shall hring sheaves of ears, the fruits of your 
 harvest to the priests," (23.10). And on the last day of har- 
 vest, or day of Pentecost, they offered two loaves of the first 
 fruits : — " Out of all your dwellings, two loaves of i:he first 
 fruits, of two tenths of flour leavened, which you shall bake 
 of the first fruits of the Lord" (Lev. 23.11). Thus the offer- 
 ing of the sheaf at the commencement of harvest was a 
 sanctifying oblation on behalf of the whole nation, whereby 
 fruits of the earth were made holy ; and it became then, but 
 not till then, lawful to reap the corn. The second offering, 
 namely, that of the loaves, was an eucharistical oblation, 
 that is, an oblation of thanksgiving for the gathering in of 
 the harvest, as it was also a sign that the harvest was finish- 
 ed. This festival of Pentecost was called a feast of Weeks, 
 because they counted the fifty days by weeks, naming them 
 according to the number of the Sabbaths which they con- 
 tained, commencing with the Sabbath next following the 
 deutera to pascha, or second day after the Passover. This 
 first Sabbath they denominated, according to the Septuagint, 
 deuteroproton sabbaton, that is, the second first Sabbath, 
 because it was the first after the second day succeeding the 
 Passover : the second Sabbath they called deuteron deuteron, 
 that is, the second second : the third was deuterotriton, or se- 
 cond third : and so on. To this mode of computation St. Luko 
 has regard where he says, — "And it came to pass on the se- 
 cond first Sabbath, that as he went through the cornfields his 
 disciples plucked the ears, and did eat rubbing them in their 
 hands," (Luke 6.1.) It is worthy of observation here that 
 the harvest commenced much earlier with the Canaairites, 
 as well as tie Egyptians; than with us ; for wo find that 
 
 11 
 
 : 5i 
 
 M 
 
 
116 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 lit' 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 t'.. 
 
 with those people it commenced about the first of April, and 
 ended about the twentieth of Ma^'. 
 
 The Feast of Tabernacles, or as it is called in the Septua- 
 gint, Skenopegia, the pitching of tents, was a festival of 
 seven days, commencing the fifteenth of the month Tisriy 
 and ending on the twenty-first of the same month ; corres- 
 ponding to about the last day of September and the seventh 
 day of October with us. It was called the Feast of Taber- 
 nacles from the circumstance of the people living in arbours, 
 or tents made of boughs, during this period. As in all their 
 festivals, which consisted of a number of days, the first and 
 last were days of solemn observance. These tents were 
 made in the open air; for it was deemed unlawful to make 
 them within dpors, or even under the shade of trees. It was 
 also contrary to the law to cover them with cloths, or even 
 too thickly with boughs ; — they should be left open to the 
 sui, moon, and stars. They were furnished with necessary 
 clothing, and supplied with provisions, as the people were 
 to live altogether in them during the seven days, except in 
 wet weather when it was permitted them to retire to their 
 houses. Persons of weak or delicate constitutions were 
 exempt from this ordeal, as exposure to the weather might 
 be attended with fatal consequences to them. The festival 
 was celebrated in memory of the event of their forefathers 
 dwelling in tents in their passage through the wilderness to 
 the land of promise,—" Say to the children of Israel : From 
 the fifteenth day of this Sv^renth month shall be kept the 
 feast of Tabernacles seven days to the Lord ... So from the 
 fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you shall have 
 gathered in all the fruits of your land, you shall celebrate 
 the feast of the Lord seven days : on the first day and the 
 eighth shall be a Sabbath, that is, a day of rest. And you 
 
tVASt Of TASBBtTACtSA. 
 
 IIT 
 
 f<hall take to you on the first day the fruits of the fairest 
 tree, and branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick trees, 
 and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the 
 Lord your God . . And you shall dwell in bowers seven days : 
 every one that is of the race of Israel shall dwell in taber- 
 nacles: That your posterity may know that I made the 
 clildren of Israel to dwell in tabernacles when I brought 
 them out of the land of Egypt." (Levit. 23. 34.) The period 
 of the celebration of this feast was vintage time, or the time 
 immediately succeeding the gathering in of the vintage, as 
 referred to in the text first cited : hence seme commentators 
 think that it was instituted as a festival of thanksgiving on 
 that account. These tabernacles, or tents, were built in the 
 time of Nehemiah, that is, after the return from captivity, 
 some on the house tops, some in the courts of the houses, 
 and some in the streets, (Neh. 8. 15). The description of 
 boughs of which they were made is mentioned in the pas- 
 sage from Leviticus above cited, namely, the fruits of the 
 " fairest tree," which is supposed to be the citron tree, the 
 branches of "palm trees," the boughs of ^^ thick trees," 
 which are thought to be myrtle trees, " willows of the 
 brook." The Eabbins inform us that each man brought his 
 burthen of these four kinds of trees every morning during 
 the time occupied in the construction of the booths or tents ; 
 or, failing to do so any morning, he fasted that day. This 
 ourtheii they called ?iosanna', and hence the meaning of that 
 exclamation of the people, as they strewed the way with 
 branches from the trees, while our Saviour rode into 
 Jerusalem, " Hosanna to the Son of David," (Mat. 21. 9.) 
 
 The day after this feast it was the custom to walk round 
 the altar seven times with boughs of palm in the hand, in 
 commemoration of the overthrow of Jericho ; whence the 
 
 ff 
 
 
118 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 ;! ■ i 
 
 day was called the " Day of Palms," or the " Palm Feast." 
 Of the sacrifices oifered throughout this festival a full 
 account is given in the twenty-ninth chapter of the Book of 
 Numbers ; of which I shall merely cite a few passages : — 
 " And you shall offer a holocaust for a most sweet odour to 
 the Lord, thirteen calves of the herd, two rams, and fourteen 
 lambs, of a year old, without blemish : And for their liba- 
 tions three tenths of flour tempered with oil to every calf, 
 being in all thirteen calves : and two tenths to each ram, 
 being two rams. And a buck goat for sin, besides the per- 
 petual holocaust, and the sacrifice, and the libation thereof" 
 The same kind of sacrifice was oflfered on each day through- 
 out the seven days of the festival, with this diflference that 
 the number o^ calves offered in holocaust was diminished by 
 one each succeeding day. The reason assigned by the 
 Jews for this, is that the entire number of calves offered in 
 sacrifice throughout the festival should be limited to seventy, 
 the number offered during the seven days, according to this 
 scale of diminution, which corresponded with the number of 
 the nations for whom these sacrifices were offered ; and that 
 these nations snould be gradually diminished until all things 
 were brought under the government of the Messiah, who 
 was the expectation and hope of the Gentiles. 
 
 The twenty-second day of the month Tisri, that is, the 
 eighth day of October, was another festival day, distinct 
 from the Feast of the Tabernacles, though commonly 
 accounted the last day of it. It was called Hosanna Eabba, 
 or Great Hosanna, — " And on the last and great day of the 
 festivity, Jesus stood and cried, saying : K any man thirst, 
 let him come to me, and drink,"(Joh. 1. 37). On this day 
 they were wont to bring large quantities of water from the 
 river Shiloah to the Temple, according to the prophetic 
 
 : . -i it 
 
 tWr ■• '% 
 
Feast." 
 a lull 
 3ook of 
 iiges : — 
 ►dour to 
 burteen 
 eir liba- 
 ary calf, 
 tch ram, 
 the per- 
 ihereof." 
 through- 
 Qce that 
 Lished by 
 L by the 
 offered in 
 ► seventy, 
 ag to this 
 luraber of 
 and that 
 all things 
 iiah, who 
 
 at is, the 
 distinct 
 lommonly 
 %a Bahha, 
 lay of the 
 Lan thirst, 
 this day 
 from the 
 prophetic 
 
 FEAST OF TABERNACLES. 
 
 119 
 
 announcement of Haggaeus, and Zachary, and other pro- 
 phets; and this water having been delivered to the priests, 
 was poured upon the Altar, together with wine, and the 
 whole people sung fron the prophet Isaias, — "You shall 
 draw waters with joy out of the Saviour's fountain8,"(12. 3). 
 To this custom our Savior evidently alludes when, on this 
 very day He says, " He that believeth in me, as the Scripture 
 says, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water,^' (J oh. 1. 
 38). We are told that Jeroboam, with the view of turning 
 the minds of the people from the true worship of God, 
 instituted a feast, which resembled this of the tabernacles, 
 on the eighth month, and fifteenth of that month:- Miis is 
 worthy of remark in order to show the mode universally 
 adopted by those who would lead the people away from the 
 true system of God's worship; that mode consisting in an 
 imitation of the true faith and practice, with an abandon- 
 ment of the prescribed principles, times, and other 
 circumstances rendered essential from the beginning by God's 
 unerring word. 
 
 "We shall now consider another festival, called the Feast 
 of Trumpets : — " Say to the children of Israel : the seventh 
 month on the first day of the month you shall keep a 
 Sabbath, a memorial, with a sound of trumpets, and it shall 
 be called holy,"(Levit. 23. 24). 
 
 I have observed on a former occasion that the Hebrews, 
 before their departure from Egypt were wont to begin the 
 computation of their year with the month Tisri, that is, 
 September-October ; and that they preserved this computa- 
 tion ever afterwards in their civil affairs, as well as in fixing 
 their Sabbatical years, years of Jubilee, and so on : — there- 
 fore, what is called in the book of Leviticus the seventh month 
 is, according to the civil computation, the first month of the 
 
 mm 
 
 H:i 
 
 
 
 ff 
 
i? 
 
 120 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 F- t\ 
 
 %i: 
 
 year ; and consequently this Festival of Trumpets might ha 
 called their New Year's Day. This is a proper place to 
 remark that the first day of every month was kept holy by 
 the Hebrews : on this day they went to hear their prophets 
 expound the law; they did no servile work upon it; and 
 they offered special sacrifices on this day, over and above 
 those daily sacrifices which they were accustomed to offer. — 
 " And he said to her : Why dost thou go to him ? to-day is 
 neither New Moon, nor Sabbath," (K. 4. 23). And in the 
 prophecy of Amos we have these words, — " When will the 
 Moon be over, and we shall sell our wares : and the Sabbath, 
 and we shall open the corn,"(Amos 8. 5). On the Feast of 
 Trumpets, however, which was the first day of the first 
 month, according to their civil computation, they made 
 greater sacrifices than on the first day of any other month. 
 On ordinary First Days, or New Moons, as they were 
 called, they offered, besides the usual daily sacrifices, two 
 calves of the herd, one ram, seven lambs for burnt offerings; 
 meat and drink offerings, and a goat for a sin offering ; but 
 on the first New Moon, that is, New Year's Bay, they offered, 
 besides these, one calf of the herd, one ram, seven lambs 
 for burnt offerings, and a goat for a sin offering, (Num. 28. 
 11 and 29. 1). Again, on ordinary New Moons, there was 
 no sound of trumpets ; but on New Year's Day, trumpets 
 were sounded from sunrise to sunset. This extraordinary 
 celebration of the day was caused by the importance which 
 was attached to it, as being the day from which all deeds 
 and contracts were dated. The use of trumpets was resorted 
 to, according to St. Basil, in memory of the law being 
 delivered on Mount Sinai amid the blowing of trumpets; or, 
 as the Hebrews themselves think, in memory of Isaac's 
 deliverance, when his father Abraham was about to offer 
 
 him ] 
 
 whicl 
 
 ficd vi 
 
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 the m 
 
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 the yei 
 
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 observe 
 
FEAST OF TiBERNACLES. 
 
 121 
 
 him in sacrifice, in obedience to the Divine mandate; !it 
 which time a ram was substituted for him, God being satis- 
 fied with the obedience of AbT-aham. 
 
 It may be interesting to give in this place an account of 
 the mode in which the Hebrews regulated their festival days, 
 and the rules which they employed for this purpose. Most 
 of their feasts, or days of solemn observance were variable ; 
 that is, they were occasionaly shifted from one day to 
 another; the chief causes of which were, to regulate the 
 commencement of the New Year, and to avoid the immediate 
 succession of a Sabbath and a Festival. This shifting of 
 days depended entirely on the position of the first day of 
 the year ; for this underwent a frequent change ; and they 
 were particularly careful in assigning to it its proper place. 
 This change of position in the days, or translation of days, as it 
 is called, was of three kinds,namely, lunary, politic, and mixed. 
 
 The lunary had reference to the fixing of the first day of 
 the year ; and the object of it was to commence the year 
 with the new moon of the first month, Tisri, and to 
 avoid confounding the old moon of the preceding month 
 with it. For the purpose of illustration, it is necessary to 
 observe that the Hebrews measured their holy days from 
 six o'clock in the evening to the same hour of the following 
 evening. Now if the new moon occurred, that is, if the 
 conjunction between the earth and moon, which takes place 
 previously to every new moon, was passed at any time 
 between six o'clock in the evening and twelve o'clock, 
 or noon the following day, that day was celebrated as 
 the first day of the year; but if this occurred after 
 twelve o'clock, even one minute, then the new year was 
 not celebrated until the following day; as otherwise they 
 would be confounding the old and new moon, and cel- 
 
 »/ 
 
 ...H^.k: 
 
122 
 
 TdB HEBREWS 'At fiOMfi. 
 
 ebrating the last day of the old year for the first day of the 
 new year. The politic translation of days had reference to 
 the immediate succession of two holy days, one of them 
 being the Sabbath, with the view of obviating such succes- 
 sion : for as they could not dress food, or bury the dead on 
 such days, they thought it, therefore, inconvenient that two 
 of them should follow each other immediately. For their 
 purpose a certain rule was adopted, according to which 
 certain feasts could not be held on certain days. This rule 
 Consisted of five parts, called respectfully, Adu, Badu, Gahaz, 
 Zahad, and Ayu. The letters of these words represented 
 numbers which had reference to the seven days of the week : 
 thus Adu represented the first, fourth, and sixth days of the 
 week, that is, counting from Saturday, which was the Jewish 
 Sabbath, Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday : Badu also repre- 
 setited three days of the week, namely, Monday Wednesday, 
 and Friday: Gahaz represented Tuesday, Thursday, and 
 Saturday: Zabad, Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday : Agu, 
 Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday. Now the first day of the 
 the first month of the year, or their New Year's Day, which 
 was the first ©f the month Tisri, could not be celebrated, 
 according to that part of the rule called Adu, either on 
 Sunday, Wednesday or Friday; because if celebrated on 
 Sunday it would come into conjunction with Saturday, the 
 Sabbath of the Hebrews, as it would immediately succeed it ; 
 for the same reason it could not be celebrated on Friday, as it 
 would thereby immediately precede the Sabbath : and if 
 celebrated on Wednesday it would cause the Feast of Expi- 
 ation, which was held on the tenth of the first month, to be held 
 on Friday, which would thereby immediatel}' precede the 
 Sabbath. For the same reasons the Feast of Tabernacles could 
 not be celebrated on those days represented by Adu, for this 
 
FEAST OF TABERNACLES. 
 
 123 
 
 feast 0<!curring on the fifteenth of the first month, would ne- 
 cessarily fall on the same day of the week as New Year's Day, 
 and would therefore produce the same conjunctions of Holy 
 Days and Sabbaths as in the former instance. There was 
 an exception, however, to the general rule, that is, when 
 Pentecost fell on Sunday, for then that holy day immediately 
 Buc^'eeded the Sabbath. According to the second branch of 
 the rule, that is, Badu, the Passover could not be observed 
 on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, for similar reasons to 
 those assigned to the former part of the rule, that is, because 
 in such case it would cause either the first day of Pentecost, 
 which followed it the second day after, or some other festival, 
 to come into immediate conjunction with the Sabbath. By 
 that branch of the rule called Gahaz, the Pentecost could 
 not be observed on Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday ; accord- 
 ing to Zabad, the Feast of Pvrim, or Casting lotSf could not 
 be hold on Monday, Wednesday, or Saturday : and according 
 to Agu, the Feast of Expiation could not be observed on 
 Sunday, Tuesday, or Friday. 
 
 The author of this rule was a leading man among the 
 Hebrews, whose name was Eleazar, and who is said to have 
 lived about three hundred and fifty years before the birth of 
 Christ, The change of days called Mixt Transition occurred 
 when the two former, that is, the lunary and the politic 
 transition, came into conjunction ; for instance, if a new 
 moon occurred after twelve o clock in the day on Sunday, 
 then the festival of the new moon was transferred to the 
 following day, both because under the regulation called 
 lunary, according tp which if the new moon occurred on any 
 day after twelve the festival was transferred to the follow- 
 ing day, according to the explanation already given ; and 
 because, according to the rule Adu, the festival of the new 
 
 // 
 
 O 
 
 
124 
 
 TnE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 moon could not bo colobratod on Sunday, Wednesday, ov 
 Friday : so that the chan/'^e of daya under the niLvt transi- 
 tion was supported by the two former rules or arrangements. 
 It did not always happen, however, that the change wuh 
 limited to the day immediately following, as in the instance 
 now given, but sometimes extended to a more distant day ; 
 as, for exar.:;ple, if the first of the month Tisri, that is, the 
 beginning of the New Year, should occur on Saturday, but 
 not until after twelve o'clock, then according to the lunar y 
 arrangement, the New Year's Day was transferred to the 
 following day, which was Sunday; but, according to the 
 rule Adu, the new year could not be celebrated on Sunday, 
 consequently it must be still further transferred to Monday. 
 Thus wo see the operation of those two rules, in changing 
 days of solemn observance, or holy days. They had two 
 other rules which went still further to regulate the time for 
 holding the Festival of the New Moon: these were called 
 Baku Takphat, and Gatrad. The loiters of both those words 
 represent numbers ; and the meaning of the first is this : 
 if on the year following what wo may call their leap year, 
 when a whole month was added to the end of the year, tho 
 change of moon trok place on the second day of the week, 
 that is Monday, but not before the fifteenth hour and five 
 hundred and eighty-ninth minute (ton hundred and eighty 
 minutes made an hour) counting from six o'clock of the 
 preceding evening, the festival of tho now moon was then 
 transferred to the following day. The moaning of the 
 Gatrad is this: if, on ordinary years, tho change of moon, 
 that is, from tho old to the now, occurred on tho third of the 
 week, that is, Tuesday, but not before tho ninth hour and 
 two hundred and fourth minute, then the Feast of the New 
 Moon was transferred to Thursday, that is, the day after. 
 
 ^:r 
 
PfiAST OF DABBRNACLBS. 
 
 125 
 
 I have boon thus minuto on tho subjoct of tho Ilobrows' 
 (•(nnpuUition of time witli rospocl to tho dinposition of their 
 I'oHtivuls, partly- in ordor to give an insight into tlioir customs 
 jiiid practices, and partly with tho view of illustrating somo 
 ])aHHag08 of the Sacred Writings which would otherwise 
 {i])poar obscure to tho ordinary reader. One other obser- 
 vation, however, I must make in order to mark the ground 
 of a certain variety of opinion which has accrued from tho 
 system affecting the arrangement of feasts which I have 
 just explained. It has been supposed by some that our 
 Saviour did not observe tho custom of tho Hebrews in tho 
 colobration of that Passover which immediately preceded 
 Ilis crucifixion ; tho doctrine of tho Greek Church on this 
 point being that leavened bread might be used in the celebra- 
 tion of the Lord's Supper, as the circumstances under which 
 lie himself celebrated the Festival of the Passover would 
 justify it. They maintain that He observed a separate 
 Passover from that of tho Hrbrews, on tho thirteenth of the 
 month Nlsan, when the use of unleavened bread was not 
 imperative. Casaubon would seem to support this 
 opinion, where he says, " Usum fermentati panis in 
 ca3na Dominica Ecclosia Komana olim non damnavit," 
 (Exer. 16, p. 445) : " The Eoman Church has not heretofore 
 condemned tho use of fermented, (or, leavened) broad." 
 This, however, is a mistake, for it is not to be supposed that 
 our Saviour would transgress the law ; nor is it in accord- 
 ance with the facts as stated by the Evangelists. Some 
 again say that this Passover, which was the last our Saviour 
 celebrated, happening to fall on Friday, the Jews, according 
 to their system, as already explained, held it on tho follow- 
 ing day, that is, Saturday, while our Saviour celebrated it on 
 Friday ; and that while they thus followed the tradition of 
 
 i» 
 
 
126 
 
 THE UEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 s'R I 
 
 PI 
 
 jil 
 
 their Elders, lie adhered to the command of God. The 
 probable opinion, however, is, as expressed both by Josephus 
 and Scaliger, that our Saviour as well as the Jews celebrated 
 it on Friday, which, according to their sacred computation, 
 commenced at six o'clock in the evening of the preceding 
 day ; for, in support of this opinion, we have the authority 
 of St, John that the removal of our Saviour's body from the 
 cross took place on the eve of the Sabbath, that is, about 
 three o'clock on Friday evening, — " Then the Jews (because 
 it was theparasceve), that the bodies might not remain upon 
 the cross on the Sabbath (for that was a great Sabbath day), 
 besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that 
 they might be taken away," (John 19. 31.) It is only 
 further necessary to observe that the Paschal lamb we^ eaten 
 on the fourteehth of the month, which was called the Pass- 
 over, but which was not a holy day ; but the following day, 
 which was called the Feast of the Passover, was a day of 
 solemn observance. Our Saviour, therefore, died on the third 
 day of the Passover, which was Friday, the fourteenth ; but 
 the Feast of the Passover, on the eve of which he was 
 crucifitd and buried, was the following day, or Sabbath^ 
 (vide, tJvuLxi 18. 28),^" Then they led Jesus from Caiphas to 
 the governor'* hall. And it was morning : and they wont 
 not into the hall, that they might not be defiled, but that 
 they might eat the Passover;" that is, the Feast of the 
 Passover. Holy day eves were called days of preparation, 
 on which it was unlawful for judges to sit on life and death ; 
 and hence the defilement of going into the hall, 
 
^ 
 ■ 
 
 CHAPTEE Xil. 
 
 THE FEAST OF EXPIATION — THE SABBATICAL YEAR, Olt 
 SEVENTH year's REST — JUBILEE — OTHER FEASTS, NOT OF 
 DIVINE ORIGIN — THE COMMENCEMENT of IDOLATRY. 
 
 HE Foast of Expiation which^ as has been already 
 stated, occurred on the tenth day of the month 
 Tisri, was, as its name imports, a day set apart 
 by Divine command for the expiation of the 
 sins of the people. " Upon the tenth day of the seventh 
 month shall be the day of atonement, it shall be most 
 solemn, and shall be called holy : and you shall afflict 
 your souls on that day, and shall offer a holocaust to the 
 Lord. You shall do no servile work in the time of this day : 
 because it is a day of propitiation, thut the Lord your God 
 may be merciful unto you." (Levit. 23. 21). This was a day 
 
 of fasting with both people and priests, — " Go thou in there- 
 fore, and read out of the volume, which thou hast written 
 from my mouth, the words of the Lord, in the hepring of all 
 the people in the house of the Lord on the fasting day,'' (Jer. 
 36. 6). This was the only day in the year on which the 
 high-priest entered the holy of holies : he also offered sacrifice 
 on this day for himself and his house, that is a calf of the 
 herd for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering, being 
 arrayed in his sacerdotal robes. The offering which he 
 made for the people was that of a goat for a sin offering, and 
 a ram for a burnt offering. He proceeded with the sacrifice 
 in this way : after having washed himself he took two he 
 
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 128 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 /^oalH, and loading thorn to the door of tho Tabornaclo ho 
 cast lots to know which of them was to bo sacriticod. Tlio 
 goat which oscapod tho lot, called, therofrom, the 'scapegoat, 
 was driven into tho wilderness, bearing with him the sins of 
 tho ])0()plc, and with their sins all the evils which were to 
 flow from them. For this purpose tho high-priest made in 
 form a confession of the sins of the people, which ho trans- 
 I'orred to the 'scape goat. This confession of the high-priest 
 was mado in the following words, according to the Hebrew 
 doctors, '^ O Lord, thy people, tho house of Israel, they have 
 sinned, they have done wickedly, they have transgressed 
 before thee ; I beseech thee now,0 Lord, pardon the 8in8,iniqui- 
 ties and transgressions, with which the people, the house of 
 Israel have sinned, have done wickedly, and transgressed 
 before thoo, as It is written in the law of thy servant Moses : 
 that in that day he shall make atonement for you, that he 
 might cleanse you, and that you might be clean from all your 
 iniquities before the Lord." 
 
 The 'scajDO goat is called in tho Septuagint apopompaion that 
 is, the expeller of evils, or defender from evils, which was 
 also tho name given by the heathen Greeks to their Tutelar 
 Gods. Among the modern Jews there is said to be performed 
 on this day of expiation a ceremony bearing in its purpose 
 a resemblance to this. The men take a white cock, and swing- 
 ing it three times around the priest's head, exclaim, "Thin 
 cock shall bo a propitiation for me" ; they then kill it, to re- 
 present thereby that they themselves were deserving of 
 death for their sins, and place the entrails on the toj) of tho 
 house that some raven or other bird of prey might carry 
 thom away, and the sins of the people with them, into tho 
 wilderness. 
 
 The annual expiation for their cities, as practised by the 
 
THE SABBATICAL YEAR. 
 
 129 
 
 ancient Greeks, was probably derived from this : it was per- 
 formed by bringing forth certain condemned persons, who 
 were decorated with garlands, like victims for sacrifice, and 
 hurling them down a steep precipice into the sea, as an offer- 
 ing to the God Neptune, while this form of expression was 
 used ^^peripsema emon genou,*' that is, be thou a propitiation for 
 us. On occasion of pestilence or epidemic diseases similar 
 eacrifices were offered to propitiate their gods: the men 
 offered on such occasions were called Katharmata. 
 
 The office of the high-priest on the Feast of Expiation may 
 be regarded as a type o( the mission of our Saviour. The 
 high-priest took two goats, one only of which was to suffer 
 for the sins of the people; Christ took two natures, 
 one of which suffered for the sins of mankind: the 
 goat bore the people's iniquities ; Christ was made a ein- 
 offering for us : the high priest went into the holy of holies 
 once a year ; Christ, as St. Paul observes, " entered once 
 into the holies, (that is, Heaven), having attained eternal 
 redemption," (Heb. 9. 12) : the high-priest expiated 
 the sins of the people with the blood of calves and 
 goats, but our Saviour, Christ, expiated them with His own 
 blood. 
 
 Every seventh year was observed as a Sabbath year 
 among the Hebrews according to the Divine command, — 
 Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt 
 prune thy vineyard, and shalt gather the fruits thereof: But 
 in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath to the land, of the 
 resting of the Lord: thou shalt not sow thy field nor 
 prune thy vineyard." (Levit 25. 3.) It was called Sabbath 
 Haarets, that is, the Sabbath of the land. In this year it 
 was the custom to release debtors, and cancel debts: — "He 
 to whom anything is owing from his friend or neighbour, or 
 
 M 
 
 11 
 
180 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 i 
 
 brother, cannot demand it again, because it is the year of 
 remission of the Lord. Of the foreigner or stranger, thou 
 mayst exact it; of thy countryman and neighbour, thoushalt 
 not have power to demand it agair," (Beat 15. 2.) In answer 
 to the question naturally suggested by this cessation of the 
 productions of the land, how were the people to sustain them- 
 selves in the year of rest ? we have the words of the Lord 
 himself, as recorded in the book of Leviticus, — " But if you 
 say : What shall we eat the seventh year, if we sow not, nor 
 gather our fruits ? I will give you my blessing the sixth 
 year, and it shall yield the fruits of three years : And the 
 eighth year you shall sow, and shall eat of the old fruits, 
 until the ninth year : till new grow up you shall eat the old 
 store." (Lev. 25. 20). Again the command for the cancel- 
 ling of debts wciuld seem to be attended with injurious effects, 
 for it would bring embarrassment upon the lenders, and 
 would therefore produce that hardness of heart which would 
 result in refusing to lend to the poor at all. But we have a 
 satisfactory solution of this difficulty in the words of the 
 Lord himself where he says, — " And there shall be no poor 
 nor beggar among you : that the Lord thy God may bless 
 thee in the land which he will give thee in possession. Yet 
 so if thou hear the voice of the Lord thy God, and keep all 
 things that he hath ordained, and which I command thee, 
 this day, he will bless thee as he hath promised." (Deut. 15. 4.) 
 So that by these words we find that the command was one of 
 trial, and that like Abraham's sacrifice of his son Isaac, the 
 fulfilment^of the command was to be obviated by a due obser- 
 vance of the laws of God. 
 
 The reasons which commentators assign for the institu- 
 tion of this Sabbath are, that the people are thereby reminded 
 of their total dependence on Gol's providence ; that they 
 
ivHiLEt, 
 
 181 
 
 were also put in mind of man's first happy state of innocence 
 when the earth brought forth its fraits without the interven- 
 tion of human labour ; and also that it might be regarded as 
 a shadowing forth of that eternal rest which awaits the blessed 
 in the kingdom of God's glory. It was probably on this in- 
 stitution of the six years of work, and one of rest, the Eabbi 
 Elias founded his very curious prophecy as tx) the duration 
 of the world : " Six thousand years the world shall be, and 
 again it shall be destroyed ; Two thousand shall be void, two 
 thousand under the law, and two thousand under the Mes- 
 sias." Whatever may be the value of this prophecy in 
 other respects, one deduction may be drawn from it, namely, 
 that the Messias has already come, according to the evidence 
 of one who was himself a Jew, for we are now in the third 
 epoch in which, according to the prophecy, the Messias was 
 to reign : the first two thousand years " shall be void," the 
 second two thousand shall be " under the law," and the third 
 t^vo thousand, of which eighteen hundred and seventy-two 
 have already past, shall be " under the Messias :" so that, of 
 the six thousand years only one hundred and twenty-eight 
 remain to be expended. 
 
 The last festival which God commanded the Hebrews to 
 observe was that called the Jubilee, which was to be kept 
 every fiftieth year : — " And thou shalt sanctify the fiftieth 
 year, and shalt proclaim remission to all the inhabitants of 
 tliy land : for it is the year of Jubilee. Every man shall re- 
 turn to his possession, and every man shall go back to his 
 family." (Lev. 25. 10). The word Jubilee is derived from 
 the Hebrew word Jobel, which signifies a ram, the sounding 
 of rams' horns being a characteristic feature in the celebra- 
 tion of this festival. We have allusion to this description of 
 trumpet in God's command to Josue on the taking of the 
 
 ii. 
 
 
 •^, 
 

 n 
 
 
 132 
 
 TUE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 'V 
 
 city of Jericho, — " And on the seventh day the priests shall 
 take the seven trumpets, which are used in the Jubilee, and 
 shall go before the ark of the Covenant, &c.," (Jos. 6. 4). 
 There is one writer who thinks, but without suflScient reason, 
 that the name Jubilee is derived from Jubol, who was the 
 inventor of musical instruments. The principal features 
 which characterised this festival were these ; all servants 
 were released from their servitude ; all lands and possessions 
 were restored to their former owners, who had sold them : 
 and all persons returned to their own families and tribes. 
 All this took place on the feast of the Expiation, on the 
 tenth day of the seventh month, called Tisri : — " And you 
 shall sound the trumpet in the seventh month, the tenth day 
 of the month, in the time of the expiation in all your land, 
 . . . Because it is the Jubilee and the fiftieth year. You 
 shall not sow, nor reap the things that grow ia the fields of 
 their own accord, neither shall you gather the first fruits 
 of the vines, because of the sanctincation of the Jubilee : but 
 as they grow you shall presently eat them." (Lev. 25.) 
 
 It is thought that the Jews computed their time by the 
 Jubilees in the same manner as the Greeks did by the 
 Olympiads, the Romans by the Lustra, and the Christians by 
 the Indictions. 
 
 This festival is to be regarded as a shadowing forth of 
 Christ's Kingdom on earth, for by His blood all mankind was 
 enabled to return into the possession of God's favour which 
 they had forfeited by their sins ; and as the sound of the 
 trumpets proclaimed the restoration of the people to th(ir 
 possessions, so the sound of the Gosp^i proclaimed the re- 
 entry of mankind into the Kingdom of the Redeemer. 
 
 The Feast of Purim, a Persian word signifying a lot, was 
 instituted by Mordecai in commemoration of the deliverance 
 
OTHER PBASTS, NOT OP DIVINE ORiaiN. 
 
 188 
 
 of the Jews from Haman, who had them destroyed day after 
 day by lot. This festival began on the fourteenth day of 
 the month ^d!ar (February-March), and continued to the end 
 of the fifteenth, — " That they should receive the fourteenth 
 and the fifteenth day of the month Adar for holydays, and 
 always at the return of the year should celebrate them with 
 Bolemn honour," (Esth. 9. 21). 
 
 The Feast of Dedication was held for the purpose of 
 consecrating the Altar, and was instituted by Judas Maca- 
 baeus. It was an annual f jstival, and it continued for the 
 space of eight days, commencing from the twenty-fifth of the 
 month Cisleu (November-December), — " And Judas, and his 
 brethren, and all the church of Israel decreed that the day 
 of the dedication of the Altar should be kept in the season 
 from year to year for eight days, from the five and twen- 
 tieth day of the month of Cisleu with joy and gladness," 
 (Mac. 4. 39). St. John refers to this festival where he 
 says, speaking of our Saviour, — " And it was the feast of the 
 dedication at Jerusalem : and it was winter : And Jesus 
 walked in the Temple, in Solomon's porch." (John. 10. 22). 
 The object of this festival was to recall to their recollection 
 the deliverance which God granted them from the oppression 
 of Antiochus, and the idoltary he had imposed upon them, 
 by placing the idol of Jupiter in the Temple, and abolishing 
 the true worship of God. Other feasts instituted by human 
 authority there were ; but I deem it unnecessary to say any- 
 thing of them, as a full account of them may be read in the 
 Sacred Writings. 
 
 The chief source of Idolatry was a misconception of the 
 Sacred Writings, as may clearly appear from comparing the 
 various systems into which it resolved itself with the con- 
 tents of the Sacred volume. The mariners of the ship in 
 
 ff 
 
134 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 •J! 
 
 1 
 
 
 il-f-- {\ 
 
 which Jonas was taking passage, cried out, in the storm, 
 each to his God ; and waking Jonas they asked him to call 
 upon his God. In this instance, we find that amid the 
 various gods worshipped by various individuals there existed 
 an uncertainty as to which was the true God. They all 
 believed that there was a God who could save them, but 
 they were wholly ignorant of his nature, his attributes, his 
 laws, and his worship. This uncertainty in the minds of 
 men with respect to the true God, and the true mode of 
 worshiping him, is a characteristic featm*e of idolatry 
 under every form. It is only by the direct and unqualified 
 observance of the laws of God that we can understand His 
 individuality, become familiar with His attributes, and hold 
 communion, as it were, with His divine Majesty. The innate 
 consciousness of the existence of a Supreme being, or the 
 intellectual comprehension of such a being, is not sufficient 
 to save men from the vortex of idolotry ; for this innate 
 consciousness and comprehension may be impressed in the 
 heart and mind of even an Atheist, as no doubt it is, and yet 
 it aflfords him no assistance at arriving at the true knowledge 
 of God. His laws alone aiford the true guiding posts to His 
 Temple, and the unerring introduction to His divine pre- 
 sence. Hence the Heathens, misinterpreting those laws, 
 wandered in the haze of uncertainty, and multiplied their 
 deities according to the dim and varying medium through 
 which their unsupported and bewildered understanding en- 
 deavoured to pierce. They appealed to Dii Deaeque omnes, — 
 all the Gods and Goddesses,- -so that by embracing the whole 
 variety of essences into which they divided the Supreme 
 Power, they might not fail in coming at the true divinity. 
 The Arabians appealed even to the unknown God ; as did also 
 the Greeks j thereby acknowledging the uncertainty in 
 
THE COMMENCEMENT OF IDOLATRT. 
 
 135 
 
 which they wandered, an uncertainty so absolute that even 
 with their innumerable recognized divinities, they felt it 
 necessary to appeal to one which had no existence in their 
 creed at all, and of which they pos-^essed no knowledge ; 
 but which, nevertheless they supposed might be the true one. 
 To this unknown God of the Greeks St. Paul alludes, when 
 preaching in the Areopagus at Athens; — "For passing by, 
 and seeing your idols, I found an altar also on which was 
 written : To the unknown God. What therefore you worship, 
 without knowing it, that I preach to you," (Acts 17. 23). 
 Some commentators on this passage say that St. Paul only 
 referred to a portion of the inscription on the altar; and 
 that t'.ie whole ran thus: Theois Asias^ k' Eurcypes, A* JOibueSj 
 Theo agnosto k* JTeno ; that is, to the gods of Asia, and Eur- 
 ope, and Africa ; to the unknown and strange God. It was 
 also a custom amongst the heathen nations to conceal the 
 names of the gods to whom they dedicated their cities, under 
 the impression that if their enemies became acquainted 
 with the names of those gods, they would be able, through 
 the medium of charms and incantations, tc win them away 
 from their pots, apd thus be enabled to take possession of 
 those cities. These guardian gods were, therefore, recognized 
 under the name of the unknown gods. It was from the influ- 
 ence of this impression that the Tyrians and Lacedemonians 
 and other nations chained their gods of cities, that thereby 
 they should not be able to leave th lir posts. About the time 
 of our Saviour's incarnation the Jews held it unlawful to pro- 
 nounce the word Jehova, the name of God in their language, 
 in consequence, it is thought, of the heathen nations borrow- 
 ing this name for the designation of their chief god, whom 
 they by a slight change in the Hebrew name of God, called 
 J upiter or Jove. From such corruptions of the Sacred Writ- 
 
 Mfi 
 
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180 
 
 IBE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 ings sprung the innumerable divinities of the heathen 
 nations ; the sun, l^e moon, and the stars constituted some 
 of those divinities, because, according to the Scriptures, they 
 " rule over the day and night," and " over times and seasons." 
 Among the Chaldeans fire became a prominent object of 
 worship, under the name of Ur, which signifies fire. In short 
 the variety of heathen divinities embraced almost every 
 object both above and upon the earth, tl^ winds, tbe air, the 
 fruits that spring from the ground, a A man himself; nay 
 more, cats, dogs, rats, serpents, and crocodiles ; and further 
 still, onions and garlic. Such is the excess of absurdity and 
 folly into which man rushes when he has once lost hold of 
 the guiding hand of his Creator. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE PRINCIPAL GODS INTO WHOSE WORSHIP THE ISRAELITES 
 
 FELL. 
 
 H great object of idolatry among the ancients 
 was the Sun, the glorious luminary of the day, 
 and the great source of vitality and beauty 
 to animate and inanimate existence. It became 
 the object of heathen worship ' under various names, 
 the most ancient of which was probably that of Baal, or 
 Baal Samen, under which name, derived from the Hebrew, 
 it was worshipped by the Phoenicians. The word, Baal, in 
 Hebrew, signifies Lord or master ; and Samen, or Shamain, 
 signifies heaven ; hence Baal Samen meskus the Lord of Hea- 
 ven; an appropriate name for the Sun, whose empire 
 extends over that which constitutes our universe. Another 
 very general name by which this idol of the sun was known 
 among the people bordering upon the Israelites was that of 
 Moloch, or Molech ; it was under this name the Ammonites 
 and Moabites worshipped it, — a i i.*ne derived from the 
 Hebrew word Malac, which signifies to rule or reign. Hence 
 the gods of Shepharvaim were called Adram Melech, and 
 Anam Melech. Mention is made of this idol in various parts 
 of the Sacred "Writings ; — " He hath forsaken me, and hath 
 adored Astarthe, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Chamos, 
 the God of Moab, and Moloch, the God of the children of 
 Ammon, (3 K. 11. 13). Again, " And he defiled Jopheth, 
 which is in the valley of the son of Ennom ; that no man 
 
 ■m 
 
p 
 
 138 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 should consecrate there his son or his daughter through fire 
 to Moloch," (4 K. 23, 10). And furthermore, " Thou shalt 
 not give any of thy seed to bo consecrated to the idol Moloch, 
 nor defile the name of thy God; I am the Lord." (Levit. 18. 
 21). Children were burnt in sacrifice to this idol, accord- 
 ing to Jeremias ; — " And they have built the high places of 
 Baalim, to burn their children with fire for a holocaust to 
 Baalim ; which I did not command, nor speak of, neither 
 did it once come into my mind," (Jer. 19.15). Again, " And 
 they have built the high places of Baal, which are in the 
 valley of the son of Ennom, to consecrate their sons and their 
 daughters to Moloch ; which I. commanded them not, neither 
 entered it into my heart that they should do this abomina- 
 tion, and cause ^uda to sin," (Jer. 32. 35). The sun was also 
 worshipped under the name of Jupiter, and sometimes of 
 Saturn, as may be gathered from the fact of the same kind 
 of sacrifices, namely, children, being offered to them. San- 
 choniatho, the Phoenician historian, as cited by Eusebius, 
 says that the Sun, Jupiter, and Baal Samen, were the same, 
 judging by their images and sacrifices. He says that the 
 idol of Saturn " was made of brass, wonderful for its great- 
 ness ; whose hands reaching towards the earth, were so hol- 
 low, that the youth who were compelled to come unto him, 
 fell as it were into a mighty ditch full of fire." Another 
 writer, in a commentary on Jeremias, describes the idol of 
 Baal, or Moloch, in nearly the same terms : he says, " Though 
 all other houses of idolatry were in Jerusalem, yet Moloch 
 was without Jerusalem, in a place apart. How was he made ? 
 He was an image of brass ; he had seven chapels, and he was 
 placed before them, having the face of a bullock, and hands 
 spread abroad, like a man that openeth his hands to receive 
 somewhat from another : and they set it on fire within, for 
 
GODS INTO WHOSE WORSHIP THE ISRAELITES FELL. 139 
 
 it was liollow; and every man severally entered, according 
 to his offering. After what manner ? Whosoever offered a 
 fowl went into the first chapel ; he that offered a sheep into 
 the second ; a lamb, into the third ; a calf, into the fourth ; 
 a bullock, into the fifth ; an ox, into the sixth ; and whoso- 
 ever offered his son, into the seventh." It was customary 
 when a child was offered in sacrifice to this idol, to get up a 
 beating of drums, and other similar instruments for the pur- 
 pose of drowning the cries of the child ; and hence the place 
 whore this idol was worshipped was called Tophat, a Hebrew 
 word signifying drum ; as it was called Gehenna, from the 
 cries of the children who were sacrificed ; this latter word 
 signifying the Valley of Tears, or more correctly, of roaring. 
 St. Matthew makes a reference to this valley, and the sacri- 
 fices to Moloch, for the purpose of indicating hell's punish- 
 ment:- — " WJiosoever shall say. Thou fool, shall be in danger 
 of the Gehenna of fire," (Mat. 5. 22). Though perhaps this 
 allusion may be more properly ascribed to that fire which 
 was kept continually burning outside Jerusalem for the pur- 
 pose of consuming carr'on of all kinds, and the garbage and 
 refuse of every description which accumulated in the city. 
 It is necessary to observe here that this sacrificing of chil- 
 dren to Baal or Moloch was not practised as of necessity, 
 that is, as being in conformity with any absolute command 
 to that effect: it was a mere voluntary sacrifice on 
 the part of parents ; and was called an extraordinary 
 sacrifice. The usual or ordinary sacrifices consisted of bul- 
 locks, sheep, lambs, and calves. And it may be further 
 remarked that the offering of sons to Baal or Moloch did not 
 always imply an actual sacrifice of them, but merely a 
 consecration or dedication of them to the service of the idol: 
 in cases of this latter kind the children were giyen to the 
 
 A 
 
Il 
 
 140 
 
 THB HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 priestH of the god, who made two large fires, between which 
 they compelled the children to walk. In the eighteenth 
 chapter of the third book of Kings is given an interesting 
 account of a discussion between the prophet Elias and the 
 priests of Baal, as to which of them worshipped the true Grod. 
 Elias orders Achab " to gather unto him all Israel, unto 
 Mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal, four hundred 
 and fifty, and the prophets of the groves, four hundred, who 
 eat at Jesabel's table." Achab having done as he had been 
 directed, Elias addressed the people, and said : " How long 
 do you halt between two sides ? if the Lord be God, follow 
 him : but if Baal, then follow him. And the people did not 
 answer him a word." He then proposed that two bullocks 
 should be brougjht, and that one, being cut up in pieces, 
 should be placed upon wood by the priests of Baal, but with- 
 out fire, whilst the other should be disposed in like manner 
 by himself: then said he; — " Call ye on the names of your 
 gods, and I will call on the name of my Lord : and the God 
 that shall answer by fire, let him be God. And all the people 
 answering said : a very good proposal." The priests of 
 Baal having accepted the challenge thus given, cut up the 
 bullock which Elias had given them, and placed it upon the 
 wood ; after which they commenced calling upon Baal to 
 send down fire to burn the sacrifice; but in vain: from 
 morning till noon they continued to call, but there was no 
 response to their prayer. They then leaped over the altar, 
 according to their custom ; and yet Baal was silent. " And 
 when it was now noon Elias jested at them, saying ; cry with 
 a louder voice ; for he is a god, and perhaps he is talking, or 
 is in an inn, or on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep, and must 
 be awakened. So they cried with aloud voice, and cut them- 
 selves, after their manner, with knives and lancets till they 
 
 H 
 
aODS INTO WHOSE WORSUIP THE ISRAELITES FELL. 141 
 
 were all covered with blood." But all was to no purpose ; 
 and when at length the time for offering sacrifice was come, 
 Elias called the people to him, and commenced making the 
 necessary preparations for his sacrifice, after which he 
 prayed to God. — " Then the fire of the Lord fell, and con- 
 sumed the holocaust, and the wood, and the stones, and the 
 dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And 
 when all the people saw this, they fell on their faces, and 
 they said : the Lord he is God, the Lord he is God." The 
 priests of Baal were then seized by the order of Elias, and 
 killed. The classical student will be here reminded of the 
 proceedings of the priests of the goddess Bellona in their 
 sacrifices to that divinity ; for they, as Lactantius observes, 
 " sacrificed not with any other man's blood, but with their 
 own ; their shoulders being lanced, and with both hands 
 brandishing naked swords, thoy ran, and leaped up and 
 down, like madmen." This practice of offering up 
 children in sacrifice, as connected with the worship of Baal, 
 or Moloch, originated manifestly from Abraham's intended 
 sacrifice of his son, Isaac; and to this opinion one of the 
 Eabbis (Solomon) adverts, where he represents God as con- 
 demning the practice in the general denunciation of the 
 idol Moloch ; — " And when I spoke to Abraham to sacrifice 
 his son, it entered not into ray heart that he should sacrifice 
 him, but to make known h'.s righteousness." And Porphyrie 
 as cited by Eusebius, treating of Saturn, by whom he evi- 
 dently means Baal, or Moloch, says that the Phoenicians 
 called him Israel, and that he had by Anobreth an only son, 
 whose name was Jmd, in the Phoenician language, whom he 
 offered upon an altar. This account is in exact accordance 
 with the history of Abraham and his son Isaac ; and shews 
 clearly that the offering of children at the shrine of Baal 
 
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 If 
 
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 142 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 was adopted in imitation of the intended offering of Ibuac by 
 his father, Abraham. - \ 
 
 In the worship of Moloch there were employed, besides 
 sacrifices, certain ceremonies of public pomp, as we find in 
 the prophecy of Amos : — " But you carried a tabernacle for 
 your Moloch, and the image of your idols, the star of your 
 God, which you made toyom*8elves,"(5. 26.). This practice 
 of carrying about a tabernacle for their idol, had its origin 
 no doubt in the circumstances of the tabernacle of Moses. 
 A similar procession was in use among the ancient Eomans 
 in their worship of the Sun ; and they had horses consecrated 
 to this purpose which were led ip and down the Circus in 
 the time of the procession : chariots were also employed b}'- 
 them to swell ,the pomp on such occasions. From this 
 circumstance the Circus where the procession took place 
 was sometimes called to ippion and ippodromion, the horse 
 course. The same use of horses as well as of chariots 
 prevailed among the Hebrews in their procession of Baal or 
 Moloch, as we learn from the fom-th book of Kings, 23 c. 
 11 V. — "And ho (Josias) took away the horses which the 
 
 Kings of Juda had given to the Sun and he burnt the 
 
 chariots of the Sun with fire." It is thought, and with good 
 reason, that this worship paid to the Sun was derived from 
 the Persians, who also held that horses were sacred to the 
 Sun. On occasions of great state, when the Persian King 
 would exhibit himself in full pomp, it was an essential por- 
 tion of the pageant that a largo horse should be led up and 
 down, which was called Equus Solis, the Horse of the Sun. 
 in the procession of the Hebrews in honour of Baal, there 
 were carried certain images, called the images of Chiun, or 
 Romphan, according to the allusion of St. Stephen, in the Acts 
 of the Apostles, — "And you took unto you the tabernacle of 
 
QODS into WHOSB WORSHII* the ISRAELITES i'ELL. l43 
 
 Moloch, and the Star of your God Eemphan, figures which 
 you made to adore them," (Y. 43). These were images of 
 Hercules, which is but another name for the Sun, and who 
 in the Egjrptian language was called Chon. The name 
 Eemphan, or Eepham is derived from the Hebrew Eephaim, 
 which signifies giants. The name Hercules, some would 
 derive from the Hebrew word, hiercol, which signifies 
 he illuminated all things; which convej^s the same idea 
 as the Greek derivation eras Kleos, the glory of Air. 
 And P'^rphyric, in Eusebius, refers to the twelve labours 
 of Hercules as representing the twelve signs of the 
 Zodiac, through which the Sun passes annually. Hercules, 
 was a god of the Phoenicians; and was held in especial 
 reverence by the Tyi'ians, who were near neighbours of the 
 Israelites : and in the time of the Maccabees we find 
 that a close intercourse existed between the two peoples ; 
 for Jason, the high priest, is represented as having sent the 
 Tyrians a quantity of silver for their sacrifices in honour of 
 Hercules; — "Kow when the game that was used every 
 fifth year was kept at Tyre, the King being present, the 
 wicked Jason sent from Jerusalem sinful men to carry three 
 hundred didrachmas of silver for the sacrifice of Hercules, 
 &c." (2 Maccab. 4. 18). With respect to the " Star of the 
 God Eemphan" alluded to by St. Stephen, in the Acts of the 
 Apostles, it was the representation of a star painted on the 
 forehead of the God Baal, or Moloch, a symbolic ornament 
 with which the Heathens were wont to adorn the images of 
 their idols, and of their deified heroes : for we learn from 
 the Eoman historians that the image of Julius Ctesar had 
 such a star painted on the crown of the head, (Sueton, Plin. 
 Hor.). The sun was also worshiped by the house of Juda 
 under the name of Tamuz, which signifies the sun, according 
 
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 \}-. 
 
 141 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
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 to St. Jerome ; for he says that Tamuz was the same as 
 Adonis, which latter word, derived frorai the Hebrew Adon, 
 signifying Lord, was the same as Baal, or Moloch, that is, 
 the Lord or Prince of the Planets. The month of Juno was 
 3alled Tamuz by the Hebrews, and the entrance of the sun 
 into the sign Cancer, in the month of June, was called 
 Tekupha Tamuz, that is, the revolution of Tamuz. Both the 
 Egyptians and Israelites celebrated certain ceremonies at 
 stated periods of the year, in connection with their worship 
 of the Sun, which were called Adonia : those of the 
 Egyptians took place in the month of November when the 
 Sun was approaching its farthest southern point in the tropic 
 of Capricorn ; and those of the Israelites in the month of 
 June, when the Sun was in the tropic of Cancer, or the 
 most northern point of its course. In both these stations 
 the Sun was said to be lost, whereas in returning from them, 
 he was said to be found. And it is in allusion to this, his 
 position at the most remote points of his course, or, his 
 Aphanismos, as the Greek called it, that is, his loss, that 
 Ezekiel is thought to have spoken, where he says — " and 
 behold women sat there mourning for Adonis." (Eze. 8. 14). 
 I cannot forbear alluding in this place to the similar 
 idolatry of the Sun practiced by the Ancient Irish. By 
 them, as by the Phcenicians and the neighboring Canaanites 
 he was worshiped under the name of Baal Semen, or Lord 
 of Heaven ; and even down to the present time the first day 
 of May is called by the Irish La Baal Tinne, that is, the 
 Day of Baal's Fire. Keating, in his History of Ireland, 
 thus speaks of the worship of Baal by the ancient Irish : — "A 
 general convocation was assembled of all the inhabitants in 
 the Kingdom that were able to appear, which was called the 
 Convocation of Visnoach, and was kept on the first day of 
 
30t)S TNTO WHOSE WORSHIP THE ISRAELITES 1*ELL. 145 
 
 itfay, where they offered sacrifices to the principal deity 
 of the Island whom they adored under the name of BaaL 
 Upon this occasion they were used to kindle two fires in 
 every territory of the Kingdom, in honour of this pagan 
 God. It was a solemn ceremony at this time to drive a 
 number of cattle of every kind between tliese fires ; this 
 was conceived to be an antidote and a preservation against 
 the murrain, or any other pestilential distemper among 
 cattle the year following. And from those fires that were 
 made in worship of the God Baal, the day upon which the 
 Christian festival of St. Philip and St. James is observed, is 
 called in the Irish language. La Baaltinne." It was also a 
 custom among the Irish, on those occasions, to bring horses 
 to the place of Baal's worship, and also arms ; probably in 
 imitation of the similar ceremonies of the East, according 
 to which horses and chariots were consecrated to the Sun ; 
 although Keating assigns a different reason to the practice ; 
 he says, " The inhabitants at this time, for the want of the 
 conveniency of coined money, would change and barter 
 their horses, their arms, or whatever other valuable things 
 they had, for different necessaries which they had occasion 
 for, which was the way of buying and selling in those ages* 
 The King of Connaught, as a tribute and acknowledgment, 
 received a horse and arms for every lord of a manor, or 
 chieftain of lands, that came to this Assembly; and the 
 reason of his claim was, because the tract of Visneach was 
 a proportion separated from the province of Connaught, in 
 order to enlarge the borders of Meath." Upon the arival of 
 St. Patrick in Ireland he found the worship of Baal in full 
 vigour there, and of course directed his efforts to its over- 
 throw ; in his Confession we find the following passage in 
 allusion to this subject : " For that Sun whom wo behold, 
 
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 J ^Mi 
 
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 146 
 
 THB HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 MK 
 
 rises for us every day, by the command of God, but be shall 
 never reign, nor shall his splender endure, but even all 
 who adore him shall descend miserably into punishment. 
 But we believe and adore the true Sun, Christ." There are 
 several names of hills and places in Ireland which have 
 been evidently derived from this practice of Sun-worship. 
 The name of the Sun in tLa Irish language is Ghrein; and 
 hence we find several names of places in Ireland either 
 compounded of this word, or formed, by a slight modification, 
 from it : thus Knoc Qrein, hill of the Sun ; Cairn na Grdn, 
 the mound of the Sun ; and Grei:% Beacht, the circle of the 
 Sun, in allusion to a circle of stones around the altar of the 
 Sun : also Gremry the place of the Sun's fire,~-the name of 
 a point of land near Wexford ; Granard; Grange; Granny; 
 and other names of places and towns of similar derivatioj. 
 In short, the historical, traditional, and monumental evidence 
 which connects ancient Ireland with Phcenicia and the East 
 is itself so strong and irrefragable that there exists no room 
 in which an objection can be raised against the fact of their 
 intercourse ; and this, there is as strong reason to believe, 
 was produced by the direct and personal communication of 
 the Phoenicians themselves with the inhabitants of Ireland, 
 through the medium of commerce. Of the great antiquity 
 of Ireland as a nation, therefore, there cannot be entertained 
 the slightest rational doubt ; for that the Phoenicians 
 traded with Ireland, and that at a very early period,— 
 certainly, ten centuries at least before our era, according to 
 the evidence of the earliest Greek writer. Homer, — ^we have 
 every reason to believe, every reason that history and 
 tradition can afford us, not to speak of the other proofs, as 
 inftdlibie as these, that meet us on every side, and at every 
 step. But this is a digression. 
 
■> j> 
 
 y^ yii 
 
 *■■-.- !■. 
 
 CHAPTEE XIV. 
 
 MORE OODS ; OB BATHER DIFFERENT NAMES OF THE SAME GODS. 
 
 |WE have seen that different nations worshipped the 
 Sun under a variety of names : this v<is even the 
 case among the same people ; for he was sometimes 
 designated Baal, and sometimes Moloch, by the Isrealites : 
 the change of name being merely expressive of the idea 
 of lordship or majesty with which they invested him. 
 But he was known and worshipped under a still wider 
 range of nomenclature, adopted from various circum- 
 stances attending his worship. For example, he was 
 called BaalrPeor, or Phogor, Baal TsepJwn, BaaUZebub, 
 and BaalrBerith ; the additions to the name being merely 
 illustrations of the plan of worship, or of the influence 
 which he exercised on human concerns, or of some other 
 circumstance. In this way, the name of Jupiter by 
 which he was recognised and worshipped among the 
 classic nations, was diversified by additions expressive of 
 similar circumstances ; as, Jupiter Olympius, Jupiter Capitoli- 
 nus, Jupiter Satialis, and so on. Baal-Peor, or Phogor was 
 so designated from the hill Peor, where his worship was 
 held; and to which reference is made in the Book of 
 Numbers, — " And when he had brought him upon the top of 
 mount Phogor which looketh towards the wilderness, Balaam 
 said to him, &c." (23. 28). Upon this hill there stood a 
 Temple dedicated to Baal, and called Beth Peor, the Temple 
 
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 V (. 
 
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 148 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
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 ii! 
 
 of the hillPeor, — "And wo abode in the valley over against 
 the Tempel of Phogor." (Deut. 3. 29). He is thought to be 
 the same as Priapus, the obscene god so celebrated by 
 profane authors. He was worshipped by the Moabites and 
 Midianites. 
 
 Baal Tsephon is supposed by the Hebrews to have been 
 an idol made by the Egyptian magicians, and placed in the 
 wilderness to watch the Hebrews and prevent them in their 
 journey : — the word Tsephon has its derivation from Tsapha, 
 to watch. Baal Zebu b was worshipped by the Cyrenians,and 
 chiefly the Ekronites ; and was so called because they believed 
 that when they sacrificed to him the swarms of flies with which 
 they were wont to be annoyed immediately disappeared. 
 Zebub is the Hebrew word for fly ; so that Baal Zebub 
 may be translated the Lord of the Flies. The Eomans offered 
 sacrifices to their god Hercules under the additional name of 
 Muscarius , as did the people of Blis to Jupiter under the 
 cognomen of Apomuios : both epithets signifying nearly the 
 same thing as Zebub in the instance under consideration. 
 Hercules Muscarius may be translated Hercules of the Flies 
 and Jupiter Apomuios, Jupiter, the banisher •f Flies. It is 
 worthy of remark that the prince of devils is called Beelzebub 
 in the gospel, which taken in the literal sense, means the 
 Lord of Flies ; for Beel, and Baal signify the same thing, 
 that is, Lord or Master. 
 
 Baal Berith was worshipped by the Shechemites : of his 
 temple we find mention made in the Book of Judges, in the 
 following words : — " And they gave him seventy weight of 
 silver out of the Temple of Baal Berith." [Jud. 9,4]. The 
 word Berith signifies covenant ; so that Baal Berith may be 
 translated Baal of the Covenants ; or, as the Romans called 
 him, Jupiter foederat us. 
 
MORE GODS ; OR DIFFEREKf NAMES OF THE SAME GODS. 149 
 
 The idol of the Israelites called Dagon, is reprecented as 
 being in shape half man, half fish, that is, a man in the upper 
 part, and a fish in the lower. In the first book of Kings 
 we find mention made of this god in the following words, — 
 "And the next day again, when they rose in the morning, 
 they found Dagon lying upon his face on the earth before 
 the Ark of the Lord : and the head of Dagon, and both the 
 palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold. And 
 only the stump of Dagon remained in its place. For this 
 cause neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that go into the 
 temple tread on the threshold of Dagon in Azotus u. to this 
 day," (1 K. 5.4.). Some think that the name of this idol is 
 derived from the Hebrew word Dag, which signifies a fish \ 
 and that therefore it might be regarded as corresponding to 
 the classic god Neptune, o" Triton. There are others, how- 
 ever, who derive the name from Dagan, which signifies corn; 
 and therefore considering him as the inventor of the plough, 
 would have him to cori'espond to Jupiter Aratrius, or to Sa- 
 turn whom the Ancients represent as the inventor of hus- 
 bandry. Between these conflicting opinions there are no 
 certain means of deciding. 
 
 The principal god of the Babylonians was Bell, which is 
 but a modification of the term Baal, and represented, no 
 doubt, the power and majesty of the Sun. 
 
 The first idol of which we find mention made among the 
 Hebrews was the Molten Calf. In the thirty-second chapter 
 of the book of Exodus we have a full account given of this 
 idol. There we find that in the absence of Moses in the 
 mountain, the people desired Aaron to make them gods who 
 should go before them and guide them in their way. Then 
 Aaron said to them : " Take the golden earrings from the ears 
 of your wives, and your sons, and daughters, and bring them 
 
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 150 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
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 1,41 1 
 
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 to me." And when they had done so " he fashioned them by 
 founders work, and made of them a Molten Calf.'* He then 
 built an altar, and mi^de proclamation for the worship 
 of the Lord on the following day ; which being come, 
 " they offered holocausts, and peace victims, and they sat 
 down to eat, and drink, and they rose up to play." This idol 
 of the molten calf was of Egyptian origin, and was, according 
 to the testimony of the Jews themselves, introduced among 
 the Israelites by some Egyptian proselytes who accompanied 
 them in their journey through the desert. In Egypt this 
 idol was worshipped under the name of Apis, and Serapis ; 
 and represented an ox. Shor is the Hebrew word for Ox, 
 and Ap signifies a face ; so that Serapis may be translated 
 head of an ox, or oxhead. This ox idol bore a bushel on its 
 head, and was parti-coloured ; the body being all black, and 
 the forehead white, with a white spot behind, and a knot un- 
 der the tongue. It was regarded by the Egyptians as being 
 more than a mere idol ; for they consulted it as an oracle : 
 approaching it in that capacity they presented it with a bot- 
 tle of hay or grass, which, if it received the omen, was consi- 
 dered favourable ; but, on the_contrary, evil was portended 
 by its refusal of the proffered gift. Hence the reproof of 
 the Psalmist, " they turned their glory into an ox that eateth 
 grass." Suidas supposes, and with great reason, that the 
 origin of this idol among the Egyptians is found in the com- 
 memoration of the seven years of plenty, succeeded by the 
 seven years of scarcity, as foretold by Joseph when sojourn- 
 ing in Egypt, and which were foreshadowed by the seven fat 
 and seven lean oxen. The perpetuation of the memory of 
 this event could not be better effected than by the continmn 
 presence of the figure of an ox among the people in their 
 public places of resort ; and hence the perversion of this 
 
MORE aODS ; OR DIFFERENT NAMES OF THE SAME QODS. 151 
 
 monumental representation of a remarkable event into a 
 subject for idolatrous worship may be easily accounted for. 
 The figure of a bushel, too, upon the head of the ox gives 
 additional force to this reasonable supposition. Jeroboam 
 afterwards adopted this form of idolatry ; for being desirous 
 to prevent the people from going up to Jerusalem to worship 
 the Lord, he caused two golden calves to be set up, one in 
 Bethel, and another in Dan, and said to the people : " Go ye 
 up no more to Jerusalem : Behold thy gods, O Israel, who 
 brought thee out of the land of Egypt." (3 K. 12. 28). 
 
 As the Sun is the ruler of the day, and the ^reat source of 
 light and life, whence animate and inanimate existence draws 
 its joy, and hope, and beaul.y ; so the moon is the ruler of 
 the Night, the Empress of the millions of subject worlds, 
 whose sweet effulgence gives animation, and gladness, and 
 soft enchantment to the concave of heaven. Little wonder 
 then if the worship of the one became connected with that 
 of the other ; and that the hands which were raised in 
 adoration to the bright beams of the god of day, should be still 
 uplifted in solemn worship to the mellowed radiance of the 
 chaste goddess, of night. And so we find that the idolatry of 
 the ancients embraced the double worship of the Sun and the 
 Moon : and that into whatsoever region of the earth the one 
 was transferred, it was invariably accompanied by the other. 
 The Israelites borrowed both these divinities from the Phoe- 
 nicians, worshipping the one under the name of Baal, or 
 Moloch, and the other under thatof Astaroth, or Astarthe, — 
 " But Solomon worshipped Astarthe, the goddess of the Si- 
 donians, and Moloch, the idol of the Ammonites," (3 K. 11. 
 5). The Temple dedicated to the worship of the Moon was 
 called the house of Astarthe ; and here, we are told, 
 the Philistines hung up Saul's armour after his death, 
 
 
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 a:fiB HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 — " And tliey put his armour in the templo of Asta* 
 roth,) but thebody they hung on the wall of Bethsan," (IK. 
 31. 10). As the 8un was worshipped under different 
 names in different countries, and even sometimes in the 
 same country, so also was the Moon. She was wor- 
 shipped in the classic countries under the name of Juno, 
 and also under that of Urania. She is called by Horace side- 
 rum regina, the Queen of the Stars ; and by Virgil, Divum 
 regina, the Queen of the Gods, — the latter coupling the name 
 of Juno with the epithet. The prophet, Jeremias, alludes to 
 this heathen divinity under the name of Queen of Heaven, 
 — " The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the 
 fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the 
 Queen of Heaven, and to offer libations to strange gods, and 
 to provoke one to anger," (Jer. Y. 18). And again the Jows 
 who dwelt in Egypt, in reply to the denunciations of the 
 prophets, thus express themselves in allusion to this worship 
 of the Moon : — " But we will certainly do every word that 
 shall procv^ed out of our own mouth, to sacrifice to the Queen 
 of Heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we and 
 our fathers have done, our kings, and our princes the cities 
 of Juda, and in the streets of Jerusalem ; and we vr ero 
 filled with bread, and it was well with us, and we 
 saw no evil. But since w^e left off to offer sacrifice 
 to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offer- 
 ings to her, we have wanted all things, and have been 
 consumed by the sword and by famine." — The prophet 
 replies to these observations : " Was it not the sacrifice 
 that you offered in the cities of Juda, and in the streets of 
 Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and princes, 
 and the people of the land, which the Lord hath remembered, 
 So that the Lord could no longer bear, because of the 
 
MORE QODS"; OR DIFFERENT NAMES OF THE SAME GODS. 158 
 
 ovil of your doings, and because of the abominations which 
 you have committed ; therefore your land is become a desola- 
 tion, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabi- 
 tant, as at this day. Because you have sacrificed to 
 idols, and have sinned ag linst the Lord ; and have 
 not obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have not walked in 
 his law, and in his commandments, and in his testimonies : 
 therefore are these evils come upon you, as at this day," 
 (Jer. 44. IT). As the Hebrews kept the first day of every 
 month holy, so did the Heathens observe the same day with 
 solemn worship to the Moon ; and hence Macrobius, desig- 
 nating her by the r^sme of Juno, calls her the monthly Juno 
 (Juno Calandaris). The original signification of the name 
 Astaroth, is ajlock of sheep; and the images which were con- 
 secrated to the Moon were made in the form of sheep. It 
 may, therefore, be assumed that she was worshipped under 
 the semblance of a sheep, as was Jupiter Ammon under that 
 of a ram. Both these divinities were represented under the 
 same circumstances, for both were typified under the figure 
 of \ sheep, and both were painted with horns ; — siderum 
 regina hicomis, audi, Luna, paellas, says Horace : — O Moon, 
 two-horned queen of the Stars, hear the maidens. The 
 epithet, Ammon, given to Jupiter, or the Sun ; and that of 
 Ammonia, which may, with propriety, be given to the Moon, 
 is derived from the Hebrew word Hammah, which signifies 
 heat. The horns with which both these divinities were 
 painted represented the beams of the Sun, and of the Moon j 
 but why they should have been typified under the figure of 
 a sheep any more than that of any other horned animal it is 
 not easy to say, unless it was that the beginning of the year, 
 or that point in the Zodiac where the sun was supposed to 
 commence his course, was represented by astronomers under 
 
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154 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
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 the figure of a ram, (aries). Another name under which the 
 ancients worshipped the Moon wm that of Diana, and this 
 especially among the Ephesians: hence the exclamation, 
 " Great is Diana of the Ephesians," (Acts. 19. 28). The sil- 
 versmiths of Bphesus obtained great profit by making silver 
 temples for this goddess. "What these temples were we have 
 no accurate means of ascertaining ; bnt it is most probable 
 that they were small shrines in which the image of the 
 goddess was enclosed. St. Paul was assailed with great 
 virulence by these craftsmen when he was preaching against 
 idol worship in Ephesus : — " For a certain man named 
 Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver temples for 
 Diana, brought no small gain to the craftsmen, whom he, 
 calling together, with workmen of like occupation said : 
 Sirs, you know that our gain is by this trade ; And you see 
 and hear that this Paul by persuasion hath drawn away a 
 great multitude, not only of Ephesus, but almost of all Asia, 
 saying : They are not idols which are made by hands. So 
 that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought, 
 but also the temple of great Diana shall be reputed for 
 nothing, yea and her majesty shall begin to be destroyed, 
 whom all Asia and the world worshippeth." (Acts. 19. 24). 
 The temple here alluded to by the Evangelist occupied, 
 according to Pliny, no less than two hundred and twenty 
 years in its construction ; a statement, however, which we 
 are at liberty to question, inasmuch as the same author 
 says in another part of his works that even as many as four 
 hundred years were expended in building it. Whichever of 
 thrjse two statements may be the true one, or whether either 
 of them be true, there can be at least no doubt that the 
 temple was of great magnificence, and that the high celebrity 
 of Diana's worship among the Ephesians arose principally 
 from this cause. 
 
MORE GODS ; OR DIFFERENT NAMES OF THE SAME GODS. 155 
 
 Besides the general worship of the Sun and Moon, under 
 various names among the people of antiquity, there were 
 innumerable other varieties of idolatry among them, 
 embracing as their idols almost every kind of animal, an«l 
 of vegetable production. The planets, and the whole host 
 of heaven were held in solemn reverence as objects of adora- 
 tion. And in the prophecy of Ezekiel we have an account 
 of apartments in the Temple of Jerusalem whoso walls were 
 covered with the likenesses of animals and creeping things 
 without number, which constituted objects of idolatrous wor- 
 ship to the recreant Hebrews : — " And I went in and saw, 
 and behold every form of creeping things, and of living 
 creatures, the abomination, and all the idols of the house of 
 Israel were painted on the wall all round about. And 
 seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and 
 Jezonias the son of Saaphan stood in the midst of them, 
 that stood before the pictures : and every one had a censer 
 in his hand : and a cloud of smoke went up from the incense," 
 (Ezek. 8. 10). We tind that at the time of the captivity, 
 when the king of Assyria planted colonic- hi Samaria, ^vory 
 man worshipped the God of his own nation. The men of 
 Babylon worshipped Succoth Benoth, those of Cuth, Nergal, 
 those of Hamath, Asima, those of Avim, Nihhaz and Tartnk ; 
 and the people of Sapharvaim worshipped Adram Melech, 
 and Anam Melech to whom they sacrificed their children in 
 burnt offerings. According to the Hebrew Rabbis, the idols 
 thus severally worshipped were as follows : — Succoth Benoth 
 represented a hen with her chickens ; Nergal, a woodcock ; 
 Asima, a goat ; Nibhaz, a dog ; and Tartuk, an ass ; Adram 
 Melech, a mule ; and Anam Melech, a horse. Such were the 
 gods on whose power and influence over human destiny the 
 ancient Heathens, in their aberration from the unerring 
 
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 156 
 
 ITHE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 course of God's laws, relied for their welfare here, and theii* 
 happiness and glory hereafter. But the folly of man was 
 not limited even to this amount of senseless absurdity ; for 
 while the people of Syria worshipped a cocA as their god, and 
 the Mendisii as well as the Hamathites a goat ; and while 
 the dog, the mule, and the horse constituted the deities of 
 those other several nations alluded to, there were others who 
 did not deem it beneath the dignity of human nature to 
 prostrate themselves in rapt adoration before the shrines of 
 cats, rats, mice, crocodiles, and wolves ; nay more, of leeks, 
 garlic, and onions. 
 
 The principal god of the Assyrians was Nesroch, whose 
 temple was in Nineveh ; where we find that Sennacherib, 
 the king of tl^e Assyrians, was slain by his two sons : — 
 " And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the temple 
 of Nesroch, his god, that Adramelech and Sarasar, his sons, 
 slew him with the sword," (Isai. 37. 38). The god of Syria 
 was called Bemmon, which means a pomegranate; and to 
 this deity Naaman the general of the Syrian army alludes 
 where, after having been cured of leprosy by the prophet of 
 Israel, having become converted to the worship of the true 
 God, he declares that he will never more offer sacrifice to 
 other gods, though he must accompany his master, the king, 
 into the temj^le of Eemmon. Addressing the prophet, he 
 says, " But there is only this for which thou shalt entreat 
 the Lord for thy servant, wlien my master goeth into the 
 temple of Eemmon, when he boweth down in the same 
 place, that the Lord pardon me thy servant for this thing. 
 And he said to him : Go in peace," (4 K. 5. 18). Another 
 idol of the Assyrians was called Nabo, a name derived from 
 the Hebrew word, Nahhi, a prophet : — " Woe to Naho, for it 
 is laid waste and confounded : Cariathim is taken : the 
 
MORE GODS ; OR DIFFERENT NAMES OF THE SAME GODS. 157 
 
 strong city is confounded and hath trembled," (Jer. 48. 1). 
 This Assyrian god, Nabo, is, according to Diodorus Siculus, 
 the same as Zeus bolaios, and Zeus metietes, the prophetic 
 Jove, so often mentioned by Homer. 
 
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 CHAPTEE XV. 
 
 PROPHECY — TRUE AND FALSE SYSTEMS OP PROPHECY- 
 PROPHECY DIVIDED INTO FOUR KINDS. 
 
 -TRUE 
 
 IIAYE observed on a former occasion that the 
 worship of false gods had, in many instances, its 
 origin from a misconception of the Scriptures : 
 in like manner I may here note that false prophecy, or 
 the practice of witchcraft and of sorcery sprung from a 
 misunderstanding of the nature and design of God's reve- 
 lations to mankind. When God for His own wise an(' 
 unfathomable purposes vouchsafed to communicate His 
 intentions to men either directly or through the mouths 
 of His angels, and of His prophets, He did so in various 
 ways ; or, to cite the words of St. Paul, — " God, who at 
 sundry times, and in divers manners, spoke in times past, 
 to the fathers by the prophets, last of all, in these days 
 hath spoken to us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir 
 of all things, by whom also he made the world," (Heb. 1. 1.) 
 We find that King Saul had recourse to both kinds of pro- 
 phecy, the true and the false ; for after having failed in 
 obtaining from God a revelation of what was to happen, he 
 had recourse to a necromancer of Endor : — " And he con- 
 sulted the Ijord, and he answered him not, neither by 
 dreams, nor by priests, nor by prophets. And Saul said to 
 his servants: seek me a woman that hath a divining spirit, 
 and I will go to her, and inquire by her. And his servants 
 said to him : There is a woman that hath a divining spirii 
 
PROPHECt. 
 
 169 
 
 at JEndor," (1 K. 28. 6). The Hebrew writers comprise the 
 various modes in which God was wont to reveal His will to 
 man under four heads, which they term j(Mr degrees of pro- 
 phecy, or, of Divine Mevelation. The first degree they call 
 Nehuah, or prophecy properly so called; the second, the 
 Inspiration of the Holy Ghost ; the third, Urim and Thummim ; 
 and the fourth, the Daughter of a Voice (filia vocis), or Echo. 
 Of these four I shall now speak, for the purpose of explain- 
 ing, as far as I can from the evidence of the ancient 
 writings, the peculiar character of each. God sometimes 
 communicated His intentions by sending visions or appari- 
 tions to particular persons ; and it was this mode of reveal- 
 ing His will which the Hebrew writers designate by the 
 name of prophecy. When any man was made the instrument 
 of thus receiving a revelation of what God had intended 
 should come to pass, he was cast into a trance, and thus 
 deprived of his external senses ; and while in this state, 
 certain visions or apparitions of things that were to happen 
 appeared to him. This mode of revelation differed from 
 that which consisted in an explication of future events 
 through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. In this latter 
 case there was no ecstatic absorption of the external senses ; 
 but God spoke through the person by a divine illumination 
 of the mind, without any manifestation of an unusual effort 
 either external or internal. Of this description of prophets 
 were Job, David, and Daniel. Both these kinds of prophetic 
 revelation, as also that by Urim and Thummim of which I 
 am about to speak, ceased at the time of the second Temple, 
 or after the return of the Israelites from the Babylonian 
 captivity. Hence we find in the Talmud the declaration of 
 the Hebrew doctors that after the latter prophets, Haggai, 
 Zachary, and Malachy had passed away, the Holy Ghost 
 
 
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 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 departed from Israel ; that is to say, there was no longer 
 any prophecy through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. 
 The only mode of prophecy which then remained was that 
 by the daughter of a voice, or Echo. The distinction in the 
 mode of prophecy, or this departure of the Holy Ghost as a 
 medium of prophetic revelation, is illustrated by the answer 
 of the disciples at Ephesus to St. Paul : — " And he aaid to 
 them : Have you received the Holy Ghost since ye believed ? 
 But they said to him: We have not so much as heard 
 whether there be a Holy Ghost," (Acts 19. 2). That the 
 Jews were acquainted with the mystery of the blessed 
 Trinity before the time of our Saviour is unhesitatingly 
 asserted by some writers ; who say that even in the name by 
 which they designated God, the distinction of persons was 
 observed. This name, Jehovah, contains three distinct 
 Hebrew letters, the first of which, Jod, is said to have repre- 
 sented the Father ; the second, He, the Son ; and the third, 
 Vau, the Holy Ghost, which proceeds from the Father and 
 the Son. The Jewish Eabbis say that God made all things 
 by the letter He, that is, by His word, or by His Son : and 
 they further remark that the letter He in Jehovah, is repeat- 
 ed twice in order to shew the union of the two natures in 
 Christ. 
 
 But to come to the consideration of the third degree of 
 divine revelation, or Urim and Thummim ; I must observe 
 that ancient authors throw tut little light on this mode of 
 prophecy; in fact, there exists no s^:!' factory evidence as 
 to what it really meant. There are \ orious opinions enter- 
 tained upon the subject by various authors, but none that is 
 sufficient to satisfy the mind of the enquirer. All that 
 remains for me, therefore, is to give such opinions and conjec- 
 tures on this point as I find recorded in the ancient authors 
 
PROPHECY. 
 
 161 
 
 whom I have consulted, without venturing upon any sup- 
 position of my own, as I find that I have no ground sufficiently 
 solid upon which to plant my foot in safety. Urim means 
 light, and Thummim, perfection ; or, according to the Septua- 
 gint, the former means Revelation, and the latter, Truth : and 
 there is a general concurrence of opinion that both these 
 names indicated two ornaments in the breast plate worn by 
 the high-priest, of which I have already given a description. 
 In reference to this oracle of Urim and Thummim Josephus 
 thus writes. — " For as to those stones which we told you be- 
 fore the high-priest bore on his shoulders, which were sar- 
 donyxes, the one of them sinned out when God was present 
 at their sacrifices ; I mean that which was in the nature of a 
 button on his right shoulder, bright rays darting out thence, 
 and been seen even by those that were most remote ; which 
 splendour yet was not before natural to the stone. This has 
 appeared a wonderful thing to such as have not so far indulged 
 themselves in philosophy, as to despise divine revelation. 
 Yet will I mention what is still more wonderful than this : 
 for God declared before hand, by those twelve stones which 
 the high-priest bore on his breast, and which were inserted 
 in his breast plate, when they should be victorious in battle; 
 for so great a splendor shone forth from them before the 
 army began to march, that all the people were sensible of 
 God's being present for their assistance. Whence it came to 
 pass that those Greeks, who had a veneration for our laws, 
 because they could not possibly contradict this, called the 
 breast plate the oracle. Now this breast plate, and this 
 sardonyx left off shining two hundred years before I composed 
 this book, God having been disploafr«'-)d at the transgression 
 of his laws." (Antiq. 36, 9.) 
 .From this account it appears evident that by the oracle of 
 
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 TflE HEBREWS AT HOME). 
 
 Urim and Thiimmim God manifested His presence to the 
 Israelites as long as they submitted themselves to His divine 
 guida:ioe, acknowledging Him as their true king and direc- 
 tor ; and that as soon as they turned aside from Him, an'' 
 appointed other kings over them, this oracle became silent, 
 Grod withdrawing His presence from them. The time of this 
 event, as Josephus here states, was two hundred years before 
 he wi'ote his Antiquities, that is, at the death of the good 
 high-priest, John HjTcanus, of the family of the Maccabees. 
 In confirmation of this view of the subject, as given by Jor 
 sephus, we find that the oracle of the stones of the breast 
 j)late, or of Urim and Thummim, continued with the other 
 modes of prophetic revelation, from the days of Moses and 
 Josue down tcj those of Saul, the first king of the Hebrews, 
 when it ceased for a time ; that is, after Saul's rejection of 
 the divine commands in the war with the Amalekites. It 
 was, however, renewed in the reign of David, his successor, 
 who frequently consulted God by it, and who always obeyed 
 its directions. After Saul had been long forsaken by the 
 Lord, and his applications for the divine manifestation con- 
 stantly refused, he again renewed his appeal, but was again 
 refused ; and then it was he consulted the necromancer of 
 Endor, who brought up to him the person of Samuel : — " And 
 he consulted the Lord, and he answered him not, neither by 
 dreams, nor by priests, nor by prophets. And Saul said to 
 his servants : Seek me a woman that hath a divining spirit, 
 and I will go to her, and enquire by her," (I K. 28. 6). The 
 successors of David fell intothe sam6 condition of reprobation 
 as Saul, with respect to this oracle, though they som.etimes 
 consulted the prophets and were answered by them. This 
 state of things continue! to the Babylonish captivity, when 
 the dynasty of kings was at an end. It is to be presumed 
 
l>feOl»IlECY. 
 
 163 
 
 that this refusal of God to respond to the kings through the 
 oracle of Urim was owing to their exercise of despotic power, 
 and their assumption of that supreme royalty which filled 
 them with inordinate thoughts of their own self-suflSciency, 
 and a disinclination to acknowledge any superior authority 
 over them. After the return from captivity the revival of 
 the oracle was expected by the Hebrews; and there is no 
 doubt that it did appear in the time of the excellent John 
 Hyrcanus, the high-priest, who foretold several things which 
 were verified by the event. But after the death of this good 
 man the oracle of Urim ceased for ever. — 'The following 
 high-priests," says a commentator on Josephus, "now put- 
 ting diadems on their heads, and ruling according to their 
 own vdll, and by their own authority, like the other kings 
 of the pagan countries about them ; so that while the God of 
 Israel was allowed to be the supreme king of Israel, and his 
 directions to be their authentic guides, God gave them such 
 directions as their supreme king and governor ; and they 
 were properly under a Theocracy, by this oracle of Urim, 
 but no longer." The prophecy of the high-j3riest, Caiphas, 
 in the time of our Saviour, would seem to be a remnant of 
 this oracle. It is related in the gospel of St. John, eleventh 
 chapter : — " But one of them (the council of the Pharisees) 
 named Caiphas, being the high-priest that year, said to them : 
 you know nothing. Neither do you consider that it is 
 expedient for you that one man should die for the people, 
 and that the whole nation perish not. And this he spoke 
 not of himself: but being the high-priest of that year, he 
 prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation. And not 
 only for the nation, but to gather together in one the chil- 
 dren of God, that were dispersed," (49. v.) 
 Having mentioned the general concurrence of opinion 
 
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 164 
 
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 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 among authors, that tho Urim and Thummim was an oracle 
 operating through tho ornamonttj or precious stones inserted 
 in the breast plate of the high-prioat; and also the opinion of 
 Josophus that this oracle was manifested 'by the superior 
 splendor of the stones at the time of its operation ; I shall 
 now advert briefly to the points of difference between authors 
 upon this subject. Some think that the oracle did not con- 
 sist in tho mere splendor of tho stones as indicating God's 
 presence ; but that this was also accompanied by a voice 
 from the Mercy seat between the Cherubim, declaring tho 
 will of the Lord. Again, there are some who say that it 
 was not the stones on the breast plate that indicated the 
 Oracle, but the name of Jehovah in the fold of the breast 
 plate. The Commentators on the Douay Version of the 
 Bible say that the wordp Urim and Thummim, or Doctrine 
 and Truth, were written on the breast plate ; and that one 
 of the reasons why this breast plate was called the rational, 
 was that it gave answers or oracles as if it wore rational, or 
 endowed with reason. (Vide note in Exod. 28 c.) So that 
 the difficulty connected with this subject consists in ascer- 
 taining whether a voice declared the prophecy ; or whether 
 the event sought was merely indicated by the unusual 
 splendor of one or more of the stones on the breast plate; or 
 whether both conditions were necessary to the same result. 
 On these points the ancient writers afford us no sufficient 
 light. 
 
 The Talmudists say no one had a right to consult this 
 oracle except the King, or the Father of the Consistory; and 
 that the high-priest alone had the privilege of being con- 
 sulted, and of answering ; also that the matter proposed to 
 the high-priest should be of great importance and difficulty. 
 The^ further say that the Holy Writing, termed Urim and 
 
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 < a . M 
 

 PROPHECY. 
 
 165 
 
 ,» 
 
 Thummim, consisted of the names of the tribes^ ai* of those 
 of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob ; whereby all the h ors in the 
 alphabet wore embraced in the Writing. As to the manner 
 of answering, some say that certain letters out of all the 
 names engraven on the stones of the breast plates rose 
 above the rest, and gave the required answer : in this man- 
 ner they would represent the oracle, as conveyed to David ; 
 — "And after these things David consulted the Lord, say- 
 ing : Shall I go up into one f the cities of Juda ? And the 
 Lord said to him: Go up, ( K. 2. 1). Here the word 
 Gnaleh, go up, is compose of 'ee letters, taken respect- 
 ively from the names of Vii."^,, Levi, and Juda. There are 
 various other opinions of d, t .niiar character upon this sub- 
 ject ; but as they afford ■at^'^r rather for idle curiosity than 
 instruction, it would be « ^/aste of time to refer to them. 
 We now come to the fourth degree of prophecy, called the 
 Daughter of a Voice (filia vocis), or Echo. This form of 
 prophecy consists, as the name indicates, in a voice from 
 heaven declaring the will of God. After the other time 
 modes of divine revelation had ceased, which event may be 
 said to have happened in the time of the Second Temple, or 
 after the captivity, this fourth form took place. It was 
 according to this that our Saviour was announced as the Son 
 of God : — " And behold a voice from heaven, saying : This 
 is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased," (Mat. 3. 17). 
 Such then was the fourfold means adopted by God for the 
 revelation of his will to man, considered apart from His 
 written law : these four modes of prophetic revelation may 
 be called the extraordinary means by which God declared 
 His will : while the written Law may be termed the ordina- 
 ry means for the same purpose. But besides these, there 
 were the Traditions, that is, the Instructions communicated 
 
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 166 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
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 by God to Moses at tlio time of the delivery of the Law on 
 Mount Sinai ; and which traditions the Hebrews called tho 
 unwritten law ( Tliora hegnal pe) ; and sometimes Kabbala, 
 from the word Kibbel, to receive. These Traditions were 
 regarded by the Hebrews as illustrations of the written Law; 
 and they were handed down through Moses and Josuo to 
 the Elders of Israel, and from tho Elders to the Prophets, 
 and thence to the great Synagogue, and so on, to after ages. 
 At length they were digested into a Book, as a guide for 
 those Israelites who dwelt in tho Holy Land ; and this Book 
 is called Talmud HierosoJymitanum, the Talmud of Jerusa- 
 lem. This event happened in the two hundred and thirtieth 
 year of our era. This Talmud contained, however, but a 
 portion of the Traditions ; and may be regarded as merely a 
 selection frofn them. But about two hundred and seventy 
 years after it was compiled, that is, in the five hundreth 
 year of our era, a full and perfect collection of the Tradi- 
 tions was made for tho use of the Jews who dwelt in Baby- 
 lon, and other places out of Judca ; and this is called Tal- 
 mud Babylonicum, the Babylonian Talmud. This collec- 
 tion of precepts and directions is esteemed by authors as of 
 great value, containing as it does the body of the Jewish 
 Civil and Canon Law. This code of traditional laws was 
 regarded by tho Jews as being of equal authenticity with 
 the written law itself, and as being of equal necessity in the 
 government of God's Church ; for if it were not so Moses 
 would not have received it from the mouth of God himself, 
 nor have been enjoined to inculcate it together with the 
 Decalogue, or Written Law. "With respect to the term 
 Kabbala, applied to these Traditions, it is necessary to note 
 that the word Cabbalists, derived from it, and applied to 
 persons conversant with the traditions, is not to be regarded 
 
 li ::| 
 
PROPHECY. 
 
 16T 
 
 as synonymous with the term Talmutliwts, which is applied 
 to those Jewish doctors who digested the traditions into a 
 Code. The Cabbalists wore those who deduced mystical 
 interpretations ft*om certain portions of the Scriptures, by 
 means of a certain arrangement, or transposition of the let- 
 ters of a word ; or by observing the different formation of 
 the letters ; or by forming the letters of a word into a sym- 
 bolical kind of Arithmetic. For instance ; in the twenty- 
 third chapter of Genesis, and second verse, we have the sen- 
 tence, " Abraham came to mourn and weep for her," that is, 
 for his wife Sarah, who had died : now, because one of the 
 letters (caph) in the Hebrew word to weep is smaller than 
 the rest, the Cabbalists deduced from the sentence this 
 mystical meaning, that Abraham wept but little for his wife : 
 and the reason of this they conclude to be, because she was 
 old when she died. Again, with reference to the first verse 
 of Grenesis, " In the beginning God created heaven and 
 earth;" the letter Aleph occurs six times in the Hebrew 
 words which constitute this verse : the Cabbalists conclude, 
 therefore, that the duration of the world is limited to six 
 thousand years, because the letter Aleph, in the Hebrew com- 
 putation, stands for ono thousand. To give another curious 
 instance of the mystical reading of the Cabbalists through 
 the medium of the transposition of letters: the Hebrew 
 word Cherem signifies excommunication ; but this word, by 
 changing the position of its letters, becomes Bachem, a word 
 which signifies Mercy ; and by a further alteration of the 
 letters, it becomes Ramach, which word consists of three 
 letters, representing, in the Hebrew computation, the num- 
 ber two hundred and forty-eight : now, according to the 
 Anatomy of the Hebrews, the number of members in a 
 man's body is exactly two hundred and forty-eight. From 
 
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 THE HEBREWS At HOME. 
 
 all this the Cabbalists doduco the following conclusion,—. 
 That if a person who is excommunicated should truly repent, 
 then his Cherem is turned into Rachem; that is, his excommu- 
 nication or curse, is turned into mercy or forgiveness ; but, 
 if ho should not rejiont, then his Cherem enters into Jiamach, 
 that is, his excommunication or curse enters into all bis 
 members, and thus destroys the whole man. One example 
 more, and I shall have done with the absurdities of the Cab- 
 balists. Isch is the Hebrew name for man, and Escha for 
 woman ; each of these names consists of three letters, two 
 of which are the same in both ; in the name for man is the 
 letter Jod, which is not in that for woman ; and in the name 
 for woman is the letter He which is not in that for man : 
 these two letters, when joined, make the word Jah, which is 
 one of the names for God ; but when both are removed from 
 their places in the names for man and woman, the two 
 remaining letters of each name make the word Esch, which 
 signifies fire. Now, the conclusion of the Cabbalists is this : 
 that while man arid wife agree with one another God is with 
 them ; but as soon as they disagree from each other fire is 
 between them. So much for the Cabbalists. 
 
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 CHAPTEE XVI. 
 
 TERAPHIM ; OR HOUSEHOLD OODS OP THE HEBREWS — THE DIF- 
 FERENT KINDS OF UNLAWFUL DIVINATION. 
 
 HE ancient idolators worshipped a kind of 
 household gods, called by the Hebrews Teraphim, 
 from Taraph, which signifies an image of a 
 man. From this nan.^ the Greeks probably 
 borrowed the word therapeuein, to worship; — oud' athana- 
 tous therapeuein ethehn, they would not worship the immor- 
 tcils, says Hesiod. These were the Eoman Penates, or Lares ; 
 and among the idolatrous Hebrews the images thus wor- 
 shipped consisted either of the full image of a man, or the head 
 of a real man. It was probably one of these images whicn 
 Michal, David's wife, laid in the bed in order to deceive the 
 officers of Saul when in search of David : — " And Michal 
 took an image and laid it on the bed, and put the goat skin 
 with the hair at the head of it, and covered it with clothes," 
 (1 K. 19. 13). These were the gods which Jacob took with 
 him from the house of Laban, his father-in-law, — " Suppose," 
 says Laban, addressing Jacob after he had overtaken him, 
 " thou didst desire to go to thy friends, and hadst a longing 
 for thy father's house; why hast thou stolen away my 
 Gods?" (Gen. 31. 30). Michas, the '* man of Mount Eph- 
 raim," had his theraphim, or idols, as well as his " graven 
 and molten god;" "And he separated also therein a little 
 temple for the god, and made an ephod and theraphim, that 
 is to say, a priestly garment and idols, " (Jud. lY. 5). Some 
 
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 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 i^j" 
 
 of these images consisted of the real head of a man ; and were 
 formed according to the Jewish Eabbis, in this manner : A 
 man who was a fircit born Bon was killed ; and his head 
 being taken off, it was seasoned with salt and spices, and 
 hnng upon the wall, having under it a plate of gold 
 inscribed with the name of an unclean spirit. Candles were 
 lighted before the head thus placed ; and in this position it 
 was worshipped. These were consulted as oracles upon all 
 domestic occasions. Astrologers used them for a similar 
 oracular purpose, having prepared them under particular 
 constellations, by whose influence they were supposed to ?ie 
 gifted with the power of speech. To these the prophet 
 Zacharias alludes where he says, " For the idols have spoken 
 what was unprofitable, and the diviners have seen a lie, and 
 the dreamers have spoken vanity." (Zac. 10. 2). It is 
 thought that one of the reasons why Eachel stole away the 
 images from her father Laban, was that he might not dis- 
 cover the road which she and Jacob took in their flight ; 
 which he was supposed to be able to do, if the images 
 remained to be consulted. 
 
 Among the ancient Hebrews, as well as the nations of 
 antiquity in general, there were various modes of ascertain- 
 ing future events ; and these, though contrary to true reli- 
 gion and reason, became powerful agents in shaping the 
 popular will. Some of them have come down to our own 
 time, and still maintain, in some degree, their hold upon the 
 popular credulity. The principal modes of this false pro- 
 phetic revelation, we find arranged under nine heads in the 
 Sacred Writings. Of these there is mention made of seven, in 
 the Book of Deuteronomy, eighteenth chapter ; namely, that 
 of the Soothsayer, of the Observer of dreams and omens, of the 
 wizard, of the charmer, of the consulter of pythonic spirits, of 
 
THE DIFFERENT KINDS OP UNLAWFUL DIVINATION. 
 
 171 
 
 the fortuneteller, and of the necromancer, or the seeker of truth 
 from the dead. In the fourth chapter of the prophecy of 
 Ilosea we have mention made of another kind of divination, 
 that of the Staff; and in the twenty first chapter of Ezechiel 
 we are informed of the mode of divinatien by entrails ; and 
 also by arrows, which may be included in that by the Staff. 
 The Soothsayer, or Menachesch, as he is called in the Hebrew, 
 was he who by observing certain signs, as the flight and 
 voices of birds, pretended to foretell good or evil f rtune. 
 The Jewish Eabbis describe him in these terms : " He is a 
 sooth-sayer, who will say, that because a morsel of bread 
 has fallen out of his mouth, or his staff out of his hand; or 
 because his son called him back, or a crow cawed, or u goat 
 passed by him, or a serpent was on his right hand, or a fox 
 on his left, — who will, therefore, say, ' Do not this or that 
 to-day.' " This was a mode of divination founded, as it was 
 deemed, on experience; and to this Laban alludes when, 
 addressing his son-in-law, Jacob, he says, "Let me find 
 favour in thy sight : I have learned by experience that God 
 hath blessed me for thy sake." (Gen. 30. 2*7). And again, 
 allusion is made to the same practice in the words addressed 
 by Joseph, through his steward, to his brothers ; — " The cup 
 which you have stolen is that in which my lord drinketh, 
 and in which he is wont to divine." (Gen. 44. 5). 
 
 This mode of prognosticating events was very much 
 practised by the people of antiquity, and carried to such an 
 extent that there were certain days of the year distinguished 
 as absolutely unlucky, and, therefore, called black days (atri) ; 
 as there were others which were denominated lucky, and 
 thence called v)hite days (albi). There were also unlucky 
 months in the year, when it would be deemed imprudent 
 and unwise to do certain things ; for instance, the month of 
 
172 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 1 
 
 i H ' 
 
 May was deemed an unlucky month in which to get married, 
 or, as Ovid expresses it, mense malum Maio nubere vulgus est, 
 the common people say that it is a bad thing to marry in 
 the month of May. In some cases there were particular 
 courses to be adopted in averting evil omens ; for instance, 
 if any unlucky object, as a crow, a fox, or such like, crossed 
 a man's path, it was considered necessary, in order to pre- 
 vent the ill-omen, that he should throw stones at it; and in 
 some cases, to address the ill-omened object in these words, 
 " may the evil fall upon thy own head," would be a preven- 
 tive of the mischief that would otherwise ensue. In modern 
 times the carding of a witch has been considered a cure for 
 witchcraft. 
 
 The Observer of Dreams and Omens was he who drew future 
 events from the visions of sleep, or the appearances of the 
 planets and the clouds ; he might be designated a dreamer, or 
 a Stargazer. In deriving prognostications from the planets 
 and the clouds it was indispensable that the observer should 
 have his face turned towards the East ; he then foretold from 
 the motion and colour of the clouds what sort of weather 
 was to follow, and what hours, days, weeks and months were 
 to be lucky or unlucky, favorable or unfavorable, for such 
 and such a business. 
 
 The Wizard, called by the Greeks Gnostes, or cunning man, 
 was a diviner who was either possessed, or supposed by the 
 common people to be possessed of great knowledge. The 
 Hebrew doctors say that the name of this description of 
 false prophet, in their language, is derived from that of a 
 certain beast called by them Jadua, which resembled a man 
 in shape ; because when they uttered their prophecies they 
 were wont to hold a bone of this beast between their teeth. 
 A similar mode of proceeding in the exercise of the art of 
 
THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF UNLAWFUL DIVINATION. 173 
 
 divination was practised by the Magicians, whose custom it 
 was to eat the principal members and parts of those beasts 
 which they esteemed endowed with the gift of prophecy, 
 under the impression that by a sort of transmutation of 
 spirit, or, as the Greeks call it, metempsuchosis, the soul of 
 the prophetic beast would thereby pass into their own bodies 
 and thus communicate to them the gift of j^rophecy. 
 
 The Charmer was one who by certain muttered words 
 without meaning, or by reading particular verses out of the 
 Bible, or some such mystical procedure, made believe that 
 he could produce certain effects. Maimonides describes a 
 charmer to be a person "who speaketh words of a strange 
 language, and without a sense, and who in his foolishness 
 thinketh that these words are profitable ; that if one say so, 
 or so, unto a serpent or scorpion, it cannot hurt a man ; or if 
 
 he say so, or so unto a man he cannot be hurt." Also, 
 
 "he that whispereth over a wound, or readeth averse out of 
 the Bible , likewise he that readeth over an infant, that it 
 may not be frightened ; or that layeth tlio book of the Law, 
 or the philacteries upon a child, that it may sleep ; su?h are 
 not only among enchanters or charmers, but those that gen- 
 erally deny the law of God, because they make the words of 
 the Scripture a medicine for the body, whereas they are not 
 but medicine for the soul." (Tract. Idol. c. 11.) Bodinus 
 includes under this head that instance of enchantment by 
 which a child, by reciting a certain verse out of the psalms 
 hindered a woman from making her butter; but by reciting 
 the same verse backwards he caused the butter to come im- 
 mediately. This form of divination or enchantment, as it 
 may more properly be called, has been common enough in 
 our own day; and more particularly in Ireland, where, up to 
 a recent period, it was very commonly believed that witches 
 
 ti 
 
IL 
 
 174 
 
 "HE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 i# 
 
 I ? 
 
 »* 
 
 had tho power of making cows run dry, or refuse their milk ; 
 of preventing the butter from coming at churning ; of bring- 
 ing a blight upon children ; and of produting other evils of 
 a Hiniilar character. This superstitious belief is bat the 
 remnant of the ancient heathen system which had bee.i im- 
 ported into the British Isles at a very early date, and es- 
 ]iecially into Ireland, where it flourished in great vigor 
 until the time of St. Patrick in the fifth century, after which 
 it began to decline ; though its seeds have continued to throw 
 up sickly sprouts even to the present day. 
 
 The Consulter of Pi/fhonic Spirits was he who was enabled, 
 as it was thought, to divine Hiture events by consulting with 
 certain evil spirits. Such a rterson was called by the He- 
 brews Scheel oh, that is, tl ... Consulter of Ob. This latter 
 word signifies, a bottle, and was applied to Magicians on ac- 
 count of the hollow bouihI of their voices while delivering 
 their prophetic announcements, which resembled a sound 
 issuing from a bottlf . I' rra. this peculiarity of their voice 
 the Greeks called t em Eiujostrimutai, that is, ventriloquists. 
 Of thi I class of diviners was the girl mentioned in the Acts 
 of (he Apostles, according to the opinion of St. Augustine, 
 a.s yvx][ as of the Latin Annotators of the New Testament: 
 " And it came to pass as we went to prayer, a certain girl, 
 having a python ical spirit, met us, who brought to her 
 masters much gain by divining." (Acts 16, 16). The Anno- 
 tators on this passage observe that this was a " spirit pre- 
 tending to divine, and tell fortunes." Tho Necromancer, 
 commonly known as the Witch of Endor was also one of 
 these ; and is by the Latin Expositors called Pythonissa, or 
 one possessed by the spirit of Python ; and by the Hebrews 
 she is said to have consulted with Oh. The magicians, or 
 sorcerers of Egypt whom Pharaoh employed against Moses, 
 
ITHE DIFFERENT KINDS OP UNLAWFUL DIVINATION- lt5 
 
 were different from these consulters of ovil spirits ; those , 
 were enchanters, that is, persons who bewitched the senses 
 and confounded men's minds ; the Greeks called them Phar- 
 makoi, that is, compounders of medicine ; because they so be- 
 wildered the senses that, like those pharmacopaMsts, who by 
 their unguents change the human complexion, they made 
 objects appear entirely different from what they really were. 
 The chief of these Egyptian socerers were called Jannes, 
 and Jambres, or Mambres, — " Now, as Jannes and Mambres 
 resisted Moses, so these also resist tlie truth, men corrupted 
 in mind, reprobate concerning the faith." (2 Tim. 3, 8.) 
 
 The Necromancer, or Enquirer of the Dead, was he who 
 consulted with Satan in the appearance of a dead man ; of 
 this description of diviners was the Witch of Eudoi . When 
 Saul was refused an answer by God e'^tier by dreams, or 
 Urim and Thummim, or prophets, he consulted this woman of 
 Endor; whereupon she pretended to have brought up the 
 prophet Samuel from the dead, and to have consulted with 
 him. The Consulter of the Staff was he who p7-i-tcnded to 
 prophesy future events by means of staves or arrows. Tlio 
 mode of this operation is represented in Uli'erent lights. St. 
 Jerome says it was thus: — Suppose a doui-t existed a^ to 
 which of two or three j)a ^ular citi'39 wiis to be tirst as- 
 saulted; the names of th' cities were written on certain 
 staves or arrows, and pi i into a quiver, whoic thuy were 
 shaken together; then th irst that was drawn indicated the 
 city that was first to be nssaulted. This mode of divination 
 the Greeks called rabdo u/iteia, or helomanteia, divination by 
 rods or arrows. The Diviner by Entrails was he who from 
 the appearance of the entrails, particularly the liver, of 
 beasts, pretended to foretell things to happen. Nebiicha- 
 donosor being about to make war upon the Jews and the 
 
 I, tl! 
 
I 
 
 
 II 
 
 
 l^ 
 
 176 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 Ammonites at tho samo time, doubted as to which of them 
 ho should firnt attack ; he, accordingly consulted the staves 
 or arrows, in the manner just described, but did not feel 
 satisfied with tho answer given to him ; whereupon he had 
 recourse to tho divination by entrails This we read of in the 
 prophecy of Ezekiel : — " For the King of Babylon stood in 
 tho highway, at tho head of two ways, seeking divination 
 shuffling arrows ; he inquired of the idols, and consulted en- 
 trails." (21, 21.) As in this form of divination the liver 
 was tho chief object of inspection, tho Greeks called the 
 system by the name of epatoskopia, that is, divination by the 
 liver. The examination was confined to throe objects of in- 
 quiry, namely, first, the color of the entrails, that is, whether 
 they were of a deep or palo color ; second, their position, 
 that is whether or not they were in their proper places ; and 
 third, their number, that is, whether there was any de- 
 ficiency in this re8j)oct ; and if either the liver or heart, 
 which were considered the principal parts, was wanting, it 
 was regarded as a peculiarly ovil omen. It is said that on 
 tho day on which Julius Cfosar was murdered by the con- 
 spirators, tho heart was found to be wanting in two oxen 
 which had been ottered in sacrifice. 
 
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 CIIAPTEE XVII. 
 Courts, Civil and Ecclesiastical— Two Kinds of Civil 
 
 COUETS. 
 
 ..I I 
 
 MONG the Hebrews there were two distinct kinds 
 of Courts or Consistories, the one for civil and 
 the other for ecclesiastical affairs. This distinction 
 we first moot with in the Book of Deuteronomy : — " But 
 ho that will be proud, and refuse to obey the commandment 
 of the priest, who ministereth at that time to the Lord 
 thy God, and the decree of the judge, that man shall 
 die, and thou shalt take away the evil from ' Israel." 
 (1*7, 12.) In the nineteenth chapter of the second book 
 of Chronicles, we have this distinction insisted on more 
 at large. There we find that civil judges were established 
 in all the " fenced cities of Juda," while in Jerusalem 
 wore appointed " Lovites and priests, and chiefs of the 
 faniilios of Israel, to judge the judgment and the cause 
 of the Lord for the inhabitants thereof." And over 
 the spiritual court was placed Amarias, the high-priest ; 
 while Zabadias was appointed to preside over the King's 
 Court. We find that the prophet Jeremias was condemned 
 in one of these courts, but acquitted in the other : — " And 
 when Jeremias had made an end of speaking all that the 
 Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, the 
 priests, and ibo prophets, and all the people laid hold on 
 him, saying, let him be put to death." (26, 8.) . . 
 " Then the princes and all the people said to the priests, and 
 
 I 
 
178 
 
 THE HEBREWS At HOME. 
 
 i-'-l 
 
 pi 
 
 1fl 
 
 
 
 .if! 
 
 ri ^ 
 
 r"' 
 
 / 
 
 to the prophets : There is no judgment of death for this man 
 for he hath spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God." 
 (16 V.) Before the time of our Saviour these courts be- 
 came in a great measure confounded, or suspended, in 
 consequence of the confusion and disorder introduced into 
 the government of the Jews by Antiochus, and his followers ; 
 but, notwithstanding this, we learn from the New Testament 
 that the distinction between the civil and ecclesiastical 
 courts was observed even at that time. In the gospel of St. 
 Matthew we have the distinction pointed out in the persons 
 of the judges, as being priests and elders : — " And when he 
 was come into the temple, there came to him as he was teach- 
 ing, the chief priests and ancients of the people." And again : 
 " Then were gathered together the chief priests and ancients 
 of the people into the court of the high-priest, who was 
 called Caiaphas." (26, 2.) The civil Court is termed in the 
 Greek Sunedrion, a council ; and the spiritual Court, Suna- 
 goge, a synagogue : — " For they will deliver you up in their 
 Councils, and they will scourge you in their Synagogues." 
 (Mat. 10, 1*7.) The Convention of prophets and holy men 
 brought together by Esra after the captivity, for the purpose 
 of consulting on the aifairs of the Church was called the 
 great Synogogue. The business of the ecclesiastical Court 
 was to teach the people the difference between things *' holy 
 and unholy, clean and unclean," according to the book of 
 Leviticus (10, 10); and to determine appeals on matters of 
 controversy. In short the ecclesiastical Court was a repre- 
 sentative Church, whose functions and authority are illus- 
 trated by that direction of our Saviour in the gospel of St. 
 Matthew : — " And if he will not hear them ; tell the Church. 
 And if he will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as 
 the heatheu aiivi puUisan." (18, 17.) 
 
COURTS, CIVIL AND ECCLESIASTICAL. 
 
 179 
 
 : 1 
 
 The civil consistory, which was the Supreme Court, con- 
 sisted of seventy judges, of whom two sat as chief, namely 
 the Nasi, or chief justice, and the Abbeth Din, or Father of 
 the Senate. In the Ecclesiastical Court also there were two 
 presiding priests, namely the high priest, and his Sagan, or 
 assistant priest. It sometimes happened that the two 
 Courts, or Consistories met together for the discussion and 
 settlement of questions of importance ; but these qusstions 
 were such as related both to spiritual and civil matters, that 
 is, to such matters as were at once of a civil and an eccle 
 siastical natui'e. This kind of amalgamated meeting is 
 referred to in the Gospel by such expressions as " the Chief 
 priests and the elders were assembled together." 
 
 To the Ecclesiastical Court belonged the power of excom- 
 munication ; which was exercised in a threefold manner 
 according to the nature of the offence. Hence there were 
 said to be three degrees of excommunication. The first was 
 called Niddui, that is, a separation, or putting away. In 
 ihe New testament it is called a casting out of the Synagogue, 
 "For the Jews had already agreed among themselves, that 
 if any man should confess him to be Christ, he should be 
 put out of the Synagogue." (John 7-22). By this excom- 
 munication the offending party was forbidden all intercourse 
 with his kind, within the distance of four cubits ; nor was 
 he or she permitted to eat or drink with any one, to asso- 
 ciate with husband or wife, or lo hold any communication 
 whatsoever with man or woman ; and this, for the space of 
 thirty days. But the time of separation might be shortened 
 at the discretion of the judge, by the repentance of the 
 guilty party. But notwithstanding this separation, the 
 person so circumstanced could attend at divine service, to 
 teach others, or learu from others \ and could hire persons 
 
 It - ■ 
 
 I 
 
180 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 or be hired by others ; but always under the restraints re- 
 ferred to. If he or she continued impenitent, the punish- 
 ment might be extended to double or treble the prescribed 
 time, according to the pleasure of the judge. It might be 
 even prolonged during the life of the person ; and if ho or 
 she died without ropcntonce, then, according to the sentonw 
 of the judge, a stone was cast upon the coffin, or bier, to 
 signify that the deceased was deserving of being stonod ; 
 the corpse was refused the ordinary rites of burial ; was 
 unattended to the grave ; and buried without lamentation. 
 
 The second degree of excommunication was called Cherm 
 that is, a devoting of one to the power of death ; in the 
 New Testament it is called a giving one over to Satan, " To 
 deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, 
 that the spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. (1 Cor. 5.5). A person so devoted was termed by 
 the Greeks anathema. This word differs in signification 
 from anathema, which applies to any thing that is devoted to 
 Grod ; that is, taken from its ordinary use, and appropriated 
 to the divine service. This excommunication took place, 
 not in a private Court, as the former, but in the presence of 
 the whole church ; and maledictions and curses were pro- 
 nounced out of the law of Moses at the same time. After the 
 curses were pronounced, the candles which had been lighted 
 for the occasion were put out, to signify that the excom- 
 municated person was deprived of the light of heaven. 
 
 The third degree of excommunication is called Maranatha 
 a Syriac word, signifying the Lord cometh : "If there 
 be any man that love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be I 
 anathema, maranatha " (I Cor, 16-22). St Jerome and St 
 Chrysostom think that the meaning here is, that thej 
 Lord it come already; and that therefore it is to be taken as I 
 
COURTS, CIVIL AND ECCLESlASTtCAL. 
 
 181 
 
 an tadmonition to thoHc who doubted of the resurrection ; 
 and that it was intended to remind them that Christ, the 
 judge of the living and the dead was already co^ne. Others 
 take maranatha to mean, may our Lord come ; that is, to 
 judge and punish those with exemplary judgments and 
 punishments, that do not love the Lord Jesus Christ. These 
 remarks I take from the Annotators on the New Testament. 
 The Jews called this excommunication, Schammafa, that is, 
 the Lord Cometh ; but it may also signify, there is death, from 
 Schem, there, and Mitha, death. Therefore as expressing a 
 mode of excommunication, it may be rendered excommunica- 
 turn to death. To this, it is thought, St John the Apostle 
 alludes where he says, " He that knoweth his brother to sin 
 a sin, which is not to death,let him ask, and life shall be given 
 to him, who sinneth not to death. There is a sin unto death : 
 for that I say not that any man ask ". (1 John 5-16.) The 
 fomi of this excommunication was the same as that used by 
 Esra and Nehemiah, as the Jews say, against the Samaritans 
 which was called excommunicatio in secreto nominis tetragram- 
 matiSythe excommunication in the mystery of the four-lettered 
 name, that is Jehovah. It was this : " They assembled the 
 whole congregation into the temple of the Lord, and they 
 brought three hundred priests, and three hundred trumpets, 
 and three hundred books of the law, and as many boys, and 
 they sounded their trumpets, and the Levites singing,cursed 
 the Samaritans by all the sorts of excommunication in the 
 mystery of the name Jehovah, and in the Decalogue, and 
 with the curse of the superior house of Judgment, and like- 
 wise with the curse of the inferior house of Judgment, that 
 no Israelite should eat the bread of a Samaritan, (whence 
 they say he who eateth of a Samaritan's bread is as he who 
 eateth of swine's flesh) ; and let no Samaritan be a proselyte 
 
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182 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
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 in Israel, and that they should have no part in the resurrec- 
 tion of the dead." (Drus. de trib. sec. Lib. 3.) E. Gerson 
 forbade the breaking open of letters under the penalty of this 
 excommunication. 
 
 Such then were the three degrees of excommunication 
 practised in the J ^jwish Church, which were similar to those 
 observed in the three camps with respect to the three sorts 
 of uncleanness ; of which the first, namely, that of contact 
 with the dead, excluded the defiled from the camp of God 
 only, and the last, that of leprosy, from the camp of God, 
 the camp of Levi, and the camp of Israel. In the Greek 
 Church, however, there were four degrees of excommuni- 
 cation, or rather of censure, for none were altogether excluded 
 from a participation in the prayers of the Church. These 
 were called, first, Sustasis, which means standing, because 
 those who' were visited with this censure were obliged to re- 
 main standing by, while others were receiving the Sacrament 
 of the Lord's Table, which they were forbidden to approach. 
 This was the only restraint imposed upon them. The second 
 degree of censure was called Upoptosis, a lying down ; be- 
 cause such persons as were subjected to it, though permitted 
 to be present in a part of the Church appropriated to them 
 and to prostrate themselves in prayer, were yet forbidden 
 not only to approach the Lord's Table, but ever to be pre- 
 sent at the celebration of the Communion. Their place in 
 the Church was behind the choir, with the Catechumens, 
 that is, those pagans who had been converted to the Christian 
 faith, but who had not as yet received baptism. These 
 Catechumens always left the Church, or that part of it be- 
 hind the choir, called from them, Catechumenum, as soon as 
 the celebration of the Communion commenced. It was to 
 them the words, Ite, missa est, go, mass is over, were princi' 
 pally address^ in th^ L^tin Church, 
 
COURTS, CIVIL AND ECCLESIASTICAL. 
 
 183 
 
 The third degree of censure was called aJcroasts, which 
 means hearing, because persons under this kind of censure 
 were obliged to remain ikt the church porch, and thus, though 
 they were not allowed to enter, they were enabled to hear 
 the Scriptures read. They were, like the others, debarred 
 from the Lord's Table, and from a communion of prayer 
 with the congregation. 
 
 The fourth and last degree of censure was that called ^ro- 
 Jclausis, a weeping. Those who were undergoing this form of 
 censure were not allowed to approach the Church at all, but 
 had to remain at a distance from it imploring with tears 
 those who entered, to entreat the Lord for mercy in their be- 
 half; hence they were called weepers. 
 
 The business of the Civil Courts among the Hebrews was 
 conducted pretty much in the manner which prevails among 
 ourselves in the present day, with the exception that the 
 gieat bulwark of modem freedom, the trial by jury, formed 
 no part of their judicatorial system. The organization of 
 their Courts consisted of judges, officers, advocates, or 
 pleaders, notaries and witnesses. In their Supreme Courts 
 there was, as I have before observed, one judge who presided 
 over the rest, and whom wo may designate by the name of 
 the Lord Chief Justice ; in the Hebrew he was called Nasi, 
 and in the Greek, Archon. His consent was always sought 
 in bringing an action for trial. The officers who were called 
 schoterim in the Hebrew text, and grammateis in the Septua- 
 gint, corresponded, in their functions, with our sheriffs. To 
 these was committed th'> execution of the sentences pro- 
 nounced by the judges ; and for this purpose they always 
 carried about with them staves and whips, in the manner of 
 the Boman lictors who carried about rods and axes before the 
 Consul, as the insignia of their office. St. Luke doubtless 
 
 u 
 
184 
 
 THB HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 refers to these under the name of /?mA:<ores,oxactor8,or execu- 
 tioners, where he says : — " And when thou goest with thy 
 adversary to the prince, whilst thou art in the way endeavor 
 to he delivered from him, lest perhaps he draw thee tp the 
 judge, and the judge deliver thee to the exactor, and the ex- 
 actor oast thee into prison." [12, 58.] 
 
 The pleader, or advocate, who is called Baal rib in the He- 
 brew, performed the same office for or against the accused 
 as with us ; but it was a point of invariable observance in 
 the Hebrew Courts, that he should stand on the right 
 hand of the accused whether pleading for or against him ; 
 hence these words of the Psalmist : " The Lord hath stood 
 at the right hand of the poor to save his soul from persecu- 
 tors." [108, 31.] And in the prophecy of Zacharias we 
 have a similar illustration of the practice : " And. the Loi*d 
 shewed me Jesus the high-priest standing before the angel of 
 the Lord ; and Satan stood on his right hand to be his ad- 
 versary." [3, 1.] St. John the Apostle also alludes tp this, 
 where he says : " But if any man sin we have an advocate 
 with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Just." [1 John, 2, 1.] 
 
 The Notaries were two in number, one of whom stood on 
 the right hand to take down the sentence of acquittal, as 
 well as all that was said in beha,lf of the accused ; and the 
 other on the left to enter the sentence of condemnation, and 
 the charges brought forward against him. Drusius, the 
 Commentator, on Matthew, twenty-fifth chapter, is of opin- 
 ion that Christ, in speaking of the last judgment, had refer- 
 ence to this relative position of the Notaries in the Jewish 
 Courts : — " And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but 
 the goats on his left." (Mat. 26. 33.) 
 
 The witnesses at a trial in the Court of the Hebrews should 
 be at least two in number in order to support an indic^ 
 
COtJRTS, OTVH AND ECCLBSIASTIOAL. 
 
 185 
 
 ment. To this we find reference made in the Book of 
 Beuteronouiy :— " One witness shall not rise up against 
 any man, whatsoever the sin or wickedness be ; but in the 
 mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall stand." 
 (19. 15.) If those witnesses gave false evidence^ then were 
 they punished according to the law of Talio, that is^ the same 
 punishment which the accused, if proved guilty, should 
 have to suffer, would be inflicted upon them : — " They shall 
 render to him as he meant to do to his brother, and thou 
 shalt take away the evil out of the midst of thee." (Deut. 
 19.19.) 5 
 
 The judges acted in the double capacity of judges and 
 jurymen ; they heaixi the evidence, and determined the guilt 
 or innoqence of the accused. They pronounced sentence in 
 a few brief words such as, " Thou A, art just ;" or, " Thou B, 
 art guilty." If the sentence of guilty was pronounced, the 
 prisoner w:ag immediately dragged to the place of execution. 
 In allusion to which immediate execution are the w^rds of 
 the Psalmist : " When he is judged may he go out condemn- 
 ed." (JOS. 1.) The nianner of delivering judgment in courts 
 of justice was different in the different countries of antiquity, 
 among the Jews it was pronounced viva voce, and briefly, as 
 I have shown; among the Itomans it was delivered by billets 
 cast into an urn, and prepared for that purpose, being in- 
 scribed with the letter A or C, the former, the initial of 
 Absolvo, was for the acquittal of the prisoner, and the latter, 
 the initial of Condemno, was for his condemnation. If the 
 matter was difficult of determination other billets were 
 thrown in, marked with the letters N L, the initials of non 
 liquet; it (fx>es not appear. In li^e manner, among the Greeks, 
 there were three billet^, or tablet^, marked witli letters ex- 
 pressive of acquittal, or condemnation, or enlargement, that 
 
 If 
 
 ii . 
 
 1 '! ': '' 
 
 m 
 
186 
 
 THB HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 is, indecision. The letter TT^ef a signified condemnation ; the 
 letter Tau implied acquittal, and tJie letter Alpha stood for 
 enlargement. Among other nations, condemnation and ac- 
 quittal were signified by a black and a white stone ; to which 
 probably St. John the Apostle refers when he says : — " To 
 him that overcometh I will give the hidden manna, and will 
 give'him a white counter, or stone, and in the counter a new 
 name written, which no man knoweth, but he that receiveth 
 it." (Apoc. 2. 17.) 
 
 There is a striking similarity between some of the phrases 
 emploj'^ed by the Greeks and Hebrews in connection with 
 Courts of Justice, for instance, when the judge begins to 
 give sentence, he is said by the Greeks anastenai eis krisin, 
 that is, to rise up to judgment j we have the same form of 
 expression in ^he Scripture, where the Psalmist says, " When 
 God rose up to judgment." (75. 10.) Again, when an ac- 
 cused party is acquitted, he is said by the Greeks anastenai 
 en kriseif that is, to rise up in judgment. We have precisely 
 the same form of expression in the New Testament when 
 St. Matthew says, " The men of Nineve shall rise in judg- 
 ment with this generation, and shall condemn it." (12. 14.) 
 One other instance; when a prisoner is condemned he is said 
 by the Greeks exelthein katadedikasmenos, to depart condemn- 
 ed or guilty ; the same form of expression is used by the 
 Psalmist : " When he is judged may he go out condemned." 
 (108. Y.) In all this it would seem that the Greeks followed 
 the Hebrew forms of expression. 
 
 There were two kinds of Civil Courts among the Hebrews, 
 that is the Superior, or Supreme Court, and the Inferior 
 Courts. The Supreme Court was called Sanhedrim gedola, 
 the Great Consistory ; and the Inferior Courts, Sanhedrim 
 Katan/nc^, Our Saviour distinguishes them by the respective 
 
 ■ ?ii 
 
COUMS, CIVIL AND ECCLESIASTICAL. 
 
 18T 
 
 names of Sunedrion, a Council, and Krisin, Judgment, accord- 
 ing to the Septuagint, " But I say to you, that whosoever is 
 angry with his brother, shall be in danger of the Judgment. 
 And whoever shall say to his brother Racay shall be in danger 
 of the Council. And whosoever shall say, Thm fool, shall 
 deserve to be cast into the Gehenna of fire." (Mat. 6. 22.) 
 We find here a gradation of punishment as of offence ; he who 
 was angry with his brother was punished by the lesser 
 court ; he who called his brother Eaca^ which was a term 
 expressing contempt, such as tu»h, phaW; bah, and the like, 
 was punished by the Superior Court ; but he who called an- 
 other fooly which was deemed a very great offence, was to be 
 punished with the fire of hell, indicated by the Gehenna of 
 fire. Gehenna was a valley lying outside Jerusalem, and 
 characteriised by two kinds of fire ; namely, the fire of Baal, 
 or Moloch, where children were burnt in sacrifice to the Sun ; 
 and a fire which was kept constantly burning there for the 
 purpose of consuming carrion, or dead carcasses, and other 
 filth carried out of the city of Jersalem ; hence this valley 
 of Gehenna was altogether a most horrible and abominable 
 place, and a fit type of the infernal region. This name San- 
 hedrinty given to the Superior Court, is derived from the 
 Greek word, Sunedrion, a place of judgment. Its Hebrew 
 name was Beth Din, the house of judgment The number of 
 Judges in this Court was, as I have already stated, seventy, 
 exclusive of the presiding judge, who was called Nasi. This 
 was the number which God instructed Moses to bring to- 
 gether at the time of its first institution : " And the Lord 
 said to Moses : Gather unto me seventy men of the ancients 
 of Israel, whom tho* knowest to be ancients and masters of 
 the people ; and thou shalt bring them to the door of the 
 tabernacle of the Covenant, and shalt mak^them stand there 
 
 // 
 
 ^ 
 
188 
 
 THE BEB11!bWs At ^OMtt* 
 
 4 ,. 
 
 IS'!!,, 
 
 withtheo." (Num. 11. 16.) Here' t^e find iJiei'^'v^eil^ddWtf^' 
 besides Moses ; and after the death of Moses there was al- 
 ways a Chief Judge selected to preside over the seventy 
 elders. The mode of their selection is thought by s6nio 
 Commentators to be this : Six were chosen fi-om each of the 
 twelve tribes, except that of Levi, from which 6nly four 
 were selected, thus making seventy in all. Others, however, 
 are of opinion that the selection was made by six out of 
 each tribe having their names inscribed on tablets, or scrolls 
 of paper, with the addition of the word Zaken, or elder, in- 
 scribed on seventy of them, and Chelek, or apart, on each of 
 the remaining two ; these scrolls were then put into an urn, 
 and the names drawn without the word Chelek, or a(part, con- 
 stituted the Council, the other two being rejected. There 
 appears to be an allusion to this mode' o^ selection in the 
 Scriptures ; fo: Mosec having selected the seventy according 
 to God's dirf Ctii- 1, " there remained in the camp two of the 
 men, of whoi.i one was called Eldad and the other Medad, 
 upon whom the spirit rested ; for they had also been enrolled 
 but were not gone forth to the tabernacle." (Kum. 11. 26.) 
 It was the senior of these seventy who was called Abbeth 
 Bin, the Father of the Senate, or Judgment Sail. They sat 
 in the form of a semicircle, the Nasi, or Lord Chief Justice, 
 occupying an elevated seat in the middle, and the Abbeth 
 Din, or Father of the Senate, sitting next hiin on the right 
 hand. 
 
 The Inferior Court consisted of twenty-three judgeis, or 
 elders ; and of this kind there were twd in the city of Jeru- 
 salem ; one at the " door of the Court before the temple," 
 and the other at the " door of the Mountaiii of the Temple." 
 
 In every city throughout Israel, where there Were as many 
 as six score householders, there was one of these courts or 
 
COURTS, CIVIL A17D EGCLESUSTICAL. 
 
 189 
 
 Ckmsistoiide ; ,and where the number pf housohoMers was lesH 
 than six score there was another sort of inferior Court con- 
 sisting of only, three judges, ^he Sanhedrim, or Court of 
 Seventy, sat in Jerusalem only, outside of the Court of the 
 . Temple, in a house or apartment called the paved Chamber t 
 or, as the Greeks designate it, JAthostroton, the Pavement. 
 It was so called on account of the curious stones with which 
 it was paved. It was here th^>t Pilate sat in judgment, ac- 
 cording to St. ^ohn: "Now when Pilate had heard these 
 words, he ,)birought Jesus, forth; and sat down in the judg- 
 ement seat,, in tjbe place t^at is called JJithostrotos, Skud in the 
 J|3;ebre;w, 0aJlfbath£u" (^9. 13.) All the other cpurts or con- 
 ^sistorles sat in the gates pf the cities ; whi^h circumstance 
 illustrates the , language of the Scripture with reference to 
 the Church, "theg^tes of hell jM^all not prevail against it." 
 , (Mat. 16. 1.8.) The gat^ of a city were the strongest parts 
 , of it ; and this fact taken in connection with the circumstance 
 of the cpurts heiug held in those places, affords clear evi- 
 dence that by the " gates pf^ hell " is h^re meant the strength 
 as well as the skill a,nd wily policy of Satan. 
 
 Th© Sauhcdriin» <>K Qoyai of Seventy, differed of course in 
 - its powers apd extent of jurisdiction from the inferior courts ; 
 i^om, this Cpurt there lay no appeal, while it was conipetent 
 .for parties to app^^l i^ it from other courts. Again, its 
 jurisdiction embra<}ed matters of the highest concern — the 
 , trial .of false,prcphets, of the high-priest, and even of a 
 i whole tribe ; while the Inferior Court pf twenty- three, though 
 it had xhe power of, ^fe and death, could not sit in judgment 
 on these last mentipn^d j^^bjects. But the small Co\irt of 
 -three pp^ld.npt tpy capital pffencps at all; its jurisdiction 
 „was limited to pejtty pffencjBS, such as trifling assaults, small 
 . 4ebts, t^j^d. the li^e. ^he ppwer of the High Court to sit in 
 
 f/ 
 
' * 
 
 190 
 
 THE HBfiRBl^S A'L HOltt. 
 
 judgment on the prophets, and high-priest, and other sab- 
 jects of the highest interest, illustrates that exclamation of 
 our Saviour in reference to Jerusalem : — " Oh Jerusalem, 
 Jerusalem, that killest the prophets, and stonest them that 
 are sent to thee, how often would I have gathered thy child- 
 ren as the bird doth her brood under her wings, and thou 
 wouldst not." (Luke 13. 34.) 
 
 Their manner of judging a prophet was this : They mark- 
 ed his prophecies, and if they found that his prediction of 
 evil was not fulfilled, they did not set him down for a false 
 prophet, because they then took it that €rod exercised His 
 attribute of mercy, and withheld the evil ;• but if he pro- 
 phesied that which was good, and such prophecy was not 
 fulfilled at the ^me specified, then he was declared a false 
 prophet, and condemned accordingly. This mode of judging 
 in such cases they derived from the words of the prophet 
 Jeremias : " The prophet that prophesied peace ; when his 
 word shall come to pass, the prophet shall be known whom 
 the Lord hath sent in truth." (Jer. 28. 9.) 
 
 This Court of Seventy exercised its functions not only 
 under judges and kings, but also during interregna, when 
 there was no Chief Magistrate of State; and so they con- 
 tinued until the time of Herod, who suppressed them in 
 order to secure to himself the sole sovereignty and juris- 
 diction over the kingdom. It is well to observe here that it 
 was not unusual with the judges and kings of Israel to go 
 about occasionally on Judicial Circuits ; but this they did 
 without any infringement of the power or Amotions of 
 the regular established courts. We learn from the first Book 
 of Kings that the prophet Samuel was wont to do this : — 
 *' And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life ; and he 
 went every year about to Bethel, and to Qalgal, and to Mas* 
 
COtRTS, OlVn ANl) EOCLBSIASTICAL. 
 
 191 
 
 t)hath, and he judged Israel in the aforesaid places." (1. 16.) 
 The same practice was sometimes followed by the Boman 
 Emperors, who went on circuit dispensing justice to their 
 subjects ; but this did not interfere with the power of the 
 Senate or of the other established Courts. 
 
v,^ 
 
 ';* 
 
 \\ 
 
 CHAPTEE XVm. 
 
 ELECTION OP JUDGES — MODE OP PROCEDURE IN CAPITAL 
 SENTENCES — THE DIFFERENT KINDS OP CAPITAL PUNISH- 
 MENT. " ' 
 
 HE qualifications for judges among the Jews 
 were various ; according to a writer of established 
 authority on the laws and antiquities of the 
 Jews, they were as follows : — " Thay should 
 be free from all bodily defect; they should be skilled in 
 the seventy languages, so that they might judge all 
 causes between party and party without the intervention 
 of interpreters ; they should not be very far advanced in 
 years ; they should not be eunuchs, who were generally con- 
 sidered to be of a cruel disposition ; they should be fathers 
 of children, as such were deemed to be inclined to mercy ; 
 and they should be skilled in magic, in order that they might 
 be able to judge of the practices and offences of magicians." 
 The law of God, however, required very different qualifica- 
 tions from this : and such as we look for in judges in our 
 own time, though we have not always the happiness of find- 
 ing them. According to the instructions communicated by 
 God through his prophets, the following qualifications were 
 indispensable in judges : They should have wisdom, under- 
 standing, integrity, courage, the fear of God, love of truth, a 
 hatred of covetousness, and no respect of persons. On this sub- 
 ject we have the following in the Book of Exodus: — " And 
 provide out of all the people ^ble men, fluch as fear God, in 
 
Mode op procedure in capital sEttENCES. idS 
 
 \vhom thoro is truth, and that hate avarice. • • • Who 
 may judge the people at all times." (18, 21.") In the book 
 of Deuteronomy we have the following : — " Let me have i 
 from among you wise men, and men of understanding, and 
 such whose conversation is approved among your tribes, that 
 I may appoint them your rulers (judges)." (Deut. 1. 13.) 
 And again : — '• There shall be no difference of persons, you 
 shall hear the little as well as the great ; neither shall you 
 respect any man's person, because it is the judgment of God." 
 (Deut. 1. 17.) In order that a regular succession of judge*: 
 duly qualified for their oftice, might be kept up, ^^j/Kr^ 
 established practice among the Jews that bedidw t^Spwegular 
 judges, there should be three benches of legal !^;^i(a«nts, who 
 sat beneath the judges, and from whom a selection was made 
 to the seat of justice upon every occurrence of a vacancy ; 
 these were called Talmidi Chacamim, that is, scholars of the 
 Wisemen. On all occasions of execution it was usual for 
 two of these to accompany the condemned to the place of 
 death. 
 
 The inauguration of judges was performed in either of , 
 two ways ; that is, at first, by the imposition of hands in the 
 presence of five, or at least three judges ; and afterwards, by 
 the recital of a certain verse expressive of the association of 
 the Elect with th^ bench of judges. Galantinus, citing the 
 Talmud, expresses this twofold mode of inauguration in 
 these words: — "Institutio Judicum aut manu fiebat, aut 
 nomine tantum;" that is, the inauguration of judges was 
 made either by hands or by word only. 
 
 In all causes tried in the Jewish Courts it was an estab- 
 lished maxim among the judges that no hasty judgment 
 should be given, but that they should exercise all proper 
 deliberation. This they derived from the practice of Moses 
 
 R 
 
 FiniHiiftlj 
 
 .*f; 
 
 I 
 
 f:jfi j 
 
 I 
 
 s 
 
 II 
 
194 
 
 THE HSBAEWS AT HOME. 
 
 .■.^ 
 
 li 
 
 ?;;«: 
 
 W 
 
 Mr 
 
 r'" s 
 
 • 'I .i 
 
 » •A-. 
 
 in th$' trial of the four different causes which had been 
 brought before him ; of which two were of a minor charac- 
 ter J and two of a grave nature, being of life and death. Of 
 the former was that cause relating to the lawfulness of per- 
 S0.18 defiled by contact with the dead to celebrate the Pass- 
 over. On this occasion Moses deliberated before ho decided 
 the question as to the lawfulness of the Act ; the manner and 
 cause of which deliberation appear from these woi-ds of the 
 Sacred Witness : — " And Moaes answered them ; Stay that I 
 may consult the Lord what he will ordain concerning you." 
 (Num. 9. 8.) The other minor cause brought before Moses 
 was that concerning the daughters of Salphaad, as to whether 
 it was lawful for them to marry out of their own tribe ; in 
 this case Moses deliberated as before for the purpose of con- 
 salting the h{\r6, and the n gave judgment, that it was unlaw- 
 ful for women to marry out of their own tribe. In the two 
 causes of life and death which were tried by Moses, he, of 
 course, observed the same deliberation, that is, he declined 
 pronouncing judgment until he sought the counsel of the 
 Lord. One of these latter causes was that of the blasphemer 
 mentioned in the book of Leviticus ; in this case, " the Lord 
 spoke to Moses, saying : Bring forth the blasphemer without 
 the camp, and let them that heard him, put their hands upon 
 his head, and let all the people stone him." (Levit. 24. 14.) 
 T! ;*^ other cause of a capital nature brought before Moses 
 Wi'y 'r'M of the person who gathered sticks on the Sabbath ; 
 ipoa this occasion " the Lord said to Moses : Let that man 
 i'c, kt all the multitude stone him without the camp." 
 ^Num. 15.35.) 
 
 Such then were the instances of just deliberation from 
 which the Jews derived the judicial maxim, that in all trials 
 the judges should practice deliberation. But we know that 
 
 
 # 
 
MODE OP PROCEDUttE IN CAl^ltAt SENTENCES. 195- 
 
 tho practice of deliberation may be strained to the injury of 
 litigant parties ; of which we have innumerable instances in 
 our own day ; and we learn from the parable of the unjust 
 judge and the widow, that this evil arose among the Jews : 
 " There was a judge in a certain city, who feared not God, 
 nor regarded man. And there was a certain widow in that 
 city, and she came to him saying : Avenge me of my adver- 
 8ary. And he would not for a long time. But afterwards 
 he said within himself: Although I fear not God, nor regard 
 man, yet because this widow is troublesome to me, I will 
 avenge her, lest continually coming she wearj'^ me." (I«uke 
 18. 2.) 
 
 Procrastination or unnecessary delay was the only fault of 
 which we find this unjust judge to have been guilty ; in fact 
 it was for this our Saviour designated hin an unjust judge, 
 who " feared not God nor regarded man." 
 
 It was usual in the Jewish Court to place the accused in 
 an elevated position during his trial, in order that he migl: t 
 be open to the view of the Court, and all present : tind after 
 sentence of condemnation was pronounced, in capital cases, 
 the judges and witnvjg^se^ laid their hands upon the head of 
 the condemned, and said, " Thy blood be upon thine own 
 head." To this practice, and form of expression, the lan- 
 guage of tho Jews with i*espect to our Saviour had reference, 
 when they said, "His blood be upon us, and upon our chil- 
 dren," (Mat. 27. 25.) 
 
 Tho place of execution was outside the city gates ; and 
 the condemned was accompanied thither by his executioners, 
 called in the Gospel of St. Mark spekaloutores, that is, 8])ec- 
 tators, because they attended in court during the trial, as 
 mere spectators, until the condemned was ordered to execu- 
 tion. He was also attended by two of the judicial students, 
 
 I*' 
 
196 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT liOMB. 
 
 
 jl!!i 
 
 !if 
 
 called the scholars of the Wisemen, of whom I have already- 
 made mention. As he was being led to execution a public 
 crier preceded him, saying aloud, " Such an one is going to 
 be punished with such a death, because he hath committed 
 such an offence, at such a time, in such a place ; and such 
 and such an one are witnesses thereof: If any therefore 
 knoweth anything whicl. may do him good, lot him come, 
 and make it known." In the meantime there was a person 
 stationed at the door of the Consistory or Court holding a 
 handkerchief or linen cloth in his hand ; so that if any one 
 came forward to speak in favor of the condemned, the person 
 at the door began to wave the handkerchief lh a signal to 
 another person on horseback, and purposely stationed at 
 some distance* off, to hasten after the condemned and bring 
 him back. In fact the condemned might himself return 
 several times, if anything occurred to him which he thought 
 might be of service to him to plead before his judges; unless 
 it was of so frivolous a nature that it would noc be attended 
 to ; and of this the two scholars of the Wisemen, who accom- 
 panied him for that purpose, were to be the arbiters. 
 
 Before execution the condemned was exhorted to confess 
 his crime, in oi*der that he might receive his portion in the 
 future world. Thus we find that Josuo exhorted Achar,-— 
 " And Josue said to Achen : My son give glory tv the 
 Lord God of Israel, and confess, and tell me what thou hast 
 dou<3, hide it not," (7.19.) And Achan answered, " Indeed 
 I have sinned against the Lord the God of It-*ael, and thus 
 and thus have I done." (20v.) At the time of the execution it 
 was the custom to give the condemned a cup of wine, with a 
 grain of frankincense in it, for the purpose of creating a giddi- 
 ness in his head, that he might thereby be rendered less 
 Sensitive to his punishment. In the gospel of St. Mark tbia 
 
 cup is ( 
 myrrh, 
 Savioui 
 
 of St. Ik 
 
 and in 
 
 another 
 
 vinegar 
 
 in the c 
 
 nion CD 
 
 recorder 
 
 (Iraughl 
 
 adopted 
 
 — "Giv 
 
 them th 
 
 thoir wi 
 
 6.) Th 
 
 Saviour 
 
 it may 1 
 
 of a mal 
 
 exccutic 
 
 stoned, i 
 
 napkin 
 
 Kiemory 
 
 Amon 
 
 namely, 
 
 ling. 
 
 and sira 
 
 observec 
 
 Sci'iptur 
 
 without 
 
 should l 
 
 ^Jiteemcc 
 
 rv. 
 
, MODE OF PROCEDURE IN CAPITAL SENTENCES. 197 
 
 cup is called ekmurmismenos oinos,. thai is, wine mingled with 
 myrrh, which was the draught offered by the Jews to our 
 Saviour at; his crucifixion (15. 23) ; and which in the gospel 
 of 8t. Matthew is called " wine mingled with gall " (27. 35) ; 
 and in the same Gospel we find that they offered him 
 another drink, when they took a " sponge, and filled it with 
 vinegar, and put it on a reed," (27. 48). This, however, was, 
 in the case of our Saviour, done with derision, as the com- 
 mon custom, in the case of dying malefactors, was that 
 recorded in the Gospe^ of St. Mark, namely, to give a 
 draught of wine mingled with myrrh. The custom was 
 adopted from that direction given in the book of Proverbs ; 
 — " Give strong drink to them that are. sad : and wine to 
 tiiem that are grieved in mind : Let them drink, and forget 
 thoir want, and remember their sorrow no more, (Prov. 31. 
 6.) The cup was often taken for death itself; as when our 
 Saviour, in bis agony in the gai-den, exclaimed, "Father, if 
 it may be, let the cup pass from me." After the executicn 
 of a malefactor it was usual to bury all the memorials of the 
 execution, such as the cross, the stone with which he was 
 Htoned, the sword that was used in beheading him, and the 
 napkin with which he was strangled, in order that the 
 Kiemoryof the transaction might pass away. 
 
 Among the Jews there were four modes of execution, 
 nanioly, stoning to death, beheading, burning, and strang- 
 ling. Of these four, stoning to death was the most severe ; 
 and sirangling the most gentle. It was an invariable rule 
 observed amongst them that in whatsoever instances the 
 Scriptures make mention of the punishment of death, 
 without naming the particular mode of execution, they 
 should be understood as implying strangulation, which was 
 osteomed the easiest kind of death. This rule, however, was 
 
 II 
 
 f!:' 
 
198 
 
 TitE Hebrews At home. 
 
 not based upon the truth of the Scriptures, for we find in 
 the case of the adulterer mentioned in Leviticus, (20.10), that 
 the mode of death is not mentioned ; yet in Ezekiel (16. 40) 
 stoning is pointed out as the mode of punishment to be in- 
 flicted on such offenders. And again, in the eighth chapter 
 of St. John, the Scribes and Pharisees point to the law of 
 Moses in confirmation of the punishment of stoning which 
 they would inflict on the woman taken in adultery. There 
 were eighteen kinds of crimes punishable by stoning ; these 
 were, Blasphemy, Worshipping of Idols, Sacrificing one's 
 Child to the Idol Moloch, Consulting with a familiar, or 
 Evil Spirit, Acting the Wizard, or the Witdi, Seducing 
 another to Idolatry, the publicly becoming an Idolater, 
 Profaning tjie Sabbath, Cursing Father and Mother, the 
 Rebellion of a Son. and seven varieties of Lewdness. The 
 manner in which the mode of punishment was carried into 
 effect was this : the convicted offender was brought to a place 
 outside the city gates, and was placed upon a mound of two 
 cubits in elevation, with his hands tied behind his back ; one 
 of the witnesses against him then struck him a blow on the 
 loins, and thus tumbled him from the mound : if this did 
 not kill, the other witnesses lifted up a stone of the weight 
 of two men, and threw it down upon him ; and if he still 
 remained alive ; every person present commenced casting 
 stones at him until he was dead. This was according to the 
 law as laid down in the book of Deuteronomy, — " The hands 
 of the witnesses shall be first upon him to kill him, and after- 
 wards the hands of the rest of the people : that thou mayst 
 take away the evil out of the midst of thee," (17. T). The 
 offender being thus dead was taken, and, by way of great <>;• 
 infamy, suspended to a tree, until near sunset, when he was 
 taken down, and the tree buried. 
 
MODE OP PROCEDURE IN CAPITAL SENTENCES. 199 
 
 The punishment of burning was reserved for ten classes 
 of offenders, all ranging within the precincts of lewdness. 
 There were two ways in which this kind of punishment was 
 inflicted ; namely, first, by burning the body with wood and 
 faggots, which was called combustio corporis, or the burning 
 of the body ; and second, by pouring burning hot lead into 
 the mouth of the malefactor, which passing into his bowels 
 destroyed life without consuming the body. This was termed 
 combustio aninioe, or the burning of the soul, and was that 
 which was in general use. 
 
 The punishment of beheading was confined to two kinds 
 of criminals, namely, murderers and citizens drawn into 
 idolatry. 
 
 Those who were reserved for the fourth and last species of 
 punishment by death, that is, strangulation, were, he who 
 struck his father or mother ; he who stole a soul of the Israel- 
 ites, that is, seduced him from the law of God; an elder who 
 contradicted the Consistory, or Court of ecclesiastical juris- 
 diction ; a false prophet, and he who prophesied in the name 
 of an idol ; and one or two others. It was carried out in 
 this manner : the offender was put into a heap of soft earth 
 or dung, down to his loins, with a towel around his neck, 
 which was drawn tight by two executioners, one on each 
 Mo, till he expired. 
 
 • » t 
 
 
 . V /r 
 
 ■; 1 ~i > 
 
 ■< ■■tui 
 
 *.' 'rf* .1 '.V 
 
 ■... /^ ;:■'.;;^;■/^ 
 
 1 1 
 
CHAPTER Xlt. 
 
 w 
 
 OTHER PUNISHMENTS BESIDES THOSE OP DEATH — THESE 
 DIVIDED INTO FOUE KINDS. 
 
 [HE punishments not capital, were of four kinds, 
 namely, Imprisonment, Eestitution, Talio and 
 Scourging. The punishment by imprisonment, 
 embracing the stocks, the pillory, fetters, and the like, 
 was pretty much the same as that which exists at the 
 present time, and therefore requires no illustration. It 
 is only necessary to observe that if a prisoner escaped 
 from confinement his keep-^r was liable to the same 
 punishment as should have been inflicted on the con- 
 demned party who had escaped. Of this we have an 
 illustration in the third book of Kings : — " Keep this man ; 
 and if he shall slip away, thy life shall be for his life, or 
 thou shalt pay a talent of silver." (20. 39.) 
 
 Bestitution was to be made in cases where goods were un- 
 justly taken, or fraudently retained. We have an example 
 of the mode of restitution in the book of Exodus : — " If any 
 many take an ox, or a sheep, and kill or sell it, he shall re- 
 store five oxen for one ox, and four sheep for one sheep." 
 Again, " If that which he stole be found with him alive, 
 either ox, or ass, or sheep, he shall restore double." (22. 1.) 
 There were three kinds of restitution among the Jews, 
 namely, first, when the thing stolen or retained was return" 
 ed, which by the Latin writers is called secundum idem; 
 second, when like for like was restored, that is, when the 
 
— THESE 
 
 OTHER PUNISHMENTS BESIDES THOSE OP DEATH. 201 
 
 thing taken or retained had been sold, and a similar thing, 
 in due proportion, was returned in its place; this is called 
 secundum cequale, and third, when satisfaction was made ac- 
 cording to the ability of the oifender, who happened not to 
 be able to restore either the thing taken, or to make ade- 
 quate compensation for it, and this is caWcd secundum posaibile. 
 We have seen by the text cited from the book of Exodus, 
 that it was deemed indispensabte that the identical thing 
 taken or retained should be restored if possible ; and such 
 was the exactitude with which this law was enforced, and 
 such the authority it possessed in the religious feelings of 
 the Jews, that if a man had put a piece of timber fraudu- 
 lently obtained into a new edifice, he would, upon discovery 
 of the fact, pull down the house if necessary, in order to 
 get out this piece of wood, and restore it to its owner. In 
 the spirit of this essential law, and the practice springing 
 from it the prophet Habakuk says : — " For the stone shall Cjy 
 out of the wall ; and the timber that is between the joints of 
 the building shall answer." (2.11.) But the most striking 
 phase of the law of restitution was, that if a party had not 
 the means of compensating for Ae thing taken, he should 
 be sold ; this we learn from the book of Exodus : — " If he 
 have not wherewith to make restitution for the theft, he 
 shall bo sold." (22. 3.) And St. Augustin attaches nearly 
 equal importance to this principle of restitution when he 
 states that a person who does not make restitution according 
 to his ability, has never repented ; and further that the sin 
 shall not be forgiven unless restitution is made, " Nan re- 
 mittetur peccatum nisi restitutatur ahlatum.^' 
 
 The law of Talio, or lex talionis, as the Romans called it, 
 was that by which the punishment conisted of like for like ; 
 as, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, as we find it 
 
 ,8 
 
 ( t 
 
26^ 
 
 TliE KEBREtVS ^T IJoMb!. 
 
 %'tf 
 
 laid down in the book of Deuteronomy: "Thou shalt not 
 pity him, but shalt require life for life, eye for eye, tooth 
 for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot." (19. 21 ) There 
 were two kinds of Talio, namely, first, talio identatis, or 
 Pythagorica as the JRoman writers phrase it, which was 
 according to the letter of the law, as just cited ; and second, 
 talio similitndims, or nnahgica^ which provided for an 
 adequate compensation for the injury done ; as, if a man 
 deprived another of an eye, he was obliged to pay a reason- 
 able sum of money in compensation for the injury thus 
 inflicted. In some cases this mode of satisfaction was the 
 only one that could be resorted to; in the instance, for 
 example, of a blind man depriving his neighbour of an eye, 
 in this case .satisfaction in kind could, not be made; and 
 consequently the talio similitudinis, or compensation in 
 money or goods became ihe only mode of redress. The 
 Hebrew doctors say that the party who deprived another 
 of any member was bound to a five-fold compensation ; that 
 is to say, the amount of compensation should be regulated 
 by five distinct considerations namely, the permanent injury 
 which the loss of the particular member occasioned, the loss 
 of labour occasioned by it, the pain and suffering arising 
 from the wound, the expenses incurred in healing it, and the 
 personal deformity occasioned by it. These are denominated 
 by Munstor, in his commentaries, as follows: damnum, 
 Icesio, dolor, medicina, and confusio. 
 
 The Romans also had a lex talionis; but with them it was 
 in all cases, competent for the offender to make compensa- 
 tion in money : if he refused this, he was obliged to submit 
 to a letter of the law, and give '' an eye for an eye, and a 
 tooth for a tooth." The punishment by scourging was, in 
 ancient times, of two kintls, that is, with rods, and with 
 
 •* 
 
OTHER PUNISHMENTS BESIDES THOSE Ol? DEATH. 20^ 
 
 stripes, the latter being considered the more severe and 
 painful. Among the Romans the two kinds prevailed; 
 while the punishment by stripes was chiefly in use among 
 the Hebrews. In the book of Deuteronomy we find the 
 following allusion to this punishment, " And if they see that 
 the offender be worthy of stripes ; they shall lay him down 
 and shall cause him to be beaten before them. Accor^^'ngto 
 the measure of the sin shall the measure also of the stripes 
 be : Yet so that they exceed not the number of forty ; lest 
 thy brother depart shamefully before thy eyes." (25. 2.) 
 Wo here find that according to the law laid down by the 
 Lord, the number of stripes in any case should not exceed 
 forty ; the Jews, however, who pretended to holiness beyond 
 the law, limited their extreme punishment to thirty-nine 
 stripes, that is, one less than the law allowed : thus, in the 
 case of St Paul, we learn that he was punished according to 
 the utmost limit recognised by the Jews: " Of the Jews five 
 times did I receive forty stripes save one." (3 Cor. 11.24.) 
 The scourge used on such occasions consisted of three 
 thongs, thirteen blows of which constituted the extreme 
 punishment prescribed : thus making the number of stripes 
 thirty-nine. Those thongs were made, as some say, one of a 
 Imli's hide, and two of an ass' hide ; but according to others, 
 the whole three were made of a calfs hide. In the execu- 
 tion of the punishment, the culprit was tied by the hands to 
 a s^^ake of a cubit and a half in height, so that his body 
 assumed a bending posture ; his clothes being then torn oft', 
 the executioner commenced the application of the whip. 
 It was usual for one or more of the judges to be present at 
 tlie infliction of this punishment, in order that the sentence 
 of the law might be fully carried out ; and it was the duty of 
 the presiding judge to read for the benefit of the culprit, 
 
204 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT nOME. 
 
 ! i| 
 
 1] V- ' . 
 
 I? 
 
 during the time of his punishment, the following verses from 
 the book of Deuteronomy : — If thou wilt not keep, anC fulfil 
 all the words of this law, that are written in this vr lume, 
 and fear his glorious and terrible name ; that is, t>.e Lord 
 thy God; the Lord shall increase thy plagues, and the 
 plagues of thy seed, yl agues great and lasting, infirmities 
 grievous and perpetual." (28. 58.) A second judge counted 
 the stripes as they were inflicted ; and a third directed the 
 executioner in the discharge of his duty. At the conclusion 
 the presiding judge recited from the Psalmist the following 
 words of mercy : " But he is merciful, and will forgive their 
 sins, and will not destroy them." (Psal. 11. 28.) In some 
 cases of severity it was usual to attach to the end of the 
 thongs certain huckle bones and pieces of lead for the purpose 
 of increasing the torture : these are designated in the Scrip- 
 tures by the name of Scorpions ; and the Greek writers call 
 them cLstragalatai mastigia, that is, scourges intertwined with 
 bones. 
 
 The Jews, not content with the mode of punishment pecu 
 liar to themselves, or which they had received from their 
 great law-giver, had recourse to those in practice among 
 other nations. The punishment of the cross was one of 
 these, and was borrowed from the Romans ; as was also the 
 exposing of malefacters to wild beasts ; cutting criminals in 
 two with a saw was another mode of punishment borrowed 
 from the Romans, though not, perhaps of Roman origin. 
 The infliction of the wheel, or Trochos, as it is called, was a 
 Greek mode of punishment ; as was also the cudgelling of 
 malefactors to death ; both of these the Jews borrowed from 
 the Greeks. The drowning of criminals in the sea was 
 common to the Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans ; though the 
 manner of inflicting this punishment was not the same 
 among the three nations. 
 
OTHER PUNISHMENTS BESIDES THOSE 01* DEATH. 205 
 
 Any tree or stake on which a person was tortured to 
 death was called a cross ; but the name was more properly 
 applied to a frame of wood composed of two pieces of 
 timber, one crossing the other. This latter is termed by 
 the Boman writers Crux compacta, that is, a made cross ; as 
 the former is styled Crux simplex, that is, an unartificial 
 cross. There were three different sorts of made or artificial 
 crosses, the distinction consisting in the position of the cross 
 piece of wood ; thus one sort was formed by two equal 
 pieces of timber crossing each other obliquely in the middle, 
 like the letter X ; this is called Crux decussata^ that is, a 
 cross joined in the middle. This was the description of 
 cross on which it is generally believed that St. Andrew 
 died ; and hence the common people among the Bomans 
 used to call it Crux Andrceana, St. Andrew's Cross. Another 
 form of cross resembled the letter T ; and this was called 
 Crux Antoniana, that is, St. Anthony's Cross, from a belief 
 that St. Anthony suffered on a cross of this description, as 
 he is often painted with such a cross. The third description 
 of cross was in form somewhat between the former two, 
 that is, the cross piece of timber passed neither at the 
 middle nor the top of the upright piece, but between the 
 two points, nearer, however, to the top, and in rather an 
 oblique direction. This is thought to be the form of J;he 
 cross on which our Saviour died. 
 
 Persons condemned to the death of the cross were first 
 tied to a pillar, and scourged. The ancient Fathers of the 
 Church say that our Saviour was thus treated ; though the 
 Scriptures do not speak of his being tied to a pillar : — ^Then 
 he released to them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus 
 delivered him unto them to be crucified." (Matt. 27. 26.) 
 They wore also obliged to carry their cross to the place 
 
 tr 
 
2i)6 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 appointed for the execution , as our Saviour bore his cross 
 to the Mount of Calvary, — " And bearing his own cross he 
 went forth to that place which is called Calvary, but in 
 Hebrew Golgotha." (John 19. 17.) The cause of their 
 punishment was inscribed on a tablet, and either carried 
 before them on their way to execution, or jjroclaimed by a 
 public crier, in order that th« justice of their sentence might 
 appear to all. This inscription was called by the Homans 
 Titultts, and sometimes eloyium, both words signifying as 
 much as the cause which justified the sentence of execution. 
 The inscription written by Pilate at the time of the execu- 
 tion of our Saviour was, " Jesus of Nazareth, the King of 
 the Jews," in Hebrew, Greek and Latin; which brief inscrip- 
 tion conveyed to the multitude the cause of his being put to 
 death, namely, that he proclaimed himself Kino of the 
 Jews. When they came to the place of execution they 
 were stripped of their clothes; and tb^n fastened to the 
 cross. 
 
 • The punishment of death by sawing the malefactor in two 
 was, as I have just observed, common to the Hebrews and 
 Bomans ; the former having borrowed it probably from the 
 latter. The manner of executing this execrable torture was 
 by sawing from the head downwards. It is thought that 
 this was the kind of death which Manasses inflicted upon 
 the prophet Isaias; and that it is to this that St. Paul 
 allu ^es where he describes the variety of sufferings to which 
 the faithful had been formerly subjected : — " They were 
 stoned, they were cut asunder, they were tempted, they 
 were put to death by the sword, they wandered about in 
 sheep skins, in goat skins, being in want, distressed, 
 afflicted." (Heb. 11. 37.) The exposing of criminals to be 
 devoured by wild beasts was a mode of capital punishment 
 
OTHER PUNISUMENTS BESIDES THOSE OF DEATH. 207 
 
 borrowed by the Hebrews from the Eomans. This was a 
 commou mode of punishment in the early periods of Chris- 
 tianity ; and Tertuilian informs us that the Heathens were 
 wont to attribute every calamity which befel them to the 
 Christians ; and that on such occasions it was a common 
 exclamation among them, Christiani ad Leones, the Chris- 
 tians to the lions. Some are of opinion that St. Paul was 
 exposed in this manner at Ephesus, from his observations 
 addressed to the Corinthians : — " If (according to man) I 
 fought with beasts at Ephesus, what doth it profit me, if the 
 dead rise not again." (1 Cor. 15. 32.) Saints Chrysostome 
 and Ambrose, however, diflfer from this opinion, and think 
 that the expression is merely metaphorical, signifying 
 merely the opposition which the Apostle met with at Ephe< 
 sus from Demetrius and others; though the literal sense 
 would be more in accordance with the whole context, and 
 more forcibly illustrative of the predominant feeling of the 
 Apostle — "what doth it profit me, if the dead rise not 
 again." 
 
 The Truchos, or wheel, was in use among the Greeks j but 
 whether the Hebrews ever adopted it, is uncertain. The allu- 
 sion to the wheel in the book of Proverbs can scarcely justify 
 the supposition that the Hebrews used it as an instrument 
 of torture: the words are these, — "A wise king scattoreth 
 the wicked, and bringeth over them the wheel." (Prov. 20. 
 16.) The obvious meanincj of these words, as it appears to 
 me, is that a wise king turns the evil acts of bad men against 
 themselves ; and this brought about in the revolution of time^ 
 which, like a revolving wheel, forces downward that which 
 was uppermost but a moment before. 'The Greeks used the 
 wheel not, properly speaking, as an instrument of torture, 
 but as a part of the machinerv connected with the flogging 
 
 i;:'i 
 
II 
 
 N 
 
 208 
 
 TUB IIKUIIEWS AT IIOMB. 
 
 m ■ 
 
 I *- 
 
 
 of I'wlprils; lliowo wore lied to a wliool, while a coijfo.ssioti 
 was oxtoi'tod fVom thoni through the moUiuin of flagollatioii. 
 
 Drowning m the sea wjih ii modo of capital puninhmont 
 common to many hoathon nations; but tlioy ditt'orod aw lo 
 Iho manner of Uh execution. The llomauH puniHhed ])aiTi- 
 cidot^ in this way hy tying the culprit ui) in a leathern sack, 
 witlj a serpen 1, a cock, antl an ape; and thus caHting him 
 'mt6 the tea. The (rreekss elfected thiw puninlnnent by wrap- 
 ping up the olVender in Icjul. ihit (he llelu'evvM tied a mill- 
 Htone around his neck. 
 
 Cudgelling to death wuh in use among (he (Jreek.s as well 
 as Hebrews; but among the KonniuH we have no mention of 
 anything resembling it, except it be that of the Equuleus, 
 whicli, however, was not the same. It was by the infliction 
 of this kind olj' punishment that Elea/-er met his martyrdom, 
 of which we read in the second book of Macciibees : "But 
 he cliuosing rather a most glorious death than a hateful life, 
 wont forwaixi voluntarily to the torment." (6.19.) This 
 torment is rendered in the Septuagint tmnpanon, — " he went 
 forwai'd voluntai'ily epi to tumj^anon" that is to the drum^ be- 
 eauso tlie condemned was beaten with sticks like a drum ; 
 hence this torture was called the drum punishnxent. These 
 arc All the modes of punislnnont that we read of as being in 
 use among the Hebrews; some of which are familar enough 
 to ourselves at the present day, such as sullbcating and be- 
 heading: and many of which, though happily now in disuse, 
 had been practised in modern times with a degree of savage 
 barbarity unparalleled in the worst times of Heathen fer- 
 ocity. 
 
 ClUCUMO 
 
/ 
 
 CIIAPTKR XX. 
 
 CIIICUMCISION—- ITS MKANINO AND APPLIOATION- 
 — TIlE/ll DIFFERENT KINDS. 
 
 -FIRST FRUITS 
 
 The IIobrowH had two Sucrainonts, or Ordiiiancos, appoint- 
 0(1 as sigiiH of GoiI'h Covenant witli thorn. Those wore the 
 I'arfsovor and Circumcihion. I have already treated at length 
 of the PaHHovor; 1 shall now explain the practice and coro- 
 luonies of ClrcumclHion. At its iirst institution by our Lord, 
 Ho calls it \i sign of the covenant established between Him 
 iind Abraham: — " And you shall circumcise the flesh of your 
 ioreskin, that it may bo for a sign of the covenant between 
 mo and you." (Gon. 17. 11.) St. Paul calls this sacrament 
 II seal, as well as a sign, when referring to the covenant of 
 tho Lord with Abraham :— ** And ho received the sign of cir- 
 cumcision, a seal of tho justice of tho faith which ho had 
 being uncircumciHod." (liom. 4. 11.) 
 
 Tho Hebrews, however, wore not tho only people tiiat 
 practised circuiicision; several lioathen nations practised it, 
 though not as a sacrament ; such as tho Colchians, tho Egypt- 
 ians, the Ethiopians, and the Traglodita). The term circum. 
 cision is sometimes employed in tho Scriptures in a meta- 
 phorical sense, to indicate tho npirit of purity and holiness ; 
 !iH, tho circumcision of the heart, the circumcision of the lips, 
 Jiiid tho circumcision of the ears. 
 
 Tho sacrament of the circumcision of tho flesh, which wo 
 may call infant baptism, was performed on tho eighth day 
 after tho birth. This was a rule of undoviating observance, 
 so much HO, that if tho eighth day fell on tho Sabbath, ovou 
 
210 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 1+ 'y 
 
 h % 
 
 on that day, so strictly kej^t holy by tho Jews, the rito of 
 circumcision was to be performed. Ilenco arose tho common 
 saying among the Jews, " Circumcision drivoth away the 
 Sabbath, because the strict observance of the Sabbath was 
 made to give way to circumcision." To this our Saviour re- 
 fers when reproving the Jews for their accusation against 
 him as to his violating the Sabbath : " Therefore Moses gave 
 you circumcision (not because it is of Moses, but of the 
 fathers) ; and on the Sabbath day you circumcise a man. If 
 a man receive circumcision on the Sabbath day > that the law 
 of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because 
 I have healed the whole man on the Sabbath day." (John 
 T. 22.) The reason assigned by the Jews for the eighth day 
 being appointed that of circumcision is, that the perfection 
 of 6very creature depended upon at least one Sabbath pass- 
 ing over him; and that, therefore, no one should be admitted 
 to the participation of a sacrament until a Sabbath had 
 passed over him, and ho had thus become a perloct being. 
 This reason is, to say the least of it, without solia founda- 
 tion ; for the perfection o^- sanctification of human creatures 
 was then, as it is now, wholly independent of the Sabbath. 
 The fact is simply this, that all * reatures were, according to 
 the law, in a state of uncleanness for seven days after coming 
 into life ; and that on the eighth day God thought proper to 
 remove it. We find that this law affected other creatures 
 than man ; in the book of Leviticus wo read : — '' And tho 
 Lord spoke to Moses, saying : When a bullock, or a shoop, 
 or a goat is brought forth, they -hall be seven days under 
 the udder of their dam ; I "t the eighth day, and thenceforth 
 they may be offeud to tho Lord." (Levit. 22. 6.) In tho 
 performance of the ceremony of circumcision it was usual 
 to the foreskin (prioputium) into a vessel filled with dust, 
 
CIRCUMCISION. 
 
 211 
 
 which was provided for that purpose. There was also pro- 
 vided in the apartment where the ceremony took place a 
 certain seat or chair for the prophet Biias, on whose advent 
 thoy relied for the fulfilment and perfection of the law, and 
 whom they believed to be always present with them in spirit. 
 They believed that when he came all things would be made 
 clear to them; and hence arose that saying, common among 
 them on all occasions of difficulty, as, for instance, in the 
 exposition of an abstiuse passage of Scripture, "We know 
 that Elias will come, and that ho will tell us all thingp," It 
 Iti to bo noted, however, that these ceremonies relating to 
 Elias wer_ peculiar only to the latter Jews, and that before 
 our Saviour "s time, it was the Messiah, and not Elias, whose 
 advent was expected ; of this we have an illustration in the 
 speech of the Samaritan woman to our Saviour: "The 
 woman saith to him : I know that the Messias cometh (who 
 is called Christ) ; therefore, when he is come he will tell us 
 all things." (John 4. 25.) The witness, or, as wo call him, 
 ijjod father, at the circumcision, held the child in his arms 
 (luring the ceremony. This witness, or godfather, was called 
 Baal Berith, and also Sandak, that is. Master of the Covenant. 
 In the prophecy of Isaias we find mention made of two wit- 
 nesses at the naming of a child, the naming being a part of 
 the ceremony of circumcision : " And I took unto me faith- 
 ful witnesses, Urias the priest, and Zacharias the son of 
 Biirachias. . . . And the Lord said to mo : Call his name, 
 hasten to take away the spoils ; make haste to take away 
 the prey." (Is. 8. 2.) From this circumstance it is thought 
 that the custom of having godfathers in baptism has taken 
 its rise. In naming the infant it was usual then, as at the 
 present lime, to adopt that of one of its ancestors. Of this 
 we tiud an instance in the gospel of Luke ; "And it came to 
 
 ':il 
 
212 
 
 THE HEBREWS At HOME. 
 
 fii J 
 
 pass on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, 
 and they called him by his father's name Zachary. And his 
 mother answering said : Not so, but he shall be called John. 
 And they said to her : There k none of thy kindred that 
 is called by this name." (Luke 1. 59.) 
 
 The time of giving names to children differed among 
 different nations : the Eomans performed this ceremony on 
 the ninth day after the birth for male children, and the 
 eighth for female ; the Athenians performed it on the tenth 
 day from the birth for both; while others did it on the 
 seventh. Tertullian calls these days by the names of No- 
 minalia, or. Naming Days. The Greeks were wont to hold 
 certain natal observances on the fifth day after the birth, 
 that is, five days before the naming day, which was the 
 tenth : thesfe observances consisted chiefly of an act of puri- 
 fication on the part of the midwivos, who, with the child in 
 their arms, ran several times round a fire made for that pur. 
 pose ; (this was supposed to be attended with a purification 
 of both the midwives and the child ;) — and of natal gifts 
 sent in by the neighbours on that day. From this latter 
 observance it is supposed that the modern custom of god- 
 fathers and godmothers sending gifts to their godchildren 
 has arisen. But, with reference to the Jews : as soon as the 
 child was circumcised, its father oft'ored a thanksgiving: 
 " Blessed be our Lord God, who hath sanctified us with hia 
 precepts, and hath commanded u,., that we should cause this 
 child to enter into the Covenant of Abraham ; " after which 
 those present replied : " As thou hast made him to enter 
 into the Covenant, so make him also to enter into the Law, 
 into Matrimony, and into good works." 
 
 The Sacrament of Circumcision was rendered imperative 
 upon all under the Law; and the penalty proscribed for its 
 
CIRCUMCISION. 
 
 213 
 
 non-observance is declared in Genesis (17. 14) to bo either 
 excommunication, or death, according to the sense in which 
 the words are taken ; which are as follows : " The male 
 whose flesh of his foreskin shall not be circumcised, that 
 soul shall bo destroyed out of his people ; because he hath 
 broken my covenant." Judging these words, " that soul 
 shall be destroyed out of his people," by the parallel phra- 
 seology in the book of Exodus, touching the punishment of 
 death to be visited on those who violated the Sabbath, there 
 can be no hesitation in concluding that death was the pun- 
 ishment designated against those who wilfully neglected 
 circumcision. The words in Exodus are these : " Keep you 
 my Sabbath : for it is holy unto you : he that shall profane 
 it, shall be put to death ; he that shall do any work in it, 
 his soul shall perish out of the midst of his people." How- 
 ever, some are of opinion that the punishment indicated in 
 reference to the non-observance of the sacrament of circum- 
 cision is excommunication, or expulsion from the Synagogue. 
 Of course, it must be here understood that the infant was 
 not made liable to the punishment prescribed in this case ; 
 and it was not until he came to the years of discretion that 
 he became amenable to the law ; before that time the parents 
 or guardians of the child were alone accountable for the 
 violation of the law. Moses Kotsen, in his Treatise on this 
 subject, delivers the opinion of the Jewish doctors with re- 
 spect to this point, as follows : "If the father circumcise 
 him not, then the judges are commanded to circumcise him : 
 and if it be unknown to the judges, and they circumcise him 
 not, when he is grown big he is bound to circumcise himself; 
 and every day that he passeth over him, after he is waxen 
 great, and he circumciseth not himself, lo, he breaketh the 
 commandment." :.\i^<-w- 
 
214 
 
 •>:^ 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME!. 
 
 
 In the time of Antiochus, some Jews, in order to conciliatG 
 that king, circumcised themselves ; as did others, upon 
 their becoming Christians. With respect to the former wo 
 read, — "And they made themselves prtepucos, and departed 
 from the holy covenant, and joined themselves to the hea- 
 thens, and were sold to do evil." (1 Mac. 1. 16.) And toueli 
 ing the latter, — " Is any man called being circumcised ? let 
 him not procure uncircumcision. Is any man called in un- 
 circumciaion ? let him not be circumcised." (1 Cor. 7.18.) 
 Esau is suppoced to have been the first who performed the 
 operation of uncircumcision. 
 
 I shall now direct attention to the law and custom of the 
 Hebrews with respect to offerings of First Fruits to the 
 Lord. It was an established law among this people to offer 
 to God thd first fruits of all their produce. There were 
 different kinds of first fruits; but the object of all was to 
 sanctify, or bring a blessing upon the after-fruits. The first 
 fruits of tj'ees were not given until the fourth year after the 
 tree had been planted ; because the fruits of the three first 
 years were accounted uncircumcised or unclean, and it was 
 therefore unlawful to eat, sell, or in any way make use of 
 them. On the fourth year, however, it was lawful to use 
 them ; and they were then either given to the priest, or 
 eaten by the owner before the Lord at Jerusalem, in the same 
 manner as the second tithe. After the fourth yeiiv they 
 fell to the use of the owner. The law touching this subject 
 is laid down in the book of Leviticus (19. 23), and also iu 
 that of Numbers (18. 23.) But the regular annual first 
 fruits were paid out of all the productions which the eartli 
 yielded in various proportions according to an established 
 classification. There were the first fruits in the sheaf, which 
 were offered in the beginning of harvest, on the fifteontli 
 
CtRCtJMClSIOiT. 
 
 21S 
 
 of the month Ni«an ; and the first fruits in two wave loaves, 
 which were offered at the end of harvewt, on the day of 
 Pentecost. Both of these are called In the Hebrew Thenu- 
 photh, that is, shake offerings. An account of their institu- 
 tion is contained in the book of Leviticus, twentj'^-third 
 chapter : — " Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt 
 say to them : When you shall have entered into the land 
 which I will give you, and shall reap your corn, you shall 
 bring sheaves of ears, the first fruits of your harvest to the 
 priest." Again, — " after the seventh week be expired, that is 
 to say, fifty daj^s, and so you shall offer a new sacrifice to the 
 Lord. Out of all your dwellings two loaves of the first 
 fruits, of two tenths of flour leavened, which you shall bake 
 for the first fruits of the Lord, There were besides 
 these first fruits of the dough, in the proportion of the 
 twenty-fourth part, which were given to the priests, (Num. 
 15. 20.) This species of oblation was observed even aftei' 
 the return from captivity, (Nehem. 9. St). These with 
 the first fruits of the threshing floor, (Num. 15. 20) were 
 called Therumoth, that is, heave offerings. The offerings 
 at the commencement and end of harvest were called, 
 as we have seen, Thenuphoth, or shake offerings ; and 
 those of the dough and threshing floor Therumoth, or heave 
 offerings. The meaning of these terms, as well as the 
 distinction between them, is this, that in the ceremony of 
 oblation the thing offered was moved backward and 
 forward, or up and down to indicate the Lord's sovereignty 
 over the earth, and the universe. In the case of the 
 Thenuphoth, or shake offerings, the oblation was shaken or 
 moved from one side to another, that is, from the right to 
 the left, from the east to the west, and from the north to 
 the south ; and this to imply that God was the Sovereign of 
 
216 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 the world ; in the other case, that of Therumoth, or heave 
 offerings, the oblation was lifted upwards and downwards to 
 indicate thit God, was Lord of heaven and earth. The first 
 fruits of the threshing floor, which are included under the 
 designation Therumoth, are by the Jewish Rabbis, or doc- 
 tors, distinguished into two classes: the first and prin- 
 cipal of these comprises wheat, barley, figs, pomegranates, 
 olives, and dates; all seven being called in the Talmud 
 or Jewish Code of Civil and Canonical law, Biccurim. 
 These, say the Talmudists, are the first fruits which the 
 people are so frequently commanded in the law to bring 
 up to the Sanctuary at the Feast of Pentecost. The Holj' 
 Land was celebrated for these productions, " A land," as 
 we read in the book of Deuteronomy, " of wheat, and 
 barley, and vineyards, wherein fig-trees and pomegranates, 
 and olive yards grow : land of oil and honey," (8. 8). The 
 second class of first fruits of the threshing floor comprised 
 corn, wine, oil, the fleece; in short, every thing else that 
 the earth produced for man's sustenance (Deuter. 18. 4 and 
 Num. 18. 12). This second class was called TheruTna, and 
 sometimes Theruma gedola, or, great heave oiTering, to dis- 
 tinguish it from the offering of tithe made by the Levites to 
 the priests, called Theruma Magnasher, or, heave offering of 
 the tithe. (Num. 18. 26.) This was a tenth of the tenth 
 which the Levites received from the husbandmen. The He- 
 brews say that the people were not obliged to bring this 
 second class of offerings up to Jerusalem ; as was the case 
 with respect to the first. The proportion which the people 
 ought to pay out of those productions of the earth and of 
 their industry was not prescribed by the Law; but they 
 were instructed by their priests to pay at least the sixtieth 
 part. It is a question with some modern writers whether 
 
ciRcuMcrsioiT. 
 
 217 
 
 there did exist in reality any distinction between the first 
 fruits of the threshing floor, called Biccurim by the Talmu- 
 dists, and those offerings, also of the threshing floor, called 
 Theruma. The point of distinction is represented by the 
 Hebrews to have been, that the former were to be carried to 
 Jerusalem, while the latter were to be offered at homo. 
 Now, this distinction does not appear from the Scriptures : 
 on the contrary, the articles, or objects ranged under each 
 head are indiscriminately spoken of as the first offerings of 
 the threshing floor. Besides the Talmudists evidently con- 
 tradict themselves when they name wheat and barley under 
 one head, and corn under another ; as if wheat and barley 
 were not included under the general name of corn. The 
 only solution of the difficulty appears to me be this ; that 
 under the names of Biccurim were included the principal 
 offerings of the first fruits, such as wheat, barley, &c., while 
 under that of Theruma were included all other ofierings of 
 first fruits, namely, every species of corn besides wheat and 
 barley, together with wine, oil, the fleece, and every other 
 article not included in the seven offerings constituting the 
 Biccurim. 
 
 However, to return to the proportion paid as first fruits : 
 we find that the prophet Ezekiel mentions the sixtieth part 
 as the proportion prescribed : these are the words of the 
 prophet: "And these are the first fruits, which you shall 
 take : the sixth part of an ephi of a core of wheat, and the 
 sixth part of an ephi of a core of barley." (45. 13.) I^ow 
 the core contained ten ephi ; so that the sixth part of- an 
 ephi was the sixtieth part of a core. But though the six- 
 tieth part was the proportion prescribed, yet we find that 
 some used to give a larger proportion ; for instance, a for- 
 tieth ; and this was called the Theram, or chlation of a fair 
 
 T 
 
 1. v\p- 
 
 / 
 
218 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 n 
 
 is. 
 
 ■■'/ 
 
 eye. Some gave a fiftieth ; and this, from the liberality 
 which it manifested, though inferior to. that shewn in the 
 former instance, was called the oblation of a middle eye. But 
 those who displayed no liberality, and, keeping to the letter 
 of the law, gave only the prescribed sixtieth part, were 
 regarded as mean and sordid ; and their oifering was called 
 the oblation of an evil eys. Thus the proportion of the first 
 offerings of the barn, or the threshing floor, oscillated, 
 according to the tradition of the elders, between the fortieth 
 and the sixtieth part. But the Pharisees, in the exercise of 
 their spirit of supersanctity, limited the range to between 
 the thirtieth and fiftieth part ; thus making the latter pro- 
 portion the oblation of the tvil eye. In the twenty-sixth chap- 
 ter of Deuteronomy are recorded the instr actions given by 
 Moses as t^ the manner in which the first fruits were to be 
 offered. They were to be brought in a basket to the place 
 chosen by the Lord for that purpose, and where his name 
 was to be invoked : there the basket was to be given to the 
 priest, who was to place it before the Altar of God. The 
 offerer was then to recite a certain formula of words relating 
 to the persecution endurei by his ancestors, and the delivery 
 of his race from the bondage of Egypt by the divine inter- 
 position ; and to conclude by offering the first fruits to the 
 Lord according as he had commanded. In the time of the 
 prophets, however, there were other ceremonies introduced 
 on these occasions, of which the Hebrew doctors give us 
 the following account : — " When they carried up their first 
 fruits, all the cities that were in a country gathered together 
 to the chief city of the country, to the end that they might 
 not go up alone ; for it is said, " In the multitude of people 
 is the king's honour." (Prov, 14. 28.) And they came and 
 lodged all night in the streets of the city, and went not into 
 
CIRCUMCISION. 
 
 210 
 
 iiotises, for fear of pollution : and in the morning the Gover- 
 nor said : Arise, and let us go up to Sion, the city of the 
 Lord uur God. And before them went a bull with his horns 
 covered with gold, and an olive garland on his head, to sig. 
 nify the first fruits of the seven kinds of fruits. There was 
 likewise a pipe struck up before them, until they came near 
 to Jerusalem ; and all the way, as they went, they sang — 
 "I rejoiced in them that said unto me, we will go into the 
 house of the Lord," &c. (Psalm 121.) The prophet Isaias 
 refers to this, and to similar occasions of solemn rejoicings, 
 where he says : — " You shall have a song as in the night of 
 the sanctified solemnity, and joy of heart, as when one goeth 
 with a pipe, to come into the mountain of the Lord, to the 
 mighty One of Israel." (30. 29.) 
 
 But besides all these first fruits of the produce of the land, 
 God also ordered the first-born of man and beast to be sanctified 
 to him : — " Sanctify unto me every first-born that openeth 
 the womb among the children of Israel, as well of men as of 
 beasts ; for they are all mine." (Exod. 18. 2.) This law was 
 based on the mercy shewn by God to the Hebrews in Egypt, 
 when he smote there the first-born of men and beasts among 
 the Egyptians, but spared those of the Hebrews. It was, 
 however, competent for every man to redeem his first-born 
 by the payment of five silver shekels of the sanctuary to 
 the priests. Unclean beasts were redeemed under the same 
 condition. This condition we find recorded in the book of 
 Numbers, eighteenth chapter: "Whatsoever is born of all 
 flesh, which they offer to the Lord, whether it be of men or 
 of beasts, shall belong to thee : only for the first-born of 
 men thou shalt take a price, and every beast that is unclean 
 thou shalt cause to be redeemed. A.nd the redemption of it 
 
220 
 
 TUB UEBREWS AT UOME. 
 
 shall bo after one month, for five* sides of silver, by the 
 weight of the sanctuary." St. Peter makes allusion to this 
 custom of redemption when he says: — " Knowing that you 
 were not redeemed with corruptible things as gold or silver, 
 from your vain conversation of the tradition of your 
 father." (1 Pet. 1. 18.) It was likewise a law among the 
 Hebrews, with respect to first fruits, that all the firstlings 
 of clean leasts should be sacrificed, and their blood sprinkled 
 upon the altar ; the fat being used for a burnt offering, and 
 the flesh given to the priests. 
 
 * Side ~ to twenty oboli = 28. 6d. 
 
 < / 
 
 
 'V 
 
CHAPTEE XXI. 
 
 TITHES, OR TENTHS — THE TIME AND MANNER OP PAYING 
 THEM — THE DIFFICULTY OP COLLECTING PREVIOUS TO 
 THE BIRTH OP OUR SAVIOUR. 
 
 Having now roviowed tho laws of tho Hebrews with refer' 
 ence to first fruits, and seen how the Lord challenged to 
 Himself all these, as if to give to mankind a manifestation 
 of His will that their early youth, and first thoughts and 
 aspirations should be directed to Him as tho source and 
 fountain, as well as ultimate end and repose of all human 
 existence, we shall turn to tho consideration of another 
 description of holy offerings, denominated Tithes, or 
 Tenths. 
 
 Besides tho first fruits just mentioned, the Hebrews con- 
 tributed as holy offerings to the Lord, a tenth part of every- 
 thing which their land supported or produced, that is, of 
 cattle, of the fruits of trees, and of tho fruits of the land. 
 There was nothing which sprung from the soil on which a 
 tithe was not imposed, even, as the gospel tells us, to "mint, 
 anise and cummin." (Mat. 23. 23.) The time and manner 
 of paying tithes of the fruits of the trees, and of the land 
 were as follows : Upon the completion of the harvest, and 
 when all was gathered into the barns, the first thing which 
 the farmer did was to set aside his " great Theruma," or 
 '' first fruits of the threshing floor," as I have already des- 
 cribed. After that he measui'ed out a tenth of what remain- 
 ed which he gave to the Levites, or inferior priests who at- 
 tended to the altar ; this was called the Jirst tithe (raagnasher 
 
 </ 
 
222 
 
 r*' 
 
 vs 
 
 THE IlEBliEWS AT HOME). 
 
 n 
 
 rischon), (Tobi. 1. 7), and wjis delivered to the Levitos in 
 every city throughout the agricultural districts. (Noh. 10. 
 37.) Out of this the Levites paid a tenth jiart to the priests, 
 which was called the Tithe of the Tithes (Noh. 10. 38), and, 
 acconling to the second book of Chronicles, the Tithe of holy 
 things (31. 6) ; and the remainder they kept for the use of 
 themselves and their families. (Num. 18. 31.) But the 
 farmer's barn was still liable to another tithe, which was 
 called the second tithe ; and this might be paid either in kind 
 or in money, the Jirst tithe being paid in kind alone ; in money 
 then insteiul of a tenth, it was the custom to pay a twelfth, 
 that is a fifth more than the tithe in kind. This was not 
 given to the Levites, but brought up to Jerusalem, and de- 
 /oted to the purposes of a Love Feast, to which the priests 
 and Levites \y^ere invited. Every third year, however, (which 
 .vas count.3d from the Sabbatical year, or seventh year in 
 which the land rested), this second tithe instead of being 
 brought to Jerusalem, was spent by the farmer in his own 
 house on an entertainment which he gave to the Levites, to 
 widows, to orphans, and to the poor. (Deut. 14. 18.) Hence 
 it was called the poor man's tithe, and the third tithe. In 
 the years in which it was brought up to Jerusalem the feast 
 to which it was devoted was held within the Court of the 
 Temple. (Deut. 14. 26.) 
 
 Such then were the tithes paid out of the fruits of the 
 trees and of the land. 
 
 The tithes of the cattle consisted of the tenth of their 
 bullocks, and their sheep, and their goats. They are thus 
 referred to in the book of Leviticus : "Of all the tithes of 
 oxen, and sheo<j, and goats, that pass under the shepherd's 
 rod, every tenth thatcometh shall be sanctified to the Lord." 
 (27. 32.) The allusion here to the " shepherd's rod " has, 
 
TITHES, OR TENTHS. 
 
 223 
 
 according to the Hebrews, reference to the manner in which 
 the tithe was set aside ; which is represented to have been as 
 follows : " He who has lambs or bullocks, thus separates his 
 tenth : he gathers all his lambs and all his bullocks into a 
 fold, to which is a door so small that two cannot go out to- 
 gether ; their dams are placed outside the door, so that the 
 lambs hearing them bloating might come out one after an- 
 other in order. Then a shepherod, stationed for the pur- 
 pose, began to number them with his rod, counting one, two, 
 three, &c., until the tenth came, which was taken and mark- 
 ed with a red mark. In this way every tenth sheep of the 
 flock was set aside for the tithe." It is not unusual, I believe, 
 with some of the Jews at the present day, that is, with 
 such of them as are of a religious disposition, to distribute 
 the tenth of their annual increase among the poor, in pur- 
 suance of the ancient law; being impressed with the belief 
 that God would thereby give them greater abundance ; and 
 they have a proverb bearing upon this subject, — Pay tithes 
 that you may be rich. 
 
 The tithe year, or the period of time within which tithes 
 were to be paid, varied according to the particular descrip- 
 tion of tithe ; thus, the tithe of beasts embraced the period 
 from Elulto Elul, that is from August to August; that of 
 grain, pulse, and herbs from Tisri to Tisri, that is from 
 September to September ; and that of the fruit of trees from 
 Shebat to Shebat, or January to January. The whole 
 amount of corn contributed by the husbandmen to the priests 
 and Levites throughout the year, was, as we have seen, com- 
 posed of three separate proportions of the annual produce of 
 their farms, namely, the first fruits of the threshing floor, 
 and the two tithes of the remainder. These, it is to be 
 observed, were exclusive of the offerings of benediction and 
 
'lU 
 
 TItE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 thanksgiving made at the commencement and end of har- 
 vest. In order to ascertain the proportion of these three 
 contributions to the whole annual produce, I shall adopt the 
 mode of calculation given by Scaliger, which is as follows : 
 Suppose the whole produce of a farm to be six thousand 
 bushels ; out of these were paid, as the first fruits of the 
 threshing floor, one hundred bushels, being the sixtieth part 
 as prescribed by the law ; out of the remainder, which was 
 five thousand nine hundred bushels, was paid the first tithe 
 to the Levites, which amounted co five hundred and 
 ninety bushels, being the one-tenth of the five thousand 
 nine hundred bushels ; and out of the remainder, which was 
 five thousand three hundred and ten bushels, was paid the 
 second tithe, which came to five hundred and thirty-one 
 bushels ; thus* leaving a remainder of four thousand seven 
 hundred and seventy-nine bushels for the farmer's own use ; 
 the whole quantity paid in first fruits and tithes, being one 
 thousand two hundred and twenty-one bushels, or about one- 
 fifth of the whole produce, or, in other words, twenty per 
 cent. But it must be observed here that this calculation is 
 founded upon the lowest estimate of the quantity paid in 
 first fruits, which was that prescribed by the law, or one 
 sixtieth of the whole, whereas the real proportion paid in 
 this branch varied from the sixtieth to the fortieth part of 
 the whole; so that the proportion .eally paid in those three 
 contributions might be fairly set down at between one fourth 
 and one fifth of the whole produce, or about twenty-two per 
 cent. Thus we find that a farmer whoso family consisted of 
 four persons appro jDriatod about the same proportion of his 
 year's increase to the priests as to each member of his 
 family; and twice as much if the family consisted of eight 
 persons. But we need not bo surprised at this when we 
 
TITHES, OR TENTHS. 
 
 225 
 
 remember that the priests constituted about one tenth of 
 the entire population, and that they formed the nobility of 
 the State. About the time of the reign of Ezechias, tithes 
 ceased in a great measure to be collected ; and accordingly 
 overseers were appointed for this purpose, as we read in the 
 second book of Chronicles: " Then Ezechias commenced to 
 prepare storehouses in the house of the Lord. And when 
 they had done so, they brought in faithfully both the first 
 fruits, and the tithes, and all they had vowed. And the 
 overseer of them was Chonenias the Levite, and Semei his 
 brother was the second." (31.11.) In the process of time, 
 however, the overseers became negligent of their duty, and 
 the people careless of the law, until a little more than a 
 century before the birth of our Saviour, the spread of corrup- 
 tion and irreligion became so great that the people almost 
 entirely gave up the payment of tithes, the great heave 
 offering, Therunw, Gedola, being the only contribution which 
 they made to the altar. Owing to this state of things the 
 Sanhedrin issued a decree, in the time of John the priest 
 (Hyrcanus), the successor of Simeon the Just, directing the 
 appointment of more faithful overseers for the collection of 
 tithes. A question arose at this time as to whether or not 
 certain things were titheable ; whereupon the Court of 
 Sanhedrin decreed that out of such doubtful things there 
 should merely bo paid a second tithe, and a small heave offer- 
 ing, amounting to one per cent. Mint^ anise, cummin are sup- 
 posed to have been included in those things doubtful. Not- 
 withstanding, however, the decree of the Sanhedrin, which 
 limited the payment out of those questionable things to one 
 percent, the Pharisees in their assumption of superior sanctity 
 paid a full one tenth, as in all other cascf^. And hence their boast 
 that they gave tithes of all they possessed :— " I fast twice 
 in a week: I give tithes of all that I possess." (Luke 18.12 
 
 u 
 
f. 
 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 MARRIAGES. — TWO KINDS OP WIVES. — MODES OP BETROTHAL. 
 THREE KINDS OP ENGAGEMENT. — THE MARRIAGE FEASt 
 DOWRY AND DIVORCE. 
 
 Among the Hebrews of old there were two descriptions of 
 wives, both of whom were lawful. The children, too, of 
 these tw^o classes of wives were legitimate, though, like the 
 wives themselves, they were not entitled to equal rights and 
 privileges. ^ The first, or primary wife, as she was called 
 (iNaschim), was married according to certain prescribed rites 
 and ceremonies ; and on her devolved the management and 
 control of the household. The second sort of wives were 
 called secondary wives (Pillagshim), and these, in point of 
 position in the household, were merely handmaids or 
 servants to the primary wives. The only ground of equality 
 between the two consisted in the jus thori, in all other 
 respects the primary or first wife n-as the mistress and head 
 of the household. The Hebrews called this principal wife 
 Naschim, from, forgetfiihiess, because when a woman once be- 
 came a wife, her father's family was forgotten, or became 
 extinct, so far as she was concerned, she becoming merged 
 in the family of her husband ; and on this account the 
 Hebrews had a common saying among them, to the effect 
 that the family of a mother is not called a family ; which means 
 simply that a family is known by the father's name, and not 
 by the mother's. Again, a male child is called in the 
 Hebrew, Zacar, from memory, because the memory of the 
 
MARRiAGfEd. 
 
 ii2l 
 
 fiithor is j)rcsorvod in tho son. Absalom erected a pillar in 
 the king's valley in order to perpetuate his memory, as we 
 read in the second book of Samuel (Kings,) because he had 
 no son : "I have no son," said he, " and this shall be the 
 monument of my name," (18. 18). 
 
 In the betrothing of the two kinds of wives there is 
 observed a striking difference ; in the one case, that is, of 
 the primary wife, there were gifts and prese. ts sent to her 
 by the husband elect, as also matrimonial writings or letters 
 setting forth the terms of the engagement; whereas in the 
 case of the secondary wife there was nothing of this kind. 
 The messenger of Abraham made such presents to Eebecca, 
 the affianced bride of Isaac, as we find in Genesis (24. 53), 
 " And bringing forth vessels of silver and gold, and gar- 
 ments, he gave them to Rebecca for a present. He offered 
 gifts also to her brothers and to her mother." A similar 
 custom of giving gifts to the bride elect, was in use among 
 the Greeks ; by them they were called Edna. With respect 
 to the children of the two kinds of wives ; the inheritance of 
 the father descended only to the children of the primary 
 wife, while on the others were bestowed gifts and legacies. 
 Such, we read in Genesis, was the disposition which Abraham 
 made of his possessions and goods: ** And Abraham gave 
 all his possessions to Isaac. And to the children of the 
 handmaids he gave gifts, and separated them from Isaac his 
 Hon, while he yet lived, to the East country." (25.5). The 
 handmaids here referred to were Agar and Oetura, who were 
 his lawful wives, but inferior in position and rights to his 
 primary wife, Sar^L. The eldest son, or first born, as he is 
 called in the Sacred Writings, had a double portion of the 
 property of the father. The law on this point is laid down 
 in the book of Deuteronomy, where we find that even in the 
 
 
228 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 \\ 
 
 cape of a wife who was hated by her husband, the eldest son 
 was not on that account to be deprived of his prescribed 
 rights : " But Lo shall acknowledge the son of the hated for 
 the first bom, and shall give him a double portion of all he 
 hath ; for this is the first born of his children, and to him are 
 due the first birth rights," (21. IT). To this custom is that 
 allusion of Eliseus, who asked Elias for a double portion of 
 his spirit (4 K. 2. 9). Thus we see that the right of primo- 
 geniture existed among the ancient Hebrews. 
 
 Between the betrothal and the consummation of the nup- 
 tials it is thought that the custom prevailed of allowing a 
 sufficient time to intervene, although no precise period was 
 prescribed by the law. Of this custom, however, we have 
 no evidence in the Sacred Writings ; for that request of Ee- 
 becca's mother made to Abraham's messenger does not ap- 
 pear to have any reference to such a custom, but to arise 
 from the natural affection of the mother and brother for the 
 daughter and sister, being unwilling to part with her so faoon 
 after her matrimonial engagement : — " And her brother and 
 mother answered : Let the maid stay at least ten days with 
 us, and afterwards she shall depart." (Gen. 24. 55.) Some 
 commentators are of opinion that by the ten days here men- 
 tioned are to be understood ten months, accounting them 
 days of months by a comparison of days of years, elsewhere 
 spoken of in the Sacred Record, and hence they conclude 
 that the distance of time between the betrothal and the 
 confirmation of the marriage was at least ten months. All 
 this, however, must be regarded as mere conjecture, and not 
 at all warranted by any specific declaration as to a specific 
 intervening period between the two ceremonies of betrothal 
 and final marriage. j , - 
 
 The mode of forming an engagement of marriage among 
 
Marriagds. 
 
 ^^0 
 
 the Hebrews was of three kinds ; namely, by a piece of money, 
 by writing, and by copulation. By a piece of money, when the 
 bridegi'oom elect put a coin, no matter how small — it might 
 be only of the value of a farthing— into the hands of the 
 intended bride, saying at the same time, Lo I thou art be- 
 trothed to me, or words of the like import. This was to be 
 done in the presence of witnesses. By writing, when the 
 intended bridegroom wrote the words just cited, or words of 
 fciimilar import, and gave them to the bride elect, her name 
 being also written on the same scroll ; this was also to be 
 done in the presence of witnesses. By copulation, when the 
 same form of words was to be used as in the preceding in- 
 stances ; and they became thus united in the presence of 
 witnesses. The last mentioned mode of betrothal, however, 
 was in the course of time forbidden by the Hebrew doctors 
 under a penalty ; and such as formed this mode of engage- 
 ment, though the betrothal remained valid, were punished 
 by whipping (with rods.) The most ordinary mode of 
 forming matrimonial contracts was by a piece of money, in 
 the manner already mentioned ; though it was optional with 
 parties to adopt that of writing. In any case the ceremony 
 was performed in a tent, or under a canopy constructed for 
 that purpose, and which was called Chuppa, or tabernacle. 
 To this custom the Psalmist alludes when he says : " He 
 had set his tabernacle in the sun ; and he as a bridegroom 
 coming out of his chamber, hath rejoiced as a giant to ruu 
 the way." (18. 6.) The marriage rites and ceremonies were 
 performed in the presence of a company of ten men at least, 
 when blessings and thanksgivings were made to God ; and 
 from this circumstance the house where the marriage took 
 place was called Bethhillula, the house of praise ; and the 
 marriage song Hillulim, or Praises. The friends of the 
 
 1/ 
 
230 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 bridegroom who attended him, and sung the marriage song 
 (epithalamium), were styled the children of the bridegroom, or 
 bridechamber (vLio'i ton mim^honos), according to St. Matthew 
 (9. 15) : " Can the children of the bridegroom mourn, as 
 long as the bridegroom is with them ?" We read in the 
 book of Judges that Sampson had thirty companions or 
 friends at his bridal : " And when the citizens of that place 
 saw him, they brought him thirty companions to be with 
 him." (14. 11.) A writer upon this subject describes the 
 manner of the praises and blessings which were pronounced 
 at the bridal solemnity : The principal companion or friend 
 took a cup, and blessing it, said : " Blessed art thou, O Lord 
 our God, the King of the World, who Greatest the fruit of 
 the vine." After which he again said : " Blessed be the 
 Lord our God, the King of the World, who hath created man 
 after his own image, according to the image of his own like- 
 ness, and hath thereby prepared unto himself an everlasting 
 building, blessed be thou, O Lord, who hast created him." 
 Again he resumed : " Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, who 
 has created joy and gladness, the bridegroom and the bride, 
 charity and brotherly love, rejoicing and pleasure, peace and 
 society; I beseech thee, O Lord, let there suddenly be heard 
 in the cities of Judah, and the streets of Jerusalem, the 
 voice of joy and gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and 
 the bride ; the voice of exultation in the bridechamber is 
 sweeter than any feast ; and children sweeter than the 
 sweetness of a song." At the conclusion he drank to the 
 health and happiness of the married couple. 
 
 It was a common saying among the Hebrews that, the 
 Lord of the Universe held four keys in his hand, which he 
 committed neither to Angels nor Seraphim ; that is, the key 
 of rain, the hei/ of food, the Jcei/ of sepulchres to i fiise the 
 
MARRIAGES. 
 
 231 
 
 "■ii*iil 
 
 bodies of the dead, and the key of sterility to cause the pro- 
 creation of children. All these are referred to in Deuter- 
 onomy, twenty-eighth chapter , in the book of Psalms, on© 
 hundred and forty-fourth Psalm ; in Ezekiel, thirty-seventh 
 chapter; and in Genesis, thirtieth chapter. 
 
 Tho time occupied in the celebration of the marriage feast 
 is generally understood to be seven days. This was the 
 period of time devoted to the celebration of Sampson's mar- 
 riage feast. (Jn 14. 12.) The speech of Laban addressed 
 to Jacob concci-ning Lia, is supposed by commentators t 
 have reference to this custom of devoting seven days to the 
 celebration of the nuptial solemnities. Laban answered : 
 "It is not the custom in this place to give the younger in 
 marriage first. Make up the week of days of the match : 
 and I will give thee her also." (Gen. 29. 26.) 
 
 The person whom Jacob desired to many was Rachel ; 
 but she being the younger, her father Laban gave him Lia ; 
 and when he complained of this, the father addressed him 
 in the terms stated. Seven days was also the period of time 
 devoted to mourning for the dead : *' And they came to the 
 threshing floor of Atad, which is situated beyond the Jor- 
 dan ; where celebrating the Exequies with a great and vehe- 
 ment lamentation, they spent full seven days." (Gen. 50. 10.) 
 From this circumstance it was a common saying among tho 
 Ilelraws, seven for feasting, and seven for weeping. 
 
 The person who presided over the nuptial feast was called 
 the Chief Steward, or Muler of the Feast— in the Greek, archi- 
 triklinos. " And when the chief steward had tasted the water 
 made wine, and knew not whence it was, but the waiters 
 knew who had drawn the water ; the chief steward calleth 
 the bridegroom," &c. (John 2. 9.) When any persons were 
 invited to a wedding it was usual for them to use the words 
 
 ill 
 
 \ 
 
 
 I / 
 
532 
 
 tHE HEBREWS AT HOM£. 
 
 Ki 
 
 Mazal toh, in reply ; which is as much as to say, May their 
 planet he favorable, or, May it take place under a good planet. 
 The planet Jupiter was called by the Hebrews, Mazal ; but 
 the term may be taken in a general sense to signify any 
 planet : and tab means good. Even the Jews at the present 
 day, in Europe, are said to make use of the same expression 
 under similar circumstances. 
 
 It was also usual with the bridegroom, at the time of the 
 marriage, to give the bride a bill for two hundred deniers, 
 that is, fifty shekels, if she was a virgin ; but only for one 
 half that sum if she was one who had been married before. 
 This was called the root of the dowry, that is, the lowest 
 amount that it was proper to give on such an occasion ; 
 while any amount beyond that might be given. In the book 
 of Tobias we ,have an account of the ceremony of marriage 
 performed between Tobias and Sara the daughter of Raguel. 
 After Eaguel had expressed his acknowledgments to God 
 for having heard his prayers, and for thus sending one of his 
 own kindred to marry his daughter, according to the law of 
 Moses, he took the right hand of his daughter, and put it 
 into the right hand of Tobias, saying : " The God of Abra- 
 ham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, be with 
 you, and may he join you together, and fulfill his blessing 
 in you. And taking paper they made a writing of the mar- 
 riage. And afterwards they made merry, blessing God." 
 (7. 15.) A copy of the writing, or bill, given by the bride- 
 groom to the bride at the time of the marriage, is given by 
 Bertram, out of the Babylonian Talmud, and runs as fol- 
 lows : " Upon the sixth day of the week, the fourth of the 
 month Sivan, in the year five thousand two hundred and 
 fifty-four of the creation of the world, according to the com- 
 putation which we use here at Massilia, a city which is 
 
MARRiAaEd. 
 
 288 
 
 Biluatc near the sea shore, the bridegroom Rabbi Moses, the " 
 son of Rabbi Jehuda, said unto the bi idewife Clarona, the 
 daughter of Rabbi David, a citizen of Lisbon : Be unto me 
 a wife, according to the law of Moses and Israel , and I, 
 according to the word of God, will worship, honour, main- 
 tain, and govern thee, according to the manner of the hus- 
 band among the Jews, which do worship, honour, maintain, 
 and govern their wives faithfully. I also do bestow upon 
 thee the dowry of thy virginity, two hundred deniers in 
 silver, which belong unto thee by the law : and moreover 
 thy food, thy apparel, and sufficient necessaries ; as likewise 
 the knowledge of thee, according to the custom of all the 
 earth." At the conclusion of the nuptial ceremony it was 
 the right of the wife to demand three things as a legitimate 
 debt from her husband, namely. Food, Apparel, and Cohabit- 
 ation. (Exod. 21. 10.) and (1 Corin. Y. 3.) 
 
 When the wife first presented herself to her husband 
 after the marriage, it was necessary, according to the estab- 
 lished custom, that she should be covered with a veil. Thus 
 we read in Genesis (24. 65), that when Rebecca was about 
 being presented to her husband Isaac, she took a veil and 
 covered herself. This was done in token of subjection, be- 
 cause the wife becomes by the act of marriage, subject to 
 her husband. St. Paul calls this veil by the name of power, 
 "Therefore ought the woman to have a power over her 
 head," (1 Cor. 11. 10); which signifies that the husband 
 has a power over his wife, or that the wife comes under the 
 power of her husband. The Hebrew word Radid, which 
 signifies a veil, is derived from Eadad, to rule ; and hence 
 the application of the term. 
 
 If the husband became jealous of his wife, she was obliged 
 to appear with this veil off, when brought to be examined 
 
 ( ( 
 
 ! I 
 
234 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 H' 
 
 with respect to her conduct, as a sign that she was no longer 
 under the power and protection of her husband. 
 
 A separation, or divorce, was not unusual among the 
 ancient Hebrews ; and in such cases certain conditions were 
 necessary in order to render the divorce valid. These con- 
 ditions were, that the husband should proceed in the case by 
 his own free will, and not by any compulsion, or influence ; 
 that the divorce should be in writing; that the subject 
 matter of the divorce should be kept between him and her ; 
 that her name should be inscribed in the bill of divorce ; 
 that he himself, or a person appointed by him for that pur- 
 pose, should deliver the bill into her hands ; and that this 
 should be done in the presence of witnesses. The form of 
 this bill is given by a Hebrew writer, thus : " Upon such a 
 day of the week, and such a day of such a month, in such a 
 year of the creation of the world, according to the compu- 
 tation which we use here in such a city, situate near such a 
 river; I, of such a country, the son of Rabbi, such an one 
 of such a country, but, I, now dwelling in such a place, near 
 such a river, have desired of my own free will, without 
 any coaction, and have divorced, dismissed, and cast thee 
 out, thee, I say, my wife, such an one of such a country, the 
 daughter of Rabbi such an one, dwelling in such a country 
 and dwelling now in such a place, situate near such a river, 
 who hast been my wife heretofore ; but now I do divorce 
 thee, dismiss thee, and cast thee out, that thou mayst be 
 free, and have the rule to thyself, and to depart, and to 
 marry with any other man whom thou wilt ; and let no 
 man be refused by thee, for me, from this day forward for* 
 ever. Thus be thou lawful for any man, and this shall be 
 to thee from me a bill of separation, a bill of divorce, and a 
 letter of dismission, according to the law of Moses, and 
 
MARRIAGES. 
 
 235 
 
 Israel." This bill, which should bo written by a scrivener or 
 public notary, was then signed by two witnesses, and 
 handed to the divorced wife in the manner already stated. 
 After the divorce it was not competent for the woman to 
 marry again within the term of ninety days exclusive of the 
 day on which the divorce was effected. This was also the 
 case with respect to widows. The object of this restriction 
 was to fix the parentage of children. The same power of 
 reparation was possessed by the wife, for it was competent 
 for her to put away her husband by a bill of divorce in the 
 same manner as it was for the husbund to put away his wife. 
 
 The Evangelist, St. Mark, reproves this practice, " And if 
 the wife shall put away her husband, and be married to 
 another, she committeth adultery," (10. 13). 
 
 St. Paul likewise condemns it, especially in t^ o ministers 
 of religion. " It behoveth therefore a bishop to be blameless, 
 the husband of one wife, sober, prudent, of good behaviour, 
 chaste, &c.," (1 Tim. 3. 2). And as the Apostle enjoins it 
 upon the man to be only mias gunaikos aner, that is, the 
 Jmsband of one wife; so he enjoins it upon the woman to be 
 only enos andros gune, the wife of one husband (5. 9.) These 
 injunctions of course have no reference to second marriages 
 in cases where the husband or wife was dead. The same 
 practices with respect to divorce existed among the heathen 
 nations of antiquity as well as among the Jews ; and hus- 
 bands dismissed their wives, and wives their husbands with 
 extraordinary ease among those people. The poet Juvenal 
 tells us of a fair lady who had no less than eight husbands 
 in the space of five years, sic Jiunt octo mariti quinque per 
 autumnos ; and the poet Martial celebrates the fair Thelesina 
 who sips the sweets of matrimonial bliss with her tenth 
 husband. Ut nvhet decimo jam Thelesina viro. Seneca in- 
 
 .■* 
 
 f /. 
 
 t= 
 
m 
 
 THE HEBREWS At HOME. 
 
 forms us that the women of ancient Rome comi^uted their 
 age not by the namns of the consuls, but by the number of 
 their husbands, non consulum, sed mantorum numero annos 
 8U0S computant. Happy fair ones ! Life must have been a 
 blooming garden to them ; and bright and pleasant must have 
 passed the easy hours as they reposed on their variegated 
 matrimonial flower bank, and smiled, and laughed, and toyed 
 old time away. But then the chequered life of light and 
 smiles was not sanctified by the moral code of oven that day 
 of unbridled fancy ; for there were men, and among them 
 poets of glowing fancy, who thougjic, and said, that a woman 
 should be content with the quiet and blissful prose of one 
 husband, " Unico gaudens mulier marito.^' 
 
 "With respect to the nuptial affairs of the Hebrews it is 
 only necessary further to observe that the custom of wives 
 bringing a dowry to their husbands was prevalent among 
 the Hebrews. It is called Nedunia by the Rabbis. Raguel 
 gave with his daughter Sara half his goods as a dowry; 
 " He delivered Sara unto him (Tobias), and half of all his 
 substance in men servants, and women servants, in cattle, in 
 camels, and in kine, and in much money." (Tobi. 10. 10). 
 
 w 
 
 -"i:-" 
 
 W TV 
 
 .*>■• 
 
 -■■■* 
 
 I . 
 
|:i 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIII. 
 
 BURIALS— ABLUTION OF THE DEAD— THRSL KINDS OF ABLU- 
 TION AMONQ THE ANCIENTS — EMBALMING THE BODIES OF 
 THE DEAD — BUBIAL PLACES ; AND MOURNING. 
 
 The burial of the dead was attended with many solemn, and 
 in some respects, curious ceremonies among the naaons of 
 antiquity. It wiA a very general practice among them to 
 assign t the nearest of kin the ceremony of closing the eyes 
 of the deceased. This practice was observed by the Hebrews. 
 Jacob was informed in a vision at night, as he was on his 
 way to Egypt, that his son Joseph should " close his eyes." 
 " Joseph shall also put his hands upon thy eyes." (Gen. 
 46. 4). In the classic authors of Greece and Bome we have 
 abundant evidences of the prevalence of this among them. 
 And among* the Irish peasantry, even at the present day, the 
 closing of the eyes of the dead, and that by the nearest of 
 kin is a ceremony which is never overlooked. 
 
 The washing of the corpse was another ceremony com- 
 mon to the Hebrews, Greeks and Bomans, as well as to the 
 Irish ; and among the last named people it is practised even 
 at the present day. We learn from the Acts of the Apostles, 
 that the woman Tabitha being dead, was " washed and laid 
 in an upper chamber." (9. 37.) There were three kinds 
 of ablution observed among the ancients, as connected with 
 the dead ; by the Greeks they were called baptismos apo nek- 
 ron ; baptismos ton nekron ; and baptismos uper ton nekron. The 
 first, which means literally an ablution from the dead, was 
 
 liiii 
 
 ^m 
 
 t,t 
 
238 
 
 TtiB riEBREWS AT ttOMB 
 
 performed on those who by contact with a corpse were sitp^ 
 posed to bo thereby polhited ; the second, which means an 
 abhttion of the dead, was performed on the corpse itself, as in 
 the case of Tabitha just mentioned ; and this was the species 
 of ablution which was common to the Greeks and Romans, 
 and other nations, both heathen and Christian | the third, or 
 ablution for the dead, was a sacramental ablution conferred on 
 a living person in the name of one who had died un baptised; 
 this was done in the belief that the person who had died 
 without the sacramontal ablution of baptism was benefited 
 by its being conferred on a living person in his name, so 
 niuch so that he obtained all the advantages which the 
 sacrament was intended to confer. To this practice is pro- 
 bably that allusion of St. Paul in his first Epistle to the 
 Corinthians, where, talking of the resurrection of the dead, 
 he says : " Otherwise what shall they do that are baptised 
 for the dead, if the dead rise not again at all ? Why are 
 they then baptised for them ?" (15. 29.) Some commen- 
 tators on this passage, however, think this baptism for the 
 dead means the prayers and penitential labours performed 
 by the primitive Christians for the relief of departed souls. 
 I must say for myself, that I incline to that interpretation 
 of the passage which bases its meaning upon the practice of 
 ablution or baptism by proxy for the dead ; the other inter- 
 pretation appears to me to be far-fetched. St. Ambrose 
 regards the passage in the sense of the common practice, 
 that is, as a sacramental ablution performed in the name of 
 another. TertuUian calls this kind of ablution vicarium bap- 
 tisma, that is, baptism by proxy. The manner in which it 
 was performed was this : — When any Catechumen died, a 
 person was placed under the bed in which he lay : the person 
 appointed to confer the ablution then approached the bed- 
 
BtRiAtS. 
 
 m 
 
 side, and addressing the corpse asked whether ho would be 
 baptised : the person under the bed answered for him, say- 
 ing that he would be baptized : and then the ceremony was 
 performed, the person under the bed being baptised in behalf 
 of the dead person. 
 
 The first kind of ablution, that is, ablution from tJie deady 
 was peculiar to the Jews, as it does not appear that it was 
 used among the heathen nations of antiquity. The washing 
 of the dead body itself was the only kind of mortuary ablution 
 that was practised in common by Jews and Heathens, as well 
 as by Christians j and which, as I have already said, is still 
 in use among the peasantry of Ireland. 
 
 The embalming of the corpse was a practice among the 
 HeL»rews which they borrowed from the Egyptians, Joseph 
 being the first who introduced the custom among them: — 
 "And he commanded his servants, the physicians, to em- 
 balm his father." (Gen. 50. 2.) Herodotus describes the 
 Egyptian manner of embalming dead bodies; which is 
 as follows : — They took out the bowels of the dead body, 
 which they cleansed and washed with the wine of dates; and 
 after that with odours: they then filled the bowels with pure 
 myrrh pounded, and with cassia, and other odours, — with 
 the exception of frankincense, which was never used, — and 
 sewed them up. The corpse was then covered with nitre for 
 the space of seventy days, no longer : and after the expi- 
 ration of this period they took out the corpse from the nitre, 
 and washed it, and wrapped it in fine linen, which was 
 gummed in order to make it adhere closely to the corpse, 
 and thus exclude the air. This was the most elaborate and 
 perfect mode of embalming: but there was another mode, 
 which consisted merely in an external application of spices 
 and odours, without disembowelling. This simple form was 
 
 / / 
 
240 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 resorted to when the fUneral obsequies were to be performed 
 without delay. It was in this way that our Saviour's body 
 was embalmed : — " They took therefore the body of Jesus, 
 and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as the manner 
 of the Jews is to bury." (John 19. 40.) It was not unusual 
 with the Hebrews to burn the corpse in the manner of some 
 of the heathen people of antiquity ; and in such cases the 
 bones only were preserved in an urn. We find allusion made 
 to this practice in the prophecy of Amos : — " And a man's 
 kinsman shall take him up, and shall burn him, that he may 
 carry the bones out of the house." (6. 10.) The common 
 practice, however, was to bury the body in the earth. The 
 Jews did not bury their dead promiscuously ; they had seve- 
 ral family burying places, which they either inherited from 
 their ances^rs, or purchased with their own money. The 
 form of the family burial place was that of a vault scooped 
 out of a rock, and measuring six cubits long by four broad, 
 or about eleven feet by seven. In this vault were from eight 
 to thirteen cells for the dead bodies. The entrance to it was 
 low and narrow, and the door or opening was filled up with 
 a large stone, which was rolled away whenever a corpse was 
 to be deposited there, and then back again after the burial. 
 This cave or vault* was called Keber in the Hebrew, which 
 merely signifies a burial place : it was sometimes also called 
 Magnara, which signifies simply a cave. The stone at the 
 entrance or mouth was called Golel, which moans a rolling 
 stone. The description given in the Grospel of St. Matthew 
 of the burial place of our Saviour affords a fair idea of the 
 form of those burial places among the Jews : — " And Jcs)ph 
 taking the body, wrapped it up in a clean linen cloth. And 
 laid it in his own new monument, which he had hewed out 
 in a )*ock. And he rolled a great stone to the door of the 
 
BURIALS. 
 
 241 
 
 iKionument, and went his way." (27. 59.) The onttance of 
 the cave was sometimes painted and ornamented by the 
 wealthier classes; and hence the expression of "painted 
 sepulchre," which we -neet in the Gospels. Whenever the 
 Jews mentioned the name of a deceased friend, they were 
 wont to accompany it with the expression, " the memory of 
 the just is blessed," as we find it in the book of Proverbs : 
 and the Babbis speaking of a deceased person of literary 
 worth and distinction, were in the habit of using the words, 
 " of blessed memory," as, such an one " of blessed memory." 
 
 The usual inscription upon the tombs of the ancient Jews 
 was, " Let this soul be bound up in the garden of Eden, or 
 in the bundle of the living. Amen, Amen, Amen.'* 
 
 There has existed a strange notion among the latter Jews, 
 that if their bodies were buried in i strange land, that is, 
 anywhere out of the land of Canaan, or the promised land, 
 they would have no participation in the resurrection of the 
 dead, unless the Almighty vouchsafed to open passages for 
 them under ground, through which their bodies might pass 
 by rolling into the land of Canaan. 
 
 This notion was founded on the injunction of Jacob to his 
 son Joseph to deposit his body in the Holy Land, and not in 
 the land of Egypt. The reasons assigned by the Babbi 
 commentators for this injunction of Jacob was . that the 
 patriarch saw by prophetic inspiration that the land of 
 Egypt would be converted into creeping insects, and that 
 those who were buried in Egypt would not rise at the gene- 
 ral resurrection except by a painful volution and tumbling 
 through hollow passages of the earth ; and also that the 
 Egyptians might not in the spirit of idolatry pay him divine 
 
 worship. 
 Feasting at the burials of the dead was also a custom pre- 
 
 II 
 
242 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 valejit among tho ancient Jews. Those foastfi they called 
 the " moat of mourners," and the " cup oi consolation." 
 (Ezec. 24. 17.) (Jer. IG. 7.) A similar practice prevailed 
 among tho Romans, and was called Silicemium. Tho Greeks 
 also i)ractiscd it. And among the Irish, oven to the present 
 day, the custom has been universal. 
 
 The signs of mourning among the Jews wore of different 
 kinds, some of which wore borrowed from tho neighbouring 
 Hoi^thons, and some wore peculiar to themselves. Those 
 w^hich they practised in common with the heathen nations 
 were, first, cutting their bodies with sharp instruments, a 
 practice which was, of course, forbidden by the law : — " Bo 
 ye the children of the Lord your God : you shall not cut 
 yourselves, nor make any baldness for the dead." (Deut. 
 14. 1.) ; and' second, shaving off the hair of tho head, or 
 making it fall off by the application of certain plasters ; 
 oven the cheeks and eyelids wore thus made bare. The formy 
 of mourning peculiar to themselves, and which were not 
 forbidden by the law, wore, going bareheaded, and bare- 
 footed, in order to show the intensity of their grief by tho 
 excess of their humiliation ; and also covering their lips, to 
 indicate the depth of their soitow by tho imposition of abso- 
 lute silence : — " And they shall all cover their faces, because 
 there is no answer of God." (Mich. 3. 7). This was^dono 
 by casting the skirts of their cloaks or other garments over 
 their faces and lips. Rending their clothes, and putting 
 sackcloth about their loins were other modes of expressing 
 sorrow among them: — "And tearing his garments, he''put 
 on sackcloth, mourning for his son a long time." (Gon. 
 37.34.) 
 
 Such were tho usual manifestations of sorrow and mourn- 
 ing among the ancient Jews. In addition to these, however, 
 
Burials. 
 
 m 
 
 ttioy employed at their funerals musicians and singers, for 
 the purpose of augmenting their sorrow. The musicians, 
 or minstrels were of two kinds according to the rank and 
 age of the deceased ; at the funerals of noblemen and of old 
 men trumpets were the instruments used ; but at those of 
 the common people geiicrally pipes were employed. To 
 this practice is that reference in the Gospel of St. Matthew, 
 where our Saviour cast out the minstrels when he raised the 
 daughter of Jairus : — " And when Jesus was come into the 
 house of the ruler, and saw the minstrels, and the multitude 
 making a rout, &c." (Mat. 9. 23.) The singing women 
 were employed for the purpose of giving greater keen- 
 ness and flow to the grief of the mourners by recalling 
 vividly to their memory the virtues and amiable qualities 
 of the deceased, and by the omploymeut of external mo- 
 tions and signs of grief: — " Call for the mourning women, 
 and let them come : and send to them that are wise women, 
 and let them make haste : Let them hasten and take up a 
 lamentation for us : let our eyes shod tears, and our eyelids 
 run down with waters." — (Jer. 9. 17). 
 
 The Greeks and Eomans had also hired mourning women, 
 or singers at the funerals : and all who are acquainted with 
 the customs of the Irish know that up to a very recent period 
 the practice of hiring women to sing the caoine, or death 
 song, at wakes and funerals, was of universal prevalence 
 throughout Ireland ; and even at the present day the cus- 
 tom has not gone out in some parts of the country. 
 
 I 
 
' I 
 
 t<l 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 OATHS — THREE MODES OF TAKING OATHS. 
 
 The manner of taking an oath among the ancient Jews 
 was threefold : first, by lifting up the hands towards heaven, 
 as we find in the instance of Abraham recorded in Genesis 
 (14. 22), — " I lift up my hand to the Lord God, the most 
 high, the possessor of heaven and earth. That from the 
 very woof thread unto the shoe latchet, I will not take of 
 any things that are thine, lest thou say I have enriched 
 Abraham." ;Tho Psalmist alludes to this manner of taking 
 an oath where ho says, — " And he lifted up his hand over 
 them," (105. 26). Secondly, it was customary for the per- 
 son who swore to place his hands beneath the thigh of him 
 who administered the oath, as in the instance of Abraham 
 recorded in the twenty-fourth chapter of Genesis, second 
 verse, — " And he said to the elder servant of his house, who 
 was ruler over all ho had : Put thy hand under my thigh." 
 This form was also employed by Joseph in swearing to his 
 father Jacob that he would not bur^ him in Egypt. — " And 
 when (Jacob) saw that the day of his death drew nigh, he 
 called his son Joseph, and said to him : If I have found favor 
 in thy sight put thy hand under my thigh ; and thou shalt 
 shew me this kindness and truth, not to bury mo in Egypt," 
 (Gen. 4:1. 29). 
 
 Thirdly, the person who swore stood before the altar, — 
 " And if any man trespass against his neighbour, and have 
 ftn oath upon him, wherewith ho is bound : and come be- 
 
OATHS— THREE MODES OP TAKING OATHS. 
 
 245 
 
 cause of his oath before thy altar to thy house, &c," (3 K. 
 
 8. 31]. This was also the manner in which the Greeks 
 Romans, and Carthagenians mode an oath. 
 
 The form of administering an oath among the ancient 
 Jews consisted in these words, — " Give glory to God : " as 
 when Josue said to Achan, — " My son, give glory to the 
 Lord Grod of Israel, and confess and tell me what thou hast 
 done, hide it not," [Jos. Y. 10]. And in the case of the 
 blind man whom our Saviour had restored to sight, we find 
 the same form of words employed, — " They therefore called 
 the man again that had been blind, and said to him, give 
 glory to God. "We know that this man is a sinner, &c." [Joh. 
 
 9. 24]. The meaning of this form of administering an oath 
 is manifest: it implied an acknowledgment of God's pre- 
 sence everywhere, of His knowledge of all things, of His 
 love of truth, justice, and equity, and of His power to punish 
 such as violated these divine and eternal principles. An 
 oath was therefore only to be taken under solemn circum- 
 stances, and by no moans to bo resorted to on trivial occa- 
 sions. In the course of time, however, after moral coiTup- 
 tion had crept into the social manners, the object of the oath 
 became changed from the Creator to the creature ; and 
 then the Jews began to swear by Jerusalem, by the Tem- 
 ple, and the gold of the Temple, by the Altar, and by the 
 gifts on the latter. This last-named oath was the only one 
 which the Scribes and Pharisees looked upon as obligatory 
 in the time of our Saviour. Ho who then swore by the 
 Altar was not bound to fulfil his oath ; but he who swore by 
 the gift upon the Altar, which in Hebrew was called Corban, 
 he was held bound to perform his ath. This distinction 
 we find alluded to in the Gospel of St. Matthew, — " And 
 whosoever shall swear by the Altar, it is nothing : but whor 
 
 . ) 
 
 ■ i 
 
m 
 
 tHE HEBREWS AT llOMfl. 
 
 soever shall swear by the gift upon it, is a debtor." (23. 18.) 
 So far had the Pharisees carried this distinction that even in 
 matters opposed to the law of Ooo ihoy held themselves 
 bound by the oath Corhan. For instance, they maintained 
 that if a son or daughter swore by this oath that they would 
 not afford assistance to their parents, the oath was binding ; 
 hence, according to their Talmud, "Every one ought to 
 honour his father and mother, except he had vowed the 
 contrary." The Jews are represented as frequently mak- 
 ing a solemn vow that they would never do good to partic- 
 ular persona against whom they entertained feelings of 
 enmity. They were also wont to annex a curse to their 
 oaths; that is, to wish themselves a certain evil if they did 
 not fulfil the oaths they had madt. This sort of swearing 
 is common enough in our own day ; for we frequently hear 
 swearers using' such language as this: " May such or such 
 an evil befall me if I do such or such a thing," or, " if I do 
 not do such or such a thing." In the first book of Kings we 
 find similar words used by Saul in denouncing death against 
 Jonathan : — " And Saul said : May God do so and so to roe, 
 and add still more : for dying, thou shalt die O Jonathan." 
 (1 K. 14. 44). And again in the third book of Kings we 
 find this form of expression : — " Such and such things may 
 the gods do to me, and more may they add, if the dust of 
 Samaria shall suffice for handfuUs for all the people that 
 follow me," (3 K. 20. 10). The words of execration were 
 sometimes understood, and not expressed, and thus the ex- 
 pressed words of the oath had a negative signification ; in 
 (jrenesis, foarteenth chapter and twenty-second vei*se, " And 
 he ane'vered him : I lift up my hand to the Loi-d God the 
 most high, the possessor of heaven and earth. That from 
 tho V(^ry woof thread unto the shoe-latchet, I will not take 
 
OATHS— THREE MODES OP TAKING OATHS. 
 
 247 
 
 of any things that are thine, lost thou say I have enriched 
 Abraham." The same appears from the words of the 
 ninety-fourth Psalm, " And those men have not known my 
 ways; so I swore in my wrath that they shall not enter 
 into my rest." This serves to elucidate that difficult ex- 
 pression in the Gospel of St. Matthew, "Whosever shall 
 say to father or mother, The gift whatsoever proceedeth 
 from me, shall profit thee " [15. 5] ; of which the meaning, 
 accoi-ding to the oath Corban, is, Thou shalt receive no profit 
 from me. This signification accords with the nature of the 
 oath Corban, and also with the spirit of our Saviour's 
 observation in the text, where he commands the Jews to 
 " honor their father and mother," and not to follow the felse 
 doctrine, in that respect, of the Scribes and Pharisees, who 
 taught that by the oath Corban children were exempt from 
 all filial roverencc and duty. 
 
»'» 
 
 CHAPTER X:JtV. 
 
 tHE WRITING OP THE JEWS — VARIOUS OPINIONS AS TO THE 
 ORIGIN OF LETTERS — THE INSTRUMENTS AND MATERIALS 
 USED IN WRITING — THE MAS0RITE8 AND THEIR WORKS. 
 
 Op the origin of writing various opinions are held by 
 ancient authors ; therefore the difficulty of arriving, by the 
 aid of reasoning, at a perfectly satisfactory conclusion on 
 this subject may be considered as insurmountable. Pliny, 
 Dlodorua, Siculus, Servius, Eusebius, and others, differ in 
 this respect not only with one another, but also with them- 
 selv^es individually in different portions of their works. 
 Some say that it was Cadmus who first brought letters into 
 Greece ; others, that it was Palamedes. Again, there are 
 those who assert that the Assyi'ians were the first cultiva- 
 tors of literature, and that Ehadamanthus was the person 
 who introduced ^letters among them. Hercules is repre- 
 sented to have imported letters into Phrygia ; and Memnon 
 to have introduced them into Egypt; and Carmenta to 
 have brought them into ancient Latium. The Ethiopians 
 too come in for a share of this vagrant honour ; while the 
 Phoenicians are declared to be the first who had the know- 
 ledge and use of letters. Between such a variety of 
 claimants it would seem impossible to establish an indisput- 
 able verdict. Eusebius, however, sets forth a most plausible 
 theory as regards Jewish literature, and one indeed, which 
 it is impossible to dispute, by making^Moses its author. F*^ 
 
11 
 
 THE WRIIINO OF THE JEWS. 
 
 249 
 
 represents this divinely inspired legislator and heaven- 
 appointed ruler of the Hebrew people as being the first who 
 taught the use of letters to the Jews ; and from these he 
 would have the Phcenicians to have obtained the knowledge 
 of them ; and the Greeks from the Phoenicians. However 
 plausible this theory may be in other respects, we may 
 reasonably doubt whether the Egyptians, from whom Moses 
 had derived his knowledge of letters, had anticipated the 
 Phoenicians in that respect. Bo that, however, as it may, 
 for wo cannot, in accordance with our present purpose, enter 
 into so vast a field of enquiry — ^there c^ at lenst be no 
 doubt that the Phoenicians were the first people who 
 extended the knowledge of letters, as well as of navigation 
 and commerce, to the different parts of the ancient world. 
 But our more immediate business is with the materials on 
 which the Jews and other peopl* of Antiquity were wont 
 to inscribe their thoughts. Lucan informs us that the 
 Phoenicians were the first who ventured to substitute rude 
 figures for ai'ticulate sounds : Phoenici primi (famae si cre- 
 dimus) ausi mansuram rudibus vocem signare figuris. This 
 they did probably on the rind or bark of trees, or on tile- 
 stones, using a pointed instrument of eteel, or of bone for 
 that purpose. Stone tablets were also employed for the 
 purposes of writing and these generally among the Jews. 
 We know that the decalogue was written on two tables of 
 stone. But we also learn that wooden tablets or boards were 
 used in the same way ; for the prophet Isaias thus alludes 
 to the practice, " Now therefore go in and write for them 
 upon box, and note it diligently in a book, and it shall be in 
 the latter days for a testimony for ever." (Isai. 30. 8). The 
 instrument used for writing in those early times was made, 
 as I have said, of steel, or bone, but principally of the 
 
 W 
 
 MI 
 
 Hi' 
 
^- /•! 
 
 250 
 
 ^^ THE HEBREWS A* HOAfE. 
 
 I 
 
 former material ; it was pointed at one end, and broad at 
 t' the other, so that whenever a mistake occurred in the writing 
 it might be obliterated by the application of the broad end. 
 The Eoman name of this instrument was sti/his ; and from 
 this word comes our English term, style, as applied to the 
 particular character of a literary composition. In like 
 manner the Eoman expression invertere sti/lum, to turn the 
 style, as applied to the blotting out of letters written accord- 
 ing to this early usage in the art of writing, was afterwards 
 used to signify a retraction of anything either written or 
 spoken, as inverte st^lum, retract your words. The rind of 
 trees was used, as I have said, at a very early period, as a 
 material for writing upon ; and hence the Romans used the 
 word liber, which means literally the bark of a tree, to sig- 
 nify a book, after the practice of writing on bark had ceased- 
 The first great improvement in the material for writing 
 upon,consi8ted in the adoption of parchment instead of bark, 
 stone, and wood ; and also in the adoption of the plant, 
 papyrus, by the Egyptians. The form in which the Jews, 
 and the ancients generally employed parchment was not 
 that of a book as in present use but of oblong sheets, which 
 were rolled up in the manner of charts ; and hence they 
 were called in the Hebrew Megilla, from Galal, to roll, and 
 in the Latin volumina, from volvo, signifying the same thing. 
 And fi'om thh Latin term is derived our English word 
 volume, as applied to a book. The size of the sheet among* 
 the Jews was sometimes as much as twenty cubits long by 
 ten cubits broad, their cubit being twenty- one inches; thus 
 making the size of the sheet in feetj, thirty-five by seventeen 
 and a half. In the prophecy of Zacharias wo find mention 
 made of a sheet of this size. " And he said to me : What 
 seest thou ? And I said : I see a volume flying ; the 
 
 length 
 
THE WRITINQ OF THE JEWS. 
 
 1:1 
 
 251 
 
 thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ton cubits," 
 (5. 2). In the gospel of St. Luke, we have an illustration of 
 the manner in which the sheet was made up: "And the 
 book of Isaias the prophet was delivered unto him. And as 
 he unfolded the book, he found the place where it was 
 written, &c." (4. 17). Again, " And when he had unfolded 
 the book, he restored it to the minister, &c." (4. 20). In 
 the Septuagint the words used to express the opening and 
 closing of the book arc auaptuxas, and ptuxas, which signify 
 literally unrolling, and rolling. The manner of writing in 
 these sheets was not in continuous lines from one side to 
 another, commencing at the top, and so covering the whole 
 surface to the end ; but the sheet was divided into separate 
 spaces or columns, and those filled up as the necessities of 
 the matter to be written required. These separate spaces 
 stood for pages, and were arranged with a regard to con- 
 nexion and consecutive order. Thus wo read in the prophecy 
 of Jeremias, " And when Judi had read three or four pages, 
 he cut it with the penknife, and he cast it into the fire, that 
 was upon the hearth, till all the volume was consumed with 
 the fire that was upon the hearth," (36. 23). It is in such 
 rolls as these that the Jews have preserved their laws, and 
 even at the present day they retain them in their synagogues. 
 It has been a subject of controversy among the learned 
 whether the Jews wrote originally with vowels and accents ; 
 but there appears to be no tangible ground for supposing 
 that the contrary was at any time the case. In fact, those 
 celebrated emendators and commentators of the books of 
 the Old Testament, who are known to us by the name of 
 Masorites, and to whom some have ascribed the introduction 
 of vowels and accents into the Hebrew writings, did only 
 correct the irregularity which they found in the vowels and 
 
 4 
 
 i ril 
 
 l« I 
 
 ! 
 
252 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 k 
 
 accents ; but did not introduce them for the first tiir>e. As 
 a matter of curiosity I shall here give a brief accc ant of 
 those learned men, called Masorites. The name itself is de- 
 rived from the Hebrew word Mazar, which signi^es to 
 deliver, and means literally deliverers, or transmitters, in 
 allusion to the handing down of tradition. Among the 
 Jews, as well as the Heathens, certain unwritten laws and 
 rules of moral and civil conduct were delivered down from 
 hand to hand for the instruction of posterity ; and in this 
 regard the Masorites among the Jews resembled the Pytha- 
 goreans and Druids among the Heathens. But those 
 learned men whom we, by way of distinctive excellence, 
 call Masorites, were particular writers of the oral tradi- 
 tion, certain learned individuals who wi'ote explanatory 
 marginal notes to the bool:° of the Old Testament. Some 
 writers think that they were inhabitants of the city of 
 Tiberias, and were thence called the " wise men of Tibe- 
 rias j" and that they wrote the Scholia, or critical original 
 notes of the Bible, after the Babylonian Talmud had been 
 completed, which was about the year five hundred and six 
 of our era. This supposition is, however, rendered ground- 
 less by the ft ot that there existed no society of learned men 
 in Tiberias so late as that period ; on the contrary, the dis- 
 tinctions of learning hpd ceased within the fourth century 
 after the birth of our Saviour. And besides, both in the 
 Talmud of Jerusalem and that of Babylon mention is made 
 of the Masora, or work of the Masorites, and the things it 
 contained ; so that it must have been composed before either 
 of the Talmuds. The most probable opinion as to the iden- 
 tity of the Masorites is, that they wore an ecclesiastical 
 Senate held by the prophets Esra, Zachary, Malachi, Haggai 
 and others, after the return from the captivity of Babylon, 
 
THE WRITlNa OF THE JEWS. 
 
 253 
 
 for the purpose of reforming and regulating the concornB of 
 ti e Church. They were called the " Men of the great Sj^'na- 
 gogue." This Senate, or Council, is said to have continued 
 in existence for at least forty years ; and Simeon the Just 
 was the last member of it. He came out in his sacerdotal 
 robes to meet Alexander the Great, at the time when that 
 celebrated conqueror was marching against Jerusalem, 
 which was more than three hundred years before the birth of 
 our Saviour. The president of this Council was the prophet 
 Esra, who was held in the highest esteem among the Jews for 
 his superior wisdom and sanctity. They compared him to 
 Moses ; and, according to the Talmud, thej^ believed that " the 
 law would have been given to Israel through his hands if 
 Moses had not j^receded him." The labours of this Council, 
 or of the Masorites, as we shall c:;ll them, are given upon the 
 authority of Buxtorfus, Tertullian, Chrysostom, Irenajus, 
 Augustine, and Genebardus ; and were as follows : — They 
 separated the canonical from the spurious and apocryphal 
 writings of the Sacred penmen. The canonical books they 
 divested of such errors as had crept into th« text during the 
 time of the captivity ; and they digested the whole of the 
 Old Testament into twentj^-two books, this being the number 
 of the Hebrew letters. They then divided each book into 
 sections and verses ; and added critical notes on the arrange- 
 ment and orthography of different words, particularly as 
 regarded the vowels and accents. They also numbered not 
 only the verses, but even the words and letters of each book 
 in order to prevent the possibility of the text being cor- 
 rupted in all future time. And, lastly, they explained in 
 marginal notes the various modes of writing and of reading 
 the several texts : for it must be observed that in the Hebrew 
 text of the Old Testament there are many words written 
 
254 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 with fewer letters than are pronounced, and many with 
 more; and there are even many words written that are not 
 pronounced at all. These and other peculiarities ol* the 
 language they noted in the margin, and called it Kei% or 
 readirrg; because the text was to be read according to the 
 words in the margin. The difference made by the correc- 
 tion of the text they called Cethib, or writing. But it is not 
 to be inferred from this, that the Masorites made any essen- 
 tial change in the original meaning of any parts of the Old 
 Testament ; for this would be to destroy its inspiration. The 
 writers thcmsclvts, of the Bible, were cognisant of the secret 
 meaning by which the text was to be explained, for many 
 mysteries and specific points of knowledge were in the pos- 
 session of Moses and the prophets, by which their writins^g 
 wore to be illuetrated ; and the Masorites only made use of 
 these illustrative traditions in order to secure the changeless 
 sense of the text to posterity. This is made manifest by the 
 fact that the prophets Malachy, Zachary, Haggai, and Esra, 
 and the others who constituted this celebrated Council of the 
 Masorites wrote their own books in the usual way, and 
 added illustrative marginal notes to them in the same man- 
 ner as they did to the writings of the other prophets and 
 sacred penmen. ,,; * 
 
 .^, 
 
11 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THE CAMPS OP ISRAEL — THE TABERNACLE — THE TENTS OP THE 
 PRIESTS AND LEVITES — AND THE TENTS OF THE TWELVE 
 TRIBES. 
 
 For the purpose of bringing before the mind the geM3ral 
 position und proceedings of the Israelites, both during 
 their progress through the wilderness from Egypt to the 
 Promised Land, and after their settlement in Canaan, I deem 
 it necessary to take a brief review of the mode which they 
 adopted in the arrangement of their camps and the order of 
 their journey, and in their final establishment in Jerusalem. 
 Their camp consisted of three parts or divisions, namely, 
 the Tabernacle, which we may compare to a great cathedral 
 church with its courts ; the Ihits of the Priests and Levites, 
 which may bear an analogy to the colleges and habitations 
 of clergy around a cathedral church ; and the Tents of the 
 Twelve Tribes, which may be compared to the great body of 
 a city. ^The Tabernacle, which was called the Camp of the 
 Divine Majesty, was placed in the centre oi the whole ; next 
 to this were the habitations of the priests and Levites, which 
 were <-i lied the Camp of Levi ; and outside and around these 
 were the tents o*' the people, called the Camp of Israel. It 
 is thought, wit' probability, that the whole presented the 
 form of a square, measuring twelve miles in the side, and 
 co'^^sequently consisting of one hundred and forty -four square 
 miles. The ground consisted of four divisions, separated by 
 squares, or lai-gc open spaces, each division being appro. 
 
^56 
 
 DHE HEBREWS AT HOME, 
 
 priated to tlirea tribes. On tho northern side were the 
 tribes of Dan, Asher, and Naphthali ; uu the southern those 
 of Eeuben, Simeon and Gad ; on the eastern those of Judah, 
 Issachar and Zabulon, and on the western those of Eplii aim, 
 Manasses and Ber Jamin. The squares, or open spaces be- 
 tween the several divisions were used as market places for 
 the buying and selling of all articles of use and consump- 
 tion for the people, and as places of residence for the various 
 tradesmen who furnished those articles. The distance of 
 this body of the camp from the Tabernacle is supposed to 
 have been half a Jewish mile, or three quarters English on 
 every side, that is, what is called a " Sabbath day's journey :" 
 " And let there be between you and the ark the space of 
 two thousand cubits ; that you may see it afar off, and know 
 which way you must go." (Jos. 3, 4.) The habitations of 
 the priests and Levites, or, as it was called, the Camp of Levi, 
 was also divided into four parts : on the northern side were 
 the Merarites ; on the southern the Cohathites ; on the east- 
 ern Moses, Aaron, and the priests ; and on the western the 
 Gershonites. In the centre of the whole, as I have said, 
 was the Tabernacle, or Camp of the Divine Majesty. 
 
 After the Israelites had established themselves in Jerusa- 
 lem the same arrangement and relative position of locality 
 was preserved as that which had been adopted in the jour- 
 ney through the wilderness. The Temple, which represented 
 the Tabernacle, was separated from the habitations of the 
 priests and Levites, or Camp of Levi ; and the city proper, 
 or Camp of Israel, was separated from that of the priests 
 and Levites : " From the gate of Jerusalem to the mountain 
 on which the Temple stood was the Camp of Israel ; from 
 the gate of the mountain of the Temple to the gate of the 
 Court, called Nicanor's gate, was the Camp of Levd] and 
 
THE CAMPS OF ISRAEL. 
 
 257 
 
 from the gate of the Court up to the Temple was the Camp 
 of the Divine Majesty y The Twelve Tribes were arranged 
 under four banners or standards, each banner being com- 
 posed, as it is thought, of three co.ours, making in all twelve 
 colours ; which corresponded to the number of precious stones 
 in the breast-plate of the high-priest, on which were inscrib- 
 ed the names of their twelve patriarchs. On each of the 
 banners was inscribed a motto ; that on the first being : 
 " Arise, O Lord, and let thy enemies be scattered, and let 
 them that hate thee, flee from before thy face." (Num. 10. 
 S'^.) The Hebrew writers say that a device or figure was 
 also engraven on each of the banners ; they rej)resent Reu- 
 ben's banner to have contained the image of a man ; that of 
 Judah the image of a lion; that of Ephraim the image of 
 an ox; and that of Dan the image of an eagle. By the 
 prophet Ezechiel the angels aro represented under these 
 four figures ; each angel, or cherubim, is represented as hav- 
 ing four faces, namely, the face of a man, as an indication 
 of intelligence ; that of a lion, as an indication of power ; 
 that of an ox, as an indication of the ministerial office; and 
 that of an eagle, as an indication of swiftness in the execu- 
 tion of God's will. (1. 10.) A similar representation of 
 angels is given in the Apocalypse of St. John. (4. 6.) 
 
 According to the opinion of some of the Fathers of the 
 Church, such as St. Jerome and St. Augustine, the four 
 Evangelists are shadowed forth under the representation of 
 these animals ; thus, St. Matthew is represented by the figure 
 of a man, because he begins his Gospel with an account of 
 the generation of our Saviour according to his humanity ; 
 St. Mark by the figure of a lion, because in the beginning 
 of his Gospel he recites the words of Isaias the prophet, '' A 
 voice of one crying in the desert," which is a metaphor 
 
 
258 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 takeL from the roaring of a lion in the desert ; St. Luke by 
 the figure of an ox, because he commences his Gospel with 
 an account of the priest Zachary in the performance 6f his 
 sacerdotal functions; and St. John, by the figure of an eagle, 
 because he sets out in his Gospel with an account of the 
 Divinity of Christ, and thus soars into the higher regions 
 of thought like an eagle in the l, • ) f ' -iio sun. 
 
 In the Septuagint the Hebrew ..Krii ;' r banner is trans- 
 lated by the Greek word taxis, wL . eJi^'n'Ses order; and 
 St. Paul adopting this word says, on the subject of death and 
 resurrection, '' But every one in his own order." [1 Cor. 15. 
 23.] 
 
 The order of marching observed by the Israelites in the 
 desert was this : — When God lifted up the cloud, according 
 to the movement and position of which they regulated their 
 march, Moses offered prayers, and the Priests sounded the 
 trumpets; whereupon the first standard — that of Judah — 
 was put in motion, under which marched, together with the 
 tribe of Judah, those of Issachar and Zebulon. These were 
 followed immediately by the Gershonites and Merarites, 
 bearing the boards and coverings of the Tabernacle in 
 wagons. Then the trumpets sounded a second alarm, when 
 the three tribes of Eeuben, Simeon, and Gad marched under 
 their banner after the Tabernacle. Then followed the 
 Kohathites occupying the centre of the twelve tribes, and 
 bearing on their shoulders the Ark, Candlestick, Table, 
 Altar and other holy things. At the third sound of the 
 trumpets the tribes of Ephraim, Manasses, and Benjamin 
 rose up, and marched forward under their standard. And 
 by the fourth and last alarm the tribes of Dan, Asher, and 
 !Naphthali were put in motion j th^se had the charge of look- 
 
THE CAMPS OF ISRAEL. 
 
 %69 
 
 ing to the si<.k and helpless, and of seeing that nothing was 
 left behind. 
 
 In marching to battle the Priests sounded an alarm upon 
 the trumpets, and one of them, selected for the purpose, ad- 
 dressed the people in order to excite their enthusiasm, and 
 inspire them with ardour for the conflict ; this priest was 
 called the anointed of the battle. They then marched on, 
 five and five, in battle array. We find a full account of 
 these arrangements in the book of Numbers (10. 9), the 
 book of Deuteronomy (20. 2), and that of Exodus, (13. 8), 
 Whenever the Israelites invaded any nation it was their 
 custom to offer peace before they commenced the assault, 
 according to Deuteronomy; — "If at any time thou come 
 to fight against a city, thou shalt first offer it peace." (20. 10.) 
 The only nation whom we find to have accepted peace from 
 them was that of the Hevites, the inhabitants of Gideon ; 
 all the rest were subdued in battle. There were two nations, 
 however, who were excepted from the general custom, 
 namely, the Moabites and Ammonites, to whom it was for- 
 bidden to offer peace ; — " Thou shall not make peace with 
 them, neither shalt thou seek their prosperity all the day, 
 of thy life for ever," (Deuter. 23. 6). In like manner the 
 Israelites were forbidden to make a covenant with any of 
 the seven Nations ; — " When the Lord thy God shall have 
 brought thee into the land which thou art going in to 
 possess, and shall have destroyed many nations before thee, 
 the Hethite, and the Gorgezite, and the Amorrhite, and the 
 Canaanite, and the Pherezite, and the Hevite, and the Jebu- 
 site, seven nations much more numerous than thou art, and 
 stronger than thou; And the Lord thy God shall have de- 
 livered them to thee, thou shalt utterljr destroy themt" 
 (Dout. 7. 2.} 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 h 1 
 
260 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 With foreigners, however, it was permitted thorn to mufec 
 a covenant (Jos. 9. 7). There was a distinction between 
 making a peace, and entering into a covenant ; which con- 
 sisted in this, that whereas the making of peace was nothing 
 more than a bare engagement or promise to lay aside hostili- 
 ties in order to prevent the shedding of blood, with the condi- 
 tion that ihe people who thus made peace were to become 
 tributary to the Israelites; the entering into a covenant, 
 on the other hand, was attended with solemn and imposing 
 ceremonies, ^^'hich consisted in cutting a beast in two halves, 
 and making the parties to the league pass between the parts 
 thus separated. This would seem to imply that if any of 
 the parties to the covenant should afterwards violate it 
 their bodies should be cut in two like that of the beast. Of 
 this ceremony we read in the prophet Jeremias, — " And I 
 will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, and 
 have not performed the words of the covenant which they 
 agreed to in my presence, when they cut the calf in two 
 and passed between the parts thereof; — I will give them 
 into the hands of their enemies, and into the hands of them 
 that seek their life ; and their dead bodies shall be for 
 meat to the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the earth," 
 (34. 18). There was no condition of tribute or service im- 
 posed on either party on entering into a covenant; they 
 stood on equal terms ; and both parties were equally subject 
 to the punishment provided for its violation. 
 
 This distinction between a peace and a covenant is shewn 
 in the transaction of Josue with the Gibeonites, who although 
 living in the midst of the enemies of Israel represented 
 themselves as strangers coming from a far country, and 
 thus obtained from Josue the advantage of a covenant which 
 secured them against tribute ; but upon their fraudulent 
 
[r 
 
 THE CAMPS OF ISRAEL. 
 
 261 
 
 representation being discovered, although they could not 
 be subjected to a tribute in consequence of the terms of the 
 covenant, yet they were made hewers of wood and drawers 
 of water to the people of Israel, as a punishment for the 
 imposition they had practised upon them. 
 
 if 
 
;S 
 
 fl 
 
 \\\ 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 MBASURES IN USE AMONG THE HEBREWS — THE TWO KINDS 6p 
 MEASURES — THE HEBREW COINS — THEIR DIFFERENT MA- 
 TERIALS AND VALUES. 
 
 The Hebrews, like all other nationn, had two different kinds 
 of measures, that is, measures of application, and measures 
 of capacity. By measures of application are to bo under- 
 stood longitudinal measures, or measures of length, such as 
 an inch, a span, a cubit, a yard, and the like. Measures of 
 capacity arq those which contain certain quantities of matter, 
 dry, or liquid, such as pints, quarts, gallons, pecks, bushels, 
 and the like. The measures of length were adjusted accord- 
 ing to the space occupied by so many barley corns of the 
 middle size placed side by side at the thickest part ; thus, an 
 inch, or etsbang, as the Hebrews called it, was the space 
 occupied by six barley corns placed in a row in the manner 
 stated. This measured more than a finger's breadth, for 
 three inches were equal to four fingers. (Jer. 52. 21). The 
 palm was of two kinds, the lesser and the greater, the lesser 
 measuring four inches, and the greater, which was usually 
 called a span, measuring from the thumb to the little finger, 
 the hand being stretched out. The lesser was called Top- 
 hach by the Hebrews, and Palaiste by the Greeks ; and the 
 greater, Zereth, by the Hebrews, and Spithame by the 
 Greeks. The foot contained twelve in'hes, as with us. The 
 cubit called Amma by the Hebrews, A^as of four different 
 kinds ; that is, the common cubit j which was the length from 
 
MBAStJUES IN USE AMONG THE HEBREWS. 
 
 ife 
 
 the elbow to the top of the middle finger, and wus counted 
 a foot and a half, or half a yard : the Iwly cubit, so called 
 from itfl being used in the measurement of things connected 
 with sacred purposes, was equal to two common cubits, and 
 was consequently of a yard in length. (See 3 K. 7. 15, and 
 2 Chron. 3. 15) : the king's cubit, which was three inches 
 longer than the common cubit, which was called the man's 
 cubit (Deut. 3. 11) : and the geometrical cubit, which was the 
 length of six common cubits. It is supposed that the mea- 
 surements of Noah's Ark was made accord i. ^ to these last 
 mentioned cubits. (See Origen, Hom. 2 in Gen., and Augus- 
 tine, De Civ. Dei. Lib. 10. c. 21). 
 
 The Zme, or rope, or cheleb as it was called by the Hebrews, 
 was used for the purpose of measuring ground, but the 
 length of which is not ascertained : this term is sometimes 
 used by the sacred penmen to signify an inheritance, as 
 when the Psalmist says, "The lines are fallen to me in 
 goodly places ; for my inheritance is goodly to me." (Ps. 
 15. 6.) The reed, or kanch in the Hebrew, was used in mea- 
 suring buildings, its length was six cubits and a hand — 
 these being king's cubits. (Eze. 40. 5.) The reed was consi- 
 dered a more accurate instrument of measurement than the 
 line, or rope ; and hence it is used in a mystical sense in the 
 prophetic enunciations relative to the Church of God. (Eze. 
 40. and Eev. 21. 15.) Of the way, or road measures the 
 smallest was the pace, called tsagad by the Hebrews; of 
 these one hundred and twenty-five went to a furlong, a mea- 
 sure which we find mentic ^d only in the New Testament, 
 not in the Old. The mile consisted of one thousand paces ; 
 but the pace was much longer with the Hebrews than with 
 us. Their mile was regarded as half a day's journey, that 
 is, the distance that might be conveniently walked over 
 
264 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 between two meals : the Hebrew word Barath used toHignify 
 a mile, means properly a dinner or meal. 
 
 The Hebrew measures of capacity were, lilie our own, 
 of two kinds ; that is, some for measuring dry things, 
 and some lor measuring liquids. They were both regu- 
 lated by the same standard, which consisted of the quan- 
 tity of either dry or liquid things which a certain num- 
 ber of hen ogg shells, of a middle size, contained: thus 
 their liab or Oab, which was about equal to our quart, 
 contained the same quantity as twenty-four egg shells. 
 The smallest measure of this kind of which We find mention 
 made in Scripture is iho fourth part of a Cab. (4 K. 6. 25.) 
 
 During the famine in Samaria the fourth part of a cab of 
 dove's dung sold for five pieces of silver. There was a pro- 
 verb among the Jewish Eabbis to the effect, that ten Cabs 
 of speech descended into the xoorld, and the woman took away 
 nine of them. The next mejisuro in size was the Oiner, which 
 contained a cab and a half and a fifth part of a cab, that is 
 about throe pints and a half. (Sec Exod. 16. 36). 
 
 The Seah, called Saton in Greek, and Modius in Latin, 
 contained six cabs, that is, about a gallon and a half. In our 
 translations of this word SeaJi, it is generally called a mea- 
 sure. The Ephah contained three Sata, that is, a half bushel 
 and a half gallon. The Lethec contained fifteen Sata or 
 Modii, that is, two bushels six gallons and a half gallon. 
 The Homer, so called from Chamor, an ass, because it was 
 supposed to contain as much con us an ass could well carry, 
 contained ten ephahs, or forty-five gallons, or five bushels 
 five gallons. The Cor, or Burns, was of the same capacity 
 as the homer. The Log was a measure for liquids only, and 
 had the capacity of six egg shells ; it wjis equal to our half 
 wint, that is, the fourth part of a Cab. Tlie Hin was anothoi- 
 
ht 
 
 MEASURES IN USE A^tfONG THE HEBREWS. 
 
 26^ 
 
 liquid moasuro, and was equal in capacity to seventy-two eg^ 
 Bhells, that is, to thvee quarts of our measure. The Bathy 
 in Greek Batos, was of equal capacity with the ephah, that 
 is, the tenth part of an homer. The Latin interin-eters call 
 this by the name of Cadu8 ; but St. Jerome calls it Vadm, 
 from the word Bados, by which it is sometimes translated in 
 Greek : its capacity was four gallons and a half Such were 
 the measures princi^jally in use among the Hebrews ; there 
 were other measures which they sometimes used, though not 
 peculiar to them, but which they borrowed from other 
 nations ; these we find mentioned in the New TcHtamont. 
 There was the Greek Scstos, or Rt^man Sexfarins, which was 
 of equal capacity with the Log, that is, of the measure of 
 half a pint according to the Roman Sextariiis ; but accord- 
 ing to the A.ttic measure of the same name, it was of hwger 
 capacity, eleven Attic Sextarii being equal to twelve Roman. 
 TLie Choinix was another Greek measure, and contained the 
 quantity of corn allowed for a servant's sustenance in a day ; 
 it was equal to four sextarii, or a quart of our measure. The 
 Metretes was also a Greek measure, and contained the same 
 quantity as the Hebrew Bath, or Cudus, that is, four gallons 
 and a half. 
 
 The coins of the ancient Hebrew people, like those of our 
 own, consisted of brass, silver, and gold; the weight of 
 which was regulated by barley corns. Of brazen coins the 
 smallest was that which by the Greeks was called depton, 
 and which we translate mite: it weighed half a barley corn, 
 and was in value about equal to one-fourth of our halfpenny, 
 or half a farthing. In the Gospel of St. Mark we thus read 
 of it : — " And there came a certain poor widow, and she cast 
 in two mites, which make a farthing." (12, 42.) The far- 
 thing itself was a coin in use among the Hebrews, and was 
 
 X 
 
r * 
 
 266 
 
 THE UEBllEWS AT HOME. 
 
 by the GreokB ciillod Kodrantcs, anil by the Komaim Qua- 
 dmns ; its weight was a grain of barley. The coin called 
 ((ssarion by the Greeks, and assarius or assarium by the 
 Jlomans was, according to the Hebrew Jlabbis, of the value 
 of eight mites, that is about one penny of our money. This 
 is the coin mentioned in the Gospel of St. Matthew, where 
 v/e read : — " Are not tv/o spai'rows sold for an assarion'^ — 
 (WJ translate it a farthing.) (10. 29.) 
 
 Of the silver coins the smallest was that called by the 
 Hebrews Gtrah; it was a twentieth jiart of a Shekel of the 
 Sanctuary; its value was something more than one penny 
 of our money. The shekel of the Sanctuary, which con- 
 tained twenty of these, was of about the value of two and 
 sixpoiice of our money, and it weighed half an ounce. (Kee 
 Exod. 30. 13).) The silver coin called Agorath by the 
 Ht brews, and which we translate « piece of silver, was of the 
 name value as the gerah, tliat is, Homething more than a 
 penny, or about three halfpence English. JJoth this and the 
 gerah are designated by the term obolos in the Greek. (1 K. 
 2. 36.) There was another silver coin called l)y the Hebrews 
 Keshifah, which was of the same value as th(5 gerah and the 
 agorath. We translate it a piece of money : it iw oi' this wc 
 find mention made in Genoriis (33. 19), whore Jacob bought 
 "that part of the field iji which he pitched his tents, of the 
 children of Hemor, the father of Sechem, for a hundred 
 lambs,'' these hundred lambs being the pieces of money 1 
 have here mentioned, having the image of a lamb stamped 
 on the side of them. The Hebrews kept their account in 
 shekels, that is, they countcil their money by shekels, as t he- 
 Greeks did by drachmai, and the Ilomans by sestertii ; and 
 as the Americans do by dollars, and the English by pounds. 
 Hence when we moot in tlio Bible with tiie term ^riecc of 
 
i t 
 
 MEASURES IN USE AMONG THE irRUREWS. 
 
 2<J7 
 
 moHdj/, ov pUrcH o/monrt/, jjial, in, urguriou. in (InM^lc, or nnjm 
 tens in Latin, wo aro to iiiKhM'Htund it in two ilin'oront HonnoH 
 acamWu^ hh it rohitort to Holtrow, or t^) Gr<'ol< nion<»y. IT it 
 I'i^forH to Hobrow coin it niuauH u nlioitol, that iM, u ('.(unnioM 
 HJiokoI of tlio vaiiu) of ofio Hhilliii/^ and tlii'(U) poncto, or a 
 Hijokol of tln> Satictnaiy which wan of th<i valiio of two and 
 Hix |)(Mi('(» ; l»iit if it haw r(»for(Mi<Mi to (J!r<ud< nionoy, it nuuiiiM 
 iUit di'nchme, whoHo valim wan ahout Hovon |M!nc<5 half|KMiny, 
 oracpnirtor of tiio HhoUol of tho SaiuMuary, (Ac.tH ID. ID.) 
 Tho d'ulriK'hinnn, or frihntr. niowi/, conHintod of two of thi»H(?, 
 that \H onoHhiilin;^ and thr<'»! ponco, hctin^ th(3 himii I hat oach 
 piM'Hon waH to pay an trihiito, at HrHt to tho Sandinu'y, and 
 aftfM'wardH to tho Stato. Tho Hilvtw <toin caMod «/r//fv in 
 (j|r(!ok was tho Hatno in vahuj hh th«! whokol, tlnit Ih, two and 
 Hix ponoo of our rnonoy. (Soo Matth. 17. 24.) 
 
 Th(! coin iiHcid for f rihuto wan (uill««l ^A/t^f/'/o/iin th<i<«r»Md< ; 
 it Uw\ a twofold vaino; that in, if it wan a <!oinnjon pi<M'o, or 
 ponny, itH valuo was ahout, Htivon ponco halfponny, tho nanio 
 aH tho drachnio; but if it was n penny of llx- S<in('tu<iry \\h 
 valuo waH douhio of that, that in, ono and throi^ p(!noo, which 
 wan (Hjuai to tho Koinan d<!nai'iuM. TIiIh wuni, or, an it. wan 
 oallod, tins didni.r/imon, wan j)ai<l nnnunlly hy ovory Inraolito 
 afl<(r ho had attain<(d tin' a^o of twoidy yoarH, lor tim pur 
 poHOHof t,hoT<!nipl(!. (Kx(;d. i;{. IH.) liut ( 'awarafl.orwardu 
 ('onv<n*t(Ml thiH trihutc! to Ihm own uh«!M, and IImm Umk froni 
 (lod tho Ihin^H vvhi<di woro (lod'K. W«! l(Mirn from JoMophuw 
 that UiIh trihuto waH, in tho tim(» of VoHpanian, and hy a 
 docroo of that oinporor, ])aid by 1h(< .lows for tin; iMUiolilol 
 lh(! Kx>rnan ou|»itol. 
 
 Tho hIioUoI of tho Saruttuary had a stamp on oadi sido of 
 it, a((ompani(!<] with an insoription. On om; Hi<h5 wan a 
 vottscd or cup, HUjtpoHod by Hom(! t< 
 
 'I' 
 
 pot of 
 
ri 
 
 268 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT HOME. 
 
 k 
 
 and by others, Aaron's Incense Cup ; the inscription on the 
 side was Shekel Isntel. On the other, or rovorso Hide was 
 represented Aaro?i's Rod budding, with the inscription Jcru- 
 saUiilm hakeduscha. In the time of our Saviour those JewH 
 Avho had become Christians changed the stamps and inscrip- 
 tions of their shekels, stamping- on the one side the imago 
 of Christ, and the Hebrew letters forming the word Jesu, 
 placed two at the mouth, and one at the poll of the imago ; 
 on the reverse side they i^laced no stamp, but filled the 
 rnndlc with this inscrijition, of course in Hebrew : The 
 Messiah the King comes with peace, and the light from man is 
 made life ; or, in some, The Messiah the King comes with peace 
 and God is made man. On the common or King's shekel, as it 
 was called, was, on one side, the representation of a tower, 
 with the inscription, Jenisalem City of Holiness ; and on the 
 other or reverse side there was no stamp, but there was an 
 inscription filling uj) the rundle; the inscription being King 
 David, and King Solomon his son. 
 
 There were smaller coins answering to divisions and sub- 
 divisions of the Shekel, such as the half slieJcd (Kxod. 30. 18), 
 the third part of a shekel (Nchem. 10. 32), and the n'uirter 
 .shekel (1 K. 9. 8.) The gold coins wore : the Zahu,h, .\ hich 
 in the English translation of the Bible is .erme'? " j."''v;e of 
 gold, or shekel of gold ; it was about equal in value to the 
 Greek stater, or fifteen shillings sterling, its weight being 
 two Attic drams (4 K. 5. 5), (1 Chron. 21. 25), and (Jud. 8. 
 2H.) The Adarchon, or Drachnwn was of the same value as 
 the Zahab. This coin is called t??«c/tme in the Greek irans^ 
 lation of the Bible ; and wo call it dram ; its weight was two 
 Attic di-ams. It is supposed to have been derived from the 
 Persian coi'. < ailed daricon, which bad the head of King 
 Darius stamped ol ono sid(, of it, from which fact it dorivecl 
 
I 
 
 i-l 
 
 1 1 
 
 !:♦ 
 
 MEASURES IN USE AMONG THE HEBREWS. 
 
 269 
 
 its name. Tho sum called in the Hobrow Maneh, that is, 
 pound, consisted of one hundred shekels weight of gold ; 
 as wo learn by comparing 3 K. 10. 17, and 2 Chron. 9. 16 ; 
 three pounds of gold being made to represent three hundred 
 shekels of gold. Tho vrlue of tho Manch, therefore, was 
 seventy-five pounds sterling, the golden shekel being about 
 fifteen shillings sterling. Whenever we find the word gold 
 with a numeral, mentioned in tho Scriptures, we are to 
 understand it as moaning so many shekels of gold ; and tho 
 yord silver, with a numeral, ko many shekels of silver. 
 
 The weight of the silver Muneh was sixty shekels, while 
 that of tho gold Maneh was one hiindi'cd shekels ; so that (he 
 Maneh of gold was worth seventy-five pounds sterling, and 
 'hat of silver seven pounds ten shillings sterling. (JOze. 45. 
 12.) 
 
 The CVcar, or Talent, was another sum used in (tompuia- 
 tion among the Hebrews; its weight was three thousajid 
 shekels ; its value in silver was three hundred and seventy- 
 live pounds stoj-ling, and in gold two thousand two hundred 
 and fifty pounds sterling. The ancient Hebrews, like the 
 ancient Romans, at first weighed their money, that is, they 
 used unstamped bullion, which they weighed out in their 
 payments; and from this circumstance arose the name Shckef, 
 given to a particular weight of silver, or gold, from the word 
 shakal, to weigh. Thus we find that Abi-aham " weightMl 
 out the money that Ephron had asked, in the hearing of the; 
 children of lleth, four hundred sides of silver of comnion 
 current m(moy." ((ien. 23. 16.) 
 
 The shekel of the Sanctuary weighed half an ounce Troy ; 
 and the <;<mimon shekel a (juarl<'r of an onnce. (ioliah's 
 «pear weighed six hundred shekels of the Sanctuary, that is 
 
270 
 
 ■'7K 
 
 THE HEBREWS AT SOME. 
 
 twenty-five pounds, or one stone eleven pounds (1 K. 1*7. *7) ; 
 and Absalom's hair weighed two hundred shekels of the 
 King's weight or common kind, that is, four pounds two 
 ounces, (2 K. 14. 16). 
 
 They used smaller coins, called in Greek kermataf for the 
 purposes of change. The money changers who had their 
 their tables in the Temple, that is, in the outward Court of 
 the Temple, where the people stood, made profit on these 
 small coins by supplying the purchasers of oxen, sheep, and 
 doves, for the sacrificial offerings, with change according as 
 they required it ; these were the people whom our Saviour 
 drove out of the Temple, and whose tables He upset.