630 
 V/5 
 
 NT DAY PRIMERS 
 
 A PRIMER OF HEBREW 
 ANTIQUITIES 
 
 OWEN C. WHiTEIiOl'SE,M.A. 
 
alf? 
 
 
 mi 
 
 Dr. 
 
 VUEMORIAM 
 Leo Newmark 
 
 
I 
 present 2>ag primers 
 
 A PRIMER OF HEBREW 
 ANTIQUITIES 
 
 BY 
 
 OWEN C. WHITEHOUSE, M.A. 
 
 Principal and Professor of Hebrew ', Cheshunt College 
 
 HontJon 
 
 THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY 
 
 56, PATERNOSTER Row; AND 65, ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD 
 1895 
 
BUTLER & TANNER, 
 
 THE SEI/VVOOD PRINTING WORKS, 
 FROME, AND LONDON. 
 

 TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1. Definition of the subject and general principles . . 7 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 
 
 2. The Hebrew family. Father, mother. Marriage . 10 
 
 3. Marriage customs, wedding ceremonies . . .14 
 
 4. Position of the wife. Divorce . . . . 17 
 
 5. Children. Circumcision. Naming. Weaning. 
 
 Parental relation and responsibility. . . .20 
 
 6. Inheritance. Ownership of property by women. 
 
 Primogeniture ....... 23 
 
 7. Slaves and slavery. Position and rights of slaves. 
 
 Price of slaves. Ameliorating conditions. Year of 
 release. Female slaves ...... 28 
 
 8. Clothing. Materials employed. Different articles of 
 
 attire for both sexes. Ornaments of women. 
 Sandals Jewellery. . . . . .40 
 
 9. Dwellings: caves, tents, houses. Materials employed. 
 
 Interior adornment . . . . . -57 
 
 10. Pleasure-gardens. ....... 65 
 
 11. Household furniture. Handmill, kneading trough, 
 
 and oven ........ 67 
 
 12. Kitchen utensils, pots, pitchers, bottles, and baskets . 75 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 OUT-DOOR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS 
 
 1 3. Pastoral life. Dress and accoutrements of the shepherd. 
 
 Sheep. Goats 78 
 
 14. Canaanite civilization and its influence on Israel. 
 
 5 
 
6 TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Agriculture. Ox, ass, mule, and horse, and their 
 employment ........ 82 
 
 15. Climate of Palestine. Early and latter rain. Agricul- 
 
 tural implements : plough, ox goad. Sowing : 
 barley and wheat-harvest. Reaping. Threshing. 
 Winnowing ....... 84 
 
 1 6. Vine-culture and vintage. Wine-press and wine-vat. 
 
 Feast of Booths. Raisins. Drinking habits. In- 
 temperance ........ 95 
 
 17. Olive and its culture. Olive-oil and its uses . .104 
 
 1 8. Fig and its culture. Varieties. Its uses. Date-palm. 
 
 Sycamore. Pomegranate. Cereals (millet spelt, 
 etc.). Beans. Lentils. Cucumbers. Flax . .no 
 
 19. Handicrafts and their development. Pottery. In- 
 
 fluence of Egypt and Babylonia. Potter's-wheel . 113 
 
 20. Weaving. Looms 119 
 
 21. Workmanship in wood, stone, and metal. Influence of 
 
 Phoenicia. Bronze and iron age. Canaanite arts 
 adopted by the Hebrews. Smelting and forging. 
 Manufacture of idols. Names of tools . . .120 
 
 22. Writing, Hieroglyphic, Cuneiform and Phoenician. 
 
 Writing materials and instruments. Scribes . .126 
 
 23. Seals. Documents . . . . . . .132 
 
 24. Trade. Phoenician vessels. ' Ships of Tarshish.' 
 
 Naval ports. Trade quarters . . . . . 134 
 
 25. Etiquette and social intercourse. Salutations. Buying 
 
 and selling. Gate of the city. Hospitality. Meals 
 and banquets . . . . . . . 1 37 
 
 26. Death and funeral customs. Graves . . . . 144 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION 
 
 27. Family clan and tribe. Judge and elders. King. 
 
 State officials. Royal prerogative and its abuse. 
 Revenues. High Priest in post-exilisn times. 
 Sanhedrin 147 
 
 APPENDICES 
 A. Money : E. Weights : C. Measures of capacity and 
 
 length: D. Calendar: E. Sacrifices . .. .154 
 
HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 i. Definition. By the 'Antiquities' of the Old 
 Testament two different classes of subjects are meant. 
 The term includes, first, the material objects of human 
 life, such as dwellings and clothing ; also the imple- 
 ments, agricultural, martial, political, and even reli- 
 gious, which find mention in the Old Testament, and 
 whereby human life under the ancient Hebrew civili- 
 zation, in its varied relations, was maintained, and 
 its usages carried on. And it includes, secondly^ the 
 usages themselves, the employments, the organized 
 institutions and laws, whether social or religious, be- 
 longing to the Hebrew society or state described in 
 the Old Testament. 
 
 As this subject in its varied branches is very exten- 
 sive, it will be impossible, within the limits of this 
 work, to deal with every topic that a larger treatise 
 might be expected to include. The most important 
 only can be here referred to, and these cannot be de- 
 scribed with the fulness which a complete dictionary 
 of antiquities might bestow. We shall endeavour, 
 
8 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 however, to set forth the salient features with as much 
 vividness and truth as possible. With a view to accu- 
 racy of delineation it will be necessary for the reader 
 to be reminded that all earthly human institutions 
 grow. And the institutions of Israel, whether reli- 
 gious or political, constituted no exception to this 
 universal law. They were not the same in the days 
 of the Judges as they were in the time of Jeremiah. 
 So far -as the date of the Old Testament documents 
 will enable us, we shall endeavour to present our 
 subjects in their historical development. Owing to 
 lack of space the subject of religious institutions can 
 only be referred to incidentally. 
 
 Furthermore, it is important to recognise that the 
 Israelites did not stand entirely alone among the 
 peoples of the world. For it is quite certain that the 
 usages which prevailed among them and the language 
 which they spoke were nearly identical with those of 
 the other races, such as the Canaanites and the 
 Moabites, which dwelt near them. The Hebrews 
 exhibited many features of closest resemblance to 
 other races which in common with them are called 
 Semitic, viz., the Arabs of the South, the Aramaeans or 
 Syrians of the North, and the Assyrians and Babylon- 
 ians on the East. Modern archaeology is continually 
 demonstrating this with increasing clearness, and we 
 shall make use of some of its results in throwing all 
 the light we can upon the antiquities of Israel. 
 
 The ancient Hebrews, therefore, grew up among 
 kindred Semitic peoples. Not only their language 
 but the material objects and instruments and the 
 primitive usages of their civilization were derived 
 from a common stock of ancient Semitic inheritance, 
 
INTRODUCTION >) 
 
 much of which the Semites again shared with the 
 other ancient races of the world. What then made 
 the ancient Hebrews distinctive among the races of 
 the earth as God's own < peculiar ' people ? Not so 
 much the religious institutions which grew np among 
 them, and also among the kindred races, and were 
 derived from an immemorial antiquity, as those 
 higher ideas which in the course of Divine teaching 
 awoke to life and energy, and which their religions 
 institutions became moulded to enshrine and express. 
 The period of time covered in this brief treatise 
 will be about a thousand years, viz., from the Exodus, 
 circ. 1300 B.C., to 300 B.C. After the latter date 
 Jewish institutions became to a certain extent 
 moulded by Greek civilization and ideas slowly, it 
 is true, and amid some resistance from the conserva- 
 tive Pharisaic party, yet also surely and inevitably. 
 Occasional reference only will be made to the litera- 
 ture of the Apocrypha, the New Testament, and of 
 the latest Old Testament documents. 
 
"I CHAPTER I 
 
 */ THE FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 
 
 2,' The Hebrew Family. The position of 
 the father of the family in primitive Israel was evi- 
 dently that of an absolute ruler, though custom 
 tended to make his rule milder than it otherwise 
 would have been. The very name for husband in 
 Hebrew, baal, possessor or lord, is a clear indication 
 of what has been said. His wife was regarded as his 
 property ; and since polygamy was universally pre- 
 valent, and dissolution of the marriage relationship 
 might take place at the will of the husband, her 
 relation to the husband was rendered thereby one 
 of subordination and dependence. 
 
 To a man of full-grown age continuance in the 
 unmarried state was regarded in the East as very 
 unusual. 1 This was due to the universal desire of 
 every man and woman for posterity, especially male 
 posterity. Whether this was connected with the an- 
 cient worship of ancestors by the family 2 need not 
 
 1 ' To abstain from marrying when a man has attained a 
 sufficient age, and when there is no impediment, is esteemed by 
 the Egyptians improper and even disreputable.' LANE, Modern 
 Egyptians. 
 
 2 The Teraphim were ancestral images. That they much 
 resembled the human form maybe inferred from Michal's device 
 (l Sam. xix. 13). Neubauer traces an etymological connection 
 between this word and the word Rephaim, or spirits of the 
 departed in Sheol or Hades. The episode described in Genesis 
 
 10 
 
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS II 
 
 be discussed here. It is at all events certain that the 
 ancient Israelite considered that his name and person- 
 ality were in some way perpetuated by the continued 
 existence of his descendants. Thus sterility was re- 
 garded by a woman as the most terrible misfortune 
 (Gen. xvi. 2 ; i Sam. i. 2-8), while loss of children or 
 the destruction of a family were looked upon as signs 
 of Divine wrath (i Kings xvi. 34 ; Deut. xxviii. 56, 57). 
 Hence, on a daughter's departure from her parents' 
 dwelling for her husband's home, the highest parting 
 blessing was the wish that she might become mother 
 of thousands (Gen. xxiv. 60; comp. Ps. xlv. 16, 17). 
 No more distinguishing token of Divine favour could 
 be imagined by an ancient Hebrew than abundance of 
 posterity (Gen. xiii. 16, xv. 5, etc. ; Deut. xxxiii. 24). 
 
 Early marriages are the rule among Orientals in 
 the present day. Indeed, Lane assures us that few 
 women in Egypt remain unmarried after the age of 
 sixteen, and marriages at the age of twelve or thirteen 
 are quite common. Probably in ancient Israel it 
 was much the same. Under these circumstances 
 marriage comes largely under the control of the 
 parents on both sides. Of this we have a vivid 
 illustration in the detailed narrative contained in 
 Genesis xxiv. From this account we see that Abra- 
 ham gave special orders to his servant to seek out a 
 wife for Isaac. The father plays a prominent part 
 in all the preliminary arrangements, and the whole 
 matter is determined by his instructions. The part 
 played by Isaac is quite subordinate. Similarly, in 
 Judges xiv. 1-4, the parents of Samson endeavour 
 
 xxxi. 19, 32-35 would suggest that the Teraphim corresponded 
 to the Roman lares. 
 
12 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 though unsuccessfully, to control their son's choice, 
 and they accompany him to the bride's abode in 
 Timnath, to settle the preliminaries. 
 
 Another important point still characteristic of 
 Oriental life, namely, the tendency to keep the 
 marriage in the same kindred or clan, emerges from 
 the narrative in Genesis xxiv. Marriage with another 
 race was strongly deprecated, as this meant the aban- 
 donment of national sacra^ and in comparatively early 
 times express Toroth, or instructions, whether oral or 
 written, were in existence on this subject (Exod. xxxiv. 
 15, I6; 1 comp. the more definite prescription, Deut. 
 vii. 3, 4). That such marriages, though deprecated, 
 
 1 It is to be noted that the religious tie fell more lightly on 
 the men than on the women. The sacra of the wife's tribe (Exod. 
 xxxiv. 1 6) draw away the husband and his children, not vice 
 vtrsfi. Comp. Gen. xxxi. 32, foil. ; I Kings xi. 4. The ten- 
 dency was precisely the opposite in Roman law, in which the 
 wife abandoned her previous gens and its sacra for those of her 
 husband. In fact, Exodus xxxiv. 16 suggests the question 
 whether the primitive custom of beena, as opposed to baal 
 marriage may not in very early times have prevailed even in 
 Canaan. By beena marriages are meant those ' unions in 
 which the husband goes to settle in his wife's village ' or is 
 received by the woman in her own tent. Kinship will then be 
 reckoned on the mother's side, the children being reared under 
 the protection of the mother's kin. Baal marriage, which 
 prevailed among the Hebrews, and in later times among the 
 Arabs, inverts this relation. The husband is the lord or owner 
 (baal}. The wife follows the husband, and the children are 
 regarded as belonging to his kin. This interesting subject is 
 worked out with great mastery of detail in Robertson Smith's 
 Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia. This writer thinks 
 that Genesis ii. 24 and the name of Eve point to primitive beena 
 traditions and female kinship even among the Hebrews (comp. 
 Arabic chayy, which means female kinship or tribe). Judges 
 xiv. 10-20 indicates an approximation to this custom. It is 
 quite evident that the prevalence of baal marriage tended to 
 convert the position of the woman from a relation of indepen- 
 dence into one of subservience. It is possible that a struggle 
 between these two traditions underlies the narrative Gen. xxxi. 
 
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 13 
 
 did take place, is evident from the example of Samson 
 (Judg. xiv. 3 ; comp. also Gen. xxxiv., Ruth i. 4). 
 These, of course, were departures from ordinary usage. 
 
 Intertribal marriage, however, within the same race 
 was by no means uncommon. The special prohibi- 
 tion enforced against the tribe of Benjamin in Judges 
 xxi. 7 is described as exceptional, and arising from 
 an exceptional cause. The prevalent custom appears 
 to have been to take a wife from the agnati or kin- 
 dred on the father's side. Obviously the ancient 
 Hebrew felt preference rather than aversion to cousin 
 marriage. Nay, a half-sister, provided the relation- 
 ship was paternal, might without any obstacle be 
 chosen for a bride, as we know from the example of 
 Abraham and Sarah (comp. 2 Sam. xiii. 13 i Kings 
 xv. 2, which show that such unions were sanctioned 
 in the time of David and Solomon) ; and from the 
 inscription of the Phoenician king of Sidon, Esh- 
 munazar, lines 14, 15, we learn that he was son of 
 Tabnith and his half-sister Em'astoreth, priestess of 
 Ashtoreth. Such unions took place among the 
 Persians, Greeks, and Egyptians, but were forbidden 
 in Deuteronomy xxvii. 22, Leviticus xviii. 9, xx. 17. 
 Yet such marriages were probably not by any means 
 so common as those with cousins upon the father's 
 side. Cousin marriage is at the present day ' very 
 common among the Arabs of Egypt and of other 
 countries ' (Lane). Thus in the Old Testament we 
 read that Abraham despatched his servant Eleazer to 
 Mesopotamia to secure a cousin, Rebekah, for his son 
 Isaac, and similarly Jacob marries his cousins Leah 
 and Rachel. 1 
 
 1 ( Amongst the Bedouin a man has the right to demand his 
 
14 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 3. Marriage Customs. We have already stated 
 that the Hebrews and Canaanites regarded the hus- 
 band as the baalj ' owner ' or lord of the wife. This 
 in all probability arose from a primitive condition of 
 warfare, in which the husband captured the wife. 
 That wives were not infrequently obtained in this 
 way in Old Testament times is obvious from the law 
 respecting the captive wife in Deuteronomy xxi. 10 
 foil. For capture the more peaceful method of 
 purchase became substituted when human life grew 
 more civilized. The price paid frequently in flocks 
 or camels, sometimes in money was called mohar 
 (Arabic mahr). From Exodus xxii. 16, illustrated by 
 the more expanded form of the statute in Deuteronomy 
 xxii. 29, we learn that the mohar or purchase money 
 for a bride was usually fifty shekels (between six and 
 seven pounds sterling). It was also customary for the 
 bridegroom at this preliminary stage, through his repre- 
 sentative, to make a gift to the bride of jewels and 
 raiment (Gen. xxiv. 22, 53). According to Lane, this 
 is done after the conclusion of the marriage contract 
 and previous to the wedding, among modern Arabs. 
 ' He sends to her two or three or more times some 
 fruit, sweetmeats, etc., and perhaps makes her a pre- 
 sent of a shawl, or some other article of value.' In 
 conducting the preliminaries, the father, or, if he be 
 dead, the elder brother of the future bride, plays the 
 chief part, as being her natural protector. The bride 
 herself in these earlier stages is prevented by eti- 
 quette from taking any but a purely passive part in 
 the proceedings. In Isaiah iv. i the depopulation 
 
 cousin in marriage, and she cannot refuse him.' LA YARD, 
 Nineveh and Babylon, abridged ed., p. 135 footnote. 
 
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 15 
 
 of the country, the destruction of males, and the 
 consequent position of the women, are described as 
 so terrible that maidens are driven to sue for their 
 own marriage. It has been already stated that the 
 bridegroom also took no prominent share in the 
 preliminary negotiations, which were settled by the 
 parents. In Syria, and perhaps some parts of Pales- 
 tine, the custom prevailed in ancient times of giving 
 the elder sister first in marriage (Genesis xxix. 26). 
 According to Lane, this tradition is still preserved 
 among the Arabs. 
 
 The wedding ceremonies began with a feast at the 
 dwelling of the bride. This we infer to have been 
 the custom in the earlier period described in Genesis 
 xxiv. and Judges xiv. 1 In the case of Samson's 
 wedding festivities at Timnath, the residence of his 
 bride, we are told that it was Samson who made the 
 feast, and that this was the custom of those early 
 times (' for so used the young men to do '). Samson 
 was joined by thirty companions of his wife's kindred, 
 and the festivities lasted an entire week, and were en- 
 livened by riddles. In the ancient Semitic, as well 
 as Greek and Roman custom, the chief and most 
 significant part of all the ceremonies was the escort- 
 ing of the bride in festive procession to her future 
 
 1 In later times the feast was held in the house of the bride- 
 groom, as described in Lane's Modern Egyptians, and this 
 form of marriage custom evidently underlies our Lord's parable 
 (Matt. xxv. 1-13). The virgins were waiting till the bride- 
 groom should appear to escort the bridal party to the feast in 
 his own house. Meyer, it is true, interprets the facts other- 
 wise, but the position of the bridegroom in John ii. 9, 10, to 
 whom the governor of the feast appeals, is decisive in favour of 
 the view here advocated, and it is fully sustained by Tobit vii. 
 13, xi. 17-19. See also Dr. Edersheim's Life and Times of the 
 Messiah^ vol. i. pp. 354, 355. 
 
1 6 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 husband's home with songs and rejoicings that be- 
 came proverbial of a nation's ordinary prosperity 
 (Jer. vii. 34, xvi. 9, xxv. 10). The splendour of the 
 dresses and other accompaniments would, of course, 
 vary with the wealth of the families in which the 
 union took place. From Isaiah Ixi. 10 we learn that 
 the bridegroom wore an elegant turban, while the 
 bride was decked with jewels. The latter also en- 
 veloped her body in a light shawl or veil (ts'atpJi). 
 The same custom prevails at the present day, as we 
 learn from Lane's Modern Egyptians. Nor must we 
 forget the girdle of which Jeremiah (ii. 20) makes 
 special mention. The bride was accompanied by 
 maidens, and in the case of a royal marriage the 
 splendour of her robes and the pomp of the pro- 
 cession may be best described in the language of the 
 royal epithalamium, Psalm xlv. 14-16 (Heb. 13 foil). 
 
 'And, O Tyrian maid, 1 with a present there do homage to 
 
 thee 
 
 The rich among the people ! 
 
 All splendour is the king's daughter within doors, 
 Of gold broidery her garment ; 
 
 In robes of gay colours she is conducted to the king, 
 Maidens behind her, her companions, are brought unto thee ; 
 They are conducted with gladness and exultation, 
 They enter into the palace of the king.' 
 
 1 The text is by no means certain. We have simply followed 
 the Massoretic, The occurrence of a vocative here is some- 
 what questionable. Dr. Edersheim's vivid description of the 
 escorting of the bride to her husband's home may here be 
 quoted : ' First came the merry sounds of music, then they 
 who distributed among the people wine and oil, and nuts among 
 the children ; next the bride, covered with the bridal veil, her 
 long hair flowing, surrounded by her companions, and led by 
 the friends of the bridegroom and children of the bride- 
 chamber. Some carried torches or lamps on poles ; those 
 nearest had myrtle branches and chaplets of flowers.' 
 
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS l~j 
 
 Lastly, she was escorted to the bridal chamber, or, 
 properly speaking, a pavilion, which was curtained 
 off, the Hebrew name for which was Chuppah^ where 
 stood the 'eres, or nuptial couch. 
 
 4. The position of the wife in a Hebrew house- 
 hold suffered from the prevalence of polygamy ; and 
 since, as we have shown above, marriage was based 
 on the idea of wife purchase by the husband, who 
 was her lord and owner, it follows that a husband 
 could take to himself as many wives as he pleased, 
 the number being limited solely by his means of sup- 
 port, or his personal inclination. As a matter of 
 fact, the wealthier the individual the larger as a rule 
 became the number. Moreover, there existed certain 
 causes which tended to bring about polygamy. In the 
 first place, as Stade points out, the wife was married 
 so young that she was unequal to the duties which 
 fell upon her as mistress of the household, and 
 needed the assistance of others. In the second place, 
 it happened sometimes that, owing to the wife's 
 childlessness, esteemed by Orientals a calamity 
 almost a curse another consort would frequently be 
 sought in order that posterity so much longed for 
 might be obtained. Childlessness, indeed, came as a 
 sad blight and dishonour upon a woman in her lord's 
 household, and she esteemed it as such. Under 
 these circumstances she would often induce her hus- 
 band to accept a concubine of her own choice, and 
 inferior to her in social position in fact, her female 
 slave, whose offspring she would regard as her own 
 (Gen. xvi. 2, xxx. 3, 9). Childbearing, therefore, 
 
 1 See Cheyne, Book of Psalms, on Ps. xix. 5, and Robertson 
 Smith, Kinship and Marriage^. 168. 
 
 B 
 
1 8 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 conferred dignity and importance on the wife. It is 
 easy to see that out of these conditions of polygamic 
 life heart-burnings and jealousies were sure to arise. 
 
 A man had the power at will to cancel the mar- 
 riage bond. Not so, however, the wife. But the 
 woman under these circumstances possessed certain 
 rights. The primitive code of legislation usually called 
 the 'Book of the Covenant' (Exod. xx. 22-xxiii.) 
 evidently shows that this was the case, even when 
 she was in the position of a bondwoman sold by 
 the parents into concubinage. If she ceased to 
 please her master, he had no right to sell her like a 
 chattel to foreigners. He might indeed under such 
 circumstances espouse her to his son, in which case 
 she was to be treated like one of his own daughters. 
 Unless she were redeemed by her own kindred in 
 which condition she was free to marry another he 
 was obliged to continue to her food and raiment 
 (Exod. xxi. 7-11). According to Burckhardt, among 
 the higher classes in Arabia it is regarded as a shame- 
 ful thing to sell a concubine. She remains all her 
 life with her master. In very early times, however, 
 it sometimes happened that the woman was simply 
 dismissed from the master's home, as we see in the 
 hard case of Hagar (Gen. xxi. 10 foil.). The master 
 would then have no further rights, and gave up all 
 claim to compensation if she married another. 
 
 As Hebrew society developed and became more 
 civilized, it became more humanized, and numerous 
 traits in the Deuteronomic legislation, which in its 
 present form may be as late as the seventh century 
 B.C., are clear indications of this social progress. 
 Thus, according to Deuteronomy xv. 17, the female 
 
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 19 
 
 slave might, if she chose, claim the same right of 
 freedom from her master at the end of seven years 
 as a male slave. 
 
 We may regard in this light the writ of divorce 
 prescribed in Deuteronomy xxiv. 1-4, and which the 
 husband was bound to give into the hand of the wife 
 whom he for special reasons dismissed from marriage 
 relationship. This regulation, as Ewald shows (Alter- 
 thiimer, p. 272), existed for the benefit of the wife, 
 who was now definitely released from all claims on 
 the part of a former husband and was free to marry 
 another. At the same time it is clear that the 
 Deuteronomic legislation aimed at greater strictness 
 in the married relation, so as to correct those lax 
 practices at which the higher moral consciousness 
 of Israel revolted (Amos ii. 7 ; Ezek. xxii. 10). In 
 earlier times, as among the Arabs, the father's wives 
 (with the exception of the mother) came into the 
 son's possession with the rest of the property. This 
 we observe in the case of Absalom 1 (see 2 Sam. xvi. 
 22 ; comp. 2 Sam. iii. 7). 
 
 The lot of a wife who came from a wealthy or 
 influential family would naturally be far more favour- 
 able than that of her less fortunate companions. A 
 woman in such a position would bring property with 
 her, which she had the right to own apart from her 
 husband. Thus Hagar is recognised by Abraham 
 as the slave of his wife Sarah, and the latter 
 had absolute right to dispose of her bondmaid as 
 she pleased (Gen. xvi. 6 ; comp. i Sam. xxv. 42). 
 That the position of a wife in a wealthy Hebrew 
 
 1 Robertson Smith, Kinship and Marriage, p. 89, and 
 Zeitschrift fiir die Alttestamentliche Wisscnschaft, 1892, p. 163. 
 
20 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 household became in later times a very honourable 
 one is clearly shown in the beautiful panegyric of a 
 virtuous wife in Proverbs xxxi. 10 foil. (comp. xfi. 4), 
 and by the recognition of her moral influence and 
 instruction conjointly with that of the husband in the 
 training of the children (Exod. xx. 12 ; Deut. v. 16 ; 
 Prov. i. 8, vi. 20, etc.). It is evident that even in early 
 pre-exilian times far more freedom of intercourse was 
 permitted to a Hebrew woman, whether married or 
 unmarried, than prevails in modern Islam. Rebekah 
 moves about freely with face unveiled until she 
 approaches Isaac (Gen. xxiv. 64, 65). We read of 
 the maidens of Shiloh dancing in the vineyards at 
 the annual festival (Judg. xxi. 21), and women sing 
 triumphal songs to greet Saul and David on their 
 return (i Sam. xviii. 6, 7). Women even became 
 prophets like Huldah, and held the office of judge 
 like Deborah (Judg. v.) ; or exercised active regal 
 administration like Jezebel (i Kings xviii. 13) or 
 Athaliah (2 Kings xi. 3), and were treated with 
 greatest deference like Bathsheba (i Kings ii. 19). 
 
 5. The children. Circumcision. Naming. 
 Childbirth entailed rites of purification, and the 
 mother was compelled to absent herself from the 
 sanctuary for thirty-three days in the case of a boy's 
 birth, and for twice that period if the infant were a 
 girl. After this period the Levitical law (Lev, xii. 
 6) prescribed that she should come to the sanctuary 
 with an offering for her purification at the hands of 
 the priest. The offering consisted of a lamb of the 
 first year for a burnt-offering, and a young pigeon 
 or turtle dove as a sin-offering. 1 On the eighth day 
 
 1 According to Ezekiel xvi. 4 the newly-born child was not 
 
FAMILY AND- HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 21 
 
 the child, if a male, was circumcised. This rite of 
 circumcision goes back into a hoary past, and was 
 part of the common inheritance of the Hebrew and 
 Canaanite, among other nations of antiquity. It was 
 probably of African origin, and served to mark 
 racial distinction (Stade). We learn from Herodotus 
 (ii. 104), who wrote in the fifth century B.C., that both 
 the Egyptians and Ethiopians circumcised their chil- 
 dren in early infancy, and so also the Phoenicians 
 and Syrians, who ' declared that they had learned 
 the custom from the Egyptians.' This last statement 
 must be accepted with caution. Prof. Sayce, how- 
 ever, has pointed out that a representation of the 
 operation, is to be found on the walls of the temple 
 of Khonsu at Karnak. Mummies also show that the 
 statement of Herodotus is quite correct, as far as the 
 Egyptians are concerned. Among Mohammedan 
 peoples of the present day it is performed on the 
 child at the age of five or six, while ' among the 
 peasants not infrequently at the age of twelve, thirteen, 
 or fourteen' (Lane). The statement quoted above 
 from Herodotus is supported by the statements of 
 the Bible respecting the populations of Palestine, with 
 the sole and remarkable exception of the Philistines, 
 who are expressly spoken of as uncircumcised 
 (i Samuel passim). That the Canaanite tribes 
 practised it may be inferred from the story of the 
 Shechemites in Genesis xxxiv. Moreover Jeremiah 
 
 only washed in water but also rubbed over with salt. This use of 
 salt may have been founded on certain hygienic properties, or 
 on definite ritual traditions, such as the ' covenant of salt,' to 
 which there is reference in Leviticus ii. 13, Numbers xviii. 19. 
 It is well known that the eating of bread and salt-constitutes a 
 tie of brotherhood or friendship among the Arabs. 
 
22 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 ix. 25, 26 (25 Heb.) obviously implies that circumcision 
 prevailed not only in Egypt but also in Ammon, 
 Edom, and Moab, which are classed with Judah in 
 this respect. 
 
 This custom of circumcision belongs to a whole 
 cycle of acts of self-offering. To the same class 
 belong the offerings of hair and shaving of the head, 
 whether as a vow or as a tribute to the dead. The 
 wide prevalence of the latter custom is testified to in 
 the Old Testament itself (Jer. ix. 26 (Heb. 25), 
 which contained legislative prohibitions against those 
 acts and against self-mutilation (Deut. xiv. i ; Levit. 
 xix. 27). Circumcision is considered by Robertson 
 Smith to have been originally * a preliminary to 
 marriage, and so a ceremony of introduction to the 
 full prerogative of manhood.' 1 But when adopted 
 into the Judaic system it became in course of time 
 regarded as a sign that the child had entered into 
 the covenant relations to Jehovah, and so an heir of 
 the Divine promises (comp. Rom. iv. u). 
 
 From numerous examples in Genesis we may infer 
 that the naming of the child took place soon after 
 birth, that the name was conferred by the mother, 
 and was founded upon some event or domestic 
 situation which was at the moment happening. As 
 a matter of fact, however, the larger number of 
 Hebrew and Canaanite proper names have a religious 
 character and contain the names of Deity. See the 
 Assyrian and Hebrew parallels which I have collated 
 in Schrader's Cuneiform Inscriptions and the Old 
 Testament, vol. ii. pp. 325 foil. ; comp. Sayce's Social 
 Life among the Assyrians and Babylonians^ p. 52. 
 1 Religion of the Semites^ p. 310. 
 
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 23 
 
 Occasionally the father re-named the child (Gen. 
 xxxv. 1 8) ; indeed, a second name was by no means 
 uncommon (ibid., verse 10), as we know from the 
 case of Saul of Tarsus and from instances in the 
 Old Testament. Thus from 2 Samuel xxi. 19 it 
 seems probable that El-Chanan was another name for 
 David. We now know from the Babylonian docu- 
 ments that Pul and Tiglath Pileser were two names 
 for the same person. 
 
 Hebrew children were not weaned till a year or 
 two had elapsed, and when this took place it was 
 celebrated by a family feast (Gen. xxi. 8 ; i Sam i. 
 21-24; comp. 2 Mace. vii. 27). 
 
 The relation of children to parents in a Hebrew 
 household was one of subjection to authority. Death 
 penalty was affixed for striking cr reviling parents 
 (Exod. xxi. 15-17). This principle of home life and 
 family relationship, which is specially enforced in the 
 Decalogue as the essential condition of prosperous 
 social existence, and reiterated in the proverbs that 
 prevail among the Jews (Prov. xix. 26, xx. 20, etc.), 
 is beautifully exemplified in the life of our Lord, 
 who though l He advanced in wisdom and stature ' 
 was also ' subject to His parents ' in the home at 
 Nazareth. On the other hand, the duty of parents 
 towards the children of instructing them in the 
 ancestral traditions of their nation is recognised in 
 the Deuteronomic legislation (Deut. vi. 6^ 7, 20 foil., 
 xi. 19, xxxi. 12, 13), as well as in the proverbs that 
 became current among the people (Prov. xxii. 6, and 
 i.-vii. passim^ xv. 5). 
 
 6. As in ancient Greece and Rome, so in Israel, 
 the custom of inheritance was that it should follow 
 
24 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 the line of descent on \\\Q father's side (agnail). We 
 hear of no example in the pre-exilian period of Israel's 
 history of daughters sharing the inheritance with sons. 
 The example to the contrary in Job xlii. 15 points, 
 in the opinion of some scholars (e.g. Stade), to a post- 
 exilian period. 1 Genesis xxi. 10, xxxi. 14 foil., and 
 other passages prove that according to ancient Hebrew 
 custom only the sons were qualified to inherit, and 
 of these, moreover, only the sons of the wives re- 
 cognised as such possessed bond fide rights (Gen. xxi. 
 10 foil., xxiv. 36, xxv. 5 foil. ; Gen. xxi. 10 in- 
 dicates, however, that the son of a concubine could 
 inherit with other sons). This was probably connected 
 with the fact that it was the son or heir to the father's 
 property on whom the duty fell of perpetuating the 
 family sacra more especially the worship of the 
 Teraphim^ to which reference has already been made 
 (see footnote, p. 10). This, as Stade has shown, 2 
 was in all probability the dominating factor in these 
 arrangements. As we learn from Genesis xv. 2 foil., 
 in default of sons by the free-born wives the son of a 
 bondmaid would in the last resort inherit the father's 
 wealth and perpetuate the family sacra. This, how- 
 ever, was but the exception that confirms the rule, 
 well illustrated in the case of Jephthah, son of Gilead, 
 related in Judges xi. 2. If the father had daughters 
 only, and no male issue, the daughters were allowed 
 to inherit, as we learn from the case of the daughters 
 
 1 But the assignment of a field with springs to Achsali by 
 her father Caleb in Joshua xv. 18, 19, should make us pause to 
 acccept this argument as conclusive. 
 
 2 Geschichte des Volkes Israel ', p. 391. The writer takes this 
 opportunity of expressing his obligations to this deeply interest- 
 ing and masterly work. 
 
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 25 
 
 of Zelophehad, narrated in Numbers xxvii. i-n. 
 Whenever there was no offspring, the inheritance 
 went to the brothers of the deceased. If, however, 
 daughters only survived, the conservative tribal and 
 family instinct, to which reference has already been 
 made, here came in as a limiting principle. The 
 daughters were allowed to inherit, but the express 
 condition was imposed that they could only marry 
 into the clan of their father's tribe, c so that the in- 
 heritance of the Israelites should not pass round from 
 tribe to tribe, but the Israelites shall cleave each one 
 to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers, and 
 every daughter that obtains an inheritance among 
 the tribes of Israel shall become the wife of a man 
 belonging to her father's clan and tribe, in order that 
 the Israelites may possess each one the inheritance 
 of his fathers ' (Num. xxxvi. 7, 8). This tendency 
 to prevent the alienation of land from the family 
 clan, which in many, if not most, cases would be a 
 local community, may be observed in the law respect- 
 ing jubilee in Leviticus xxv. 10-28, which ensured 
 that land should not be sold in perpetuity out of the 
 clan, but should revert in the fiftieth year. 
 
 In relation to these provisions respecting inherit- 
 ance by women it is very difficult to determine how 
 far they were operative in pre-exilian times. It should 
 be noticed, however, that Boaz, who is described as 
 belonging to the same clan as Elimelech, husband 
 of Naomi, marries Ruth the Moabitess as joint owner 
 with Naomi of the land belonging to the deceased 
 Elimelech, * to raise up the name of the dead upon 
 his inheritance,' and it is possible that the law con- 
 tained in Deuteronomy xxv. 5-10, which required 
 
26 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 that a widow without a son should be married by her 
 husband's brother, may have been enacted not merely 
 to raise up male posterity, but in order to guarantee 
 the continuance of any property she might possess in 
 the clan to which her husband belonged. On the 
 other hand, the absence of any express regulation 
 respecting female inheritance in the Book of Deuter- 
 onomy, and the repeated reference to the widow in 
 connection with the orphan and the stranger (Deut. 
 xiv. 29, xvi. n, xxvi. 12 foil.) as 1 participating in 
 tithes and festival offerings, renders it only too prob- 
 able that the position of the widow in pre-exilian 
 times was a precarious one. And this may also be 
 gathered from Isaiah x. 2, Jeremiah vii. 6 ; comp. 
 Zech. vii. 9, 10. 
 
 In primitive Israel women possessed as their own 
 personal property not only their clothing but also 
 their jewels. These in fact were the gifts bestowed 
 on the bride by the bridegroom before marriage, as 
 we learn from the case of Rebekah (Gen. xxiv. 22, 
 53 ; comp. xxxiv. 12). But there may have been 
 additional gifts bestowed by her own family. From 
 the case of Sarah we learn that it was also possible 
 for her to own a female slave (Gen. xvi. 2, 6, 8, 9). 
 These possessions would vary according to the wealth 
 of the family to which she belonged. The jewels 
 probably constituted the most important part of her 
 property, as is the case at the present day in Southern 
 India. In pre-exilian Israel these items of personal 
 property appear to have formed the utmost sum total 
 of a woman's possessions, as a general rule. In many 
 cases the widow's raiment would be her most im- 
 portant possession. Hence the benevolent legislation 
 
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 27 
 
 of Deuteronomy xxiv. 17 directed that a widow's 
 raiment was not to be taken in pledge. 
 
 After the exile the status and rights of women 
 improved among the Jews, and this was probably 
 owing to the influences of Babylonian life upon them. 
 Prof. Sayce has shown 1 that polygamy was not pre- 
 valent among the Babylonians, as among other 
 Semitic peoples, and the wife could hold and dispense 
 property apart from the husband. Marriage was also 
 attested by a legal document. These traditions in- 
 fluenced Jewish practice. Comp. Tobit vii. 14. 
 
 The unique position of the firstborn son in a 
 Hebrew household was expressed by a special name. 
 According to the enactment in Deuteronomy xxi. 17 
 his special rights in the matter of inheritance consisted 
 of a double portion. But the form in which the 
 enactments in the Deuteronomic code (verses 15-17) 
 are preserved shows that they were intended to be 
 corrective of lax and arbitrary procedure in the 
 apportionment of property. That the claims of the 
 firstborn son were in some way recognised in the 
 primitive tradition of Semitic nations is shown by the 
 fact that Assyrian as well as Hebrew and Aramaic 
 designated the firstborn son by what is essentially 
 the same word. It is evident, however, not only 
 from the language of the passage cited above from 
 Deuteronomy, but from the examples furnished in 
 Scripture narrative, that as the result of polygamy and 
 
 1 Social Life among the Assyrians and Babylonians ', p. 46 foil. 
 A good example of property willed to a daughter may be found 
 in Peiser's Kdlschriftliche Adenstucke, p. 18 foil. The names 
 of women constantly appear in Babylonian documents ; comp. 
 ibid., pp. 26, 44 (dealing with a field which was dowry of a 
 Babylonian lady in the reign of Darius), 48, 53. 
 
28 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 the prevailing influence of a favourite wife, or from 
 other causes, the rights which belonged to a firstborn 
 were not infrequently denied to him. Instances 
 may be found in Genesis xxvii., xlviii. 1-20. The 
 example of Ishmael can hardly be cited in this con- 
 nection, as it is scarcely probable that the rights of 
 a firstborn were ever, except in very extreme cases, 
 granted to the eldest, if he happened to be born of a 
 concubine, unless no male issue from a freeborn wife 
 existed. That this view prevailed in ancient Israel 
 may be inferred from Genesis xxv. 6. This passage, 
 however (as well as Gen. xxi. 10), shows that even 
 sons of concubines might share in the inheritance. 
 
 7. In dealing with the ancient Hebrew household 
 we have had occasion to refer to the presence of 
 slaves. The primitive condition of social life de- 
 picted in the Books of Judges and Samuel does not 
 present to us such marked distinctions between the 
 varied classes of the community as are to be observed 
 in nations of a more advanced type of civilization. 
 High and low were equally engaged in pastoral or 
 agricultural employment. They came into very close 
 and hourly contact, and stood upon a more nearly 
 equal footing in respect of culture. The state of 
 society prevailing in Israel prior to the tenth century 
 closely approximated the simple and primitive rural 
 life of Ithaca described in the latter portion of the 
 Odyssey. Just as the Italian Cincinnatus, in the earliest 
 days of the Roman commonwealth, was called to the 
 dictatorship straight from the plough, so the Benjamite 
 Saul was returning with a yoke of oxen from his field 
 when the deputies from Jabesh Gilead arrived (i 
 Sam. xi. 5). It is certain that the general type of 
 
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 29 
 
 civilization of the Canaanites (Phoenicians) was much 
 more developed. These were largely town dwellers, 
 and practised many arts and manufactures at a time 
 when the Israelites were engaged almost exclusively 
 in pastoral or agricultural pursuits. But even in 
 early Israel there was one strongly marked contrast, 
 which, though it did not prevent free intercourse, 
 nevertheless entered deeply into the social life of the 
 time. We refer to the two classes si freemen (who 
 would be nearly always landowners) and slaves. In 
 our advanced modern civilization slavery can be 
 nothing else but a demoralizing curse. This cannot 
 be said of the early social conditions depicted in 
 Judges and Samuel. Life was then less complex, and 
 thus brought master and slave into much closer and 
 more human relationships. 
 
 The Hebrew slave was a member of his master's 
 household, for whom the master would care as for his 
 own children. As we have already seen, in the poly- 
 gamous life of the East, a female slave (like Hagar) 
 could attain to the privileges of a mother of male 
 offspring who might possibly inherit. She might even 
 come, through the death of the freeborn wife, to the 
 attainment of the privileges and dignities of a mistress of 
 the household. It must also be remembered that in the 
 Hebrew household the distinction between Freeborn 
 and Slave was considerably modified by the fact that 
 both alike were regarded by ancient Hebrew custom 
 as the possession of the husband. The relative posi- 
 tion assumed by the slave to the rest of the household 
 was therefore by no means so intolerable as we might 
 suppose from modern examples or ancient Roman 
 analogy. The high position attained by Eliezer in 
 
30 A PRIMER OP HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 the household of Abraham was probably not very 
 exceptional, and his example is to be specially noted, 
 as he is spoken of as a foreigner (a Damascene). 
 It teaches us, moreover, that it was even possible 
 for a slave to inherit his master's property (Gen. xv. 
 2 ; comp. Prov. xvii. 2). The Hebrew slave Joseph 
 rose to be prime minister of Egypt. Slaves might 
 even hold property, though to what extent is un- 
 certain, for we find Saul's slave offering one quarter 
 of a shekel, which he had with him (about 8^.) in 
 order to pay the seer. It was even possible for a 
 trusted slave to receive a daughter of the house in 
 marriage (i Chron. ii. 34). 
 
 But the lot of a slave would vary with circum- 
 stances. Eliezer was bom and bred in Abraham's 
 household, and he was entrusted with the delicate 
 commission of conducting the negotiations prelimi- 
 nary to marriage on behalf of his aged master's son, 
 Isaac. Far different would be the position of a 
 recently purchased slave, who had been taken captive 
 in war. Such an one in a Roman household would 
 be set to do the menial tasks, and his place in a 
 Hebrew family would be similar, though not so 
 forlorn. Moreover, the fact that the slave belonged 
 to a different race from his master would aggravate 
 his situation. Slaves of foreign origin were undoubt- 
 edly very numerous in the East. Assyrian inscriptions 
 as well as the historical portions of the Old Testament 
 abundantly testify to the barbarous practices that 
 prevailed in Asiatic warfare, when cities were stormed 
 and sacked. We know from numerous inscriptions 
 of monarchs like Ramman-nirari, Tiglath Pileser, and 
 Sargon, that a large number of the prisoners were 
 
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 31 
 
 carried off as captives. Many of these, of whom 
 females would constitute a considerable proportion 
 especially those of youth and beauty would in- 
 evitably find their way to foreign markets. The 
 great mercantile Canaanite or Phoenician race, which 
 had their celebrated emporia of commerce at Tyre 
 and Sidon, and possessed a naval supremacy in 
 the Mediterranean from the tenth till the fifth cen- 
 tury, 1 shared with the Philistines the unenviable 
 notoriety of being the great slave-dealing race of 
 antiquity. Thus we find the prophet Amos, in the 
 middle of the eighth century, bringing this charge 
 against the Philistines, who passed their captive Israel- 
 ites on to the Edomites. The latter, we may con- 
 jecture, may have sold them again to traders, who 
 shipped them from Elath. A similar charge is brought 
 by this prophet against the Phoenicians, against whom 
 a like penalty is denounced, because they forgot the 
 covenant of 'brethren,' which subsisted between 
 Phoenicia and Israel from the days of Solomon down- 
 wards 2 (Amos i. 9, 10). Still later we find the pro- 
 
 1 As maybe learned from I Kings v., ix. 26-28; Isaiah 
 xxiii. ; Ezekiel xxvii., and Herodotus, Books vi. to viii. passim. 
 The following, in Book vii. 96 ad init., is significant : TOVTUV 5 
 &pLffra Tr\uoijcras Trapetxovro vtas Qoivutes /ecu QOLV'IKUV ZiSawoi, 
 whereby we learn that the best vessels of Xerxes' expeditionary 
 navy in 480 B.C. were furnished by the Sidonians. Abundant 
 incidental evidence is furnished by the Greek tragedians. 
 Prof. Sayce thinks that the object of the Assyrian wars on the 
 western or Palestinian frontier was to destroy the trade of 
 Phoenicia and divert it to Assyria. This assertion needs proof; 
 and if such was the endeavour, history shows that it failed. 
 
 ~ Prof. Wilkins (Phcenicia and Israel, p. 119) has drawn 
 attention to this branch of Phoenician commerce : * The chorus 
 of the Helena of Euripides is composed of maidens who had 
 been brought to the Egyptian market by Phoenician merchants.' 
 The doubts thrown out by Wellhausen (Skizzcn u. Vorarbeiten, 
 
32 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 phety<?<?/ inveighing bitterly against both these nations 
 not only for carrying off the silver and gold of Judah, 
 but also for selling the captives of Jerusalem beyond 
 seas to the sons of Javan, i.e. to the Greek populations 
 that covered the western shores of Asia Minor. 
 
 The average price of a slave may be inferred from 
 Exodus xxi. 32 to have been thirty shekels, or about 
 ^4, in the early pre-exilian period. But the price 
 would, of course, vary considerably. Joseph's breth- 
 ren were content with twenty shekels when he was 
 sold to the Ishmaelites (Gen. xxxvii. 28). From the 
 evidence of the Assyrian and Babylonian tablets it 
 appears that prices ranged from about these sums and 
 even lower to considerably higher amounts. ' Thus 
 in the time of Nebuchadnezzar we hear of a woman, 
 Sakinna, and her daughter, a little girl of three years 
 of age, being sold for thirty-five shekels ' (about 
 ^4 141.), while a slave woman and 'her son upon her 
 breast' fetched nineteen shekels, or about 2 ios., at 
 the same period. In another case, a husband and his 
 wife fetch fifty-five shekels, or seven pounds (Sayce). 
 Mr. Pinches, of the British Museum, has transcribed 
 for us a contract tablet, in which a slave is sold 
 for 2| manehs of silver, more than ^22. l This slave 
 must have been particularly valuable, probably owing 
 
 Heft v. p. 69) against Amos i. 9. 10 on account of close similar- 
 ity to the preceding verses appear to me unjustifiable in an 
 oracle so characterized by repetitions of phrase. The omission 
 of any mention of other Phoenician towns beside Tyre in the 
 course of two verses, when we find this to be the only city 
 mentioned by Ezekiel in the first of his two oracles against 
 Tyre (Ezek. xxvi.), consisting of twenty-one verses, is surely not 
 significant. 
 
 1 Hebraicd) vol. viii. p. 134 foil. According to Tiele a slave 
 might even cost as much as ^95. {Baby Ion- Assyrische Ge- 
 schichte, p. 507.) 
 
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 33 
 
 to his possession of some skilled qualifications. The 
 price indicated in the Book of the Covenant (Exod. 
 xxi. 32), cited above, probably indicates the average 
 market value in Western Asia. We find that about 
 the same price was paid centuries later in the Macca- 
 baean period, for we read that Nicanor attempted to 
 defray the Roman tribute of 2,000 talents by the sale 
 of captive Jews at the rate of ninety per talent (2 Mace, 
 viii. 9, 10). Let us note that it was for thirty pieces 
 of silver (shekels) our Lord was sold by the traitor 
 disciple into the hands of His persecutors. 
 
 The state of slavery was brought about not only 
 by the reverses of war, but by the dire exigencies of 
 poverty, and other causes. From Leviticus xxv. 25, 39 
 we learn that voluntary servitude was not infrequent 
 as a means of discharging the debts of poverty ; 
 indeed, the claims of the creditor during the regal 
 period became so harsh and exacting, that if the 
 father died his sons might be made into bondslaves 
 in order to pay the debt (2 Kings iv. i). In post- 
 exilian times the evils occasioned by this system 
 brought about a violent reaction, and Nehemiah was 
 able to use his authority in bringing about at least a 
 modification of the practice (Neh. v. 1-13). It is 
 not improbable that we may here see an indirect 
 result of the more humane civilization of Babylonia. 1 
 
 1 Babylonia, as Prof. Sayce (ibid.) points out, was a land 
 where agricultural pursuits were carried on, as in Egypt, by 
 industrious, peace-loving freedmen (not by slaves, as in Assyria, 
 where the pursuits preferred by the dominating race were trade 
 and war). Babylonia, moreover, was a land of book-culture. 
 ' The ancient Accadian law ordered that if children had been 
 born to slaves whom their former owner had sold while still 
 keeping a claim upon them, he should, in buying them back, take 
 the children as well, at the rate of ij shekels each.' Note 
 
 C 
 
34 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 But the influence of the spirit of the Deuteronomic 
 legislation was far more potent. Even the primitive 
 and brief code called the Book of the Covenant 
 (Exod. xx. 22-xxiii.) shows that many mitigating 
 circumstances entered to ameliorate the lot of the 
 slave. Among these may be mentioned the Sabbatic 
 year of release (Exod. xxi. 2-6), which limited the 
 period of bondservice to six years. In the seventh 
 year the slave became a free man, and had the right to 
 take his wife with him, if married. But here unfortu- 
 nately his rights became limited. If the wife was his 
 master's slave, both she and her children remained 
 with his master. What happened to the wife and 
 children if the wife were not his master's slave but 
 another's, we are not told, and the silence is ominous. 1 
 Under these circumstances it is not surprising that 
 the ties of family often prevented the slave from 
 availing himself of the proffered sweets of freedom. 
 Moreover, his position in many cases, especially if 
 he belonged to the same race as his master, was by 
 no means one of hardship. It might indeed be less 
 irksome to him to remain in the master's household, 
 especially if the latter were a wealthy as well as humane 
 
 the instances above quoted of mother and child being sold 
 together, also the superior rights accorded to women in the 
 possession of property, as compared with the ancient Palestinian 
 usages. There are numerous instances, moreover, of slaves 
 holding property. 
 
 1 Such is the usage depicted in the Book of the Covenant. 
 But the Diutcronomic legislation allows the same rights in the 
 Sabbatic year of release to the woman as to the man (Dent. xv. 
 12 foil.) The Levitical legislation, with its law of Jubilee, goes 
 a step farther. In the year of jubilee, man, wife and children 
 return to their clan and its landed possession (Lev. xxv. 40, 41). 
 It should be observed that these rights were enjoyed only by 
 Hebrews. 
 
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 35 
 
 man, and be maintained in tolerable comfort, than to be 
 obliged in times of scarcity to find his own livelihood. 
 Under these circumstances the slave at the close of 
 the six years would often prefer to remain a slave. 
 The formality observed in such a case was that he 
 and his master should repair to the local sanctuary, 
 where the officials (probably priests) who witnessed 
 the act ratified it in the name of God. The slave 
 testified his desire to forego his right, and abide per- 
 manently with his master, who in token of possession 
 bored a hole through the slave's ear. 1 The same 
 thing was done to the female slave. As we turn to 
 the expanded form of this enactment in the Deuter- 
 onomic legislation, we again observe the humanitarian 
 touch which characterizes that code. ' And when 
 thou lettest him go free from thee, thou shalt not let 
 him go empty ; thou shalt furnish him liberally from 
 thy flock, and out of thy threshingfloor, and out 
 of thy winepress : as the Lord thy God hath blessed 
 thee thou shalt give unto him.' In the Levitical 
 legislation the same spirit manifests itself. The master 
 is exhorted to treat his slave, if a Hebrew, not as a 
 slave, but as a hired servant and sojourner, who is not 
 to be rigorously dealt with. But no such admonition 
 applies to a foreign bondservant. 
 
 Another point on which ancient Hebrew legislation 
 protected the slave was personal maltreatment. On 
 this the early compend of laws called the ' Book of 
 
 1 The same custom prevailed among the Arabs, Lydians 
 (Xenoph., Anab., iii. i. 31) and Carthaginians (Plant us, Panulus, 
 v. 2, 21). The aures anulahe mentioned by Plautus suggest 
 that the hole was bored in the Hebrew slave's ear that it might 
 receive an ear-ring. Similar customs among other nations, with 
 citations, may be found in Dillmann's commentary ad he. 
 
36 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 the Covenant,' is very explicit. Injury to eye or 
 tooth of a bondservant wilfully committed by his 
 master received compensation by the immediate gift 
 of freedom (Exod. xxi. 26, 27). If he were mur- 
 dered, the Levitical legislation prescribed the death 
 penalty, as it would if the victim were free born (Lev. 
 xxiv. 17, 22). Here we notice an advance on the 
 legislation of the Book of the Covenant (Exod. xxi. 20). 
 Yet with all this the slave was regarded and treated 
 as the master's purchased chattel. And so in fact he 
 was called in the Hebrew language (Gen. xvii. 23 ; 
 Exod. xii. 44 ; Lev. xxv. 45). The growth of civiliza- 
 tion during the monarchical period tended to aggra- 
 vate rather than improve the position of the small 
 peasant freeholder. The land became ' full of silver 
 and gold' (Isa. ii. 7). Palestine is geographically the 
 highway of commerce between Egypt and Arabia on 
 the south, and Phoenicia, Syria and Assyria on north 
 and west. The close relations between Israel and 
 Phoenicia, the great mercantile race of the North, 
 stimulated the trade and civilization of the former. 
 But all this tended to destroy the old pastoral and 
 agricultural simplicity of the earlier days. A more 
 highly civilized town life was growing up in Samaria 
 and Jerusalem. Meanwhile the exhausting wars with 
 Syria in the ninth century, and with Tiglath Pileser 
 and Sargon in the eighth, would fall very seriously 
 upon the cultivator of the soil. Personal wealth gave 
 its possessor a fatal power over the poverty-stricken 
 farmer. Usury in Babylonia, and probably in Canaan 
 as well, claimed its twenty per cent, and the result 
 was that the freeholder fell into the clutches of the 
 wealthy noble. 
 
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 37 
 
 All these evils are reflected in the oracles of Amos, 
 Hosea, and Isaiah (see especially Amos ii.-vi., and 
 Isaiah i.-x. passing where lordly and insolent wealth 
 is portrayed side by side with abject poverty. Amos 
 rebukes the harsh creditor who sells into slavery the 
 innocent debtor for a paltry claim equivalent to a 
 pair of sandals (ii. 6 ; viii. 6), while Isaiah deplores 
 the aggregation of landed properties into a few grasp- 
 ing hands, and the dispossession of the crushed and 
 poverty-stricken cultivator of the soil (Isa. v. 8). It 
 is true that there were enactments which tended to 
 mitigate the severity of the creditor's power (Exod. 
 xxii. 25 foil; Deut. xxiii. 19) by limiting its opera- 
 tions to the principal of the debt (Exod.) or to aliens 
 (Deut.); but the very existence of these restrictions 
 indicates the prevalence of the evils they were in- 
 tended to arrest. There can be little doubt that 
 slavery largely increased during the regal period, and 
 that its conditions became aggravated. 
 
 Under the stress of these conditions temptations 
 were not wanting for a slave to escape from the hands 
 of an overbearing and tyrannical master into another 
 tribe or adjoining state, and this would become easier 
 in the days when the Hebrew realm was broken up 
 into two kingdoms, and still later, when the frontiers 
 were curtailed by the encroachments of Assyria. It 
 is to be specially rioted that Hebrew law as preserved 
 in the Pentateuch nowhere prescribes it as a duty to 
 deliver up a runaway slave to his owner. It is charac- 
 teristic of the beneficent Deuteronomic legislation that 
 it sets forth the precise contrary. ' Thou shalt not 
 deliver up a slave to his master, who escapes to thee 
 from his master. With thee shall he abide in thy 
 
3$ A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 midst, in the place that he chooses, in any one of thy 
 gates that he likes. Thou shalt not oppress him.' 
 This is in full accord with the sacred rights of hos- 
 pitality which prevailed among primitive Semitic na- 
 tions and in primitive Greece. To this we shall 
 refer subsequently. From these facts we may infer 
 that the recovery of a runaway slave in ancient Israel 
 was by no means an easy matter (comp. i Kings ii. 
 39), and this very circumstance would tend to miti- 
 gate the slave's lot by making it desirable for the 
 master to render his servant's life tolerable. Another 
 element which entered to bind the slave to his 
 master's household was religion. For it was evidently 
 the custom of the slave to accept the religion and 
 religious rites of his lord. Eliezer of Damascus con- 
 cludes a contract with his master, in which the name 
 of Jehovah, in accordance with tradition, was solemnly 
 invoked. We also know that he appealed to Jehovah 
 for help in the delicate task which Abraham had set 
 him. This acceptance by a slave of the religion of 
 the household and clan in which he lived was part 
 of the universal system that prevailed in antiquity. 
 Religion was then local, and the cultus of the local 
 clan was adopted by any one who sojourned among its 
 people, since the deity was regarded as potent in the 
 area of which he was regarded as patron and lord. 1 
 Hence we find that circumcision was also practised 
 on the slave members of the household (Gen. xvii. 
 23, 27). Thus the slave participated in the clan 
 festivals in fellowship with his master, and shared in 
 the privileges of that common protection which all 
 
 1 Illustrations of this conception may be found I Samuel 
 xxvi. 18 foil.; Ruth i. 6, 15, 16; 2 Kings xvii. 25 foil. 
 
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPAJ^IONS 39 
 
 the members of the clan enjoyed. He also partici- 
 pated in the Sabbath rest (Exod. xx. 10., xxiii. -17; 
 Deut. xvi. 14). 
 
 It is time that a few words should be said on the 
 status of a female slave. On the whole, her position 
 was more favourable than that of the male bond- 
 servant. This was due to the fact that she might 
 become the concubine of the master of the household 
 or of one of his sons. Doubtless there is something 
 to our modern sentiment that is disagreeable in the 
 notion that the master of the household should have 
 absolute control over the person of his female slave, 
 as though she were a chattel. But it must be recol- 
 lected that in a Canaanite or Hebrew household, the 
 position of a slave woman in this respect was not 
 very different from that of a free woman. We have 
 already had occasion to notice that a maiden, though 
 free, had no power to dispose of herself as she chose. 
 
 Language is an important index respecting ancient 
 usage, and differences of name will never arise unless 
 occasioned by diversity of signification, which in this 
 case points to diversity of function and social stand- 
 ing. Hebrew possesses a word (amaJi) almost iden- 
 tical in form with what is really the same word in all 
 the Semitic languages (Assyrian, Arabic and Aramaic). 
 The ancient Israelite girl became amaJi when sold by 
 her father. This must have taken place among the 
 poorer classes not unfrequently during the regal 
 period, and under the adverse circumstances de- 
 scribed on a previous page (36). It often happened 
 that the daughter could not be disposed of as free- 
 born in ordinary marriage, and could not be sup- 
 ported in the household. She would then be sold as 
 
40 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 a concubine. But as a concubine she had the right 
 to be treated as a wife ; and if she bore male children 
 her position sensibly improved, as has been already 
 explained. But the position of a shifchah in a 
 Hebrew household was much lower. This may be 
 gathered from the speech of Abigail (i Sam. xxv. 41). 
 She calls herself amah, and consents 'to become a 
 shifchah, and do the menial task of washing the feet 
 of David's slaves. It was to the shifchah the labori- 
 ous duty was delegated of grinding at the mill. This 
 is the word used in the original for the slave girl 
 behind the millstones in Exodus xi. 5, where the 
 term is employed to describe the lowest end of the 
 social scale. 
 
 There is another strange word used in Hebrew to 
 describe a concubine, viz., Pillegesh (Gen. xxii. 24, 
 xxxv. 22 ; Judges xix. i ; 2 Sam. xv. 16, xx. 3), which 
 is probably to be regarded as a loan word, borrowed 
 from some Indo-germanic language, probably Greek. 1 
 It therefore signified originally a foreign concubine. 
 But this distinctive meaning does not appear in the 
 Old Testament. 
 
 8. Clothing. Having described the inmates of 
 a Hebrew household, we shall proceed next to deal 
 with their externalities. Among these, the first to en- 
 gage our attention will be the clothing. Unfortunately 
 this is a subject involved in some uncertainty, as we 
 
 1 Compare the Greek 7rdAXa, TraXXcu-k, Lat. pellex. It is 
 difficult to see how the editors of Gesenius' Lexicon (tenth ed.) 
 could have regarded a word so distinctly non-Semitic in type as 
 borroived by the Greeks from the Semitic. Stade is unquestion- 
 ably right in maintaining that the reverse is the case. The 
 point is important, as it indicates an early contact between the 
 Canaanites and the Greeks, or * Sons of Javan.' 
 
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 4! 
 
 have comparatively few monumental representations of 
 the dress actually worn by the Hebrews of Palestine 
 in early pre-exilian days. Under these circumstances 
 we have to rely on : (i) the statements of the Old 
 Testament ; (2) the abundant illustrative material of 
 the paintings in Egyptian tombs, and the sculptures of 
 Assyria and Babylonia ; (3) the dress of modern 
 Orientals, especially of the Arabs. 
 
 In the earliest times wool and skins would be the 
 materials chiefly employed in the construction of gar- 
 ments. And of this we have an example in the 
 primitive costume of the prophet Elijah. His broad, 
 hairy mantle was probably made from the skins of 
 sheep or goats, and was characteristic of the pastoral 
 life of early Israel, 1 as well as of the ascetic simpli- 
 city of the prophetic order which adopted this mode 
 of attire (Zech. xiii. 4 ; Matt. iii. 4). His girdle was 
 likewise of leather. That goats' skins were so used, 
 we may gather from Rebekah's device (Gen. xxvii. 16; 
 comp. Heb. xi. 37). That wool was largely employed 
 in early times for clothing may be inferred from the 
 references to sheep-shearing (Gen. xxxi. 19, xxxviii. 
 12), and the existence of a religious festival in primi- 
 tive Israel connected with it (2 Sam. xiii. 23 foil). A 
 portion of Mesha's tribute consisted of wool (2 Kings 
 iii. 4), and it is mentioned among the offerings of 
 iirstfruits, not only by Hosea (ii. 7-11), but also in 
 
 1 * Over the Kamise [or unbleached calico shirt] the Syrian 
 shepherd, in wet or cold weather, or during the night, like all 
 other peasants, wears a thick, warm, sleeveless, sack-like outer 
 garment, made of camel's hair, invariable as to material, shape 
 and colour, the latter being dark brown of different shades, with 
 whitish perpendicular stripes. This is the common overcoat of 
 the agricultural labourer, and of all the working classes of the 
 country districts.' NEIL, Palestine Explored, footnote p. 255. 
 
42 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 Deuteronomy xviii. 4. That clothing in ancient times 
 largely consisted of woollen garments, is evident from 
 such passages as Job xxxi. 19, 20, and in the later 
 period of the Jewish commonwealth it was regarded 
 as the business of a good housewife in a well- 
 appointed household to be able to spin the wool and 
 manufacture garments (Prov. xxxi. 13). That weav- 
 ing was practised by the women of the household 
 during the regal period is clearly shown by 2 Kings 
 xxiii. 7, where we learn that the sanctuaries, consist- 
 ing of tents or curtained apartments, for the licentious 
 worship of Asherah, were ; woven ' by the Hebrew 
 women. How far weaving is involved in the refer- 
 ence to the ' small robe ' which Hannah ' made ' for 
 her son Samuel (i Sam. ii. 19) is not clear, though 
 the expression probably includes it. 
 
 It is certain that at an early period clothing con- 
 sisting of other material than wool was imported 
 and worn by the Israelites. For the Hebrews were 
 close neighbours of a more highly civilized Canaanite 
 population that occupied the coast-land of Palestine. 
 Immediately to the north were the great centres of 
 commerce, Tyre, Sidon and Damascus. The recent 
 discovery of the cuneiform tablets at Tell el Amarna 
 in Egypt has revealed the significant fact that Baby- 
 lonian influence and civilization largely prevailed 
 throughout Western Asia, and especially among the 
 populations of Canaan, during the centuries that 
 immediately preceded the invasion of the country by 
 Joshua. Thus in comparatively early times large 
 * Shinar mantles ' or cloaks, such as that discovered 
 by Achan amid the spoil (Josh. vii. 21), would be 
 among the garments imported from Babylonia that 
 
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 43 
 
 were purchased and worn by the more wealthy among 
 the Israelite freemen. 
 
 Some of these imported garments were made of 
 ' vegetable wool' or cotton, especially the tunic, called 
 by the Hebrews sadln, a light under-garment worn next 
 to the skin, which is identical with the Babylonian 
 sindu (according to Prof. Sayce,made of Indian muslin 
 or cotton). This word and thing were borrowed by the 
 ancient Greeks, and called by them o-ii'Swv (sinddii). 
 In most cases, however, the sadln was probably woven 
 from the flax (pishtaJi), which largely grew in Egypt, 
 but was likewise a product of Palestinian soil. The 
 staffs of the flax plant were gathered and stored 
 upon the roofs of Canaanite dwellings (Josh. ii. 6). 
 Probably the thirty sadln garments which Samson 
 wagered (Judg. xiv. 12, 13) were made from flax, and 
 were of Philistine rather than Hebrew manufacture. 
 That the Philistines understood the art of weaving 
 in the days of the Judges, is clearly shown by the 
 language of Judges xvi. 13 foil. Both Canaanites 
 and Philistines were at this time considerably in 
 advance of the Hebrews in the arts of civilization. 
 Of this we have a hint in i Samuel xiii. 19. 
 
 Various names were employed to designate the 
 different materials of flax and cotton. An ordinary 
 form ^i flax was called bad, from which the epJwds of 
 Samuel and David were made (i Sam. ii. 18 ; 2 Sam. 
 vi. 14). In later times the Hebrews became ac- 
 quainted with the fine variety of Egyptian cotton, 
 which they called shesh. It has been supposed, 
 however, that a fine sort of flax is also designated by 
 this term. It was the material of which Joseph's 
 official robes were made (Gen. xli. 42). Later still, 
 
44 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 in post-exilian times, this fine cotton was called 
 probably an Aramaic word ; and this term again, like 
 others, has been borrowed by the ancient Greeks 
 from the same source from which they gained their 
 alphabet. They called it byssus ((3vcrcros). 
 
 Dyeing was not practised in Israel. It was a 
 foreign art. We know from classical writers that the 
 fame of Tyrian purple spread far and wide through 
 all the countries bordering on the Mediterranean 
 reached by Phoenician merchantmen ( Verg., sEneid^ 
 iv. 262; Strabo, xvi. 2, 23). In the days of Ezekiel 
 (sixth century B.C.) it was Syria that supplied both 
 purple and broidered work to the Tyrian market 
 (xxvii. 16; comp. Ps. xlv. 14). In later times some 
 of these arts were learned by Hebrew women of high 
 rank. This, at least, we may probably infer from 
 Proverbs xxxi. 19, 22. 
 
 ' She putteth her hands to the distaff, 
 And her palms lay hold on the spindle. . . . 
 She prepareth for herself cushions ; 
 Fine linen and purple is her raiment.' 
 
 But in earlier times such as those to which the 
 Song of Deborah belongs these expensive luxuries 
 would be purchased by the wealthier Hebrews in 
 return for cattle and agricultural produce. Hence 
 the coloured garments and broidered work that the 
 princesses vainly hoped that Sisera's host would bring 
 them from the routed Hebrews (Judg. v. 30) were 
 undoubtedly the skilled product of foreign looms and 
 handiwork. 1 
 
 1 Stade asserts that purple garments were never worn by the 
 Hebrews in the early period. Judges viii. 26 he puts aside as a 
 gloss. But this sweeping assertion requires proof, though we 
 
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 45 
 
 The garments of Hebrew men and women were of 
 different shapes and sizes, and must have varied, not 
 merely according to the rank and wealth of the 
 person, but also according to the period in which he 
 lived. In early and primitive Israel we have mainly 
 two articles of clothing : the upper or outer garment 
 made of wool, called a simlah^ which corresponded 
 to the himation (i/A<mov) of the Greeks and to the 
 Roman toga. It consisted of a large rectangular 
 piece of woollen cloth, something like a Scotch plaid, 
 which served not only to wrap up the body, but also 
 for the conveyance of sundry articles in its folds. 
 Thus in Exodus xii. 34 we read that the baking 
 troughs or platters were carried by the Israelites in 
 their hurried departure from Egypt upon their 
 shoulders wrapped in the ample folds of this outer 
 garment. The simlah was also used to sleep in. 
 Hence the early legislation contained in the Book of 
 the Covenant (Exod. xxii. 26) commands that if this 
 garment be taken in pledge, it shall be restored before 
 sunset, because it is the poor man's only covering for 
 the night. The same fact is apparent from Deuter- 
 onomy xxii. 17. (Comp. Job xxii. 6.) On the other 
 hand, the under garment worn next to the skin, called 
 kuttoneth, was usually of linen (occasionally of wool). 
 This corresponds to, and indeed is in reality, the 
 same word as the Greek chiton (yirw), which, like 
 the words byssus and sindon, was borrowed by the 
 Greeks from the East. This shirt or blouse did not 
 reach beyond the knees, and was either sleeveless or 
 
 may accept as true in the main his general statement that the 
 clothing of the Hebrews in early times was made from the 
 products of the country, wool and flax. (Gesf/i., p. 372.) 
 
46 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 provided only with short sleeves. 1 In ordinary 
 occupations in the house or upon the field this would 
 be the sole garment worn, fastened by a girdle. 2 In 
 this condition, according to Biblical language, a man 
 would be called { naked ' or stripped, and it is in this 
 sense we are to understand the command to Isaiah 
 (xx. 2) and the reference to Peter in John xxi. 7. 
 
 These were the essentials of ancient Hebrew 
 clothing, but of these there were numerous varieties, 
 according to the rank or occupation of the wearer. 
 Thus of upper garments the term lebush or malbush 
 is frequently used in poetry, and seems to have meant 
 an official or state robe. Such a robe was worn by 
 Joab as military commander (2 Sam. xx. 8), by the 
 priests of Baal (2 Kings x. 22), and by royal attend- 
 ants (i Kings x. 5). 
 
 We have also the broad flowing mantle or cloak, 
 called addereth, made of goat's hide or camel's skin 
 covered by the hair, and ordinarily worn by the 
 prophets. Sometimes it was elaborately worked, and 
 made of fine material, like the Babylonian mantle 
 found by Achan, referred to above (Josh. vii. 21). 
 As this last was probably no other than the long robe 
 or cloak specially characteristic of the Babylonians, 
 and constantly depicted on the monuments, Prof. 
 Sayce's description may be suitably quoted : c It 
 opened in front, was usually sleeveless, and was orna- 
 
 1 Probably the figured representations in Rich's Dictionary of 
 Roman and Greek Antiquities, p. 697 foil. (art. " Tunica"), are 
 a fairly close approximation to the actual form of the ancient 
 Hebrew under garment. 
 
 2 * Both Assyrians and Babylonians, while engaged in manual 
 work or military operations, discarded the long and inconven- 
 ient outer robe.' Sayce. 
 
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 47 
 
 merited at the end with fringes. In walking it 
 allowed the inner side of the left leg to be exposed. 
 Not unfrequently the girdle was fastened round it, 
 instead of round the tunic.' 
 
 Another form of upper garment was that worn by 
 the priests, called the ephod, which was probably a 
 close-fitting coat, about a yard in length, consisting of 
 a front and hinder portion, fastened by buckles, but 
 these details would vary according to the rank of the 
 priest. Thus, according to the minute descriptions 
 of Exodus xxviii., the high priest's ephod was made 
 by a skilled workman, of fine linen, with purple, 
 scarlet, blue and gold thread interwoven. But the 
 ephod worn by the eighty priests at Nob was made of 
 ordinary linen, and was of a simpler and more primi- 
 tive make (i Sam. xxii. 18). 
 
 Beneath the ephod the priest wore an upper tunic, 
 called a meil. This is spoken of in close connection 
 with the ephod in Exodus xxviii. 31, xxix. 5, and also 
 in i Samuel ii. 19, where our English version renders 
 the Hebrew name milt by 'coat.' But such a transla- 
 tion, as well as the rendering 'mantle,' 1 is misleading. 
 The meil was a long upper tunic, worn not only by 
 priests, but also by nobles (Job i. 20) and by kings 
 (i Sam. xxiv. 4).* The Hebrew name expresses the 
 fact that this garment covered an undergarment, shirt 
 or chemise, worn next to the skin, called the sadin^ to 
 which reference has already been made. 
 
 As a head covering, a turban or tsaniph was worn, 
 which probably closely resembled that of the modern 
 
 1 Employed by Robertson Smith, Old Testament in the 
 Jewish Church, p. 270, and Gesenius' Lexicon. 
 
 2 The LXX. render variously by i,ucmo', crroX?;, dnrXots, etc. 
 
48 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 Oriental, and consisted, as the name clearly indicates, 
 of bands of linen rolled or wrapped round. The high 
 priest's headdress consisted of this in a more elabor- 
 ate form, called mitznepheth^ and this is sustained by 
 the account of it given in Josephus. Nobles and 
 kings wore it (Isa. Ixii. 3 ; Job xxix. 14), and even 
 ladies of fashion (Isa. iii. 23). A specially handsome 
 form of headdress was called the pfer^ though its 
 precise character is not at all clear. It was worn on 
 festive occasions, as weddings (Isa. Ixi. 10), and by 
 ladies (Isa. iii. 20). 
 
 The dress of women in its essentials resembled 
 that of men, and consisted of an under garment or 
 tunic of linen, which, however, was longer than that 
 worn by men, and also an outer garment. In the 
 case of ladies of distinction, like Tamar, daughter of 
 David, the kuttoneth, when it formed the meil or 
 upper tunic of linen, consisted of long sleeves reach- 
 ing to the wrists, and extending as far down as the 
 feet or ankles ; 1 and in Genesis xxxvii. we read that 
 the youthful Joseph wore a similar tunic. Beneath 
 this upper tunic a lady in good position also wore the 
 sadm^ or light linen under garment, worn next to the 
 skin, which probably did not differ much from that 
 worn by men, which has been already described 
 (comp. Isa. iii. 23). Women also had their simlah, 
 or outer robe, worn over the tunic, and made, as we 
 may suppose, in most cases of wool. It is evident 
 from the express commandment contained in Deut. 
 xxii. 5 that a woman's simlah was distinct in shape 
 from a man's, but in what respect it is impossible to 
 
 1 This is certainly the most probable interpretation of the 
 kuttoneth passim in 2 Samuel xiii. 18. 
 
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 49 
 
 determine. The outer garment, however, existed in 
 many different varieties more especially during the 
 latter portion of the regal period. This may be 
 inferred from the graphic description given by Isaiah 
 of a Jerusalemite lady of fashion (iii. 18-23) walking 
 along the streets of the city with outstretched neck 
 and tripping gait. Among the outer garments we 
 read of a wrapper, such as Ruth wore when she went 
 forth in her best attire to meet Boaz (Ruth iii. 15); 
 and the more elaborate state robe, such as Zechariah 
 
 (iii. 4) in his vision sees? placed upon the high priest 
 Joshua, but is employed by Isaiah as the appropriate 
 word to describe the splendid outer robe of a high- 
 born lady of his time (eighth century B.C.). 
 
 The same passage is instructive as revealing the 
 paraphernalia which a fashionable woman carried 
 about with her. These we shall proceed to describe. 
 First, we find mention of anklets, made of metal, worn 
 round the ankles, which made a tinkling sound as she 
 moved. 1 In connection with these, we must take the 
 
 1 'Anklets (khulkhal) of solid gold or silver are worn by 
 some ladies, but are more uncommon than they formerly were. 
 They are, of course, very heavy, and, knocking together as the 
 wearer walks, made a ringing noise ; hence it is said in a song, 
 " The ringing of thy anklets has deprived me of my reason." ' 
 LANE, ^Modern Egyptians. 
 
50 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 stepping-chains referred to in verse 20. These prob- 
 ably were connected (as Cheyne supposes) with the 
 anklets. The head was adorned with bands, made 
 of gold and silver thread, which passed across the 
 forehead from one ear to the other (Delitzsch). There 
 was also the pe'er, to which reference has already 
 been made. It may have resembled the tiara or 
 head-tire of linen worn by the priest, to which the 
 same name is given in the original. Perhaps the 
 nearest equivalent may be found in the valuable 
 portraiture of Arab attire given to us by Lane. * The 
 headdress consists of a tdkeeyeh and tarboosh, with a 
 square kerchief of printed or painted muslin or one 
 of crape, wound tightly round and composing what 
 is called a rabtah. Two or more such kerchiefs 
 were commonly used a short time since, and are still 
 sometimes, to form the ladies' turban, but always 
 wound in a high flat shape, very different from the 
 turban of the men.' Next Isaiah mentions the 
 1 crescents ' or l little moons ' (/^n'o-icoi, as the LXX. 
 render). These are usually compared with the hilaldt 
 or crescents adorning an Arab maiden. The latter 
 are worn as an effective remedy against the evil eye, 
 for, as Delitzsch 1 observes, ' the hilal, or new moon, is 
 
 1 Commentary on Isaiah, ad loc. Among modern Arabs * the 
 hildl is a crescent of diamonds set in gold or silver, and worn 
 like the reesheh. In form it resembles the phase of the moon 
 when between two or three nights old, its width being small, 
 and its outward edge not more than half a circle.' But as the 
 rtesheh was * worn on the front or side of the headdress,' it is 
 obvious that the hilal was similarly worn. As for the crescents 
 worn on the camels' necks, spoken of in Judges viii. 21, they 
 were unquestionably used as amulets or charms. Lane observes 
 that horses often wear appendages consisting of a few verses of 
 the Koran enclosed in cases of gold, silver, tin, or perhaps 
 leather, and even silk, generally of a triangular form. 
 
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 51 
 
 the image of growing prosperity.' These crescents 
 were apparently worn hanging as a necklace. (Comp. 
 Judg. viii. 21, where the crescents are described as 
 carried on the necks of the camels of the two Midianite 
 kings, Zebah and Zalmunnah.) It is quite possible, 
 however, that the ancient Hebrew crescent, like the 
 modern Arab % hilal, was worn upon the headdress or 
 pfer. We come next to the ' ear-drops] as the ear- 
 rings are most aptly described, which adorned the 
 males among the Midianites (Judg. viii. 26), Here 
 again Lane's work furnishes us with useful modern 
 analogues (see annexed wood-cut). ( It consists of a 
 
 EAR-DROPS. 
 
 drop suspended within a wreath hanging from a 
 sprig.' Sometimes it consists of diamonds, sometimes 
 emeralds or rubies, set in silver or gold. In ancient 
 times glass may also have been used, for we know 
 that it was manufactured in Egypt in very early times 
 (Wilkinson, iii. 88 ; comp. Pliny, Hist. Nat., xxxvi. 64 ; 
 xxxviii. 26, 33, 75); and glass bowls have been dis- 
 covered in Nineveh, as well as glass ornaments in 
 Babylon (Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, abridged ed., 
 pp. 65, 290).^ 
 
 Our attention is next taken up by the ?iose-rings, 
 which were very commonly worn by Hebrew women. 
 
52 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 As the same word is used in Hebrew for an ear- 
 ring (not ' ear-drop '), we may assume that it was 
 shaped like an ordinary ear-ring. One of these nose- 
 rings was presented by Eliezer to Rebekah (Gen. 
 xxiv. 47). A modern Egyptian nose-ring is depicted 
 in the appended illustration. 
 
 /V 
 
 NOSE-RINGS. 
 
 Orientals, ancient as well as modern, also cherish 
 amulets, and these, we learn from Isaiah, were worn 
 by the Hebrew lady (called lechashim\ and regarded 
 by her as a protection against malign influences. 
 Cheyne, in his comment on the passage (Isa. iii. 20), 
 thinks that by the amulets ear-rings are here meant, 
 and quotes the very significant illustrative passage, 
 Gen. xxxv. 4, where Jacob is described as burying 
 them under the terebinth tree. We know from the 
 Old Testament record how accessible the Hebrews 
 from early times were to superstitious influences, and 
 we have already seen that the * crescents ' were prob- 
 ably used as charms, like their modern analogues. 
 Just as the crescent would be connected with the 
 cultus of the moon goddess Ashtoreth (goddess of 
 love), the amulets would be associated with the 
 worship of other deities, and might contain represen- 
 
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 53 
 
 tations of them. 1 The Ascent-cases' we may fittingly 
 suppose to have been suspended from the * girdle,' 
 mentioned in verse 20, and probably contained some 
 preparation of the balsam-perfume, since this perfume 
 is specially mentioned in verse 24 ; but there were 
 many other varieties, as we learn from Psa. xlv., in 
 which we are told that the royal bride's garments were 
 fragrant with myrrh, aloes and cassia (Song of Sol. iv. 
 14 gives a list of them). The loose flowing veils 
 
 (realdtfi) were evidently made of fine and more 
 elaborate material than the ordinary tsa l iph. 
 
 The sherah was probably a bracelet for the arm (rather 
 than arm chain), and thus meant the same thing, as 
 the same, or nearly the same, word in the modern 
 Arabic, siwar, a bracelet made of precious stones set 
 in gold, or of gold alone. Lastly, the small hand 
 mirrors, made of polished metal, which may have 
 
 1 Modern Arabic usage, described by Lane in his valuable 
 eleventh chapter on * heg&bsj or charms, suggests the possibility 
 that the ancient Hebrew amulet may have consisted of words 
 inscribed upon the stone, as, for example, onyx, or metal of the 
 amulet. According to ancient Semitic ideas, great potency was 
 ascribed to the name of a deity, whether uttered or written. 
 (See SAYCE, Hibbert Lectures, p. 302 foil,) 
 
54 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 resembled the somewhat larger specula used by a 
 Roman lady in her toilet, conclude the long list of 
 a Jewish lady's luxuries furnished by the Hebrew 
 prophet of the latter part of the eighth century. 
 
 BRACELETS. 
 
 There are also two supplementary points to be men- 
 tioned in connection with a woman's toilet. The first 
 has reference to the artistically curled or plaited hair, 1 
 of which the prophet makes special mention in the 
 same passage (verse 24) ; and the second is the custom 
 of painting the eyes, to which fashionable women, as 
 Jezebel, resorted (2 Kings ix. 30), and which prevailed 
 also in Jerusalem in the days of Jeremiah (iv. 30) and 
 Ezekiel (xxiii. 40). Not only the eyebrows, but also 
 both the eyelids were painted with stibium or anti- 
 mony. In modern Egypt kohl is used for this pur- 
 
 1 * The hair, excepting over the forehead and temples, is 
 divided into numerous braids or plaits ; . then hung 
 
 down the back. . . . Over the forehead the hair is cut 
 rather short ; but two full locks hang down on each side of the 
 face ; these are often curled in ringlets, and sometimes plaited.' 
 LANE, Modern Egyptians. 
 
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 55 
 
 pose, made of the smoke-black of burned almond- 
 shells, or of an aromatic resin called lib an. Probably 
 the custom has been simply handed down in Egypt 
 intact through four or five millenniums, for ancient 
 paintings and sculptures exhibit it, and even kohl 
 vessels with the probes and the remains of the black 
 powder have been discovered in ancient tombs. 
 
 KOHL VESSEL AND PROBE. 
 
 The feet were usually shod with sandals, which in 
 the main consisted, in ancient times as well as now, 
 of soles of leather or wood tied under the feet by 
 means of thongs (Gen. xiv. 23; Isa. v. 27). This 
 simple arrangement is obviously best adapted to a 
 hot climate, the sandals being easily removed, as this 
 was necessary, according to ancient usage, on enter- 
 ing the presence of a superior or into a sanctuary 
 
56 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 (Exod. iii. 5 ; Josh. v. 15). Cheap sandals were 
 worn even by the very poorest, and their price was 
 so small that Amos uses it as a rhetorical expression 
 for a very low sum (Amos ii. 6 ; viii. 6). The sandals 
 worn by women of high station were made of finer 
 material; according to Ezekiel xvi. 10 they were of 
 tachash-\\\&) probably sheep-skin^ 
 
 Soldiers also wore sandals, as we learn from Isaiah's 
 graphic description in chapter v. 27, as well as from 
 the Assyrian monuments. The soles were firmly and 
 strongly made, and the back was protected with 
 leather, but the toes and upper portion of the foot 
 were bare, covered only by the thongs that were 
 bound firmly and tightly across. But Prof. Sayce 
 tells us that the Northern conquests of Tiglath 
 Pileser III. and Sargon introduced the laced boot of 
 the inhabitants of the Northern regions. The cavalry, 
 who had hitherto ridden with bare legs, now adopted 
 high boots, laced in front, and worn over tightly-fitting 
 breeches of plaited leather. Certain of the foot sol- 
 diers were also clothed in the same way. As this 
 change was introduced in the time of Isaiah, it is 
 probably this kind of boot to which he refers under 
 the word seen in chapter ix. 5, where he speaks of the 
 military costume that is to become the food of de- 
 vouring flames on the advent of the glorious Messianic 
 King. 
 
 1 The same word is found in Assyrian, and Prof. Fried. 
 Delitzsch has shown that the rendering of the corresponding 
 phrase in the inscriptions of Tiglath Pileser I. , Asshur-nazir- 
 abal and Shalmaneser II., by ' sheep-skin ' is most probable 
 {Prolegomena, p. 77 foil.). Rashi and Luther rendered badger's 
 skin, and also our Authorized Version. The translation ' seal 
 skin ' of our Revised Version is improbable. 
 
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 57 
 
 In ancient as in modern times the fingers were 
 adorned with rings. Indeed, these had an official 
 significance. Thus Pharaoh presented Joseph with 
 a ring when he was invested with authority (Gen. xli. 
 42). The reason for this was that the ring was used 
 as a seal. It was also frequently inscribed with the 
 name of the owner, 1 and was worn on the right hand, 
 as Jeremiah xxii. 24 clearly shows. Seal rings were 
 likewise worn by women, and the list of ornaments in 
 Isaiah iii. 18-23 contains them. Respecting their 
 use in attesting documents we shall speak later on 
 (see below, 23). 
 
 9. Dwellings. From the clothing and ornaments 
 of the ancient Hebrews we shall now pass to describe 
 their dwellings. As in the case of clothing, we shall 
 observe that the growth of civilization as well as sur- 
 rounding influences, especially Canaanite or Phoeni- 
 cian, tended to introduce greater elaboration and 
 complexity of detail. The earliest dwellings of which 
 the Old Testament gives us any hint are the caves or 
 holes in the rocks, indicated by the name of the primi- 
 tive race of Horites (Deut. ii. 12, 22 ; Gen. xiv. 6), 
 which signifies in the original cave dwellers or troglo- 
 dytes. Under the stress of poverty or famine, men in 
 comparatively civilized life tended to lapse into such 
 modes of existence (Job xxx. 3-6). We know that 
 
 1 The inscription on a seal ring obtained by M. Oppert at 
 Haleb is cited in Schroder's Phoenician Grammar , where several 
 examples of inscriptions on seals and gems are also given. One 
 of these may be quoted. It runs : ' (belonging) to Achoth- 
 melech, wife of Jesha ' (p. 273). In a letter to the Academy 
 dated Sept. 29, 1889, Prof. Sayce mentions a very interesting 
 seal discovered in Egypt, and apparently belonging to the 
 seventh century, containing the legend, 'to the prosperity of 
 Jeremiah.' 
 
58 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 about 400 B.C. Xenophon found entire villages of 
 underground inhabitants in Armenia, whose dwellings 
 were reached by a ladder, and contained sheep, oxen, 
 and fowls as well as corn (Anabasis, iv. 5. 25). They 
 even exist at the present day. But among the primi- 
 tive and nomadic Hebrews the dwellings consisted 
 either of booths formed from the branches and leaves 
 of trees, of which the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles 
 formed a religious commemoration, or of tents, the 
 prevailing form of habitation in the early patriarchal 
 period and during Israel's sojournings in the wilder- 
 ness. 
 
 Dwelling in booths largely prevailed in the time of 
 David. From the language of Uriah the Hittite (2 
 Sam. xi. n, R.V.), this was evidently the case in times 
 of war. David himself had a house with the usual 
 flat roof. The old tent life of Israel was commemo- 
 rated in the famous cry of revolt among the different 
 scattered clans, 'To your tents, O Israel' (2 Sam. xx. 
 i ; i Kings xii. 16); and the same form of dwelling 
 has been preserved among the nomadic Arabs from 
 the earliest days of ancient Israel to the present time. 1 
 From Arab life our descriptions of the Hebrew tent 
 are derived, as well as from the notices contained in 
 Scripture. The tents were originally made from skins, 
 subsequently from wool or goats' hair, or occasionally 
 camels' hair. The tent-cloth rested upon one or 
 several poles, according to the size of the tent, and 
 
 1 In Arabic the word which in Hebrew means 'tent,' is used 
 to express the ideas of ' family ' or ' people.' Hebrew, on the 
 other hand, marks a higher advance in civilization by express- 
 ing the same ideas by the word ' house ' (beth] as ' House of 
 David,' ' House of Israel.' The Egyptians were called ' House 
 of Slavery ' (or bondage). 
 
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 59 
 
 it was firmly fixed to the ground by means of tent- 
 pegs or tent-pins. The latter were driven into the 
 earth by means of a mallet. Both were employed with 
 deadly effect upon Sisera by Jael (Judg. iv. 21, v. 26). 
 The form of the tent varied according to the size 
 some, and the smaller ones, being round, the larger 
 being oblong. A larger tent would be divided by 
 hangings or carpets into three spaces, the front space 
 being reserved for the commoner people along with 
 the cattle, the second for the male part of the family, 
 while the third or hindermost space was reserved 
 for the women. But in the case of the more impor- 
 tant personages there would be a separate tent for 
 each of the wives. Thus Jacob's tent stood apart 
 from Leah's and from Rachel's, while a single tent 
 sufficed for his two concubines (Gen. xxxi. 33). 
 Similarly Sarah had a separate tent of her own 
 (Gen. xxiv. 67). 
 
 The tents of the wandering nomad tribes were 
 arranged in circular encampments or movable ham- 
 lets, in the midst of which the cattle would be 
 secured, 1 called in Arabic duwdr, and in Hebrew 
 chatser. The latter word is frequently employed in 
 Hebrew proper names of places ; for, as the Semites 
 in Palestine passed from a nomadic to a settled life, 
 these encampments became fixed abodes. Even in 
 the southern parts of Judah and east of the Jordan, 
 which was better adapted for flocks than for agricul- 
 
 1 See Palmer's Desert of the Exodus , vol. ii. p. 321 foil. 
 The word chatser is employed in Gen. xxv. 16 to designate the 
 movable settlements of Ishmaelite tribes. As illustrations of 
 its use to designate permanent settlements, see the proper names 
 of places in Judah or South Judah, Num. xxxiv. 4 ; Josh. xv. 
 3, 27. 
 
60 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 ture, these tent settlements soon gave place to more 
 permanent abodes. Around some tower or migdal, 
 built to protect the land and its dwellers against 
 hostile incursions, spaces surrounded by a wall were 
 employed by the owners of flocks and herds, to guard 
 their property against depredation. 
 
 As agriculture developed among the Hebrews, these 
 settled habitations became more numerous, while 
 contact with the Canaanite town dwellers, and the 
 conquest of their cities, introduced the Israelites to 
 a superior and more elaborate form of dwelling. 
 The home of the Israelite peasant farmer would still 
 remain the same primitive structure that we now see 
 inhabited by the fellahin of Palestine, made either of 
 mud or sunburnt bricks, while the wood employed 
 would be the sycamore, the commonest and cheapest 
 timber in Canaan from the days of Solomon on- 
 wards (i Kings x. 27 ; Isa. ix. 10). Crossbeams 
 plastered with clay formed the flat roof, on which 
 during the night in sultry weather the inmates slept. 
 These simple dwellings would have no storey ; i.e., 
 consisted only of a ground-floor, and sometimes con- 
 tained but one apartment, and even this would serve 
 as a shelter for the cattle during the night, the in- 
 mates sleeping upon a raised platform. But in many 
 cases an enclosure for cattle would be attached. 
 The windows ' were small apertures high up in the 
 wall, for the admission of light and air, sometimes 
 furnished with a grating of wood. 3 1 Doubtless in 
 
 1 So Lane informs us respecting the dwellings of the peasants 
 in Lower Egypt. He also says : * The inhabitants of the house, 
 who seldom have any night-covering during the winter, sleep 
 upon the top of the oven, having previously lighted a fire within 
 it ; or the husband and wife only enjoy this luxury, and the 
 
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 6 1 
 
 the period of the Judges and the beginning of the 
 Hebrew monarchy even the wealthier members of 
 Hebrew society lived in simple dwelling houses. 
 From 2 Samuel xiii. 6 foil, it would appear that 
 even in a prince's dwelling the sleeping apartment 
 was but slightly separated from the kitchen, and the 
 latter was the chief room and place of common 
 resort. 
 
 The wars of David, and the consolidation of 
 Israel's power in his reign and that of Solomon, 
 gave a considerable impetus to the prosperity and 
 civilization of the realm. One powerful influence 
 that contributed in this direction was the close bond 
 of intercourse and alliance with Phoenicia, which 
 Solomon and subsequent monarchs did their best 
 to foster. We cannot, unfortunately, describe in 
 detail the palace of Solomon, since the account of 
 the ' house of the forest of Lebanon,' or Solomon's 
 palace of cedar wood, contained in i Kings vii. 2-12, 
 is very brief and obscure. According to this passage, 
 on which is based the reconstruction attempted by 
 Stade in his History of Israel, 1 it consisted of an 
 upper storey as well as a ground floor. We clearly 
 gather from the Biblical text that there was a portico 
 with columns in front, which led to another porch in 
 the rear, containing the throne where the king gave 
 judgment. Both ceiling and floor were of cedar, and 
 ample provision was made for light by means of 
 windows. Attached to this building was a palace 
 
 children sleep upon the floor.' It may be laid down as a 
 general principle that the lowest forms of civilized life change 
 least from one century or millennium to another. 
 1 p. 319 foil. 
 
62 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 for Pharaoh's daughter. Solomon's residence, about 
 which our information is so scanty and obscure, was 
 evidently throughout the work of Phoenician crafts- 
 men and artists, and was a great advance upon the 
 habitations Saul and David had lived in. It must 
 have produced a great impression on the Hebrew 
 nation, and stimulated among the upper classes of 
 society a desire for a more exalted style of living. 
 Then in 2 Kings iv. 10 we read that the wealthy 
 household of Shunem made for Elisha an upper 
 room for his convenience and comfort, which prob- 
 ably somewhat resembled the similar chamber built 
 by Eglon, King of Moab, which was provided with 
 folding doors, and used by him as an audience 
 chamber 1 (Judg. iii. 20 foil.). 
 
 When we come to the ninth and following cen- 
 turies, we at once begin to realize from the language 
 of the annalists and prophets that a great change had 
 passed over Israel since the time of Solomon. The 
 causes for this, and the great increase of wealth, have 
 
 1 LXX. vtrepyw 6epiv&t>, 'upper room used in summer.' 
 The Hebrew signifies 'upper room for cooling.' It is much to 
 be deplored that so many passages in the Old Testament which 
 deal with architectural details are very doubtful both as to text 
 and interpretation. Thus in Judges iii. 23, ' and Ehud went 
 out [from the chamber] into the misdron, and he closed the 
 folding doors of the upper room.' The Revised Version follows 
 the Authorized in rendering 'porch.' This translation or 
 'colonnade,' entered through the folding doors, seems fairly 
 probable. All we know for certain is that misdron means that 
 which contains a row of something, whether pillars or steps. If 
 the latter, we ought to think of a staircase. And such a view 
 is supported by the fact that 'a flight of steps open to the air,' 
 as Prof. Sayce tells us, led to the upper storeys of a high-class 
 Babylonian house. Moreover, it would have facilitated Ehud's 
 escape. The conclusion of the preceding verse (22) contains a 
 problematical word, which is obviously a corruption of this same 
 expression misdrdn* 
 
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 63 
 
 been indicated on a previous page (p. 36). Thus, 
 from the account of Jezebel's death in 2 Kings ix. 
 30 foil., it is evident that the latticed windows with 
 which the royal residence was provided, and from 
 which Jezebel was looking upon the procession 
 below, belonged to the upper storey of the building, 
 and were at a considerable height above the ground, 
 so that the fall of the ill-fated queen wrought instant 
 death. This event occurred in the middle of the 
 ninth century, when Phoenician influence was all- 
 prevalent in the Northern kingdom, and probably 
 in the Southern kingdom as well. From the oracles 
 of Amos and Isaiah we gather that in the middle 
 and towards the close of the eighth century the large 
 landed proprietors of Israel lived in stately houses 
 that were elaborately furnished. From Amos iii. 15 
 we learn that it was a common custom for a wealthy 
 man to possess not only a winter residence, but also 
 a summer one. The latter would be specially con- 
 structed with open courts, upper storeys and latticed 
 windows. Sittingrooms and bedrooms were arranged 
 around an open court, as in Babylonia and Assyria, 
 resembling the Greek peristyle or aula. Indeed, the 
 general plan of the Greek as well as Roman house 
 was borrowed, like much else, from Western Asia. 
 From Prof. Sayce's instructive work on the Social 
 Life of Babylonia we learn that the palaces of 
 Nineveh were adorned with ornamented dados and 
 cornices. The ' ivory mansions ' referred to by Amos 
 in the above passage were probably decorated in 
 similar fashion, only we should substitute woodwork 
 for the sculptured stone of Assyria. The woodwork 
 consisted of cedar wood with inlaid ivory. This was 
 
64 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 probably one of the innumerable details learned from 
 Phoenicia (com p. Ps. xlv. 8). We know from a 
 significant passage in Isaiah (ix. 9, 10) that it was a 
 growing fashion of his time among the wealthier 
 inhabitants of Ephraim to abandon the use of the 
 common sycamore-wood (i Kings x. 27), and to 
 substitute the more costly cedar. The sundried or 
 the baked bricks previously employed were displaced 
 by the more durable hewn stone. All these forms 
 of architectural improvement were borrowed from 
 Phoenicia, which possessed then, and afterwards the 
 most skilful craftsmen in the world. 1 From the 
 inscriptions of Sargon we learn that it was from 
 Phoenicia and the land of the Hittites he borrowed 
 the form of a certain kind of portico as well as its 
 name, 2 and it was from the same region the cedar 
 wood was transported wherewith Assyrian kings, like 
 those of Israel, loved to garnish their mansions. 
 
 In the following, or seventh century, in spite of the 
 devastations wrought by Assyrian invasions, there 
 seems to have been no diminution in the craving 
 for luxury and adornment. Of this Jeremiah gives 
 us a graphic example in his denunciation of 
 Jehoiakim for yielding to this craving. Spacious 
 upper rooms were then the prevailing fashion, 
 
 1 Herodotus pays express tribute to the superior ietelligence 
 and capacity of Phoenician workmen in his account of the con- 
 struction of the canal that was cut across Mount Athos. They 
 4 showed their skill in this, as in other operations ' (vii. 23). 
 
 2 Cylinder inscrip., line 64, and Khorsab., 161, 162. The 
 name Hittite was employed loosely as a geographical term, as 
 Schrader has clearly shown. The name (bit chilani] is probably 
 Phoenician. On this subject see the interesting monograph 
 by Meissner and Rost ; als r j their Bauinschriften Sanheribs 
 (P- 4). 
 
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 65 
 
 adorned with a profusion of cedar wood and painted 
 with red ochre. A further detail we learn from the 
 same prophet and other oracles belonging to the 
 closing decades of the seventh century (Jer. xix. 
 13, xxxii. 29; Zeph. i. 5 ; comp. 2 Kings xxiii. 12). 
 It was the habit of the wealthier inhabitants of 
 Jerusalem to erect upon the roofs of their houses 
 small shrines to Baal, Ashtoreth and other star 
 deities. Also in the seventh century a parapet or 
 battlement was erected for greater security around 
 the roof (Deut. xxii. 8). 
 
 10. To the houses of the rich pleasure gardens 
 were attached. We know that Sennacherib laid out 
 a beautiful park close to the ' palace without equal/ 
 of which he gives us an elaborate description. This 
 he planted with cypresses, palms, and all sorts of 
 fragrant plants. A canal is constructed, and also a 
 pond for watering the garden. 1 We may compare 
 with this the description of the pleasure grounds, 
 with fruit trees and pools of water for irrigation, con- 
 tained in Eccles. ii. 4-6. But it is generally agreed 
 that the Book of Ecclesiastes is late, and probably 
 belongs to the Greek period. We know that the 
 Greeks borrowed their paradeisos or park from the 
 Persians, who again borrowed the art of planting gar- 
 dens from the Babylonians. 2 It is doubtful whether 
 
 1 See the text, with transcription and translation, published 
 by Mr. Evetts in Zeitschrift fur A ssyriologte, vol. iii. p. 311 foil. 
 The description of \\\Q paradeisos begins in lines 85 foil. (pp. 317 
 foil., 322, 326). See also Meissner and Rost's Bauinsckriften 
 Sanheribs, pp. 5 and 14 foil. 
 
 2 The ' Song of Songs ' also contains numerous passages, 
 notably iv. 12-15, descriptive of the pleasure grounds of the 
 ancient Hebrews, with their orchards of pomegranates and other 
 fruits, as well as their fragrant spice plants. Many modern 
 
66 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 the ancient Hebrews, before the period of the exile, 
 possessed gardens at all comparable with these, either 
 in extent or elaboration of detail. But it is evident 
 from several passages that the wealthier Hebrews 
 possessed pleasure grounds surrounding their country 
 houses. Thus we read of the burial of Manasseh, 
 as well as of his son Amon, in the garden of Uzzah 
 (2 Kings xxi. 18, 26) ; and there is a special mention 
 of the king's garden in 2 Kings xxv. 4 ; while Isaiah i. 
 29, xvii. 10, gives us a significant and graphic touch, 
 which shows that the ' plants of pleasure ' with which 
 these gardens were adorned were probably connected 
 with the sensuous worship of Tammuz or Hadad, the 
 equivalent of the Greek Adonis (comp. Isa. Ixv. 3). 
 We read also that Ahab robbed Naboth of his vine- 
 yard that he might convert it into a 'garden of herbs.' 
 But the original suggests that the herbs here mean 
 either grass or vegetables of some kind, intended for 
 use rather than enjoyment (2 Kings xix. 26 ; Deut. xi. 
 10). It is doubtful whether a pleasure ground can 
 be intended by this phrase. 1 On the other hand, the 
 phraseology in the description of the Garden of Eden 
 (Gen. ii. 8, 9) shows that the writer was familiar with 
 pleasure grounds ; and nearly all critics 2 hold that 
 
 critics (like Cornill) regard this dramatic idyll as belonging to 
 a late post-exilian period, but the evidence is by no means as 
 decisive as it is in the case of Ecclesiastes. Contact with the 
 civilization of Babylon probably taught the Jews the art of horti- 
 culture to a higher degree than they had known it in the pre- 
 exilian period. 
 
 1 Thenius' interpretation of this expression is therefore to be 
 rejected. 
 
 2 The chief exceptions are Prof. Friederich Delitzsch, Paul 
 Haupt, and recently Mr. Fripp, who hold that Babylonian in- 
 fluence is clearly visible in the narratives of the Jehovist writer 
 or writers of Genesis ii. 4~iv., and accordingly infer that this and 
 
PAMILV AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 6j 
 
 the second and following chapters of Genesis (ii. 4-iv.) 
 are of ancient pre-exilian origin. From these scat- 
 tered indications we can clearly gather that the wealthy 
 land-proprietors of Judah had well-planted gardens, 
 provided chiefly with fruit trees, attached to or sur- 
 rounding their lordly mansions. 
 
 ii. Let us now enter the dwellings of the ancient 
 Hebrews, and take note of the household furni- 
 ture. Here the lowest scale of social life and civili- 
 zation in the Arabian life of the present day will 
 represent the general aspect of the simplest and most 
 primitive Hebrew household. Thus the tent of an 
 ancient Israelite was provided only with an opening 
 (as the Hebrew phrase clearly shows), and near the 
 entrance to it the owner would sit at noon, or, as the 
 original calls it, ( the heat of the day.' Lane's de- 
 scription of the household furniture of an Egyptian 
 peasant would accurately describe nearly all that would 
 meet the eye of any visitor to the tents of Israel three 
 thousand years ago : ' The furniture consists of a mat 
 or two to sleep on, a few earthen vessels, and a 
 handmill to grind the corn.' But as we pass from 
 tents to houses built of brick or of stone, our eye 
 would first light upon the door, which swung upon 
 hinges (Prov. xxvi. 14). The hinge probably con- 
 other sections were composed during the exile. The fact of 
 Babylonian influence is admitted by Dr. Schrader, but the in- 
 ference is denied, as Palestinian traits are also conspicuous. 
 The question is discussed in his Cuneiform Inscriptions and the 
 Old Testament, vol. i., Introd., p. xviii. foil., and also p. 41 foil. 
 Much additional light has recently been thrown on this subject 
 by the discovery of the Tell el Amarna inscriptions, which con- 
 clusively prove the wide prevalence of Babylonian influence in 
 Western Asia, and especially in Palestine and Lower Egypt, in 
 times anterior to those of Moses and Toshua. 
 
68 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 sisted simply of* a pjiydtf fittitfg into a socket, just as 
 in ancient Greek houses. In many cases the doors 
 were double. 
 
 Locks and keys, in anything like our modern sense 
 of the term, were unknown. When we read in 
 Judges iii. 23 foil, that Eglon's f chamber was bolted 
 and subsequently openVd by a kyj it would be nardly 
 safe to go to iiiodern Oriental usage for illustration. 
 Lane's description of the lock and corresponding 
 key in a modern Egyptian house appears to us too 
 elaborate, and we should be disposed, therefore, to 
 consider the simpler contrivance, called by the 
 Romans clavis Laconica, and described by Rich in 
 his Antiquities, from an Egyptian original preserved 
 in the British Museum, as more approximately repre- 
 senting the key that Eglon's servant employed ; but in 
 the case we are considering the key was probably not 
 used for raising a latch, as Ricl> describes it, but by 
 means of the teeth was slipped into corresponding 
 holes or depressions of a long, sliding bolt. Like its 
 Roman equivalent, however, it would be employed 
 from the outside alone, being inserted through a 
 narrow aperture in the door. 
 
 As in modern Oriental dwellings, the furniture of 
 a Hebrew house was simple and scanty. From 
 2 Kings iv. 10 we learn that the upper chamber pro- 
 vided for the convenience of Elisha by the mistress 
 of the wealthy household of Shunem, consisted of a 
 mittah, which was probably nothing else but a simple 
 mattress, 1 which would serve the purpose both of bed 
 
 1 The mittah probably meant originally this, and this only. 
 But in comparatively early times (eighth century) it came also 
 to signify a divan (see Amos vi. 4). 
 
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 69 
 
 and couch, and could be rolled up and taken away ; 
 also a table, which stood upon legs, as we may infer 
 from another passage (Judg. i. 7), where Adonibezek 
 speaks of the seventy kings who were deprived of 
 their thumbs, and gathered the morsels that fell be- 
 neath his table. We also read of a seat or chair, and 
 lastly of a lamp, lampstand, or holder. In the case 
 of a small room, like that occupied by Elisha, the 
 lamp would be a very simple one, and would be 
 represented by the clay lamp recently discovered 
 among the ancient Canaanite remains of Tell el Hesi 
 (Lachish) by Mr. Flinders Petrie. The clay lamps in 
 poorer Oriental houses are almost identical. Or, if 
 somewhat more elaborate, it would resemble the 
 Roman lucerna, which was generally ' made of terra 
 cotta or -bronze, with a handle at one end, a nozzle 
 for the wick at the other, and an orifice in the centre 
 for pouring in the oil. . . . When used, it was placed 
 on some other piece of furniture ' (Rich). The pre- 
 sence of the lamp, even in the most humble dwelling, 
 was so characteristic and significant, that we find 
 frequent references to it in Old Testament literature. 
 This lamp was never suffered to go out. The Arab 
 dwellers in Palestine at the present day, and also the 
 Bedouin, retain this custom. Probably it arose from 
 a very simple fact. Until comparatively recent times 
 fire and light could only be generated by the laborious 
 process of friction. Consequently, to save the house- 
 hold considerable delay and trouble, either the hearth 
 fire was always kept burning, as among the more 
 northerly races of Greece and Rome, or the lamp was 
 maintained continually alight. Among the ancient 
 Greeks and Romans a ritual significance came to be 
 
70 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 attached to the former custom. Among the Hebrews 
 the presence of the light in the household, and the 
 sound of the grinding millstones, were both taken 
 to express the fact of the continuance of the family 
 life. The former was especially used to symbolize 
 family prosperity or the reverse, as in the phrase 
 ' The candle of the wicked is put out.' Examples 
 may be found by the reader in Jeremiah xxv. 10 ; 
 Proverbs xiii. 9, xx. 20, xxxi. 18; Psalm xviii. 28. 
 
 In the humbler households, the appliances for pro- 
 ducing and preserving food were of a very simple 
 
 character. Foremost and most universal among them 
 was the handmill^ by which the meal daily required 
 for household consumption was prepared. We append 
 here a representation, which gives us the form of a 
 modern Arabian durra mill. In this the lower stone 
 is adapted for the reception of the grains, which are 
 ground by a smaller stone above it. It is most prob- 
 able, however, that the primitive Israelites were ac- 
 quainted with the form of handmill familiar to the 
 ancient Greeks and Romans, and still employed by the 
 inhabitants of Palestine. This consisted of two round 
 
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 71 
 
 stones. Hence the Hebrew name for it (rechaini) is 
 a dual, like the corresponding Arabic form. The 
 
 1 nether ' or lower millstone, which received the corn, 
 was convex, and was provided with a projection 
 around which the upper stone, which was concave, 
 revolved, and thus ground and crushed the grains of 
 corn. The upper stone, since it revolved or ' rode ' 
 upon the other, was called a recheb (Deut. xxiv. 6 ; 
 
 2 Sam. xi. 2i). x Probably the mortar, with its pestle, 
 was likewise employed, and was the more ancient 
 form of handmill. In any case, the grinding of the 
 daily quota of meal must have been a monotonous 
 and weary task. In describing this part of the 
 domestic life of a Hebrew household, we shall borrow 
 from Layard's graphic description of his encampment 
 among wandering Arabs on the Khabur. 2 ' The 
 wandering Arabs have no other means of grinding 
 their corn than by handmills, which they carry with 
 them wherever they go. They are always worked 
 by the women, for it is considered unworthy of a man 
 to engage in any domestic occupation. . . . The 
 grain is passed through the hole of the pivot, and 
 the flour is collected in a cloth spread under the mill. 
 It is then mixed with water, kneaded in a wooden 
 bowl, and pressed by the hand into round balls ready 
 for baking. During these processes the women are 
 usually seated on the bare ground. Hence in Isaiah 
 (xlvii. i, 2) the daughter of Babylon is told to sit in 
 the dust and on the ground, and " to take the mill- 
 stones to grind meal." ' As we have already indi- 
 
 1 Stade's Geschichte Israels, p. 367, from which the above 
 details are derived. 
 
 ? Nineveh and Babylon, abridged edition, p. 127 foil, 
 
12 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 cated in a previous page, in wealthier households this 
 laborious duty was delegated to female slaves, and 
 this fact imparts additional significance to the above 
 passage. The wooden bowl or dish in which the 
 dough was kneaded was called by the Hebrews mi- 
 shereth. It must have been of shallow depth, and of 
 no great size, for we read in Exodus xii. 34, that these 
 kneading bowls (or ' troughs ') were carried on the 
 shoulder by the Israelites when they departed from 
 Egypt. 
 
 After the kneading came the baking. And here, 
 again, in order to realize the domestic life of Israel 
 in the primitive age, when the nation was almost en- 
 tirely nomadic and pastoral, we shall have recourse 
 to Mr. Layard's vivid description : ' The tribes who 
 are always moving from place to place bake their 
 bread on a slightly convex iron plate, moderately 
 heated over a low fire of brushwood or camel's dung. 
 The lumps of dough are rolled on a wooden platter 
 into thin cakes a foot or more in breadth, and laid 
 upon the iron. They are baked in a very short time. 
 . . . The Arab tribes that remain for many days 
 in one place make rude ovens by digging a hole in 
 the ground about three feet deep, shaping it like a 
 reversed funnel and plastering it with mud. They 
 heat it by burning brushwood within, and then stick 
 the lumps of dough, pressed into small cakes about 
 half-an-inch thick, to the sides with the hand. The 
 bread is ready in two or three minutes.' 
 
 It should be observed that all Arab bread is un- 
 leavened. And it is evident that such must have 
 been the prevailing usage in early Israel ; otherwise 
 the meal cakes which Abraham ordered Sarah to 
 
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 73 
 
 make with so much despatch for his angel visitors 
 (Gen. xviii. 6) could not have been prepared, and 
 the same remark applies to the cakes made by the 
 witch of Endor for Saul (i Sam. xxviii. 24). The 
 use of leaven in bread came to be adopted at a later 
 stage in the growth of civilization. 
 
 The oven of the Hebrews called by them and 
 modern Arabs alike tanmir was a jar about three 
 
 MODERN OVEN. 
 
 feet high, broad at the bottom and narrow at the 
 top, where the opening was. At the base it was pro- 
 vided with a hole, through which the fire was stirred. 
 Sometimes a jar-shaped erection of this kind was 
 fixed on to the floor of the house. The fuel which 
 was employed for heating it consisted of dry twigs or 
 grass (Matt. vi. 30), or even dung (Jer. vii. 17 foil.; 
 Ezek. iv. 12 foil.), and the flat cakes of dough were 
 
74 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 plastered, after the oven had been well heated, upon 
 the glowing hot flint stones placed inside the oven. 
 Only a few minutes were necessary for the baking 
 process to be accomplished. Thus it was easy for 
 the baking process to last too long, and for the cakes 
 to become burnt (Hos. vii. 4, 7). Usually such an 
 oven is placed in a separate outhouse or cabin, which 
 a single house might employ for its own use, or would 
 share with several families (Nowack). 
 
 We have hitherto described the furniture of the 
 simpler Hebrew dwelling houses. Wealth and grow- 
 ing civilization would multiply the details and add to 
 their elaboration. Thus after the reformation in the 
 reign of Josiah, when the art of writing prevailed 
 very widely, the doorposts of the houses, as well as 
 the public gateways, were inscribed with precepts of 
 the law (Deut. vi. 9, xi. 20). Also within the sleep- 
 ing chambers of the larger and more stately dwelling 
 houses the mittah or mattress would give place to the 
 'eres, bedstead or couch ; while in the banqueting- 
 room the nobles reclined on divans of costly wood 
 inlaid with ivory (Amos vi. 4), in place of the simpler 
 rug or carpet on which their forefathers sat or rested. 
 As houses became built into upper storeys as well as 
 ground floors, it became customary in winter time to 
 provide a 'brazier' (Jer. xxxvi. 22 foil.). This con- 
 sisted of a vessel placed in the middle of the room in 
 a small depression, so that when the fire had burnt 
 itself out the vessel might be covered up by a frame 
 over which is spread a carpet, so as to retain the heat 
 as far as possible. 
 
 12. Among domestic utensils the first place 
 must be assigned to the earthenware kad (Gen. xxiv, 
 
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 75 
 
 14; i Kings xvii. 12), or pitcher. The women and 
 girls, with the kad on the shoulder, making their way 
 to or from the well, is a sight to be witnessed through 
 all the millenniums of Eastern life from the days of 
 Rebekah until now, and from Damascus to Cape 
 Comorin. In size these pitchers were from eighteen 
 inches to two feet in height, and were skilfully carried 
 on the head. There were likewise bottles made from 
 goat skin employed for carrying liquids, whether water, 
 wine, or milk. It was a skin bottle of this character 
 that Abraham gave to Hagar when she was banished 
 into the wilderness (Gen. xxi. 15, 19). These skin 
 bottles were also employed to contain milk, and in 
 them the milk was churned. In Picturesque Pales- 
 tine (div. vi. p. 48) we have a vivid illustration of 
 the process. To the corners of the skin bottle, filled 
 with milk, cords are tied, and the skin is thus sus- 
 pended from three sticks, which are inclined so as to 
 meet at a point above. A girl is sitting beneath, and 
 is swaying the suspended bottle to and fro. 
 
 We also read in the Old Testament of the use of 
 baskets, and the original language shows that the 
 ancient Hebrews possessed at least four different 
 kinds. The sal was made from twigs or osiers, and 
 was chiefly used for carrying bread (Gen. xl. 17, Exod. 
 xxix. 3, 23, etc,). It probably resembled the modern 
 Arabic equivalent of the same name, as well as the 
 kaneon of the Greeks, or canistrum of the Romans 
 (Verg., sEnetd, viii. 180). It might even contain flesh 
 (Judg. vi. 19). We come next to the tene, mentioned 
 in Deuteronomy xxvi. 2, 4 as the basket in which the 
 firstfruits were placed and conveyed to the temple. 
 From the rendering of this word in the LXX, we may 
 
76 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 infer that it was a basket which tapers downwards. 
 We know from the oracle in Amos (viii. i, 2) that the 
 dub was used for carrying summer fruit. On the 
 other hand a fourth variety, called the dud> was of 
 larger size than either of the preceding, and was em- 
 ployed for carrying heavy weights, as we may infer 
 from the language of Psalm Ixxxi. 6, in which free- 
 dom from burdens is spoken of. 1 
 
 From baskets we pass, by an easy transition, to 
 pots. And here again we notice that the Hebrew 
 language is rich in the variety of its names for these 
 objects, and from this we conclude that this diversity 
 of name indicates considerable diversity of form in 
 the object designated. Besides the ' pot ' (pariir), or 
 ordinary vessel used to contain, for example, broth 
 (Judg. vi. 19), or for boiling the manna (Num. xi. 8), 
 we meet with the sir, a large vessel or pan chiefly 
 employed in cooking flesh, and hence associated with 
 flesh in Exodus xvi. 3. That it was a pan or open 
 vessel of considerable size is evident from the fact 
 that it was also employed for washing. It is this word 
 that is rendered ' wash-pot ' in Psalm Ix. 8. It must 
 be distinguished from the kiyyor, which was also 
 used for washing (Exod. xxx. 18, xxxi. 9; i Kings 
 vii. 38, 40, 43), and is rendered 'laver,' and was made 
 of bronze, whereas the sir was probably of earthen- 
 ware. From Zechariah xii. 6, we learn that the kiyyor 
 also signified a brazier to contain fire. There is no 
 evidence that it was employed for cooking. The 
 growth of the Hebrew race in civilization is indicated 
 
 1 This word (diid) is also employed to express a kettle or 
 pot, a meaning which belongs to the corresponding word in 
 Aramaic (i Sam. ii. 14 ; Job xli. n ; 2 Chron. xxxv. 13). 
 
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS 77 
 
 by the number of different words existing in the 
 language for ' basin ' or * bowl.' These we have not 
 space to characterize in detail, nor is it easy to dis- 
 tinguish one from the other. The saph meant a basin 
 or bowl. In Exodus xii. 22 it is used to contain the 
 blood with which the doorposts were sprinkled. On 
 the other hand, the mizrak appears to have been a 
 basin of larger size, though employed for a like pur- 
 pose. Both the kiyyor and the saph are terms that 
 designate vessels employed in religious ritual. A list 
 of such words may be found in Exodus xxxviii. 3 ; 
 i Kings vii. 50; Jeremiah lii. 18, 19 (2 Kings xxiv. 
 14, 15). The word mizrak, however, was used in pre- 
 exilian times to signify a mixing bowl (Amos vi. 6), 
 into which the wine was emptied from the wine skin. 
 Contrasted with this large mixing bowl (Lat. crater] 
 was the wine cup (kds\ which was replenished from 
 the former. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 OUTDOOR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS 
 
 13. WE now pass from the household to consider 
 the outdoor occupations of ancient Israel. All 
 the indications of the Old Testament clearly show 
 that primitive Israel was a nomadic and pastoral 
 people. And among certain tribes, especially Judah, 
 inhabiting the southern and less fertile portion of 
 Palestine, as well as Reuben and ,Gad, upon the 
 eastern side of the Jordan, pastoral life undoubtedly 
 prevailed very largely for several centuries after the 
 death of Joshua. Thus, in what is generally held to 
 be one of the earliest songs of Israel, Dehorah rebukes 
 the tribe of Reuben with the words : 
 
 ' Why didst thou stay among the sheep pens, 
 Hearing the pipings of the flocks ? ' 
 
 And when we examine the references to the earlier 
 period of Israel's history, these indications multiply. 
 Let the following passages suffice : Gen. xii. 16, 
 xiii. 5, xx. 14, xxi. 27, xxiv. 35, xxxii. 5, xxxiv. 
 28, xlvii. 17 ; Exod. x. 9, 24. And this condition 
 of pastoral life Israel shared with the surrounding 
 peoples, e.g. the Eedouin of the Sinaitic peninsula in 
 the time of Moses (Exod. iii. i), the Canaanites in 
 the time of Joshua (Josh. vi. 21), the Philistines 
 
OUTDOOR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS 79 
 
 and the Amalekites in the time of Saul (i Sam. xiv. 
 32, xv. 21) In the instances last cited the fact that 
 flocks and herds were taken as spoil by the conquer- 
 ing Israelites indicates that both conquerors and 
 conquered were to a certain extent pastoral in their 
 occupations. Moab remained a pastoral country 
 during the regal period. In the time of Jehoram, 
 King of Israel, it sent him the wool of 100,000 lambs 
 and 100,000 rams as tribute (2 Kings iii. 4; comp. 
 Isaiah xvi. i). Central and Southern Palestine must 
 have been largely nomadic in the time of Saul and 
 David. Nabal kept 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats 
 upon the slopes of Mount Carmel. Indeed, this 
 continued for centuries to be a well-known pasture 
 for flocks and herds (Mic. vii. 14). So also Bashan 
 (Deut. xxxii. 14; Ezek. xxxix. 18), Sharon (Isa. 
 Ixv. 10), and Gilead (Micah vii. 14). From Amos 
 vii. i and i Chronicles xxvii. 31 we learn that the 
 kings of Israel were possessors of flocks and herds. 
 Sheep were frequently tended by the daughters of the 
 owners (Gen. xxix. 9; Exod. ii. 16), or by the sons 
 (i Sam. xvi. n, xvii. 15). Human affection for 
 animals is often exhibited in the traits of ancient 
 Oriental life. Of this we have a vivid example in the 
 parable of Nathan (2 Sam. xii. 1-4), with its pathetic 
 story of the poor man who had an ewe lamb reared 
 up with his own children : ' It did eat of his own 
 morsel, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his 
 bosom, and was unto him as a daughter/ In this 
 connection it is to be noted that the name Rachel^ in 
 
 1 W. R. Smith, Kinship and Marriage, p. 219 ; Benzinger, 
 Hebrew Archeology p , p. 152. Some of these proper names point 
 back in origin to animal totems. 
 
80 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 Hebrew signifies an ewe. A like meaning belongs to 
 the proper name of endearment, Talitha. Shepherds 
 frequently called the wethers of the flock, and prob- 
 ably others besides, by special names (John x. 3). 
 
 Throughout the summer the sheep pastured in the 
 open air by day, and by night were gathered into pens 
 and carefully counted (Jer. xxxiii. 13). These pens 
 or folds are called in Arabic at the present time 
 jedarah, the same word in reality as the corresponding 
 Hebrew term used in Numbers xxxii. 16, 24, 36 : 
 * The common sheepfolds of Palestine are to this day 
 large enclosures formed of the jedars,' 1 or rude stone 
 fences for gardens, to be presently described. That 
 sheep dogs were employed by the ancient Hebrews is 
 clearly shown by Job xxx. i. 
 
 The dress and accoutrements of the shepherd may 
 be best illustrated from the description by the Rev. 
 James Neil, of a modern representative. 2 ' The 
 Syrian shepherd has two implements of his calling, 
 neither of which is wanting when he is on full duty. 
 His dress consists of a kamise or unbleached calico 
 shirt, gathered in round the waist by a strong red 
 leather belt. Hung to this belt, the leathern girdle ot 
 Scripture, which all workmen and labourers wear, 
 besides his rude clasp knife and small leather pouch 
 or " scrip," is a formidable weapon of defence, a short 
 bludgeon, used to protect himself and his charge from 
 assailants. It is generally made of a species of oak 
 that is to be found in fine park-like groves on the 
 highlands of Gilead and Bashan. It is about two feet 
 long, and often has a large number of heavy iron nails 
 
 1 Neil, Palestine Explored, p. 53. 
 
 2 Ibid,, p. 255 foil. 
 
OUTDOOR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS 8 1 
 
 driven into its round head/ thus rendering it a very 
 deadly weapon. c This club [called in Hebrew 
 sh'ebhei\ is easily attached to the belt, being furnished 
 with a noose or cord passed through a hole in the end 
 by which it is grasped.' l l The guardian of the flock 
 also carries a long shepherd's staff [called in Hebrew 
 mis /i an t because is was used as a stay or support]. Its 
 use answers to that of the shepherd's crook, viz. to 
 guide the sheep, to rescue them from danger, to rule 
 the stragglers into order, and at times to chastise the 
 wilful.' Another use is indicated by a passage in 
 the Koran (xx. 19), which refers to it in the words, 
 ' It is the staff on which I lean, and with which I beat 
 down leaves for my sheep! 2 These remarks illustrate 
 the well-known passage in Psalm xxiii., where the * 
 poet, addressing Jehovah, the Divine Shepherd, says : 
 ' Thy club and Thy staff they shall comfort me ' 
 (comp. Mic. vii. 14). The same word for club (she- 
 bhet) also meets us in Psalm ii. 9 (comp. Num. xxiv. 
 17), where the poet describes Jehovah as clothing 
 the anointed king with authority, so that he shall 
 break in pieces his foreign foes with an iron mace. 
 It is noticeable that in both Assyrian and Hebrew a 
 ruler is often designated by the word ' shepherd ' 
 (comp. 2 Sam. v. 2, vii. 7; Jer. xxiii. i foil.). Sargon, 
 in one of his inscriptions, calls himself 'faithful 
 shepherd. 7 This phrase is evidently derived from the 
 early primitive times, when the Semitic tribes were 
 pastoral. 
 
 Numerous indications in the Old Testament clearly 
 reveal the arduous nature of a herdsman's duties. 
 
 1 Neil, Palestine Explored, p. 262. 
 
 1 Cited by Prof. Cheyne in his comment on Psalm xxiii. 
 
 F 
 
82 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 1 In the day,' says Jacob to Laban, ' the drought con- 
 sumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep fled 
 from my eyes.' According to the custom in early 
 Israel, described in the brief compend of its legisla- 
 tion (Exod. xx. 22-xxiii.), the servant was guaranteed 
 against liability to compensate his master for losses 
 in the flocks, for which he as herdsman was not 
 responsible. Laban, however, extorted more than 
 his legal rights (Gen. xxxi. 39). In addition to the 
 ordinary hardships were the perils from robber bands 
 (ibid.) i Sam. xxx. 20; Job i. 17), and from wild 
 beasts (i Sam. xvii. 34, 35). 
 
 Respecting goats^ which constitute a considerable 
 and important part l of the small cattle, little need be 
 said. Their milk was greatly esteemed (Prov. xxvii. 
 27), and was reputed to be more wholesome than that 
 of sheep. The flesh of the goat and of the kid were 
 highly valued as food, and hence both were offered 
 in sacrifice (Judg. vi. 19). The flesh of the kid was 
 considered a special delicacy, and was served in 
 honour of guests (Judg. xiii. 15), and was, therefore, 
 selected by Rebekah as a savoury dish for Isaac (Gen. 
 xxvii. 9). At the present day the custom differs. In 
 Syria the flesh of the sheep is the usual delicacy, 
 while the poorer inhabitants have to content them- 
 selves with that of the kid (Benzinger). 
 
 14. The entrance of the nomadic tribes of Israel 
 into the highlands and valleys of Palestine, already 
 occupied by a group of races some of whom were 
 more highly civilized than the Hebrews, was produc- 
 tive of a great change in habits and modes of life, 
 which even extended to the religious usages of the 
 1 i Sam. xxv. 2 ; Song of Sol. vi. 5 ; Prov. xxvii. 26. 
 
OUTDOOR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS 83 
 
 conquering sons of Jacob. In the opening five chap- 
 ters of the Book of Judges we clearly see the gradual 
 process by which Israel's conquest of and extensions 
 in Canaan were achieved. Probably the settlement 
 of the Hebrew tribes was accomplished quite as much 
 by peaceful as by warlike methods, though in the 
 annals of the Hebrew, as of all other peoples, the 
 military episodes obtain great prominence, and quite 
 overshadowed the no less important and certain pro- 
 cesses of peaceful intercourse. But an instructive 
 passage (Deut. vi. 10-15) shows us how potent the 
 latter influences were in moulding the civilization of 
 God's chosen race. Israel in truth must have received 
 far more than he gave. When we turn to that 
 primitive compend of laws, the Book of the Cove- 
 nant (Exod. xxi.-xxiii.), we see the legislation of a 
 society ( of a very simple structure.' A distinguished 
 Old Testament scholar and Arabist has observed that 
 its principles of civil and criminal justice are those 
 still current among the Arabs of the desert. These 
 traditions of Israel's early nomadic life are still main- 
 tained. But a remarkable change is manifest. The 
 stage of civilization which is contemplated in the 
 legislation is not so much nomadic or pastoral as 
 agricultural. We notice, for example, the prominence 
 that is given to the ox among the animals domesti- 
 cated to man's use (Exod. xxi. 28, xxii. 13 passim), 
 since it was the ox that was employed for ploughing 
 (i Sam. xiv. 14 ; i Kings xix. 19 ; Amos vi. 12 ; Job 
 i. 14; Deut. xxii. 10), and also for treading out or 
 threshing the corn (Hos. x. n ; Mic. iv. 13; Deut. 
 xxv. 4). The ass is usually conjoined with the ox in 
 the enumerations of cattle (Exod. xx. 17, xxii. 9), 
 
84 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 We know that this animal was likewise employed in 
 ploughing (Deut. xxii. 10), and still more in riding 
 (Num. xxii. 21 foil; i Sam. xxv. 20 foil. ; 2 Kings 
 iv. 24 ; Zech. ix. 9). For in the golden days of 
 Hebrew nationality the horse was not employed in 
 peaceful avocations. It was foreign, like the chariot, 
 and its use was deprecated as such in prophecy and 
 law (Hos. xiv. 3; Deut. xvii. 16 ; comp. Pss. xx. 7, 
 xxxiii. 17). Egypt was the market whence horses 
 were exported to other nations. From i Kings x. 28 
 we learn that Solomon imported his war horses from 
 this region, and more than two centuries later we find 
 the great Assyrian conqueror, Sargon, in his triumphal 
 inscription, referring to the Egyptian steeds which came 
 into his possession (Khorsab., line 183). Trusting in 
 horses, or in the chariots to which they were yoked, 
 was regarded as a departure from the primitive sim- 
 plicity of Israel's life, and an act of reliance upon 
 foreign aids. In the Deuteronomic legislation such 
 conduct was construed as an act of disloyalty to 
 Jehovah. Royal personages or men of distinction 
 would therefore avoid riding on horseback. If not 
 content with the lowly ass (Matt. xxi. 7 ; Zech. ix. 9), 
 they rode upon the more stately mule (2 Sam. xiii. 29, 
 xviii. 9 ; i Kings i. 33). 
 
 15. Agriculture, then, is the chief basis of ancient 
 Hebrew life presupposed in the Book of the Cove- 
 nant. Of this we have already given one clear indi- 
 cation. Another consists in the religious festivals, 
 three in number, to which reference is made in the 
 earliest code of legislation (Exod. xxiii. 14 foil.). 
 These feasts were obviously regulated by the harvest- 
 ing operations of the dwellers in Canaan. 
 
OUTDOOR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS 85 
 
 Palestine, with the exception of the southernmost 
 portion, was a fairly well-watered region of mountains 
 and valleys (Deut. viii. 7-9), and stood in this respect 
 contrasted with Egypt (Deut. xi. 10-12), with its vast 
 plains irrigated from the Nile overflow. In the cur- 
 rent phraseology of the ancient Hebrew, it ' flowed 
 with milk and honey.' In those days the land was 
 more fruitful than it has been since the wars of the 
 Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, and all the different 
 subsequent waves of conquest which laid the country 
 waste and deprived it of trees. Isaiah's oracles make 
 reference to the destruction of timber by the Assyrian 
 invaders (ii. 13, ix, 10, (9 Heb.), x. 33). 1 The 
 1 early rain ' begins in October. It is not continuous, 
 but intermittent, and thus enables the cultivator to 
 sow wheat and barley. It continues to fall at intervals 
 during November and December, and even occurs 
 as late as March and April (latter rain). All the 
 remaining months till October there is cloudless 
 weather. 
 
 As soon as the ground in October has been softened 
 by showers, the sowing of the wheat, barley and lentils 
 begins. The plough of the ancient Hebrew prob- 
 ably resembled its modern counterpart very closely. 
 Taking the plough of the modem fellaheen of Pales- 
 tine as our model, it may be briefly described as 
 consisting of a pole made up of two pieces, to which 
 a cross-piece was fastened to which the oxen were 
 attached. At the other end a piece was inserted at 
 
 1 Esarhaddon, in his inscriptions, reports that he received 
 cedar and Cyprus wood as tribute, while Asurbanipal states that 
 he employed planks of cedar from Sirion and Lebanon for the 
 erection of his palace. Tiglath Pileser's inscriptions allude to 
 the destruction of an enemy's palm groves. 
 
6 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 an obtuse angle, terminating in the share at the lower 
 end and a rude sort of handle at the upper. With 
 this rude instrument the surface of the ground was 
 loosened, the share hardly penetrating more than four 
 or five inches below the surface. The oxen were 
 driven with a goad called malmad, furnished with an 
 iron point, so as to form an excellent substitute for a 
 spear which Shamgar wielded with deadly effect (Judg. 
 iii. 31 ; comp. i Sam. xiii. 21), but was employed by 
 the ploughman not only for goading the oxen (comp. 
 Acts ix. 5), but for breaking up the clods or clearing 
 the plough. An interesting though difficult passage in 
 Isaiah (xxviii. 24, 25) clearly shows that the three pro- 
 cesses whereby the ground was prepared for the seed 
 consisted of ploughing, then breaking up the clods 
 by harrowing, and lastly levelling the surface. From 
 Matthew xiii. 3-8 we may infer that the seed was 
 then sown broadcast, as is represented on the Egyp- 
 tian monuments, some of outermost grains being 
 even scattered on the wayside which bordered on 
 the field. In the ancient Egyptian representations we 
 see vividly portrayed the sower immediately following 
 the plough. In his left hand there is held a basket 
 of seed, while his right is left free for scattering the 
 seed. 
 
 It is impossible to say whether the Hebrews under- 
 stood the principle of rotation of crops. They 
 entertained scruples about sowing a field with 
 different seeds (Deut. xxii. 9), and from early times 
 they regarded it as a sacred duty to let the land 
 remain fallow in the Sabbatic or seventh year (Exod. 
 xxiii. 10, n). 
 
 Harvest commences at the end of March or begin- 
 
MODERN PLOUGH AND PEASANT. 
 
 MODERN THRESHING SLEDGES. 
 87 
 
88 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 ning of April. In the lower or warmer portion of 
 Palestine and in the valley of the Jordan it begins at 
 the end of March. The barley harvest came first, and 
 that of wheat came last (middle of May). The entire 
 harvesting of the corn occupied seven weeks, and 
 was a period of joyful labour, which found expres- 
 sion in the religious festival of the month Sivan, called 
 the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost. The gladness 
 which characterized this season in the year's agricul- 
 tural calendar became proverbial among the ancient 
 Hebrews. Thus Isaiah, in describing the prosperity 
 and joy of the coming Messianic Ruler, says, 'They 
 rejoice before Thee like the joy in harvest ' (Isa. ix. 3 ; 
 Heb. 2). The weather at this time was almost always 
 fine, and the occurrence of thunderstorms was so 
 unusual that it was regarded in the light of a Divine 
 visitation (i Sam. xii. 17; comp. Prov. xxvi. i). 
 
 The corn was reaped by a sickle, called by the 
 Hebrews chermesh or maggal (the Arabic minjdl). 
 Sometimes the corn may have been pulled up by the 
 roots, as is the practice at the present day in Egypt 
 when barley or dourra is being reaped. Probably 
 the sickle was usually employed, and the corn was 
 cut fairly low, as the dream of Joseph, in which the 
 sheaves are described as bowing to the earth, would 
 seem to imply. Also the phrase occurring in Isaiah 
 (xvii. 5), 'his arm reapeth the ears,' would appear to 
 indicate this. 
 
 The most vivid picture of the harvest fields of 
 ancient days may be found in the Book of Ruth. 
 Vessels of water were provided for the refreshment of 
 the reapers (Ruth ii. 9). Morsels of bread were 
 dipped in vinegar and eaten ; also parched corn 
 
OUTDOOR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS 9 1 
 
 (kali) was provided, a favourite diet with workers 
 who led an outdoor life 1 (Ruth ii. 14). Some of 
 these details are illustrated by the Egyptian monu- 
 ments, in which we find representations of water skins 
 hung up on trees in the harvest field, while pitchers 
 are standing close by, to be replenished by the thirsty 
 reapers, some of whom are seen already applying 
 them to their lips. The merciful provision of the 
 Deuteronomic code provided that the remnants of 
 the sheaves that were not carried off on carts from 
 the field (Amos ii. 13) should be left for the benefit 
 of the alien sojourner, the fatherless or the widow. 
 In the even greater generosity of the Levitical code 
 (Lev. xix. 9) the corners of the field were specially 
 reserved for this charitable purpose (Ruth ii. 7, 8). 
 
 The stalks were gathered into sheaves or heaps 
 and conveyed to a floor consisting of a circular piece 
 of ground some twenty yards across and exposed to 
 the wind, and here oxen or asses were driven over the 
 floor over which the corn had been spread, and the 
 grains by this process of treading were freed from 
 the husks. These threshingfloors became permanent, 
 and were named after the original owners. Thus we 
 read of the threshingfloor of Nachon (or, according 
 to the Chronicler, Chidon) and the threshingfloor of 
 Araunah (2 Sam. vi. 6, xxiv. 18). The oxen were 
 sometimes driven two or more abreast, at other times 
 indiscriminately over the floor. An interesting trait 
 of ancient Hebrew life shows that kindly consideration 
 for the welfare of the beast characterized these early 
 times (comp. Prov. xii. 10), and this was the merciful 
 
 1 Kali or roast corn was sent as provision for soldiers during 
 a campaign (i Sam. xvii. 17 ; 2 Sam. xvii. 28). 
 
92 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 provision that the ox should not be muzzled when 
 treading out the corn which he was thus preparing 
 for the use of man, but should be permitted to eat 
 some share of the grain (Deut. xxv. 4). 
 
 Other means were also adopted beside this rough 
 and ready method of separating the grains from the 
 husk. Among these was a staffer rude flail, for beat- 
 ing out small portions of corn (Isa, xxviii. 27); but 
 more frequently the instrument employed was the 
 morag (also called charuts] or ' threshing sledge,' corre- 
 sponding to the ancient Italian tribulum, a plank 
 fitted with sharp-pointed stones, which were fixed into 
 holes in the bottom. This was drawn by the oxen 
 over the corn (Isa. xxviii. 27), the driver often sitting 
 on the sledge to increase the weight. Another variety 
 of the threshing sledge consisted of a small framework 
 upon wheels, sharp iron blades being attached to the 
 wheels, so as to cut through the corn. Hence the 
 prophets used the powerful metaphor of the threshing 
 sledge to describe the cruel treatment of a conquered 
 people (Amos i. 3 ; comp. 2 Kings xiii. 7). 
 
 Then followed the process of winnowing. The 
 bruised corn was thrown up upon wooden shovels 
 when a moderate breeze was blowing. The wind 
 carried away the chaff from the threshingfloor, while 
 the heavier grains remained behind. Only a moderate 
 steady wind availed for this purpose. Thus Jeremiah, 
 in his lamentation over his degenerate countrymen, 
 makes use of this metaphor, ' a vehement wind from 
 the bare heights in the wilderness is the way of my 
 people ; 'tis not for winnowing or for cleansing ' 
 (Jer. iv. n). Wetzstein, in one of his useful notes 
 contributed to Delitzsch's Commentary on Job, tells 
 
OUTDOOR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS 93 
 
 us that it is only when the wind blows from the west 
 or south the moderate breeze suitable for winnowing 
 is obtained ; the north wind is too violent, while the 
 east wind blows in constant gusts, which carry away 
 grains as well as chaff. 
 
 Beside the winnowing there was also the 'cleans- 
 ing,' as the above passage indicates. The latter was 
 rendered absolutely necessary on account of the 
 rough and ready process of treading out the corn 
 described above. Not only was the corn shaken to 
 and fro in a sieve (kebaraJi) a process to which 
 Amos makes vivid reference in a metaphor (Amos 
 j x> 9^ but it was needful to clear the wheat carefully 
 of stones or dirt, which became mixed up with it. 
 This duty, like many others, frequently fell to the lot 
 of women. Of this we have an interesting illustration 
 preserved to us in the Septuagint version of 2 Samuel 
 iv. 6, which enables us to restore what is probably 
 the original text. We there learn that the two assassins 
 who slew Ishbosheth were able to enter his house at 
 noon unobserved because the woman who acted as 
 portress at the entrance had fallen asleep over the 
 task of cleansing wheat (see Driver's notes on the 
 Hebrew Text of the Books of Samuel ad loc). 
 
 Long straw was not valued by the ancient Hebrews 
 as with us, but the short, chopped straw (called 
 tebhen) was used as food for oxen (Isa. xi. 7). It 
 was customary in Palestine in those days to store up 
 the corn (as well as oil or honey) in subterranean 
 chambers (Jer. xli. 8), and, according to Robinson, 
 the custom still survives. 
 
 The great extent of corn cultivation in Palestine 
 from the time of Solomon downwards is evident from 
 
94 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 innumerable indications in the Old Testament. Two 
 of the three ancient religious festivals of Canaan the 
 Feast of Unleavened Cakes and the Feast of Weeks or 
 Harvest were based upon the operations of the corn 
 harvest, which played so large a part in the life of the 
 agricultural community. The old name for the first 
 month of the ecclesiastical year was not Nisan (which 
 is Babylonian) but Abib^ which in ancient Hebrew 
 meant ears of corn. Palestine, in fact, was, as the 
 Book of Deuteronomy continually reminds us, a great 
 corn-producing as well as wine-and-olive-producing 
 country. When Hiram, King of Tyre, came to visit 
 Solomon, the Phoenician king was supplied by the 
 Hebrew monarch with 20,000 measures of wheat for 
 food for his household, and twenty measures of pure 
 oil (i Kings v. n). This fact is significant because 
 it exhibits the close economic relation which sub- 
 sisted between the wealthy emporia of commerce of 
 that Northern maritime race and the fertile valleys and 
 plains of Canaan. It shows us the commercial basis 
 of advantage that prompted the dynastic alliance 
 between the house of Omri and that of Ethbaal, of 
 Sidon, cemented by the marriage of Ahab and 
 Jezebel. There can be little doubt that the wealth 
 that poured into Israel in the days of Isaiah, to which 
 he makes reference (Isa. ii. 7; comp. iii. 18 foil., as 
 well as Amos iii. 15, vi. 4 foil.), came from the great 
 ports of Tyre and Sidon, where the merchandise of all 
 nations, from Spain to India, was gathered together. 
 So close indeed was this link of connection between 
 Phoenicia and Israel that Amos calls it a * covenant of 
 brethren ' (Amos i. 9). In exchange for the ' silver 
 and the gold ' and articles of luxury, Israel supplied 
 
OUTDOOR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS 95 
 
 the Phoenician markets with stores of grain. This 
 relation subsisted for centuries. In EzekieFs minute 
 description of the greatness of Tyre he mentions 
 (xxvii. 17), Minnith wheat, oil and honey among the 
 chief articles imported from Judah in his own time 
 (6th century B.C.). More than six centuries later we 
 still find that Canaan supplied Phoenicia with corn, for 
 a special deputation came (about 44 A.D.) to King 
 Herod Agrippa from Tyre and Sidon, 'asking for 
 peace, because their country was fed from the king's 
 country ' (Acts xii. 20). 
 
 1 6. Perhaps the next most important growth of 
 the Canaanite agriculture was the vine (comp. Deut. 
 xxxiii. 28). Its ancient origin is attested by the 
 story of Noah (Gen. ix. 20, 21), as well as the 
 names of places in ancient Canaan. Thus the 
 name of the valley ' Eshcol* or * cluster,' and the 
 name of the Philistine town Gath 1 or ' winepress ' ; 
 Beth-hakkerem, 'house of the vine' (Jer. vi. i; 
 Neh. iii. 14), show the prevailing occupations of the 
 people in ancient times. Several names of places 
 are compounded of the element Gath. The cultiva- 
 tion of the vine and the olive is distinguished above 
 that of cereals, in requiring years of patient and 
 assiduous labour before adequate results are obtained. 
 Here again the parabolic language of prophecy affords 
 us a clear insight into these facts of every-day life. 
 In Isaiah's pathetic oracle of the degenerate vine 
 (chap, v.) he describes the patient toil bestowed by 
 the Divine Husbandman in the preparation of the 
 
 1 There were several places into which this prefix of Gath or 
 winepress entered. Thus there was a Gath-Hepher in Zebu- 
 lun (Josh. xix. 13), and there was likewise a Gath-Rimmon. 
 
96 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 ground. A mountain side is selected possessed with 
 a rich soil, and as in this case a plough could not 
 possibly be used on its steep sides, it was worked 
 over with a mattock or hoe (called by the Arabs 
 miz'ak). This was done two or three times a year, 
 the ground being carefully cleared of stones. It was 
 also necessary on the slope of a hill to form the land 
 into terraces, well banked up and protected so as to 
 prevent the winter rains from carrying away the soil. 
 The same passage in Isaiah also refers to the watch 
 tower erected in the midst of vineyards as well as of 
 other fruit or vegetable gardens, 1 to serve as a shelter 
 for the watchmen who guarded the vineyard from 
 depredations by robbers. Thus, in a parallel passage 
 to that which we are now considering, Isaiah re- 
 cites a brief lay, called { the pleasant vineyard ' (xxvii. 
 2 foil.). 
 
 ' I Jehovah am its keeper, 
 Every moment I am watering it. 
 Lest one make a raid upon it, 
 Night and day am I watching it.' 
 
 There was another means of protection, viz., walls 
 or hedges, to keep out the incursions of wild animals, 
 and the predatory hands of man. Thus, in the beau- 
 tiful eightieth Psalm, with its elegant strophic arrange- 
 ment, the poet refers to the mournful condition of 
 Israel towards the close of the reign of Hoshea (or 
 perhaps of his predecessor, Pekah), when the Northern 
 kingdom was at the mercy of the Assyrian. Appeal- 
 
 1 In ordinary orchards and gardens there was frequently 
 nothing more than a booth or hut for this purpose, as in the 
 vineyard and the cucumber field of Isaiah i. 8. 
 
OUTDOOR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS 97 
 
 ing to Jehovah, who had brought Israel as a vine out 
 of Egypt, the psalmist exclaims (12 foil.) : 
 
 ' Why hast thou broken down its fences, 
 And all who pass by on the way pluck [its fruit] ? 
 The wild boar from the forest gnaws it, 
 And the roving beast of the field feeds on it. 
 O God of hosts, pray look down again from heaven, 
 See and visit this vine.' 
 
 These stone fences have been already mentioned 
 in connection with sheep pens. They form so 
 characteristic an element of the country life of 
 ancient as well as modern Palestine that we borrow 
 once more from the graphic pen of the Rev. James 
 Neil : ( Throughout Palestine gardens, orchards, and 
 vineyards, unlike other cultivated spots, are always 
 enclosed.' This rude wall of rough, unhewn stones, 
 of all sizes, is called in Arabic a jedar, which is the 
 same word as the word for * wall ' or ' fence ' in 
 Hebrew (gader), occurring in the above psalm. l The 
 ground is first smoothed, and the stones are then 
 piled up, about three feet in width at the bottom and 
 gradually narrowing towards the top. No mortar of 
 any kind is employed, the stones being merely laid so 
 as to fit closely together/ The height varies from 
 four or six to even twelve feet, but the whole structure 
 is rather frail. 'In some ways this is an advantage, 
 for a thief, whether man or beast, cannot easily climb 
 over it without throwing down the loose stones, and 
 so giving notice of his approach. The heavy rain- 
 storms of winter constantly bring down portions of 
 the jedars by undermining the soft foundation of 
 earth.' We are now enabled to realize more vividly 
 
 G 
 
98 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 the scene of Balaam's vision, when he beheld the 
 angel of Jehovah standing ' in the depressed gully 
 between vineyards, a wall (gader) on one side and a 
 wall on the other' (Num. xxii. 24). ' Vividly it re- 
 calls to my mind places where I have had to pass 
 through similar narrow passages, only a few feet 
 across, separating the massive vineyard hedges of 
 rough, unhewn stone. These loose, unmortared walls 
 afford endless hot, dusty crevices, in which the serpent 
 tribe delight. They can, moreover, be easily thrown 
 down by any mischievously disposed person.' This 
 enables us to understand the force of the saying in 
 Ecclesiastes x. 8, ' Whosoever breaketh down a wall 
 (gader}, a serpent bites him ' (Palestine Explored, 
 
 P- 54). 
 
 The best kind of vine is called in Hebrew sorek 
 (or sorekali), and it is this finer quality of vine the 
 Divine Husbandman is described by Isaiah in his 
 poem as planting on the fertile mountain side. Vines 
 were sometimes allowed to spread along the ground 
 (Isa. xvi. 8 ; Ezek. xvii. 6, xix. 10), and sometimes 
 were trained upon poles or upon trees, as, for ex- 
 ample, cedars, Psalm Ixxx. 10 (just as among the 
 Italians they were * married' to elm trees. Vergil, 
 Georg., i. 2, ii. 361). Dr. Robinson has described 
 the appearance of vines in Southern Palestine (Biblical 
 Researches, ii. 80 foil.) : 'They are planted singly in 
 rows eight or ten feet apart in each direction. The 
 stock is suffered to grow up large to the height of 
 six or eight feet, and is then fastened in a sloping 
 position to a strong stake, and the shoots suffered to 
 grow from one plant to another, forming a line of 
 festoons, Sometimes two rows are rqade to slant 
 
OUTDOOR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS 99 
 
 towards each other, and thus form by their shoots a 
 sort of arch. These shoots are pruned away in 
 autumn. (Comp. John xv. 2.) 
 
 The enormous size of the bunches of grapes dis- 
 covered by the spies in the valley of Eshcol (Num. 
 xiii. 23) is fully confirmed by the testimony of modern 
 travellers in Palestine. One German traveller asserts 
 that he has himself seen clusters that weigh ten or 
 twelve pounds. 
 
 Beside the provisions for the safety of the vineyard, 
 it was also endowed with a winepress and a wine- 
 vat. The winepress (called Gath or Pur ah) is de- 
 scribed by Isaiah (in the song of God's vineyard) as 
 being cut out as a trough in the solid rock. Beneath 
 it, and communicating with the trough or winepress 
 above by a hole, another and smaller chamber was 
 excavated, which was the wine-vat, called in Hebrew 
 yekebh. Robinson, in his great work {Biblical Re- 
 searches, vol. iii. pp. 137, 603), describes them as still 
 remaining in Palestine. The upper or more shallow 
 trough would be about eight feet square and fifteen 
 inches deep, while the lower vat (yekeb/i) would be 
 about four feet square and about three feet deep. 
 The ripe grapes were gathered in baskets (Jer. vi. 9, 
 LXX. and Vulg. ; Amos viii. 2), and were cast in 
 heaps into the winepress. The prevailing colour of 
 the grapes of ancient days was undoubtedly purple, 
 since the juice of the grape is constantly compared to 
 blood. Thus when the grapes were trod in the wine- 
 press their juice spurted over the garments of those 
 who trod, and dyed them with blood-red colour, a 
 circumstance to which Hebrew poets frequently al- 
 luded. In the blessing of Jacob the prosperity 
 
100 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 Judah is portrayed in graphic touches. He is de- 
 scribed as 
 
 * Binding his young ass to the vine, 
 And his ass's foal to the sorek 
 He washed in blood his garments, 
 And in the blood of grapes his clothing.' 
 
 And with still more dramatic effect does the prophet 
 represent the conqueror of Edom, Israel's age-long 
 foe (Isa. Ixiii. 2 foil.), whom he challenges with the 
 question : 
 
 * Why is there redness in thy apparel, l 
 And thy garments like that of a treader of the winepress ? ' 
 
 To which the victor replies : 
 
 ' The wine trough have I trodden by myself, 
 And there was no man of the nations with me ; 
 So I was treading them in my anger, 
 And was trampling on them in my wrath ; 
 And their life-juice bespattered my garments, 
 And all my clothing I stained.' 
 
 The grape juice which flowed into the vat or yekebh 
 below was then collected in vessels. In its un- 
 fermented condition as ' must' it was called by the 
 Hebrews tirosh, or new wine, and drunk in this con- 
 dition. On the other hand, the fermented wine was 
 called by a variety of names, which need not here be 
 detailed. 
 
 The vintage period in Palestine is the month of 
 September, but the grapes begin to ripen even in 
 June. The whole process of the gathering of the 
 grapes and the treading of the winepress, while the 
 juice poured forth into the foaming vats, formed one 
 
 1 Or perhaps we ought to read with LXX., * Why is thy ap- 
 parel red ? ' 
 
OUTDOOR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS 1O> 
 
 of the most characteristic elements of the free, an- 
 cient Canaanite life. Like the operations of the 
 corn harvest, it found expression in one of the three 
 agricultural festivals, called the Feast of ' Booths ' 
 (originally Feast of 'Ingathering'). This feast was 
 common to Canaanites and Hebrews alike, as the 
 reader can clearly see from Judges ix. 27. It was 
 a time of universal merrymaking and joy, when 
 the shout of 'them that tread the grapes' (Jer. xxv. 
 30) could be heard among the vineyards. Hence 
 Isaiah or some earlier prophet, when denouncing 
 doom against the fruitful regions of Moab, exclaims : 
 1 Gladness is banished and joy out of the fruitful field, 
 and in the vineyards there shall be no song nor joyous 
 noise ; no treader shall tread out wine in the presses' 
 (Isa. xvi. 10). 
 
 It was an ancient custom to pay the firstfruits of 
 corn, wine and oil to Jehovah as Lord of the land, 
 or, in other words, to the priesthood (Exod. xxii. 29 ; 
 Deut. xviii. 4; Neh. x. 37), and we may probably 
 gather from Hosea ix. i and other indications that 
 this was the practice of the Canaanites also in their 
 worship of Baal. Vineyards, like cornfields and olive 
 yards, enjoyed a Sabbatic year of rest, i.e. lay fallow 
 every seventh year (Exod. xxiii. u ; Lev. xxv. 3 foil.). 
 Moreover, the strongest scruples were felt against 
 sowing a vineyard with different seeds. This found 
 expression in the legislation of Deuteronomy xxii. 9, 
 which threatened complete confiscation of the pro- 
 duce by the priesthood (as the language evidently 
 implies). 1 As in the corn harvest, so in the vintage, 
 
 1 Comp. Leviticus xix. 19, where the same objection is ex- 
 
1 62 A 'Pp'rMER O'F 'HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 special provision was made for the wants of the desti- 
 tute. The alien, the fatherless and widow, were to 
 glean the remaining bunches that were left behind by 
 the grape gatherers (Deut. xxiv. 21 ; Lev. xix. 10). 
 
 The wine was drawn off from the vats into jars, 
 and more frequently into wineskins. They were then 
 left alone for the wine to ferment. Now and then the 
 wine was left to stand in the jars for some time before 
 it was poured off into other vessels (comp. Jer. xlviii. 
 n, 12). The object of this was that the wine, after 
 the process of fermentation, might gain in richness of 
 flavour as well as colour. When it had been carefully 
 purified through a strainer, it was esteemed a very 
 choice delicacy the ' wine on the lees well refined ' 
 of Isaiah's prophecy, in which God is described as 
 preparing a ' feast of fat things ' upon Mount Zion for 
 all peoples (Isa. xxv. 6). 
 
 Grapes were also dried to make raisins (called in 
 Hebrew tzimmiik\ just as is done in Palestine at the 
 present day. These were pressed into a solid cake, 
 so as to be easily conveyed from place to place. So 
 also the dried figs. They were much used in ancient 
 Israel, as well as the parched corn (kali), by troops on 
 the march (i Sam. xxv. 18, xxx. 12). Moreover, the 
 
 pressed against clothing of different materials (also in Deut. 
 xxii. n). When we take these special statutes in connection 
 with the entire group of laws in Leviticus and in Deuteronomy 
 among which they stand, they must be held to express Divine 
 disapprobation of hybrids. Intermarriage, even among different 
 clans of the same race, was exceptional among the Hebrews, as 
 already explained. It appears to have been considered to be 
 God's purpose to keep every object He has made pure and 
 distinct, as He originally made it. Intermixture was man's 
 travesty of God's workmanship. Compare Dillmann's Note on 
 Leviticus xix. 19. 
 
OUTDOOR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS 103 
 
 grape juice which came from the trodden clusters was 
 * boiled down to a syrup which, under the name of 
 " honey " [Hebrew, debash ; in modern Arabic, dibs\ 
 is much used by all classes in modern Palestine as a 
 condiment with their food ' (Robinson). It was ex- 
 ported from Palestine to Phoenicia, together with 
 corn, as we learn from Ezekiel xxvii. 17. Not im- 
 probably the * honey ' mentioned among the gifts of 
 Barzillai to David and his warriors (2 Sam. xvii. 29) 
 means this. 
 
 The raisins were made into raisin-cakes , probably 
 compounded with oil and flour, and so quite distinct 
 from the tzimmuk mentioned above. These raisin- 
 cakes were used in offerings, as Hosea iii. i clearly 
 shows, and, as is usual with food-offerings, were also 
 consumed by the faithful votaries. A cake of this 
 kind is called ashishah, and on the solemn and joyful 
 occasion when the ark of God was brought into the 
 city of David one of them was bestowed on each of 
 the festive crowd (2 Sam. vi. 19). 
 
 That the Hebrews, like other peoples of antiquity, 
 frequently drank to excess, and that their vintage 
 festivals became scenes of drunken orgies, is obvious 
 from many allusions in the Old Testament. This 
 was rendered the more easy, not only by the fact that 
 considerable portions of Palestine were a rich vine- 
 growing country, but also from the close proximity 
 of the more civilized and pleasure-loving Canaanites. 
 The references in the prophetic oracles of the eighth 
 century to the drinking banquets of the wealthier 
 classes of the population are frequent. Amos vividly 
 describes the revelry of those princes of Samaria who 
 stretch themselves on beds of ivory, drinking ' wine 
 
104 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 in bowls, and anoint themselves with choicest un- 
 guent.s,' ' singing idle songs to the sound of the viol' 
 (vi. 4-6). Indeed, to judge from the language of the 
 prophets at this time, the inhabitants of the fertile 
 land of Ephraim bore a very bad repute for their 
 habits of intemperance. Hosea describes in one 
 graphic touch how the nobles made themselves ill 
 with the feverish glow of wine in their carousals upon 
 the king's birthday (Hos. vii. 5). These practices they 
 carried on despite the evil omens of a disordered 
 state and the advancing armies of the Assyrian foe, 
 and Isaiah exclaims (xxviii. i) : 'Woe to the proud 
 crown of Ephraim's drunkards, and the fading bloom 
 of his brilliant array, which is on the height of the 
 fertile valley of those who are smitten with wine.' 
 I But the orgies of the Southern capital were equally 
 revolting, and the same prophet portrays the carousals 
 that went on in many a wealthy man's symposium in 
 Jerusalem, the scenes of revelry beginning in early 
 morning and continuing till nightfall. ( Woe to those 
 that rise up early pursuing strong drink, who tarry till 
 late in the dusk, while wine inflames them. Lute 
 and guitar, tambourine, flute and wine are their ban- 
 quet, but the work of Jehovah they do not regard.' 
 
 17. Next in importance to vine-culture was the 
 cultivation of the olive. This might easily be illus- 
 trated by copious references to it in the Old Testa- 
 ment and to its frequent employment in metaphor. 
 A faithful servant of Jehovah whose life is prosperous 
 compares himself to a green olive tree (Ps. Hi. 8), 
 while his children are called ' olive branches around 
 his table ' (Ps. cxxviii. 3). The reader may compare 
 for himself Hosea xiv. 6 and Jeremiah xi. 16. 'Dip- 
 
OUTDOOR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS 1 05 
 
 ping the foot in oil' was the poetic expression of 
 prosperity (Dent, xxxiii. 24). 
 
 Like the vine, the olive required much labour and 
 careful attention. Trenches or reservoirs for water 
 were needed at no great distance, and it was neces- 
 sary to plough up the soil under the trees once or 
 twice every year. The trees grow to a great age, and 
 are surrounded by mounds of earth to protect them ; 
 but they only attain a moderate height, twenty or 
 thirty feet with gnarled and knotted stem. Olive 
 gardens were planted on mountain sides, or at any 
 rate in a dry soil and sunny situation. The olive 
 tree does not bear on the average more frequently 
 than once in two years a full crop. The oblong 
 brown berries sometimes attain the size of a dove's 
 egg, changing in colour from green to purple and 
 black. They begin ripening as early as September, 
 but the harvest does not take place till October, and 
 lasts even till November. The berries are not taken 
 when fully ripe, since the fully ripe berries yield an 
 oil of inferior quality. 1 They were not picked, but 
 shaken off, the olive tree being beaten (Deut. xxiv. 20). 
 Hence the language of Isaiah, whose vivid metaphors 
 from agricultural life have so frequently illustrated 
 these pages. Describing the impending ruin of Syria 
 and its chief towns, he turns to Israel, and refers to 
 the small remnant of inhabitants that shall be left 
 by Jehovah's mercy : * gleanings shall be left, as at the 
 striking of the olive tree, two or three berries above 
 at the topmost point, four or five in the fruit tree's 
 
 1 Thus the better quality or 'white' oil is called by Pliny 
 omphaciuni) a Greek name meaning ' unripe.' ' Quanto maturior 
 bacca, tanto pinguior succus minusque gratus.' 
 
106 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 boughs.' According to the humane legislation of the 
 Deuteronomic code, these leavings of the olive gleaner 
 were reserved for the aliens, the widow and the 
 fatherless (Dent. xxiv. 20). 
 
 The first olive oil was obtained not by pressing, 
 but by pounding the berries in a mortar. They 
 were then placed in baskets, and the oil flowed off. 
 This oil was the purest and best, the ' beaten oil ' of 
 Exodus xxvii. 20, Leviticus xxiv. 2, prescribed for 
 consumption in the light of the sanctuary (' tent of 
 meeting '). It is apparently the same as the fresh or 
 4 green oil ' which was used as an unguent for the 
 person, and to which the psalmist refers in Psalm xcii. 
 
 10 (n Heb.). 
 
 Olive oil was also obtained, like the new wine or 
 must, by simply treading in the oilpress. In fact, the 
 same word Gath is employed for both wine and oil- 
 press. It occurs in the name Gethsemane, which has 
 this latter meaning. There was similarly an oilvat 
 attached to the oilpress (Joel ii. 24), into which the 
 
 011 flowed. The value of the oil produced in Pales- 
 tine is attested by the fact that it was an article of 
 export and of tribute. Thus we read in Hosea's 
 oracles (xii. i) that ' oil was carried to Egypt' in his 
 days by the emissaries of the Northern kingdom, in 
 order to win over the alliance and support of the 
 Pharaoh (comp. 2 Chron. xxxii. 28). As with the 
 corn, wine and wool, so in the case of the olive, first- 
 fruits and tithes of it were paid to the sanctuary (Deut. 
 xii. 17, xviii. 4 ; 2 Chron. xxxi. 5 ; Neh. x. 37, 39). 
 
 Some of the uses of olive oil have already been 
 indicated, viz., the anointing of the person with fresh 
 oil and the use of the ' beaten oil ' for the temple 
 
OUTDOOR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS 107 
 
 lights. In the anointing of the person the unguent 
 was specially applied to the hair of the head as well 
 as the beard. It was customary for the guests before 
 a banquet to anoint themselves, or that this service 
 should be rendered to them by attendants (compare 
 the passages Deut. xxviii. 40 ; 2 Sam. xiv. 2 ; Ps. 
 xxiii. 5, xcii. 10, civ. 15 ; Mic. vi. 15; Luke vii. 46). 
 This universal Eastern usage of anointing the person 
 was a natural result of climatic conditions, the in- 
 tensity of the heat causing an injurious and disagree- 
 able excess of perspiration and irritability of the skin, 
 which the use of oil or other fatty substances tends 
 to counteract. It became therefore an indispensable 
 preliminary upon all occasions of social etiquette 
 (Ruth iii. 3 ; Ezek. xvi. 9) for women as well as 
 men (Prov. xxvii. 9 ; Song of Songs i. 3). It was 
 expressly neglected in times of mourning, this excep- 
 tional disuse being the significant token of grief. 
 
 The oil used in anointing the person, employed by 
 the wealthier classes at banquets or on special occa- 
 sions, as weddings (Ps. xlv. 7,8 (8, 9, Heb.), consisted 
 of a mixture of oil and aromatic spices, as myrrh 
 nard and frankincense. The myrrh and the frank- 
 incense came, as an instructive passage in Ezekiel 
 tells us (xxvii. 22; comp. Isa. Ix. 6; Jer. vi. 20), from 
 the Sabaean district of Arabia into the Phoenician 
 market. 1 Olive oil compounded with such spices 
 
 1 Comp. also I Kings x. 10. From Phoenicia they were 
 exported in small alabaster vases, or vasa nnguentaria. The 
 Roman poet Tibullus sings of one who is Syria madefactus tem- 
 pora nardo, while his contemporary Horace says (Od., ii. n, 16), 
 Assyriaque nardo potamus uncti, since Syria is nothing more 
 than an abbreviation of Assyria, the latter name having been 
 originally given to the Aramaean and Phoenician lands by the 
 
108 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 would be that expensive variety of unguent in which 
 the nobles of Samaria in the days of Amos indulged 
 (vi. 6). The preparations of these costly mixtures 
 gave rise to a special industry, viz., that of the * per- 
 fumer ' (called ' apothecary ' in the English version, 
 Exod. xxx. 25, 35 ; Neh. iii. 8; Eccles. x. i). From 
 i Samuel viii. 13 we might infer that this art was prac- 
 tised chiefly by women among the Hebrews in pre- 
 exilian times (comp. also Isa. iii. 17, 24). One of 
 the ' alabaster boxes ' (more correctly alabaster vases] 
 of this precious ointment, sealed up to preserve the 
 fragrance, was broken and poured by a ' woman that 
 was a sinner ' (Luke vii. 37, 38) upon our Lord's head 
 (or, according to St. Luke's narrative, ' the feet ') when 
 He was entertained at the house of Simon the Leper 
 (Mark xiv. 3). According to the testimony of Mark 
 xiv. 5, its value was over 300 denarii, or at least ;io. 
 Our Lord spoke of this touching act of devotion as 
 an anointing of His body for burial (Mark xiv. 8), an 
 allusion which will be explained hereafter. 
 
 Greeks in the latter part of the 8th or earlier part of the 7th 
 century, when the Mediterranean border became practically 
 annexed to Assyria. Nard, it should be observed, is not a 
 Semitic but a Persian or a Sanscrit word, and came from India. 
 The ' distant country' (Jer. vi. 20) from which the 'sweet cane ' 
 or calamus came, may perhaps be South Arabia, but it is difficult 
 to decide from the obscure passage in Ezekiel xxvii. 19. It is 
 interesting to note that the sweet cane or calamus (KamT), to- 
 gether with cedar wood, formed the incense offering made to the 
 gods on the mountain summit in the cuneiform Flood-legend, 
 line 150 (Delitzsch). The fragrant aloe wood of Psalm xiv. 8 is 
 undoubtedly of Indian origin. It may here be remarked that the 
 reference in the Old Testament literature (Exod. xxx. 25, 35 ; 
 Eccles. x. I ; Neh. iii. 8, etc.) to the art of the perfumer would 
 seem to indicate that during the exilian and post-exilian period 
 the art was largely carried on by men. 
 
OUTDOOR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS 109 
 
 From this special use of olive oil in the social 
 etiquette of life arose another which was official and 
 religious. The king was anointed to his high office, 
 and was therefore called in Hebrew mashiach, i.e. 
 Messiah or ' anointed.' Every king was regarded as 
 anointed of God to rule (i Sam. ii. 10, 35, xii. 3, xvi. 
 6, etc.). The term then came to be applied par 
 excellence to that ideal prince of David's lineage with 
 which Isaiah's prophecies made his countrymen 
 familiar a prince hero clothed with Divine authority, 
 who was to rule in righteousness (Isa. ix. 6, 7 (5, 6 
 Heb.), xi. 1-9). This type of conception in the ful- 
 ness of time found its complete realization in Jesus, 
 the Christ the Divine Prince of Peace. 
 
 A similar initiatory rite was performed on priests, 
 and even prophets (i Kings xix. 16). The 'holy 
 anointing oil ' with which Aaron and his priests were 
 consecrated to their holy office was compounded with 
 fragrant spices in special proportions, about which 
 minute directions are given in Exodus xxx. 23 foil. 
 Nor was this anointing confined to persons, but was 
 applied to the tent of meeting, the ark of testimony, 
 and the varied vessels and paraphernalia of the 
 sanctuary. 
 
 Another most important use of oil was medicinal. 
 Wounds, weals, or sores were mollified with oil, pressed 
 and bound up (Isa. i. 6 ; Luke x. 34), also the sick 
 were anointed with it (James v. 14). The balm or 
 balsam prepared in Gilead from the mastix tree and 
 terebinth was also a well-known remedy (Gen. xxxvii. 
 2 5 \ J er - viii. 22 > xlvi. ll > ^ 8), which was exported 
 into Egypt. 
 
 'Lastly, and perhaps most important of all, was the 
 
110 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 use of olive oil in food. In cooking it seems to have 
 taken the place of butter or animal fat. Probably 
 the pancakes made from dough which Tamar boiled 
 and made for Amnon were compounded with olive 
 oil. This we might infer from the vegetable food 
 offerings prescribed in the Levitical laws. The meal 
 offering described in Leviticus ii. 1-3 consisted of fine 
 flour, oil and frankincense. Other meal offerings of a 
 somewhat similar character, consisting of cakes made 
 of wheaten flour and oil, are described in Exodus xxix. 
 2; Leviticus ii. 4 foil, vi. 20, 21, vii. 12, xiv. 10 ; 
 Numbers vi. 15. The custom of sprinkling and anoint- 
 ing the leper with oil (Lev. xiv. 15 foil), described with 
 considerable minuteness, must be regarded as an act of 
 ritual cleansing or consecrating, analogous to the use 
 of the holy anointing oil, to which we have already 
 referred. Perhaps, however, it may be regarded as a 
 combination of medicinal as well as ritual ideas. 
 
 1 8. Next to the olive in importance comes the fig. 
 The tree itself, with its dark broad green leaves 
 above and light grey and glossy leaves beneath, its 
 stem covered with a bark smooth and grey, and its 
 boughs, that spread outwards with a pleasant shade, 
 formed in conjunction with the vine one of the 
 attractive features of an ancient Hebrew landscape, 
 underneath whose shadows men loved to sit, so that 
 the proverb of ' sitting under one's own vine and fig 
 tree ' became a current mode of expressing national 
 prosperity (i Kings iv. 25; Mic. iv. 4; Zech. iii. 
 10). In Jotham's parable (Judg. ix. 8 foil.) it comes 
 second in the triumvirate of fruit trees the olive, the 
 fig, and the vine. Like the vine, it was made the sub- 
 ject of our Lord's parables. It was under a fig tree's 
 
OUTDOOR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS III 
 
 shade Nathanael sat (John i. 48) when Jesus first 
 beheld him. The fig trees of Palestine grew by the 
 wayside, and thus formed a welcome spectacle to the 
 tired pilgrims (Matt. xxi. 18, 19) who sought relief 
 from hunger as well as heat. This tree bore three 
 kinds of fruit, viz. (i) The early fig (bikkuraJi)^ which 
 appeared about the end of June (after a mild winter), 
 or in Jerusalem even earlier. From several passages 
 in the prophets (Isa. xxviii. 4 ; Jer. xxiv. 2 ; Hos. ix. 
 10) we learn how highly this early fig was esteemed 
 as a delicacy. They were not gathered from the tree, 
 but, as in the case of the olive, the tree was shaken, 
 and the ripe figs fell off ' into the mouth of the eater ' 
 (Nah. iii. 12). (2) The summer figs, which become 
 ripe in August. Like the raisins, dried in masses 
 from the grapes, these summer figs were dried into 
 cakes and used as an article of consumption (called in 
 Hebrew deblah\ especially by travellers (i Sam. xxv. 
 1 8, xxx. 12). (3) The iv inter figs (m phaggini), which 
 remain hanging on the tree throughout the winter, 
 after the tree has shed its leaves, and does not become 
 ripe till the early part of the year, when the fresh leaves 
 are ready to spring forth. These are longer than the 
 summer figs, and have a dark violet colour (Winer). 
 
 The fig was also employed medicinally for boils and 
 festers, and served as a poultice (2 Kings xx. 7), a use 
 which was well known among the ancients. 
 
 It would lie beyond the purpose of this book to go 
 into further detail respecting the fruits and cereals of 
 Palestine. A brief enumeration must suffice. 
 
 The date palm flourished in Palestine (especially 
 near Jericho) to a far greater extent than now. It 
 marked the sacred spot where the prophetess Deborah 
 
112 \ A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 exercised her gift (Judg. iv. 5),* and the Hebrew 
 for ' palm ' was used as a proper name for women 
 (Tamar). 
 
 The sycamore tree was used for building material 
 (Isa. ix. 10), and in ancient Egypt for furniture. Its 
 fruit was eaten, but required special manipulation by 
 puncturing a short time before it was gathered. This 
 formed a distinct employment, as we learn from the 
 prophet Amos (vii. 14). The tree was regarded as so 
 valuable that a special overseer was appointed for its 
 preservation (i Chron. xxvii. 28). 
 
 The pomegranate^ a bushy tree, not more than eight 
 or ten feet high, with straight stem, reddish bark and 
 lanceolate leaves, and round, red fruit, which ripens 
 towards the end of August. The frequent mention of 
 this tree in Scripture (Num. xiii. 23 ; Deut. viii. 8 ; 
 i Sam. xiv. 2 ; Song of Songs iv 13, vii. 12 ; Joel i. 
 12 ; Hagg, ii. 19) sufficiently attests its importance. 
 
 Among cereals and other produce useful to man, 
 millet (dochan) is only mentioned once (in Ezek. iv. 
 9) ; spelt* (Exod. ix. 32 ; Isa. xxviii. 25), called kusse- 
 meth in Hebrew, was planted along the border of 
 barley and wheat. Respecting other varieties men- 
 tioned in Isaiah xxviii. 25, we have not sufficiently 
 certain means of identification. To these may be 
 added beans ', lentils and cucumbers (Isa. i. 8). Garlic 
 (Num. xi. 5), leeks, melons and onions (ibid.) seem to 
 have been Egyptian rather than Palestinian. 
 
 1 On the original significance of the palm in ancient Semitic 
 religion, see Robertson Smith's Religion of the Semites, p. 169. 
 
 2 Unfortunately this is a matter of great doubt. The A.V. 
 renders in Exodus ix. 32 by ' rye,' in Ezekiel iv. 9 by ' fitches.' 
 The rendering of the RV. is 'spelt,' and is supported by 
 Delitzsch and Dillmann and most authorities (on Isa. xxviii, 25), 
 
OUTDOOR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS 113 
 
 One growth of considerable importance we have 
 left to the last, viz., that of flax (called pesheth or 
 pishtaJi). It was planted very largely in the Egyptian 
 delta, but was likewise a considerable product of 
 Palestinian soil, as may be clearly seen from numerous 
 notices in the Old Testament (Hos. ii. 5 ; Josh. ii. 6, 
 etc.). On this subject the reader is referred to an 
 earlier page ( 8, p. 43). 
 
 19. We now come to handicrafts. Compara- 
 tively few of these were learned by the ancient 
 Hebrews until the regal period, and it was to the 
 Canaanites and Philistines, who occupied the coast 
 lands, the Hebrews were chiefly indebted for what- 
 ever progress they made in the arts of life. Prob- 
 ably the frequent wars between Israel and surround- 
 ing races, and border raids carried on by either side, 
 tended to check the progress of any civilizing in- 
 fluences, owing to the prevailing unsettlement. The 
 wars with the Philistines must have had a very adverse 
 influence. Of this we have a very significant illustra- 
 tion in i Samuel xiii. 19, where we read that during the 
 wars of Saul * there was no smith found throughout 
 all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, Lest 
 the Hebrews make them swords or spears ; but all 
 the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen 
 every man his share, his hoe, his axe and his scythe 
 (LXX.). 
 
 In the early nomadic stage of Israel's life the 
 articles needed for daily use were simple and few. 
 Even earthenware pots would be avoided as far as 
 possible, because liable to break with the frequent 
 migration of the clan. The preparation of skins for 
 tent coverings or clothing, or the weaving of the wool 
 
ii4 A PRIMER OF HE&R&W ANTIQUITIES 
 
 for garments, would be the utmost stretch of handiwork 
 to which the women of that primitive period would 
 attain. The hides of slaughtered animals would also 
 be required for the formation of the skin bottles 
 so largely employed in Oriental antiquity to contain 
 liquids (water, milk and wine), and also in making 
 girdles, sandals and thongs (Benzinger). The earliest 
 reference to the art of the potter is in 2 Samuel xvii. 
 28 (unless we take into account the ' pitchers' men- 
 tioned in the description of Gideon's night exploit, 
 Judg. vii. 1 6), but it does not actually follow that 
 the art was practised in Israel at that time. On the 
 other hand, the references in the prophets (Isa. xxix. 
 1 6, and Jer. xviii. 2 foil., where the house of the 
 potter is specially mentioned) show that during the 
 regal period the art of shaping vessels from clay was 
 learned by the Hebrews from their more highly 
 civilized neighbours, and had become familiar. It is 
 quite possible, indeed, that acquaintance with this 
 and other handicrafts might have been acquired by 
 early contact with the civilization of Egypt. There 
 we know the art was practised from immemorial 
 antiquity, and the soil furnished abundant material. 
 According to Sir G. Wilkinson {Manners and Customs 
 of the Ancient Egyptians, vol. iii. p. 163 foil), the 
 ancient Egyptian potters ' kneaded the clay with their 
 feet, and after it had been properly worked up, they 
 formed it into a mass of convenient size with the hand, 
 and placed it on the wheel, which, to judge from that 
 represented in the paintings, was of very simple con- 
 struction, and turned with the hand. The various 
 forms of the vases were made out by the finger during 
 the revolution ; the handles, if they had any, were 
 
OUTDOOR LIFE AiVD OCCUPATIONS 1 15 
 
 afterwards affixed to them, and the devices and other 
 ornamental parts were traced with a wooden or metal 
 instrument previously to their being baked. They 
 were then suffered to dry, and for this purpose were 
 placed on planks of wood; they were afterwards 
 arranged with great care on trays and carried, by 
 means of the usual yoke borne on men's shoulders, 
 to the oven.' This extract may sufficiently illustrate 
 the process witnessed by the eyes of the prophet 
 Jeremiah in the * house of the potter' (Jer. xviii. 2). 
 But it is extremely doubtful whether the Hebrews, 
 even if they acquired this art in the land of the 
 Pharaohs, could have preserved it during the long 
 intervening period of desert wanderings, for desert 
 life and the potter's art are hardly compatible things. 
 
 Recent researches in Palestine hardly lead us to 
 Egypt as the proximate source of Hebrew skill in the 
 potter's art. Israel must have learnt this, like their 
 alphabet and so much else, from his Canaanite neigh- 
 bours. And these neighbours were probably more 
 influenced by Babylonian than by Egyptian civiliza- 
 tion during the centuries that immediately preceded 
 the age of Moses and Joshua. The inscriptions dis- 
 covered at Tell el Amarna in Egypt (1887), combined 
 with the yet more recent (1891) excavations conducted 
 by Mr. Bliss in the old city of Lachish (now Tell el 
 Hesi), have completely revolutionized our conceptions 
 of the relations of Egypt and Western Asia in the 
 1 5th century B.C. Egypt was then a declining power. 
 Between 1450 and 1400 (i8th dynasty) Babylonian 
 influence prevailed, as it had done long previously, in 
 Syria and Palestine ; and it had even reached Egypt 
 itself. The discovery of more than 200 cuneiform 
 
116 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 tablets containing letters that passed between the 
 Egyptian and Mesopotamian kings and between the 
 former and their governors in Canaanite towns all 
 composed, not in hieroglyphic or cursive Egvptian, 
 but in cuneiform Babylonian, touched with Canaanite 
 words and forms of expression clearly shows that 
 we must begin to look elsewhere than to Egypt for 
 the most potent moulding influences that ultimately 
 shaped the civilization of ancient Israel, though we 
 frequently detect the presence of another set of in- 
 fluences which were Egyptian (e.g. circumcision and 
 alphabet). And surely this general result is confirmed 
 by the notices of the earliest Hebrew historian, the 
 Jehovist writer whose narrative begins with the section 
 Genesis ii. 4-iv. 26, and is continued in considerable 
 portions of chapters vi.-xi. As we read, our thoughts 
 are continually directed to the Euphrates and Tigris, 
 and not to the Nile. 
 
 The ancient Amorite (or Canaanite) pottery dis- 
 covered at Tell el Hesi shows the early models of 
 plastic art from which the ancient Hebrews borrowed. 
 These early forms of pottery (1500-1000 B.C.) exhibit 
 rough surfaces which present an appearance as though 
 they had been combed over by a jagged stick. Many 
 of the vessels exhibit stout bulging sides, as though 
 they had been formed on the model of the yet earlier 
 skins used for containing liquor. 1 Some of the 
 
 1 In describing the Amorite pottery Flinders Petrie says, 'The 
 combed face pottery is usually hand-made, though the brims 
 are wheel-turned. It has been smoothed on the outside by 
 scraping it down with a comb or notched edge of wood. The 
 ledge handles are very striking, and quite unknown elsewhere. 
 They belonged to large vessels with upright sides, and it is very 
 possible that they were parts of the comb-face vessels. The 
 thick-brim bowls are essentially Amorite, though the type lasted 
 
OUTDOOR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS 117 
 
 forms of pottery (viz., clay pitchers) which Petrie, in 
 his interesting work, Tell el Hesy, exhibits as speci- 
 mens of ancient Jewish style, can only be described 
 in the words of Benzinger as ' degenerate, coarse and 
 
 CLAY VESSEL FROM JERUSALEM. 
 
 inelegant ' counterparts of the superior Phoenician 
 workmanship. On the other hand, the specimens of 
 pottery found in Jerusalem (figured in Perrot and 
 
 in a debased form into Jewish times, both in farm and burnished 
 facing. The earliest style of burnishing on the red face is with 
 wide-open crossing lines, which yielded to closer patterns ; and 
 in late times a mere spiral burnishing made on the wheel. The 
 red face is very bright in early cases, evidently a haematite 
 colour in the Amorite times, though a dull ochre was used in 
 Jewish imitations. . . . The forms are extravagant in some 
 cases, but in general it is an excellent type for strength.' 
 
Il8 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 Chipiez' Histoire de VArf) show a far higher style of 
 Hebrew art. Here the mouldings are more finished 
 and graceful. In the clay vessels or jugs they run in 
 parallel lines round the body or neck of the vessel. 
 We see a strongly marked tendency to geometric 
 figures in ornamentation, parallel and crossing lines, 
 meandering lines as well as zigzags, squares, rhombi 
 and triangles. Sometimes, in the larger Phoenician 
 vases, we have different fields, separated by linear 
 ornamentation, each field being filled with animal 
 shapes, human figures and hunting scenes. We are 
 reminded of the hunting scenes in Assyrian sculp- 
 tures. But traces of Egyptian influence are not want- 
 ing. While we have the Babylonian palm, we also 
 see the Egyptian lotus (Benzinger). 
 
 The process may be briefly described as follows : 
 After the clay had been dug out and worked to a 
 proper consistency by treading (Isa. xli. 25), it was 
 placed on the potter's wheel, which consisted of one 
 wooden disk revolving over another and larger. Both 
 disks were called in Hebrew obhnaim (Jer. xviii. 3), 
 and were worked by the feet. They revolved one 
 over the other, and thus gave the curved shape and 
 circular form to the vessels, just a*s in the case of a 
 turning lathe. The existence of the potter's field near 
 Jerusalem in the days of Isaiah (xxx. 14), comp. 
 i Chron. iv. 23, shows that the industry had assumed 
 considerable proportions towards the close of the 8th 
 century B.C. The references to the potter's art in the 
 Apocryphal literature indicate that it continued to 
 occupy an important position. The Wisdom of Sirach 
 xxxviii. 29, 30 contains a vivid description of the 
 process, See also Wisdom of Solomon xv. 7. 
 
OUTDOOR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS 1IQ 
 
 20. Weaving was mainly the work of women. 
 During the regal period even fabrics of an elaborate 
 description were woven by them, as an interesting 
 reference in 2 Kings xxiii. 7 clearly proves. This 
 subject has been sufficiently treated in an earlier page 
 (see 8 on clothing, p. 42). Probably most of the 
 finer textures were imported, as linen from Egypt, 
 and silken damask from Damascus, in which the 
 nobles of the time of Amos indulged (iii. 12 *), and 
 which became famous throughout the East (called by 
 the Arabs dimaks> and corrupted by the Greeks into 
 metaxa). The looms of Babylonia were celebrated 
 for. their products, as the ' Shinar mantles ' which 
 excited Achan's cupidity (Josh. vii. 21) clearly testify. 
 From the monumental representations of Assyria and 
 Babylonia we can see that the kings and nobles 
 were gorgeously arrayed. Specially rich was the 
 embroidery. 2 
 
 The Egyptian looms were of comparatively simple 
 construction. They stood upright, and the shuttle 
 was not thrown, but inserted with the hand. Among 
 the Bedouin of the present day may be seen the most 
 primitive form of weaving still existing. It might 
 serve to represent the mode of operations pursued in 
 the Hebrew household of early times. Among the 
 Bedouin the cross threads are inserted by the fingers 
 through the longitudinal threads, and the fabric is 
 
 1 If we can trust either text or interpretation. 
 
 2 See Tiele's History of Babylonia and Assyria, p. 602. The 
 inscriptions of Assyrian monarchs from Asshur-nazir-pal to 
 Asshurbanipal (9th to 7th century, B.C.) frequently mention 
 embroidered linen garments among the spoil captured by them 
 from the Western Asian nations that surrounded them, but the 
 terms used to describe these garments have not yet been suffi- 
 ciently fixed in their signification by Assyriologists. 
 
120 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 then pressed close by the simple means of a piece of 
 stick. It is impossible to tell how early the Hebrews 
 learned the use of the shuttle. It is mentioned in the 
 Book of Job (vii. 6), which cannot be placed earlier 
 than the seventh century as a composition ; but this 
 furnishes us with no reliable basis of inference. It is 
 to be noted, however, that Hebrew has no name for 
 1 shuttle ' as distinct from ( web.' The weaver's beam, 
 to which the staff of Goliath's spear is compared 
 (i Sam. xvii. 7; comp. 2 Sam. xxi. 19), was a stout 
 piece of wood belonging to the framework of the 
 loom, running either horizontally or perpendicularly. 
 Unfortunately, Judges xvi. 13, 14 is too obscure for 
 us to employ it for purposes of illustration. 
 
 21. Workmanship in wood, stone and metal 
 was not acquired in ancient Israel to any but moder- 
 ate extent till the time of David and Solomon. At 
 this time the Hebrews began to enter into relations 
 with the greater civilized races of antiquity, viz., the 
 Phoenicians and Aramaeans. It is quite possible that, 
 as in the case of weaving, so in the case of metal work, 
 some of the traditions of Israel's long residence in 
 Egypt may have been preserved. At any rate, the 
 narrative of the making of the golden ephod at 
 Gideon's shrine in Ophrah from the golden earrings, 
 crescents and pendants captured from the Midian- 
 ites, would suggest that the Hebrews understood, at 
 least to some extent, the art of melting down the 
 precious metals. It is not improbable, however, that 
 Canaanites assisted in this operation. At this time 
 bronze was the prevalent metal in use, rather than iron. 
 Cooking utensils and fetters (Judg. xvi. 21) were made 
 from it, and also armour, as helmet, shield, coat of 
 
OUTDOOR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS 121 
 
 mail and greaves (i Sam. xvii. 5, 6, referring to the 
 arms of Goliath). Even spear and bow were made 
 from the same metal (2 Sam. xxi. 16, xxii. 35). The 
 material would be obtained from the copper mines of 
 the Sinaitic peninsula. But it is quite as probable that 
 it was also obtained from the Phoenicians, who owned 
 the mines of Cyprus. In the time of David the tribute 
 sent by Toi, King of Hamath, consisted of gold and 
 silver vessels, and a considerable quantity of bronze, and 
 these were dedicated by David to Jehovah (comp. the 
 inscription of Tiglath Pileser I., col. iv. i foil). The 
 use of iron was chiefly confined to the head or point 
 of arms or implements (as the spear, ploughshare, or 
 axe). Among the Canaanites chariots were plated with 
 iron (Judg. i. 19). Probably its use did not become 
 prevalent till two centuries after the time of Solomon. 
 Thus, in the triumphal inscriptions from Kalah, in 
 Assyria, of Ramman-nirari III., we -read (in line 19) 
 that he captured from the King of Syria, whom he 
 completely overthrew, 5,000 talents of iron, together 
 with 3,000 of copper and 2,300 of silver. But this 
 did not occur till nearly two centuries after the time 
 of David. On the other hand, Tiglath Pileser L, an 
 Assyrian conqueror who lived just a century before 
 David (i.e. about noo B.C.), frequently mentions 
 bronze or copper, but never iron, among the objects 
 of plunder or tribute. We find also that Asshur- 
 nazir-pal and Shalmanezer II., Assyrian kings who 
 reigned about a century after David, only refer oc- 
 casionally to iron. Bronze or copper is chiefly men- 
 tioned, together with gold, silver and lead. These 
 results coincide with the data of the Old Testament. 
 Certainly the general impressions left by the narra- 
 
122 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 tives in the Books of Judges and i Samuel, together 
 with the striking evidence afforded by i Samuel xiii. 
 19, 20 (referred to on a previous page), would not 
 dispose us to build too much upon Egyptian influence. 
 The turning-point in the history of Hebrew handi- 
 crafts was the introduction of Phoenician workmen 
 into Israel's Southern capital in the reign of David 
 (2 Sam. v. 1 1). 
 
 The ordinary name for a worker in wood or metal, 
 or even stone, is char ash. Of this a good illustration 
 is afforded by 2 Samuel v. n, where the same word 
 is used in the plural in both cases * workers of wood 
 and workers of wall stone.' The same prefix would 
 be used for a worker in metals, the word for the metal 
 defining the art. The word chardsh in Hebrew signi- 
 fies properly to cut or grave any surface, and hence is 
 used for ploughing the soil. It is this word which is 
 used to express all the operations of mechanical skill, 
 as that of a smith or carpenter. For cleaving open 
 or heiving wood and stone another term is employed 
 (chatzaV). But it must be remembered that these are 
 also Canaanite words. An immense impulse to the 
 exercise of these different manual crafts was doubtless 
 communicated by the residence of Hiram's workmen 
 in Jerusalem. The very fact that Solomon should 
 have found it necessary to hire Sidonian wood cutters 
 (i Kings v. 6; Heb. xx.), because ' there is not any 
 among us that knows how to fell timber like the 
 Sidonians,' is ample proof that the Hebrews even in 
 that day were but indifferent workmen. We are not 
 therefore surprised to learn that all the skilled work 
 of the new temple, as the fine mouldings in bronze 
 and the richly ornamented capitals of the columns, 
 
OUTDOOR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS 123 
 
 with representations of pomegranate and the 'brazen 
 sea,' of which so elaborate a description is given in 
 i Kings vii. 13-51, was the product of the skill of 
 a celebrated Tyrian artificer whose services Solomon 
 was fortunate enough to obtain. 
 
 At the time of which we are now speaking (about 
 975 B.C.) the life of Israel was almost entirely agri- 
 cultural where it was not pastoral. This is clearly 
 apparent from i Kings v. n, in which we are told that 
 Solomon paid Hiram in corn and oil a regulated 
 quantity annually for the services rendered by the 
 Phoenician skilled artizans. And it is probable that 
 these relations between the two peoples remained for 
 some time on this footing, agricultural produce being 
 given in exchange for the products of Phoenician skill. 
 The story of the iron axe head (used for hewing out 
 beams) which fell from the prophet's hand into the 
 water (2 Kings vi. 5) gives us a useful hint of the 
 growth of handicrafts among the ancient Hebrews. 
 We may presume, however, that the axe head itself 
 was not forged in Hebrew furnaces, but was either 
 imported or was the product of the skill of resident 
 Phoenician workmen, whom the policy of Ahab and 
 Jezebel had introduced into Israel. The dynasty of 
 Omri brought Israel and Phoenicia into such intimate 
 relations that the influence on Hebrew culture must 
 have been permanently felt in Judah as well as Eph- 
 raim. 
 
 Moreover, as foreign, and especially Canaanite and 
 Philistine population, came to be absorbed into the 
 Hebrew nation, their skill found a domicile among 
 the cities of Israel. The close relations which sub- 
 sisted between the Philistines and David in the time 
 
124 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 of Saul brought them in considerable numbers (es- 
 pecially from Gath) into the towns of Israel, and 
 their superior skill in weaving and forging (Judg. xvi. 
 11-14; J Sam. xiii. 19) doubtless made itself felt. 
 In the reign of Jehoash, about 120 years after 
 Solomon's temple was built, when repairs became 
 necessary, we have no hint of foreign workmen being 
 required among the stone masons, carpenters and 
 builders hired for the purpose (2 Kings xii. 7-13). 
 The mention of the plumb line by Amos (vii. 7 foil.), 
 and also his references to luxurious dwelling houses 
 (iii. 15, etc.), combine to show that the art of build- 
 ing was familiar to his countrymen in the middle of 
 the 8th century B.C. Moreover, it had long been 
 the custom for water cisterns to be hollowed out of the 
 limestone rock for the use of herds, as well as for 
 orchards, vineyards and pleasure gardens. In the 
 reign of Hezekiah a work of considerable public utility 
 was carried out in the construction of a pool and 
 conduit for the purpose of bringing water into the 
 city (2 Kings xx. 20). This is to be identified with 
 the conduit which brought the water of the Virgin's 
 Spring by a subterranean passage into the Pool of 
 Siloam. 
 
 A recent discovery, fully described by Prof. Sayce 
 (Fresh Light from the Ancient Monuments, pp. 98- 
 106), has revealed an important inscription concealed 
 at the bottom of the pool, which describes how 
 this considerable engineering feat was carried out. 
 The inscription records the interesting fact that the 
 excavation, which is about 600 yards in length, was 
 begun at both ends. Observation confirms this state- 
 ment, as the marks of the pickaxes or other boring 
 
OUTDOOR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS 125 
 
 instruments run in opposite directions in the southern, 
 as compared with the northern, half of the tunnel. 
 In the 4th line of the inscription we read that the 
 hewers at last hewed against one another, axe against 
 axe, and the waters flowed from the channel into the 
 pool. The curves and other irregularities in the 
 tunnel show that various ineffectual attempts were 
 made to meet, until at length they were crowned with 
 success. 
 
 Reference has already been made to the ever- 
 growing civilization and luxury of Israel and Judah 
 from the loth century to the yth, to which the 
 prophetic writings of the last two centuries frequently 
 bear witness. The more luxurious dwellings presup- 
 pose the presence of the skilled workmen. Smelting 
 and forging thus became familiar arts, and the ex- 
 traction of iron and copper ore from the mountains 
 (Deut. viii. 9) was a process which the Hebrews in 
 the course of centuries had acquired. Smelting of 
 ore and the refinement of gold and silver from dross 
 are metaphors which constantly occur in the Psalms 
 as expressive of spiritual testing (Ps. xii. 6 ; xvii. 
 3, xxvi. 2, cv. 19; comp. Isa. i. 22, 25). It is a 
 fact worth noting that, when at length Jerusalem was 
 captured by the Babylonian invader, as many as 1,000 
 locksmiths and other skilled mechanics were deported 
 from the city (2 Kings xxiv. 16). 
 
 Goldsmiths and silversmiths made use of alkali in 
 the purification of the metal (Isa. i. 25). From Isaiah 
 xl. 19, xli. 7 we learn that one very important branch 
 of their industry consisted in the manufacture of idols. 
 Upon a basis of wood that is well seasoned and free 
 from decay the gold is overlaid by the goldsmith 
 
126 A PRIMER OF HE&REW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 in plates. To the gold plates are soldered silver 
 chains, with the object of fastening the image to 
 its niche. The gold plates are previously prepared 
 by beating them out upon an anvil, after which they 
 are fixed upon the image by means of nails. It is 
 a significant circumstance that the words for ' anvil/ 
 1 hammer,' l ' nail/ ( bellows,' 'furnace,' and ( crucible/ 
 belong almost entirely to the literature of the yth 
 and following centuries. ' Axe ' and ' saw,' instru- 
 ments for working wood, are mentioned by Isaiah 
 (x. 15), who belonged to the 8th century. The same 
 writer shows familiarity with the ideas of hewing stone 
 and building. He also uses the word cheret, meaning 
 both stilus and ' chisel.' Isaiah i. 22, 25 presupposes 
 a considerable acquaintance with the art of refining 
 the precious metals. 
 
 22. Writing must have been practised in ancient 
 Israel from the days of Moses downwards. Not only 
 does Scripture itself furnish evidence for this, but it 
 is also established by a very large array of archaeologi- 
 cal evidence. The statements of the Old Testament 
 are very explicit that the Ten Commandments were 
 inscribed on two stone tables (Exod. xxiv. 12, xxxi. 
 1 8, xxxii. 15 foil.); also that Moses recorded the 
 stages of the journeys of the children of Israel in the 
 wilderness (Num. xxxiii. 2), and that he commanded 
 
 1 One word for ' hammer ' (makkabati) is found, not only in 
 Isaiah xliv. 6, but also in I Kings vi. 7, and in nearly the same 
 form in Judges iv. 21 ; but it is worth notice that in the ancient 
 song of Deborah (Judg. v. 26) another word is employed, mean- 
 ing a ' beater ' or mallet (made of wood). The makkabah 
 meant something made of hard metal for beating, breaking 
 through, or hollowing out, as the etymology shows. The same 
 root occurs in the inscription that describes the boring of the 
 tunnel to the pool of Siloam. 
 
OUTDOOR LfF AND OCCUPATIONS 1 27 
 
 the Hebrews (Deut. xxvii. 2-4) that after crossing over 
 Jordan, large stones, plastered with plaster, should 
 be inscribed with the words of the law (comp. Josh, 
 viii. 32). 
 
 The age of Moses is comparatively modern in 
 the great time chart of human history revealed to 
 us by archaeology, and it has long been a well- 
 ascertained fact that the art of writing had been 
 understood and practised in the valleys of the Nile 
 and of the Euphrates for about 3,000 years before the 
 Exodus. Respecting the complicated cuneiform or 
 wedge-shaped signs employed in Babylonia, the 
 reader is referred to the interesting chapter by Dr. 
 Budge, of the British Museum, in his work Babylonian 
 Life and History (p. 100 foil.). In Egypt the system 
 of writing was that which is called hieroglyphic, or, in 
 abbreviated form, hieratic. Now it might naturally 
 be expected that the latter form of writing would 
 be that which the Hebrew leader of the Exodus would 
 have employed. About this it is impossible to form 
 any satisfactory conclusion. The use of the Baby- 
 lonian cuneiform system by the princes of Egypt and 
 by the Egyptian prefects of the Canaanite towns 
 about 1400 B.C. is a fact which has been recently 
 brought to light by the discovery of cuneiform-written 
 clay tablets at Tell el Amarna. More recently still a 
 similar tablet, inscribed with cuneiform, belonging to 
 the same period, has been discovered at Tell el Hesi, 
 the site of the ancient Lachish. These facts simply 
 prove that cuneiform writing was known and practised 
 in Canaan in the age which immediately preceded 
 that of Moses ; but it would be extremely rash with 
 our present knowledge to draw any inference except 
 
128 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 this : that it is possible that Moses understood and 
 employed the Babylonian cuneiform as well as lan- 
 guage in his legislative documents. But such a 
 supposition is hardly probable, unless we have the 
 right to assume that a considerable number of Israelites 
 could read and understand Babylonian cuneiform. 
 But who could have the hardihood to assert this of 
 a race of nomads? It is more within the bounds of 
 probability that a simpler system of writing of an 
 alphabetic nature was commonly employed by the 
 Hebrews and Canaanites of that period, out of which 
 the Phoenician alphabet sprang, which has become the 
 parent of all the alphabets of the world. It is quite 
 true that we have no specimen of this writing earlier 
 than the inscription on the Moabite Stone belong- 
 ing to the 9th century B.C. But such a simple and 
 well-wrought system of representing speech so far 
 superior to the clumsy and complicated phonetic 
 signs of Babylonia obviously did not come into 
 existence suddenly. Further researches will probably 
 show that it was gradually elaborated in the course 
 of centuries from a more complex ideographic and 
 syllabic system of writing. It was this simpler alpha- 
 betic system in its earlier stage that Moses, Joshua, 
 and their followers probably employed. 
 
 The material upon which the characters were in- 
 scribed was, in the first instance, stone. They were 
 written with a graving tool or chisel, which in later 
 days came to approximate a stilus in shape. This 
 appears to have been the common form of pen used 
 in the days of Isaiah, and which he calls the stilus or 
 pen (cheref) ' of a man ' (i.e. ordinary pen). In the 
 time of Jeremiah it was called an V7, and made of 
 
OUTDOOR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS I2Q 
 
 iron, The polished tablet upon which Isaiah wrote 
 was either of stone or wood (Isa. viii. i). That wood 
 was occasionally the material selected, seems to be 
 indicated by Numbers xvii. 2, Ezekiel xxxvii. 16. 
 Tablets of clay, marked when moist, and then dried 
 and baked, may also have been used, if we can allow 
 Ezekiel iv. i to be quoted as an authority. Ezekiel, 
 however, was probably largely influenced by his 
 Babylonian surroundings, where clay tablets were 
 universally employed. Therefore, the ' tile ' on which 
 Jerusalem was portrayed can hardly be quoted as 
 a precedent for ordinary Hebrew and Palestinian 
 usage. On the other hand, the early employment of 
 clay tablets in Palestine by the Egyptian governors, to 
 which the Tell el Amarna documents bear witness, 
 lends some plausibility to the supposition that they 
 may have been used by ancient Israel. The most 
 common material for documents was probably dressed 
 skins, or in some cases papyrus. The fact that these 
 documents assumed the form of a roll (inegillah\ 
 wound round a staff, clearly shows that they must 
 have consisted of some pliant material like those just 
 mentioned. The Septuagint rendering of Jeremiah 
 xxxvi. 2 indicates that the roll book there mentioned 
 consisted of Egyptian papyrus or parchment, the 
 charta used by the Greeks and Romans, of which 
 Pliny enumerates as many as eight different qualities. 
 When we bear in mind the close relations that sub- 
 sisted between Egypt and Palestine in the ;th 
 century, the hint afforded by this rendering of the 
 Greek translators is very probable. The * ink ' men- 
 tioned in the same chapter (verse 18) was either red 
 or black. Obviously the kind of pen that was used 
 
 I 
 
A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 was not the iron stilus. This could only be employed 
 by scratching the surface of wood, or stone, or dried 
 leaves of the palm, as is done in South India at the 
 present day. For writing with ink on papyrus the 
 Hebrews, in the time of Jeremiah, made use of a 
 reed pen. The point of this was sharpened by means 
 of a special 'secretary's knife/ also used for cutting 
 paper (Jer. xxxvi. 23). It was, no doubt, almost 
 exactly the same in form as the arundo or reed pen, 
 used for writing on paper by the ancient Romans, of 
 which a representation taken from a Pompeian paint- 
 ing is given in Rich's Dictionary of Roman and Greek 
 Antiquities (with an atramentarium, or inkstand, close 
 beside it). This again, like the paper or papyrus, 
 was borrowed from ancient Egypt. The ink vessel 
 may, perhaps, have been of the nature of a palette, as 
 in ancient Egypt. 1 In any case it was carried about 
 the person, suspended by the loins, as we learn from 
 Ezekiel ix. 2, 3, n. 
 
 The political importance of the art of writing 
 among the great civilized races of antiquity is clearly 
 indicated by Prof. Ed. Meyer in his History of Egypt? 
 It creates a great gulf between the educated class 
 and the masses, the former consisting of the young 
 officials connected with the court and those who 
 were trained by the priesthood of the temples. It 
 would be difficult to say how far this was true of 
 Israel during the regal period. It must be remem- 
 bered that the Canaanite system of writing was 
 alphabetic, and much simpler. It was therefore far 
 
 1 Meyer's History of Egypt (in German), p. 54. Excellent 
 illustrations may be found in this work, pp. 55, 56, 161, 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 55, 
 
OUTDOOR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS 131 
 
 more easy of acquisition than the difficult and com- 
 plex systems of Babylonia and Egypt, which would 
 need considerable time and labour to learn to apply 
 successfully. In the 8th century writing was very 
 largely practised in Israel, as the oracles of the 
 prophets frequently testify (Hos. viii. 12). Isaiah 
 deplores the large number of unrighteous enactments 
 that were recorded (Isa. x. i). Yet there must have 
 remained a considerable uneducated class who were 
 unable to read, as the same prophet affirms in another 
 passage (xxix. 12), and their ignorance of writing not 
 only acted as a social barrier, but in the presence of so 
 much gross injustice and social oppression must have 
 aggravated their poverty. 
 
 We know that there arose in connection with the 
 court from the time of David and Solomon a special 
 class of officials called scribes. It would form a part 
 of their duties to write out the court or royal annals. 
 Thus in the time of David we already find the 
 recorder and the scribe^ or secretary of state, among 
 the regularly appointed court officials (2 Sam. viii, 17, 
 xx. 25 ; comp. 2 Kings xviii. 18, etc.). It has been 
 supposed by most writers that the ' recorder's ' func- 
 tion was that of court or imperial annalist, and this 
 seems on the whole more probable than the view 
 of Nowack, who would apparently restrict his duties 
 to that of being simply king's remembrancer. The 
 ' scribe ' or secretary's duty would include that of 
 being the king's amanuensis. He would accompany 
 the monarch, whether at home or on military expedi- 
 tions. The Persian monarchs had several such officers 
 in continuous attendance. As we learn from Herod- 
 otus (viii. 90, adfin.\ they formed a part of the staff 
 
132 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 of King Xerxes when he was watching the battle ot 
 Salamis. The fatal despatch concerning Uriah which 
 David sent to Joab (2 Sam. xi. 14) was in all prob- 
 ability penned by his secretary, Seraiah (chap. viii. 17). 
 Whether that clever and unscrupulous Phoenician, 
 Jezebel, needed the services of a secretary in her 
 nefarious plot (i Kings xxi. 8) might perhaps be 
 doubted. But as we learn that she employed the 
 royal seal, and it may reasonably be held that this 
 was kept by the royal secretary, it is probable that his 
 services were employed in writing the despatch to the 
 elders that was to compass Naboth's doom. 
 
 23. The constant use of writing in business 
 transactions, as contracts of sale and purchase, leads 
 us to speak of seals. Of them we have frequent 
 mention in the Old Testament. They were usually 
 worn as rings either on the finger or hung by a cord 
 round the neck. How ancient the latter usage was 
 we may infer from Genesis xxxviii. 18, while the 
 antiquity of the habit of wearing signet rings on 
 the finger is indicated by the honour conferred upon 
 Joseph by Pharaoh. in Genesis xli. 42. At the pre- 
 sent day the custom in Egypt is to wear it on the 
 little finger of the right hand (Delitzsch). But it 
 is to Babylonia rather than to Egypt that we must 
 look for the custom of using seals in the attestation of 
 documents. There the tradition goes back to a hoary 
 antiquity. Babylonia is the land of contract tablets. 
 Dr. Budge, of the British Museum, says : ' We have 
 many thousands in our national collection, as many 
 as 5,000 were unpacked at one time. They record 
 loans of money and produce, the sale of houses, fields, 
 and wheat, marriage deeds and dowries, sales of 
 
OUTDOOR LIFE AND OCCUPA7VONS 133 
 
 slaves, notices of loans paid, promissory notes/ etc. 
 1 At times the contract tablet has been placed in a clay 
 envelope, and upon the outside a copy of the contract 
 within has been inscribed. On the one side (obverse) 
 the contract and contracting parties' names are stated, 
 on the other (reverse) comes the list of witnesses, and 
 at the bottom follows the date, the name of the king, 
 and his country. Often these tablets bear impressions 
 of the seals of the witnesses ; the poor man impressed 
 the mark of his nail.' Numerous examples of such 
 deeds of sale are to be found in Dr. Budge's Baby- 
 lonian Life and History ', p. 113 foil. 
 
 Fortunately we possess several specimens of an- 
 cient Palestinian seals and seal rings, which clearly 
 show that even among the Hebrews the art of carving 
 and engraving stone was probably acquired from the 
 Phoenicians at an early date. Most of the seal rings 
 are merely oval stones. Frequently the ring simply 
 contained the name of the owner engraved upon 
 it. One very interesting specimen must have be- 
 longed to an ancient Hebrew, and, to judge from 
 the antiquity of the characters, it came from a com- 
 paratively early time. It bears the legend in Hebrew, 
 ' Belonging to Obadiah, servant of the king.' Other 
 interesting examples may be found figured in Dr. 
 Benzinger's valuable work on Hebrew Archaeology 
 (p. 258 foil.). One excellent representation of a 
 seal ring comes from Cyprus. Other seals exhibit 
 ornamentations of various kinds. On one we have 
 the Phoenician palm leaf. On another what looks 
 like a wreath of pomegranate or poppy. We have 
 also Hebrew seals with legends stating that they 
 belong ' to Shemaiah, the son of Azariah,' ' to 
 
134 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 Nethaniah, the son of Obadiah,' ' to Hananiah, the 
 son of Achbor,' ' to Hananiah, the son of Azariah,' 
 and c to Shebaniah, servant of Uzziah.' One seal 
 is of particular interest because the inscription clearly 
 proves it to have been Moabite. It belonged 'to 
 Chemosh-yechi,' a proper name which signifies ' May 
 Chemosh live' (comp. Amos viii. 14). 
 
 The details of the preceding pages will enable 
 the reader to realize more vividly the descriptions 
 of the purchase for seventeen shekels of the field 
 in Anathoth by the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. xxxii. 
 6-15). Witnesses were appended to the deed of 
 purchase, just as in the case of the Babylonian 
 contracts just described, and it was sealed with 
 Jeremiah's own seal (verse 10). 
 
 24. In trade with other nations it cannot be 
 said that the Hebrews before the exile played any 
 very prominent part. The Phoenicians in those days 
 did most of the carrying trade of the world. They 
 in fact occupied in the ancient world the same place 
 that the English do in the modern. The comparative 
 simplicity of their language and writing made it 
 admirably suited for the needs of a mercantile race. 
 On the other hand, the Hebrews always shrank from 
 the sea. The pictures of the ocean in Hebrew 
 literature are never pleasing (Ps. cvii. 23-30). The 
 wicked are compared to it (Isa. Ivii. 20; Jude 13), 
 and it is banished from the paradise of the Apocalypse 
 (Rev. xxi. i). The potent cause for this was the 
 configuration of Palestine, and the nature of the 
 coast, rocky and precipitous, from Akko to Carmel, 
 which affords the only considerable bay along this 
 Canaanite border. South of Carmel the flat alluvial 
 
OUTDOOR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS 135 
 
 land contains scarcely a single stream of any im- 
 portance. The smallness of the estuaries and the 
 absence of bays combine to render this part of the 
 coast almost useless for navigation. For these 
 geographical reasons, as Nowack has recently shown, 
 the Hebrews were excluded from life on the sea. 
 Doubtless other causes, as the presence of the 
 Philistines along the coast, and Israel's nomadic and 
 agricultural occupations, co-operated to debar them 
 from that career of naval traders (wercatores) to 
 which the lonians and Phoenicians (pre-eminently the 
 latter) devoted themselves. Solomon, as we know 
 from i Kings ix. 26 foil, x. n foil., 22, availed 
 himself of the naval supremacy of the Phoenicians 
 to establish by means of their vessels and sailors 
 mercantile voyages to Ophir (probably on the 
 western coast of India) from Ezion-geber, near Elath, 
 on the Red Sea. These Phoenician vessels brought 
 into Palestine gold and silver, precious stones, ivory, 
 sandal wood, apes and peacocks. These trading 
 voyages occupied three years (i Kings x. 22), and 
 as the freight carried by the vessels was considerable, 
 it was necessary that they should be of superior size. 
 The name given to vessels of this character was 
 4 ships of Tarshish.' Tarshish was the Hebrew name 
 of Tartessus in Spain, one of the Phoenician trade 
 settlements, from which, as Ezekiel tells us (Ezek. 
 xxvii. 12, 24), silver, iron, tin and lead were exported 
 to Tyre. Since the vessels sent to Tarshish were of 
 larger construction, all those of similar build were 
 called ' Tarshish ships/ just as we in modern times 
 speak of * Indiamen ; (Isa. ii. 16 ; Ps. xlviii. 7). 
 Unfortunately for Israel, this valuable outlet and 
 
136 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 inlet for commerce through Ezion-geber could only 
 be held under control by also holding Edom as a 
 vassal province. But between Edom and Israel there 
 existed the long-standing feud symbolized in the 
 patriarchal narratives of Esau and Jacob. 
 
 This fact tended to impair the value of this 
 southern naval port. In the days of Jehoshaphat 
 an attempt was made to restore the naval prosperity 
 of Ezion-geber, this time without the aid of Phoenician 
 manners, but the inexpert Hebrews met with utter 
 disaster, and, despite the solicitations of Ahaziah, the 
 attempt was not renewed (i Kings xxii. 48 foil.). 
 Palestine is the natural highway of communication 
 for the caravan companies that from the earliest times 
 have carried the merchandise of the Northern and 
 North-western races of Western Asia (Assyria, Syria 
 and Phoenicia, the Hittites) to Egypt, and vice versa 
 (Gen. xxxvii. 28). Yet the track which they followed 
 passed through the coast land of the Philistines rather 
 than through Central Canaan, which was occupied by 
 the Hebrews. Those traders who passed through 
 Israelite territory were obliged to pay a certain toll 
 (i Kings x. 15). Nearly all were Phoenicians, hence 
 the name in Hebrew for ' merchant' is Canaanite (or 
 Phoenician). But gradually after the time of Solomon 
 the Hebrews themselves became traders, and in the 
 Northern kingdom during the 8th century B.C. ac- 
 quired considerable wealth in the pursuit. But the 
 name ' Canaanite ' was still employed in the general 
 sense of trader (Isa. xxiii. 8 ; Job xli. 6 ; Prov. xxxi. 
 24). It is in this sense Hosea, describing Ephraim 
 (xii. 7, 8 foil.), says, * As for Canaan, the balances 
 of deceit are in his hand, he loves to defraud. And 
 
OUTDOOR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS 137 
 
 Ephraim thought : Nevertheless I have become rich, 
 I have gotten myself property/ Here the word 
 1 Canaan ' stands for the entire mercantile class with 
 which Ephraim had become identified. 
 
 For purposes of trade the Hebrews not infrequently 
 emigrated to foreign cities, and occupied entire streets 
 or special quarters with their bazaars. Thus in the 
 time of Ahab a special treaty was concluded with 
 the Syrian king, which enacted that such special 
 quarters should be provided in Damascus for the 
 Hebrews, and in Samaria for the Syrians. During 
 the Assyrian wars against Palestine of the 8th 
 and yth centuries, doubtless a large number of 
 Hebrew traders settled in Egypt and other foreign 
 countries, and originated in this way that great 
 dispersion of the race which has ever since become 
 a permanent factor in the history of the people and of 
 the world. We know that in Babylonia there existed 
 a great business firm in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, 
 owned by an individual or family called Egibi, of 
 which an immense number of contract tablets have 
 been preserved. As Egibi appears to be the exact 
 Babylonian equivalent of the Hebrew Jacob, it is 
 not improbable that we may here see a great Oriental 
 forerunner of the modern Rothschilds. During the 
 exile the policy recommended by Jeremiah xxix. 5-7 
 was faithfully carried out, and the exiled Jews, many 
 among whom were skilled mechanics (2 Kings xxiv. 
 1 6), settled down peacefully and became successful 
 tradesmen (Ezek. iii. 24, xxxiii. 30, shows that they 
 possessed houses of their own). 
 
 25. Etiquette and social intercourse. Ori- 
 entals have ever been punctilious in their use of 
 
138 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 forms. Even an equal is always addressed 'My lord,' 
 while the speaker talks of himself as < Thy servant ' 
 (slave), or, if a woman, ' Thy handmaid' (//'/. slave girl, 
 i Sam. i. 1 8). When the person addressed is in 
 a superior social or official position, the speaker 
 becomes still more deferential and ceremonious, and 
 expresses this feeling by putting the word for < lord ' 
 in the plural number, which gives it the force of an 
 abstract, and thus conveys greater dignity (just as 
 we speak of ' your highness ; ). Even Elijah speaks of 
 Ahab under this conventional form of respect due to 
 a king (i Kings xviii. n). But this falls far short of 
 the terms of obsequious and even grovelling homage 
 with which Oriental monarchs in ancient times 
 were usually treated. Specimens of the epistolary 
 style in which the kings of Egypt were addressed by 
 the Canaanite governors (i5th century B.C.) have been 
 preserved for us in some of the despatches of the 
 Tell el Amarna collections of tablets. Thus in the 
 series of letters from Abimelech, Governor of Tyre, 
 to the Egyptian Pharaoh, contained in Dr. Bezold's 
 Oriental Diplomacy^ the formal opening of each 
 dispatch reads as follows : ' To the king, my lord, 
 my god, 1 my sun. Thus doth Abimelech, thy servant, 
 prostrate himself seven times, and yet seven times 
 under the feet of the king my lord. I am dust 
 beneath the shoe of the king my lord/ etc. 
 
 The above extract refers to the custom of prostra- 
 tion before the presence of a superior. Even before 
 one who was not far different in rank a Hebrew 
 
 1 Literally ' gods,' a plural expressive of dignity, just as in the 
 case of the Hebrew name for ' God,' and also that for ' Lord.' 
 
OUTDOOR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS 139 
 
 would bow down with his face to the earth three or 
 even seven times, in token of respect, as David before 
 Jonathan (i Sam. xx. 41), and Jacob before his 
 brother Esau (Gen. xxxiii. 3). Whenever the superior 
 was met by an inferior who was riding at the time on 
 an ass, mule, or camel, the latter would dismount and 
 perform the customary act of obeisance by bowing 
 with the face to the earth. A woman like Abigail, 
 even though she was the wife of a wealthy shaich, 
 showed this act of deference in the presence of a 
 powerful chief like David (i Sam. xxv. 23). The 
 betrothed Rebekah showed like courtesy to her 
 destined husband Isaac (Gen. xxiv. 64). It was a 
 universal custom for men who were on friendly terms 
 to kiss each other, both on meeting (Gen. xxxiii. 4), 
 and also on departure (Acts xx. 37. In Ruth i. 14 
 the reference is to women). Kissing was not always 
 on the mouth. From 2 Samuel xx. 9 we may infer 
 that kissing on the beard was the ordinary form ot 
 salutation when the acquaintance was not intimate. 
 In modern Egypt, according to Lane, it is customary 
 for a man ' to kiss the hand of a superior . 
 and then to put it to his forehead, in order to pay him 
 particular respect; but in most cases the latter does 
 not allow this, and only touches the hand that is 
 extended toward his ; the other person then merely 
 puts his own hand to his lips and forehead . . . 
 The slaves and servants of a grandee kiss their lord's 
 sleeve or the skirt of his clothing.' Submission to 
 potentates was expressed by kissing the feet. The 
 inscriptions of Tiglath Pileser III. and other Assyrian 
 monarchs constantly mention the performance of this 
 mode of homage by conquered kings ('they kissed 
 
I4O A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 my feet '). Probably this is the act of submission 
 referred to by the Psalmist in the phrase, ' Kiss the 
 Son, lest He be angry' (Ps. ii. 12), and it is quite 
 in accordance with modern usage, for * to testify abject 
 submission in craving pardon for an offence or inter- 
 ceding for another person, or begging any favour of a 
 superior, not infrequently the feet are kissed instead of 
 the hand ' (Lane). The kissing of the Pope's toe is 
 nothing but an old Oriental usage lingering in modern 
 Christendom. The words with which the ancient 
 Israelites saluted one another are nearly identical 
 with those used by a modern Arab, viz., ' Peace (or 
 well-being) unto you ' (Judg. xix. 20). Or sometimes 
 it was thrown into the form of a question. ' Is it 
 peace unto you?* (= How are you?), after which 
 similar inquiries are made after the welfare of near 
 kindred, as husband, father, brothers, or children. 
 Oriental etiquette, however, avoided mention of the 
 wife (2 Kings iv. 26; Gen. xliii. 27; 2 Sam. xi. 7). 
 Occasionally the phrase was varied by using the 
 expression which was addressed by Boaz to his 
 reapers, 'Jehovah be with you,' to which they reply, 
 1 May Jehovah bless you ' (Ruth ii. 4). In bidding 
 farewell the ancient Hebrew said, ' Go in peace 7 
 (i Sam. i. 17; 2 Sam. xv. 9; Luke viii. 48; John 
 xiv. 27). Visits to one another by persons in high 
 social position were accompanied by gifts, sometimes 
 called by the Hebrews ' blessing ' (since the word to 
 bless in Hebrew means to greet, or to bid farewell to 
 a person). Instances of this usage may be found in 
 Genesis xxxiii. n; i Samuel xxv. 27, xxx. 26; 2 
 Kings v. 5, viii. 9. In response to these gifts others 
 were bestowed in return (i Kings x. 10, 13). 
 
OUTDOOR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS 14! 
 
 Respect for elders was the universal rule of ancient 
 Semitic society. Among the Arab nomads of the 
 present day it is the elders or shaichs who wield most 
 authority in the clan, and much the same position 
 was held by the Hebrew 'elders.' Even in ancient 
 Egypt the rule of politeness prevailed : ' Sit not when 
 an elder stands/ and a similar tradition of courtesy on 
 the part of the younger towards the elder finds ex- 
 pression in the Old Testament (Job xxix. 8 ; Lev. 
 xix. 32). 
 
 Buying &&& Selling involves a tedious process of bar- 
 gaining, until some price at last is reached somewhere 
 midway between demand on the part of the seller, 
 and offer on that of the buyer. At the outset it is not 
 uncommon for the seller to say to the buyer, when the 
 latter enquires the price, ' Receive it as a present ' 
 (implying that the cost is such a trifle). The seller 
 knows, however, that advantage will not be taken of 
 what is universally accepted as a mere form of speech. 
 It is in this sense (as Delitzsch has shown) we must 
 take Ephron the Hittite's offer of the field and cave 
 of Machpelah as a gift to Abraham (Gen. xxiii. n). 
 The following verses show that a price is settled with- 
 out further demur. 
 
 This interesting transaction took place at the gate 
 of the city, the universal place of concourse, where 
 public and private affairs were discussed (Prov. xxxi. 
 23, 31 ; Ps. Ixix. 12), where suits between individuals 
 were decided and wrongs redressed (2 Sam. xv. 2 
 foil., xix. 8 foil. ; Job xxix. 7 foil.). It was at this 
 place the elders of the city assembled and witnessed 
 the formal act of taking off the shoe, whereby Boaz 
 testified his purchase of the property of Elimelech 
 
142 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 and his sons from the hand of Naomi, and that he 
 had purchased Ruth as his wife (Ruth iv. 8, 9). 
 
 Hospitality in ancient times was an all-prevailing 
 rule of life, and mitigated the stern conditions of 
 primitive Oriental society, which regarded every mem- 
 ber of an alien clan as a natural enemy. But if as a 
 sojourner and alien he sought the protection of any 
 member of the clan he visited, this was freely afforded. 
 The partaking of the common meal constituted a 
 temporary bond of brotherhood. The head of the 
 house regarded his visitor as one of his own household 
 during the period of the sojourner's stay, and resented 
 any injury done to him as a personal affront. Illus- 
 trations may be found in numerous passages of the 
 Old Testament : Genesis xviii., xix. ; Judges xix. 15, 
 20 foil. ; Job xxxi. 32. The existing traditions of 
 modern Syria and Arabia in respect of hospitality, 
 described by Burckhardt, Robinson, Shaw, and other 
 travellers, are merely a continuance of this ancient 
 custom. The slaves of the household fetched water 
 to wash the feet of the visitors (Gen. xviii. 4 ; Luke 
 vii. 44), while the hair of the head was anointed with 
 some fragrant unguent (Amos vi. 6 ; Psalm xxiii. 5 ; 
 Luke vii. 46). The fatted calf or kid is slain, and 
 the best of the meal is kneaded to make cakes. The 
 master of the household does not join in the repast, 
 but stands and waits upon his guests (Gen. xviii. 8). 
 
 There were only two actual meals in the day in the 
 life of an Oriental. The first was about mid-day 
 (Gen. xliii. 16 ; i Kings xx. 16 ; Ruth ii. 14), corre- 
 sponding to the Greek ariston (Luke xi. 37, xiv. 12) ; 
 the second, which was the chief meal of the day, 
 corresponded to the Greek deipnon, and took place in 
 
OUTDOOR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS 143 
 
 the evening (Judg. xix. 21). The Passover was also 
 celebrated at this time (Exod. xvi. 12). 
 
 In primitive times probably a mat served the place 
 of a table, just as we find among the Arabs at the 
 present day. Those who partook sat cross-legged upon 
 mats or other coverings spread upon the ground. 
 Numerous references show that women also partici- 
 pated (i Sam. i. 8 ; Deut. xvi. n ; Ruth ii. 14, etc.). 
 With the growth of civilization the use of tables was 
 introduced. In Amos vi. 4 we read of the wealthy 
 nobles reclining at their banquets upon elaborate 
 divans. This presupposes the use of a table, the 
 existence of which in superior Hebrew dwellings is 
 clearly shown by 2 Kings iv. 10 ; Ezek. xxiii. 41, and 
 other indications. The divan held from three to five 
 persons. One would recline with feet outstretched 
 behind him, resting upon his left arm, while the right 
 was free to reach the viands on the table. His 
 neighbour rested with the hinder part of his head 
 touching the breast of the former (Nowack). This 
 was the attitude of the beloved desciple (John xiii. 
 23). The meat was eaten with the fingers. It came 
 to the table cut in small pieces, and was taken out of 
 the dish. We also read in Judges vi. 19 foil., Isaiah 
 Ixv. 4, of thick broth made from flesh and other 
 materials. Cakes and bread were dipped in this 
 broth and eaten (comp. Ruth ii. 14 ; Matt. xxvi. 23). 
 After the meal was over the hands were washed in 
 water. 
 
 Respecting the use ot wine in banquets we have 
 already spoken in 16. Numerous references in the 
 oracles of the prophets show that the feasting was 
 enlivened by music. Isaiah, in a graphic passage 
 
144 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 (Isa. v. 12), mentions the lute, cymbal, tambourine, 
 and flute. 
 
 26. Death and Funeral Customs. The 
 Hebrews, like the other ancient Semites, held to a 
 belief in the continuance of life after death in the 
 shadowy underworld called Sheol. Not only necro- 
 mancy or the conjuration of the spirits of the dead 
 (i Sam. xxviii. 7-19), against which prophecy and law 
 protested 'alike (Isa. viii. 19; Deut. xviii. n), but 
 also the ordinary phrases and customs of a pious 
 Hebrew of ancient times, are obviously based upon 
 this belief, that the spirits of the dead are still existent 
 and potent. Thus the continuance of the life of the 
 ancestors of one's family in a family life in the under- 
 world impelled a Hebrew to preserve with care the 
 burial ground containing the sepulchres of his fathers, 
 and to desire above all things ' to be gathered to his 
 fathers ' in shadowy Hades. 
 
 After death the eyes were closed. To a parent 
 this duty would ordinarily be performed by the eldest 
 son (comp. Gen. xlvi. 4). In the New Testament we 
 read that the body was washed (Acts ix. 37), anointed 
 with perfumed oil (Mark xvi. i), and wrapped in 
 cloths (Matt, xxvii. 59). But this appears to have 
 been later practice, and coincides with the Greek 
 custom in the matter of washing and anointing. 
 The embalming of the body in the case of Jacob and 
 Joseph (Gen. 1. 2, 26) was merely the application of 
 an Egyptian usage foreign to Israel. Whether it was 
 the custom of the Hebrews to bury a man in his 
 characteristic or professional attire, e.g. a king with 
 his crown, a warrior with his sword and spear, etc., is 
 by no means clear. The apparition of Samuel (i Sam, 
 
OUTDOOR LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS 145 
 
 xxviii. 14) in his prophetic mantle only suggests this, 
 but considerable support is given to it in Ezekiel xxxii. 
 27, which seems to indicate that it was customary to 
 bury a soldier with his weapons. 
 
 There is no definite proof in the Old Testament 
 that the bodies were ever burned (Amos vi. 10, 
 i Sam. xxxi. 12, are too uncertain to quote). 
 They were usually buried in rocky hollows. Occa- 
 sionally, as in the case of Petra, the sepulchres 
 were hollowed out of a rocky cliif at an almost 
 inaccessible height, and were adorned with elabo- 
 rate portal and frieze. This, however, was a much 
 later embellishment. Frequently the rock was hol- 
 lowed out into a large chamber, and in some cases 
 into galleries. The corpses were then placed horizon- 
 tally in hollows made in the sides of the wall, about 
 six feet long and about eighteen inches in breadth and 
 height. Or the body might -simply bejleposited upon 
 a stone ledge cut out of rock about two feet high and 
 with an arch above it. Or in some cases troughs 
 were cut in the wall of rock. 
 
 The body was carried to the grave upon a bier, 
 called mittah, the ordinary Hebrew word for bed 
 (2 Sam. iii. 31 ; Gen. xlvii. 31). Mourners followed, 
 who made the air resound with their lamentations. 
 Sometimes mourning women were hired for this 
 special purpose, who beat their breasts and uttered 
 loud shrieks, like the women to whom Ezekiel refers 
 (viii. 14) as mourning for Tammuz. The exclama- 
 tions generally took the form, ' Ah, my brother ! ' or 
 ' Ah, sister ! ' or ' Ah, lord ! ' ' Ah, his glory ! ; (Jer. 
 xxii. 18; i Kings xiii. 30), uttered in a regular rhyth- 
 mic form. Sometimes poems or dirges were composed 
 
 K 
 V 
 
146 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 and recited for the occasion, and it is interesting to 
 note that among the earliest fragments of literature 
 in the Old Testament we have two dirges composed 
 by King David one the lament over Saul and Jona- 
 than, entitled the ' bow,' which a choir was trained to 
 recite (2 Sam. i. 17-27), and another briefer elegy 
 over Abner (2 Sam. iii. 33, 34). From Jeremiah xlviii. 
 36 we infer that players on flutes accompanied the 
 dirge. 1 
 
 Among the prominent accompaniments of ancient 
 Hebrew niourning for the dead, the most notable 
 were the rending of garments (2 Sam. iii. 31), and 
 the casting of dust or ashes on the head (Josh. vii. 6 ; 
 2 Sam. i. 2), and the wearing of sackcloth, walking 
 bareheaded or barefoot (Ezek. xxiv. 17; 2 Sam. xv. 
 30). Among the more extravagant and heathenish 
 practices may be mentioned the mutilations of the 
 body, the shaving of the hair, and the cropping of 
 the beard (Jer. xvi. 6, xli. 5, xlvii. 5; Isa. xxii. 12 ; 
 Mic. i. 1 6). Fasting was ordained for seven days 
 after the death of Saul (i Sam. xxxi. 13), closed each 
 day after sunset by a feast (Hos. ix. 4 ; 2 Sam. iii. 
 35 ; Jer. xvi. 7 foil. ; Ezek. xxiv. 17, 22). This prac- 
 tice, however, should be connected with the tradition 
 of offerings to the dead, to which we find a reference 
 in Deuteronomy xxvi. 14. And the burning of spices, 
 which in later times became customary in honour of 
 distinguished persons (Jer. xxxiv. 5 ; 2 Chron. xvi. 14), 
 is to be ascribed to a like origin. 
 
 1 Comp. Joseph., Wars of the fews, iii. 9, 5, and the closing 
 passage of the ' Descent of Ishtar to Hades.' 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION 
 
 27. IN the most primitive forms of human society 
 the clan rather than the family appears to have 
 been the basis upon which the life of the community 
 rested. In fact, as the late Professor Robertson Smith 
 has shown us, kinship or clan membership seems to 
 be an older thing than family life. But whatever 
 may be said of the earliest conditions of Semitic 
 society, it is quite certain that the social life of the 
 Old Testament regards the family (or ' house ') as a 
 distinct entity, and the father of the family or house 
 is regarded as the master of his wife, children, and 
 slaves. As the sons married and begat children, the 
 family became extended into a larger household group, 
 of which the father of the original family was the 
 'head' (i Chron. v. 15), and possessed the right of 
 making the customary offerings on behalf of the mem- 
 bers of the household (Job i. 5), and also of settling 
 disputes. These different ' household groups ' or 
 ' houses of fathers ' (Exod. xii. 3) constituted a clan. 
 But the word is sometimes used apparently in an 
 extended sense, so as to mean a ' clan ' or ' tribe ' 
 (Num. iii. 24, 30, xvii. 2; Josh xxii. 14). 
 
 Religion was in ancient times the cement which 
 
148 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 held society together. What was true of early Greek 
 and Roman national life equally applies to that of 
 the ancient Hebrew. The life of the clan was sus- 
 tained and its members welded together into a social 
 unity by the sacra, or religious rites of sacrifice prac- 
 tised by its members at certain seasons (as New 
 Moon or annual festival). The sacrifice was offered 
 to the Lord of the land and Giver of earthly good, and 
 the flesh was eaten by the participating members, 
 who thereby renewed the covenant bond that united 
 them to their Lord and God, and also bound them 
 to one another. Another link of connection which 
 bound the tribe or clan together was the grave of a 
 common ancestor, which was usually marked by a 
 tree (Gen. xxxv. 20 ; Josh. xxiv. 32 ; Gen. xii. 6 ; 
 xxv. 10 ; Deut. xi. 30). A clan might easily grow by 
 additions from without, such as slaves who had won 
 their freedom, runaway slaves who settled in the terri- 
 tory of the clan, and resident foreigners (gerim] who 
 became absorbed into the community. On the other 
 hand, various accidents, as war or famine, might cause 
 a large clan or tribe to split up into different clans or 
 tribes. 
 
 The distinction between the clan and the tribe is 
 not always clearly marked. Thus the small tribe of 
 Dan is called a * clan ' (Judg. xviii. n). But, ac- 
 cording to ordinary usage, a group of clans made up 
 a tribe (shebhet), and a group of tribes constituted a 
 people or nation. 
 
 Among the Arabs at the head of the clan stands 
 the shaich. Though he does not actually command, 
 but only advise, his weight in the counsels of the 
 community is considerable. He leads the clan in 
 
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION 149 
 
 war, and conducts the negotiations for peace. But 
 his authority is limited, and he cannot take a decisive 
 and important step without consulting the chief men 
 of his clan or tribe. These chief men, constituting 
 the divan of the shaich, correspond closely to the 
 * elders ' of the ancient Hebrew commonwealth. 
 
 The growth of agricultural life, and the greater in- 
 terests it involved, together with the need of common 
 defence, tended to weld the different clans together. 
 Under these circumstances, and mainly under the 
 stress of war, a group of clans or tribes would rally 
 round a 'judge' (shdphet or katzin) (Judg. xi. 6). 
 His position for the time would be supreme over 
 the ' princes ' or ' elders ' in each clan. The desperate 
 life and death struggle of the central tribes against 
 the Philistines ultimately united them under Saul. 
 Subsequently, under the leadership of David, Judah 
 joined the confederation. 
 
 In this way monarchy gradually arose, for the dis- 
 tinction between the position of Gideon and that of 
 Saul is not a great one. Like the * judge/ the king 
 was a military leader, and like the judge, he de- 
 cided suits between individuals at the gate. Comp. 
 2 Samuel xiv. ; xv. 2-4; i Kings iii. 16 foil. More- 
 over the Hebrew kings resembled those of Assyria 
 in possessing the highest priestly functions. As such 
 they were solemnly anointed, and it is from this 
 tradition the conception of the ' Messiah ' or * the 
 Anointed One' (Christ) originated (i Sam. x. i, xvi. 
 i, 13, xxiv. 10 2 Sam. i. 14, xix. 21; 2 Kings ix. 
 i, 3). Consequently the king performed sacrifice as 
 the people's representative before God (i Sam. xiii. 
 9, xiv. 34; 2 Sam. vi. 13, 17). David wore the 
 
I5O A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 priest's linen ephod, while in i Kings viii. 14 we read 
 that Solomon, at the opening of his temple, bestowed 
 a solemn blessing on the people (comp. 2 Sam. vi. 
 1 8). Also the king had the power of appointing 
 priests. David appears to have appointed his own 
 sons (2 Sam. viii. 18). Indeed, the power of royalty 
 and the number of its subordinates, as might be 
 expected, considerably increased under David and 
 Solomon. These are mentioned in 2 Samuel viii. 
 1 6-1 8. First among them was the chief commander 
 over the host. Next came the ' recorder ' (we chron- 
 icler '), whose function was not only to keep the state 
 records, but, as chief adviser of the king or prime 
 minister, to ' remind'' him of all necessary facts, and 
 suggest the best course to be pursued (2 Kings xviii. 
 1 8, 37 ; Isa. xxxvi. 3, 22 ; 2 Chron. xxxiv. 8). Also 
 the state secretary ('scribe ') conducted the royal cor- 
 respondence with officials and foreign princes. The 
 commander of the king's body guard^ called ' mighty 
 men ' or ' Cherethites and Pelethites ' (Cretans and 
 Philistines). As the organization of the kingdom de- 
 veloped in the reign of Solomon and his successors, 
 other offices were created. Among these should be 
 noticed the overseer of the burdens or ' taskmaster ' ; 
 the minister of the household or palace (Isa. xxii. 15 ; 
 xxxvi. 3, 22), the * servant of the king' (2 Kings xxii. 
 12), a special office of which nothing definite can be 
 ascertained, except that he probably belonged to the 
 court or harem. Among the subordinate officials 
 there were prefects over the thirteen provinces ; the 
 cupbearer (i Kings x. 5) ; the overseer of the king's 
 wardrobe ('over the vestry/ 2 Kings x. 22); twelve 
 overseers of the royal treasure^ and, lastly, chamberlains. 
 
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION 151 
 
 The powers exercised by the king became at the 
 close of Solomon's reign of a very oppressive char- 
 acter, and in the fluid condition of Hebrew politics 
 caused by the loose cohesion of the tribes they ulti- 
 mately destroyed the unity of Israel. The slaughter 
 of the priests of Nob in the days of Saul, David's con- 
 duct towards Uriah, his arbitrary treatment of Joab, 
 and the severe burdens of taxation imposed on the 
 people by Solomon in order to minister to his love 
 of splendour and luxury, exhibit a steady growth in 
 the extent and use of royal prerogatives. 
 
 The judicial murder of Naboth is a further example 
 of the excessive lengths to which the arbitrary power 
 of the monarch extended during the dynasty of Omri. 
 The supreme power wielded by the king in the ad- 
 ministration of justice as shophet doubtless came to 
 overshadow that which was exercised by the heads of 
 clans. It is certain, however, that these princes 
 (sarini) or ' elders ' of the town community (which 
 gradually displaced the ancient clan), exercised their 
 judicial functions in quite as oppressive and corrupt 
 a manner as their royal master did. The prophets of 
 the eighth and seventh centuries are full of denuncia- 
 tions of their cruel injustice to the poor and their 
 acceptance of bribes (Isa. i. 23, v. 7, 22 foil. ; Mic. 
 iii. n, vii. 3, etc.). 
 
 Our information is defective respecting the revenues 
 by which the royal state was maintained. In the 
 time of Saul they probably consisted of a portion of 
 the spoil (2 Sam. viii. n, xii. 30), and the gifts of 
 foreign princes and others who offered him homage 
 or sought his protection. In the time of David 
 royalty depended not only on these sources of 
 
152 A PRIMER OF HEBREW ANTIQUITIES 
 
 revenue, but also on the tribute of conquered races. 
 Novvack considers that the numbering of the people 
 under David was connected not only with the arrange- 
 ments for military service, but also for national taxa- 
 tion. This we know to have been the object of the 
 division of territory under Solomon into thirteen 
 districts (i Kings iv. 7, not twelve, as Stade and 
 Novvack have shown). From Amos vii. i we learn 
 that a kind of firstfruits from pasture called * king's 
 mowings* fell to the share of the monarch, for the 
 support of his war horses, as we may gather from i 
 Kings xviii. 5. Special contributions were sometimes 
 levied by the king to meet special emergencies, as the 
 payment of a victorious foe (2 Kings xv. 20, xxiii. 35). 
 After the exile we find at first twelve men or elders 
 standing at the head of the young Jewish community, 
 the chief place among them being held by Joshua 
 and Zerubbabel (Ezra ii. and Neh. vii.). These 
 twelve men represented the nation in all transactions 
 with the Persian government. Whatever hopes may 
 have gathered round Zerubbabel as a descendant of 
 the line of David (Zech. vi. 9 foil.), it was the High 
 Priest Joshua who represented the supreme power of 
 the future, destined to absorb into itself the privileges 
 and functions of the pre-exilian Hebrew king. In 
 the Greek period the high priest is the head of the 
 nation, and in the days of the Maccabees the line of 
 Asmonaean priest-princes was inaugurated. The 
 high priest was the president of a supreme court of 
 justice called the- Sanhedrin, which sat in Jerusalem 
 and exercised its functions over Judaea. To this 
 supreme court belonged the scribes, elders, and 
 priestly nobility, and all cases which were not re- 
 
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION 153 
 
 served for the decision of the procurator ', or did not 
 come before the local courts, were examined by this 
 highest tribunal. Its origin cannot be traced earlier 
 than the Greek period. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 A. MONEY. 
 
 I. Silver. s. d. 
 
 I Talent = 412 10 o 
 I Maneh = 6176 
 
 ( = ^th of a Talent). 
 
 I Shekel = 029 
 of a Maneh). 
 
 2. Gold. s. d. 
 
 I Talent = 6187 10 o 
 I Maneh = 103 2 6 
 
 i Shekel = 
 
 i 
 
 During the Greek and Roman periods the following coinage 
 was current : 
 
 ^ d. 
 = 240 o o 
 = 400 
 
 Talent . . 
 Mina . . 
 (-& Talent). 
 
 Stater or Tetra- 
 drachm = 
 (^yth of Mina). 
 Didrachm = 
 
 28 
 
 d. 
 
 Denarius or Drachma = 8 
 Assarion or As . . 
 
 ('Penny'). 
 
 Quadrans ('Farthing') = 
 Lepton or ' Mite ' . = 
 
 B. WEIGHTS. 
 
 i Talent = about 160 Ibs. 
 i Maneh (Mina) 2 Ibs. 8 ozs. (Troy), 
 i Shekel = 10 dwts. 14 grs. (nearly), 
 i Bekah = 5 7 
 i Gerah - 13 
 
 154 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 155 
 
 C. MEASURES OF CAPACITY AND LENGTH. 
 
 i Homer = 80 gallons, 
 i Lethech = 40 gallons. 
 
 ( = J Homer.) 
 i Ephah or Bath = 8 gallons. 
 
 ( = ^j Homer.) 
 i Seah = 2 gallons. 
 I Hin=iJ gallons, 
 i Omer = 6 pints. 
 i Cab ( = J Hin) = 3j pints. 
 i Log= J pint. 
 
 i Reed = 9 feet. 
 
 i Cubit = i foot 6 inches. 
 
 i Span = 9 inches. 
 
 ( = } Cubit.) 
 I Palm = 3 inches. 
 
 ( = JSpan.) 
 i Digit = f inch. 
 
 D. JEWISH CALENDAR. 
 
 The most ancient Hebrew and Semitic Calendar was purely 
 agricultural, as the names Abib (ear of corn), Ziv (blossom), 
 Bfil (fruit), and Ethanim (flowing brooks) clearly indicate. The 
 last two names of months occur also on Phoenician or Canaanite 
 inscriptions, and it is evident that these names, which were 
 employed by pre-exilian Israel, were of Canaanite origin. The 
 Feast of Tabernacles or Ingathering thus came at the ' end of 
 the year' (Exod. xxiii. 16, xxxiv. 22), and the beginning of the 
 new year was in October. During and after the exile a change 
 was introduced through Babylonian influence. The names of 
 the months were different since they were borrowed from the 
 Babylonians. Cuneiform research has confirmed Rabbinic tra- 
 dition by demonstrating that all the names of months, excepting 
 those mentioned above, are Babylonian (viz., Nisan, lyyar, 
 Sivan, etc.). The year now commenced with Nisan or Abib, 
 and not with Tishri. This new calendar became identified with 
 the Ecclesiastical Year, while the old Canaanite Calendar is 
 preserved in what is called the Civil Year. As the months 
 were strictly lunar, the year of 12 months consisted of 354 days, 
 and in order to make up the extra 1 1 days of the solar year (of 
 365 days), an intercalary mojith, Veadar, was necessary. The 
 following list of Hebrew months will be found useful : 
 
156 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 A bib or Nisan (March- April). 
 1st. Beginning of the Sacred 
 Year. New Moon. 
 
 1 4th. Preparation 'for Pass- 
 over. In the evening 
 of this day the Paschal 
 meal was eaten. 
 
 1 5th. Holy Convocation and 
 Sabbath. Week of 
 Unleavened Bread 
 begins. 
 
 Tyyar (or Ziv) (April-May). 
 
 Sivan (May-June). 
 6th and 7th. Pentecost or 
 Feast of Weeks (called 
 in Book of the 
 Covenant ' Feast of 
 Harvest '), being seven 
 weeks from the days of 
 * Unleavened Bread. ' 
 
 Tamnntz (June-July). 
 
 Ab (July-August). 
 
 Elul (August-September). 
 I5th-22nd. Feast of Taber- 
 nacles or Booths. 
 2ist. Feast of Branches or 
 
 Palms. 
 Tishri (September -October) 
 
 or Ethanim. 
 
 1st. New Moon or New 
 Year's Day (beginning 
 of the Civil Year}. 
 Feast of Trumpets. 
 loth. Day of Atonement. 
 1 6th. Offering of Omer, or 
 
 first sheaf. 
 
 2 1 st. Holy Convocation. 
 Marchesvan or Bfil (October- 
 November). 
 
 AYj/z>(November-December). 
 25th. Chanuccah or Feast of 
 
 Dedication. 
 
 Tebeth (December-January). 
 Shebat (January-February). 
 Adar (February-March). 
 1 3th. Fast of Esther. 
 I4thandl5th. Feast ofPwim . 
 
 Veadar (intercalary month). 
 
 E. SACRIFICES. 
 
 IN the early nomadic stage of Israel's life, the bloody offering 
 was the prevailing type of sacrifice at the altar. Its hoary 
 antiquity gave it a certain superiority above every other. In 
 Genesis iv. Cain and the Cainite race represent the growth of 
 civilization, while Abel is the representative of simple nomadic 
 life. In those early days sacrifice was a meal which bound the 
 participating worshippers together around the deity who was 
 worshipped, and the blood of the slaughtered victim was 
 sprinkled or smeared on the upright stone symbol. The 
 
APPENDIX 157 
 
 slaughtered lamb or ox would be the ordinary form of offering, 
 and was called zebach. Of this the worshippers partook. 
 
 But other kinds of food came in early times to be employed 
 in the sacrificial meal. And these naturally came to be more 
 prominent as agricultural life increased, and so rendered the use 
 of oil and flour more common in food. Thus the unleavened 
 barley-cakes (inazzoth], eaten at the annual Easter festival, were 
 an ordinary article of diet in a primitive Hebrew household ; 
 but it obviously presupposes the beginnings of agriculture, and 
 a higher stage of civilization than the sacrifice of a lamb. The 
 same remark obviously applies to the use of oil in sacrificial 
 offerings (Gen. xxviii. 18). In fact the ritual system of the 
 Hebrew codes, presupposed to a certain extent in the historical 
 books and prophets, clearly reveals the developed agricultural 
 life of the people. Milk is curiously not an ingredient of offer- 
 ings, but we read on special occasions of water- offerings (i Sam. 
 vii. 6 ; 2 Sam. xxiii. 16 ; comp. i Kings xviii. 33-35 ; Josh. ix. 
 27). Reference has already been made to the raisin-cakes 
 (asMshah} employed in offerings (Hos. iii. I ; 2 Sam. vi. 9). 
 Jeremiah (vii. 18) also refers to the cakes or wafers made from 
 dough (kawivdn) for Ashtoreth, queen of heaven. This is 
 illustrated from an interesting Phoenician inscription discovered 
 in Cyprus, which contains a list of expenses for the month 
 Ethanim : ' For the architects who have built the temple of 
 Ashtoreth, for each house . . . for two sacrifices . 
 for two bakers who have baked the cakes for the holy Queen.' 
 
 Primitive antiquity reveals the grim fact of hitman sacrifice 
 This prevailed extensively in the early dawn of human civili- 
 zation. Of this we find constant traces, not only in Greek and 
 Roman antiquity (Iphigeneia and Marcus Curtius), but in the 
 Old Testament itself. The most notable examples are to be 
 found in the revolting cult of Moab and Ammon. In the case 
 of the Moabites, who worshipped Chemosh, we have the terrible 
 example of the sacrifice of the king's eldest son, recorded in 
 2 Kings iii. 27, while the horrible rites of Molech, god of 
 Ammon, were carried on in the Valley of Hinnom (comp. Jer. 
 vii. 31 ; 2 Kings xxiii. 10, 13 ; Deut. xii. 31 ; Ezek. xvi. 20, 21, 
 
15^ APPENDIX 
 
 xxiii. 37 ; 2 Chron. xxviii. 3). These ' abominations of the 
 children of Ammon' were strictly forbidden in the Deutero- 
 nomic legislation. Among the primitive Hebrews prisoners 
 taken in war were too often dedicated to destruction (chereni}, 
 such acts being regarded as invested with sanctity (Josh. viii. 26 ; 
 x. 28, 37, xi. 21 ; i Sam. xv. 3 foil.). These were the ordin- 
 ary and almost inseparable accompaniments of war. For war 
 in ancient times had a sacred character, and was initiated by 
 special sacrifices, which welded together the participating tribes 
 or clans by a close covenant bond (i Sam. xi. 7 foil. ; I Kings 
 i. 9). From this slaughter of enemies we must separate such 
 special and peculiar acts as the sacrifice of the King of Moab's 
 eldest son, and the surrender of Michal's sons to be slaughtered 
 by the Gibeonites. These were extraordinary piacular sacri- 
 fices intended to appease Divine wrath and avert some special 
 evil. So to the storm-tossed heroes returning from Troy the 
 oracle declared sanguine placabis ventos et virgine c&sa. 
 
 In bright contrast with these were the ordinary genial rites 
 of sacrifice practised by the clan at the new moon, or annual 
 festival (i Sam. ix. 12 foil., xx. 6). In course of time a dis- 
 tinction was made between the earlier bloody offerings and the 
 vegetable, or meal offerings. The first was called by the general 
 name of zebach, or shelem^ or the two names were combined 
 into one expression. Shelem is best rendered by ' peace-offering^ 
 since it expressed the state of friendship or communion between 
 the worshipper and his God. A peace-offering might be pre- 
 sented in discharge of a vow, and a certain portion consumed by 
 the worshipper at his own home instead of in assembled con- 
 course. But this practice grew up later, viz., after the suppres- 
 sion of the local sanctuaries (comp. Prov. vii. 14). 
 
 The vegetable, or ' meal-offerings ' (a better phrase than the 
 * meat-offerings ' of the A.V.) were of the nature of a gift, 
 and were, therefore, called by the special name of minchah, 
 'gift,' or * present.' At first this term was used for any 
 offering, and accordingly is applied by the ancient writer of 
 Genesis iv. alike to the sacrifice of Abel and of Cain. But in 
 later times it was appropriated to the vegetable or meal -offerings 
 
APPENDIX 159 
 
 only, and it is the word rendered ' meal-offering ' in the Revised 
 Version. This offering expressed the idea of gift, whereas the 
 bloody offering expressed that of communion between God and 
 the worshipper. 
 
 There was yet another form of sacrifice which expressed the 
 idea of gift still more strongly as an offering wholly presented 
 to God, viz., the whole burnt-offering^ called in Hebrew I 6lah, 
 or kalil) terms frequently combined (i Sam. vii. 9 ; Deut. 
 xiii. 16). The latter word occurs more often in Phoenician 
 inscriptions. The fundamental conception of the 'dlak was 
 self-dedication, and it found expression in * sending up to 
 Jehovah, in the form of smoke,' the victim presented. 
 
 The idea and ritual of sin-offerings are probably more ancient 
 than some writers are disposed to think. Doubtless the ethical 
 conception of sin was one of gradual growth, stimulated by the 
 teachings of the prophets, who constantly inculcated the neces- 
 sity of righteousness in conduct as the only basis of man's satis- 
 factory relationship to God. This circle of ideas became attached 
 to the Jewish sacrificial system, and found its fullest expression 
 in the ethical sense of guilt involved in the impressive ceremonial 
 of the great Day of Atonement. This conception of sin-offering 
 for human guilt, with the ideas of substitution and mediation 
 which are involved, are of special value to all disciples of Christ. 
 For they interpret Christ's mediatorial work as High Priest and 
 the sacrifice offered in His death (Heb. ix. II, 26). 
 
 Butler & Tanner, The Selwood Printing Works, Frome, and London. 
 
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