UNIVERSir/ OF ILUislOIS LiBRARY AT URBANA^HAMPAIGN BOOKSTACKS / / , I MANNE RS OF THE ANCIENT ISRAELITES: CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT- OF THEIR PECULIAR CUSTOMS AND CEREMONIES, THEIR LAWS, POLITY, RELIGION, SECTS, ARTS AND TRADES, DIVISIONS OF TIME, WARS, CAPTIVITIES, &c. WITH A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE ANCIENT AND MODERN SAMARITANS. WRITTEN ORIGINALLY IN FRENCH BY CLAUDE FLEURY, Jibbe of Argenteiiil, and member of the Royal Academy y Paris. THE WHOLE MUCH ENLARGED FROM THE PRINCIPAL WRITERS ON JEWISH ANTIQUITIES, BY ADAM CLARKE, LL. D., F. S. A. '*^©@€)'**** NEW- YORK, PUBLISHED BY B. WAUGH AND T. MASON, For.lhe Methodist Episcopal Church, at the t 'onfcrcnce Office, ]\o. 200 Mulberry -street. J. Colloid, Printer. 1834. PREFACE. Every attempt to illustrate the Bible, the oldest and most important book in the world, a book that has God for its Jiulhor^ and the eter- nal happiness of the human race for its end^ deserves the most serious attention of all those who profess the Christian rehgion. It is granted on all hands that this book has many difficulties ; but this is not peculiar to the Jewish Scriptures: all ancient writings aie full of them : and these difficulties are generally in proportion to the antiquity of such writings ; for the customs, manners, and language of man- kind are continually changing ; and were it not for the help received from the records of suc- ceeding ages, which are only accessible to the learned, many valuable works of primitive times must have remained in impenetrable obscurity. Scholars and critics have exerted themselves in the most laudable manner to remove or eluci- date the difficulties occurring in ancient au- thors ; and (thanks to their industry) they have rendcrccl the study of these writers not only 4 PREFACE. easy but delightful ; and brought the literature of ancient Greece and Rome within the reach even of our children. But the heathen writers have not been the only objects of regard in the grand system of critical disquisition. A host of the most emi- nent scholars that ever graced the republic of letters, or ennobled the human character, have carefully read, and diligently studied, the Sacred Writings ; have felt their beauties, and prized their excellencies ; and, by their learned and pious works, have not only recommended them to mankind at large, but rendered them useful to all who wish to read so as to understand. Some of these have been addressed to the infi- del, others to the scholar, and some to the plain, unlettered Christian. The number of the lat- ter, it is true, has not been great ; but what is deficient in quantity is supphed by the very accurate information they impart. Such works want only to be generally known to become universally esteemed. In the first rank of such writers the Abbe Fleury, and Father Lamy, stand highly and deservedly distinguished ; the former by his treatise entitled Mœurs des Israelites, (the book now before the reader) and the latter by his well known work called Apparatus Bibliçus. The PREFACE. 5 former is the most useful treatise on the subject I have ever met with. In 1756 the Mœurs des Israelites was trans- lated by the Rev. Ellis Farneworth, and dedi- cated to the bishop of Litchfield and Coventry. How it was received I cannot tell, being long before my time ; but if it sold in proportion to the merit of the work, and the fidelity of the execution, a considerable number must soon have been disposed of. When I first thought of preparing a new edition of this work for the public, I intended to re-translate the original ; but on reading over the translation of Mr. Far- ne worth, I was satisfied that a better one, on the whole, could scarcely be hoped for. In gene- ral the language is simple, pure, and elegant ; and both the spirit and unction of the original are excellently preserved. I therefore made no scruple to adopt it, reserving to myself the liberty to correct what I thought amiss, and to add such notes as I judged necessary to the fuller elucidation of the work. As some judicious friends thought the origi- nal work rather too concise, and hinted that several useful additions might be made to it on the same plan, I was naturally led to turn to Father Lamtj for materials, whose work above mentioned I considered as ranking next to that 6 PREFACE. of the Mhe Fleury, From Mr. Bundifs edi- tion, much of the fourth part of the present volume is extracted. Those points which I suppose the Jlbhe had treated too concisely to make intelligible, I have considered more at large ; and some subjects of importance, which he had totally omitted, I have here introduced, To the whole I have added a copious iîidex, by which any subject discussed in the work may at once be referred to. I have now rea- son to hope that every serious Christian^ of whatever denomination, will find this volume a faithful and pleasant guide to a thorough under- standing of all the customs and manners, civil and religious, of that people to whom God ori- ginally intrusted the sacred oracles. Without a proper knowledge of these, it is impossible to see the reasonableness and excellency of that worship, and those ceremonies which God him- self originally established among the Israelites ; and by which he strongly prefigured that glorious revelation under which we have the happiness to live. The late excellent bishop of Norwich, Dr. Horne, recommends this work in the following terms : " This little book contains a concise^ 2)leasing, and just account of the manners, .eus- ioms, Imvsy polity^ and religion of the Israelites. PREFACE. 7 It is an excellent introduction to the reading of the Old Testament, and should be put into the hands of every young person." (DîV courseSyYo]. L) This recommendation will have its due weight both with the learned and the pious. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION. The former edition of this work has been received by the Briti.çh pubUc, with such flatter- ing marks of approbation as are highly honour- able to the memory of its excellent author. In no common case has the public opinion been more correctly formed, nor more unequivocally expressed. The editor too has had his share of the public approbation; and takes this oppor- tunity of acknowledging his grateful sense of the praise bestowed on his part of the work. Act^tecf solely by the desire of doing good to his co^^trymen, and especially to the plain unlettered Christian, he undertook a work frorp-^hich he neiiher expected nor received any kind of emolument, lie has, however, been amply rewarded by the satisfactory conscious- ness of having endeavoured to promote the study of those living oracles which testify of Jesus, and the conviction that his labour has been crowned with success. When he found, from the rapid sale of the first, that a second edition would soon be called ADVERTISEMENT. 9 for, believing the work susceptible of still far- ther improvements, and consequently of being more useful to the public, he determined to spare no pains to render it fully worthy of that patronage, by which it has been already so highly favoured. Having now accomplished his design, as far as circumstances would permit, he thinks it proper to inform the reader what has been done, in order to furnish him with additional pleasure and instruction. 1. The translation has been collated wiîh three copies of the original : the first edition^ published by the Abbe, Paris, 1681, 12mo. The Paris edition of 1736, 12mo, with addi- tional references; and that in the Opuscules de M. L'Mhe Fleiiry, tome i, à Msmes, 1780, 5 vols. 8vo. This collation has given rise to in- numerable alterations and improvements of the translation. 2. The references not only to the Scriptures, but also to the Greek and Latin writers, have been collated with the authors themselves, and a multitude of errors have been corrected which had been increasing with every edition of the work. 3. To render these references more service- able to the reader, many of them have been produced at full length, accon)panied with an . 2 10 ADVERTISEMENT. English translation, where the matter appeared to be of considerable importance. 4. A great variety of notes have been added to illustrate and confirm what is advanced in the text, and to make the meaning more easy to be understood. 5. Some supplementary chapters have been inserted, viz : On the Hebrew Poetry, — Instru^ merits of Music among the ancient Hebrevjs. — Hindoo and JVIohammedan fasts^ purifications, &c, to illustrate those of "the ancient Jews. — A short History of the ancient and modern Samaritans, which was certainly a desideratum in the former editions, together with a short sketch of the present state of the Jews, and a copy of their ancient Liturgy, 6. To the w^ork a Life of the Author is pre- fixed, which had not been done in the former Eng- lish editions, and which, though short, will, it is hoped, serve to bring the reader more particu- larly acquainted with the amiable spirit of this excellent man. On the whole, the editor hopes the work will «ow more effectually answer the purpose for which it was formed, viz : to render the study of the Bible improving and delightful ; and thus especially to the young and inexperienced, prove an antidote against Deism, irréligion^ ADVERTISEMENT. 11 and impiety of all sorts. For he thinks it would be impossible even for a prejudiced mind to read over the history of this ancient people, and compare their political and ecclesiastical state with that of any other nation upon earth, without being convinced that they had sta- tutes and judgments such as no other people could boast of, and such as the human mind could never have devised for itself : in short, that God was among them of a truth, and that they were the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. N. B, The notes which I have borrowed from Mr. Farneworth, I have marked with E. F. SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF THE ABBE FLEURY. Those who have profited by the works of the learned and pious, naturally wish to know who the persons were from whom they have re- ceived so much instruction ; and £u*e glad to meet with any account of lives, which they know must have been spent not only innocently but usefully. This disposition, so natural to man, has been deeply studied by the inspired writers; hence their works abound with biography and biographical anecdotes ; and thus truth teaches not only by precept, but also by example, and hereby seems to assume a body and render it- self palpable. Of the Abbe Fleury I have been able to meet with few anecdotes which can be particularly interesting to the pious reader, as most accounts which have been hitherto pub- lished of him relate chiefly to his literary his- tory. The following memoirs which I have collected from the most authentic sources, are, I must confess, very scanty, but they are such as cannot fail to give some pleasure to those who are admirers of the immortal work to which they are prefixed. 14 SHORT ACCOUNT OF Claude Fleury, in Latin, Claudius Florus^ was born at Paris, Dec. 6, 1640. He was son of a lawyer, originally of the diocess of Rouen, and was brought up to the bar. In 1658, he was received advocate to the parliament in Paris, in which employment he continued for nine years, devoting all his time to the study of jurisprudence and the belles lettres, in which he made uncommon proficiency. This kind of life not entirely suiting his natural inclination, which was gentle, peaceable, and benevolent, he abandoned it, devoted himself to the study of theology, entered into the ecclesiastical state, and, soon arrived at the order of priest- hood. From this time he devoted himself solely to the study of the Sacred Writings, divinity, ec- clesiastical history, the canon law, and the works of the fathers. He confined himself, for a considerable time, to these studies a/one, from a persuasion that they were most suitable to his clerical functions, and that a more extensive range in the sciences, by diffusing the attention too much, must render the judgment and under- standing less profound. His deep piety and solid learning gained him great reputation : and Lewis XIV, who was well qualified to discern great and useful ta- lents, and well knew how to employ them, made him preceptor to the princes of Conii in 1762, whom he caused to be educated with the dau- phin his son. These princes were Lewis Ar- mandy and Francis Lewis ^ son of Armand de THE ABBE FLEURY. 15 Bourbon,, prince of Conti, and chief of that illustrious family. The fidelity and accuracy with which this amiable man discharged the duties of his office in this important business, procured him another pupil from the royal family ; for in 1680 the king made him preceptor to the prince de Ver- mandois, admiral of France, one of his legiti- mated natural sons ; but this prince died in 1683. In 1684, the king, highly pleased with his fi- delity and success in the office of preceptor to the princes, gave him the abby of Loc-DieUy in the diocess of Rhodes : and in 1689, he ap- pointed him subpreceptor to his three grand- children, Lewis, duke of Burgundy; Philip, duke of Anjou ; and Charles, duke of Berri^ sons of the dauphin. In this important em- ployment he was associated with that most ac- complished scholar and most amiable of men, Monsieur Fenelon^ afterward archbishop of Cambray. Like his assistant, the Abbe Fleury had the happy art of rendering virtue amiable by connecting delight with instruction, and of making the precepts of religion pleasant by ex- emplifying them in a placid, steady, and upright conduct. Thua precept and example went hand in hand, and mutually supported each other. Never had pupils greater advantages ; and never were teachers more revered by their pupils. Lewis, duke of Burgundy, became dauphin, April 14, 1711, and died Feb. 18, 1712. PhiUp, duke of Anjou, became king of Spain in 1700, with the title of Philip V. 16 SHORT ACCOUNT OF In 169Ô the French academy chose him for one of its forty members : the highest literary honour in France. A choice due to the merit of Abbe Fleury, and which was at the same time an honour to the academy itself. The studies of the three princes being ended in 1706, the king, who knew as well how to re- ward merit as to distinguish it, presented him with the priory of JSTotre Dame d^JlrgenteuiU in the diocess of Paris : but this learned and con- scientious man, an exact observer of the ca- nons, (which indeed he had made a particular object of study,) gave a rare example of disin- terestedness in delivering up into the hands of the king the abby of Loc-Dieu, which he re- fused to hold in conjunction with his priory! An example, which in the present day we may hope in vain to find, as sinecures and pluralities are sought after with an extreme avidity, every one seeking his gain from his own quarter, and never saying in his heart, it is enough. In 1716 the duke of Orleans, regent of the kingdom, made him confessor to the young king, Lewis XV, son to the duke of Burgundy. In this important employment he continued till 1722, when his age and infirmities obliged him to give it up. Had it not been well known that the Abbe had executed the office of preceptor to the father with the strictest zeal and integ- rity, we may rest assured that he never would have been entrusted with the dearest interests of the son, and indeed those of the whole French l)ation. This was the highest eulogium that THE ABBE FLEURY. 17 could possibly be given of the merit of this ex- traordinary man. For many years he had been in the very high road to preferment, but his dead- ness to the world induced him steadily to avoid any farther advancement ; and being completely satisfied with his priory, he refused to have any thing in addition. Though he lived in the midst of a court where pleasure reigned, and rational devotion to God was unfashionable ; yet he steadily pursued his course, and Uved in the centre of fashion and folly, as if he had been in the inmost recesses of a cell, constantly refusing the slightest com- pliance with any thing that was not conformed to the purest principles of the Gospel of Christ. Having spent a long life in exemplary piety, and laborious usefulness, he died of an apo- plexy, July 14, 1723, in the eighty-third year of his age. On his death several of the academicians sig- nahzed themselves by eulogiums to his memo- ry: a few extracts from which will show in what estimation he was held by that learned body. Mr, Mam, who was chosen to succeed him in the academy, speaks of him in the fol- lowing terms in his inaugural discourse, de- livered before that august assembly, Dec. 2, 1723 :— "Where shall we find so many inestimable qualities united in one person ? An excellent understanding cultivated with intense labour; profound knowledge ; a heart full of uprightness : not onljr innocent in his manners, but leading 18 SHORT ACCOUNT OF a simple, laborious, and edifying life, always ac- companied with sincere modesty : an admirable disinterestedness, an unfailing regularity of con- duct, and perfect fidelity in the performance of his duty ; in a word, an assemblage of all those talents and virtues which constitute the scho- lar, the honest man, and the Christian." In answer to Mr, Adarn^ the Abbe de Ro- quette spoke of this great man in the same high strain of justly merited panegyric. " We shall always deplore the loss of our late pious, learn- ed, and illustrious associate. Nothing can ob- literate the strong impression which his virtues have made on our minds. Candour, uprightness, affability, meekness, and strict probity seemed to constitute the very essence of his souL Na- ture had lavished her choicest talents on his mind ; and study had put him in possession of the riches of knowledge. In him a solid judg- ment was combined with profound penetration. An exquisite taste in every department of litera- ture, with a vast and retentive memory : and a fertile genius, with an indefatigable ardour for appUcation. To these gifts of nature let us add those which he received from grace : a sincere and intelligent piety ; an ardent and in- satiable thirst after truth ; an unbounded love to mankind, and the most scrupulous fidelity in the discharge of every duty imposed by religion; a contempt of honour, and detachment from pe- rishing riches, the love of solitude even in the midst of the pomps of a court; and to sum up the whole, a pure, exemplary, and irreproach- THE ABBE FLEURY* 19 able life." Such truly was the Abbe Fleury, and such the serious reader will perceive him to be in every page of the following inestimable work. Beside the " Manners of the Israelites," and the " Manners of the primitive Christians," the Abbe Fleury pubhshed many other works, the principal of which is his Ecclesiastical History y 20 vols. 12mo, or 13 4to, the first volume of which was published in 1691, and the last in 1722 : it takes in the history of the Church from the birth of our Lord to the year 1414. The author designed to have brought it down to his own times, but was prevented by his death, which took place the following year. It was long well received by the public, and is in ge- neral a truly excellent work, but it is now be- come almost obsolete, the public having decided in favour of similar works, perhaps a little more accurate in some dates and facts, but much less spiritual, and consequently better adapted to the depraved reigning taste of the times. His Historical Catechism,, published first in 1683, 12mo, is also a very valuable work: it has gone through various editions, and has been translated into several languages. All his smaller works, which contain about forty differ- ent treatises, have been collected into 5 vols» 8vo, and published at Nismes, 1780, under the title. Opuscules de JVf. L^Abbe Prieur d^Jirgen- teuil, et confesseur de Roi Louis XV. This edi- tion was printed to accompany a new edition of the Ecclesiastical History, published at the same 20 SHORT ACCOUNT OF place in 25 vols. 8vo. Great, pious, and use- ful as the Abbe Fleury was in his life, his name would have long since been extinct, had he left no writings behind him : by these his memory has been embalmed, and his fame is become imperishable. Every new edition is, so to speak, a resurrection of this learned and pious man ; and by the diffusion of his works, he who was during his life time necessarily confined in courts among the great, becomes introduced to every department of society, teaching piety to God and benevolence to men by his most ex- cellent precepts and amiable spirit. It is to be lamented that no account has been given to the public of the rehgious experience of this emi- nent man, nor of his last moments. As his life was holy and useful, his end must have been peace : thus far we may safely conjecture. The testimonies of his contemporaries speak much for him ; and his unspotted life confirms all that his warmest friends have said of his sincere and unafiected piety. His religion was such as to emit a steady and brilliant light in the midst of a court which at that time had at- tained the acme of worldly glory. Yet even there the man of God was distinguished, and all were obliged to own that the glory of that kingdom which is not of this world, infinitely exceeds all the splendours which can possibly adorn the most illustrious kingdoms of the uni- verse. Reader, give God the glory due to his name for the light which in his eternal mercy he has caused to shine in a dark j^if^cCf as a THE ABBE FLEURY. 2Î testimony to his power and goodness : and lei this example encourage thee to confess thy Lord amidst a crooked and perverse generation, among whom, if thou be not wanting to thyself^ thou mayest shine as a light in the world. Manchester, Dec. 12, 1804. 4 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. PART I. CHAPTER I. The Design of this Treatise. The people, whom God chose to preserve the true rehgioii till the promulgation of the Gospel, are an excellent model of that way of living, which is most conformable to nature. We see in their customs the most rational me- thod of subsisting, employing one's self, and living in society ; and from thence may learn, not only lessons of morality, but rules for our conduct both in public and private life. Yet these customs are so different from our own that at first sight they offend us. We do not see, among the Israelites, those titles of nobility, that, multitude of employments, or diversity of conditions, which are to be found among us. They are only husbandmen and shepherds, all working with their own hands, all married, and looking upon a great^ number of children as the most valuable blessing. The distinction of meats, of clean and unclean ani- mals, with their frequent purifications, seem to us as so many troublesome ceremonies : and their bloody sacrifices quite disgust us. We 24 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. observe, moreover, that these people were prone to idolatry, and, for that reason, are often reproached in Scripture for their perverseness and hardness of heart ; and, by the fathers of the Church, for being stupid and carnally mind- ed. All this, joined to a general prejudice, that what is most ancient is always most imperfect, easily influences us to believe, that these men were brutish 8^nd ignorant, and their customs more worthy of contempt than admiration.* And this is one reason why the Holy Scrip- tures, especially those of the Old Testament, are so much neglected, or read to so little pur- pose. Several well-meaning people, who have not quite got over such prejudices, are discou- raged by the outward appearance of these strange customs ; and either impute the whole,* without distinction, to the imperfection of the old law ; or imagine that some mysteries, be- yond their comprehension, are concealed under these external appearances. Others, for want of faith, or uprightness of heart, are tempted, upon such pretences, to despise the Scripture * It would not be difficult to prove, that the major part, if not the whole of the animals, the eating of whose flesh was forbidden under the Mosaic law, arc unfit for the purposes of nutrition. Blood, which is so often and so soleninly forbidden, affords a most gross and innutritive aliment. The laws relative to lepers and other infected persons, and those which forbade contact with dead or putrid carcasses, were wisely or- dered to prevent tlic reception and dilfusion of conta-f gion. Their frequent washings and bailiin<^;s alsOj^iad the most direct tendency to promoLc health andrCnsurc a long and comfortable life. DESIGN or THIS TREATISE. 25 itself, as full of mean and trivial matters ; or draw wrong conclusions from it to countenance their own vices. But, upon comparing the manners of the Israelites with those of the Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, and other people of former ages, which we hold in the highest veneration, these prejudices soon vanish. We observe a noble simplicity in them, greatly preferable to all refinements ; that the Israelites had every thing that was valuable in the customs of their con- temporaries, without many of their defects, and a great advantage over them in understanding (what ought to be our chief aim in this life) the nature of that true religion, which is the foundation of morality. We must learn then to distinguish what is only offensive to us in their customs, from what is really blameworthy ; what we do not like upon account of the distance of times and places, though it be in itself indifferent, from that which, being good in itself, displeases us for no other reason than because we are corrupt in our manners. For, most of the difference be- tween us and them does not proceed from our being more enlightened by Christianity, but from our being less guided by reason. The Christian religion did not introduce this grefit inequality of conditions, this disdain of labour, this eagerness for diversions, this authority of women and young people, this aversion from a simple and frugal hfe, which make us differ so much from the ancients. It would have been / 3 26 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. much easier to have made good Christians of those shepherds and ploughmen, which we see in their history, than of our courtiers, lawyers, or farmers of the revenue, and many others that spend their lives in an idle and discontented poverty. Let it be observed, that I do not pretend to make a panegyric upon this people ; but to give a very plain account, like that of travellers, who have seen far distant countries: I shalt describe what is good, bad, or indifferent, just as it is, and only desire the reader to divest himself of all prejudice, that he may judge of these customs by good sense and right reason alone ; to discard the ideas that are peculiar to his own age and country, and consider the Israelites in the circumstances of time and place wherein they lived ; to compare them with their nearest neighbours, and by that means to enter into their spirit and maxims.—^ We must indeed be entire strangers to history, not to see the great difference which distance of time and place occasions in people's man- ners. We inhabit the same country which the ancient Britons, and afterward the Romans, dwelt in : and yet how much do we vary from both in their way of living ; nay, even from that of our own countrymen, who lived seven or eight hundred years ago And aJt present, + Who would imagine ihwi the prepenl inhabitants of Great Britain, who spend so much time çind money in unmeaning, useless, and ridiculous modes of dressj are the descendants of a race of people, wiiô, in th*^ DESIGN OF THIS TREATISE. 27 what likeness is there between our customs and those of the Turks, Indians, and Chinese î If then, we consider these two sorts of distance together, we shall be so far from being asto- nished that they who lived in Palestine three thousand years ago, had customs different from ours, that w e shall rather wonder if we find any thing in them alike. We must not imagine, however, that these changes are regular, and always come on in the same space of time. Countries that are very near each other often differ widely in their religion and politics ; as, at this day, Spain and Africa, which, under the Roman empire, had the same customs. On the contrary, there is 'iow a great resemblance between those of Spain and Germany, though there was then none. The same holds good in respect to the difference of times. They that are not acquaint- ed with history, having heard it said, that the people of former ages were more simple than we, suppose the world is always growing more polite ; and that the farther any one looks back into antiquity, the more stupid and ignorant he will find^mankind to have been. But it is not really so in countries that have been inhabited successively by different people : the revolutions that have happened there have very sarme climate and land, went almost naked, not only during the scorching heats of summer, but also through the chill in <2; blasts of winter? And yet, were more liealthy, vigorous and robust than their present «legfnerate offspring. / 28 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. always, from time to time, introduced misery and ignorance, after prosperity and good man- ners. So, Italy is now in a much better con- dition than it was eight hundred years ago. — But eight hundred years before that, under the first Cesars, it was happier, and in a more prosperous state than it is at present. It is true, if we go back eight hundred years more, near the time that Rome was founded, the same Italy will appear much poorer and less polished, though at that time very populous : and still the higher we ascend, it will seem more wretched and uncultivated. Nations have thoir periods of duration, like particular men. The most flourishing state of the Greeks was under Mexancler ; of the Romans, under Augustus ; and of the Israelites, under Solomon. We ought, therefore, to distinguish in every people, their beginning, their greatest prosperi- ty, and their declension. In this manner I shall consider the Israehtes, during all that space of time that they were a people, from the calhng of Abraham, to the last destruction of Jerusa- lem. It contains more than two thousand years, which I shall divide into three periods, according to the three different states of this people. The first, of the patriarchs; the second, of the Israelites, from their going out of Egypt to the Babylonish captivity; and the third, of the Jews, after they returned from captivity, to the promulgation of the Gospel. OF THE PATRIARCHS. 29 CHAPTER IT. Of the Patriarchs^— Their Nobility. The patriarchs lived after a noble manner, in perfect freedom and great plenty, notwith- standing their way of living was plain and labo- rious. Abraham knew the whole succession of his ancestors, and no way lessened his nobi- lity, since he married into his own family. He took care to provide a wife of the same race for his son, in whom were fulfilled all the pro- mises that God had made to him : and Isaac taught Jacob to observe the same law. The long lives of the fathers gave them an opportunity of educating their children well, and of making them serious and considerate betimes. Abraham lived more than a hundred years with Shem, and no doubt learned from * Patriarch, from the Greek irarpiapx^ih which literal- ly signifies the chief or head of a family. The term is applied properly to the progenitors of the Jewish peo- ple, and especially to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the twelve sons of the latter. The patriarchal govern- ment existed in the fathers of families and their first- born sons after them, and included the regal and sacer- dotal authority ; and not unfrequently the prophetic. — This authority, which every first-born son exercised over all the widely extended branches of a numerous family, is termed in Scripture the birth-right. The pa- triarchal dispensation includes all the time from the crea- tion of the world, till thde giving of the law. The patri- archs are divided into classes, the antediluvian and post" dUuvian : to the former belong Adam, Seth, Enoch, &c* To the latter Abram, Isaac, Jacob, &c. 30 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. him the state of the world before the deluge^,. He never left his father, Terah, and was aê least seventy years old when he lost him. — Isaac was seventy-five when Abraham died, and, as far as we know, never went from him all that time.* It is the same with respect to the other patriarchs. Living so long with their fathers, they had the benefit of their experience and inventions. They prosecuted their designs, adhered firmly to their maxims, and became constant and uniform in their con- duct. For it was a difficult matter to change what had been settled by men who were still alive ; especially as the old men kept up their authority, not only over the youth, but also the elders that were not so old as themselves. The remembrance of things past might be easily preserved by the bare relation of old men, who naturally love to tell stories of ancient - times, and had so much leisure for it. By this means they had no great use for wrifing ; and • it is certain we find no mention of it before Moses. However difficult it may seem to conceive that so many calculations as he recites should have been preserved in the memory of men, as the age of all the patriarchs. Gen. v ; the * The author follows here the chronology of Arch- bishop Usher, who supposes that Shem did not die till 150 years after the birth of Abraham. But Usher leaves the second Cainan out of his chronology, whom the Septuagint and St. Luke place between Arphaxad and Salah. This second Cainan throws the birth o£' Abraham much farther back. OF THE PATRIARCHS. exact dates af the beginning and end of the flood, Gen, vii, 11 ; viii, 13; the dimensions of the ark. Gen. vi, 15, &c ; yet there is no ne- cessity for recurring to miracle and revelation. For it is probable that writing was found out before the deluge : as we are sure musical instruments were^ though not so necessary, Gen. iv, 21. But though Moses might have learned, in the common way, most of the facts which he has written, I believe, nevertheless, that he was influenced by the Holy Spirit to record these facts, rather than others, and express them in terms most proper for the pur- pose. Beside, the patriarchs took care to preserve the memory of considerable events by setting up altars and pillars and other lasting monuments. Thus Abraham erected altars in the diflerent places where God had appeared to him, Gen. xii, 8 ; xiii, 18 ; Jacob consecrated the stone which served him for a pillow while he had the myste- rious dream of the ladder, Gen. xxviii, 18 ; and the heap of stones which was witness to his covenant with Laban, he called Galeed, Gen. xxxi, 48. Of this kind was the sepulchre of Rachel ; the well called Beersheba, Gen. xxvi, 33 ; and all the other wells mentioned in the his- tory of Isaac. Sometimes they gave new names to places. The Greeks and Romans relate the same of their heroes, the eldest of whom lived near the times of the patriarchs, Pausan. passim. Dion. Hal. lib. i. Greece was full of their monuments : JEneas, to men- 32 MANNERS OF THE ISilAELIT£S, ti6n no others, left some in every place that he passed through in Greece, Sicily, and Italy, {Viro'lL JE n, passim,) The very names of the patriarchs were be- side a sort of more simple and familiar monu- ments. They signified some remarkable cir- cumstance of their birth, or particular favour received from God. So they were in effect a short history.^ For they took care to explain the reason of these names to their children, and it was hardly possible to pronounce them with- out refreshing the memory with it. This care for posterity^ and providence for the future, w^as an argument of true generosity and greatness of mind. The patriarchs enjoyed perfect freedom, and their family was a little state, of which the father^ was, in manner, king. For what did * Such, for instance, as Abram, from 3X ab, a father, and on "am, high; called afterward Abraham, Dn"i3N « father of multitudes; the n being inserted before D; for Dn ham, is a contraction of pen hamon, a multitude. Peleg, from :hQ pala^, he divided : for in his days, says the text, Gen. x, 25, the earth, (r\}bQ} nipilegah) was divided, Manasses, the son of Joseph, signifies forgetting, from nwi nashah, he tvas forgetfid, for, said he, Gen. xli, 51, God hath made me forget, nashshani) allmij la- bours, and my father^ s house. Ephraim, fruitful, from n-ii3 pharah, he lo as fruitful ; for, said Joseph his father, inon hiphrani, God hath made me fruitful in the land of my affliction. Gen. xli, 52. Joseph, addition, or increase, from r|D^ Yasaph, he added or increased; because, said his mother' nin^ «iDP Yoseph Jehovah, the L(yrd shall add to me another son, Gen. XXX, 25. THEIR RiCHES AND EJIPLOYMENTS. ,33 Abraham want of the power of sovereigns, but their vain titles, and inconvenient ceremonies ? He was subject to nobody ; kings concluded alliances with him : he made war and peace when he pleased. Princes sought the alliance of Isaac, Gen. xxvi, 26, 28. Ishmael, Jacobs and Esau, were likewise independent. We must not then suffer ourselves to be misled by names, nor think Abfaham inferior to Amraphel or Abimelech, because the Scripture does not call him king as well as them. He was cer- tainly equal to one of those four kings, whom he defeated with his domestic forces, and the • assistance of his three allies. Gen. xiv, 14, 15. The greatest difference was that he did not shut himself up within walls as they did, and that his whole family followed him to any place whither he had a mind to move his tents. All authentic history testifies that kingdoms were very small, even in the east, at that time of day ; and we find them so in other countries a great while after. CHAPTER III. Their Riches and Employments. The riches of the patriarchs consisted chiefîy in cattle. Abraham must have had a vast stock, when he was obliged to part from his nephew, Lot, because the land was not able to bear them together, Gen. xiii, 6. Jacob had a 34 MANNERS OF TrfE ISRAELITES. great number when he came back from Meso-» potamia ; since the present that he made to his brother Esau was Jite hundred and eighty head of different sorts^ Gen. xxxii, 13, 15. From which we may Hkewise learn what sort of beasts they bred, viz : goats, sheep, camels, horned cattle, and asses. There were no horses nor swine among Ihem. It was such plenty of cattle which made them set so great a value upon wells and cis- terns, in a country where there was no river but Jordan, and rain very seldom. They had slaves too : and Abraham must have had an abundance of them, since he armed three hundred and eighteen men of those that were born in his house and trained up by him- self. Gen. xiv, 14. In proportion, he must have had plenty of children^ old men^ ivomen^ and slaves that were bought with money. When he returned from Egypt, it was said he was rich in gold and silver. Gen. xiii, 2. The bracelets and earrings, which his servant Eli^ ezer made a present of to Rebecca from his master, weighed six ounces of gold^ Gen. xxiv, 22 ; and the purchase of his burying place shows that money was in use at that time. Gen. xxiii, 16. We see likewise that perfumes and costly raiment were made use of* by Esau's * Gen. xxvii, 27. But does not this rather intimate that odoriferous plants or herbs, wore laid up with the clothes in the chests or coffers where they were kept ? A custom that prevails among the inhabitants of some countries to the present day. THËIR RICHES AND EMPLOYMENTS. 35 clothes, which Jacob wore to obtain his father's blessing. With all their riches they were very labo- rious, always in the field, lying under tents, shifting theiç^abode according to the conve- nience of pasture, and consequently often taken up with encamping and decamping, and fre- quently upon the march : for they could make but short days' journeys with so numerous an attendance. Not but that they might have built towns as w^ell as their countrymen: but they chose this way of living. It was without doubt the most ancient, since it is easier to set up tents than to build houses ; and has always been reckoned the most perfect, as attaching men less to this world. Thus the condition of the patriarchs is best represented, who lived here only as sojourners waiting for the pro- mises of God, Heb. xi, 9, 13, which were not to be accomplished till after their death. The first cities that are mentioned were built by wicked men. Gen. iv, 17. Cain and Nimrod were the first that erected walls and fortifica- tions to secure themselves from the punishmènt due to their crimes, and to give them an oppor^ tunity of committing fresh ones with impunity. Gen. X, 10. Good men lived in the open air, having nothing to make them afraid. The chief employment of the patriarchs was the care of their cattle : their whole history shows it, and the plain account which the sons of Jacob gave (Tf themselves to the king of Egypt, Gen. xlvii, 3. Though husbandry bD 36 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. very ancient, the pastoral life is the more per- fect. The first was the lot of Cain, the bro- ther of Abel, Gen. iv, 2. It has something in it more simple and noble ; it is laborious, at- taches one less to the world, and yet more pro- fitable. The elder Cato {De Re Rustic, in Init.) preferred a stock of cattle, though but a moderate one, to tillage, which yet he thought better than any other way of improving his fortune. The just reprimand which Jacob gave to Laban, shows that the patriarchs laboured hard at their work, and did at no time neglect it : / have served thee twenty years, says he, in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep departed from mine eyes, Gen. xxxi, 40. One may judge of the men's labo- rious way of living by that of the young wo- men. Rebecca came a good way off to draw water, and carried it upon her shoulders, Gen. xxiv, 15 ; and Rachel herself kept her father's flock. Gen. xxix, 9. Neither their nobihty nor beauty made them so delicate as to scruple it. This primeval simplicity was long retained among the Greeks, whose good breeding we yet admire with so much reason. Homer af- fords us examples of it throughout his works, and pastorals have no other foundation. It is certain that in Syria, Greece, and Sicily, there were persons of eminence who made it their sole occupation to breed cattle for more than one thousand five hundred years after the pa- triarchs ; and who, in the great leisure that sort THEIR FRUGALlTr. 37 of life afforded, and the good humour those delightful countries inspired them with, com- posed several little pieces of poetry, still extant, of inimitable b^ejiuty and simplicity. \- CHAPTER IV. Their Frugality. The patriarchs were not at ail nice in their eating or other necessaries of life ; one may judge of their common food by the pottage of lentiles that Jacob had prepared, which tempted Esau to sell his birthright. Gen. xxv, 29, 34. — But we have an instance of a splendid enter- tainment in that which Abraham made for the three angels, Gen. xviii, 6. He set a calf before them, new breads but baked upon the hearth ; together with butler and milk. It seems they had some sort of made dishes, by that which Rebecca cooked for Isaac ; but his great age may excuse this delicacy. This dish was made of two kids, Gen. xxvii, 9. Abra- ham dressed a whole calf for the angels, and three measures of meal made into bread, which comes to more than two of our bushels, and nearly to fifty-six pounds of our weight. — Whence we may conclude they were great eat- ers, used much exercise, and were perhaps of a larger stature as well as longer lives than we. The Greeks seem to think that the men of the heroic ages were of great stature ; and Homer 38 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. makes them great eaters. When Eumseus {Odyss. xiv, 1. 74, Tb. 1. 419,) entertained Ulysses, he dressed two pigs, probably young ones, for himself and his guest ; and on ano- ther occasion, a hog of five' years old for five persons. Homer's heroes wait upon themselves in the common occasions of life ; and we see the patriarchs do the same. Abraham, who had so many servants, and was nearly a hundred years old, brings the water himself to wash the feet of his divine guests, bids his wife make the bread quickly, goes himself to choose the meat, and comes again to serve them standing. Gen. xviii, 4. I will allow that he was ani- mated upon this occasion with a desire of showing hospitality; but all the rest of their lives is of a piece with it. Their servants were to assist them, but not so as to exempt them from working themselves. In fact, who could have obliged Jacob, wiien he went into Meso- potamia, to travel a journey of more than two hundred leagues (for it was at least so far from Beersheba to Haran) alone and on foot, with only a staff in his hand ? Gen. xxxii, 10. What, I say, could oblige him to it but his own com- mendable plainness and love of toil ? Thus he rests where night overtakes him, and lays a stone under his head instead of a pillow. And although he was so tenderly fond of Joseph, he does not scruple sending him alone from He- bron to seek his brethren at Shechem, which was a long day's« journey; and when Joseph THEIR FRUGALITY. 39 does not find them there, he goes on to Dothan, more than a day's journey farther, Gen. xxxvii, 15, 17, and all this when he was but sixteen years old. It was this plain and laborious way of life, no doubt, that made them attain to such a great old age, and die so calmly. Both Abraham and Isaac lived nearly two hundred years. The other patriarchs whose age is come to our knowledge, exceeded a hundred at least, and we do not hear that they were ever sick during so long a hfe. He gave up the ghost^ and died in a good old age, full of days, is the manner in which the Scripture describes their death, Gen. XXV, 8. The first time we read of physic cians is, when it is said that Joseph commanded his domestics to embalm the body of his father, Gen. 1, 2. This was in Egypt ; and many have ascribed the invention of physic to the Egyptians, {^^ug. de Civ. Dei. xvi, 25.) The moderation of the patriarchs vith regard to loives is no less to be admired, when we con- sider, 1st, They were allowed to have several; and 2dly, Their desire of a numerous posterity. Abraham, whom God had promised to make the father of an innumerable people, though he had a barren wife, was so far from thinking of taking another that he had made a resolution of leaving his substance to the steward of his house, Gen. xv, 2. He did not take a second till he was eighty-six years old, and it was his own wife who gave her to him, Gen. xvi, 2.^ * The handmaids, as they are termed, were a sort of 40 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. We must not say that he was still young with respect to his hfe, which was a hundred seveniij- five years long ; because, thirteen years after, he and Sarah, who was ten years younger, are called old, and laughed at it as an incredible thing, when God promised them a son. Gen. xviii, 11. As old as Abraham was, and as desirous, as we may suppose him, to see the children of Isaac, he did not marry him till he was forty years old. Gen. XXV, 20 ; and though Rebecca had no child for twenty years, and never but two, and those at one birth, Gen. xxv, 21, &c, Isaac had no other wife. It is true, Jacob had two wives at the same time, and as many concubines ; but it is fit we should consider the reason of it. He stayed till he was seventy-seven with his father, waiting for the important blessing which he had a right to by the resignation of his brother : at that age he thought of marrying, and asked for Rachel, hid did not obtain her till he had served seven years, Gen. xxix, 20. At last then he married at eighty -f our. ^ They gave him Leah slaves, one of which was usually given by a father lo bis daughter on her marriage : tience they were con- sidered the unalienable property of their mi.^tresses, who claimed not only the fruit of their labour, \mt also the very children they bore. See above, and also chap, xxix, 24, 29. ♦ When Joseph appeared before Pharaoh he was thirty years of age. Gen. xli, 46, at which liine his father was 121 ; for when he appeared before Pharaoh he was 1 30 years old, Gen. xlvii, 9, and nine years had elapsed from the time Joseph was presented to Pharaoh till the time that Jacob und his fiim ly carne into Egypt, viz. THEIR FRUGALITY. 41 against his will, and he kept her that she might not be disgraced. But as he might have more wives than one, or marry two sisters without the breach of any law then existing, he took her too, that he had first engaged to wed, Gen. xxix, 30. When she found herself barren, she gave her husband a handmaid to have children by her. This was a sort of adoption practised at that time : and her sister did the same, that the family might be increased. From all which St. Augustine draws this conslusion : We do not read that Jacob desired any more than one tvife, or made use of more ivithoui strielly observ- ing the rules of conjugal chastity, (De Civ. Dei, xvi, 25, 38.) We must not imagine he had other wives before ; for why should the lust only be mentioned ? And yet I do not undertake to justify all the patriarchs in this point. The story of Judah and his sons affords but too many examples of the contrary, Gen. xxxviii. I would only show, that we cannot, with justice, accuse those of in- continence whom the Scripture reckons holy. For with regard to the rest of mankind, they were from that time very much corrupted. Such then, in general, was the first state of God's people. An entire freedom, without any government but that of a father, who was an absolute monarch in his own family. A life very natural and easy, through a great abun- seven years of plenty and two of famine ; consequenily Jàcob was ninety-one years old wJ. en Josepli waa bonii i^^ugiist, de Civit, Dei, lib. xviii, c. 4.) 4 42 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. dance of necessaries, and an utter contempt of superfluities ; through an honest labour, accom- panied with care and frugality, without anxiety or ambition. Let us now proceed to the second period: which is, thatof the IsraeUtes, from their coming out of Egypt to the Babylonish captivity. It lasted more than nine hundred yearsy and most of the Sacred Writings relate to it. PART II. CHAPTER I. The Israelites — Their Kohility. Though the people were already very nume- rous, they were still called the children of Israel, as if they had been but one family ; in the same manner as they said, the children of Edom, the children of JVloab, &c. Indeed all these people were still distinct : they knew their own origin, and took a pride in preserving the name of their author. Thence probably it comes that the name of childreri signified with the ancients, a nation, or certain sort of people. Homer often says, the children of the Greeks, and the children of the Trojans. The Greeks used to say, the children of the physicians, and grammarians. With the Hebrews, thè children of the east, arc the eastern people ; the children of BeliaU the wicked ; the children of men, or THEIR NOBILITY. 43 v4rfam, mankind. And in the Gospel we often see, the children of this world, — of darkness, and of light — and also, the children of the bridegroom, for those that go along with him to his wedding. The IsraeUtes were divided into twelve tribes, Gen. xlix, 1-28. There was the same number of the Ishmaelites, Gen. xxv> 13-16, and as many of the Persians. {Xenoph, Cyrop. p. 5, Edit. Steph. 1581.) The people of Athens were at first composed of four tribes, afterward divided into ten, to which they gave the names of ten heroes, who for this reason were called Eponymi, and whose statues were set up in the public exchange. {Demos th, in Timocr, in Leptin, et ibi Ulpian. E'ttc^jvu/xoi, Hpws^..) The Roman people were also distributed into three or four tribes, which increased to thiiHy-five. The names of them are still upon record. But these Athenian and Roman tribes were made up of different famiUes, collected together to keep order in their assemblies and elections : whereas, those of the Israelites were naturally distinct, and were only twelve large families, descended from twelve brothers. They were very exact m keeping their gene- alogies, and knew all the succession of their ancestors, as high as the patriarch of their tribe, from whom it was easy going back to the first man. Thus they were really brethren, that is to say, kinsmen, according to the eastern language, and of genuine nobility, if ever there was such a thing in the world. 44 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. They had preserved the purity of their fami- lies, by taking care, as their fathers did, not to marry with the nations descended from Canaan, who were under a curse, Exod. xxxiv, 16 ; Deut. vii, 3. For we do not find that the patri- archs avoided matches with any other people, or that they were expressly forbidden by the law to marry with them. Their families were fixed and attached by the same law to certain lands, ©n which they were obliged to live, during the space of the nine hundred years I have mentioned. Should we not esteem that family very noble, indeed, that could show as long a succession of generations, without any disgrace- ful weddings in it, or change of mansion ? Few noblemen in Europe can prove so much. What deceives us in this respect is, our not seeing titles among the Israelites like those of our nobility. Every one was called plainly by his own name ; but their names signified great things, as those of the patriarchs. The name of God was part of most ; which was in a man- ner a short prayer. Elijah and Joel are made up of two of God's names joined in a diflerent way Jehoshaphat and Sephatiah signify the judgment of God: Jehozadak and Zedekiah, his justice : Johanan, or John, the son of Hana- niah, his mercy: Nathanael, Elnathan, Jona- * Elijah, in Hebrew m^'rN a contraction of iOn n*» ^Vî< Jehovah he is my strong God, Joel ^xv signifies îyiZ/ing" or acquiescing^ from yaal, he willed, and is not compounded of yah, .lehovali ; and El, the strong God, as the Abbe seems to have supposed. THEIR NOBILITY. 45 than, and Nethaniah, all four signify, Godgiven^ or the gift of God. Sometimes the name of God was understood, as in Nathan, David, Obid, Uzzah, Ezra or Esdras : as is plain by Eliezer, God my helper: Uzziel, God my strength : and Obadiah, the Lord's servant : where it is expressed. Some of their names were mysterious and prophetical, as that of Joshua or Jesus, Saviour^ and those which Hosea and Isaiah gave their children by the order of God, Hosea i, 4; Isaiah viii, 3. Other names showed the piety of their fathers ; and we may see instances of it in the names of David's brethren and children, 1 Chron. ii, 13, and iii, 1. Such are the names which appear so barba- rous to us for want of understanding the Hebrew tongue. Are they not full as significant as those of castles and towns, which our nobility as- sume? The Greek names, whose sound we are so fond of, are of the same import. Many are composed of the names of their gods ; as Diodorus, Diogenes^ Hermodorus, Hephœstionj Aihenais, Artemisia. But several are derived from their love of exercise, particularly of riding, as Philip, Damasippus^ or Hippodamus, Hege- sippus, Hippomedon, &c.* * DiODORUs Tov Sioç So}pov, the gift of Jupiter. Dio- genes, yevoç TOV 5(0f, bom of Jupiter, Hermodorus, from Ep/iifç and 6(ûpovy the gift of Mercury, H eph^stion, Vulcan. Athenais, Minerva. Artemisia, Diana, Philippus a lover of horses. Damasippus, Hippomedon, Hippo DAMUs, a tamer of horses, Hegesippus, chief or captain of horse. 46 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES, They often added the father's name, either for distinction or respect's sake, to show that the father was a man of renown : perhaps Solo- mon had this custom in his eye, when he said, the glory of children are their fathers^ Prov. xvii, 6. Thus we see in Homer, that the Greeks took the paternal name for a mark of honour.* Sometimes the mother's name was given for the surname ; as when the father had many wives, or when the mother was of the better family. So Joab and his brethren are always called the sons of Zeruiah, who was David's sis- ter, 1 Chron. ii, 16. If the name of the father was not distinction enough, they added the grand- father's as Gedaliah the son of Jlhikam^ the son of Shaphan, Jer. xxxix, 14. And this is the reason of so many names that appear tiresome to us ; for they went sometimes as high as the great-grandfather, or higher. Sometimes a surname was taken from the head of a particu- lar branch, from a town, a country, or a nation, if they were originally strangers ; as Uriah the Hittite, Jlraunah the Jebuzite, The Greeks had no surnames but what they took from their father or country. The Romans had family names, to which they only added the distinction of some great office or remark- able victory ; but in deeds, they always set down the father's name. Many of the Euro- X, 68. "Call every single person by his name. And add the father's name to grace the son's." THEIR NOBILITY. 47 pean nations still retain the same custom ; and most of our surnames come from the proper names of the fathers, which have remained with their children. As to the titles of lordships^ they are not above seven or eight hundred years old, no more than the lordships them- selves. We must not be surprised to see in Scripture, David the son of Jesse, and Solomon the son of David, any more than Alexander the son of Philip, and Ptolemy the son of Legus, in Greek authors. The principal distinction that birth occasion^ ed among the Israelites, was that of the Lé- vites and priests. The whole tribe of Levi was dedicated to God, and had no inheritance but the tenths and the first fruits, which it re- ceived from the other tribes. Of all the Lé- vites, the descendants of Aaron only were priests ; the rest were employed in the other functions of religion ; in singing psalms, taking care of the tabernacle or temple, and instruct- ing the people. Two of the other tribes were sufficiently distinguished. That of Judah was always the most illustrious and the most nume- rous ; of which, according to Jacob's prophe- cy, their kings, and the Messiah himself, were to come, Gen. xlix, 10. That of Ephraim held the second rank on account of Joseph. Yet the eldest branches and the heads of each family were most esteemed in every tribe : and this made Saul say, surprised with the respect that Samuel paid him, Am not I of the smallest of the tribes of Israel, and my family the least of all 48 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. the families of the iribe of Benjamin ? 1 Samuel ix, 21. Age, too, made a great distinction ; and the name of old man in Scripture generally denotes dignity. Indeed, there was nothing but age and experience that could distinguish men equal- ly noble, and of the same education and em- ployments and almost equally rich. CEiAPlER II. Their Employments — Agriculture. We do not find any distinct professions among the Israelites. Erom the eldest of the tribe of Judah to the youngest of that of Ben- jamin, they were all husbandmen and shepherds, driving their plougjhs and watching their flocks themselves. The old man of Gibeah, that lodged the Levite, whose wife was abused, was coming back at night from his work, when he invited him to sojourn with him. Judges xix, 16. Gideon himself was threshing his corn when the angel told him he should deliver his people, Judges vi, 11. Ruth got into the good graces of Boaz by gleaning at his harvest. Saul, though a king, was driving oxen when he received the news of the danger Jabesh Gilead was in, 1 Sam. xi, 6. Every body knows that David was keeping sheep, when Samuèl sent to look for him to anoint him king, 1 Sam. xvi, 11 ; and he returned to his flock after he had been called to play upon th^ THEIR EMPLOYMENTS. 49 harp before Saul, 1 Sam. xvii, 15. After he was king, his sons made a great feast at the shearing of their sheep, 2 Sam. xiii, 23. Elisha was called to be a prophet as he drove one of his father's twelve ploughs, 1 Kings xix, 19. The child that he brought to life again was with his father at the harvest when it fell sick» 2 Kings iv, 18. And Judith's husband, though very rich, got the illness of which he died on the like occasion, Judith vii, 3. The Scrip- ture abounds with such examples. This, without doubt, is what most offends those who are not acquainted with antiquity, and have no opinion of any customs but their own. When they hear of ploughmen and shepherds, they figure to themselves a parcel of clownish boors, that lead a slavish, miserable life, in poverty and contempt, without courage, with- out sense or education. They donH consider, that what makes our country people commonly so wretched is their being slaves to all the rest of mankind : since they work not only for their own maintenance, but to furnish necessaries for all those that live in high and polished life. — For it is the countryman that provides for the citizens, the officers of the courts of judicature and treasury, gentlemen, and ecclesiastics : and whatever ways we make use of to turn money into provisions, or provisions into money, all will end in the fruits of the earth, and those 'animals that are supported by them. Yet when we compare all these different conditions toge- ther, we generally place those that work in the 50 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. country in the last rank : and most people set a greater value upon fat^ idle citizens^ that are weak and lazy and good for nothings because, being richer, they live more luxuriously, and at their ease. But if we imagine a country, where the dif- ference of conditions is not so great, where to live genteelly is not to live without doing any thing at all, , but carefully to preserve one's liberty, which consists in being subject to no- thing but the laws and public authority ; wh/ere the inhabitants subsist upon their own stock, without depending upon any body, and are con- tent with a little, rather than do a mean thing to grow rich ; a country, where idleness, effe- minacy, and ignorance of what is necessary for the support of life, are discountenanced, and where pleasure is in less esteem than health and strength : in such a country it would be more creditable to plough, or keep a flock, than to follow diversions, and idle away the whole of a man's time. Now there is no neces- cesity of having any recourse to Plato's com- monwealth to find men of this character, for so iived the greatest part of mankind for nearly four thousand years. To begin with what we are best acquainted with. Of this sort were the maxims of the Greeks and Romans. We see every where in Homer, kings and princes living upon the fruits of their lands and their flocks, and work- ing with their own hands. (^S'ee the Iliad and Odijsney^ passim,) Ilesiod has written a poem THEIR HUSBANDRY, &C. 51 on purpose to recommend husbandry, as the only creditable means of subsisting and im- proving one's fortune ; and finds fault with his brother, to whom he addresses it, for living at other people's expense, by pleading causes, and following affairs of that kind.* He reckons this employment, which is the sole occupation of so many among us, no better than idleness. — We see by Xenophen's Œconomics that the Greeks had no way lessened their opinion of husbandry, when they were at the highest pitch of poUteness. We must not, therefore, impute the fondness of the Romans for husbandry to stupidity and want of letters : it is rather a sign of their good sense. As all men are born with limbs and bodies fit for labour, they thought every one ought to make use of them ; and that they could not do it to better purpose than in making the earth aflTord them a certain maintenance and innocent plenty. It was not, however, covet- ousness that recommended it to them; since the same Romans despised gold , and the pre- sents of strangers. Nor was it want of cou- rage and bravery ; since at that very time they subdued all Italy, and raised those powerful armies with which they afterward conquered the whole world. On the contrary, the painful and frugal life they led in the country was the chief reason of their great strength^ making * Hesiodi opera et Dies, lib i, v. 26. Hesiod flourished about 876 years before the Christian era ; and was the first poet who celebrated agriculture in verse. 52 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. their bodies robust by inuring them to labour» and accustoming them to severe discipline. — - Whoever is acquainted with the life of Cato the Censor, cannot suspect him of a low way of thinking, or of meanness of spirit ; yet that great man, who had gone through all the offices in the commonwealth when it flourished most, who had governed provinces and commanded armies ; that great orator, lawyer, and politi- cian, did not think it beneath him to write of the various ways of managing lands and vines, the method of building stables for different sorts of beasts, and a press for wine or oil : and all this in the most circumstantial manner ; so that we see he understood it perfectly, and did not write out of ostentation or vain glory, but for the benefit of mankind. {See his work De Re Rustica.) Let us then frankly own that our contempt of husbandry is not founded upon any solid reason ; since this occupation is no way in- consistent with courage, or any other virtue that is necessary either in peace or war, or even in^true politeness. Whence then does it proceed ? I will endeavour to show the real cause. It comes only from use, and the old customs of our own country. The Franks, and other people of Germany, lived in coun- tries that were covered with forests : they had neither corn, nor wine, nor any good fruits ; so that they were obliged to live by hunting, as the savages still do in the cold countries of America. After they had crossed the Rhine, THEIR HUSBANDRY, SiC, 53 and settled on better lands, they were ready- enough to take the advantages that result from agriculture, arts, and trade ; but would not ap- ply themselves to any of them. They left this occupation to the Romans, whom they had sub- dued, and continued in their ancient ignorance, which time seemed to have made venerable ; and attached such an idea of nobility to it, as we have still much ado to abandon. But in the same degree that they lessened the esteem for agriculture, they brought hunt- ing into credit, of which the ancients made but little account. They held it ia the highest repute, and advanced it to very great perfection, sparing neither pains nor expense. This has been generally the employment of the nobility- Yet, to consider things in a true light, the labour spent in tilling the ground, and rearing tame creatures, answers at least as well as that which only aims at catching wild beasts, often at the expense of tillage. The mode- rate pains of one that has the care of a great number of cattle and poultry, is, surely, as eligible as the violent and unequal exercise of a hunter ; and oxen and sheep are at least as useful for our support as dogs and horses. It may well therefore be asserted, that our cus- toms, in this point, are not as agreeable to rea- son as those of the ancients.* * This relict of ancient barbarism is continued among ÔS in full vigour; and without any kind of reason to vindicate ihe practice. By it our Gothic ancestors piovided.for tneir sustenance: but their descendant* 64 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. Beside, the Greeks and Romans were not the only people that esteemed agriculture as the Hebrews did : the Carthaginians^ who were originally Phœnicians, studied it much, as appears by the Iwenty-eight books which Mago wrote upon that subject. ( Varro^s Preface.) The Egyptians had such a reverence for it, as even to adore the creatures that were of use in it. The Persians, in the height of their power, had overseers in every province to look after the tillage of the ground. Cyrus the Younger delighted in planting and cultivating a garden with his own hands. {Xenoplu Œcon,) As to the Chaldeans, we cannot doubt of their being well skilled in husbandry, if we reflect upon the fruitfulness of the plains of Babylon, which produced two or three hundred grains for one.^ In a word, the history of China teaches us, that agriculture was also in high esteem among them in the most ancient and best times. No- thing but the tyranny of the northern nations has made it so generally disesteemed. use it as a species of pleasure, without being impelled to it by any kind of necessity. Often the peaceable in- habitants of a whole country are thrown into confusion by vast numbers of dogs and horsemen, breaking through their enclosures, and destroying the hopes of their agricultural toil. And all this to run a poor timid helpless animal out of breath ! Is not such a practice as this as disgraceful to humanity as it is to common sense ? * Tov he rrjç AtTiirjrpoç Kapnov w5c ayaStf tK(pipeiv £orif oxrrt «7ri èitjKoaia — ini rpitiKoaia iKipcpti. {Ilerodot, Clio. page 89. Edit. Steph. 1592.) THEIR HUSBANDRY, &C. 55 Let US then divest ourselves of the mean opinion we have conceived of it from our in- fancy. Instead of our villages, where we see on one side castles and houses of pleasure, and on the other miserable huts and cottages, let us imagine we saw those spacious farms which the Romans called villas, that contained an apartment for the master, an inner yard for poultry, barns, stables, and servants' houses ; and all this in exact proportion, well built, kept in good repair, and exceedingly clean. We may see descriptions of them in Vai^ro and Columella. Their slaves were most of them happier than our country people, well fed, well clothed, and without any care upon their hands for the sustenance of their families. The mas- ters, frugal as they were, lived more to the^ satisfaction than our gentry. We read in Xe- nophon of an Athenian citizen, who, taking a walk every morning into the fields to look after his workmen, at the same time promoted his health by the exercise of his body, and increas- ed his substance by his diligence to make the most of it. {Xenoph, (Econ. and Cic. Cato JMajor. c. 17.) So that he was rich enough to give liberally to reli gious uses, the service of his friends, and country. Tully mentions se- veral farmers in Sicily, so rich and magnificent^ as to have their houses furnished with statues of great value, and were possessed of gold and ^^ silver plate of chased work. (Lib. iv, in Yer. Edit. Lond., 1680, vol. ii, p. 2721.) In fine, it must be owned, that as long as the 66 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. nobility and rich men of a country were not above this most ancient of all professions, their lives were more happy, because more conform- able to nature. They lived longer, and in better health, their bodies were fitter for the fatigue of war and travelling, and their minds more se- rious and composed. Being less idle, they were not so tired of themselves, nor solicitous in refining their pleasures. Labour gave a re- lish to the smallest diversions. They had few- er evil designs in their heads, and less içmpta- tion to put them in execution. Their plain and frugal way of living did not admit of extrava- gance, or occasion their running into debt. There were, of consequence, fewer law suits, selling up of goods, and families ruined : fewer frauds, outrages, and such other'crimes, as real or imaginary poverty makes men commit, when they are not able or willing to work. The worst is, that the example of the rich and noble influences every body else : whoever thrives so as to be never so little above the dregs of the people is ashamed to work, especially at hus- bandry. Hence come so many shifts to live by one's wits, so many new contrivances as are invented every day, to draw money out of one purse into another. God knows best how in- nocent all these unnatural ways of living are. They are at least most of them very precarious ; whereas the earth will always maintain those that cultivate it, if other people do not take its ^ produce from them. So far then is the country and laborious life THEIR HUSBANDRY, &C. 57 of the Israelites from making them comtempt- ibie, that it is a proof of their wisdom, good education, and resolution to observe the rules of their fathers. They knew the first man was placed in the terrestrial paradise to work there, Gen. ii, 15; and that, after his fall, he was condemned to more laborious and ungrateful toil. Gen. iii, 17. They were convinced of those solid truths so often repeated in the books of Solomon : that poverty is the fruit of lazi- ness, Prov. x, 4, 5. That he ivho sleeps in sum- mer^ instead of minding his harvests, or that ploughs not in winter for fear of the cold, de- serves to beg and have nothing, Prov. xx, 4, 13. That plenty is the natural consequence of labour and industry, Prov. xxvii, 18. That riches^ too hastily got, are not blessed, Prov. xx, 21. There we see frugal poverty, with cheerfulness and plainness, preferred to riches and abund- ance, with strife and insolence, Prov. xvii, 1 ; xix, 1 ; the inconvenience of the two extremes of poverty and wealth, and the wise man's de- sires, confined to the necessaries of life, Prov. XXX, 8, 9. He even enters into a minute de- tail of economical precepts : Prepare thy work^ says he, without, and make it Jit for thijself in the field, and afterward build thine house, Prov. xxiv, 27 ; which is the same with that maxim in Cato, that planting requires not much consi- deration, but building a great deal. ^ Now that which goes by the name of uwrhy business, goods, in the book of Proverbs, and throughout the whole Scripture, constantly re- 6 5S MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES, lates to country affairs ; it always means lands, vines, oxep, and sheep. From thence are bor- rowed most of the metaphorical expressions. Kings and other chiefs are called shepherds; and the people, their ^ocfcs; to govern them, is to find pasture for them. Thus, the Israelites sought their livelihood only from the natural sources, which are lands and cattle : and froni hence, all that enriches mankind, whether by manufactures, trade, rents, or trafficking withi money, is ultimately derived.* CHAPTER in. The Nature of the Soil— Its Fruitfulnes^. The Israelites dwelt in the land that was promised to the patriarchs, which the Scripture otiten describes as flowing with milk and honey, to express its great fertility. This country, which is so hot in comparison of ours, lies a ^ great way within the temperEite zone, between thirty-one and thirty-three degrees of northern latitude. It is bounded on the south by very high mountains, that defend it trom the scorch^ ing winds that blow from the Arabian deserts, and which run as far to the east as they do. The Mediterranean, which bounds it to the west north-west, supplies it with refreshing * What a blessing would it be to the world, wer» these timrs of primitive simplicity and cotpoîon sense restored to munkind. SOIL AND PRODUCE. 59 breezes ; and Mount Libanus, that is situated more to the north, intercepts those that are colder. The Mediterranean is what the Scrip- ture commonly calls the Great Sea; for the Hebrews knew little of the ocean^ and gave the name of seas to lakes and all great waters. The inland part of the country is varied with a great many mountains and hills proper for, wnes, fruit trees, and small cattle; and the valle'^S! abound with streams, very necessary to water the country, which has no river but Jordan. Rain falls seldom, but the time of its coming is well regulated : it falls in the spring and autumn, and is therefore called the early and latter^ or the evening and morning rain, in Scripture, which reckons the year as ohe day. In sum- mer, the great dews compensate for the scarcity of rain. They had plains fit for tillage and pasture, particularly the great plain of Galilee : and this variety of land, within so small a com- pass, must needs afford very beautiful land- scapes, especially where a country is well peo- pled and cultivated. For we are not to judge of the Holy Land from the condition it is now in. From the time of the crusades it was laid waste by continual wars, till it became subject to the Turks. By these means it is now almost desolate. There is nothing to beÉêeen but little paltry villages, ruins, lands uncultivated, and deserted, but full of high grass, ifç?hich shbws their natural fer- tility. The Turks neglect it, as they do their other provinces; and several of the Arabian 60 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. clans, called Bedouins, encamp there at plea- sure, and plunder it with impunity. To know then what it was formerly, we must consult an- cient authors; Josephus, but above all the Holy Scriptures. {Jos. War, b. 3, c. 3. Ant. b. 5, c. 1, 5, 21. Whiston^s Translation^ fol. Lond. 1737.) Consider the report which the spies made that were sent by Moses, and the prodigious bunch of grapes they brought back, Ntim. xiii, 23. And that we may not be sur- prised at it, let us compare the grapes in France with those in Italy, which is a cold country in comparison of Palestine. It is the same with regard to most of our fruits. Their names still show that we had them originally from Asia and Africa : but they have not retained their extra- ordinary size and natural flavour with their names. The Israelites had vast crops of corn and barley: wheat is reckoned among the chief commodities that they carried to Tyre, Ezek. xxvii, 17. They had plenty of oil and honey. The mountains of Judah and Ephraim were great vineyards. {Josephus, War, b. 1, c. 5.) The palm trees that grow about Jericho yielded a censiderable profit ; and it was the only place in the world where the genuine balsam tree was to be found. {Fastidit Balsamum alibi nasci. Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. xvi, c. 32.) This fertility of their country, and the pains they took to cultivate it, account for its main- taining such a multitude of people, though it was of so small e.xtent. For what the Scrip- SOIL AND PRODUCE. 61 ture says of it seems hardly credible at first sight. When the people first came into this land, there were more than six hundred thou- sand men bearing arms, from twenty years old to sixty, Num. xi, 21. In the war of Gibeah, the tribe of Benjamin alone, which was the least of all, had an army of Iwenty-six thousand men^ and the rest of the people had one of four hun- dred thousand, Judg. xx, 17. Saul headed ttvo hundred and ten thousand men against the Amalekites, when he rooted them out, 1 Sam* XV, 4. David always kept up twelve corps^ each consisting of twenty-four thousand men, which served by the month, and amounted to tivo hundred and eighty thousand, 1 Chron. xxvii, 1. And when he numbered the people, which brought down the wrath of God upon him, there were one million three hundred thou- sand fighting men, 2 Sam. xxiv, 9. Jehosha- phat had more in proportion : for though he had scarcely a third part of David's kingdom, he had more troops fit for war ; which, altoge- ther, made eleven hundred and three-score thou- sand men, all under his immediate command, beside the garrisons in his strong places, 2 Chron. xvii, 14, 15, &c. Nor is there any thing incredible in all this : we see examples to the same purpose in profane history. The great city of Thebes in Egypt furnished out of its own inhabitants alone seven hundred thousand fighting men. {Tacit. Jin- naL ii.) In the year 188, from the foundation of Borne, when Servius Tullius first numbered 62 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. the people, they reckoned eighty thousand citi- zens fit to bear arms. (Liv. i, 24.) Yet they had nothing to subsist upon but the land about Rome, which is now most of it barren and deso- late ; for their dominion did not extend above eight or ten leagues.* That was the chief foundation of their poli- tics in old time. In the multitude of people^ says the wise man, is the king^s honour, but in the ivant of people is the destruction of the prince, Prov. xiv, 28. They supported themselves much less by cunning than real strength. Instead of being industrious in set- ting spies upon their neighbours, and endea- vouring to sow divisions among them, or gain credit by false reports, they took pains to peo- ple and cultivate their own country, and make the most of it they possibly could, whether it was small or great. They endeavoured to make marriages easy, and the lives of married people comfortable; to get health and plenty, and draw out the ground all it could produce. They employed their citizens in labour, inspired them with a love of their country, unanimity among themselves, and obedience to the laws : this is what they call politics. — These are fine maxims it may be said ; but let us come to matters of fact. Show us how it is possible, that so small a country as Palestine should maintain so great a num- ber of people. In order to do this, we must ♦ See thç supplement at the end of this chapter. SOIL AND PRODUCE. 6^ have patience to go through a short calculation^ and not to think it below us to descend to par- ticulars, which is the only way of proving it to satisfaction. Josephus has preserved a valuable fragment of Hecatseus the Abderite, who lived in the time of Alexander the Great, and was a courtier of Ptolemy the First. After relating many re- markable particulars concerning the manners of the Jewsy he adds, that the country they in- habited contains about three million arnres of very rich and fruitful ground. {Joseph, cont. *âpp, b. ii, p. 990. Wliision^s edit. Lond. fol. 1737.) The arure, according to Eustathius, was a hundred square cubits, that is, one hun- dred and fifty feet, which, multiplied into so many square feet, make twenty-two thousand five hundred. {Eustath. ex Horn.) Now, our arpent, or acre of a hundred perches, contahis forty thousand square feet, reckoning the perch but twenty feet. So nine of our arpents make sixteen arures. I have informed myself of the produce of our best land, and find that it yields five quarters of corn per arpent, Paris measure. I have in- quired, likewise, how much goes to the susten- ance of one man, and find, that, at the allowance of two pounds and six ounces of bread per day, he consumes about three bushels of corn each month, which comes to thirty-six bushels per year. But this would not have been enough for the Israelites ; we must give them at least double ; and it may be proved from Scriptur0 or others of the same kind. Thus we may easily account for most of these things being forbidden, as Clemens Alexandrinus has ob- served. (2 Pœd. 1. Cassian. Instit. 5.) As to the moral reasons, all sensible people have ever reckoned gluttony a vice that ought principally to be guarded against, as the begin- ning of most others. The Socratic philoso- phers strongly recommended temperance : and Plato despaired of reforming the manners of the Sicilians, so long as they ate tivo great meals a day.* {Plat. Ep. vii, in Init.) It is supposed, that what Pythagoras aimed at by enjoining abstinence, was to make men just and disinterested, in using themselves to live on a little. Now, one of the chief branches of guttony is a desire of variety of dishes. Too much soon palls ; but, as variety is infinite, the desire after it is insatiable. Tertullian com- prehends all these reasons in the following pas- sage : " If the law takes away the use of some sorts of meat, and pronounces creatures unclean< that were formerly held quite otherwise, let us consider that the design is to inure them tO' temperance, and look upon it as a restraint laid upon gluttons, who hankered after the cucum- * But had he lived in these latter limes, how great must his astonishment have been, to find persons, Chris- tians, professing the utmost purity of manners and ele- vation of mind, feeding themselves four, yca> six or sereîA times in the day I THEIR PURIFICATIONS. 97 bers and melons of Egypt, while they were eat- ing the food of angels. Let us consider it too as a remedy at the same time against excess and impurity, the usual attendants of gluttony. It was partly likewise to extinguish the love of money, by taking away the pretence of its being necessary for providing of sustenance. It was, finally, to enable men to fast with less inconve- nience upon religious occasions, by using them to a moderate and plain diet." {Tertullian adv^ Marc, \ih, ii, cap. 18, in fine.) CHAPTER IX. Their Purifications, The purifications prescribed by the law had the same foundation as the distinction of meats. The neighbouring people practised some of the hke nature : among others the Egyptians, whose priests shaved off* all their hair every three days, and washed their bodies all over twice in the night, and two or three times a day. {Herod, 1. ii, Porphyr. de Ahslin,) The legal purifica- tions of the Israelites were of advantage in pre- serving both their health and morals. The cleanness of the body is a symbol of the purity of the soul ; which is the reason that some de- vout people have affected to be dirty, to make themselves more despicable, and to show the plainer by their outward appearance, the abhor- rence they had of their sins. Thence too, ex- ternal purification is called sanclificalion^ be- 98 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. cause it makes those observe, at least, an outward purity, who draw near to holy things. Nay, one may venture to say, that cleanliness is a natural consequence of virtue ; since filthi- ness, for the most part, proceeds only from sloth and meanness of spirit."^ Beside, cleanliness is necessary to preserve health and prevent sickness, especially in hot countries : accordingly we find people gene- rally cleaner there. Heat inclines them to strip themselves, to bajhe, and often change their clothes. But in the cold countries we are afraid both of the air and water, and are more benumbed and sluggish. It is certain, the Hastiness in which most of our lower sort of people live, especially the poorest and those that are in towns, either causes or increases many distempers. What would be the consequence then in hot countries, where the air is sooner corrupted, and the water more scarce ? Beside, the ancients made but little use of linen; and woollen is not so easy to be cleansed. Here let us admire the wisdom and goodness of God, who ^ave his people laws that were use- ful so many different ways : for they served alto- gether to inure them to obedience, to keep them from superstition, to improve their manners, and preserve their health. Thus, in the forma- * A great man has asserted, " that cleanliness is next to godliness." And we generally find cleanliness prac- tised in proportion to the prevalence of the spirit of genuine piety. Christianity disowns the slothful and the filthy, as well as the dishonest and the impure. THEIR PURIFICATIONS, 99 tion of plants and animals, we see nnany parts serve for different uses. Now, it was a matter of consequence that the precepts that enjoined cleanliness should make a part of their religion; for as they related to what was done within doors, and the most secret actions of life, no- thing but the fear of G od could keep the people from transgressing them. Yet God formed their conscience by these sensible things, and made it familiar to them to own that nothing is hidden from him, and that it is not sufficient to be pure in the eyes of men alone. Tertullian understands these laws so when he says, " He has prescribed every thing, even in the common transactions of life, and the behaviour of men both at home and abroad, so far as to take notice of their very furniture and vessels ; so that meeting every where the precepts of the law, they might not be one moment without the fear of God before them." And afterward, "to aid this law, which was rather light than bur- densome, the same goodness of God also insti- tuted prophets, who taught maxims worthy of him. (In Marc. 1. ii, c. 19.) ' Wash y make ye clean^ put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes, c^c,' Isa. i, 16. So that the people were sufficiently instructed in the mean- ing of all these ceremonies, and outward per- formances. This is the foundation of those laws which order bathing and washing one's clothes after having touched a dead body, or unclean crea- ture, and upon several other accidents, Lev* 100 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. Xi, 24, &C ; xiii, 58 j Numb. xxxif23. Xbenc6 comes the purifying of vessels by water or fire, and of houses where there appeared any corrup- tion, and of women after child bearing, and the separation of lepers, Lev. xiv, 48; xii, 1, &c ; xiii, 1, &c ; though the white leprosy, which is the only sort mentioned in Scripture, is rather a deformity than an infectious disease. {Aug. ii, QuœsL Evang. 40.) It belonged to the priests to separate lepers, to judge of other legal impurities, and to order the manner of their cleansing. Thus they prac- tised a branch of physic ; and though physi- cians are sometimes mentioned in Scripture, Gen. 1, 2 ; 2 Chron. xvi, 12 ; Job xiii, 4; Jer. viii, 22 ; Isaiah iii, 7 ; it is probable surgeons are meant : for the ancients made no distinction between these two professions. The law speaks of them when it condemns him that hurts ano- ther to pay the physician's charges, Exod. xxi, 19 : and in other places we read of bandages, plasters, and ointments, Isa. i, 6 ; Jer. viii, 22 ; xlvi, 11 ; but nowhere that I can tell, of purges, or a course of physic. King Asa, who had the gout, is blamed for putting too much confidence in physicians, 2 Chron. xvi, 12. Perhaps the Israelites still followed the same maxims as the Greeks of the heroic ages, when physicians, as Plato, iii, Rep. informs us, applied them- selves to nothing but healing wounds by tropi- cal remedies, without prescribing a regimen ; supposing that other illnesses would be pre- vented or easily got over by a good constitution. THEIR PURIFICATIONS. 101 and the prudent management of the sick. As for wounds, they must of necessity happen sometimes from divers accidents, even in the course of hard labour only. The Israehtes avoided conversing with stran- gers, and it was a consequence of those laws that enjoined purifications and distinction of meats. For though most of their neighbours had similar customs, they were not altogether the same. Thus, an Israelite had always a right to presume that any stranger he met with had eaten swine's flesh, or the sacrifices ofl^ered to idols, or had touched some unclean beast. Whence it came that it was not lawful to eat with them, nor to go into their houses. This distance was also of consequence to their mo- rals, serving as a fence against too great a fami- liarity with strangers, which is always pernicious to the generality, and which was still more so at that time because of idolatry. The Egyp- tians were strict observers of this maxim : the Scripture takes notice that they would not eat with the Hebrews, Gen. xliii, 32, and Herodotus says, they would neither salute a Greek, nor make use of his knife or plate.* The Moham- medans have several customs of the same nature at this day ; but the Hindoos have more, and observe them with the greatest superstition.'^ * Herod ii. This superstition the Egyptians carried so far that they would not eat the flesh even of a clean animal that had been cut up with the knife of a Greek, t For several of these customs see the supplementary- chapter. 102 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. They did not keep at an equal distance from all sorts of strangers, though they comprehended them all under the name of Goim or Gentiles. They abhorred all idolaters, especially those that were not circumcised : for they were not the only people that practised circumcision ; it was used by all the descendants of Abraham, as the Ishmaelites, Midianites, and Idumeans ; and the Ammonites and Moabites that were descended from Lot. The Egyptians them- selves, though their original was in no case the same with the Hebrews, looked upon circum- cision as a necessary purification, and held those unclean that were not circumcised.* As for the Israelites, they bore with the uncircum- cised that worshipped the true God, so far as to let them dwell in their lands, provided they obs'erved the laws of nature, and abstinence from blood. But if they got themselves circum- cised they were reputed children of Abraham, and consequently obliged to observe the whole law of Moses. The rabbins call these last pro- selytes of justice ; and the faithful that were not circumcised, they call proselytes by abode, or JVoachides, {Selden de Jure jVaf.,) as being obliged to observe no precepts but those that God gave to Noah when he came out of the * Herod, lib. 2, p. 116, edit. Steph. 1592. The same author says, that the Colchians, Egyptians, and Ethio- pians are the only nations in the world who have used circumcision from the remotest period, an apxriç and that the Phenicians and the Syrians who inhabit Pales- tine acknowledge they received this from the Egyptians. Ibid. p. 143. THEIR PURIFICATIONS. 103 ark. In Solomon's time there were one hun- dred and fifty-three thousand six hundred pro- selytes in the land of Israel, 2 Chron. ii, 17. The strangers that the Israelites were most of all obliged to avoid were the nations that lay under a curse, çis descended from Canaan, whom God had commanded them to root out. I find none but them, as I said before, with whom it was not lawful to marry, Exod. xxxiv, 16 ; Deut. vii, 3. Moses married a Midianite.* Boaz is commended for having married Ruth the Moabite. Absalom's mother was the king of Geshur's daughter, 2 Sam. iii, 3. Amasa was the son of an Ishmaelite, and of Abigail, David's sister, 1 Chron. ii, 17. Solomon married the king of Egypt's daughter, soon after he came to the crown, and at the time when he was most in God's favour, 1 Kings iii, 1 : there- fore what the Scripture afterward says, to blame his marrying with strange women, must be understood of the Canaanitish women whom he married, and that instead of endeavouring to * If our author's commetît be right, Dr. Warburton is mistaken in saying Solomon transgressed a law of Moses, when he njarried Pharaoh's daughter. Div. Leg. book iv, sect. V, 2d edit. And Dr. Jonin mipjht less admire Theodorei's parallel between Moses and Christ, in that the former married an Eihiopian woman, and the latter espoused the Church of the Gentiles. There was no- thing so particular in the marriage of Moses : and if there had been, the similitude, 1 think, would have been closer, if Moses had married two wives, for the Jews were the first fruits of the Gospel. See Dr. Jortin's Remarks on Ecelea, Hitt. vol. i, p. 209. — E. F. Î04 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. convert them, he paid them such a criminal complaisance as to worship their idols, 1 Kings xi, 1. Much more were marriages free among the Israelites, and' it was not necessary for every one to marry in his own tribe, as many, even of the fathers of the Church, have thought. This law was peculiar to heiresses, that inheritances might not be confounded.* Beside, David married Michal, the daughter of Saul, of the tribe of Benjamin : and another of his wives was Ahinoam of Jezreel, a city of the tribe of Ephraim, 2 Sam. iii, 2. * Heiresses were obliged to marry not only within their own tribe but within their own /am%, Numb, xxxvi, 6. Let them marry to whom they think best, only to the FAMILY o/ the tribe (or house) of their fathers shall they marry. And that the Jews so understood the law, appears from Judiih vii?, 2 ; Tobit iii, 15. This I chose to observe, because a late ingenious writer, who would seem to have examined this point, says. It does not appear that there ivas any other obligation even upon heir- esses, than to marry only within their own tribe. (Dr. Middleton's reflections on the inconsistencies which are found in the four Evangelists, in his work?, 8vo, vol. ii, p. 309.) Not only the words of the law and the practice of the Jews, but Grotius, and the other commeniators which he had before him, expressly taught him other- wise. See likewise Kidder's Dem. of the Messiah, part ii, pp. 416,417, where the reader, if he pleases, may find three or four other of the doctor's assertions fully con- futed,— E. F. PURlFICATIOiSfS OF THE HINDOOS, &C. lOè SUPPLEMENT TO CHAPTER IX. On the Purifications of the Hindoos and JSIo* hammedanSi referred 4o p. 101. Purifications among the Hindoos make an essential part of religion. Several of those at present in use among this people, are dictated by common sense and expediency ; but the far greater part are the issue of the grossest supci- stition. In this latter class are found many that are absurd, nugatory, and ridiculous. The following, which I have extracted from the Ayeen Jlkbery, will exhibit a satisfactory view of this subject. The soul, say the Hindoo sages, is purified by knawledge, and religious worship. A drunkard is purified by melted glass. When the body is defiled by any impurity that pro- ceeds from itself, it is purified by earth and wa- ter, and by washing the teeth and eyes. Water that has been defiled by the shadow of an impure person, is purified by sunshine, moon- shine, or wind. If any filth falls from an ani- mal into a well, they must draw out sixty jars of water ; and if the same accident happen to a pond, they must take out one hundred jars. If any filth falls into oil, it must be boiled. — Cotton, molasses, or grain, after separating whatever had defiled it, must be sprinkled with water. Gold, silver, stone, vegetables, silk, and whaft^fexer grows in the earth, are purified by being Washed in water. If they have been 8 i06 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. defiled by unclean oil, they must be washed in hot water. Wooden vessels, if touched by an impure person, cannot be purified by any means. But if they are touched by another unclean thing, or by a Sooder^ (one of the inferior Hin- doo casts,) they may be purified by ^ scraping. The same rule is to be observed of bone or horn. Any stone vessel that has been defiled, after being washed, must be buried for seven days. A sieve, or pestle and mortar, is purified by being sprinkled with water. An earthen Vessel is purified by being heated in the fire. The earth is cleansed by sweeping, or by washing, or by lighting a fire upon it ; or if a cow lies down upon it^ or walks over it, or in time it will purify itself. If a cow touches any food with her mouth, or a hair, a fly, or any other insect falls therein, it is purified by ashes or water. If it is defiled by any filth falling off the body of the person who is eating, he must wash it with water, or scour it with earth till it is perfectly clean. If a man defile himself in the upper parts of the body, excepting the hands, he must scour himself with earth, and bathe. If he defiles himself in the lower parts he is purified by washing the parts. If he is defiled by drinking wine, or by having connec- tion with an impure woman, or by any human excrement, he is purified by washing, scouring with earth, and by washing again, if below the navel ; but if it happens above the navel, then after the second washing, he must anoint the parts with ghee, {clarified butter^) cow's milk PURIFICATIONS OF THE HINDOOS, &C. 107 and curds, and cow's dung and urine, and he must also drink three handfuls of river water. If he is defiled by the touch of a washerman, or a dealer in leather, or an executioner, or a hunter, Or a fisherman, or an oilman, or a tame dog, he is purified by water alone. But if he touch an unclean woman, a sweeper, a sinner, a corpse, a dog, ass, cat, crow, cock, or hen, or a mouse, or a camel, or is defiled by the smoke of a corpse that is burning ; or by the dust shaken off an ass, dog, sheep, or goat, he must go into the water with his clothes on, look at the sun, and repeat some particular prayers. If he touches human fat or bone, he must bathe with his clothes on ; or drink three handfuls of water ; or look at the sun ; or put his hand upon a cow. If he is soiled with the blood of clean animals, he is purified by scouring himself with earth and water. If a garment of wool or silk is polluted by such things as would require a man, if touched, to bathe, it is purified by the wind or sunshine. {Jiyeen Akbery, v. iii, p. 243.) Is it not reasonable to suppose that if that pure and rational system of salvation, laid down in the Christian Scriptures, were fairly proposed to a people groaning under such bur- thensome and useless rites, it would be most joyfully received? But, alas! so perverted is the soul of man, that he would rather spend his money for that which is not bread, and his labour for that which satisfieth not," than receive the salvation of God, " without money and without price." 108 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES* Among the Mohammedans purification is considered as essential to devotion, and the key of prayer, without which it is of no effect. It is of two descriptions, the ghosse, or complete ablution of the whole body ; and the ivazoo, or washing of the hands and feet on particular occasions, and after a particular manner. In many respects the purifications among the Mohammedans are similar to those among the Jews. Indeed Mohamnied copied many from t'li- Jewish Scriptures, of which he made a pretty extensive use in composing his Koran. (See the Hedatja PreL Disc. p. liii.) GHAPTFR X. Their Women and JWarriages, From the manner in whit:h the Israelites lived, marriage was no incumbrance to them ; it was rather a convenience, for which it was originally designed. The women were labori- ous as well as the men, and wrought in the house, while their husbands were at work in the field.* They dressed the victuals, and served them up, as appears from Homer and several passages in Scripture. When Samuel describes the manners of the kings to the peo- ple, he says, Your kings ivill take your daughters + We learn from Herodotus, lib. ii, p. 115, edition Steph. 1592, that the Egyptian women were treated in the same way. THEIR WOMEN AND MARRIAGES. 109 to be confectioners, and to be cooks, and to be bakers, 1 Sam. viii, 13. The pretence which Amnon, the son of David, made use of to get his sister Tamar near him when he debauched her, was that he might eat meat at her hands, 2 Sam. xiii, 6, which she dressed herself, not- withstanding she was a king's daughter. The women made wearing apparel ; and their common employment was weaving stuffs, as making cloth and tapestry is now. We see in Homer the instances of Penelope, Calypso, and Circe. There are examples of it in Theocritus, Terence, and many other authors. {Theoc» léyïl» 15, Ter. Heaut. Act. ii, sec. 2.) But what appears most wonderful to me is, that this custom was still retained at Rome, among the greatest ladies, in a very corrupt age : since Augustus commonly wore clothes of his wife's, sister's, and daughter's making. {Sent, Aug. 73.) For a proof out of Scripture, ifr is said that Samuel's mother made him a little coat, which she brought him upon festival days, 1 Sam. ii, 19 ; and we see the virtuous wife in the Proverbs seeking wool and flax, and lay- ing her hands to the spindle, Prov. xxxi, 13, and 19, and 21, and giving two suits of clothes to all her servants.* * Here our author follows the Vulgate, which trans- lates Prov. XXX, 21, — Omnes enim domestici ejus vestiti sunt duplicibus; and we, for all her househM mre clothed with scarlet; and in the margin, or double gaYmenis ; for OOK^ signifies either. — E. F. But double clothing seems to be chiefly intended, because the clothing re- 110 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. All this work is done under shelter, and iri the house, and does not require great strength of body : for which reason the ancients did not think them fit employments for men, but left them to the women, as naturally more inclined to stay in the house, and neater, and fonder of such sort of things. And this is probably the rea- son why women were generally doorkeepers, even to kings. There was only one servant maid at the gate of King Ishbosheth,* who was busy in picking corn. And David, when he fled before Absalom, left ten women, who were his concu- bines, to keep his palace, 2 Sam. xv, 16. The women lived separated from the men, and very retired, especially widows. Judith lived in this manner, shut up with her women in an apart- ment upon the top of the house, Judith viii, 4, 5, and so did Penelope in Homer. {Odyss. 1. i, V. 328-330.) The Israelites made great feasts and re- ferred to is for a defence from the cold; in which case scarlet could avail no more than any other colour ; there- fore oiw translation is evidently improper. * Et ostiaria domus purgans triticum obdormivit, 2 Sam. iv, 5. The reader must not expect to find this in our Bible, because the Hebrew has it not. The Vul- gate took it from the Seventy. However, what our author asserts is notorious : for the women spoken of, Exod. XXX viii, 8, were probably doorkeepers, as well as those loho assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregatioriy 1 Sam. ii, 22. Athenaeus says the keep- ers of the king's palace in Persia were women, 1. xii, Deipnos. c. ii, and Chardin says it was so lately. And the damsel that kept thedoor^ in the Gospel, John xviii, 17, «very body remembers. — É. F, THEIR WOMEN AND MARRIAGES. Ill joicings at their weddings. They were so dressed out, that David could find no fitter comparison to describe the splendour of the sun by, than that of a bridegroom. The feast lasted seven days ; which we see as early as the times of the patriarchs. When Jacob com- plained that they had given him Leah for Ra- chel, Laban said to Rim, Fulfil the week of the marriage^ Gen. xxix, 27. Samson, having married a Philistine, made feasts for seven days, and the seventh day the feast ended, Judg. xiv, 12^ &c. When young Tobias had a mind to go home, his father-in-law pressed him to stay two weeks, doubling the usual time, be- cause they were never to see one another again, Tobit viii, 20. This is the constant tradition of the Jews, and their practice is agreeable to it. {Cod, Talm, Pirke Aboth, cap. xvi.) Whoever thoroughly studies the Song of Solomon, will find seven days plainly pointed out, to represent the first week of his marriage. (Seld. Uxor. Heh. ii, c. 3 ; Buxtorf. Syn, Jud. c. 28.) We see in the same Song, the friends of the bridegroom and the companions of the bride, who were always at the feast. Song of Solomon V, 1. He had young men to rejoice with him, and she, young women, Judg. xiv, 11. In the Gos- pel, there is mention made of the bridegroom's friends, and of the virgins who went forth to meet the bride and bridegroom. Matt, ix, 15 ; XXV, 1, &c. He wore a crown in token of joy, and she too,* according to the Jewish tradition. ^ Isa. Ixi, 10. Tlie Chaldee paraphrast renders it, as 112 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. They were conducted with instruments of mu- sic, and their company carried branches of myr- tle and palm tree in their hands. {Pirke Moth, c. xix ; Seidell, c. xv.) As for any thing farther, we do not find that their marriages were attended with any religious ceremony^ except the prayers of the father of the family, and the standers by, to intreat the blessing of God. We have examples of it in the marriage of Rebecca with Isaac, Genesis xxiv, 60, of Ruth with Boaz, Ruth iv, 11, and of Sara with Tobias, Tobit vii, 13. We do not see that there were any sacrifices offered upon the occasion ; or that they went to the temple, or sent for the priests : all was transacted be- tween the relations and friends : so that it was no more than a civil contract. As to circumcision, it was really a religious act, and absolutely necessary, at that time, for all that would enter into the covenant of Abra- ham. (See part iv, chap, 1.) But yet it was performed in private houses, without the minis- try of priests or Lévites. If any body of a pub- lic character was sent for, it was a sort of sur- geon used to the operation, whom they called mohel : and such sort of people the Jews have still.* In all these ceremonies we n)ust take the high priest is adorned with his vestments, 1 hat is, mag- nificently, which ilie Vulgate translates, quasi sponswn decoratum corona, and the Seventy in the same manner: and them our author follows, accordingto custom. — E. F. * VmD niohel, a circumci er, from the Chaldee '?nD mahal, he circumcised. When the operator has per- formed the act, he pronounces the following benediction : THEIR WOMEN AND MARRIAGES, IIB care not to be imposed upon by modern pic- tures, as I said about clothes. The IsraeUtes were so far from being afraid of plenty of children^ that it was what they wished for. Beside their natural inclination, they had great motives to it from the law. They knew that God, when he created the world, and repaired it after the deluge, had said, Increase and multiply in the earth ; that he had promised Abraham a numerous posterity : in a word, that from among them was to be born the Saviour of the world ; we may add to this, that they were not influenced by those sordid considerations, which cause the blessing of children to be looked on in the present day as a misfortune. By reason of their frugal way of life, they were at small expense in feeding them while they were little ; and less in clothing them, for in those hot countries they often let them go naked ; and when they grew up they helped them in their work, and saved the expense of slaves or hired servants ; and indeed they had but few slaves in proportion to their work. Ziba, SauPs servant, ploughed Mephibosheth's estate with his fifteen sons and twenty servants, 2 Sam. ix, 10. They were in no pain about providing for their children, since they had no fortunes to raise for them : all their ambition OLord our Gody the God of our father s y strengthen this childy and preserve him to his parents ; and let his name among the people of Israel be (here the name is first given.) Let his father rejoice and be glad for that which is descended from his loins ; and let his mother be delight- ed with the fruit of her w&mb. 114 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. was to leave their children the inheritance they had received from their ancestors, better culti- vated if possible, and with a larger stock upon it. As for the daughters, they never inherited but in default of male issue, Numb, xxvii, 8 ; they were sought in marriage more upon ac- count of their families than their riches. It was therefore a convenience, as well as an honour, to have a great many children. He was esteemed happy, who saw himself father of a large family, Psa. cxxvii, 3, 4, 6, and sur- rounded with a great number of children and grandchildren, always ready to receive his in- structions and execute his commands, and was under no apprehension of having his name for- gotten while his posterity subsisted. Cliildren^s children are the crown of old men, Prov. xvii, 6, says the Scripture ; and when ijt takes notice of the number of children, it is commonly praise of their parents : as those two judges of Israel, one of whom had thirty sons, the other forty, and thirty grandsons, Judg. x, 4 ; xii, 14 ; as David, nineteen of whose sons are named, 1 Chron. iii, 1, &c, beside those that he had by his concubines ; Rehoboam, who had twenty- eight sons and sixty daughters, 2 Chron. xi, 21, and Abia, who had twenty-two sons and six- teen daughters, 2 Chron. xiii, 21. In the same manner the poets make mention of the fifty sons of Priamus, for the Greeks had no less esteem for fruitfulness. Virginity, consi- dered as a virtue, was at that time little known, md looked upon in the same light with sterility ; THEIR WOMEN AND MARRIAGES. 115 and the women that died unmarried, were reck- oned unfortunate. Electra, in Sophocles, be- moans herself expressly upon it, and this was the occasion of the repining of Jephtha's daugh- ter, Judg. xi, 31. Hence barrenness came to be a reproach to married women, as we see by Samuel's mother, and many others, 1 Sam. i, 2-6. This misfortune was looked upon as a curse from God. This care for posterity was the foundation of the law that enjoined a man to marry his bro- ther's widow, when he died without children, A law existing in the patriarchal times, as ap- pears by the story of Tamar, Gen. xxxviii, 8 : and looked upon as a duty, that the name of the deceased might not be forgotten : and so the children were reckoned his by a sort of adoption. From hence proceed the two gene- alogies of Jesus Christ; one according to St. Matthew, and the other according to St. Luke, Matt, i ; Luke iii. For thus it was found that Joseph had two fathers, one by whom he was begotten, and the other by legal adoption.* Beside, the marrying a sister-in-law was not contrary to the first law of nature, which al- lowed marrying even one's own sister, before God forbade it. It was the desire of having a great number * Commentators are greatly divided concerning these two genealogies. Some suppose that in St. Luke to be the genealogy of the blessed virgin ; and that Heli, said to be the father of Joseph, was only his father-in-law ^ be- jjfig the father of Mary. 116 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. of children, that induced the Israelites to take several wives at a time : which they esteemed an honour, and sign of dignity. It is thus that Isaiah, to show how much valued those of God's people should be, whom he should preserve, says, that seven women shall take hold of one man^ Isaiah iv, 1, offering to live at their own expense, provided they had the honour to be called by his name. Thus it is likewise said, that Hehoboam had eighteen wives and three- score concubines, and that he gave many wives to his son Abia, whom he chose for his succes- sor, 2 Chron. xi, 21, 23. They were yet very sparing in the use of marriage ; they did not only abstain from it while their wives were big with child, and other- wise indisposed, but all the time they were nurses, for two or three years together : and mothers did not often dispense with themselves from giving suck to their own children. We find but three nurses mentioned in the Scripture, that is, Rebecca's, Gen. xxiv, 59 ; Mephibo- sheth's, 2 Sam. iv, 4 ; and she that nursed Joash, king of Judah, 2 Kings xi, 2.* We ought not then to wonder that God tole- rated polygamy, which was introduced before the deluge, Gen. iv, 19,1 though it was contrary to the first institution of marriage. For when * But beside these, it is said that Naomi was nurse to the child of Boaz and Ruth. See Ruth iv, 16. t Lamech was the first polygamist, and from all that ihe Scripture says concerning him, there was much rea- son to fear he was a very bad man. THEIR WOMEN AND MARRIAGES. Il7 it was instituted in the terrestrial paradise, there was yet no concupiscence. Polygamy then was like divorces, which Jesus Christ told the Jews had never been allowed them but for the hardness of their hearts, Matt, xix, 8. Beside wives, they had likewise concubines, who were commonly slaves : lawful wives had no other advantage over them, than the honour of having their children preferred to the inheritance. So that the name of concubinage had no ill signifi- cation as with us. It was only a less solemn wedding. This liberty, beside, was very far from ren- dering the state of matrimony more convenient ; it made the yoke of it much heavier. A hus- band could not so equally divide his heart among many wives, as to please them all ; which obliged him to govern them in an absolute man- ner, as the eastern people still do. So that there was no longer any equality y friendship, or society in marriage. It was still harder for the rival wives to agree among themselves ; there was no end of divisions, cabals, and domestic quarrels. All the children of one wife had so many mothers-in-law, as their father had more wives : each espoused the interest of its own mother, and looked upon the children of the other wives as strangers or enemies. Hence comes the way of speaking so common in Scrip- ture, ii is my brother^ and the son of my mother. We see examples of these divisions in the fami- ly of David, and still worse in that of Herod. The liberty of being set loose by divorce, had 118 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. also very bad consequences. People engaged themselves more unwarily, and took less pains to please one another ; and a man had it in his power to have so many wives, that it was no better than an excuse for debauchery. We know the disorder there was at Rome after the < decay of the commonwealth ; whereas, while J good manners subsisted there, that is, till the { year 523 from the foundation, there was no such thing as a divorce heard of, though it was i permitted by the laws. {Gellius iv, c. 3.) The ^ children suffered very much by it too : they : were orphans even while their father and mo- j ther were living, and could scarcely avoid being ^ hated by one of them, and taking part with one J against the other. 1 CHAPTER XI. ; The Education of their Children^ their Exer- | cises^ and Studies. J I The education of children seems- to have | been very nearly the same among the Israelites as that of the Egyptians, and the most ancient Greeks. {Plato Rep. 2,3.) They formed their ^ body by labour and exercise, and their mind by literature and music. Strength of body was greatly ésteemed ; and it is that for which sol- diers are mostly commended in Scripture, as David's valiant men are, 2 Samuel xxiii, 1, &c. Foot racing must have been one of their chief ! EDUCATION OF THEIR CHILDREN. 119 exercises, since men were known by their run- ning at a distance, as those who brought the news of Absalom's defeat ; they must needs have seen them run often, 2 Samuel xviii, 27. It is also said of Asahel, Joab^s brother, that he was as light of foot as a wild roe, 2 Samuel ii, 18. Zechariah speaks of a burdensome stone, Zech. xii, 3 ; which St. Jerom takes for one of those stones which served to try men's strength by seeing who could lift it highest.* For which reason one may imagine they had that sert of exercise. The example of Jona- than shows they used to exercise themselves in shooting with the bow, 1 Sam. xx, 20. But they did not make the exercise of the body their main business like the Greeks, who reduced it to a profession and studied the great- est improvements in it. They called this art gymnastic, because they exercised themselves naked, and the schools gymnasia, which were spacious, magnificent, and built at a great ex- pense. [Hier. JVLercurial. De arte gymnast,) There the best masters, with many assistants under them, formed the bodies of young people by a very exact discipline and regular exercise. Some took such delight in it, that they practised * St. Jerom assures us that this was an ancient cus- tom in all the cities and towns of Palestine, Avhich sub- sisted even in his days: and that he had seen a great brazen ball at Athens in the citadel, near the statue of Mine* va, which was used to try the strength of the Athletae, that those of similar pov/ers might be paired together, that the advantages on each side might be equal, ^^ee his comment on the above text. Î20 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. nothing else all their lives, and were wrestlers, &c, by profession. By this means they ac- quired prodigious strength, and brought their bodies into such exact shape, that they served as models for the finest statues. But in other respects it made them brutal, and incapable of any appUcation of mind ; nor were they even fit for wary or any sort of enterprise that deprived them of their usual diet or rest, or put them at all out of their regular way of living. The He- brews v/ere too serious to give in to these niceties ; and it was an odious novelty to them, when there was an academy built at Jerusalem, imder Antiochus Epiphanes, after the Greek fashion, 1 Mace, i, 14 ; 2 Mace, iv, 12. They were content with field labour, and some mili^ tary exercises, as were the Romans. Nor had they occasion for hard study to im- prove their mind, if by study we understand the knowledge of several languages, and reading many books, as we commonly mean by it. For" they despised learning foreign languages, be- cause that was as much in the power of slaves as those of higher rank, Joseph. Antiq. lib. xx, c. 11. Their native language was sutficientfor them, that is, the Hebrew, in which the Scrips ture is written. It has a resemblance of their manners ; the words of it are plain, all derived from few roots, and uncompounded : it has a wonderful luxuriance in its verbs, most of which express whole phrases. To be great, to make greats to be made great, are all simple wordsy which no translation can fully express. Most THEIR LANGUAGE. 121 of the prepositions and pronouns are no more than single letters added to the beginning or end of other words. It is the most concise tongue we know, and consequently comes near- est to the language of spirits, who have little need of words to make themselves understood : the expressions are clear and weighty; they convey distinct and sensible ideas, and the farthest from bombast of all others. The genius of this language is to make one proposition follow another, without suspending the sense, or perplexing us with long periods, which makes the style extremely clear. Thence it comes, that in their narrations, those that are concerned in them speak with the utmost plainness, and in their own persons, and do not scruple to use repetitions. They almost con- stantly relate the same thing in the same words. And this is what makes us, at first, think the Scripture style flat and heavy ; but it is in reality a mark of good sense, solidity, and a clear head, in those who spoke in that manner. Though the style of the sacred books is very different, we do not find that the language alter- ed from the time of Moses to the Babylonish captivity. All their grammar then consisted, like that of the most ancient Greeks, in speaking in their own language well, and in writing and reading it correctly; with this difference, that it does not appear they had reduced it into an art, and learned it by rules. Their letters wer^^those which we call at present Samaritan, because 9 122 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES, the Samaritans have preserved them : and as they do not run well, nor are easy to shape, it may reasonably be doubted;, whether it was very common among the Israelites to knpw how to write: and the rather, as learned men are called in Scripture Sopherin^ that is to say, Scribes, according to the old translations. Ld^r bouring people, too, have much less occasion for writing, than merchants and men of busi- ness. But it is probable that most of them knew how to read ; since it was recommende(| to all to learn the law of God, and meditate upon it day and night, Deut. vi, 6, 7, &c : and this study was their whole employment upon the Sabbath days. {Joseph. Jint, 1. j^vi, c. 2, s. 3 ; Orig. coni, Cels. lib. iv.) This book alone was sufficient to instruct them thoroughly ; they saw in it the history of the world till their settlement in the promised land, the rise of all the nations which they knew, and more especially of those they were most concerned to be best acquainted vyith, the de- scendants of Lot, Abraham, Ishmael, and Esau. There they saw the whole of their religion, its doctrines, ceremonies, and moral precepts, and there they found their civil laws. This volume alone, which is the Pentateuch or five books of Moses, contained all that they were obliged to know. Not because they had not many other books : for, to omit those of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and several that were written after ; in the time of Moses, the book of the wars of the £ord is mentioned, Numb, xxi, 14 ; and in THEIR BOOKS. 123 other places the book of Jasher,"^ Josh, 13, and Sam. i, 18. The books of kings often re- fer to the chronicles of the kings of Judah and Israel. Solomon wrote three thousand para- bles, and one thousand and five songs, 1 Kings iv, 32, 33 : he wrote treatises upon all sorts of plants and animals, and hb himself complains that of making books there is no end, Eccles. xii, 12. All these, and perhaps many others that we never heard of, are lost ; as those of the Egyptians, Syrians, and other eastern peo- ple. The only books that remain, of so great antiquity, are such as God dictated to his pro- phets, and has preserved by a particular provi- dence. It is not at all likely that the Israelites stu- died the books of foreigners, from whom they were so careful to separate themselves. And * Our author calls it Livre des justes, after the Vul- gate, liber justorum: but the Chaldee paraphrast, The book of the law : the Syriac, The book of Canticles^ in one place ; and, The book of Jlshir, in the other. Now it may be doubted, whether any of these conne up to the original ii:»n IDD that is, literally, The book of the up- right, or, The book which is right, as the Seventy seem to have understood it by translating it eirî ru 6t6Xm th €vdHç. The sacred writer appeals to the authentic copy of Joshua and Samuel that was preserved by the high priest, as the law was, Deut. xxxi, 26 ; and xvii, 18, it may be, in the tabernacle, or the temple, for Josephus, when he mentions the sun's standing still, Ant. 1. v, cap. 1, says, Thi'i is manifest by the tvritings deposited in the temple. The Arabic in 2 Sam. i, 18, gives the pas- sage a strange turn. "Behold it is written in the book of Ashir, that is, the book of Samuel, the interpretation of which is the book of Canticles^ 124 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. this study might have been dangerous, since it would have taught them the impious and extra- vagant fables of which the theology of idolaters was composed. But they abhorred it to that degree that they would not so much as pro- nounce the name of false gods,. Psalm xvi, 4 ; Wisdom xiv, 27 ; and if they made part of any proper names, they changed them. Thus they said Ishbosheth and Mephibosheth, for Esh- baal and Meribbaal ; Bethhaven for Bethel ; and Beelzebub instead of Beelsemen.* These fables, which comprehend the whole doctrine of false religions, were a heap of lies established by long tradition upon the foundations of an- cient truths, and embelUshed by the invention of poets : mothers and nurses taught them to their children from their cradle, and sung them at their religious worship and feasts. The ^- wisest of the heathens saw plainly that they tended only to create a contempt of the divi- * Compare 1 Chron. viii, S3, 34, with 2 Sam. ii, 8, andTiv, 4. EsHBAAL, '7ya?:'« the fire of Baal or of the idol changed into Ishbosheth nîî>3 the man of shame, Meribbaal '^ya 3nD the contention of Baal, changed into Mephibosheth, nira ^fiD from the mouth of shame, both names being intended to ridicule those which ap- pear to have been imposed in honour of the idol. Bethel the house of God, which, when Jero- boam set up the worship of his golden calves in it, was called Bethaven îiNho the house or temple of iniquity. Beelsemen CD^Dtt^ Lord, or ruler of the heavens, was through contempt changed into Beelzebub jot '7^3 the fly god, or god of flies ; and Beelzebul 'jot ^yn the god of dung. in. this latter form the word is read in the Greek Testament. METHOD OF GIVING INSTRUCTION. 125 Bity, and corruption of manners : but the evil was past remedy. {Plato Rep, ii, in fine, et init. iii.) The Israelites were the only people that re- lated truths to their children, capable of inspir- ing them with the fear and love of God, and exciting them to virtue. All their traditions were noble and useful. Not but they made use of parables and riddles, beside simple nar- rations, to teach truths of great importance, especially to morality. It was a practice among the ingenious to propound riddles to one ano- ther, as we see by the instances of Samson, Judg. xiv, 14 ; and the queen of Sheba,* 1 Kings X, i. The Greeks tell us the same thing of their first sages. {Plutarch Comm. Sept. Sap.) They made use too of these fables, as Esop did, the fiction of which is so plain that it can impose upon no body. We have two of them in Scripture, Jotham's the son of Gideon, Judg. ix, 8 ; and that of Joash king of Israel, 2 Kings xiv, 9. But the chief use of allego- ries and a figurative way of speaking was to comprehend the maxims of morality in few words and under agreeable images, that chil- dren might learn them more easily ; and such * Our translation says, she came to prove him with hard questions : but the Abbe follows the Vulgate, venît tentare eum in aenigmatibus, which is the same -with the £v aivijdxaai (icith riddles or enigmas) of the Septuagint ; which is the true import of the Hebrew word niT^na bacheedoth, from mn chadahy to penetrate ; because such sayings penetrated the mind, and engrossed the atten- tion more than others, 126 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITÈS. are the parables or proverbs of which the hooks of Solomon are composed. These parables are commonly expressed in verse, and the verses were made to be sung ; for which reason, I believe, the Israelites learnt music too. I judge of them by the Greeks, who had all their learning and politeness from the eastern people. Now it is certain that the Greeks taught their children both to sing and play upon instruments. This study is the most ancient of all others. Before the use of letters the memory of great actions was preserved by songs. The Gauls and Germans retained the same custom in the times of the Romans, and it is still preserved among the people of Ame- rica.* Though tl\e Hebrews had letters, they knew that words in measure and set to a tune were always best remembered ; and from thence pro- ceeded that great care which they always took to compose songs upon any important event that had happened to them. Such are those two songs of Moses, one at passing through the Red Sea, Exod. xv, 1, &c ; the other when he died, to recommend the observation of the law, Deut. xxxii, 1, &c. Such hkewise is that of Deborah, Judg. v, 1, &c ; that of Samuel's mother, 1 Sam. ii, 1-10; and many others : * This custom prevailed also among the Hindoos, witness the great and ancient epic poem of India, the Mahaharat; amon^ the Persians, witness the famous Shah J^ameh of Ferdoosee ; among the Irish, Welsl), and Scotch, witness the remains of their ancient bards^ Ossian, Urran, Oscar, &c. THEIR MUSIC AND TOEfkt. 127 hiiU above all, the Psalms of David, These poems are woriderfally instructive, full of the praises of God, the remembrance of his loving kindness, containing, beside, moral precepts, and such sentiments as a good man ought to have in every station of life. Thus, the most important truths, and exalted notions, were agreeably instilled into the minds of children by poetry set to music. And that was the right use of them. God, who created great geniuses and fine voices, designed^ without doubt, that the owners should employ them to recommend virtue, and not to foment criminal passions. The Greeks them- selves own, that the most ancient and best sort of poetry was the lyric, that is to say, hymns and odes in praise of the Deity, and to inspire virtue- {Plato, leg. vii.) Dramatic poetry, which consists only in imitation, and aims at nothing but to divert by moving the passions, was of later invention. We see nothing of it among the Hebrews ; and though Solomon in his Song makes different persons speak, it is more to ex- press their sentiments in a lively manner, than to represent an action, as is done in theatrical performances** There are no remains of the Hebrew music, but there are several of the structure of their verse and if we may judge of the beauty of their songs by that of the words, they must have ♦ See the supplement at the end of this cliapter. t See Lowth's Dissertation on the Poetry of the lîe- -brews; and Kennicott*s Hebrew Bible. 128 MANNERS OF THE iSKAKLITES. been excellent ; grave and serious, but affect- ing and diversified. And if we may form an opinion of them from their effects, the Scripture seems to impute supernatural ones to them. We see, by the instance of Saul, who found himself well and refreshed when David played upon the harp, that their music charmed evil spirits, 1 Sam. xvi, 23. The sound of their instruments likewise became a means which the Spirit of God sometimes used, when he spake by the prophets, as we find by the ex- ample of those whom Saul met, as Samuel had foretold, and with whom he himself entered into holy transports of joy, 1 Sam. x, 5 ; and by that of Elisha, who asked for a player upon a min- strel, that he might prophesy, 2 Kings iii, 15 : that is, this music appeased the motion of the spirits and humours which the devil had troubled in those whom God had permitted him to act upon : and such hearts as it found quiet and pure, it lifted up to God, and warmed them, and so disposed them to receive the powerful impressions of his Spirit the more effectually. The Greeks tell us of the wonderful effects of their music to excite or calm the passions ; and, unless wg contradict all history, it must be owned that the music of the ancients was more affecting than ours. Not that it was an uncommon thing among them, for they were all musicians : and, to con- fine myself (o the Hebrews, and speak only of such as were professed musicians, there were in David's fime four thousand Lévites appoint- THEIR MUSIC AND POETRV. 12^ ed for that purpose only, 1 Chron. xxiii, 5^ under the direction of two hundred and eighty- eight masters, 1 Chron. xxv,7, the chief of whom were Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, so often named in the titles of the Psalms. David him- self was a great poet, and excellent musician ; and it is very well known how much the inclina- tion of kings conduces to the improvement of arts. They had great variety of wind instru- ments, as trumpets, and flutes of different sorts ; drums, and instruments with strings. The two that are most frequently mentioned, are kinour and nabeU which the Greeks have changed into kinyra and nahla. So that when we represent David with a harp, it is only by guess. They had instruments of eight and ten strings. The singing of the Greeks was accompa- nied with dancing : for that is the meaning of the word chorus or choir ^ which the Latins have taken from the Greeks, and which signified with them, a company of dancers clothed and decked out in the same uniform.* They sung together, and danced in a ring, being sorted according to their age and sex, young men and maids, old men and wives, without mixing one with the other. Now, it is not to be supposed that the Hebrew dances were less modest. Choirs are mentioned at the procession which David made to carry the ark into Sion, and *;^opo?, n. dance, and often in the profane writers a company of dancers : hence x^P^V^^ which signifies not only to lead a dance, but also to furnish that kind of uni/orm used by the chorus or company of dancers. 130 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. upon occasion of several victories, where it is said that the maidens came out of the cities dancing and singing, 2 Sam. vi, 5, 14, 15, 20 ; and 1 Sam. xviii, 6, 7. I do not perceive that the Israehtes had any public schools, or that the young men went from their fathers' house to study. Their laborious way of living did not admit of it. Their fathers had occasion for their assistance in their work, and brought them up to it from their childhood. So the word school, in Greek, signifies leisure^^ as being the place where such people met, who, having no urgent business, endeavoured to amuse themselves in an innocent manner : and the Latin word which signifies play^ conveys the same idea. I imagine, then, that their learning was chiefly acquired from the conversation of their fathers and old men, without much reading or regular lessons. Parents were obliged to inform their chil- dren of the great things God had done for them and their fathers : and upon that account, the law commanded them so often to explain the reasons of their feasts and other religious cere- monies, Deut. vi, 7, 20. These instructions, thus joined to sensible objects, and so fre- quently repeated, could not fail of having their due weight. They taught them, beside, every thing relating to husbandry, adding continual practice to their lessons. And we cannot doubt of their being very expert in it, consider- + 5:;^oX>;, Tioin (t;^oX«^(o, to be uue.ui])loye(i. TMElR LITERATURE, 131 ing that for many ages it was their sole em- ployment. Now, though this art be followed among us by uncultivated people, who seldom reflect upon any thing, it nevertheless contains a great extent of knowledge, much more use- ful to mankind than that speculative sort which is reckoned learning. And though we were to allow nothing to be science but what we find in books, both the ancients and moderns have written sufficient on this subject to recommend it to our esteem.* An Israehte, therefore, who, by the tradition of his fathers, by his own experience, and some reading, was instructed in his religion, the laws that he was to regulate his life by, and the history of his own nation, who knew how to provide himself with all the necessaries of hfe ; who thoroughly understood the nature of dif- ferent soils, and the plants that are proper for them, the method and time to be observed in planting them ; what precautions are to be taken against the several accidents that destroy the fruits of the earth, how they are to be ga- thered and preserved ; who understood the nature of cattle, how they are to be fed, the dis- tempers they are liable to, with the cure of them, and many other things of the same kind, * The works of Cato, Vano, Paladius, the Georgics of Virgil, and many others, contain many important lessons concerning agriculture, wlûch sho\v us that it had been earned to a great perfection in ancient times. In the present day it is become a science of the first importance, many of the nobility, gentry, and literati, cultivating it with the utmost assiduity and success. Î32 majSners of the Israelites. which most of those that reckon themsélvei^ men of breeding and letters know nothing of ; this honest Israelite, methinks, would be full as valuable a man, as one bred in our inns-of- court, exchequer, or in the wrangle of the schools. For it must be owned, that in these latter ages, curious studies have been too far divided from those that are useful; the cultiva- tion of the mind, and the improvement of the manners, from a due regard to one's business and health. Most of those who are so soli- citous about their intellects, take too little care of their persons, and become unfit for action and bodily labour. Nay, many grow so effe- minate, by giving themselves to music, poetry, and other studies of a curious nature, that with a very high opinion of their fine genius and pretended merit, they lead an inactive and despicable life. There were, however, some Israelites that applied themselves particularly to study, and may be called learned men, according to our own ideas. It is said, that in David's time there were men in the tribe of Issachar who had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do, 1 Chron. xii,32. And commentators say that they observed the stars, to regulate the feasts and the whole course of the year by them. The Prophet Malachi says of priests in general, that their lips should keep knowledge, and that they should seek the law at their mouth, Malachi 'iii 7. One of their chief functions therefore was to teach the law of God in the meetings which THEIR LITERATURE. 133 were held in every city on the Sabbath day, and which the Greeks called synagogues or clmrches, {Orig. cont, Cels, 1. iv,) for both words signify almost the same thing. Other learned men were appointed to speak there too, especially such as were acknowledged to be prophets, inspired by God. These were the public schools of the Israelites, where they did not teach curious knowledge, but religion and good manners ; where they did not instruct children only, and some particular persons who had nothing else to do, but the people in ge- neral.* None but the priests and prophets undertook to compose books, especially history. {Joseph, cont, App. i, c. 2.) It was the same in Egypt. Their priests renounced all worldly affairs. — They led a very serious and retired hfe, wholly employed in the service of the -gods, and the study of wisdom. They spent the day in the offices of religion, and the night in mathemati- cal contemplations, for so they called the study of the heavens. They were the only historians. So the most ancient Roman histories were the annals of their high priests. We see in Scripture history the character of their authors. It appears that they were very serious and very wise men ; old, and of great experience, and well informed of what passed. * Such were the schools of the propV^ets at Naioth, in Ilamah, where Samuel presided, 1 Sam. xix, 19, 20, &c, and ftl Bethel, where Elijah and Elisha gave. [mhWc. ii- filructions. 134 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. There is neither vanity, nor flattery, nor affec- tation in them to show their wit : whereas all these foibles are to be discovered in the Greeks, every one of whom had liberty to write, and most of them aimed at nothing but their own glory, or that of their nation. The Hebrew historians do not set down their own names, nor do they ever conceal any circumstance that appears disadvantageous to themselves or their sovereigns. They that wrote the history of David have been as particular in the account of his greatest crime as in any of his most right- eous actions. They make neither preface nor transition ; they only relate facts in as clear a manner as possible, without any mixture of reasoning or reflections. But if we examine well we shall find that they chose the facts which were pro- per for their purpose with wonderful judgment, and this makes their stories very short ; though, upon important occasions, they enter into the most exact detail, and set the action before the reader's eyes in very lively colours. It is plain they leave out reflections and exaggera- tions on purpose, by their knowing so well how to apply them in discourses where they have a mind to work upon the passions. So Moses, in Deuteronomy, makes use of the strongest and most expressive figures to magnify and expa- tiate upon what he had only plainly related in the preceding books. Thus the Prophet Isaiah barely relates the defeat of Sennacherib, Isa. xxxvi, 1, &c, compared with xxxvii, 37, 38, THEIR LITERATURE. 135 after having exaggerated, when he foretold it, in a style that is truly poetical. The Hebrews were not less to be admired in all their other ways of writing. Their laws are written with clearness and brevity. Their maxinis'of morality are contained in short sen- tences, adorned with agreeable figures, and expressed in a concise style ; for all this serves to make them remembered. In fine, the poe- try is sublime, the descriptions lively, the me- taphors bold, the expressions noble, and the figures wonderfully varied. But it would re- quire whole books to treat of their eloiquence and poetry in such a manner as they deserve.* Though they wrote by Divine inspiration, I do not think it necessary to impute all their eloquence to it. They were only inspired to speak truth, and to make use of no word that was unfit to declare the mysterious designs of God : but for any thing more the Holy Ghost made use of their natural manner of expression. This is plain from the different styles of the prophets, and still more so from the likeness I they all bear to the most ancient profane wri- ters. Homer, Herodotus, and Hippocrates, tell a story in the same way, Hesiod's instruc- tions are written in the like manner. {Demoslh, de fais, leg, et alibi.) The elegies of Theognis and Solon resemble the exhortations of Moses and the prophets. We see in Pindar, and the * See Bishop Lowth's Dissertation, and his preli- minary Diicourse to his Translation of the Prophet I Isaiali. 136 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. choruses of tragedians, great boldness and variety of poetry ; and the more ancient Greek authors are the more they resemble the He- brews, both in the distinction of style, accord- ing to the nature of the work, snd in their con- ciseness and propriety of expression. People may imagine that the Hebrews wrote in this manner by the pure strength of their genius, and that the goodness of their judg- ment prompted them to reject what was not suitable to the design of any work, and to make use of what was fittest to instruct or affect. For my own part, when I see that they never fail to observe a difference of style, and they apply all the orna Pients of true eloquence so properly, I am rather inclined to believe they had already some rules, taken from the experience of their fathers, either in writing or by tradition among the learned. We must not imagine that the Greeks invented eloquence and poetry : the greatest share they had in it was giving names to the figures, and framing all that artificial language, in which the know- ledge of grammarians and rhetoricians con- sisted ; but which alone never made cither orators or poets. The rudiments of the art were discovered long before ; for the world was not young at that time : it had existed near three thousand years before Solomon, and it is nearly three thousand since. Before his time men's live^ were long, and there had been no inundations of barbarians in the countries where arts and sciences had their origin. THEIR MUSIC AND POETRY* iBt A SUPPLEMENT TO CHAPTER XI. Concerning the Alusic and Poetry of the He^ breivs. Referred to in jycige 127. There were no instruments of music used in the worship of God from the foundation of the world till the time of David. He introduced singers and players on musical instruments, but this was rather by the permission, than by the ex- press authority of God. As David was a very elegant poet, and was led to devote his extra- ordinary talents to the most sublime and glori- ous of all subjects, the celebration of the being and attributes of the most high God ; and as instrumental music was generally a concomi- tant of the poetic gift, and probably observing a fondness for such instruments among the people at large, who appear to have made an improper use of them in feasts, &c,* he thought proper to consecrate them to the service of the sanctuary, and composed a variety of odes or psalms with which they were to be accompa- nied on the different solemnities observed among the Jews. It is in vain to attempt to trace the use of musical instruments in the service of God any higher than the days of David ; for the horns and trumpets which were in use before, appear to have answered no other purpose than merely to convoke the public assemblies, as bells were * See Isaiah v, 12, compared^ with Amos v, 23, and vi, 1-5. 10 138 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. not then in use. Nor does it appear from anj part of the Scriptures, as far as I can recollect^ that their introduction was ever sanctified by Divine authority. In 1 Chron. xvi, 42, it is said, that Heman and Jeduthun were appointed ivith trumpets and cymbals for those that should make a sound ; and with musical instruments of Gad ; and this text is supposed to be a clear proof that these were of Divine appointment. But the last clause, musical instruments of God^ when examined in the original, will not support this inference. CD''n'7it:' Jcelee sheer haclo- heem, literally signifies the instruments of God's song : properly translated by the Septuagint ogyam twv w^ojv tou ôsovy the organs of the songs of God. The parallel text in 2 Chron. vii, 6, the instruments of music of the Lordy has pre- cisely the same meaning with the above, the words being the same, only nin-» yehovah is in the latter text put for d^hSn eloheem in the former. The song God inspired, and commanded to be sung ; but the instruments were of a different appointment. In the first, the pure and perfect ages of the Christian Church, there were no instruments of music used in the worship of God : indeed had they been proposed, they would doubtless have been considered by the primitive Christians as an attempt to judaize Christianity, by conform- ing the chu7xh to the synagogue. The Syriac version of 1 Chron. xvi, 41, 42, is very remarkable. I shall subjoin a literal translation of it, which the reader may compare THEIR MUSIC AND POETRY. 139 with the English version or with the Hebrew text. " These are the names of the men who were employed in praises. HerntHi and Eri- thun (and other righteous men whose names are unknown) that they might give thanks to the Lord whose goodness is everlasting. And these are the righteous men who did not sing with instruments of music, nor with drums, nor with sistrums (or harps,) nor with pipes crooked or straight, nor with cymbals ; but they sung with a joyous mouth, and with a pure and perfect prayer, with innocence and integrity be- fore the Lord God Almighty, the G od of Israel." The Arabic version is almost word for Avord with the above. As the Syriac version was;^ made about the second century (some think in ? the apostolic age) and probably by a Christian^ we may see from the turn he gave to the origi- nal, that instrumental music in that time was not esteemed in the Church of God. Indeed it seems to have no good influence, and is only calculated to draw light, vain, and giddy per- sons together. Where poetry had attained such a high state of cultivation as the poetic compositions of the Hebrew prophets sufficiently prove, instrumen- tal music must have kept proportionable pace. According to the accounts of the rabbins, the Hebrews had more instruments of music among them, than any other people on the earth. They generally reckon about thirty-four different kinds. Calmet, who has examined this subject with great accuracy and critical acumen, Disscr- 140 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. tation sur les mstrumens de musique des //e- breiix, prefixed to his commentary on the Psalms, reduces this number by taking away the following fourteen. 1. Neginoth (mj^jj) translated by the LXX, uixvo^ a hymn, and by the Vulgate canticum, a song, signifies those who play on instruments, or the pieces themselves which are played. See Job xxx, 9 ; Psa. Ixix, 12, and the titles of several Psalms. 2. Nehiloth (ni'7Mj) signifies dances, or choirs of dancing women, from the verb '^Sn chalal, to dance. It is found in the title of Psalm V. 3. Sheminith (n^i^m): as this word Hterally signifies the eighth, and as we find this used for an eighth course of musicians, 1 Chron. xv, 21, it probably has the same meaning in Psalm vi, in the title of which it stands in connection with Neginoth mentioned above. 4. Shiggaion (p^^tt') signifies a song of con- solation in distress, or a poetic composition similar to our elegy. It is found in the title of Psalm vii, and the plural Shigionoth, in Habak- kuk iii, 1. 5. GiTTiTH (n^n^JJ) a person of Gath, or the ivine pressings probably an air or song sung at the time of vintage. It occurs in the titles of the 8th, 81st, and 84th Psalms. 6. MuTHLABBEN (î^SniD Sy) ahiiuthlaben con- cerning the death of the son. Title of Psalm 9th. In 1 Chron. xvi, 20, alamoth (r^^Dhy) is used, which signifies damsels, or virgins, and THEIR MUSIC AND POETRY. 141 Calmet thinks that a hand of female musicians is meant,^nd that Laben, i. e. to Ben, refers to Beniah who was set over the band. 7. Might AM (dddd) this occurs in the titles of the 16th, 56th, 67th, 58tb, 59th, and 60lh Psalms. It comes from the root cdpd katham to inscribe^ or engrave : and as it is always accom- panied with "in'? le da-vid, to David, it probably signifies that those Psalms were particularly at- tributed to David. Those, says Calmet, who wish to make it signify an instrument of music, only make use of this cloak to cover their idle- ness or ignorance. 8. Ayeleth Shahar (inc^n n'?>N) Psa. xxii, 1, translated by the Septuagint, the reception or succour of the morning ; and by others, the hind of the mornins; ; appears to signify a band of either male or female musicians, or a Psalm that was sung at break of day. 9. Shoshannim {a>yyv) Psalm xliv, Ix, Ixix, Ixxx, variously translated by the ancients and moderns, seems to mean rejoicings : and as all the Psalms to which it is prefixed seem to be composed for festive occasions, particularly weddings, it is probable the word only points out the rejoicings used on such occasions. 10. Mahalath (nSno) title of Psalm 53d, signifies a dance, such as was used at some re- ligious assemblies. See Exod. xv, 20 ; Judg. xxi, 21 ; 1 Sam. xvii, 6. 11. Jonath Elem Rechokim (D>pnn d^jk r>Ji*) The dumb dove in its banisltment, probably the air or tune to which some particular PsaUn or ode was sung. 142 MANNERS OE THE ISRAELITES. 12. HiGAioN (îrJn) Psalm xcii, 4, from njn io murmur, growl, or coo, was either a deep hollow bass in the music ; or a mournful tune, sung on occasions of public or private calamity. But from its connection in the above passage with several musical instruments, it may probably signify some kind of harp, or some mournful accompaniment in the voice like our recitativo. 13. Maschil (So:2'd) occurs in the titles of Psalms 32d, 42d, 44th, 52d, 74th, 78th, and 142d ; as it is evidently derived from the root it signifies simply to give instruction. The Psalms to which it is prefixed, are to be con- sidered as peculiarly calculated to give instruc- tion and direction in the most important matters which respect the well being of the body and soul. 14. Al Taschith (nnt:^n h-x) This term lite- rally means destroy not ; and may signify either a deprecation of deserved punishment, or an exhortation to take care of and preserve in a particular manner those Psalms to which it is prefixed. They are the four following, 57th, 68th, 59th, and 75th. I am of Calmet's opinion, that none of these signifies any musical instrument, unless the Higaion mentioned under No. 12. In the Pentateuch seven different kinds of musical instruments are mentioned, viz. the kinnor, or lyre, an instrument with three cords. The huggab, or mouth organ, composed of seven unequal pipes. The tifph, or tambour, behave wisely or prudently. THEIR MUSIC AND POETRt. 143 die skin being extended only over one side. The machalafli, probably a sort of bagpipe. The chazazeroth, the long straight trumpets mn.de by Moses in the wilderness, and the scho- phar or trumpet. To these some add ihejubaU iBY jobel, supposed to have been a sort of musi- cal instrument made out of a ram^s horn ; but this is a mistake, for there is no proper evidence that there ever was such an instrument.* In the books of Kings, Chronicles, and the Prophets, mention is made of nabelim, psal- teries or harps : mezilothaim, cymbals. Me- NANAiM, different kinds of flutes, and zalze- t.iM, cymbals, according to some ; and sist^mms according to others. Siialishim, sonorous fW- gons, or triangles, and mezilothaim, a species -of small bells. In Daniel iii, 5, the following are mentioned : — Karna, the coronet or horn : mashrokita, the jlagelot : kithros, the cithara or harp : SABEKA, the sackbut, a species of cymbal: pe- santerin, the psaltery or a species of harp in form of an equilateral triangle, nearly the sam3 as the nabla : sumphonia, a diilcimer or cym- hal with four strings. The gnasur, or hasur (na^y) mentioned in the Psalms, appears to have been an instrument of ten strings similar to or the same wiih the cythara or harp. As the 7iabla or kinoor were the most common, a far- ther description may be necessary. Na BLA or NEBEL C^^j) a Stringed musical in- strument, probably so called from its belly res- * See the note at the end of chapter xvi^ H4 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. sembling a jug or flagon, 2 Sam. vi, 5 ; Psalm xxxiii, 2. Athenseus says, " Not^Xot (poivjxwv sivai sv^Yiixa, the 7iabla was invented by the Phenicians," which he proves from these words of S op ate r, — — i>T£ TU Yiê(x)viis vao\a Aapv\Xo(pis)voç eUcKE'^^^opèoTai tvtîoç. And the Sidoniaii nabla Sonorous instrument, is not unstrung. Not^Xa here seems indeclinable, like the Phenician and Syriac Heb. h^s. Strabo, lib. X, p. 722, edit. Amstel. acknowledges that the name is barbarous or foreign ; twv o^^avwv Qa^^iTog, xai oKkn ziXsK^, " Some musical instru- ments have barbarous names, as the nabla and sambuke, the barbitos, the magadis, and several others." Josephus, Ant. lib. vii, cap. 12, sec. 3, describes it thus : H Ss voc§Xa, ôooôsxa cpôoyfiig s^- i^(fa Toig SaxTvXoig KPOTETAI. " The nabla has twelve sounds, and is struck or played upon with the fingers." In playing it was turned about with both hands. Thus Ovid de Arte Amandi, lib. iii. Disce etiam duplici gcnialia nablia palmâ Vertere ; conveniunt dulcibus ilia modis. Its name, like that of the utricularis tibia, (Eng- lish bagpipe,) is taken from its resemblance to a bottle or flagon, (utris,) for thus also S^j sig- nifies. It began to be in use about the time of David. This may be gathered from its being mentioned by David in several places of the Psalma, and THEIR MUSIC AND POETRY. 145 by the sacred writers who succeeded, but never once by those who preceded him. Hesychius says it was ^xj^^y^^ov a harsh-sounding instrument. Others, however, highly commend it. And in the Adulterer of Philemon, when one says that he knows not what the nabla is, another replies, Oux oK^èoL vaêXav ; ^osv i^v oiVô' ayaôov. " Not know the nabla ! Then thou knowest nought that is good." Thus Bochart, vol. i, p. 728. And from the passage of Sopater there pro- duced, from what Josephus says of the nabla, and from his joining it in the place above cited with the xjvufa, of which he says, H ^.sv xm^a, Ssxa ■)(O^Sat^ s|y)|UL|xsv7], rvitrsTai t^'X^jxr^w, that "it is furnished with ten strings, and played upon with a plectrum." From all this taken together I say it is manifest that the nabla was a stringed instrument, and therefore not, as a very inge- nious writer, to whom I am very much obliged, has supposed, a kind of bagpipe, such as Dr. Russell, (JVat. Hist, of Aleppo, p. 94,) informs ^us is still in use about Aleppo. From Psalms xxxiii, 2, cxliv, 9, the nabla appears to have sometimes at least had only ten strings. And the Targum, Syriac, Septuagint, and Yulgate, in both passages agree in this explanation of the word ■^it^'r gnasur or hasur. The KiNOOR ("^^J^) was a musical instrument of the stringed kind, a lute, harp, or the like, played on with the hand, according to 1 Sam, xvi, 23 ; though Josephus, Ant. lib. vii, cap. 12, sec. 3. edit. Hudson, says, that the cinyra david, made for the Lévites, was furnished with Î46 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. ten strings, and played on with a plectrum. — - From this word no doubt are derived not only the Greek xivu^a, a harp, by which the Seventy Very frequently render it, but also xiw^og and i^m^s(fôoii, signifying lamentation or moaning. Whence as Bochart, vol. i, p. 729, has observed, it is probable that the Greeks used this instru- ment on mournful occasions ; whereas among the Hebrews, playing on the "^^J^ kinoor was a sign of joy, as Gen, xxxi, 27 ; 2 Chron. xx, 27, 28 ; Job x^i, 12 ; Psa. cxliv, 2, 3. Hence, îîowever, as he farther remarks, it will not follow that the Hebrew kinoor and Grecian xivv^a were instruments of different kinds ; since the same sort of instruments might affect the mind in different manners, according as it was differently played upon. See Isa. xvi, 11, and Calmet as above, and Parkhurst. Effects the most astonishing and almost pre- ternatural are attributed in the Scriptures to the Hebrew music. To produce these the poetic compositions must have been exquisitely grand, the instruments perfect in their kinds, and per- fectly adapted to the effects they were intended to produce, and the musicians uncommonly skilful. Of their instruments we know little beside the names, and even the signification of these is by no means well ascertained. But much of their poetry remains, and is a standing monument of the high state of cultivation to which the most difficult of all sciences had arrived at a very early period, among a people whom the proud and insolent Greeks affected to call barbarians. THEIR MUSIC AND POETÎlV. 14? Even àn infidel who is capable of examining the poetic compositions of the Hebrews in their original language^ will allow that they possess all the characteristics of the most ener^ getic, sublime, and affecting poetry. In sacfed poetry the inspired writers alone have succeed^ ed : it belongs to the Divine Spirit to describe the things of God in a suitable manner, and in appropriate language ; several eminent men have written upon this subject, and written well ; but there is one point on which little has been said : viz. the combination of sense and sound in various parts of the poetic compositions of the Hebrew writers. For full evidence of the exquisite art possessed by some of the prophets in conveying the sense of their words by their sounds^ I shall refer the learned reader, first to the origincd of David's lamentation over Saul and Jonathan, 2 Sam. i, 19-27. This lament- ation is justly admired, says Dr. Kennicott, as a picture of distress, the most tender and the most striking ; unequally divided by grief into longer and shorter breaks, as nature could pour them forth from a mind interrupted by the alter- nate recurrence of the most lively images of love and greatness. His reverence for Saul, and his love for Jonathan, have their strongest colourings ; but their greatness and bravery come full upon him, and are expressed with peculiar energy. Being himself 3. warrior, it is in that character be sees their greatest excellence, and though bis imagination hurries from one point of recol- 148 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. lection to another ; yet we hear him at first — at last — every where lamenting " How are the mighty fallen !" It is almost impossible to read the noble original, without finding every wwd swollen with a sigh or broken with a sob. A heart pregnant with distress, and striving to utter expressions descriptive of its feelings, (which are repeatedly interrupted by an excess of grief,) is most sensibly painted throughout the whole. Even an English reader may be convinced of this, from the following specimen, which includes only the three last hemistichs. J^iphleathah ahabtecha lie meahabath nashim. Thy love to me was wonderful, beyond the love of women. Eik naphehi gibborim. How are the mighty fallen ! Wayobedii kelee milchamah. And the weapons of war perished ! The Psalms afford several instances of this connection of seiise and sound. The following from Psalm xviii, 15, is a fine specimen. Oohrakkeem rabb Vayliummem, And lightnings he multiplied and confounded them : in which Dr. Delany has justly observed, the rattling and pounding of thunder are distinctly heard in the sounds of the original words. THEIR MUSIC AND POETRV. 149 We have another striking example in the 10th verse :— Wayircav hhal kerub waiyahoph. He rode upon a cherub and did fly ; . nn ii5j3 by N^n Wayede hhal kanphee rooach. Yea, he flew on the wings of the wind ! How astonishingly are the blowing and rush^ ing of the wind expressed in the last word of each hemistich ! The clap of the wing also in the word ^^jj Kanphee may be distinctly heard. Could such a coincidence be the effect of acci- dent ? Sternhold and Hopkins have succeeded in their version of this place, not only beyond all their other efforts, but also beyond every ancient and modern poet on a similar subject. Their version conveys the true spirit of the original, and by tho^e who understand it, will be found to be surprisingly literaL " On cherub and on cherubim Full royally he rode ; And on the wings of all the wmds Came flying all abroad j" But the most complete and striking examples of the combination of sense and sound which I recollect to have met with in the sacred writings, are the two following : the first is taken from Psahn Ixxxi, 14. 150 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. Loo fçhammee shomeagh lee O that my people had hearkened unto me, i3Sn> Yisrael biderakee yehallekoo ! And Israel had walked in my ways! The deep hollow sounds in these words, interspersed and interrupted at proper distances with strong gutturals, show a mind so much penetrated with sorrow and distress, that every accent forcibly expresses the anguish of the heart ; and the sounds as strongly as the sense unite in a last effort of sorrowful affectionate eloquence, to call back an ungrateful and rebel- lious, but tenderly beloved people to a sense of their duty and interest ; that their otherwise unavoidable destruction might be prevented. The second is contained in Isa. xxiv, 16. Wayomer razee lee, razee lee. And I said, My leanness! my leanness! ,âuee lee, bogedeem bagadoo. Wo is me ! the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously ! Oobeged bogedeem bagadoo. Yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously ! I question whether the justly celebrated Bri 6* aKtiav traça diva 'nokvcfXoiaSoio Ba\aaaiji Silent, he wandered by the sounding maw. lhad, i, V, 32. THEIR POLITENESS. 15fe where the swelling of the wave and its dash upon the beach are inimitably expressed by the sounds of the words ; or the famous Q,uadrupedante putrem sonitu qualit imgula campum, the thundering coursers bound Thro' clouds of dust, and paw the trembling ground. Virgil, En. viii, I. 596. where the numbers of the verse perfectly imitate the prancing or iroiting of the steeds, possess such a claim to distinguished excellence as the above. Were ever plaintive sobbings more forcibly expressed than in the two last hemis- tichs ] CHAPTER XII. The Politeness of the Israelites. To return to the common sort of the Hebrews, Since they were so well instructed, and born in a country where people are naturally ingenu- ous, they could not fail of being polite : for we are not to suppose that inconsistent with a country life and bodily labour. The example of the Greeks plainly proves the contrary. I mean by politeness here, in general, whatsoever distinguishes us from barbarous nations; on one side, humanity and civility, demonstrations of friendship and respect in the common transac- tions of life : and on the other, prudence in business, address, and propriety of behaviour, and all thsit comes under the denomination of good conduct. 152 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. As to civility, the Greeks, living for the most part in commonwealths, were so jealous of their liberty that they treated one another as equals, and their compliments went no farther than showing esteem and friendship, in which the Romans imitated them. The civilities of the eastern people came nearer to ours, and were most respectful. They called those lords, whom they had a mind to honour, made vows of obedience to them, and bowed themselves to the earth before them, which the Scripture calls adoring i The Hebrews did so even before they had kings, as early as the time of the patriarchs : which proceeded, in all likelihood, from the customs of the neighbouring people, who had long been subject to masters. It was not reck-* oned ill manners to s^ ilwu and thee to each other ; all the ancients spoke in that manner, and most nations still do so. It was not till about the decay of the Roman empire that the 'plural began to be used in speaking to one person. It was usual to kiss in saluting : and instead of uncovering, as we do, out of respect, they pulled olf their shoes when they went into sa- cred places, as the eastern nations do to this day. Uncovering the head was a sign of mourning. We see examples of their compliments in those of Ruth, ii, 10, 13, Abigail, 1 Sam. xxv, 23, 41, the woman of Tekoah, 2 Sam. xiv, 4, 9, 17, whom Joab employed to get Absalom THEIR POLITENESS. 153 recalled, and Judith, chap, x, 23. Ail these are examples of women, who are generally more complaisant than men. They liked to speak in parables and ingenious riddles. Their language was modest and chaste, but in a dif- ferent way from ours. They said the ivaler of the feet^ for urine ; and to cover the feet^ for easing nature ; because in that action they covered thernselves with their mantle, after they had dug a hole in the ground, Deut. xxiii, 13. They said the thigh, when they meant the parts which modesty forbids to name. In other re- .«pects they have expressions that seem very harsh to us ; as when they speak of conception and the birth of children, of women that are fruitful or barren, and make no scruple of nam- ing some infirmities of both sexes which we make use of circumlocution to exprèss. All these differences proceed only from dis- tance of time and place. Most of the words, which are now immodest according to the pre- sent use of our language, were not so formerly, because they conveyed other ideas ; and the eastern people, especially the Mohammedans, are ridiculously nice about certain indecencies that have no influence upon the manners, while they give themselves great liberty in the most infamous pleasures. The Scripture speaks more plainly than we should do of conjugal af- fairs, because there was not one Israelite that renounced marriage, and they that wrote were grave and commonly old men. As for prudence, good or bad conduct, ad» 11 164 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. dress,complaisance, artifice, and court intrigues, the history of Saul and David furnishes us with as many examples of them as any other with which I am acquainted. CHAPTER XIII. Their Amusements* Their, easy and quiet life, added to the beauty of the country, inclined them to amuse- ments ; but such as were rational and easy to be procured. They had scarcely any but mu- sic and conviviality. Their feasts, as I have before observed, were made of plain meat, which they had out of their own stock ; and their mun sic cost ihem still less, since most people knew how to sing and play upon some instrument. Old Barzillai names only these two pleasures, when he was too far advanced in years to relish life, 2 Sam. xix, 35. The author of Ecclesi- asticus compares a concert of music in a ban- quet of nine to a signet of carbuncle set in gold^ Ecclus. xxxii, 5, 6. So Ulysses frankly owned to the Phaeaeians, that he knew no greater hap- piness than a feast accompanied with music. \Odyss. lib. viii.) We see the same pleasures mentioned in those passages of Sciipture, where the prophets reproached those that abused them, but they added excess of wine, crowns, and flowers, and perfumes, as we see the Greeks THEIR AMUSEMENTS. 155 and Romans did, Amos vi, 4, 6 ; Isaiah v, 11, 12 ; xxviii, 3. We have a catalogue of the perfumes which the Hebrews made use of in the Song of Solo- mon, and many other places of Scripture ; but especially in the law, where it prescribes the composition of two sorts that were to be offered to God ; the one wet, and the other dry, Exo- dus XXX, 23, &c. The drugs there named for making them are the most odoriferous that were known, before musk and ambergrise were found out. They loved eating in gardens under arbours and shady places, for it is natural in hot coun- tries to seek coolness and fresh air. So when the Scripture describes a time of prosperity, it says that every one ate and drank under his own vine and under his own fig tree, which fruit trees have the broadest leaves, 1 Kings iv, 4, 5; Mic. iv, 4 ; Zech. iii, 10. Their employment in country labour did not allow of their feasting or following their diversions every day, as most of the rich do now; but it served to make them*relish them better. They had therefore stated times of re- joicing, Sabbath days, and all other feasts taken ' notice of in the law, weddings, dividing the spoil after victory, sheep shearing, harvest, and vint- j age, in each particular estate, where the neigh- Ï hours came together to assist each other, Isa. t ix, 3; xvi, 9, 10. It is well known that the I feasts of Bacchus and Ceres had their rise I among the Greeks from such rejoicings ; and 156 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. we still see some footsteps of it among the country people.* The Israelites had no pro- fane shows. They were contented with the ceremonies of religion, and the poiftp of sacri- fices, which must needs have been very great, since the temple was the most magnificent build- ing in the whole country, and there were Ihirty- two thousand Lévites appointed for its service. I do not perceive that they had either gaming or hunting, which are reckoned with us among the highest diversions. As to gaming, it seems as if they were entirely ignorant of it, since we do not so much as once find the name of it in the whole Scripture. Not but the people of Ijydia had already invented games, if what is said of them be tiue.t But to this day the Arabians, and some other eastern nations play at no games of hazard, at least if they observe their law. As to hunting, either beasts or birds, it was not unknown to the Israelites ; but it looks as if they followed it rather for furnishing their tables, and preserving their corn and vines, than for pleasure. For they often speak of nets and snares, but we do not find that even their kings had either dogs or any hunting equipage. It ^ould no doubt have made them odious to have * In the fcRsts usually made at the conclusion of har- dest, and bringing home the corn. t Herodotus says, Clio. p. 45, that the Lydians in- vented the plays of dice, tennis, tables, &c, (e^evpcdrjvat èe u)V TOTE Kai rwv kvÔojv, kui tu)v aç-payaXwv, Kai tpiç a(j)aipriç) to divert and amuse them in a time of great scarcity : but'the account is accompanied with such circumstances as render it incredible. tHEIR MOURNING. 157 hunted over ploughed laiids, or bred beasts to do mischief,'^ Hunting prevails chiefly in the vast forests and untilled lands of cold countries. CHAPTER XIV. Their JMourning. After rejoicings, let us speak of their mourn- ing and siirns of afiliction. The ancients did not only go into mourning upon the death of relations, but as often as any misfortune hap- pened to them : and it did not consist merely in changing dress. The causes of it were ei- ther public calamities, as a mortalily, a general scarcity, an invasion ; or private misfortunes, as the death of a relation or friend, on account of his being dangerously ill, or taken captive, or when one was accused of a crime. The signs of mourning among the Israelites were, tearing their clothes as soon as they heard of any ill news, or if they happened to be pre- sent at committing any great wickedness, as blasphemy, or any other sin against God, 1 Kings xxi, 27 ; to beat their breast ; to put their hands upon their head, Jer. ii, 37; uncover it, and throw dust or ashes upon it, instead of per- fumes, which they used in the times of joy ; to shave the beard and hair off. On the contrary, * As it docs those who employ themselves in this unmanly and destructive exercise in tlie present day. 158 MANNERS or THE ISRAELITES. the Romans, who used to shave, let their hair grow in the time of mourning. As long as the mourning lasted, they were neither to anoint nor wash themselves, but wear their clothes dirty and torn, or else put on sack- cloth, which was a straight garment without folds, and consequently was very uneasy : they called it also hair cloth, because the stuff was iTiade of coarse camelot, or something else that was coarse or rough. They bared the feet as well as head, but had their face covered, Ezek. xxiv, 17. Sometimes they wrapped themselves up in a mantle, that they might not see light, and to hide their tears. They fasted at the same time that they mourned, that is, as long as they were in mourning. They cither ate nothing at all, or not till after sunset, and then only plain food, as bread, or herbs, and drank nothing but water. They continued shut up, sitting upon the ground, or lying in the ashes, keeping a pro- found silence. Lament, ii, 10, and not speaking but to bemoan themselves, or sing some dole- ful song. Mourning for a dead person com- monly lasted seven days, 1 Samuel xxxi, 13 ; sometimes they continued it a monlh, as for Aaron and Moses, Numb, xx, 29 ; Deut. xxxiv, 8 ; and sometimes seventy days, as they did for the patriarch Jacob, Gen. 1, 3.* But * But this seems to have been an Egyptian custom rather than one pecuhar to the Hebrews ; for it is ex- pressly said that it was the E:j;yptians who mourned Jur him (Jacob) threc-scurc and ten days. THEiR MOURNING. 159 some widows mourned their whole lives, as Judith, and Anna the prophetess. Thus their mourning was not, like ours, à mere ceremony, in which the rich only observe some set forms. It was attended with all the natural consequences of real grief; for a per- son in affliction takes no care of his dress, or of keeping himself clean ; he can hardly re- solve to eat ; he speaks not, or, if he does, it is only to bewail himself ; he goes not abroad, and avoids all diversions. The Israelites were not the only people that mourned after this man- ner ; the Greeks and Romans did so long after; since St. Chrysostom describes it to be pretty much the same in his time.* I do not doubt but some acted a part, and did all that I men-^ tioned, without being in any great concern ; those however that were in earnest were at liberty, if they pleased, to indulge themselves in it. But in general both the Israelites and all the ancients followed nature more than we, and were under less constraint in venting their pas- sions. They sung and danced when they were pleased ; and wept and cried aloud when they were grieved. When they were afraid they owned it frankly ; and in their anger they abused one another heartily. Homer and the tragic poets furnish us with examples in every page. See what affliction Achilles is in for the death of Patroclus, and in Sophocles the bitter * Chrysost. ad Dcmetr, de compunct. t. 0, 160 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. lamentations of Oedipus and Philoctetes. Phi- losophy and Christianity have now corrected the outward behaviour in those that are well bred and have a good education. They are taught to speak like heroes or saints, though most are not at all better at the bottom, and are contented to disguise their passions, without conquering, or even striving against them. CHAPTER XV. Their Funerals,^ Their funerals will fall in preltj well here with their mourning. The ancients in general took great care about them, and looked upon it as a terrible misfortune that their bodies, or those of their friends, should lie exposed to be torn by wild beasts and birds, or to putrefy above ground, and infect the living. It was a consolation to rest in the sepulchre of their fathers. Instead of burning the bodies, as the Greeks did to preserve the ashes, the Hebrews buried the common sort of people, and em- balmed persons of distinction to lay them in sepulchres. They also sometimes burnt per- fumes over the corpse. At the funeral of Asa, king of Judah, it is said, " they laid him on a bed which was filled with sweet odours, and * For ample information on the subject of this chap- ter, see Joan, J^icolai de Sepulchris llchrcconm^ 4fo, Lvg. Bat. 1706. THEiïl FUNERALS. 161 divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothe- caries' art ; and they made a very gr^at burn- ing for him and that this was customary appears from other passages. They embalmed almost in the same manner as the Egyptians, wrapping the corpse in a great quantity of dry^ ing spices : after this they laid it in the sepul- chre, which was a little cavity or closet, cut in the rock so artfully that some had doors to shut, which turned upon hinges, and a table to lay the body upon, all cut oat of the same stone. There are still many of them to be seen. They that attended the funeral were in mourning, and wept aloud, as they did at the burial of Abner, 2 Sam. iii, 31. There were women that made a trade of crying upon these occasions, and joined the mournful sound of flutes with their voices, Jer. ix, 17 ; Matt, ix, 23. | In fine, they composed songs instead of funeral orations for illustrious persons that came to an unfortunate end. Such were those that David made upon the death of Saul, 2 Sam. i, 17, and Jeremiah the prophet upon that of Josiah, 2 Chron. xxxv, 25. Though burying the dead was a duty of piety, yet there was no religious ceremony used at it : on the contrary it was a profane action, * 2 Chron. xvi, 14, compared with 2 Chron. xxi, 19, and Jer. xxxiv, 5. t This ceremony is still kept up among the native Irish ; in what is termed their Caoinian, or funeral cry, I between whose customs and those of the ancient He- ! kjrews there is a striking similarity. 162 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. and rendered all those unclean that were con- cerned in it, till they were purified ; because all dead bodies are either actually corrupted, or in a state that tends to it. Thus priests were so far from being necessary at burials, that they were absolutely forbidden to assist at any except of their very near relations, Lev. xxi, 1, 2, 3. When Josiah designed to root out idol- atry, he caused the bones of the false prophets to be burnt upon the altars of the idols, 2 Chron. xxxiv, 5, to inspire his people with a greater abhorrence of them. CHAPTER XVI. Their Religion. What has been said relates to the private life of the Israelites. We come now to their religious and political government. I shall not at present be very prolix in explaining their creed : we ought to be acquainted with it, for it is contained in our own. I shall only observe, that some truths v/ere revealed to them clearly, while others were still obscure, though they were already revealed. (Jos, cont, App,, 1. ii, c. 8.) What they knew distinctly was this : that there is but one God, Deut. iv, 39 ; vi, 4 : that he governs all things by his providence, Ps. civ, cxxv : that there is no trust to be put in any but him, nor good to be expected from any one else, TliEIR RELIGION. 163 Psalm Ixii ; Isa. xxxvi, xxxvii ; Jer. xvii, 5-8 : that he sees every thing, even the secrets of the heart, Psalm exxxix : that he influences the will by his inward operation, and turns it as he pleases, Prov. xxi, 1 : that all men are born in sin, and naturally inclined to evil, Psa. li, 5 ; Gen. vi, 5 : that, however, they may do good, yet only by God's assistance, Deut. xxx, 6 ; Ezek. xxxvi, 25, 27 : that they are free, and have the choice of doing good or evil, Deut. xxx, 19, 20 : that God is strictly just, and pun- ishes or rewards men according to their works, Psa. xxxvii, 1,6; xc, 1, &c : that he is full of mercy and compassion for those that sincerely repent of their sins, Deut. xxxii, 1,2; Exod. xxxiv, 7 ; Num. xiv, 18 : that he judges the actions of all men after their death, Eccles. viii, 11 ; xi, 9 ; xii, 14 ; Wisdom ii, 23 ;* whence it follows that the soul is immortal, and that there is another life. They knew beside, that God, out of his mere loving kindness, had chosen them from among all mankind to be his faithful people, Deut. vii, 6 ; ix, 5, 6 : that from them, of the tribe of Ju- dah, and the family of David, would be born a Saviour, Gen. xlix, 10; Isaiah xi, 1, 10, that should deliver them from all their hardships, and bring all nations to the knowledge of the true God. All this they knew very clearly, and * IIow far this was their general belief, I must leave to be settled between Dr. Warbiuton and his oppo- nents. 164 MANNERS 'of THE ISRAELITES. it was the most usual subject of their prayer:^ and meditations. This was that exalted wis- dom which distinguished them from all the peo- ple of the earth. For whereas, in other nations," none but the wise men knew some of these great truths, and that but imperfectly, and had different opinions about them; {Orig, cont. Cels. ;) all the Israelites were instructed in this doctrine, and did not vary the least in their no- tions aboutit. {Joseph, 1. ii, c. Jlpp. 6.) The truths they were taught more obscurely were, that in God there are three persons, Fa- ther, Son, and Holy Ghost, Gen. i, 26 ; Psalm xxxiii, 6 ; Isa. xlviii, 16 ; that the Saviour they expected should be God, and the Son of God, Prov. XXX, 4 ; that he should be both God and man at the same time, Isa. vii, 14 ; that God would not give men his grace, and the assist- ance necessary to perform his law, but through this Saviour, and upon account of his merits. Psalm xlv, 6, 7 ; Gen. xxii, 18 ; that he should suffer death to expiate the sins of mankind, Isa. liii, 5, 6, 11 ; Daniel ix, 26 ; that his kingdom should be altogether spiritual; that all men shall rise again, Job xix, 25-27 : that in another life there shall be a just reward for the good, Psalm xvii, 15, and punishment for the wicked. All this is taught in the Scriptures of the Old Testament ; but not so clearly that all the peo- ple knew it ; neither were men capable at that time of bearing such sublime truths. But my design is only to explain in what the outward practice of their religion differed from THE TEMPLE. 165 our customs. They had only one temple and one altar on which it was lawful to ofier sacri- fice to God : this was a symbol of God's unity : and this building was the most magnificent in the whole world, to represent also his sovereign majesty. It was not one only building, like most of our churches, but a great enclosure, comprehending courts surrounded with galle- ries, and several offices for the different courses of priests and Lévites, beside the body of the temple. The temples of other nations, as the Egyptians and Chaldeans, had also large edi- fices adjoining to them, and stood upon a great deal of ground : but they always planted trees about them : whereas the Israelites would not suff^er any to grow near theirs, that they might keep entirely free from the superstition of groves, which the Pagans held sacred. The body of the temple was sixty* cubits long, * We find two different cubits in the Scripture ; one of them equal (?ts Dr. Arbuthnot says) to an English foot, nine inches and eight hundred and eighty-eight thou- sandths of an inch ; being a fourth part of the fathmn^ double the span^ and six times the palm. The other equal to one foot and eight hundred and twenty-four thou- sandths of a foot, or the four hundredth part of a stadi- um. The Romans too had a cubit equal to one Eng- lish foot, five inches, and four hundred and six thou- sandths of an inch. Father Mersenne makes the Hebrew cubit one foot, four digits, and five lines, with regard to the foot of the capital. According to Hero, the geome- trical cubit is twenty-four digits : and according to Vi- truvius, the foot is two thirds of the Roman cubit, i. e, sixteen digits or finger's breadths. The Scripture says here, the cubits were after the first measure. Vide 2 Chron. iii, 3.— E. F. 166 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. and twenty broad, and thirty high, without reckoning the holy of holies^ which joined to it on the same floor, and was twenty cubits in length, and twenty in breadth, and twenty in height, 1 Kings vi, 2, 3, 20 ; {Jos. Ant. 1. xv, c. ult. and de bell. Jud. 1. vi, c. 6.) At the en- trance there was a porch that supported a great tower a hundred and twenty cubits high, and twenty broad, 2 Chron. iii, 4 ; 1 Kings vi, 3. I leave the learned to judge of the proportions. But I must desire those that think the temple small to consider, that the people were never to go into it ; only the priests, and such as waited on them, and that at stated times, morn- ing and evening, to light the lamps, and offer bread and perfumes. The high priest w^as the only person that entered into the sanctuary where the ark of the covenant stood, nor did he go in oftener than once a year. The whole temple, and sanctuary too, were wainscoted with cedar, adorned with carvings, and all covered with plates of gold. On the outside it was surrounded with two cedar floors, which made three stories of chambers for dif- ferent uses. {Cœnacula.) Before the temple, in a great court, was the altar for holocausts, or whole burnt offerings, that is to say, a plat- form thirty cubits square and fifteen high. The priests went up to it by an easy ascent without steps, to place the wood and victims in order. In the same court were ten great brazen basins set upon rolling bottoms ; and that which was supported by twelve oxen the Scripture calls the brazen sea. CHAMBERS OF THE TEMPLE. 167 This court belonged to the priests, especially that part between the altar and the porch, for the laity might advance as far as the altar to present their victims and slay them when they offered sacrifices. The Lévites stood upon the stairs of the porch which faced the temple to sing and play upon musical instruments, Ez. xl, xli, xlii. The court of the priests was en- closed with galleries, and surrounded with a first court much larger, which was the usual place for the people, where the w^omen were separated from the men, and the Gentiles might not come any farther than to stand under the galleries which made the enclosure of the first court. There were several parlours, chambers, and storehouses, for different uses, adjoining to these galleries of each enclosure. {Gazophyla- cia, Pastophoria, Thalamic Exedrœ, vid. Jer. XXXV, 4.) They had treasuries for the sacred vessels of gold find silver, which were so numerous that even at their return from the captivity they brought home five thousand four hundred, 1 Esd. ii, 14 ; vestries likewise for the sacer- dotal habits, Ezek. xliv, 19, and storehouses, where they laid up the offerings set apart for the maintenance of the priests and Lévites, wi- dows and orphans ; and what was committed \ to their charge by private people, 2 Chronicles I xxxi, 11 ; 2 Mace, iii, 10. For it was custom- Î ary with the ancients to deposit what was given for the public in temples. ( Talmud. Cod. Mid- ' doth,) In other places they kept wine and oil 168 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. for the libations, salt to season all the sacri- fices, and the lambs that had been picked out to be offered at the evening and morning sacri- fice, which was never omitted. In other places thev made show bread, and what other pastry was necessary for the sacrifices. They had kitchens for the flesh of the victims, eating rooms for the priests and guard of the Lévites, that kept the doors and watched the temple day and night ; beside lodgings for those of them that were musicians, Ezek. xl, 44 ; one, where the Nazarites were shaved after their vow ; another, to examine lepers in a hall where the chief council of seventy elders was held, and other rooms of the same nature, with which we are not so particularly acquainted. So many fine regular buildings gave, no doubt, a high idea of the great King that was served in that sacred place. They offered four lambs every day for a holocaust, two in the morning and two -in the evening : and this is what was called ifie con^ tinual sacrifice,^ On Sabbath and festival days the sacrifices were mutiplied in proportion to the solemnity, without reckoning the offerings of private people, which were daily very nume- rous. We are offended at the bloody sat;rifices which made the temple a shambles : but it was the same among other nations ; anèt^f^x^ffnoç, juge sacrificiam. ^ THEIR SACRIFICES. 169 forming these sacrifices with all the cleanliness and decency imaginable. The situation of the temple contributed to it : for as it was upon a mountain, they had made drains underneath to carry off the blood and nastiness. The peculiar part of the priests' office was only to pour out the blood, light the fire, and lay the pieces upon it that were to be offered, Lev. iv, 10. There were cfthers to kill the' victims, prepare them, cut them in pieces, and dress them ; we see it in the law, and the story of the sons of Elf, 1 Sam. ii, 13. The priests never did these things but at the puWic sacrifices that were offered for all the people. After this, we axe not to think the compari- son of a pot strange, which we read of in Jere- miah and Eze&iel, to represent Jerusalem, Jer. i, 13 ; Ezek. xxiv, 3, 4. These two pro- phets were priests, and used to see the sancti- fied meat dressed. Now they esteemed every thing honourable that was employed in the ser- vice of God, and the performing of the law : beside, it was usual Tor the very best of people to work with their own hands^ and dp the neces- sary offices of life themselves, as we said be- fore. Thus, in Homer, King Agamemnon kills . the lambs with his own hands, {Iliad iii, v. 290,) the blood of which was the seal of the treaty he had made with the Trojans. Thus, when Nestor sacrificed to Minerva, his own 1 sons kill the victims, cut the flesh in pieces, and : broil it. (Odyss. iii, v. 448-465.) Homer abound^ with examples of this sort, not only 170 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. when he is speaking of religious matters, but upon other occasions ; as when Achilles enter- tained the messengers of the other Grecian generals. As to the rest, every thing that is prescribed by the law relating to the quality of victims, and the manner of performing the sacrifices, tended rather to cure the Israelites of their su- perstitions by confining them to a few ceremo- nies, than to introduce new ones. {TertulL in Marc. 1. ii, cap. 18.) Idolaters sacrificed in more places, used more ceremonies, and a greater variety of animals : (Herod. 1. ii, c. 40 :) for they had every where temples and altars, and each family had their domestic gods and particular superstitions. Thus God prepared his people in a distinct manner for the abolish- ing bloody sacrifices, telling them often at the same time by his prophets, that he had no need of them, that they were not essential to religion, and that the worship most agreeable to him was gratitude and purity of heart, 1 Sam. xv, 22 ; Psalm 1, 8, &c ; Isaiah Ixvi, 3. It was necessary for the priests to be mar- ried, as the priesthood was annexed to the family of Aaron : but they parted from their wives during the time of their officiating, and drank neither wine nor any other liquor that could intoxicate, Levit. x, 9. The same absti- nence may be observed among idolaters, espe- cially the Egyptians : and their priests wore nothing but linen, and shoes made of the plant papyrus, that gives name to paper^ that they THEIR FEASTS. 171 might not have any thing about them that came from dead beasts, and tended to corruption. The Israelitish priests officiated barefoot, but with linen garments on. They were forbidden to wear any woollen, and put off those sacred vestments when they came out of their court to go into that of the people, Ezek. xliv, 17. The priests and all the Lévites led a pastoral life, that was so dear to the patriarchs, when they were not upon duty, and had no other substance than their flocks : for they were excluded from any share of land, to wean them the more from temporal cares, and give them greater leisure to employ themselves in the affairs of religion. Yet they were wealthy, when the people paid them justly what was ordered by the law ; for though there were fewer of that tribe^ than of any else, they had tithe of all fruits gathered by the other twelve, and consequently their share was the largest. They had beside, the first- lings of all animals, without reckoniqg their own cattle, and the daily offerings, on which the priests lived when they served at the altar. I do not pertceive that they were excluded from any civil office : they bore arms like other men, and the priests sounded the trumpet in the army, and upon all other occasions, 2 Chron. xiii, 12 ; for they made use of silver trumpets to proclaim the feasts and call the people to I public prayers ; and the name of jubilee is de- * About a 30th of the whole. Nearly a 27th part, ^urab. i, 32 ; iii, 43, and a 32d in 1 Sam. xxiv, 9; ;1 Chron. xxiii, 3.— E. F. 172 MANJSERS OF THE ISRAELITES. rived from a ram's horn, which was soundc;d to give notice of its opening.* The ancient monks of Egypt observed the custom of blowing a trumpet at the hours of prayer ; for the use of bells is more modern. The feasts of the Israelites were the Sab- bath ; the first day of each month, called in our translation calends or neiv moon ; the three great feasts of the passover, pentecost, and taber- nacles, instituted in memory of the three greatest blessings they received from God, the coming out of Egypt, the promulgation of the law, and their settlement in the promised land after their journeying in the wilderness, where they had so long lodged under tents, Levit. xxiii. These great solemnities lasted seven days, probably in memory of the week of the creation. Their year consisted of twelve months, each of thirty days,| very little different from ours. * Num. X ; Joseph. Ant. iii, 12; Lev. xxv, 9. Jubi- lee in Hebrew ^"2^ yobel, some say from yabal, to bring or carry along; there is no evidence that it ever signifies a ravVs horn, though translated so in a fevv places of our English version, but none of the ancient versions acknowledge this sense of the word except the Chaldee. The word is of uncertain etymology ; Jose- phus says it signifies liberty. tlevOepiav it arjiuaivu rowofta. Ant. lib. 3, c. 10, p. 96, edit, colon. 1691. What autho- rity he had for this interpretation of the word I know not; but it is full as likely as the rabbinical definition rain's horn, which is now commonly imposed on it. Calmet derives it from ^i^in hobeel, to cause to hrin^ back or recall, because estates, &c, which had been alien- ated, were then brought back to their primitive ownera This appears to be the true derivation of the word. t In Gen. vii, 1 1 , compared with viii, 3, 4, we sec onei hundred and fifty clays are equal to five months. THEIR FEASTS. 173 Thus we find it regulated from Noah's time, as appears by the date of the deluge ; but it is thoiaght it began then at the autumnal equinox. Moses was ordered to begin it in spring, in the month Abib, which was that of the pass- over, Exod. xiii, 4 ; and it is with respect to the first month that the others are reckoned, which are only named from their number. They agree very nearly with our Roman months, the names of which come from the old year that began in the month of March. Thus, the eigth month was October, at least part of it ; the ninth happened in JYovember, and so on. They computed their month by the moon, at least in later times ; not astronomically, but according to its appearance, from the day that they, whose business it was, had declared the new moon, which was the day after it appeared. The feasts of the Israelites were true feasts, j that is to say, times of real joy. All the men ] were obliged to be at Jerusalem at the great feasts of the passover, pentecost, and taber- nacles, and the women were permitted to come too. The concourse was then very great ; every body dressed and adorned themselves in their best clothes. They had the pleasure of seeing all their friends and relations: they assisted at the prayers and sacrifices, which were always accompanied with music : after that followed the feasts, in which they ate the peace offerings in this magnificent temple. The law itself commanded them to rejoice, and join sensible mirth to spiritual. 174 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. We must not wonder, therefore, if it was agreeable news to hear that a feast was nigh, and that they were soon to go to the house of the Lord ; that they esteemed those happy that spent their Ufe there, Psalm cxxii, 1 ; Ixxxiv, 1, &c; that they went thither in great troops, singing and playing on instruments ; and that, on the contrary, they thought themselves un- happy when they could not be there, which David so often laments in his exile, Psa. xlii, 4 ; xliii, 3, 4. CHAPTER XVII. Their Fasts and Voivs. Fasting days were quite the reverse of fes- tivals. Upon those they did all that I have related in speaking of mourning : for fasting and mourning with them were the same thing. It did not consist therefore only in eating later^ but being afflicted in all respects. They spent the whole day without eating or drinking till night, Isaiah Iviii, 5. Thus the Jews still fast, and the Mohammedans, who herein imitate both them and the primitive Christians.* They observed a strict silence, put on sackcloth and ashes, and expressed every other sign of afflic- tion. The public fasts were proclaimed by sound of trumpet, as well as the feasts, 1 Kings * See an enumeration of the fasts of the Hindoos and Mohammedans, at the end of this chapter. il THEIR FASTS AND VOWS. 175 xxi, 12 ; Joel ii, 15, 16, &c r all the people at Jerusalem met together in the temple, and at other places in the public square : they read lessons out of the law, and the most venerable old men exhorted the people to confess their sins and repent of them. They never married upon those days ; such as were already mar- ried separated themselves from their wives. The law had appointed but one fast day, the tenth of the seventh month, which was the feast of atonement. Lev. xvi, 29, &c : but from the time of the Prophet Zechariah they reckoned three more ; one in the fourth month, one in the fifth, and another in the tenth, Zech. viii, 19. They had extraordinary fasts ; some in public calamities, as the dearth which Joel speaks of: others upon particular misfortunes, as David's fast for the sickness of his child, that was the offspring of his great crime, 2 Sam. xii, 16 : for the death of Abner, 2 Sam. iii, 31, and upon many other occasions mentioned in the Psalms, xxxv, 13, 14; Ixix, 10, 11. In fine, they had fasts which they imposed upon themselves out of pure devotion, or to perform some vow ; for they were very strict in keeping their vows and oaths. As to vows, the instance of Jephthah is but too convincing, Judg. xi, 35 : and for oaths, Joshua kept the promise he made to the Gibeonites, Josh, ix, 19, though it was obtained by a manifest fraud, because he had sworn to them by the name of the Lord. Saul had resolved to put Jonathan to death for trans- gressing the order he had made with an oath, 176 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. 1 Sam. xiv, 27, though Jonathan offended only through ignorance ; and we see many more examples of it. They entered into such solemn engagements very seriously, and did not allow themselves any latitude in interpreting them. Swearing by the name of God was an act of religion, Psalm Ixiii, 11; for this oath distin- guished the Israelites from those that swore by the name of false gods : this is to be understood of lawful and necessary oaths, such as are taken in a court of judicature. Their vows consisted usually in offering some part of their substance to God, either for his service in sacrifices, or to be set apart by it- self. Thence came those great treasures in Solomon's temple, which were made up of the offerings of David, Samuel, Saul, Abner, and Joab, 1 Chron. xxvi, 27. It was chiefly of the booty taken from enemies. The Gentiles made such offerings in the temples of their false gods sometimes upon other occasions : we need no other example than the temple of Delphi, and the rich presents that Crœsus sent to obtain fa- vourable oracles. (Herodot. 1. i, pp. 21, 22.) The most considerable vow was that of the Nazarites, who obliged themselves for so long a time to drink no wine nor strong drink, nor to cut their hair, and to keep themselves carefully from all legal impurities, particularly from com- ing near dead bodies, Numb, vi, 1-21. The rule of the Rechabites seems to be founded upon such vows. The author of it was Jona- jdab the son of Pechab, 2 Kings x, 15, who HINDOO AND MOHAMMEDAN FASTS. 177 lived in the time of Jehu king of Israel, and the Prophet Elisha. He forbade his children to drink wine, build houses, to plant, have lands, or vineyards, Jerem. xxxv, 6. They abode therefore under tents, employing themselves in all probability as the Lévites did, in breeding • cattle, and exactly imitating the pastoral life of the patriarchs : they were married, and invio- lably observed this rule in their family, at least one hundred and eighty years, for we cannot tell what became of them after the captivity. A SUPPLEMENT TO CHAPTER XVIl. Concerning the Fasts of the Hindoos and JVLohammedans. As the Hindoos and Mohammedans approach nearest in their religious austerities to the an- cient Hebrews, the following concise view of the fasts practised among them, taken from the best authorities, will not be considered an un- profitable digression in this place. There are twelve kinds of fasts among the Hindoos. 1st. The person neither eats nor drinks for a day and night. This fast is indispensable, and occurs twenty-nine times in the year. 2d. The person fasts during the day, and eats at night. 3d. The person eats nothing but fruits, and drinks milk or water. 4th. He eats once during the day and night. 5th. Eats one particular kind of food, during the day and night, but as often as he pleases. 178 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. 6th. Called Chanderaym, which is to eat one mouthful only on the first day, two on the se- cond, and thus continue increasing one mouthful every day for a month, and then decreasing one mouthful every day till he leaves off where he began. 7th. The person neither eats nor drinks for twelve days. How such a fast can be support- ed I cannot tell. Though it is prescribed in their law, it is not likely that it is ever observ- ed, at least rigidly. 8th. Lasts twelve days : the first three days he eats a little once in the day ; the next three he eats only once in the night ; the next three he eats nothing unless it be brought to him ; and during the last three days he neither eats nor drinks. 9th. Lasts fifteen days : for three days and three nights he eats only one handful at night ; the next three days and nights he eats one hand- ful if it be brought to him, if not he takes no- thing. Then he eats nothing for three days and three nights. The next three days and nights he takes only a handful of warm water each day. The next three days and nights he takes only a handful of warm milk each day. 10th. For three days and nights he neither eats nor drinks : he lights a fire and sits at a door where there enters a hot wind, which he draws in with his breath. 11th. Lasts fourteen days: three days and three nights he eats nothing but leaves ; three days and three nights nothing but the Indian fig ; MOHAMMEDAN FASTS. 179 three days and three nights nothing but the seed of the Lotus ; three days and three nights no- thing but peepul leaves ; three days and three nights the expressed juice of a particular kind of grass called Doohalu 12th. Lasts a week : 1st day he eats milk ; 2d, milk curds ; 3d. Ghee, i. e. clarified butter ; 4th, cow's urine ; 5th, cow's dung ; 6th, water ; 7th, nothing: plays at no game ; has no con- nection with women ; neither shaves nor anoints himself, and bestows alms each day. {Jlyeen Mhery, vol. iii, p. 247-250.) MOHAMMEDAN FASTS. Fasting is considered by the JWohammtdans as an essential part of piety. Their orthodox divines term it the gate of religion : with them it is o^two kinds, voluntai^y and incumbent"; and it is distinguished by the Mosliman doctors into three degrees : 1st. Abstinence from every kind of nourishment or carnal indulgence. 2d. Re- straining the various members from every thing which might excite sinful or corrupt desires. 3d. The abstracting the mind wholly from world- ly cares, and fixing it exclusively upon God. Their great annual fast is kept on the month Ramzan, beginning at the first new moon, and continuing until the appearance of the next ; during which it is required to abstain from every kind of nourishment, from daybreak till after sunset of each day. From this observance none are excused but the sick, the aged, and children. But if the sick recover, they are re« Î80 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. quired to make up for what they have lost, by fasting an equal number of days after their health is perfectly restored. This is properly the Mohammedan Lent Any breach of the duty of fasting, especially in the month Romzan, must be expiated by a donation of alms to the poor. The JVifl or voluntary fasts are those not en- joined by the law, but which a man imposes on himself for some particular reason. They are often sufficiently severe. All fasting is con- sidered in the light of making atonement for sin. The common sense of all nations agreeing in this, that sin requires an expiation : but the Christian religion alone shows the true one. {See Heclayah. Prel. Dis. p. 56.) CHAPTER XVIII. TAetV Prophets. Another sort of religious people, and much more considerable (than the Rechabites) were the prophets. There was a great number of them from SamuePs time : witness that com- pany which Saul met, who prophesied at the sound of instruments, transported by the Spirit of God, 1 Sam. x, 5 ; and that other company which prophesied before Samuel, and seem to have been his disciples, 1 Sam. xix, 20. But it does not appear that there ever were so many, as from the days of Elijah and Elisha to the THEIR PROPHETS. 181 Babyloaish captivity. They lived separate from the world, distinguished by their habit and way of living ; they dwelt upon mountains, as Elijah and Elisha did upon Carmel and Gilgal. The rich women, who lodged Elisha when he went by Shunem, had a chamber, as I said, built and furnished for him, 2 Kings iv, 10, where he hved so retired that he did not speak so much as to the person who entertained him, but made his servant Gehazi speak to her for him : and when she came to entreat him to raise her son to life again, Gehazi Avould not let her touch the prophet's feet, 2 Kings iv, 27. When Naaman, general of the Syrian armies, came to him to be cured of his leprosy, he sent him word what to do, without being seen by him, 2 Kings v, 10. Two other of this prophet's miracles show that his disciples lived in societies ; that of the herb pottage which he made wholesome, and that of the barley bread which he multiplied, 2 Kings iv, 38, 41, 43, 44; which shows also the plainness of their food. There were a hun- dred prophets that lived together in this society, and they wrought with their hands ; for, finding their lodgings too strait, they went themselves to cut down wood to build with, and were so poor, that one of them was obliged to borrow a hatchet, 2 Kings vi, 5. Their dress was sackcloth or haircloth, that is mournings to show they were always in afflic- tion for the sins of the people. Thus to describe Elijah, they said he was a man clothed in a hairy garment, and girt with a girdle of leather 182 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. about his loins, 2 Kings i, 8. Thus, when God bids Isaiah undress himself, he orders him to loose his sackcloth from off his loins, Isaiah xx^ 2. It appears that the two great prophets men- tioned in the Revelation were both clothed in sackcloth. Rev. xi, 3. The prophets, at least some of them, were nevertheless married men ; and that widow whose oil Elisha multiplied, was a prophet's widow, 2 Kin^s iv, 1. It seems also as if their children followed the same profession, for the prophets are often called sons of the prophets ; which made Amos say, " I was no prophet, nor prophet's son, but only a herdsman," Amos vii, 14 ; to show that he did not prophesy by pro- fession, but by an extraordinary call. For though God most frequently made use of such as led a prophetic life, to declare his will, yet he was under no obligation not to make revelations to any one else. Yet commonly none were reckoned prophets but such as led that sort of life ; whence it comes that the writings of David, Solomon, and Daniel, are not put by the Jews among the prophetic books, Ecclus. xlix, 10, because the two first were kings, living delicately and mag- nificently ; and the other a Persian governor, who also lived at court, and in the hurry of the world : but this distinction is not attended to by our Lord, who expressly calls Daniel a prophet, Matt, xxiv, 15. These holy men, after the patriarchs, preserv- ed the purest tradition of the true rehglon : their THEIR PROPHETS. 183 employment was meditating upon the law of God, praying to him often day and night, both for themselves and others, and inuring them- selves to the practice of every virtue. They in- structed their disciples, explained to them the spirit and meaning of the law, and opened to them the sublime mysteries relating to the state of the Church, either upon earth or in heaven, after the Messiah should come, that were hidden under allegories of things sensible and seeming- ly mean. They instructed the people too who came to hear them upon Sabbath and other feast days. They reproved them for their vices, and exhorted them to repent, often foretelling, from God, what was to happen to them, 1 Kings xxi, 20. This liberty which they took of speaking the most disagreeable truths, even to kings, made them hated, and cost many of them their lives. However, there were many impostors, who counterfeited the outward demeanour of true prophets ; wore sackcloth as they did ; spake the same language, pretending they were also mspired by God, Zech. xiii, 4 : but they took care not to foretell any thing that would be dis- agreeable either to the prince or the people. The false gods also had their prophets, as the eight hundred and fifty whom Elijah caused to be slain, 1 Kings xviii, 19 and 40. Of the same sort were the soothsayers among the Greeks, who were called manteis iiavrsi^^BiS Calchas and Tiresias in the times of the heroes : such like- wise were they that gave out oracles, or made money of them, and the poets, who said they Î84 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. also were inspired by the gods. For they did not mean to have it thought that they said so only in a poetical manner, but to make it be- lieved that they really were : and in fact these false prophets, either by the operation of the devil, or some artifice, became transported, and spake in an unusual style, to imitate the visible effects which the Spirit of God caused in the true prophets. Now those Israelites that were not thoroughly confirmed in their religion, lay under great temptations to consult these diviners and false oracles, and it was a part of idolatry which they were very subject to fall into, during the whole period of which we speak. CHAPTER XIX. Their Idolatry. This propensity to idolatry appears to us very strange and absurd in the manners of the Israel- ites ; and hence many have imagined that they were a brutish and unpolished people. We see no idolaters now ; we only hear it said that there are some in the Indies, and in other remote countries. But all people that live about us, Christians* Jews, and Mohammedans, preach one only God * On the origin and progress of idolatry, see Maimoni- des de idolatria, cum inierpretaiione et notis Dionysii Vossiû 4to. Amst. 1642, which contains a great variety of curious matter. THEIR IDOLATRY. 185 Âimîghty. The most ignorant country people know this truth distinctly ; we conclude, there- fore, that such as believed in more gods than one, and adored pieces of wood and stone, ought to be accounted the most ignorant of mankind, and perfect barbarians. However, we cannot call the Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, Syrians, and other people of antiquity, ignorant and bar- barians, from whom all arts, human learning, and poHteness have been handed down to us : neither can we deny that idolatry reigned among them in the most absolute manner, at the very time when in every thing else they were perfect- ly ingenious and polite. Let us stop here then a little, and search into the source of this evil. The mind of man is so overcast since the fall, that while he continues in the state of cor- rupted nature, he has no notion of spiritual things ; he thinks of nothing but matter and corporeal subjects, and makes light of whatso- ever does not fall within the compass of his senses ; nor does any thing aopear even sub- stantial to him, but what strikes the grossest of them, the taste and touch : we see it too plainly in children, and men that are guided by their passions ; they make no account of any thing but what they can see and feel : every thing else they look upon as castles in the air. Yet these men are brought up in the true religion, in the knowledge of God, in a belief of the im- mortality of the soul, and a future state. What sentiments had the ancient Gentiles, who never heard these things mentioned, and had only ob- 13 186 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. jects of sense and matter laid before them by .their wisest men? We may read Homer, the great divine and prophet of the Greeks, as long as we please ; we shall not find there the least hint that can induce us to imagine he had any notion of things spiritual and incorporeal. Thus all their wisdom was employed in what relates to the body and senses. The design of their bodily exercises, and all that gymnastic regimen which they made so much noise about, was to preserve and increase their health, strength, dexterity, and beauty ; and they car- ried that art to the utmost perfection. Paint- ing, sculpture, and architecture delight the eyes; and they had advanced them to such a pitch, that their villas, cities, and whole country, were full of entertaining objects, as we see by the descriptions of Pausanias. They excelled also in music ; and though poetry seems to strike deeper than the senses, it reaches no farther ^ than the imagination, which has the same ob- jects, and produces the like effects. Their law^s, and most ancient rules of morality, all relate to the senses ; providing that their lands should be well cultivated, that each particular person should have enough to live comfortably upon, that men should marry healthy and fruitful wives, that children should be educated so as to have strong constitutions, and fc^e fit for war : and that every body should be protected from beipg injured, either by strangers or bad neigh- bours. They studied the good of the soul so little THEIR IDOLATRY. 187 that they depraved it extremely by the too great care they took in improving the body. It was of dangerous consequence to expose statues and pictures, even the most obscene, in every part naked and uncovered f and the danger was still greater to painters and sculptors, who copied from the life. No matter, there was a necessity for gratifying the lust of the eyes. It is well known at what a degree of debauch- ery the Greeks were arrived by these fine cus- toms : they practised the most abominable lewdness, and not only practised, but held it in esteem. Their music and poetryJikewise fo- menting the same vices, both excitM and kept up jealousies and mortal hatred befween the poets, the actors, and spectators ; and particu- lar characters were cruelly slandered and pulled in pieces ; but this never gave them any con- cern, provided the spectacles were diverting, and the songs such as entertained them. The same may be said of their religion : in- stead of improving, it was prejudicial to their morals. Now the rise of all these evils was man's forgetting himself and his spiritual na- ture. All mankind had preserved a constant tradition that there was a nature more excellent than the human, capable of doing them good or harm ; and being acquainted with none but corporeal beings, they would persuade them- selves that this nature, that is, the divinity, was so too : and consequently that there were many gods, that every part of the creation might have nome, and that each nation, city, and family, 188 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. had deities peculiar to itself. They fancied they were immortal, and, to make them happy, attributed to them all sorts of pleasures, (with- out which they thought there could be no true felicity,) and even the most shameful debauch- eries : which afterward again served to counte- nance their own passions by the example of their gods. They were not content with ima- gining them either in heaven or upon earth : they must see them and touch them : for which reason they honoured idols as much as the gods themselves, conceiving that they were united and incorporated with them : and they honour- ed these statues so much the more for their beauty, or antiquity, or any other singularity they had to recommend them. Wisdom xiii, 10. Their worship was of a piece with their be- lief, Wisdom xiv, 27-29. It was wholly found- ed upon two passions, the love of pleasure, and the fear of coming to any outward harm. Their sacrifices were always accompanied with feasts, and music, and dancing. Comedy and tragedy had their rise from their merry makings after vintage, in honour of Bacehus. {TertulL de Sped. August. 2. de Civ. Dei.) The Olympic games, and other trials of skill, so much cele- brated in history, were instituted in honour of their gods. In short, all the Grecian shows were acts of reUgion, and it was a piece of de- votion, in their way, to assist at the most scan- dalous of Aristophanes's comedies. Thus, their chief business in time of peace was tak- ing care of the sacred combats and theatrical THEIR IDOLATRY. 189 shows ; and often, in time of war, they were more attentive to these things, and at greater expense about them, than in the war itself. (Demosth. Philipp. 5.) Their rehgion then was not a doctrine of morality, like the true religion ; {August, de vera Relig, in init. ;) they reckoned him a saint that was neither murderer, traitor, nor guilty of perjury ; who avoided the company of those that had committed such crimes, who kept up the rights of hospitality, and places of refuge, who faithfully performed his vows, and gave liberally toward sacrifices and public shows. Religion was looked upon as a trade ; (Plato Eutyphron;) they made offerings to the gods, that they might obtain what they desired in their prayers. As to any thing else, debauchery did not offend it at all. Apuleius, after all the vil- lainous actions with which he fills his metamor- phosis, concludes with a description of his devotions, {Jipul. I. i,) that is, how officious he was to get himself initiated into all sorts of mys- teries, and how exact in observing all the cere- monies of them. Debauchery was so far from being condemned by religion, that it was some- times enjoined : there was no celebrating the Bacchanal feasts in a proper manner without getting drunk, {Clem. Alex, in protrept,) and there were women that prostituted themselves in honour of Venus, particularly at Corinth. It is well known what the god of gardens, and the mysteries of Ceres and Cybele were. Thus they honoured the gods whom they 190 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. thought kind and beneficent. But for the infer- nal deities, Hecate, the Eumenides, or Furies^ the Pareae, or Destinies, and others, with the stories of whom they were terrified, they were to be appeased with nocturnal sacrifices and fright- ful inhuman ceremonies. Some buried men alive ; others sacrificed children, and sometimes their own, Wisd. xiv, 23 : as the worshippers of Moloch mentioned with so much détesta* tion in Scripture, who still kept up this abo- minable custom in Africa in Tertullian's time. {Tertull. Apol. c. 9.) To this fear and dread were owing all the rest of their cruel and troublesome supersti- tions ; as letting themselves blood with lancets^ or cutting themselves with knives, as the false prophets of Baal and the priests of Cybele did, 1 Kings xviii, 28 ; as their fasting, and bath- ing in cold water,* and other such things. They thought thereby to avert particular evils or public calamities, with which they were threatened in dreams and prodigies, according to the interpretation of their soothsayers. These were the remedies by which they imagined they could prevent sickness, plagues, hail, and fa- * Jupiter, ingentes qui das adimisque dolores, Frigida si puerum quartana reliquerit; illo Mané die, quo tu indicis jejunia, nudus In Tiberi stabit.— Hor. lib. ii, Sat. iii, 2S8-292. O Jupiter, thou wlio inflictest and removest great ca- lamities, If this shivering ague shall leave my son, He shall stand naked in the Tiber on the morning of thy fast day. THEIR IDOLATKr. Ï9Î mine. For upon such occasions mankind is apt rather to do things that are of no use a:t all, than to omit any thing that may be thought ser- viceable. All their lustrations or expiations for crimes were troublesome superstitions of this sort : they consisted in purifying the body by water or fire, and performing certain sacrifices ; but there was no mention of either repentance or conversion. It will seem strange, perhaps, that people so wise as the Grecians should be led away by such gross superstitions, and so easily suffer themselves to be imposed upon by astrologers, diviners, soothsayers, and many other sorts of conjurers. But it must be considered, that, till Alexander's time, and the reign of the Macedo- nians, they had made^ no great progress in such learning as might cure them of superstition. They excelled in arts ; their laws were wise : in a word, they had brought every thing to per- fection that makes life easy and agreeable : but they took little pains in the speculative sciences, geometry, astronomy, and physics. The ana- tomy of plants and animals, the knowledge of minerals and meteors, the form of the earth, the course of the planets, and the whole system of the world, were still mysteries to them. The Chaldeans and Egyptians, who already knew something of them, kept it a great secret, and never spake of them but in riddles, with which they mixed an infinite number of super- stitions and fables. As these sciences depend chiefly upon expc^ 192 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. rience, a succession of ages always improves them, and they are at present in the greatest perfection they ever were. They are taught openly to any one that will apply himself to them ; and they agree perfectly with our holy religion, which condemns all superstition, divi- nation and magic ; however, we find but too many that give ear to astrologers and such im- postors, not only peasants and ignorant people of the lowest sort, but ladies that value them- selves upon their wit, politeness, and know- ledge ; and men that, notwithstanding they have had a good education, set up for freethinkers, and cannot possibly submit to the dictates of true religion» What then must be the case when all this non- sense made a part of religion ; when conjurers were taken for men really inspired ; when astro- logy, pyromancy, necromancy, and such knave- ries, were esteemed Divine knowledge ? How was it possible to resist the authority of the priests, who gravely recounted an infinite series of proofs in confirmation of their doctrine, and were implicitly obeyed by whole nations ? They could not help believing them, when they did not know how to account for these things in a philosophical manner ; and if they had known, they must have been very bold to have contra- dicted them.* * The intelligent Abbe had no doubt the case of Gali- leo in view when he wrote the above. This great phi- losopher, for asserting the true system of the world, was iwice imprisoned by tlie holy infallible inquisition, in THEIR IDOLATRY. 193 A proneness to idolatry was not therefore pe- culiar to the Israehtes. It was a general evil ; and the hardness of heart with which the Scrip- ture so often reproaches them, is not for their being more attached to earthly things than other people, but for being so much as they were^ af- ter having received such particular favours from the hand of God, and seen the great wonders that he had wrought for them. It is true much resolution was necessary to resist the influence of the bad example of all other nations. When an Israehte was out of his own country, and among infidels, they reproached him with hav- ing no religion at all, because they did not see him offer any sacrifice, or worship idols ; and when he told them of his God, the creator of heaven and earth, they laughed at him, and asked where he was. These taunts were hard to bear : David himself says, that when he was an exile he fed himself day and night with his tears," because they daily asked him where his God was. Psalm xliii, 3. Weak minds were staggered with these attacks, and often gave way to them. The propensity that all mankind has to plea- sure heightened the temptation : as the heathen feasts were very frequent and magnificent, cu- 1612 and 1632 ; obliged to renounce his heretical opin- ions, and not to defend them by word or writing; was condemned to imprisonment during pleasure, and to repeat the seven penitential psalms once a week ; and his books being condemned also, were publicly burnt at Rome! The doctrine, for which he was persecuted, now believed by the pope and all his conclave Î 194 3IANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES^ riosity easily prevailed upon young people^ especially women, to go and see the pomp of their processions, the manner of dressing out the victims, the dancing, the choirs of music, and ornaments of their temples. Some officious body engaged them to take a place at the feast, and eat the meat that was offered to idols, or come and lodge at his house. They made ac- quaintance and carried on love intrigues, which generally ended either in downright debauchery, or marrying contrary to the law. Thus did idolatry insinuate itself by the most common allurements of women and good cheer. In the time of Moses, the Israelites were engaged in the infamous mysteries of Baal Peor by the Midianitish women, Num. xxv, 1-3, who were the strange women that perverted Solomon. Beside, the law of God might appear too severe to them. They were not allowed to sacrifice in any place but one, by the hands too of such priests only as were descended from Aaron, and according to some very strict rules. They had but three great feasts in the whole year, the passover, pentecost, and feast of taber- nacles : a very few for people that lived in plenty, and in a climate that inclined them to pleasure : as they lived in the country, em- ployed in husbandry, they could not convenient- ly meet together but at feasts, and for that reason were obliged to borrow some of stran- gers, and invent others. Do not we ourselves, who think we are so spiritual, and no doubt ought to be so, if we were true Christians, of- THEIR IDOLATRY. 195 ten prefer the possession of temporal things to the hope of eternal Î And do not we endeavour to reconcile many diversions with the Gospel, which all antiquity has judged inconsistent with it, and against which our instructors are daily exclaiming? It is true we hold idolatry in de- testation, but it is now no longer a familiar sight, and has been quite out of fashion above a thousand years. We are not then to ima- gine that the Israelites were more stupid than other people, because the particular favours they had received from God could not reclaim them from idolatry. But it must be owned that the wound of original sin was very deep, when such holy instructions and repeated miracles were found insufficient to raise men above sensible things,* But however impure the state of the Israelites may appear, we see a much greater degree of blindness and impurity in other na- tions, particularly among the Greeks and Egyptians ; who were in other respects the most enlightened. * And here we may see the absolute necessity of that Holy Spirit which the Gospel has promised, to purify the heart from all its defilements, to bring life and im- mortality to light, and to give us correct notions of that infinitely pure and holy Being, who is to be worshipped in spirit and in truth. 196 MAN iS Elis OF THE ISRAELITES. CHAPTER XX. Their political State^ Liberty^ and domestic Power. After religion we must say something of the political state of the Israelites. They were perfectly free, especially before they had kings. They had neither homages, nor manors, nor prohibitions from hunting or fishing ; nor any of those kinds of dependencies which are so com- mon among us, that lords themselves are not exempt from them. For we see sovereign princes that are vassals, and even officers under other sovereigns, as in Germany and Italy. They enjoyed therefore that liberty so highly valued by the Greeks and Romans, and it was their own fault that they did not enjoy it for ever ; it was God's design they should, as ap- pears from his reproof delivered to them by Samuel, when they asked for a king, 1 Sam. x, 18, &c : and Gideon seemed to be well ap- prized of it, since, when they offered to make him king, and secure the kingdom to his pos- terity, he answered generously, " I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you ; the Lord shall rule over you," Judg. viii, 23. Their government was therefore neither a monarchy, aristocracy, nor democracy, but a ^ theocracy,* as Josephus calls it: that is, God * Though they were guided by God's peculiar direc- tion, yet the form of their government was at first aris- uocratical, which continued to be the basis of it ever THEIR POLITICAL STATE. 197 himself governed them immediately by the law that he had given them. As long as they ob- served it faithfully they lived in freedom and safety ; as soon as they transgressed it to follow their own imaginations they fell into anarchy and confusion ; which the Scripture shows, when, to account for the prodigious wickedness of the times, it says, In those days there was no king in Israel, every one did what was right in his own eyes," Judg. xxi, 25. This confu- after. It commenced from the death of Jacob, who di- vided them into twelve tribes, appointing his sons, with the two sons of Joseph, to be rulers or princes over them. Gen. xlix. See also Exod. vi, 4; Josh, xxii, 14. No one tribe had superiority over another; for it is said, Gen. xiix, 16, "Dan shall judge his people," in the same manner, " as one of the tribes of Israel." And hence it is, that, upon the death of Joshua, the people inquire of God, " who should go up for them against the Canaanites," Judg. i, 1. From this view we see the meaning of that important prophecy, Gen. xlix, 10, "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah till Shiloh come not a sceptre.^ as most interpreters understand it, to arise in Judah's family some ages after the death of Jacob, which is against the propriety of all language ; not a dominion, to be exercised by Judah over all the other tribes, which it never obtained ; but that the go- vernment now settled in each of the tribes, which would depart fiom the rest long before the coming of Shilohy should remain with Judah till Shiloh came. Accord- ingly the Assyrian captivity was ruin to the ten tribes ; but the Babylonish captivity was only a seventy years' transportation of Judah into a foreign country, where they continued under heads and rulers of their own ; which privilege they enjoyed till after the death of Christ, and in some sort, till the destruction of Jerusa- lem. — See this proved at lar^e in the third incomparable dissertation of the bishop of London. — E. F. 198 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES, sion divided and weakened them, and made them become a prey to their enemies ; till, re- collecting themselves, they returned to God, and he sent them some deliverer. Thus they lived under the J udges, relapsing time after time into idolatry and disobedience to the law of God, Judg. ii, 11, 22, and consequently into slavery and confusion, and as often repenting. At last they chose rather to have a master over them than to continue in freedom by faithfully observing the law of God. Their liberty reduced to these just bounds consisted in a power to do every thing that was not forbidden by the law, without obligation to do any more than it commanded ; or being sub- ject to the will of any particular man but the fathers of families, who had great power over their servants and children at home. There were some Hebrews slaves to their brethren ; and the law mentions two cases that reduced them to that condition ; poverty, which obliged them to sell themselves. Lev. xxv, 39 ; and commission of theft, which they were not able to make amends for, Exod. xxii, 3. It appears that the second case comprehended debts like- wise, by the example of the widow, whose oil Elisha multiplied that she might have enough to pay her creditors, and save her children from slavery, 2 Kings iv, 1 . It is true, these He- brew slaves might regain their freedom at the end of six years, that is, in the sabbatical year, Exod. xxi, 2 : and if they were then not dis- posed to make use of this privilege, they might THEIR POLITICAL STATE. 199 claim their liberty, and that of their children, in the jubilee or fiftieth year, Lev. xxv, 40. It was recommended to them to use their brethren mildly, and rather to make slaves of strangers. We see how submissive their slaves were to them by the words of the psalmist : " As the eyes of servants look unto the hands of their masters, even so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God," Psa. cxxiii, 2. From which we may collect that they often gave orders by signs, and that servants were to watch their least motions. The Israelites had a power of life and death over their slaves, and this was then common to them with all nations. For slavery proceeded from the right they acquired by conquest in war, {Just, de Jure Fers. sec. 3,) when, instead of killing their enemies, they chose rather to give them their lives that they might have the use of them ; so it was supposed the conqueror al- ways reserved the power of taking away their hves, if they committed any thing that deserved it ; that he acquired the same power over their children, because they had never been born, if he had not spared the father, and that he trans- mitted this power when he alienated his slave. This is the foundation of the absolute power of masters ; and they seldom abused it, for their interest obliged them to preserve their slaves, who made part of their riches : which is the reason of the law, that he should not be punish- ed who had smote a servant, if he continued alive a day or two after. He is his money, Exod. xxi, 20, 21, says the law, to show that 200 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. this loss was a sufficient punishment ; and one may presume in this case that the master only intended his correction. But if the slave died under the strokes, it was to be supposed the master had a real design to kill him ; for which the law declares him punishable : in which it was more merciful than the laws of other peo- ple, who did not make that distinction. The Romans, for more than five hundred years, had a power to put their slaves to death, to impri- son their debtors upon default of payment, and to sell their own children three times over be- fore they were out of their power ; {Instit. de his qui snivel al, sec. 2. Instit. quib, mod. jud. Part. sec. 6 ;) and all by virtue of those wise laws of the twelve tables which they brought from Greece, at the time when the Jews were restored, after they returned from captivity, that is, about a thousand years after Moses. As to the paternal power of the Hebrews, the law gave them leave to sell their daughters, Exod. xxi, 7 ; but the sale was a sort of mar- riage, as it was with the Romans. {Per Coemp- tionem.) We see, however, by a passage in Isaiah, that fathers sold their children to their creditors, Isa. I, 1 ; and in the time of Nehe- miah the poor proposed to sell their children for something to live upon, and others bewailed themselves that they had not wherewith to re- deem their children that were already in-slavery, Nehem. v, 2, 5. They had the power of life and death over their children, since the wise man says, " Chasten thy son while there is THEIR POLITICAL STATE. 201 hope, but persist not in it to cause him to die,''* Prov. xix, 18. Indeed they had not so much liberty as the Romans to make use of this se- vere privilege without the magistrate's know- ledge. {Liv. lib. ii.) The law of God only per- mitted the father and mother, after they had tried all sorts of correction at home, to declare to the elders of the city that their son was stub- born and rebellious, and upon their complaint he was condemned to death and stoned, Deut. xxi, 1 9. The same law was practised at Athens^ {Heliod, i,) and founded upon children's lives being derived from their parents, and upon a supposition that none could be so unnatural as to put their children to death, unless they had committed some horrible crimes. Now the dread of this power was of great use in keep- ing children in perfect subjection. We see but too many evils proceed from relaxing or rather taking away this paternal authority. Let a son be ever so young, as soon as he is married, or knows how to live without his father's assistance, he thinks he owes him no longer any thing but a little re- spect. Thence comes the infinite number of small families and people that live alone, or in boarding houses, where all are equally masters. Such young, independent people, if they are rich, run into debauchery and ruin themselves. If they are poor, they turn vagabonds whom nobody cares to own, and are capable of all * See the Hebrew, and the ïnargin of our Bibles. 14 202 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. sorts of villany. Beside the corruption of manners, this independency may also occasion great disorders in the state; for it is much more difficult to rule a multitude of single, un- tractable men, than a few heads of families, each of whom was responsible for a great num- ber of persons, and was commonly an old man that understood the laws. CHAPTER XXI. The Authority of old Men. Not only fathers, but all old men had great authority among the Israelites, and all the peo- ple of antiquity. They every where, in the beginning, chose judges for private affairs, and counsellors for the public, out of the oldest men.* Thence came the name of senate and fathers at Rome, and that great respect for old age which they borrowed from the Lacedemo- nians. Nothing is more conformable to na- ture. Youth is only fit for motion and action. Old age is qualified to instruct, advise, and command. " The glory of young men is * Though this perhaps may be true of the original institution of the Jewish sanhedrim and Roman senate; yet it is certain, in process of time, neither assembly consisted of the oldest. Patres and seniores^ as with us aldermen^ came to denote rank of dignity, not of age ; as Selden observes, de SynedriiSy lib. i, c. 14, p. 1092, and lib. ii, c. 9, sec. 4, p. 1423, ed. fol— .E. F. AUTHORITY OF OLD MEN. 203 their strength," says Solomon, " and the beauty of old men is their gray head," Prov. xx, 29. — It is not likely that either study or good parts should make up for want of experience in a young man ; but an old man, provided he have good natural sense, is wise by experience alone. All history proves that the best go- verned states were those where old men were in authority, and that the reigns of princes that were too young have been most unfortunate ; which explains what the v/ise man says, " Wo to thee, 0 land, when thy king is a child," Eccles. X, 16. And it is this wo that God threatens the Jews with, when he tells them by Isaiah^ that " he will give them children for princes."^ In reality youth has neither patience nor foresight, is an enemy to all rule, and seeks nothing but pleasure and variety. As soon as the Hebrews began to be formed into a people, they were governed by old men. When Moses returned into Egypt to promise them that God would set them at liberty, he assembled the elders together, Exod. iv, 29, and performed the miracles which were the proof of his mission before them. All the elders of Israel came to the feast that he made for Jethro his father-in-law, Exod. xviii, 12. — When God thought fit to give council to relieve him in governing that great people, " Gather * Isaiah iii, 4. — Europe well knows how miserably the affairs of a nation are conducted when the helm of tlie state is confided to the hands of a rash young man. 204 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELlTESi unto me*" said he, " seventy men of the elder* of Israel, whom thou knowest to be elders of the people and officers over them." So that they had already authority before the law was given, and the state had taken its form.* In the whole Scripture afterward, as often as men- tion is made of assemblies and public affairs, the elders are always put in the first place, and sometimes named alone. Thence comes the expression in the Psalms, exhorting to praise God in " the congregation of the people," and in " the seat of the elders," Psalm cvii, 32, that is, the public council. — These are the two parts that composed all the ancient commonwealths; the assembly (which the Greeks call ecclesia {sxxkri(ïia) and the Latins concio) and the senate. The name of elder Ilfs^/^uTSp®^ became afterward a title of dignity ; and from this Greek word is derived * This is a proof that the power, which we before mentioned to be ^WQn by Jacob to the heads of tribes, took place irpmediately upon his death. From that time all applications and messages are not to the peo- ple, but the elders of Israel, Exod. iii, 16; xii, 21.— The command of God, sent to the house of Jacob, and the children of Israel in Egypt, was delivered by Moses to the elders of the people, Exod. xix, 3, 7. (Bishop Sher- lock's third Dissertation, pp. 304, 305.) Whether the number of these elders who made up the sanhedrim was just seventy or seventy-two, it is allowed it was first formed out of Jacob's children, who went into Egypt, and that it always represented the twelve tribes. See 'Maldonat on Luc. xii, 1. Grot in loc. and on Numb, xii, 1, and Selden, de Syn«driis, lib. ii, c. iv, 8. THEIR ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 205 the Latin name presbyter ; and from the Latin word senior^ elder, comes the name seigîieWy or lord.* We may judge of the age acquired by the Hebrews before a man was reckoned an elder, by those being called young men whose advice Rehoboam followed, 1 Kings xii, 8 ; for it is said they had been educated with him ; from which it may be concluded they were about his age, who was then forty-one^ 2 Chron. xii, 13. CHAPTER X:XII. Their administration of Justice. Justice was administered by two sorts of officers, shophetim and shoterim, established in every city by the command which God gave by Moses. T It is certain the word shophetim sig- nifies judges : as to shoterim^ it is differently translated by the Vulgate : J but the Jewish tra- dition explains it of ministers of justice, as * It is sometimes curious to remark the progress of corruption in a word, -jrpccSvTepoçy presbytevj ancient French prestre, modern French prêtre^ ar^ English priest. So Kvpiov oikoç, Kuriou oikos, the house of the Lord, contracted into Kwptou, Kurioik, Scottish Kirk, and English Church. t Deut. xvi, 18. ^pp ant^ti^l tI3''t03iy Judges and officers shalt thou make nnto thee. See the note at the end of this chapter. } Magistri, masters ; prœfecti, prefects ; duces, leaders or captains; prœcones, herMs, Joshua iii, 2. 206 MAXNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. sheriffs, sergeants, or their guards, and other officers. These posts were given to the Lé- vites, and there were six thousand of them in David's time, 1 Chron. xxiii, 4. Such were the judges that Jehoshaphat restored in each city, and to whom he gave such good instruc- tions, 2 Chron. xix, 5, 6, 7 : the Scripturea dds, that he settled at Jerusalem a company of Lévites, 2 Chron. v, 8, priests, and heads of famihes, to be judges in great causes. Dent, xvii, 8. It was the council of seventy elders, erected in the time of Moses, over which the high priest presided, and where all questions were decided that were too hard to be deter- mined by the judges of smaller cities. The tradition of the Jews is, that these judges of particular cities were twenty-three in number; that they were all to meet to judge in capi- tal cases, and that three were sufficient for causes relating to pecuniary matters, and such as were of httle consequence. {Sanhedr, c. i, sec. 6, &c.) The chief judge was the king, according to the saying of the people to Sa- muel, " Give us a king to judge us," 1 Sam. viii, 5. The place where the judges kept their court was the *gate of the city ; for as all the Israel- ites were husbandmen, who went out in the morning to their work, and came not in again till night, the city gate was the place where most people met. We must not wonder that they wrought in the fields, and abode in the cities. They were not such as the chief citioa THEIR ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 207 of our provinces, which can hardly be main- tained by the produce of twenty or thirty leagues round them. They were only the habitations of as many labourers as were ne- cessary to cultivate the ground nearest hand. Whence it came, that the land being full of inhabitants, their cities were very numerous. The tribe of Judah only reckoned a hundred and fifteen to their share. Josh, xv, 21, &c, when they took possession of it, beside those that were built afterward ; and each city had villages dependent upon it. They must certainly then be small, and very near one another, like common towns, well built and walled in ; having, in other respects, every thing that is to be found in the country. The public place for doing business among the Greeks and Romans was the market place^ or exchange, for the same reason, because they were all merchants. In our ancestors' times the vassals of each lord met in the court of his castle, and thence comes the expression, the courts of princes. As princes live more retired in the east, affairs are transacted at the gate of the seragho ; and this custom of mak- ing one\s court at the palace gate has been practised ever since the times of the ancient kings of Persia, as we see by several pas- sages in the book of Esther, chap, ii, 19 ; iii, 2, 3. The gate of the city was the place for doing all public and private business ever since the times of the patriarchs. Abraham purchased 208 MANNERS OP THE ISRAELITES. his burying place in the presence of all those that entered into the gate of the city of He- bron, Genesis xxiii, 10, 18. When Hamor and his son Sichem, who ran away with Dinah, purposed to make an alliance with the Israel- ites, it was at the city gates that they spake of it to the people. Gen. xxxiv, 20. We seé the manner of these public acts, wil4 all the parti- culars, in the story of Ruth, chap. iv. Boaz designing to marry her, was to have another person's right in her, who was a nearer relation, given up to him. For this purpose, he sits at the gate of Bethlehem, and seeing this kinsman pass by, he stops him : then he takes ten of the elders of the city, and after they were all sat down he explained his pretensions to them, and got the acknowledgment which he desired from his relation, with all the formality pre- scribed by the law ; which was to pull off his shoe. He took not only the elders, but all the people for witnesses, which shows a great number of spectators had got together : nor is it unlikely that curiosity made the people stop as they passed by. Their business was seldom in great haste ; they were all acquainted and all related, so it was natural for them to be con- cerned about each other's affairs. Perhaps they took these acts down in writ- ing : but the Scripture does not take notice of any, except in Tobit and Jeremiah, a little before the destruction of Jerusalem. In Tobit there is mention made of a bond for money lent, of a marriage contract, and an instrwmeni THEIR ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 209 of covenants made upon the same account, Tob. vii, 14. In Jeremiah, there is a contract upon a purchase, Jer. xxxii, 6-25. The law of Moses prescribes no writing except in case of divorce, Deut. xxiv, 1. But if they had not madé use of any writings in those early times, their contracts would have been very safe, since they were made in so public a manner. If the kinsman of Boaz should have denied that he had given up his right, all the inha- bitants of Bethlehem could have convicted him of a falsehood. Some of them were present at it, and others must have heard it immediately after. It was a long time before the custom of put- ting private contracts into writing was intro- duced among the Romans, as appears by the verbal obligation which they called stipulation. They were not afraid of an action wanting proof, when they had pronounced a certain solemn form in the public market place among all the people, and taken some particular citi- zens to witness it, who were of reputable condition and unblemished character. These transactions were full as pubHc as those among us that are done in private houses before a pub- lic notary, who often knows neither party, or before the town clerk and two hack witnesses. We may suppose the gate with the Hebrews was the same thing as the square, or market place, with the Romans. The market for pro- visions was held at the city gate. Elisha fore- told that victuals should be sold cheap the day 210 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. after in the gate of Samaria, 2 Kings vii, 1. This gate had a square, which must have been a large one, because King Ahab assembled four hundred false prophets there. I suppose it was the same in other cities, and that these gates had some building with seats for* the judges and elders ; for it is said that Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there : and when David heard that Absalom was dead, he went up to the chamber over the gate to weep there, 2 Sam. xviii, 33. This chamber might be the place for private deliberations. Even in the temple of Jerusalem causes were tried at one i of the gates, and the judges held their assizes there, Jer. xxvi, 10. After all these examples, it is not to be wondered that the Scripture uses the word gate so often to signify judgment, or the public council of each city, or the city itself, or the state ; and that in the Gospel the gates of hell signify the kingdom, or power of the devil. But as open and fairly as we may think the Israelites transacted their affairs, it must not be imagined that they had no frauds and rogueries, unjust prosecutions, or false accusations. These are evils inseparable from the corruption of hu- man nature ; and the more spirit and vivacity men naturally have, the more are they subject to them : but these evils are more peculiarly the growth of great cities. When David fled from Jerusalem upon Absalom's rebellion, he represents " fury and discord going about day and night within the walls thereof, mischief and THEIR ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 211 sorrow in the midst of it, and deceit and guile in her streets," Psalm Iv, 10, &c. The pro- phets are full of such reproaches : only one may imagine these evils were less common than they are now, because there were fewer lawyers among them. As temporal affairs, as well as spiritual, were governed by the law of God, there was no dis- tinction of tribunals : the same judges decided cases of conscience, and determined civil or criminal causes. Thus they had occasion for but few different offices and officers, in com- parison of what we see in the present day. For we account it an uncommon thing to be only a private man, and to have no other employment than improving our estate, or governing our family. Every body is desirous of some public post, to enjoy honours, prerogatives, and privi- leges : and e-mployments are considered as trades which are a livehhood, or as titles of dis- tinction. But if we were to examine what pub- lic offices only are really necessary, and the business done in them, we should find that a very fe\\i persons would be sufficient to execute them, and have spare time enough beside for their private affairs. This was the practice among all the people of antiquity, and especially the Hebrews. In Joshua's time we find but four sorts of pubhe officers ; zikonim, senators or elders ; rashim^ chiefs ; shophetim, judges ; and shoterim, infe- rior officers.^ When the kingdom was more * ZiKONiM, from to grow old, were the elders of the people, somethin'g like our eldermen, or aldermen. 212 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. flourishing, in David's time, the following offi- cers are mentioned : six thousand Lévites, offi- cers and judges ; the heads of tribes ; heads of families, 1 Chron. xxiii, 4 ; which are rather names of quality than employment ; the heads of twelve corps, of twenty-four thousand men each ; the heads of one thousand, and of a hun- dred men ; the heads over those that tenanted the hinges demesnes, that is, his lands and cattle. I call those heads here whom the Hebrew calls sirim, and the Latin principes.^ But I must observe, once for all, that it is impossible to express the titles of offices and dignities in ano- ther language. Thus, neither the Greek nor Latin versions give us a just idea of the Chal- dean employments, taken notice of in Daniel iii, 3 ; Ezekiel xxiii, 23, and others. Beside, among David's officers they reckon his eunuchs or domestic servants ; for through- out the Scripture the word eunuch is often taken for what we call a valet- de-chambre, or footman; or, in general, for any servant employed about the king's person, without signifying any per- sonal imperfection. Captains over fifty men Rashim, from ijrXl head, or chief j probably mili- tary chiefs or captains. Shophetim, from to discern^ judge, determine, judges in civil matters ; hence the Carthaginian sufetes. Shoterim, from a side or part, subordinate ma- gistrates who appear to have been deputies to the sho- phetim. See Joshua xxiv, 1. * Sarim, from -^{^ to direct, rule, and regidate, proba- bly military officers over larger and smaller companies of men ; captains over thousands, hundreds, &c. See 1 Chron. xjifviii, 1. THEIR WARS. 2Î3 are likewise mentioned in other places : but we find nothing of captains over tens, except in the law. Most of these posts are miUtary ; and the rest are but a trifle, if one considers the multitude of people, and the extent of David's kingdom. CHAPTER XXIII. Their Wars, After the administration of justice, we must speak of war . There was not an Israelite that did not carry arms, the priests and Lévites not excepted. Benaiah the priest, son of Je- hoiada, was one of ihe most renowned for bravery in David's army, 2 Sam. xxiii, 20 ; 1 Kings ii, 35, and was general of Solomon's troops in the room of Joab. All were reckoned soldiers that were of age for service, and that was at twenty years old and upward, Num. i, 3, 22. They were like the militia in some countries, always ready to assemble at the first notice. The difference is, that with us all eccle- siastics are forbidden the use of arms, and that we have moreover an infinite number of people unfit for war ; lawyers, receivers of the king's revenues, citizens, merchants, and tradesmen : whereas, they were all husbandmen and shep- herds, inured from their childhood to labour and fatigue, 2 Chron. viii, 9. Nor is it improbable that they used them to handle arms, at least 214 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. from the time of David and Solomon. Thui^ at Rome, all the citizens of such an age were obliged to serve a certain number of campaigns, when they were commanded : from whence it comes that they did not use the expression of levying troops, but called it choosing'^ them, because they had always a great many more than they wanted.! It was no difficult thing for the Israelites to support their armies ; the country was so small, and the enemy so near, that they often came back to lodge at home, or had but one or two days' march. Their arms were nearly the same with those of the G reeks and Romans : swords, bows and arrows, javelins and spears, that is to say, half- pikes ; for we must not imagine the ancients had hand spears, such as our ancient cavahy used. Their swords were broad, and hung upon their thigh, Psalm xlv, 3 ; Cant, iii, 8. They made use of slings, as we may see in the men of Gibeah in Benjamin, who could have slung to a hair's breadth ; and the same Gibe- onites fought alike with both hands, Judg. xx*, 16. Saul commonly held a javelin in his hand, * Habere delectum civis et Peregrini. Cic, t And this is what our Lord refers to in the Gospel, ^vhen he so often says, *'Many are called, but few cho- sen.'* The great mass of the people was called togethei', and a choice was made of those who were most lit for service. The rest returned to their respective occupa- tions, and those on wiiom the choice fell were employed in military daty. But both parties were -equally valu- able, and necesrjary to the tafcty and welfare of the state. THEIR WAIIS. 215 1 Sam. xviii, 10, and xix, 9. Homer represents his heroes, and the Romans, Quirinus and their other gods in the same manner. But they did not wear any arms, except upon duty, not so much as a sword. When David ordered his men to march against Nabal, he first bids them " gird on their swords," 1 Sam. xxv, 13, though they hved in a state of continual alarm. The custom of always wearing a sword by the side was peculiar to the Gauls and Germans. For defensive arms they* carried shields, bucklers, helmets, armour for the back and breast, and sometimes greaves to cover the legs. We see an instance of a complete suit of armour in that of Goliah, which was all brass, " 1 Sam. xvii, 5, 6, 38, hke that of the Greeks in Homer. But it looks as if these arms were scarce among the Israelites at that time, since King Saul offered to lend David his. They became com- mon afterward, and Uzziah had sufficient to furnish all his troops, which were more than Hhree hundred thousand men, 2 Chron. xxvi, 13-15. The same king erected machines upon the towers on the walls of Jerusalem to throw great stones and arrows, and fortified several cities as most other kings did. Thus war was carried on so early, almost in the same manner as it was in later times before the in- vention of fire arms. The Israelites had only infantry at first, and that was also the chief strength of the Greeks and Romans. Cavalry is not so necessary* in hot ^ The neglect of cavalry among the Israelites has af- 216 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. countries, where they can always travel dry shod : neither can they be of mwch use in mountains ; but they are of great advantage in cold climates where the roads are dirty, and to make long marches over plains that are either barren or thinly inhabited, as in Poland and Tartary. But they had cavalry under their kings ; and the first sign of Absalom's revolt was raising horses and chariots ; and yet, when he had lost the battle, he got upon a mule to make his es- cape, 2 Sam. xviii, 9. Solomon, who could bear any expense, sent for a vast number of horses out of Egypt, and kept forty thousand ofthem, with twelve thousand chariots; 1 Kings iv, 26 ; 2 Chron. ix, 25. Their chariots of war were, probably, like those of the Greeks, small, with two wheels, that would carry one or two men standing upright or leaning upon the fore- part. The succeeding kings, who could not forded to an excellent writer a strong internal proof of ^ that people's being under the immediate guidance of a | supernatural power. The prohibition is express, Deut. xvii, "He" (that is, whoever shall be king of Israel) " shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the peo- ple to return to Egypt." Accordingly, they prospered or Were defeated as they obeyed or transgressed this Divine command ; which, as he observes, it is impossible to justify by the measures of human prudence. See Bishop Sherlock's fourth Dissertât. Dr. Warburton, pursuing the same argument, observes, with our author, that even uponpo^ litiùal reasons the Jews might be justified in the disuse of cavalry in defence of their country, bui not in conquer- ing it from a warlike people who abounded in horses. Here at least the exertion of an extraordinary provi- dence was wonderfully conspicuous. Sec Div. Leg. voî. ii, book iv, sec, 5. — E. F* THEIR WARS. 217 support the great expense that Solomon did, sent from time to time for succours to Egypt, and upon these occasions there is always men- tion made of horses. The Jews must have had no cavalry in HezekiaVs time, by Rab- shakeh's insolence in saying to them, " Come into my master's service, the king of Assyria, and I will deliver thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them," 2 Kings xviii, 23. ^ The Scripture informs us of no particulars relating to their military evolutions, the form of their battalions, or general order of battle, though it often speaks of troops in battle array: but for the art of encamping and marching in good order, the journey through the wilderness is a noble example of it. The number of this prodigious army was known by exact lists : each man was set down in his tribe, each tribe in its quarter under one of the four heads, ac- cording to the order of birthright among the patriarchs, and the quality of their mothers, Num. i, 2, &c. They marched, by sound of trumpet, always in the same order ; and always * The above is a literal translation from the Vulgate, and differs considerably in the first clause from that in the English version. The word ^i^nn which we trans- late give pledgesy and the Vulgate transite^ passover, will have this latter meaning by the simple transposition of the two last letters ^ and thus : -)3;;nn 5 and so St. Jerom must have read it in his Hebrew copy. As, thus understood*, the words of Rabshakeh convey a strong solicitation to mutiny and defection, it is most likely that this ii; thft true original reading. 15 218 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. quartered in the same situation about the taber- nacle of the covenant, which was the centre of the camp. They took all proper care for keep- ing their quarters clean, Num. v, 2, &c; Deut. xxiii, 10, 11, &c, which was veiy necessary in so warm a country, and hard to be done in so vast a multitude. In short, we see that the way of encamping, and every thing else that we ad- mire with so much reason in the Greeks and Romans, was taken from the ancient models of the eastern people. The Hebrews set a high value upon their booty and spoils, as all the ' nations of antiquity did : they were marks of i honour. From Joshua's time to the kings the com- mand of armies belonged to those whom the people chose, or God raised up in an extraor- . dinary manner, as Othniel, Barak, and Gideon : but none were subject to them but the country i or the people that chose them, or to whom God ; gave them for deliverers. The rest of the peo-|(I pie, abasing their liberty, often exposed them- j selves to the insults of their enemies: which : made them ask for a king, not only to do them 1 justice, but also to conduct their armies, and' make war for them, 1 Sam. viii, 20. From ' that time too^ they were in much more safety. , The king called the people together when he judged it convenient, and always kept up a iireat nuniber of forces. It is observed in the beginning of Saul's reign that he maintained three thousand men, 1 Sam. xiii, 2. David had twelve bodies of four and twenty thousand THEIR KINGS. 219 each, who served monthly by turns. Jehosha- phat had not a third part of David's kingdom, and yet he had eleven hundred and sixty thou- sand fighting men in his service, without reckon- ing garrisons, 1 Chron. xxvii, 1, &c. CHAPTER XX [V. Their Kin d's, The king had the power of life and death, and could put criminals to death without the formality of justice. David made use of this prerogative in the case of him who boasted that he had killed Saul, and of those that murdered Ishbosheth, 2 Sam. i, 15; iv, 12. The Ro- man emperors possessed a similar power. The kings of Israel levied tribute upon the Israelites themselves, for Saul promises that all the family of the man that would fight Goliah should be exempted from it, 1 Sam. xvii, 25 ; and it ap- pears that Solomon had laid excessive taxes upon them by the complaints made to Reho- boam, 1 Kings xii, 14. The power of kings was in other respects very much limited : they were obliged to keep the law as well as private men ; they could neither add to nor diminish it, and there is no instance of any of them making so much as one new law. Their way of living at home was very plain, as we ins:f see by the description that Samuel gave of their manners, to put the people out of conceit with them, 220 MANNERS or THE ISRAELITES. 1 Sam. viii, 10-18 : he allows them only women for household affairs ; yet they had a great attendance when they appeared in public. Among the signs of Absalom's rebelhon, the Scripture reckons fifty men that ran before him, 2 Sam. xv, 1, and the same is said of his brother Adonijah, 1 Kings i, 5. The kings lived sparingly as well as private people : the difference was, they had more land and herds. When David's riches are reckoned up indeed, his treasures of gold and silver are put into the account ; but so are his tillage and vineyards, his stores of wine and oil, his planta- tions of olive and fig trees, his herds and kine, camels, asses, and sheep, 1 Chron. xxvii, 25, &c. Thus Homer describes the riches of Ulysses ; he says he had twelve great herds of each sort of cattle upon the continent, beside what he had in his island. {Odyss, xiv, v. 100.) They took out of this great stock what was necessary to maintain their household. There were in Solomon's time twelve overseers dis- tributed through the land of Israel, who, each in his turn, sent monthly provisions for the table, 1 Kings iv, 7, which for one day were " thirty measures of fine flour, and three-score measures of meal, ten fat oxen, and twenty out of the pastures, and a hundred sheep, beside harts and roebucks, and fallow deer, and fatted fowl," 1 Kings iv, 22, &c, enough to feed at least five thousand people. As this provision was the product of the country itself, there was no need to buy any thing, nor any want of purveyors, THEIR KINGS. 221 treaswrers, or comptrollers, nor of that vast number of officers which eat up great lords ; so that gold and silver continued laid up, or served for its most natural use, to be manufac- tured into plate and household ornaments. Hence came the vast riches of David and Solomon, 1 Chron. xxix. David prepared all that was necessary for building the temple, the value of which came to a hundred and eight thousand talents of gold, and a million and ten thousand talents of silver, 1 Chron. xxii, 14 that is, about Jive hundred and thirty-four mil- plions, eight hundred and ffty-nine thousand^ * seven hundred and eighty-four pounds sterling. Beside, he caused great treasures to be laid up in his sepulchre. Solomon built a great num- ber of palaces, fortified several cities, and finished several public works. All the plate and furniture of his house at Mount Libanus was of pure gold ; beside two hundred golden targets, each of which was worth about five hundred and ninety-six pounds ; or a hundred and nineteen thousand two hundred pounds sterling in all ; and three hundred bucklers, worth two hundred and seventy-five pounds apiece ; which amounts to about eighty-two thousand five hundred pounds sterling.'^ His revenues too were great. Commerce alone * In the original only one hundred thousand talents of gold. fSee the proper method of calculating the Hebrew talent, and the value of the shields so as to bring them into English money, part iv, in fine. 222 MANNERS OP THE ISRAELITES. brought him in every year six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold ; which make one mit- lion, nine hundred and seventy thousand, eight hundred and thirty-four pounds sterling. He made the Israelites pay tribute, and all foreign- ers that were under his dominion, the Hivites, the Amorites, and all the other ancient inhabit- ants of the land of Israel, the Idumeans, great part of Arabia, and all Syria : for his empire extended from the borders of Egypt to Euphra- tes ; and all the countries that were so rich sent him every year vessels of gold and silver, cloth, arms, perfumes, horses, and mules. These reflections may serve to make one under-* stand how Croesus came by his riches in a king- dom about the same size as that of Solomon. Silver and gold were not yet dispersed through the world. There was but little in Greece, none in Italy and the rest of Europe, except . Spain, where they had some mines. Let us stand still a little to consider the pros- perity of Solomon, for it is an agreeable con- templation. If we were to read all tiistory through, we should not find one example of such a perfect conjunction of all the good things that are to be enjoyed in this world : a young prince in the flower of his age, of a handsome person, of great parts, learning, and accomplishments ; in such reputation for wisdom that all the earth sought to hear him, 1 Kings x, 24 ; and a queen came in person from a great distance to converse with him, 1 Kings x, 1. He was master of a large kingdom, which was in a THEIR KINGS. 223 slate of profound peace, inhabited the finest country in the world, had the most magnificent palaces, and numerous attendants ; was loaded with riches, swimming in pleasures, denying himself nothing, as he owns, and employing all his vast genius to satisfy his desires, Eccles. ii, 10. This we should call a happy man, accord- ing to our natural ideas. Yet it is certain he was not so, because he was not contented. He himself says that he found pleasure and joy were only illusion, and that all his labour was but vanity and vexation of spirit^ Eccles. V, 11. By this prosperity of Solomon and his peo- ple God gave two important lessons to mankind at the same time. First, he shows his faithful- ness in accomplishing his promises, by giving the Israelites so plentifully of all the good things which he had promised their fathers in the pos- session of this land ; that no one hereafter might doubt of his power to reward those that adhere to him and keep his commandments. Men that applied themselves so entirely to earthly things, stood in need of such an earnest, to make them believe they should hereafter enjoy an invisible happiness, and the recompense of another hfe. But beside, by granting the Israelites the possession of these earthly goods, and profusely heaping on them whatever might contribute to the happiness of this life, God has given all men an opportunity of seeing them in a true light, and conceiving higher hopes. For who under the sun can pretend to be happy if 224 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. Solomon was not? Who can doubt that what- evef happens in this world is vanity after he has confessed it? Does not this example show us plainly that worldly goods are not only vain, but dangerous ? not only incapable of satisfying the heart of man, but likely to corrupt it? What reason have rve to flatter ourselves that we shall make better use of them than a people so dear to God, and so well instructed in their duty? and who seem to have had a better right to this sort of happiness, since it was pro- posed to them as a reward. What presump- tion would it be to think ourselves more capable of resisting pleasures than the wise Solomon ? He gave himself up so much to the love of wo- men that he had a thousand of them, though a multiplicity was absolutely forbidden by the law of God, Deut. xvii, 17; and his complaisance to them carried him even to idolatry. His sub- jects followed his bad example ; and after his reign the manners of the Israelites grew worse and worse : they had attained their highest pitch of earthly fehcity, and now began to decline. The division of the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah still augmented the evil. The cor- ruption was much the greatest in Israel where idolatry always prevailed, which is the fountain of all sorts of wickedness : rebellion and treason were common there, Wisd. xiv, 27. In Judah the crown never went out of the family of David : there were several pious*kings in it. The priests and Lévites, who retired thither, preserved the THEIR CAPTIVITY. 225 tr^kdition of the true religion, and a more pure practice of the law. In these latter tinjes, the law being despised, they had frequent intercourse with strangers, chiefly to procure succours in war : and this is the reason of their being so frequently reproach- ed by the prophets with their want of trust in God. The strangers, whose alliance they courted most, were the Assyrians and Egyp- tians, the two most powerful nations of those tim". To please them they imitated their customs and idolatry : and the ruin of the Israelites followed the fortune of these nations when Egypt fell and Assyria got the superiority* PART IIL CHAPTER I. The Jews — Their Captivity. What has already been noted appeared to me the most remarkable in the manners of the Israelites, while they hved at full liberty in their own country, without mixing with strangers, or being subject to infidels. Let us now take a view of their last state, from the Babylonish captivity to their entire dispersion. Though they were still the same people, and their man- ners the same in the main, there was however a great alteration in both. 226 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. First, they are called only Jews in these later times, because, in reality, there was no kingdom but that of Judah subsisting. Samaria had been destroyed, and Salmaneser had taken the ten tribes captive, which bore the name of Israel above a hundred years before the ruin of j Jerusalem. And though the kingdom of Judah I comprehended the two whole tribes of Benja- min and Levi, and many particular persons of all the rest, whom a rehgious zeal had br j^ght thither after Jeroboam's schism ; all was con- founded in the name of Judea and Jews, and so they were usually called before the captivity, 2 Kings xvi, 6. As the kingdom manifestly tended to its ruin after the death of Josiah, great numbers of Jews were dispersed on all sides, and retired to the Ammonites, Moabites, Idumeans, and other neighbouring people, Jer. xli, 10. The Chaldeans carried away captive the most consi- derable of those who dwelt at Jerusalem, when it was taken, and left none but the poorer sort to till the ground : this remnant too went into Egypt a little while after, Jer. xliii, 1-7. As to those that were carried to Babylon, they were servants to the king and his sons, as the Scripture tells us : for such was the law of war at that time, 2 Chron. xxxvi, 20. All that were taken in arm's, all the inhabitants of a town carried by storm, or surrendered at dis- cretion, and of the adjacent country which de- pended upon it, were slaves to the conquerors. They were either the property of the public» THEIR CAPTIVITIES. 227 or that particular person that had taken them, according to the laws concerning the acquisi- tion or division of spoil then subsisting in each country. Thus, at the taking of Troy, all that remained alive were made slaves, not excepting Queen Hecuba, and the princesses, her daugh- ters. The Greek and Roman history are full of such examples; the Romans loaded those kings with chains that resisted obstinately ; or put them to death after they had made them appear at their triumph. They sold the com- mon people by auction, and divided their lands among their own citizens, whom they sent to establish colonies there : which was the certain way to secure their conquests. Neither the Jews nor Israelites were so hardly used by the Assyrians. Some had great Uberty allowed them, as Tobit, by King Enemessar ; and there were some rich among them, as Tobit himself, his kinsman Raguel, and his friend Gabael, Tobit i, 14 ; and at Babylon Joachim, Susanna's hus- band, Hist, of Susanna. It appears likewise by the story of Susanna, that the Jews, not- withstanding their captivity, had the exercise of their laws, and the power to appoint judges of life and death. However, it was impossible but this min- gling with strangers should cause some change in their manners, since one of their chief max- ims was to separate themselves from all other nations. Many were prevailed upon to worship idols, eat forbidden food, and marry wives from 228 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. among strangers, and all conformed to their masters in things indifferent, one of which was their language. Thus, during the seventy years that the captivity lasted, they forgot He- brew, and none but the learned understood it, as it is now with the Latin among us. Their vulgar tongue was the Syriac or Chaldee, such as that in which a large portion of Daniel and Ezra are written, and the Tar gums or para- phrases upon Scripture that were composed afterward, that the people might understand it. They changed their letters too, and instead of the old ones, which the Samaritans have pre- îserved, took the Chaldean, which we erroneous- ly call the Hebrew. CHAPTER II. The return of the Jeivs, and their state under the Persians, When Cyrus gave them their liberty, with leave to go back into Judea and rebuild the temple, they did not all return, nor at one time. There was a great number that stayed at Ba- bylon, and in all places where they were set- tled : and they that came back were not all Jews : some few of the ten tribes joined them- selves to them, and yet they made but a small number altogether. The first that Zerubbabel conducted, did not amount to fifty thousand, with the servants that attended them and one * The whole number was as follows : the peoplQ AFTER THEIR RETURN FROM CAPTIVITY. 229 ma.y see their poverty by the small number of their servants and cattle. What comparison is there between fifty thousand souls, and what there must have been in the time of Jehosha- phat to make up twelve hundred thousand fight- ing men ? There came beside with Ezra about fifteen hundred, Ezra viii, 1-14, and we may suppose there were several other companies. They did what they could to discover their former inheritances, and preserve each family's share. Upon this account Ezra collected all the genealogies that are at the beginning of the Chronicles, where he chiefly enlarges upon the three tribes of Judah, Levi, and Benjamin; and carefully sets down their habitations. To peo- ple Jerusalem, they received all that would come and settle there, which confounded, no doubt, the order of their shares, Neh. xi, 3. Beside, it was just, that such as were present should take possession of their lands, who had no mind to return, or perhaps were not in being. So, in the later times, Joseph dwelt at Nazareth in Galilee, though his family was originally of Bethlehem : and Anna the prophetess lived at Jerusalem. But still they knew what tribe they were of, and carefully preserved their genealo- gies, as we see by Joseph's, who was only a poor artificer. They likewise carefully distin- guished the true Israelites from strangers that 42,360; male and female servants, 7337 ; male and fe- male smgers, 200; horses, 736; im\\e<, 245; camels, 430 ; asses, 6720, Ezra ii, 64-67. 230 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. had been admitted into their society,* whom they called geiores in their own tongue, and proselytes in Greek. {African Apud. Euseb. Hist. Ecoles, lib. i, c. 7.) Thus one of their first concerns, after their restoration, was to separate themselves from strangers, and to cause the prohibitions of the law, relating to marriages with infidels, to be observed, Ezra ix, 1, &c : which they extend- ed to nations not specified in the law ; namely, to the people of Azotus, who were part of the Phihstines ; to the Egyptians, Ammonites, and Moabites. The evils that the Jews were sensi- ble they had received from these marriages, since the bad example of Solomon, inclined the v/ise men to interpret the law in this sense, and extend it rather beyond the import of the letter, that they might more effectually fulfil the inten- tion of it. The priests were most strict in observing these prohibitions: they married none but women of their own tribe, and Jose- phus has informed us of the precautions used about it even in his time. {Cont. App. 1. i, c. 7, * Two sorts of men joined themselves to the Israel- ites when they went out of Ee:ypt: one sort were native Egyptians, called by the Sepruagint avro'xOoveç, tJwse born in the land; the others were a mixed multitude, who are termed by the Septuagint Xeiiapaiç, Exodus xii, 19, from "^j gur, a stranger. These were extraneous persons among the Egypiiar^s who took the land to till at a certian rent : such were the Jews before they went up out of Egypt. Both these sorts of men the Scripture comprehends under the denomination of a 7nixed imdti- tude, Exod. xiii, 38. See Valesius'x Mtes on Eusebius's Hist. EcclesA'iK i,c. 7.— E. F. k A. C. AFTER THEIR RETURN FROM CAPTIVITY. 231 p.* 978. Whiston's edition.) In general the Jews were never so faithful to God ; and, after they returned from captivity, we never hear idolatry once mentioned among them : so much were they struck with that severe punishment, and the accomplishment of the prophecies that threatened them with it. Indeed, apostates were entirely at liberty to stay among the infidels, so that there appeared none but such as were really Jews. Under the first kings •f Persia they were still very weak, envied by the strangers their neighbours, especially the Samaritans, exposed to their insults and calumnies, and in danger of having their throats cut upon the least signifi- cation of the king's pleasure ; as we see by the cruel edict that Haman obtained against them, from the eflfects of which tîiey were saved by Queen Esther iii, iv, v. They could not finish the rebuilding of the temple till twenty years after their lirst coming back, nor raise the walls of Jerusalem again under sixty years more : so they were four-score years m renewing the whole. The country must have been very poor, since Herodotus, who lived at that time, comprehends Syria, Phenicia, Palestine, and the isle of Cyprus, under one single government, that paid Darius but three hundred and fifty talents tribute, (Herod, lib. iii, p. 226,) which was no more than was paid by . one of the least provinces ; whereas that of Babylon alone paid a thousand. This revenue was doubled in the time of the Romans for Pa- 232 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. lestine alone : it brought in to Herod and his sons seven hundred and sixty talents, which, to compute by the smaller talent, amount to about sixty-eight thousand seven hundred and fifty pounds sterling. (Joseph. BelL Jud. 1. ii, c. 6, p. 766.) By little and little the Jews were established again, and during the reign of the Persians they lived under their own laws, in the form of a commonwealth, governed by the high priest, and the council of seventj^-two elders. The country was repeopled, the towns new built, and the lands better cultivated than ever. Plenty was seen again, and there was such a profound peace and tranquillity, that, for nearly three hundred years, there happened no commotions, nor any thing that makes the common subject of histories : and thence proceeds that great void that we find between the time of Nehemiah and the Maccabees. The temple was honour- ed even by strangers, who visited it, and brought offerings thither. {Philo. leg.) In short, the prosperity of the Jews was so great after their return, that the prophets in foretelling it, have left us the most magnificent types of the Mes- siah's reign.* The Greeks began then to be acquainted with the Jews in Egypt and Syria, whither they often travelled ; and they made great use of this correspondence, if we may believe the * Several prophecies relative to this time of peace and pr-osperity have been applied by commentators to the days of the Messiah exclmively. This should b« «arefnlly avoided. AFTER THEIR RETURN FROM CAPTIVITY. 233 most ancient Christian authors, as Justin Mar- tyr and Clemens of Alexandria ; for they assure us that the Greek poets, lawgivers, and philoso- phers, learnt the best part of their doctrine from the Jews. Indeed Solon travelled into Egypt, and the laws that he gave to the Athenians were very hke those of Moses. Pythagoras had been long in Egypt, and went to Babylon in the time of Cambyses : he had therefore seen the Jews, and might have conversed with them. Plato studied many years in Egypt, and makes Socrates speak so many excellent things, founded upon the principles taught by Moses, that he may justly be supposed to have known something of them. The best things which Plato teaches in his laws and commonwealth, the Jews really prac- tised ; as living by one's own industry, without luxury, without ambition, without having it in our power to undo ourselves or grow too rich, esteeming justice the greatest of all blessing.^, and avoiding all novelty and change. In the persons of Moses, David, and Solomon, we discover examples of the wise man whom he wished for to govern a state and make it happy, which he scarcely hoped would ever come to pass. He mentions certain traditions of vene- rable antiquity in several places, without sup- porting them with any proof, relating to the judgment of mankind after death, and the state of the other hfe which are manifestly doctrines of the true religion. {Plato de Repub. vi, et X, in fine.) If Plato and the other Greeks had 16 234 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES, not learned these truths immediately from the Jews, they had them at least from other people of the east, who being nearer the origin of man- kind, and having writings more ancient than the Greeks, had preserved many more traditions of the first men, though obscured and involved in fables. CHAPTER III. TTie State of the Jews under the JMacedonians. The conquests of Alexander made the Jews much better known to the Greeks, to whom they became subject. Josephus brings proofs of it from the testimony of Clearchus, a disciple of Aristotle, and Hecatœus the Abderite. {Jo- seph, cont. App. i, 22, 23, ii, 4.) They con- tinued to hve according to their own laws, under the protection of the Macedonian kings, as they had done under the Persians ; but as their country lay between Syria and Egypt, they sometimes obeyed the king of one of those nations, and sometimes the king of the other, as they were strongest ; and they were well or ill used by them according to the humour or interest of their kings, or the credit of their enemies. Alexander the Great, being convinced of their affection and fidelity, gave them the province of Samaria, and exempted it from tribute ; and when he built Alexandria, settled some Jews in it, granting them the same privi- UNDER THE MACEDONIANS. 235 leges as the other citizens, till at last they also were called Macedonians. {Joseph. JinU xii, 1, etcont, *jipp, 1. ii, c. 2.) Indeed, the first of the Ptolemies, having taken Jerusalem by sur- prise, carried great numbers of the Jews captives into Egypt, who were spread as far as Cyrene. But afterward finding how religious they were, and faithful to their oaths, he put some of them into his garrisons, and treated them so well, that it drew many more into that country. {Jo- seph, Ant. xii, 2.) It is said that his son Phila- delphus redeemed all the Jews that were slaves in his dominions, and sent great presents to Jerusalem to procure that translation which he got made of their law.* They were also favoured by several kings of Syria. Seleucus Nicanor gave them the right of citizens in the cities which he built in Asia Minor and Cœlo-Syria, and even in Antioch his capital, with privileges that they also enjoy- ed under the Romans. {Joseph. Jlnt. xii, 3.) Antiochus the Great having received signal services from the Jews, granted considerable favours and immunities to the city of Jerusalem ; and to secure Lydia and Phrygia, which were notquite sound in their allegiance, he established colonies of Jews there, giving them lands to cultivate and build on. ^ . / * See Aristeus's Hist, of the SeptuaginL Notwith- standing the testinfiony of Josephus, Aristeus, and seve- . ral of the prinîitive fathers, the history of the Greek translation of the Scriptures, by the command of Ptolemy Philadelphiis, kin^of Egypt, is now considered either a fable^ or truth so disguised as to be no longer perceptible. 236 MANNERS OF THE isllfELITES, The first privilege that the Jews- always asked upon these occasions was liberty to exercise their religion and observe their law. But as for the rest, they could not avoid learning many Grecian customs, as they had Chaldean and others, and particularly the Greek tongue, which was then become common throughout all the east, and continued so as long as the Roman empire lasted there. Thence it was that many took Greek names, as Aristobulus, Philon, Andreas, and Philippus ; or Hebrew names disguised with Greek terminations, as Jason for Jesus, Simon for Simeon, Hierosoly- ma for Jerusalem. It was probably about this time that the Jews passed the seas and settled in Europe. For they that understood the Greek tongue, and had resided among that people in Asia, Syria, and Egypt, might easily live in any part of the Gre- cian empire, even in Macedonia and Achaia, according as they found it more convenient or they enjoyed greater liberty. Thus St. Paul found great numbers of them in all the cities of Greece when he went to preach the Gospel there, about two hundred and fifty years after the time of Antiochus the Great. These Jews were half Greeks, whom the eastern Jews called Ilellenists ; and they gave the Gentiles the name of Hellenes, which properly signifies Greeks ; whence it comes that in St. Paul's epistles Greek and Gentile signify the same thing, Rom. i, 16 ; ii, 10, &c. The Jews could not be so mixed with the UNDER THE MACEDONIANS. 237 Greeks, without the latter, who were very curious at that time, getting some knowledge of their religion and laws, especially after the translation of the sacred books. Their wise men and true philosophers held them in great esteem, as we may learn by what Strabo wrote about them long after. {Strabo, lib. xvi.) All admired the magnificence of their temple and exact order of their ceremonies. Agrippa him- self, son-in-law of Augustus, was astonished at it. But most of the Greeks at that time, I mean in the reign of the Macedonians, were not capable of relishing the customs and maxims of the Jews. They were too grave for the people whom the Asiatic luxury had made effeminate, and whose sole employment was in trifles.* There were indeed a great number of philosophers ; but most of them contented them- selves with only discoursing upon virtue, nn# exercising themselves in disputation. All the rest of the Greeks were possessed with curi- osity and a fondness for polite literature : some applied themselves to rhetoric, others to poetry and music. Painters, sculptors, and architects, were in great repute. Others spent all their time in gymnastic exercises, to form their bodies and make them good wrestlers. Others studied geometry, astronomy, and natural philosophy. There were every where virtuosi, connoissei^râ, curious and idle people of all sorts. The manners of the Romans were at that * Ut primum positis nugari Grnecia bellis Gœpit, &c. Hor,-l. ii, ep. i, 93. 238 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES, time much more solid.* They applied them- selves to nothing but agriculture, the knowledge of the laws and war, and wilHngly left the glory of excelling in curious arts and sciences to the Greeks, that they might have the more time to extend their conquests, and attend the go- vernment of their subjects, making politics, as Virgil says,| their principal concern. The Jews were still a great deal more serious, as they made morality and the service of God their chief study. We have a good example of it in the book of Ecclesiasticus, written about the same time, itet this was the reason that the Greeks looked upon them as an ignorant people, seeing they would learn nothing but their own law. {Joseph, cont. Jlpp. I. i, c. 4, et 1. ii, c. 6. Orig, cant. Cels, I. iv.) They called them barbarians^ as they did^ all nations that were not Greeks, and despised them more than any other strangers, upon account of their reli- gion, which appeared to them austere and ab- surd. J They saw them refrain from debauchery, not out of frugality and policy, but from a prin- ciple of conscience : this appeared to them too strict, and they were particularly offended at their* Sabbaths, their fasts, and distinction of meats. They accounted them enemies to all mankind. ' They live separate from every body -î^ Romae duke diu fuit et solenne reclusâ Mane domo vigilare, &c. Hor. 1. ii, ep. i, 103. t Excudent alii spirantia molliussera,&c.--w5Encirf, vi, f "Judaeorum mos tristis absurdusque. — Tacit Hist, V, init; UNDER THE MACEDONIANS. 239 else^ says a Greek philosopher, having nothing common icith us^ neither altar ^ offerings^ prayers^ nor sacrifices. They are at a greater distance from us than the inhabitants of Susa^ Bactria, and India, {Philostr, vit. *âpol. Hb. v, c. 11.) We may add to this, that the fear of idolatry made the Jews reject sculpture and painting, (which arts the Greeks held in much esteem,) as useless, ridiculous pieces of workmanship, and the fruits of idleness ; [Orig, cont, Cels, 1. iv;) which is the reason that idols are so often called vanity in Scripture, to show that they are vain things, that have only a deceitful out- side, and serve to no manner of good purpose, Isaiah xliv, 10; Jer. x, 15. They are also called an abomination, Wisdom xiii, 13-19, because they cannot be sufficiently detested, when we consider the stupidity that attributes the incommunicable name of God to them. For the same reason the Jews could not hear without horror the impious fables with which the Greek poets were filled. Thus they drew upon themselves the hatred of the grammarians, whose profession it was to explain them ; and of the rhapsodists, who made a trade of singing their heroic poems in public ; and of the actors of tragedies and comedies, and of all others, whose livelihood depended upon poetry and false theology. The Jews indeed made it a rule not to laugh at other nations, nor to say any thing disrespect- ful of their gods ; (Joseph, cont. Jipp. ;) but it was scarce possible that some word of contempt 240 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES, should not escape from them. Now how angry must a Greek grammarian have been, if he had heard a Jew repeat a passage out of the prophets against idols ; if he had heard him assert that Homer was a false prophet and impostor, or ridi- cule the absurdities that occur in the genealogies, the amours and crimes of their gods? How could they bear any one's showing an abhorrence to the scandalous impurities of the theatre, and the abominable ceremonies of Bacchus and Ceres : in a word, to hear him maintain that the God of the Jews was the only true God, and that they only, of all the people upon earth, were in pos- session of the true religion and morality? They despised them the more for not knowing how to make learned harangues, or dispute in form ; and because, for a proof of these great truths, they chiefly alleged facts, that is to say, the great miracles that God had wrought in the sight of their fathers. Now the common people among the Greeks did not make any distinction between those miracles and the prodigies which they also related in their fables ; and philoso- phers thought them impossible, because they only reasoned from the laws of nature, which they held to be absolutely fixed and unaltera* ble. (Galen de usu Partium.) This being the disposition of the Greeks, they listened the more eagerly to the calumnies of the Phenicians, Egyptians, and other enemies of the Jews. And thence proceeded those im- pertinent stories that Tacitus tells us so gravely, {Hist. 1. V, init.) when he is explaining the origin UNDER THE MACEDONIANS. 241 of the Jews, and has a mind to act the learned historian ; and which are to be met with hke- wise in Justin, who had had the same informa- tion. {Justini Hist. lib. xxxvi, c. 2, 3.) Strabo does not seem to know much more of the mat- ter, though he treats it more sensibly. {Lib. xvi.) But beside these slanders, which might easily have been overlooked, the Greeks proceeded to violence and persecution. Thus Ptolemy Philopater, after he had lost the battle of Raphia, discharged his wrath upon the Jews : and his son Epiphanes, being provoked at their not let- ting him go into the sanctuary, would have them exposed to elephants, as it is related in the Maccabees. Under Seleucus Philopater, king of Syria, Heliodorus came to plunder the sacred treasure, and nothing but a miracle prevented his doing it, 2 Mace, iii, 7, &c. At last, under Antiochus Epiphanes began the greatest perse- cution they ever suffered, and which is not in- ferior to any that the Christians have endured since, 1 Mace, i, &c. Those who died at that time for the law of God have been ordinarily classed among the martyrs. They are the first we know of who laid down their lives in that good cause. The three com- panions of Daniel, when they were cast into the furnace, Dan. iii, 21, and he himself, by being exposed to the lions, had all the merit of martyr- dom ; but God wrought miracles to preserve them. Eleazar, the seven brethren, and the re>st that are mentioned in the history of the 242 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. Maccabees, 2 Mace, vi, 18, vii, really gave up their lives for the sake of God and the law of their fathers, which is the first example, that I know, of this kind of virtue, in the whole history of the world. We see no infidel, not even one of the philosophers, who chose to suffer death, and the most cruel punishment, rather than violate his religion, or the laws of his country. Josephus boldly reproaches the Gentiles with it : JVEany captives, says he, of our nation have suffered all sorts of torment and death in the theatres, and upon divers occasions, rather than speak the least word against the law, and the other Scriptures : but where is the Greek that would not let all the books of his nation be burnt rather than suffer any harm himself? [Contra, Jlpp, lib. 1.) Indeed, some Jews were overcome by perse- cution : but then they entirely renounced their religion and laws, and used artifice to disguise their circumcision ; so that they were no longer accounted Jews. And such as continued faith- ful were so zealous for their law and liberty, that at last they took up arms to defend themselves against the Syrian kings. These princes openly violated all the privileges that had been granted to the Jews by the kings of Persia, and confirm- ed by "Alexander and the other Macedonian kings; and seemed determined to abolish the true rehgion which was still at that time con- ftned to a particular people and country. THE REIGN OF THE ASMONEANS. 243 CHAPTER lY. The Reign of the Asmoneans, We are now come to the time of the Macca- bees, when the Jewish nation raised itself up again, and shone with a new lustre. They were no longer a poor people, that aspired no higher than to live in peace, under the conduct of their high priest and elders ; whose happi- ness only consisted in being at liberty to culti- vate their lands, and serve God in their own way. They became a state entirely independ- ent, supported by good troops, strong garrisons, and alliances, not only with their neighbouring princes, but with remote kingdoms, even Rome itself, 1 Mace, xiv, 4, 18. The kings of Egypt and Syria, who had used them so ill, were forced afterward to court their friendship. They also made conquests : John flyrcanus took Sichem and Gerizim, and destroyed the temple of the Samaritans ; (Joseph. Jint, xiii, 17 ;) so abso- lute was he over all the land of Israel. He ex- tended his dominions into Syria, where he con- quered several towns, after the death of Antiochus Sidetes ; and intoldumea, which he so entirely subdued, that he obliged the inhabitants to be circumcised and observe the law of Moses, as being incorporated into the nation of the Jews. His son Aristobulus added the ensigns of royal- ty to the real power, taking the diadem and title of king : {Joseph. Ant. xiii, c. 20, 21, 22 :) and 244 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. Alexander Jannœus made still greater con- quests. But this glory of the Jews was of short con- tinuance : for, though the weakening the king- doms of Egypt and Syria had served to exalt them, the entire ruin of those two kingdoms brought on theirs too, by the vast addition it made to the Roman power. Indeed, the begin- ning of their decay was occasioned by their domestic quarrels, and the continual misunder- standings between the two sons of Alexander Jannaeus, Hyrcanus, and Aristobulus. In short, they had enjoyed their liberty but four-score years, since Simon had been declared head of the nation, after casting off the Grecian yoke, till Pompey, invited by Hyrcanus, took Jerusa- lem, entered into the temple, and made the Jews tributaries. After that they were in a miserable condition for above twenty years : divided by the parties of the two brothers, and plundered by the Ro- mans, {Joseph. Ant. xiv, 8, 12,) who took from them, at different times, above ten thousand talents, which is about one million, eight hun- dred and thirty-three thousand, three hundred and fifty pounds sterling. After the defeat of Brutus and Cassius, the Parthians, taking ad- vantage of Mark Antony's weakness, who was governor of the east, made themselves masters of Syria and Palestine, and took Hyrcanus cap- tive. During all the time of the Roman civil wars, and while the Parthians had the better of them, THE REIGN OF THE ASMONEANS. 24^ Palestine was exposed to cruel ravages by so many armies of different nations passing through it, and by the incursions of neighbouring people, particularly the Arabians. It is true, it recovered again a little under Herod : {Joseph. Jint, xv :) he brought back peace and plenty to it ; he was powerful, rich, and lived in great state. But it cannot be said the Jews \\ ere free in his time. He was not so himself, and depended entirely upon the Roman emperors. He was a foreigner, by birth an Idumean, had no religion, and only kept up the appearance of it to serve political purposes. — He destroyed the succession of the high priests, sending for one Hananiel from Babylon, a des- picable man, though of the sacerdotal family ; [Joseph, Ant, xv, c. 2 ;) after whom they had no high priest but such, and as many as the kings pleased. When Herod was dead there was no longer any power in Judea. His sons only kept part of his kingdom, and that not long. Judea had Roman governors, depending upon the pro- consul of Syria. At last the J ews were banish- ed out of it, and reduced to their present con- dition. This therefore is the last time that any account is to be made of them as a nation, from their liberty under Simon and the Asmoneans till their destruction under Yespasian. It is a period of about two hundred years, taking in most part of the history of the Maccabees, and all that of the New Testament, during which time the manners of the Jews were very differ- ent from what they were before. 246 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. CHAPTER V. Tke J\Ianners of the Jews of later Times. These later Jews were mingled with many nations. There were some of them settled "in every country under heaven," Acts ii, 5, as the Scripture says. Many came to dwell in Judea, or at least made some journeys of devotion thither, to sacrifice in the only temple where it was lawful to do so. Beside, there were always from time to time some Gentiles who were made converts. Thus the Jews were, properly speaking, no longer a people by themselves, using the same language and customs, for many others began to unite under the same religion. The inhabitants of the Holy Land consisted of different nations, as Idumeans, and other Ara- bians, Egyptians, Syrians, and Greeks. AH the Jews still looked upon themselves as brethren, and assisted each other in whatever part of the world they were dispersed. They exercised hospitality toward such as travelled; and relieved the poor in all provinces, but es- pecially in Judea. As they that were at a dis- tance could not pay their tenths and first fruits in kind, nor come to the temple to make their offerings upon all festivals, they turned all these dues into money, and these contributions alto- gether made up a considerable sum ; {Joseph. Jlni.xvVy 12 ;) which each province sent annually to Jerusalem for the expense of sacrifices and OF THE MODERN JEWS. 247 maintaining the priests and poor. This is the Jewish gold that Tully speaks of. {Pro Flacco.) These collections continued many years after the destruction of the temple. {Epiph, hœr. XXX, n. 4, 7, 1 1 . ) The chief of the nation sent out senators at certain times, who commonly re- sided near him, and were called apostles, that is to say, envoys. They went through the provin- ces to visit the synagogues, and had authority over such as presided there, and over the elders and ministers,, and at the same time carried back the collections to the patriarch. But the Chris- tian emperors forbad the continuance'of it. {Lib* iv, Cod. de Judœis.) The patriarchs came to this dignity by succession ; so that they were often infants. (Hier, in Isaiah iii, 4.) But before Jerusalem was destroyed, some of the heads of their nation resided in every province, who were called in Greek etiinarchs, and judg- ed them by their own law. Those of Egypt are famous, among others. In Judea the Jews were governed, as before by a council of seventy-two elders, which they called sanhedrim, from a Greek word corrupt- ed and these are the^ elders of the people mentioned in the Gospef, Luke xxii, 66, &c. In every synagogue there was a head or ruler of it, as we see in the New Testament, Luke viii, 41. There were priests or elders, and dea- cons or servants, named Hazanin, to take care * Epiph. hœr. xxx, n. 1. pnnnj^ sanhédrin, from the Greek Jlweèpiov ; from aw hogether, and i^oa a seat^ au assernbîy of counsellors. 248 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. of the synagogue, and present the book to the doctor who instructed them. There were also twenty-three judges in each city, as has been said before. For it is to this tirne chiefly, that all which the Talmud says concerning the form of judgments and the execulton of justice, must be referred. {CocL Sanhad. J\laccotIu) The Jews of Judea always applied them- selves to tillage, breeding of cattle, and all kinds of husbandry. There are some medals still remaining, as old as the times of the Macca- bees, upon which are to be seen ears of corn and measures, (Vales, in Euseb, vii, 10 ; Palad, Vita Chrysosi,) to show the fertility of the coun- try, and the honour in which they held agricul- ture. Thus the Apocrypha describes to us the prosperity of Simon's government: Then did they till their ground in peace, and the earth gave her increase^ and the trees of the field their fruit : the ancient men sat all in the streets con-^ suiting together for the good of the comitry^ and the young men put on glorious and ivarlihc apparel. He 'provided victuals for the cities^ and sent th e m in all manner of munition, so that his honourable name loas renowned unto the end of the world. He made peace in the land, and Israel rejoiced with great joy. For every man sat under his v ine and his fig tree, and there ivas none to disquiet them, 1 Mace, xiv, 8, &c. — And the author of Ecclesiasticus has not omit- ted taking notice of this duty. Hate not labori- ous work, neither husbandry, says he, which th$ mMosI High has ordained, Ecclus. vii, 15. hatred. Joseph, the son o example, who got all the tribute o Phenicia awarded to him under Ptole phanes, and acquired immense riches by i.. {Joseph. Ant. xii, 4.) If there were bankers and tax gatherers among the Jews, there is more reason to think there were wholesale and retail merchants ; both which are mentioned by the author of Ec- clesiasticus, where he says he looked upon them as dangerous trades : A merchant can hardly keep himself from doing wrongs arid a huckster shall not be freed, from, sin, Ecclus. xxvi, 29. He goes to the source of the evil, and adds. That the desire of riches blindeth men, and makes them fall into sin; and that as a nail sticks fast between the joinings of the stonrs, so doth sin stick close between buying and, selling 17 v., time I am speaking of. The t iiicclesiasticus shows it, who recom- ..us the use of this art, and the composition of m'edicines, Ecclus. xxxviii, 1-15. There is mention made in the Gospel of a woman who had spent all that she had upon physicians, Luke viii, 43. What the forementioned author says afterward of the great leisure required for the study of wisdom, Ecclus. xxxviii, 24, seems to prove that the scribes or doctors made it their whole employment : but he shows at the same time the necessity of artificers, and there were then many among the Jews, Ecclus. xxxviii, 27, &c. The Apostles, Joseph, and Jesus Christ himself, are undeniable examples of it ; and what is most remarkable, St. Paul, though brought up to letters, was master likewise of a THEIR PRETENDED SANCTITY, 251 trade. The Jews relate the same of their most celebrated rabbins. {Talmud.) ^APTER VL > Their Sects and Superstitions. ^ The difference of sects began ^ that time : under Jonathan the son of Mattathias there were already Pharisees, Sadducees, and Es- senes. {Joseph,, Ant, xiii, 9, xviii, 2.) The Pharisees joined the traditions of the fathers to the text of the law, which were preserved with- out writing: and tho'ugh the doctrine they main- tained was good at the bottom, they mixed a great many superstitions with it. They be- lieved in fate, moderated by free will, or rather by providence, which guides it. The Saddu- cees, who were a sort of Deists, imputed all to free will. They acknowledged only the five books of Moses as Divine, and these they in- terpreted literally, and pretended that they did not oblige them to believe a resurrection, or the immortality of the soul, or that there were an- gels or spirits, Acts xxiii, 8. Thus they served God only for a temporal reward, and gave themselves up much to sensual pleasures. They had little agreement among themselves, and but small authority with the people. Their number was not great ; but they were the chief of the nation, and even many of them j^riests. The common people were more attached to the 252 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES, Pharisees, who kept an outward show of great piety. Queen Alexandra gave them consider- able power in the minority of her sons. {Joseph, Bell, i, 4.) The sect of Essenes was the most singular. They avoided living in great tsfwns, their goods were in common, and their diet very plain. {Joseph, Bell, ii, 7.) They spent a great deal of time in prayer, and meditating upon the law. Their manner of life was very like that of the prophets and Rechabites. Some of them too observed a perfect continence, leading a life altogether contemplative, and in such purity that many of the fathers have taken them for Christians. They were a very simple and up- right people, and are never reprehended by Christ or his apostles. The Pharisees lived in the midst of the world, in great amity with one another, leading a plain and outwardly strict life : but most of them were interested, ambitious, and covetous. They valued themselves on a great exactness in the outward performance of the law. Matt, xxiii, 23 ; Mark vii, 2. They gave tithes not only of large fruits, but of the smallest herbs, as cummin, mint, and anise. They took great care to wash themselves, to purify their cups, their plate, and all their furniture. They kept the Sabbath so scrupulously, that they made it a crime in our Saviour to moisten a bit of clay at the end of his finger, John ix, 6, and in his disciples to pluck some ears of corn to eat as they passed along, Matt, xii, 2. They fasted THEIR PRETENDED SANCTITY. 253 often, many of them twice a week, Luke xviii, 12, i. e. on Mondays and Thursdays. They affected wearing the totaphot^ or phylacteries on the borders of their garments, together with their tsitsith or fringes much larger than ordi- nary, Matt, xxiii, 5. The totaphot, tephillin^ or phylacteries., are scraps of writing, contain- ing some passages of the law, fastened upon their forehead and left arm, in obedience to the command of having the law of God always be- fore their eyes or in their hands, Deut. vi, 8. The tsitsith or fringes were of different colours, and they were ordered to wear them on the bor- ders of their garments, that they might look upon them, and remember the commandments of God, Num. xv, 38. The Jews even to this day wear these outward marks of religion, when they go to the synagogue ; but upon working days only ; for upon the Sabbath and feast days they pretend they have no occasion for these remenabrances.| {Buxtorf. Synagog, Jud. c.4.) * nSîDItO Tolphot, according to R. S. Jarchi, signifies two and two, or twice two; j^j^ signifies two in the lan- guage of the Cathpians, (a people of Spain,) and ^3 the same in the African or Punic tongue. Hence the tot- phot are always divided into four compartments. See Jarchi on Exod. xiii, 16. t Phylacteries, t to keep or preserve, were small slips of parchment or vellum, on which certain portions of the law were written. These the Jews tied about their foreheads and wrists. 1. To put them in mind of those precepts which they should constantly observe. 2. To procure them reverence and respect in the sight of the heathen ; and 3. To act as iimulets or charms to drive away evil spirits. The^rj^ 254 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. The Pharisees gave alms in public, and made their faces that they might look as if the/ fasted much, Matt, vi, 2, 5," 16-18. For an unclean person to touch them was reckoned the use of these phylacteries is evident from their name. The second use appears from what is said on the sub- ject from Gemara^ Beracoth, quoted by Kypke, " Whence IS it proved that phylacteries (vS'^SH Tephilin) are the strength of Israel ? Ans. From what is written, Deut, xxviii, 10. All the people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of niH^ Jehovah ; and they shall be afraid of thee." The thii'd use of them appears from the Targum on Cant, viii, 3-, His left hand is under my head, &c. " The congregation of Israel hath said, I am elect above all people, because I bind my phylac- teries on my left hand and on my head, and the scroll is fixed to the right side of my gate, the third part of which looks to my bed chamber, that demons may not be per- mitted to injure me." An original phylactery lies now before me. It is a piece of fine vellum about eighteen inches long, and an inch and a quarter broad. It is divided into four un- ec^ual compartments : in the first is written in a very fair character (with many apices after the mode of the German Jews) the first ten verses of Exod. xiii. In the second compartment is written from the eleventh to the sixteenth verse of the same chapter, inclusive. In the thirdj from the fourth to the ninth verse, inclu> sive, of Deut. vi, beginning with, HeaVy 0 Israel^ &c. In the fourth, from the 13th to the 21st verse, inclu- sive, of Deut. xi, it shall come to pass^ &c. These passages seem to be chosen in vindication of the use of the phylactery itself, as the reader will see in consulting them. Bind them up for a sign upon thy hand^ and for frontlets between thy eyes. Write them upon the posts of thy house^ and upon thy gates ; — all which commands the Jews took in the most literal sense. Even the phylac- tery became an important appendage to a Pharisee's character ; insomuch that some of this sect wore them very broad, cither that they might have the more \vrit« THEIR KNOWLEDGE OF GREEK. 255 highest affront : and such they esteemed not only the Gentiles and public sinners, but all that were of any odious profession. In short, most of them were devout only out of interest ; they misled ignorant people by their specious discourses, and the women even stripped them- selves of whatever was valuable, to enrich them ; and, under pretence that they were the people of God, with whom the law was deposit- ed, they despised the Greeks and Romans, and all the nations upon earth. We still see in the books of the Jews these traditions, of which the Pharisees made so great a mysteryfrom time to time, and which were writ- ten about a hundred years after the resurrection of Christ. It is hardly possible for a Christian to conceive the frivolous questions with which these books are filled ; as, Whether it be law- ful on the Sabbath day to get upon an ass to take it to the water, or whether it must be led by the halter? Whether one may walk over new sown land, because one runs a hazard of ten on them, or that the characters being larger they might be the more visible, and that they might hereby acquire greater esteem among the common people. For 'the same reason they wore the fringes of their garments of an unusual length. Moses had commanded. Num. XV, 38, 39, the children of Israel to put fringes to the borders of their garments, that when they looked even upon these distinct threads, they might remember not only the law in general, but also the very minute or efmaller parts of all the precepts, rites, and ceremonies belonging to it. As these hypocrites were destitute of the life and power of religion loithin, they endeavoured to supply its place by phylacteries and fringes witkmcL 256 MANNERS OF Tii£ ISRAELITES. taking up some grains with ihe foot and conse- quently of sowing them ? Whether it be per- mitted on that day to write as many letters of the alphabet as will make sense ? If it be law- ful to eat an egg laid on the Sabbath the same day ? About purifying the old leaven before the passover : whether they must begin again to purify a house, if they should see a mouse running across it with a crumb of bread 1 If it be lawful to keep pasted paper, or any plaster that has flour in it? If it be lawful to eat what has been dressed with the coals that remain after the old leaven is burnt? {Buxtorf, Synag. cap. xi,) and a thousand of other such cases of conscience, with which the Talmud and its commentaries are stuffed. Thus the Jews forgot the greatness and ma- jesty of the law of God, applying themselves to mean and trifling things ; and were now stu- pid and ignorant in comparison of the Greeks, who reasoned upon more useful and elevated subjects in their schools, and who at least were polite and agreeable, if not virtuous. Not but there were always some Jews more curious than the rest, who took pains to speak Greek correctly, read Greek books, and applied to their studies, as grammar, rhetoric, and phi- losophy. Such a one was Aristobulus, a peripatetic philosopher, preceptor to Ptolemy Philometor ; and such were Eupolemus, De- metrius, and the two Philos. Some of them wrote histories in Greek, and after the Greek manner; as Jason of Gyrene; and the author THEIR KNOV/LEDGE OF GREEK. 257 of the second book of Maccabees, chap, ii, 23, who has abridged his works ; and Josephus the celebrated historian. Most of the Jews that studied Greek lived at Alexandria. Others were content to speak Greek so as to be understood, that is, badly, and alvvajs retaining the turn of their native language : and it is in this compound Greek that the translations of the Old Testament, and the original of the New, are written. The apostles and evangelists thought it sufficient to write in a clear concise manner, despising all ornaments of language, and making use of that which was most easy to be understood by the common people of their own nation ; so that, to understand their Greek perfectly, one must be acquainted with Hebrew and Syriac* The Jews of these later times employed themselves much in reading their law, and the Holy Scriptures in general. They were not satisfied with expounding them according to the letter : they found out several senses in them, expressed by allegories and divers metaphors : we see it not only in the New Testament, and the writings of the most ancient fathers in con- troversy with them, {Justin. Dial, cum Tryph.,) but by the books of Philo, the Talmud, and oldest Hebrew commentators upon the law, which they call great Genesis, great Exodus^ * In order to understand the phraseology of the New Testament properly, the Septuagint should be carefully studied ; and, indeed, a knowlege of Hebrew is in many respects essential to a thorough understanding of both. 258 MANJSERS OF THE ISRAELITES. and 1^0 on. {Bereshith Rabba, &c.) They held these figurative senses by tradition from their fathers. But to say all at once, the manners of the Jews in those times were excessively corrupt. They were ridiculously proud of being descend- ed from Abraham^ and puffed up with the pro- mises of the Messiah's kingdom, which they knew to be near, and imagined would abound with victories and all manner of temporal pros- i perity. They were selfish, avaricious, and ! sordid, especially the Pharisees, who were in i general great hypocrites : they were wavering and unfaithful, always ripe for sedition and re- volt, under a pretence of casting off the yoke of the Gentiles. In short they were violent and cruel, as appears by what they made our Saviour and his apostles undergo, and the un- exampled injuries they did one another, both in the time of the civil war, and the last siege of Jerusalem. CHAPTER VII. The true Israelites. However, it was among these people that the tradition of virtue was preserved, as well as that of doctrine and religion. In this last time they had still splendid examples of holiness ; Zachariah and Elizabeth his wife, Joseph, old Simeon, Anna the prophetess, Nathaniel, G a* THEIR TRIBES AND FAMILIÈS. 259 maliel the great doctor, and many others taken notice of in the history of the New Testament. All these holy persons, and the spiritual Jews in general, that were circumcised in heart, as well as body, were children of Abraham, more by imitation of his faith, than by birth. They firmly believed the prophecies and promises of God ; they waited with patience for the redemp- tion of Israel and the reign of the Messiah, which they vehemently wished for : but they plainly saw they were not to confine their hopes to this life, but believed the resurrection, and expected the kingdom of heaven. Thus the grace of the Gospel being superadded to such holy dispositions, it was easy to make perfect Christians of these true Israelites, PART IV, Containing farther: particulars concerning the customs^, manners, &c, of the Israelites, in which a variety of subjects, either not touched before, or but slightly handled, are considered more at large. CHAPTER I. Division of the Hebrews into Tribes and Fa- milies, The Hebrews were divided into twelve tribes, according to the number of the sons of Jacob. But God reserved to himself the pos- terity of Lcrt, and consecrated them to the 260 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. service of his altars. So that tribe could not properly be reckoned among the twelve tribes ; but then Epiiraim and JVLanasseh^ the two sons of Joseph, made two ditFerent tribes, which thereby supplied its place. The tribe of Levi was divided into three famihes, which derived their names and origin from the three sons of Levi. From Gershon came the Oershonites ; from Kohath, the Kohathites ; from Merari, the Merarites. Kohath, the second son of Levi, had Amram, the father of Aaron and Moses ; the latter of which was the governor and law- giver of the Hebrews, the former their high priest. Aaron had four sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. After the death of the two former the priesthood remained with the two others, whose posterity David divided into twenty-four classes, who performed the offices of the priesthood weekly, in their turns, 1 Chron. xxiv. Sixteen of these classes were in the family of Eleazar ; whose names and order were as follow: — 1. Jehoiarib, 2. Jedaiah, 3. Harim, 4. Seorim, 6. Malchijah, 6. Mijamim, 7. Hakkoz, 8. Abijah, 9. Jeshuah, 10. She- caiah, 11. Eliashib, 12. Jakim, 13. Huppah, 14. Jeshebeah, 15. Bilgah, 16. Immer. — So that there were but eight in the family of Itha- mar, viz. 17. Hezir, 18. Aphses, 19. Petha- hiah, 20. Jehezekel, or, Ezechiel, 21. Jachin, 22. Gamul, 23. Delaiah, 24. Maaziah. The other tribes were divided into different families in the same manner, and their names were these : — THEîR TRIBES AND FAMILIES. 2G1 The tribe of Reuben, had four families ; the Hanochites, the Palluites, the Hesronites, the Carmites. The tribe of Simeon had five ; the Nemuel- ites, the Jaminites, the Jachinites, the Zarhites, the Shaulites. The tribe of Gadh^d seven ; the Zephonites, the Haggites, the Shanites, the Oznites, the Entes, the Arodites, the Arelites. The tribe oï Judah had five ; the Shelanites, the Pharzites, the Zarhites, the Hesronites, the HamuHtes. The tribe of Issachar had four ; the Tolaites, the Punites, the Jashu bites, the Shrimronites. The tribe of Zehulun had three ; the Sar- dites, the Elonites, the Jahleelites. The tribe of Manasseh had eight ; the Ma- chirites, the Gileadites, the Jeezerites, the Helekites, the Arielites, the Shechemites, the Shemiadites, the Hepherites. The tribe of Ephraim had four ; the Shu- thahtes, the Bachrites, the Tahanites, the Eran- ites. The tribe of Benjamin had seven ; the Be!a- ites, the AshbeeUtes, the Ahiramites, the Shu- iphamites, the Huphamites, the Ardites, the JN aamites. The tribe of Dan had but one : the Shu- hamites. The tribe of Asher h^A five ; the Jimnites, f -^7^^^' Beriites, the Heberites, the Malchiehtes. The tribe of JYaphlali had four; the Jah- 262 , MANNERS OP THE ISRAELITES. zeelites, the Gunites, the Jezerites, the Shil- lemites. Hitherto we have spoken only of the He- brews by birth, who descended from Abraham, and belonged to one of the tribes ; whence it was that they were better esteemed among the Jews than those who had been born Gentiles, and had embraced Judaism. For thus we find St. Paul urging it, as a matter of merit among the Jews, that he was born a Jew. " I was," says he, " circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a He- brew of the Hebrews : as touching the law, a Pharisee," Phil, iii, 5. The second sort of the Hebrews we mentioned were such as were Gentiles by birth, but had embraced the Jew- ish religion. None was excluded from receiving Judaism but eunuchs. All strangers were received into it whenever they thought fit to submit to its laws, or at least to the principal of them ; for these proselytes (that is to say strangers, Tlfoo'TjXiiTo/,) were of two sorts. Some were called proselytes of habitation,^ others, prose- lytes of justice. The former had only their dwelling or habitation among the Jews, and did not engage themselves to an entire observance of the law. But they were nevertheless obHged to keep the Sabbath, and what the Talmudists call the precepts of Noah, that is, what God commanded JYoah to observe, namely, not to * Or, proselytes of the gate^ because permitted to live within their gates. Prid- Con- partii, lib. 5. THEIR PROSELYTES. 263 worship idols, and to abstain from blood ; to- gether with some other commandments which he gave him, and of which we shall speak more particularly in another place. For the Jews were far from suffering the strangers, who dwelt among them, to live without laws. All which Maimonides explains in his treatise of a proselyte. (Chap. 2.) "What," says he, "is a proselyte of habitation ? He is one who en- gages to renounce idolatry, and observe the commandments which were given to the chil- dren of Noah ; but neither is circumcised nor baptized. He is called a proselyte of habita- tion, because we are permitted to give such a one a habitation among the children of Israel, and he is received as a religious Gentile." He adds, " Whoever engages to keep the com- mandments of Noah, and is exact in his observ- ance of them, has a right to the rewards of a future state." And the Jews were forbidden to suffer any Gentile to live among them who did not submit to the observance of these precepts; as we learn from the same author. " We are obliged," says he, " to kill all the Gentiles who refuse to keep the commandments of Noah, if they are in our power. It is only to us, who are the inheritance of Jacob, and to those of any other nation who will become proselytes, that Moses has given the law. For it is said there shall be no difference between the prose- lytes and you. And therefore, as to the law, let him embrace it that will ; we force nobody to it : but as for the commandments of Noah, 264 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. Moses our master, who was taught by God himself, has commanded us to force all those who shall come into the world to observe them, and to kill all those who shall refuse to keep them. He who receives them is called a pro- selyte of habitation^ and must engage himself to do so in the presence of three learned per- sons." The second sort of converted Hebrews were called proselytes of justice. They were so called, because they embraced the whole law of Moses, and engaged themselves to live hoHly and justly. And they therefore had the rank and privileges of natural Jews. And it is of them that we are to understand those words of our blessed Saviour in the Gospel, " Ye com- pass sea and lamd to make one proselyte," Matt, xxiii, 15. In order to become a proselyte of justice^ there were three ceremonies to be performed ; the first of which was circumcision. The blood that was spilt in the performance of this, was called the blood of the covenant^ and these new converts were thought to be the children of it. And as to the necessity of it, the commandment of God to Abraham is very express: "The uncircumcised man child, whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people," Gen. xvii, 14. Cir- cumcision was, as it were, the seal which sealed the covenant which the proselyte entered into with God, and the solemn profession he made of observing the law of Moses ; which made THEIR PROSELYTES. 265 St. Paul say, Gal. v, 3, " I testify to every man that is circumcised,* that he is a debtor to do the whole law." And Maimonides {Ibid. eh. i,) also teaches the same thing. " When a Gentile," says he, "has a mind to enter into the covenant, to shelter himself under the wings of the majesty of God, and to submit to the law» he must be circumcised." The second ceremony was washings or èap- tism ; which must have been performed in the presence of at least three Jews of distinction. At the time of the performance of it, the prose- lyte declared his abhorrence of his past life, and that it was neither ambition nor avarice, but a sincere love for the law of Moses, which pre- vailed on him to be baptized ; and he was then likewise instructed in the most essential part of the law. He promised at the same time to lead a godly life, to worship the true God, and to keep his commandments. And hence the Chris- tian Church has borrowed those ceremonies which she makes use of in receiving proselytes, whether Jews or Gentiles ; for it is manifest that the institution of baptism by Jesus Christ, and the discipline of theyprimitive Church in the administration of it, have a relation to this cere mony among the Jews. The third ceremony to be performed was that of offering sacrifice. All these, except circum- cision, were performed by the women as well as the men, who became proselytes. And as * Or, as the French has it, Evh-yman that causes him* self to be circumcised. 18 ^66 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. concerning those who had gone through all these ceremonies, it was a common opinion among the Jews, that they ought to be looked on as new-born infants. Maimonides says it in express terms : *' A Gentile," says he, " who is become a proselyte, and a slave who is set at liberty, are both as it were new-born babes ; which is the reason why those who before were their parents, are now no longer so." Whence it is evident, that nothing could be more just than Jesus Christ's reproaching Nicodemus with his being a master in Israel^ and yet being at the same time ignorant how a man could be born a second time^ John iii, 10. But to be more particular: I cannot forbear relating here at large all that Maimonides says of the manner of their receiving proselytes. It will, I doubt not, be some pleasure to the reader to trace out in it the origin of Christian baptism, and of the ancient ceremonies which the Church observed in it. For they are all borrowed from the Jews, Jesus Christ and his apostles not having thought fit to abolish them, or to substitute new ones in their room. " How," says he, " ought a proselyte now to be received ? When any one offers himself, if upon a strict inquiry it appears that the motives to his conversion are pure, he shall be asked this question : What have you seen in us which in- clines you to become a proselyte ? Don't you know that the Israelites live now in sorrow and reproach, that they are exiles, are dispersed abroad, and are laden every day with fresh mise- THEIR PROSELYTES. 267 ries? If he answers, I know all this, and yet think myself unworthy of being received among them, he must be admitted. And then he shall be taught the principal articles of religion, the unity of God, and the prohibition of idolatry in which he must be thoroughly instructed. And among the commandments of God which are taught him, both some of the most and some of the least importance shall be mentioned, but briefly. To which shall be added the punish- ments annexed to the breach of these precepts. It shall be said to him. Are you sensible that before you embrace religion you may eat fat, and not observe the Sabbath Î And that if after you are become a proselyte you eat fat, you will be excommunicated, and if you break the Sabbath, stoned ? But nevertheless these punishments are not to be mentioned to him but with a great deal of prudence, lest the ter- rible idea they give him of religion should turn him from the right way. Men must first be won over by gentle methods ; they must, as the Scripture expresses it, be ' drawn with the cords of a man, with bands of love,' Hos. xi, 4. " And as he must be instructed in the doc- trine of punishments, so likewise in that of rewards. It shall be declared to him, that the observance of the law will gain him an immor- tal life in the other world, and that none are truly wise and just in this, but they who know the law and keep it. For it shall be added, that a future life is reserved only for the right- eous, which are the Israelites ; and that if they 268 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. are unhappy in this world, this very thing shows that they will be eternally happy in the next. It is not necessary that they should enjoy the same happiness upon earth that other people do; their corrupt inclinations might lead them either into pride or error, and they might by that means lose the reward of the world to come. Jeshurun, as saith the Scrip- ture, * waxed fat and kicked,' Deut xxxii, 15. So that God does not punish the Israelites with design to destroy them. No, they shall be preserved ; and it is the Gentiles which shall be destroyed. It is proper to enlarge upon this subject, that his love and zeal may be doubled thereby. " If he alters his resolution, and no longer desires to be a proselyte, he shall be left at his liberty. If he perseveres, circumcision must not be deferred. And if he has been already circumcised, the blood of the covenant must be drawn afresh from the wound. And then time shall be given him for his cure, after which he must be baptized. *' Three chosen men shall stand before him when he is in the water, and shall again pro- pose to him some of the commandments of the law. If it be a woman, women shall put her into the water, the doctors shall instruct her while she is in it, and then they shall go out, and turn away their eyes from her while she comes out." NAMES OF THE HOLY LAND. 269 CHAPTER II. Kamts and Divisions of the Holy Land. As to names, the country of the Hebrews has had several. It was first called the land of Canaan^ from Canaan, the son of Ham, whose posterity possessed it. It was afterward called Palestine^ from the people which the Hebrews call Philistines, and the Greeks and Romans (corruptly) Palestines, who inhabit the sea- coasts, and were first known to them. And it likewise had the name of the land of promise, from the promise God gave Abraham of giving it to him ; that of the land of Israel, from the Israelites having made themselves masters of it ; that oïJudea, from the tribe of Judah, which was the most considerable of the twelve, and the only one that remained after the dispersion ; and lastly, the happiness it had, of being sanc- tified by the presence, actions, miracles, and death of Jesus Christ, has given it the name of the Holy Land, which it retains to this day. As it has happened to other countries, with respect to the inhabitants, and their cities, so likewise to this. It has often changed its inha- bitants and masters ; several of its cities have been ruined, and several of them new built; and it has been divided in several different manners, in the various revolutions it has un- dergone. For it was differently divided, 1. By 270 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. its ancient inhabitants ; 2. By Joshua ; 3. By the Romans ; 4. In the time of Christ ; and 5. By Herod. But it is not so as to its rivers and moun- tains ; they are neither of them subject to change. The Jordan is almost the only river in the Holy Land ; the others are rather brooks or rivulets. This river divides Judea; for it has its rise among the mountains of Libanus, and after having run through the sea of Gali- lee, loses itself in the Dead Sea, which is the other extremity of the land of Judah, toward the south. It took its name from the city of Dan, in whose neighbourhood it rises ; for Jor- dan^ or Yarden^ is the same thing as if it was said, the river of Dan,^ The sea of Galilee, which Jordan runs through, is but a lake ; but the Hebrews give the name of sea to any great collection of waters. The same may be ob- served of the Dead Sea. It is a great lake, which the Greeks call Asphaltitis, on account of the bitumen it abounds with ; and the Jews call it the Dead Sea, because fish cannot live in it. It was in this place which is now^ covered by the lake, that the cities of Sodom and Gomor- rah stood. After Jordan are reckoned Jar- mach in the country of the Gergesenes, which rises among the mountains of Gilead ; and Kirmion, near Damascus, otherwise called Jlmanach^ or Abana; to which are added Phar- phar^ which runs down from Mount Hermon; * niTI Yarden, the. river of Dan or jxidgmeiit* ANCIENT INHAiBITANTS. 271 KishoUj which was in the tribes of Issachar and Zabulun ; Arnon, which comes from the mountain of the same name, and runs into the Dead Sea ; and Jabok, which falls into Jordan. This country has several mountains ; the most famous of which are Libanus and Anti- libanus, to the north ; the mountains of Gilead, those of the Moabites, Hermon and Amon^ to the east ; the mountains of the Desert to the south; and Carmel^ the mountains of Ephraim, and the mountains of the Philistines, to the west. And there are likewise some in the middle of Judea, as Tabor, Gerizim, EbaJ^ Sion, JMoriah, Hebron, and what the Gospel calls the mountains of Judea. But to return to the divisions before mentioned. 1. When Abraham went into the land of Canaan it was inhabited by eleven sorts of people, who, as Moses tells us. Gen. x, took their names from the eleven sons of Canaan. — They were these : — The Sidonians, descended from Sidon ; they possessed the cities of Sidon, Tyre, Jokneam, and Aeon, since called Ptolemais. The Jebusites, from Jebus, their parent, since called the Philistines ; their cities were La- chish, Gath, Ekron, Ascalon, Azotus, Gerar, and Debir. The Amorties descended from Amor ; who had the cities of Nabah, Heshbon, Bozrah, and Ramoth-Gilead. The Girgashites, from Girgas ; they had 272 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. the cities of Damascus, Maachathi, Geshur, Zobah, Teman, Ashteroth, and Edrei. The Hivites^ from Heveh ; their cities are Jerusalem, Jeficho, Ai, Bethel, Gilead, Lib- nah, Makkeda, and Bezer. The Arkites descended from Arak ; who had the cities of Esebon, Midian, and Petra. The SiniteSy who descended from Sin, and were masters of the cities of Admah, Sodom, Gomorrah, Zeboim, and Zoar. The ArvaditeSj from Arad; who possessed the cities of Arad, Jarmuth, Hebron, Adullam, and Eglon. The Zemarites, from Zemar ; in their terri- tories were built Samariah, Tappuah, Tirzah, and Tanai. The Hamathites, from Hamath ; who had the cities of Shimron, and Kedesh, and Razor, and Hamath. To which likewise are added the Perizzites, to whom belonged the cities of Amalek and Bozrah. 2. When the Israelites made themselves masters of the land of Canaan^ since from them called the land of Israel^ the most powerful people who inhabited it were the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Jebuzites, and the Girgashites. — It was from them that Joshua gained it by con- quest, and he divided it into twelve parts, which the twelve tribes drew by lot. The tribe of Levi indeed possessed no lands : God assigned the Lévites the tenths and first fruits of the estates of their brethren : though nevertheless DIVISIONS OF JUDEA. 273 they had some cities which were dispersed among the other tribes, and were therefore called Levitical cities ; and some of them were cities of refuge, for those who should*have killed any one unawares. But though the tribe of Levi did not partake of the division of the land, and this division therefore was only among eleven of the sons of Jacob, yet was the land of Israel divided into twelve portions. There were, I say, twelve tribes, notwithstanding, who divided the land of Canaan among them, inasmuch as the children of the two sons of Joseph, Eph- raim, and Manasseh, made two different tribes. Those of Reuben, Gad, and a part of that of Manasseh, were placed beyond Jordan, toward Arabia and Syria : the rest settled on this side of it. The most considerable change which took place in this country was that which happened when the ten tribes were driven from it, and car- ried into captivity by the Assyrians. The Cu- theans, who were sent to possess their country, dwelled chiefly in the tribe of Ephraim and the half tribe of Manasseh. The tribe of Judah continued in captivity at Babylon seventy years ; and the Greeks afterward made themselves masters of the empire of the east, and some of them.who were kings of Syria,reunited the great- est part of the country which the tribes of Israel possessed, to their crown ; and by this means (the tribe of Judah remaining alone after the others were dispersed) the names which the dif- ferent parts of the lai>d of promise had received 274 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. upon the division Joshua made of it among the twelve tribes, were changed long before the i birth of Jesus Christ. i 3. The Romans divided this country into Palestine and Phenicia. The former con- tained the ancient country of the Philistines, the latter all the maritime cities as far as Libanus, and made a part of the kingdom of Syria. 4. In the time of Jésus Christ the land of Israel was divided into Judea, Samaria, Ga- lilee, and Idumea; 4Rd there were then several Galilees, as we shall see presently. Judea contained a part of the ancient tribe of Judah, and those of Benjamin, Dan, and Simeon. Its breadth was from Jordan to the city of Joppa. Idumea, which was south of Judea, between Arabia and Egypt, had been conquered by Hyrcanus ; and this high priest commanded the inhabitants either to be circumcised, or to leave their country ; upon which they chose to be circumcised, and from that time their coun- try became a part of Judea ; so that it is not to be wondered at if St. Mark reckons the Idumeans among those who came to Jesus Christ, Mark iii, 8. The name of Idumea was at first given only to the country which was possessed by Esau, who in Hebrew is called Edom, that is red. His first descendants were at first called Edomites and afterward Idu- means. We know of no king of Idumea DIVISIONS OF JUDEA. 275 but Esau, whom the Greeks call g^u^pocr, that is to say, red ; and from hence the Red Sea, or Erithrea, has its name ; and not from any particular colour either in its water or its sand. Samaria was at first only the name of a city, but it became afterward that of a province. It contained the tribe of Ephraim, and the half tribe of Manasseh, which was on this side Jor- dan ; so that it was to the north of Judea, and between the great sea, Galilee, and Jordan ; and there was therefore no going from Galilee to Jerusalem without passing through this pro- vince, John iv, 4. Sichem, called by the He- brews Sichar, was its capital, and was situated between the mountains Gerizim and Ebal. — The name of Sichar was a term of reproach which the Jews gave this city in allusion to that passage of Isaiah, Wo to the drunk- ards of Ephraim,'' Isaiah xxviii, 1 : for the Hebrew word the prophet here makes use of comes from Sachar, which signifies to get drunk, and St. John therefore calls this city by the name the Jews used to do. Near it was Jacob's well. Josephus distinguishes between two Galilees^ the upper and the loiver : they both join to Syria and Phenieia, to the west ; Samaria and Scy- thopolis, as far as Jordan, to the south; the towns of Hippus and Gadara, and the terri- tory of Gaulonitis to the east ; and Tyre and its territory to the north ; so that Galilee con- tained the tribes of Issachar, Zabulun, Ashur, 276 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. and Naphtali, except Paneadis, which took its name from the city of Paneas, formerly Dan, and since called Cesarea Philippi, situated at the foot of Mount Libanus : all this latter terri- tory is out of Galilee. This province had the happiness to receive the light of the Gospel the first of any : it then contained a great number of very populous cities. Josephus, from whom we take this account, reckons up to the number of two hundred and four cities or villages ; the least of which had above fifteen thousand in- habitants. The country that the tribes of Reuben and Gad possessed beyond Jordan was called Pe- rça, which signifies a distant 'province^ because it was beyond Jordan. Its length, according to Josephus, {Wars of the Jews^ b. iii, c. 3,) was from the city of Macheron to that of Pella ; and its breadth, from Philadelphia, a country of the ancient Moabites, to Jordan. Pella was to the north of it ; Jordan to the west ; the country of the Moabites to the south; and Arabia to the east. The country which extends toward Libanus northward, and toward the mountains of Hermon eastward near Damascus, was the portion of the half tribe of Manasseh ; but after- ward it comprehended Gaulonitis, so called from the city of Gaulon, which Josephus makes to have been two cities, the upper and the lower ; {Wars of the Jeivs^ b. i, c. 1 ;) Batanea, which was formerly the kingdom of Bashan ; and Trachonitis, which took its name from the craggy mountains with which it abounded. DIVISIONS OF JUDEA. 277 Strabo says it touched upon Celosyria. To the north lay Auranitis, which took its name from the city of Auran, which was situated between Cesarea and Damascus. And near it was Iturea, which joined to Celosyria, beyond Mount Libanus. Pliny places Iturea in Celosyria itself; and Adricomius says, Iturea begins at Jordan, and extends all along Libanus, as far as to the mountains of Tyre and Sidon toward the west. So that they must be mistaken who place Iturea in Perea. They found their opin- ion indeed upon what the Scripture tells us of the Itureans having assisted the tribes of Reu- ben and Gad ; but it does not follow from thence that Iturea was in the middle of those tribes, or even in their neighbourhood. Perea was subject to Herod the tetrarch ; and the Gospel tells us that Iturea was a part of Philip's tetrarchy, Luke iii, 1. But beside these, there was yet another can- ton in Judea, which was called Decapolis, be- cause it contained ten cities, whose inhabitants lived after the Grecian manner, and Josephus therefore calls them Grecian cities, Pliny reckons among the cities of Decapolis, Damas- cus, Opoton, Philadelphia, Raphana, Scythopo- lis, Gadara, and Hippus ; and Josephi>s tells us {Antiq. b. xvii, c. 11, s. 4, and, Wars of the Jews, b. ii, c. 6, s. 3,) that Cesar separated Gaza, Gadara, and Hippus, from the kingdom of Judea, and joined them to Syria. But those geographers who place Capernaum, Corazin, Bethsaida, and Cesarea Philippi in Decapolis, 278 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. are certainly mistaken ; though it be true, that some of those ten cities were round about the sea of Tiberias and Jordan ; and that Josephus therefore says that Gahiee was encompassed with strangers. Agreeably to which he says, in another place, that the Gentiles killed a great number of the Jews in the cities of Scythopolis, Gadara, and Hippus ; and it is probably cities of this kind that the Gospel means by the name of "Galilee of the Gentiles." Gadara^ the metropolis of Perea, according to Strabo, gave the name of Gadarenes to its territory, in Hke manner as that of Gergesenes came from the city of Gergesa. These two little countries were in the neighbourhood of each other; and it ought not therefore to be wondered at, that in the relation of the same miracle, St. Mark and St. Luke, Mark v, 2 ; Luke viii, 26, should say that Jesus Christ did it in the country of the Gadarenes, and St. Matthew, Matt, viii, 28, in that of the Ger- gesenes : nor is it any thing more strange, that these people should keep swine, since they were Gentiles. And we find likewise in the same relation of the evangelists, a proof that Gadara and Gergesa were parts of Decapolis. For St. Mark says, Mark v, 20, that the demoniac, who was delivered from the unclean spirits which Jesus Christ permitted to go into the herd of swine, published the miracles which Jesus Christ had wrought in his favour, in Decapolis; whereas St. Matthew and St. Luke, Matt, viii, 33 ; Luke viii, 39, only say, that he published DIVISIONS OF JUDEA. 279 them " throughout the whole city," that is, either in Gadara or Gergesa. These two cities were in the neighbourhood of a lake which was called Genesareth^ from the city of Chinnereth. This lake the book of Joshua, chap, xii, 3, places in the tribe of Naph- tali ; and in Numbers, chap, xxxiv, 11, it is called the sea of Chinnereth ; for both this pas- sage and that in Joshua, are to be understood of this lake. Afterward the name of Genesa- reth was given both to the lake and the country round about it ; which, as Josephus testifies, {Wars of the Jews,h, iii, ch. 10, s. 8,) was wa- tered by a spring called Capernaum ; whence without doubt the city so called had its name. The sea- of Genesareth, as the Hebrews speak, was likewise called the sea of Tiberias, from the city of that name which stood near it. Some have thought that the city of Tiberias was the ancient Chinnereth ; but it is a mistake. Jo- sephus expressly says that Herod built it in a place where there was no city before. " Herod the tetrarch," says he, to testify his gratitude to Tiberius, who honoured him with his friend- ship, chose out an agreeable place upon the borders of the lake called Genesareth, and there he built a city which he called Tiberius." {Jlntiq. b. xviii, c. 2, s. 3.) Cetosyria is without the borders of Judea, but joins to them ; one part of it is called Mi lene, from the city Abila, its capital ; which I observe, because this little province was a part I of Herod the Great's kingdom ; and St. Luke, 280 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. chap, iii, 1, speaking of the princes who go- verned at the time that St. John began to preach, mentions it: This king, under whom Jesus Christ was born, possessed Idumea, Ju- dea, Samaria, Perea, Galilee, Peneadis, Gaul- onitis, Batanea, Trachonitis, Auranitis, and Abilene. 5. When he died he divided all his dominions among his three sons, Archelaus, Herod Anti- pas, and Philip. He gave Archelaus the king- dom which contained Idumea, Judea, and Sa- maria. He gave Herod Galilee and Perea, under the name of a tetrarchy ; which was a dignity that held a fourth place in the Roman empire, after emperors, proconsuls, and kings. And Philip had Gaulonitis, Trachonitis,Batanea, and Paneadis, with the same title. This is J ose- phus's account of it ; but St. Luke makes Iturea a part of Philip's tetrarchy. Perhaps J osephus confounds Iturea and Auranitis under the gene- ral name of Paneadis. Herod likewise gave Salome, his sister, the cities of Jamnia, Azotus, and Phazealis. As soon as Herod was dead Archelaus was proclaimed king : and the fear that the new king was of the same opinion, with relation to the child Jesus, as his father had been, made Joseph and Mary retire to Nazareth, upon their return from Egypt, Matt, ii, 22, 23. TSIEIR MEASUREMENT GF TIME. 281 CHAPTER III. Of the different Ways of measuring Time among the Hebrews : — Their Hours^ Days^ Weeks^ JVIonths, Yeai^Sy and Jubilee. God, who formed the republic of the He- brews, appointed certain fixed and regular times for the performance of things, without which all would necessarily have run into disorder and confusion. And this appointment was the more necessary, in that he prescribed the performance of certain sacrifices and festivals ; both which he fixed to certain days. But it would be very difficult to form a clear notion of them, if we knew not the manner in which the Hebrews regulated and measured time. For though all people make use of almost the same terms, yet these terms have very different significations ; so that our hours, days, months, and years, are very different from those of the Hebrews ; and we shall therefore in this chapter speak, first, of days; secondly, of weeks ; thirdly, of months ; fourthly, of years. First, of days. Time is the measure of the duration of things ; which duration we judge of by the relation it bears to the course of the planets ; that is, we say a thing has had a longer or shorter duration, in proportion as certain planets have made more or fewer revolutions during its subsistence. The time in which the 19 282 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. earth revolves round its own axis from west to east is termed a day. But some begin the day at noon, others at midnight ; some at sunrising, and others at sunset. The Hebrews follow this last method ; that is to say, with them the day begins at sunset, and ends the next day at the same time, Exod. xii, 18 ; Lev. xxiii, 32.* Whence it is that we read in the Gospels, that the sick were not brought out to Jesus Christ, on the Sabbath days, till after sunset, Matt, viii, 16 ; Mark i, 32 ; which was be- cause the Sabbath was then ended, and the Jews, who were scrupulously exact in observ- ing it, were no longer afraid of any violation of it. And it was likewise customary with the He- brews, to express a whole day by the terms, the evening and the mornings Gen. i, 5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31 ; or by these, the night and the day : which the Greeks express by their JVuchtheme- ron, and which as well signifies any particular part of the day or night, as the whole of it. And this is the reason why a thitig that has lasted two nights and one whole day, and a part only of the preceding and following days, is said by the Hebrews to have lasted three days and three nights. Matt, xii, 40. It is with time as with places, with respect to * Prom which last text it is evident that the Sabbalh began at the evening or sunset of the day we term Friday^ and ended at the Same time on the following day. THEIR MEASUREMENT OF TIME. 283 its division : it is purely arbitrary. Formerly ihe Hebrews and Greeks divided the day only according to the three sensible differences of |the sun, when it rises, when it is at the highest I point of elevation above the horizon, and w"hen )it sets; that is, they divided the day only into jmorning, noon, and night. And these are the ionly parts of a day which we find mentioned in jthe Old Testament; the day not being yet I divided into twenty-four hours. Since that, the Jews and Romans divided the day, that is, the space between the rising and setting of the sun, into four parts, consisting each of three hours. But these hours were different from ours in this, that ours are always equal, being always the four-and-twentieth part of the day ; whereas with them the hour was a twelfth part of the time which the sun continues above the horizon. And as this time is longer in summer than in winter, their summer hours must therefore be longer than their winter ones. The first hour began at sunrising, noon was the sixth, and the twelfth ended at sunset. The third hour divided the space between sunrising and noon ; the nintK divided that which was between noon and sunset. And it is with relation to this divi- sion of the day that Jesus Christ says in the Gospel, " Are there not twelve hours in the day ?" John xi, 9. The Hebrews likewise distinguished between two evenings. The first began at noon, when the sun begins to decline, and reached to its setting ; the second began at that setting ; and 284 MANNERS OP THE ISHAELITES. they call the space of time between these two|r that is, from noon to sunset,* Been Haarbaeem^\ that is, between the tivo evenings, Exodus | xii, 6.t j The night was hkewise divided by the He- brews into four parts. These were called watches, and lasted each three hours. The first is called by Jeremiah the beginning of the watches. Lam. ii, 19; the second is called in the book of Judges the middle watch, Judg. vii, 1 9 ; because it lasted till the middle of the night. The beginning of the third watch was at midnight, and it lasted till three in the morning ; and the fourth, Matt. x\v, 25, was called the^ morning watch, Exod. xiv, 24. The first of these four parts of the night began at sunset, and lasted till nine at night, according to our way of reckoning ; the second lasted till midnight ; the third till three in the morning; and the fourth ended at sunrising. The Scripture sometimes gives them other names ; it calls the first the evening, the second midnight, the third cock- crowing, and the fourth the morning, Marl^ xiii, 35. ^ Secondly. The Hebrews, like us, make their weeks to consist of seven days, six of which are appointed for labour ; but they were not sufiered to do any work on the seventh day, * Or rather, the ninth hour^ which is the middle point between them, is what they called between the evenings, (Lanfiy, de Tabern. 1. 7, c. 7, sec. 1.) f D^D'^J^n Vl ^^^^ /?aar6ffc em improperly translated in the ev eni7\ g iw our English Bibles. DAYS OF THE WEEK. 285 which was therefore called the Sabbath^ that is, a day of rest. The observation of the Sabbath began with the world. God, after he had employed six days in making the universe out of nothing, rested the seventh day, and therefore appointed it to be a day of rest^ Gen. ii, 2, 3. But this term Sabbath is likewise sometimes taken for the whole week. And from hence it is, that the Pharisee, when he would express his fasting twice in a week, says that he fasted twice every Sabbath* The days of the week have no other names but those of their order, the first, second, third, &c, from the Sabbath ; and therefore as the Hebrews express one and the first by the same word, una sabbati i« with them the first day of the week. But nevertheless the Helle- nist Jews have a particular name for the sixth day, that is, for the vigil of the Sabbath, and call it paraskeue, that is, the preparation.'f But beside this tveek of days^ the Hebrews had another week, which consisted of seven years ; the last of which was a year of rest, and was called the Sabbatical year. The earth 'ested on this year, and no one was suffered to cultivate it. And at the end of seven weeks of i/?ars, that is, after forty-nine years, the forty- ninth year was called the year of jubilee. Some think it was the fiftieth year, but they are * Luke xviii, 12. vrj^evu) 6iç rov aaSSarov, I Mark XV, 42. TlapaaKSvrif 0 Cft •npuaa66aTOVt 286 MANNERS. OF THE ISRAELITES. mistaken. It is true, that according^o the com- mon manner of speaking in the Scripture, the year jubilee is the fiftieth year; as the Sab* bath day^ is called the eighth day^ that is, reckoning from one Sabbath to another, inclu- sively of both. And in the same manner the Olympiads, which contained the space of four years, are called quinquennium, the space of five years ; because by one Olympiad was ordi- narily understood the space contained between the two Olympiads, with which it began and ended, reckoning the beginning of the latter as : included in the former. j Thirdly. It is certain that at first the( months were regulated by the moon ; because the intervals of time are most easily distin- guished by the course of this planet. When it is before the sun, it is as it were swallowed up in its rays ; but as soon as it begins to separate from it, its crescent begins to show itself, and increases insensibly, till at last its whole disk becomes luminous, and then it is at full ; after which its light diminishes, and returns through the same phases to its first crescent, and then it re-enters the rays of the sun. And as the moon regulates the months, spj does the sun the year ; and the division whici we make of the year into twelve months has ul> relation to the motion of the moon. But it w^s not so with the Hebrews : their months are III" nar, and their name sufficiently shows it. Thjby call them Yarchin, which comes from Yatàc, which signifies the moon. It is disputed, Vlie- MONTHS OF THE YEAR. 287 ther the antediluvian months were not rather regulated by the sun ; that is, whether they were not all equal, so that each contained the twelfth part of a year ; but learned men are agreed that from the time of Moses the Jewish months have been lunar. They do not reckon the beginning of them from the time that the moon joins the sun, because that planet then disappears ; but they begin it at her first 'pha- 565, as soon as upon her separation from the sun she first shows herself in the west, after sunset. And for this reason they call the beginning of the month, the new moon ; though the Latin interpreter, to accommodate himself to the Ro- man style, calls it the calends.^ The moment in which this conjunction between the sun and moon is made, can only be known by an astro- nomical calculation, because she does not then appear ; and because the Hebrews were little skilled in this science, especially at the first forming of their republic, God therefore com- mands them to begin their months at the first phases^ or first appearance of the moon, which required no learning to discover it. And be- cause this first appearance of the moon was of importance in their religion, God having com- manded that the neiv moon should be a festival, and that they should ofTer up a particular sacri- fice to him on that day. Numb, xxviii, 11 ; it cannot therefore be improper to give some * Numb. X, 10. Siquando habebitis epulum et dies festos et calendas, &c. See the Vulgate. ^8 MANNERS 0£' XHE ISRAELITES. account here of the care the Hebrews took ia discover this new moon. And in the first place, this was an affair in which the great sanhedrim was concerned : there were always some of that body who applied themselves to astronomy ; and the dif- ferent phases of the moon were likewise painted upon the hall in which the sanhedrim assembled. And in the second place, it belonged to them to choose men of the strictest probity, who were sent to the tops of the neighbouring mountains at the time of the conjunction ; and who no sooner perceived the neid moon, but they came with all speed, even on the Sabbath day itself, to acquaint the sanhedrim with it. It was the business of that council to examine whether the moon had appeared, and to declare it; which was done by pronouncing these words, The feast of the new moon, the feast of the new moon; and all the people were informed of it by the sound of trumpets. To which ceremony David alludes when he says, " Blow the trum- pet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on! our solemn feast day," Psalm Ixxxi, 3. The air is so serene in Judea, that it seldom happened that the clouds hid the moon : but when it did so happen, the error it occasioned was immedi- ately rectified, and not suffered to pass into the next month. The decrees of the sanhedrim, on this as well as on other occasions, were so revered, that the Jews say they ought to be obeyed, even when they are mistaken. From what has been said of the course of the OF THE NEW MOONS* ^289 moon, it appears that there are two sorts of months ; the one, which is regulated by the circle which the moon describes, and lakes up twentj-seven days, seven hours, and some minutes, which is called the pey^iodical month ; and another, which is measured by the space betw^een two conjunctions of the moon with the sun, which is called the synodical month, and consists of twenty-nine days, twelve hours, forty-four minutes, and some seconds. This last is the most popular and only in use ; be- cause the phases of the moon are most pro- per to distinguish the beginning, middle, and end of it. The hours which exceed nine and twenty days, make the months alternately one of nine and twenty days, and one of thirty. Formerly the sanhedrim settled the number of days in each month ; but now the Jews follow the common calculation, and their months are one of nine and twenty days, and another of thirty. Fourthly. Nothing now remains upon this subject, but to speak of the Jewish year. Con- cerning which I shall not enter into the dispute whether they used the solar, or the lunar one, because it is certain that they were both in use among them. I only observe, that they took a very particular care that the first month of their sacred year, that is, of the year whereby their festivals and religion were regulated, did never expire before the equinox ; and that, without this precaution, they would have solemnized the same festivals twice in the same solar year. 290 * MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. So that the equinox was a fixed point which the Jews made use of to regulate their years by ; and they did it in this manner : — The two equinoxes began each adifferentyear. The new moon, which followed the autumnal equinox, after the fruits were gathered in, began the civil year ; the common opinion concerning which is, that the world was created in this sea- son, and this was formerly the first month in the Jewish year. But after the Jews came out of Egypt, Moses, to preserve the memory of their dehverance, commanded that the month in which that deliverance was wrought (which was in the time when the earth opens her bosom, and all things begin to bud) should have the first rank ; and by this means the vernal equi- nox began a second year, which was called the sacred, or the ecclesiastical year. But though these years have different beginnings, yet they both consist of twelve months, which are accord- ing to their order called, the first, second, third, &c. And formerly there was none of them had any particular name, but the two equinoctial ones, and they were called, the vernal one, Mib^ which signifies a green ear of corn : and the autumnal one, Ethanim. But about the time of the captivity, each month had a particular name. The names were these : the first month, formerly called Mib, was called JVisan ; the second, lyar ; the third, Sivan ; the fourth, Tamuz ; the fifth, Ab; the sixth, Elul ; the seventh, Tisri; the eighth, Marchesvan ; the ninth, Cisleii ; the tenth, Tebeih ; the eleventhi OF THE JEWISH YEAR. 291 Shebai ; the twelfth, Jldar, Nevertheless there were some years in which they added a thir- teenth month, which was called Veadar, or the second Adar. Nor were the planets only made use of to distinguish time ; it was like- wise distinguished by the different seasons which succeeded one another, as well as by them. After the earth has closed up her bosom in the winter, she opens it in the spring, and brings forth herbs ; and then, during the sum- mer, the sun warms it, thereby to ripen the corn Sd fruits, that they may be gathered in before e return of the winter. Which difference of the seasons arises from the sun's nearness to, or distance from our tropic, according to which, it continues more or less time above the horizon. But, that all this may be the better under- stood, it is necessary that we briefly explain the first principles of the sphere. Between the poles of the world the astronomers have feigned a circle, which cuts the sphere into two equal parts, and to which they give the name of the equinoctial. And at a certain distance from this they have made another line on each side of it, which they call the tropics ; to which they add a fourth, which they draw from one of these tropics to the other, and which cuts the equi- nociial obliquely in two opposite points ; and this they call the zodiac. And upon this zo- diac they have marked out four principal points; two in the places where it touches the tropics^ and the other two in its sections of the equinoc- 292 MANNÈRS OF THE ISRAELITES. liai ; and by this means they explain the length of the year, the difference of the seasons, and the inequality of days and nights. For the year is nothing else but the space of time which the sun takes up in running through ilie zodiac» When it is at the points which cut the eqiiinoc- tial the days and nights are equal, and we then have spring or autumn. When it advances to- ward our pole, and comes to our tropic, we then have summer ; and when it returns back, and, repassing the equinoctial, otherwise called the line, comes to the other tropic, we then have ivinttr. Of these four points, the two which touch the tropics are called solstices, and those which cut the equinoctial are called equinoxes. The ancient astronomers thought that the sun took up three hundred and sixty-five days and six hours : w hich six hours they joined to- gether every fourth year, and making a day of them, inserted it in the month of February. And the first day of the month was then by the Romans called tJie calends; and they reckon- ing backward, into the days of the preceding month, called them thQ first, second^ third, &c, of the calends. And this additional day being- made the sixth of the calends of jVEarch, and they reckoning on these years two sixths days of these calends, this was the reason why the years, in which these additional days were in- serted, were called bissextile. So that every four years the month of February, which ordi- narily consisted of twenty-eight days, had a day added to it, and was made to consist of OF THE JEWISH YEAR. 293 twenty-nine. But the astronomers of latter ages, having made more exact observations, have found that the year was not so long by eleven minutes : a difference which, how incon- siderable soever it may appear, did yet intro- duce a confusion in the seasons of the year in a succession of several ages. So that the ver- nal equinox, which, at the time of the council of Nice, fell on the 20th or 21st day of March, was found to fall, in the sixteenth century, on the tenth or eleventh. For, the reason why the equinox at any time advances or goes back a day, is the difference between the bissextile and the common year. And in order therefore to put a stop to this disorder, which in time would have thrown back the month of Jl'priU in which nature awakes, and begins to dress her- self in her vernal ornaments, into the midst of winter, the calendar was reformed about the end of the fifteenth century,* and by retrench- ing ten days, the equinoxes were brought back to the same points they were at, at the council of Nice. And they have likewise retrenched one bissextile every hundred years, (which ne- vertheless continues to be ordinarily placed every fourth year as before,) because that, in the space of four centuries, the eleven minutes every year (as above mentioned) are so far from making four complete days, that they make but little more than three ; and by this * This was done in the year 1512, durins: the pontifi- rate of Gregory Xlf, therefore callud the Gre^nrian^ or J^tw Style, 294 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. means the points of the equinoxes are so fixed for the future, that they can never vary again. The reader will, I hope, pardon this digression which I make, because it may be doubtless of some assistance to those who have not tho- roughly studied these matters. Let us now see by what means the Jews re- gulated their year so exactly that its first month always came in the spring. There were two reasons that engaged them to be extremely ex- act in this matter : the one of which was, that the law obliged them to offer up to God a sheaf of ripe barley, or at least of such as was pretty nearly ripe, in this first month ; asd the other was, that the passover, which fell on the four- teenth day of this month, could not be cele- brated without oflTering up an infinite number of lambs, which it would have been impossible to have had in winter. And it was therefore necessary that this first month, in v/hich the feast of the passover was celebrated, should not be entirely passed before the vernal equi- noxy and that it should always fall in the same season of the year. In the mean time, twelve lunar months make but three hundred and fifty-four days, eight hours, forty-nine minutes, and some seconds. And consequently this year must be shorter than the solar one by eleven days, some hours, and some minutes. But it has been already said, that the Jews regulated their months by the phases of the moon, and not by any astro- nomical calculations. And when therefore OF THE JEWISH YEAR. 295 their twelfth month was ended, and they found that their spring was not yet come, the next new moon was not made to belong to the first month, but to a thirteenth which they inserted, and therefore called the intercalary month. And this they did so exactly, that the full of the moon of the month JSlsan never came before the equinox^ that is, before the day when the sun, entering the first degree of Aries^ makes the days and nights equal. But that I may give all the necessary light that is wanting in this affair, I shall observe, that the Jews have four sorts of years, or rather, that each year has four beginnings. That of the civil year was in the month I'isri ; that of the sacred year, in the month JVisan ; that of the tithe of ilie cattle, in the month Elul, that is to say, according to the rabbins, that they began from this month to take an account of all the cattle which were born, that they might offer the tithe of them to God, Lev. xxvii, 32 ; and lastly, that of trees, which was on the first or fifteenth of the month Shebat, For the same rabbins likewise say, that the law having com- manded that the fruit of a tree newly planted should not be eaten of till after three years, Lev. xix, 23, because the tree was, till that time, thought unclean ; it is from the last men- tioned month that they began to reckon this sort of year. What I have said concerning these four dis- tinctions, relates only to the common year of the Jews, which, as has been said, consisted 296 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. of twelve or thirteen lunar months. But be- side this year, they had a second, (as has also been already observed,) which consisted of seven years, and was called Sabbatical, On this year the Jews were not permitted to culti- vate the earth. They neither ploughed, nor sowed, nor pruned their vines ; and if the earth brought forth any thing of its own accord, these spontaneous fruits did not belong to the master of the ground, but were common to all, and every man might gather them. So that the Jews were obliged during the six years, and more especially in the last of them, wherein they cultivated the earth, to lay up provisions enough to last from the end of the sixth year to the ninth, in which was their first harvest after the Sabbatical year. Lev. xxv, W7. And as seven common years made the Sab- batical year, so did seven Sabbatical years make a third sort of year among them, which was called the year of jubilee. CHAPTER IV. Of the Jewish Sacrifices : — Their different kinds, and their different Ceremonies : — and of their Offerings, Gifts, First Fruits, atid Tenths, Sacrificing is the offering up to God a living animal, whose blood is shed in adoration of his majesty, and in order to appease hi-^ THEIR SACRIFICES. 297 wrath. All the different religions in the world agree in this point, and have had the same ideas of sacrifice ; which uniformity of opinion is very surprising. From whence could it be, that all people should thus universally agree, that the blood of an animal has these two great properties ? or how could it come to pass, that the use of sacrifices should thus universally prevail among men? It is commonly said in- deed, that this was a fond conceit, which owes its rise to the barbarity of the Gentiles ; and some think, that as to the Jews, they borrowed this custom from the Egyptians, and that it pleased God to leave them to the worship they had seen in Egypt, he being content with bare- ly reforming it. But can it be believed, that God would borrow the manner of his worship from a people that was superstitious, and at enmity with him 1 No : the origin of sacri- fices is to be dated much higher. It is derived from the patriarchs,* from Abel, from Noah, and from Abraham, who all offered sacrifices, which the Scripture testifies were acceptable to God. It may be said, that all people had this idea of a sacrifice ; they all pretended to substitute the soul of the beast, which is the blood, in room of the criminal soul of the sinner. " The law of sacrifices, (says Eusebius, DemonsL Evang, lib. i, c. 10,) manifestly shows it; for * Probably from Adam himself, who was clothed with the skins of beasts, which were most probably Jtlain in sacrifice, Gen. iii, 21. (De Tab, 1. 3, c. 7, sec. 1.) 20 298 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES, it commands all those who offer sacrifices to put their hand upon the heads of the victims ; and when they lead the animal to the priests, they lead it by the head, as it were to substitute it thereby in the room of their own." And upon this is founded the law which forbids the eating of blood : which God himself explains very clearly in the reason he gives for this pro- hibition : " For," says he, " the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar, to make an atpnement for your souls ; for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul," Lev. xvii, 11. And if then it be true, that God himself commanded the patri- archs to offer sacrifices to him, and if he looked on the blood that was shed in them, as the es- sence of the sacrifice, who can doubt but that this was done with a view to the blood of Jesus Christ, which was one day to be shed for the redemption of the universe ? Adam was no sooner fallen into sin, but God promised him One who should make an atonement for his sin ; and as this atonement must be made by the blood of Jesus Christ, it pleased him that the patriarchs, and afterward his own people, should give types of this great sacrifice in those of their victims ; and from hence they drew all their virtue. " While men (says the same Eu- sebius) had no victim that was more excellent, more precious, and more worthy of God, ani- mals became the price and ransom of their souls. And their substituting these animals in their own room, bore indeed some affinity to THEIR SACRIFICES. 299 their suffering themselves ; in which sense it is that all these ancient worshippers and friends of God made use of them. The Holy Spirit had taught them, that there should one day come a victim more venerable, more holy, and more worthy of God. He had likewise instructed them how to point him out to the world by types and shadows. And thus they became prophets^ and were not ignorant of their having been chosen out to represent to mankind the things which God resolved one day to accomplish." So that the first thing we must suppose, in order to explain the sacrifices of the ancient law, is, that they were established only that they might typify that sacrifice which Jesus Christ was to ofier up. Unless we are prepos- sessed with this truth, we can look on the tabernacle and temple of Jerusalem only a» slaughter houses, whose victims, blood, and fat, are more proper to inspire disgust than religion.- And God himself testifies the distaste he had for this immolation of animals, as soon as the Jews came to consider and practise it without a view to Jesus Christ. '* To what purpose," says he in Isaiah i, 11, "is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me ? I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts ; and I delight not in the blood of bul- locks, or of lambs, or of he-goats." But how then could God reject the sacrifices which he had himself commanded? Could that which pleased him at one time displease him at ano- ther? No; we cannot charge him with such 300 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. inconstancy. But we see, by his reproaches?/ that when he commanded the sacrifices of the ancient law, he did it not out of any desire to drink the blood of goats, or eat the flesh of bulls, as David speaks, Psalm 1, 13, but only to typify thereby the great and precious sacri- fice which his Son should one day offer up : and that as soon as these sacrifices ceased to be animated by this spirit, (as those did which the carnal Jews offered,) they became insup- portable to him. The end of all religion is sacrifice ; and there was never any religion without it. As to that of animals, I shall speak of it only so far as is necessary to render those parts of Scripture where they are mentioned intelligible ; and shall therefore here confine myself to the ex- plaining, 1. What these ancient sacrifices were : 2. How many sorts of animals were used in them : 3. What the manner of offering them was : 4. What ceremonies attended it : 5. Who was the minister : 6. The place ; and 7. The time for them : 8. How many sorts of them there were : and 9. What was the manner of partaking of them. All which I shall endea- vour to do in a very few words. 1. Sacrificing is the offering up an animal to God, whereby his supreme majesty is acknov/- ledged, sin expiated, and the Divine justice rendered propitious. Man by sin merited death ; and in order therefore to satisfy in some measure the justice of God, he substituted ani- mals in his own room ; whose blood neverthe- THEIR SACRIFICES. 301 less would have no efficacy in blotting out sin, were it not that it was a type of the precious blood v/hich Jesus Christ has since poured out for us on the cross, and by which he has recon- ciled us to his Father. So that by the death which the victims suffered, and by the fire which consumed them, were represented to sinners the two punishments which sin had deserved, namely, death and eternal fire ; and sacrifices were, at the same time, both marks of repentance and pledges of a reconciliation. 2. There were hut five sorts of animals which could be offered up in sacrifice, and these were oxen, sheep, goats, turtle doves, and pigeons ; which are indeed the most innocent, the most common, and the most proper animals in the world, for the nourishment of men. And among these, great care was taken in the choice of such as were designed for victims ; for the least defect that could be discovered in them, made them unworthy of God. " If the beast be blind, or broken, or maimed, or having a wen, or scurvy, or scabbed, ye shall not offer these unto the Lord, nor make an offering by fire of them upon the altar unto the Lord," Lev. xxii, 22. Maimonides, in his treatise on this subject, {De Ratione Sacrif,,) gives us a long enumeration of all the defects which pol- lute an animal ; he reckons up fifty which are common to beasts and men, and three-and- twenty which are peculiar to beasts only, and gives a sort of anatomical account of the parts in which they are found. And what then is 302 IVU-NNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. this great purity which God required in the choice of his victims, but another proof that they were only designed to be the figures of Je- sus Christ, whose innocence was to be perfect, and the hoHness of his sacrifice infinite. 3. He who offered sacrifice led up the vic- tim before the altar ; laid both his hands, ac- cording to Maimonides, [De Rations Sacrif, c. iii, n. 13,) but only one, according to other rabbins, upon the head of it. Lev. i, 4, upon which he leaned ivith all his strength; and while the sacrifice was offering up said some particular prayers. If several offered the same victim, they put their hands upon his head one after another. Which imposition of hands upon the animal which they were just going to sacri- fice, was to show that they loaded him with their iniquities, and that they had deserved the death which he was going to suffer. And hereby the victims of the Old Testament were again the types of Jesus Christ, upon whom was laid the iniquities of mankind, Isaiah liii, 6 ; and they were likewise thé symbols of re- pentance. For which reason, Maimonides adds, (De Rat, Sac, c. 3,) concerning the sin offer- ing, that if he who offered it did not repent and make a public confession of his sins, he was not cleansed by it. 4. The manner of killing the animal was this : they cut through the throat and windpipe at one stroke : and they catched the blood in a bason, which they kept perpetually stirring about, lest it should coagulate before it had HOW THEY SACRIFICED. 303 been sprinkled upon the vail, or the altar, or other things, according to the nature of the sacrifice, Lev. iv, 5-7. What blood remained after these sprinklings, was poured out at the foot of the altar, either all at once, or at differ- ent times, according to the kind of sacrifice that was offered. There was round the Rltar, as has been observed, a sort of trench, into which the blood fell, and from whence it was conveyed, by subterraneous channels into the brook Cedron ; and this altar, which was raised very high, was a representation of the cross, to which Jesus Christ was fixed, and which he washed with his precious blood. After these aspersions, they skinned the victim, and cut it in pieces, and carried up the parts of it to the altar in great pomp, by a little hill or ascent to it. The priests as they went up lifted up that part of the victim which they carried toward the four parts of the world.* Either the whole victim, or some part of it only, (according to the different sorts of sacrifices,) were burned upon the altar, where the priests maintained a fire always burning, by taking care to be per- petually laying fresh wood upon it. As they went up to the altar they salted the victim ; for the law forbad the presenting any there which was not salted : and the sacrifices were always attended with libations, which were a mixture of wine and flour. Sometimes they had cakes made of the finest flour, and oil, * See De Tabern. 1. 7, c. 7, sec. 1. Maimon. de Ra- tione Sacrificii, c. 6, n. 18. 304 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. and incense, which were baked in a pan, or upon a gridiron ; and at other times they had such as were only made of parched wheat. One half of these cakes was burnt, and the other half belonged to the priests. And all these which I have mentioned, the victim, the wine, the oil, ând the cake, are all expressed in the single word corbanotli, that is, gifls offered io God; and were all either to be consumed, killed, burned, or poured out, with the ceremonies which the law prescribes, or else lo be reserved for sacred banquets. Nevertheless the victims and cakes have different names among the He- brews ; the former of which they called zebachim^ ihat is, sacrifices ; and the latter minchay that is, offeri.%gs. And the cakes which were made of the flour of wheat or barley, and wine, were called cakes of libation. All those that were offered at the altar must first have had some oil poured upon them ; and incense must likewise have first been put to them, as is expressly commanded in Leviticus ii, 1. Salt was like- wise put in all these cakes ; and this is what Virgil calls salsas friiges, for the heathen had all these ceremonies. The cakes were burned upon the altar, and the wine poured out at the foot of it ; but it was not lawful to put upon the altar either honey or leaven. 6. As to the ministration of the sacrifice, any one might kill the victims, and skin them, and cut them in pieces ; but the other ceremo- nies, as those of catching the blood, and sprink- ling it, belonged only to the priests. And m HOW THEY SACRIFICED. 305 j this the law is very express, that he who offers the sacrifice, "shall kill it on the side of the altar, and shall cut it in pieces, but that the priests, the sons of Aaron shall sprinkle the blood round about the altar," Lev. i, 11, 12. And it may be remarked with Origen, that when Annas, Cai- aphas, and the other priests condemned Jesus Christ to death in the sanhedrim, which was in the temple, they then, in that place where the altar was, poured out the precious blood of that innocent victim, to whom all the sacrifices of the law referred. 6. Before the building of the temple, the sacrifices were offered up at the entrance into the tabernacle ; but after that was built, it was not lawful to offer them up any where but there, as is commanded by God himself in Deu- teronomy xii, 14 : and this law took away from the Jews the liberty of sacrificing in any other place. They might slay their victims in any part of the priests' court that they liked, but not out of it ; and they were even obliged to sacri- fice the paschal lamb here. And to this pro*- bibition of sacrificing any where but in the tem- ple built at Jerusalem, Jesus Christ alluijes, when he says in St. Luke, <' that it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem," Luke xiii, 33 : for by this means, not so much as the types of the death of the prophet could be represented anywhere but in that city. Those victims that were most holy could only be X)ffered up on the north side of the altar. 7. As to the time of offering sacrifice, it 306 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. could only be done by day, and the blood of the animal was always sprinkled the same day that it was killed ; for the blood became pol- luted as soon as the sun was down. But if the sprinkhng had been made in the daytime, the members and entrails of the victim might be burnt all night long. The morning sacrifice was offered as soon as the day began to break, before the sun was above the horizon : and the evening one, as soon as darkness began to overspread the earth. The paschal lamb was offered between the two evenings, that is to say, at the time when ihe sun begins to decline, about the hour that Jesus Christ expired on the cross, which answers to our three in the afternoon. 8. We come now to the other sorts of sacri- fices. One alone was not sufficient to represent the adorable sacrifice of Jesus Christ, whose effects are infinite : and therefore it was neces- sary the old law should have different sorts of them. Some of them were more, and some of them less holy; but they were all either, 1st, burnt offerings, or 2dly, sin offerings, or 3dly, trespass offerings, or 4thly, peace offerings, — Maimonides reduces all the sacrifices of the Jews to these four sorts ; which were either offered up by particular persons, or else by the whole people in general : and w^e shall say something of each. 1st. The burnt offering or holocaust, as the word implies, is a sacrifice or victim which is £ntirely consumed by fire, together with the DIFFERENT KINDS OF SACRIFICES. 307 intestines and feet, which they took care to wash before it was offered. But it was not so with other sacrifices ; a part only of them was burnt, and the rest divided among the priests and the laymen who offered the sacrifice. The Hebrews call it /lo/a, which signifies to rise^ because the victim appeared to rise up to hea- ven in a 'smoke, as an odour of sweet smell before God.* It sometimes happened, that fire came down from heaven and miraculously consumed the victim. The reader may like- wise find an account of the ceremonies that attended the offering up the burnt offering in Leviticus, i, 5, 6. 2dly. The second sort of sacrifice is called a sin offering. And here we may observe, that the words which St. Paul puts into the mouth of Jesus Christ, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, X, 8, " Sacrifice and offering, and burnt offer- ing, and offerings for sin, thou wouldst not," are not to be understood of God's having re- fused to accept of the sacrifice which Jesus Christ had offered him for the sins of men, but only that God disliked all the ancient sacrifices, the oblations, the burnt offerings, and the sin offerings, which were made to him under the law. This sacrifice was likewise sometimes simply called sin ; and therefore when it is said, that Jesus Christ " was made sin for us,"| we * n'7j?» differently pronounced olah, holah, and gnolah, Lev. i, 3. t 2 Cor. V, 21. {fTTcp r][jL(i)v àjxapriav sironjoEv. The word aiiapTia is used by the Septuagint for a sin offering m 308 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. are to understand thereby that he was made a sin offering for us. The Hebrews understand by the word chatah^ {sin,) any voluntary crime, or violation of the law, which was committed through inadvertency, and which God always punished, unless it was expiated. And they were persuaded that several diseases and pains, as leprosy, and the pains of child bearing, were punishments for some sin ; and therefore the sacrifices that were offered by lepers, or women after they had lain in, are reckoned among the sin offerings. 3dly. In order to understand what is meant by the third sort of sacrifices, we must first linow what the Hebrews meant by the word asham,* which the Latin interpreter renders delictum^ and signifies a trespass^ error, or doubt. They offered this third sort of sacri- fice when they had just reason to doubt whether they had broken some precept of the Jaw of God, or no. When they were in this uncertainty, they were obliged to offer sacri- fice. What the law commands concerning it is this, Lev. v, 17, " If a person sin through ignorance, and does any of those things which the law forbids, and comes to a knowledge of his fault after he has committed it,"! (^^ Hebrew it is, the man who shall sin, and com- mit some crimes against any of the command- ninety-four places in Exod., Lev., and Num., which is their translation of the Hebrew nxtSn chatah, and which in all the above places is rendered sin offering in 4)ur English Bibles. * t3^^( asham, to be guilty or liable to punishment. t According to the Vulgate. DIFFERENT KINJDS OF SACRIFICES. 309 ments of the Lord, though he be not certainly assured of his sin, yet he shall nevertheless look upon himself as guilty of it,'') " this man," as the Latin interpreter goes on in the Vulgate, v- 18, shall present unto the priest a ram of his flock, in proportion to the crime he has com- mitted ; and the priest shall pray for him, be- cause he hath sinned through ignorancj^, and it shall be forgiven him." 4thl7. '^^^^ peace offerings or sacrifice of gratitude, (for the Hebrew word shelamim sig- nifies both,) was offered as a thanksgiving, either for having recovered health, or for hav-* ing received some signal mercy of God, or for the happy state of their affairs ; and therefore it was called eucharistie al,"^ But some divide sacrifices into those of ca/i- secration, which was offered when any one was admitted into the priesthood : those oî ijurijica- Hon, which was offered for women who had lain in, and lepers ; and those of expiation, which were ofiered for purifying the sanctuaryt or temple, or people. 9. Nothing now remains, but to speak of the manner of partaking of the sacrifices ; concern- ing which, we* must observe, that nobody par- took of the burnt offerings, because they were entirely consumed by fire : and that in the other sacrifices, the law declares what parts of the victims belonged to the priests, and what parts ^CD^Db^ shelameeiiij from mSy; sJialanu to make wliole, complete, to make up a difTerencc between par- ties, to produce peace. 310 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. belonged to those who offered them, Num. xviii, 8, 20. When the sacrifices were of the most holy sort, they were then always obliged to be eaten in the holy place, that is, within the courts of the temple, and nobody was admitted to this repast but Jews, and such only of them as had contracted no legal impurity. Aijd as to the other sacrifices, which were thought less holy, as the paschal iamb, it was sufficient to eat them within the walls of Jerusalem, but no where else. ^ But beside these sacrifices of animals there were likewise, as has been said, some oblations among the Jews, which were made of bread, wine, oil, and incense. And of these there were three sorts ; namely, 1st, such as were ordinary or common ; 2dly, such as were free ; and> 3dly, such as were prescribed. 1st. The ordinary oblations that were made among them were, 1st, of a certain perfume called thumiama, which was burnt every day upon the altar of incense ; and 2dly, of the show bread, which was offered new every Sabbath day, and the old taken away, and eaten by the priests. 2dly. The free oblations were either the fruits, 1st, of promises, or 2dly, vows ; but the former did not so strictly oblige as the latter. And of vows there were two sorts ; 1st, the voio of consecration^ when they devoted any thing, either for a sacrifice, or for the use of the temple, as wine, wood, salt, and the like ; and 2dly, the vow of engagement, when persons * Maimonides de Ratione Sacrificiorum, cap. xi, n. 5. DIFFERENT KINDS OF SACRIFICES. 311 engaged themselves to do something which was not in itself unlawful, as not to eat of some particular meat, not to wear some par- ticular habits, not to do such and such inno- cent things, not to drink wine, or to cut their hair, not to live longer in any house, and such like. When they made a vow they made use of these forms : 1 charge myself ivith a burnt offerings or / charge myself with the price of this animal, for a burnt off erring. Beside which, they had likewise other shorter forms ; as for example, when they devoted all they had they only said, Ml I have shall be corban, that is, I make a present of it to God. For the word corban signifies a present made to God ; which is the very same thing that St. Mark says of it, Mark vii, 11, "Corban, (that is to say, a gift,) by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me." The Pharisees taught, that as soon as a man had once said this to his pa- rents, as soon as he had pronounced the word corban, he thereby consecrated all he had to God, and could not even retain enough to sup- port his father and mother : and therefore Jesus Christ with reason reproaches them with hav- ing destroyed by their tradition that command- ment of the law, which enjoins children to honour their fathers and mothers. The law re- quired an exact performance of these vows, and the things which were thus given to God* were reckoned among things sacred, which no- body could alienate without sacrilege. 3dly. The prescribed oblations were either, 1st, the fir$t fruits, or 2dly, the tenths. 312 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. ist. All the first fruits of both fruit and ani- lïials were due to God, Exod. xxii, 29, Among animals, the males only belonged to God, and they not only had the liberty, but were even ob- liged to redeem them, in the case of men and unclean animals, which could not be offered up in sacrifice to the Lord. And as to fruits, they were forbidden to begin the harvest till they had offered up to God the o?«er, that is the new sheaf, the day after the great day of unleavened bread ; and were forbidden to bake any bread made of new corn till they had presented the new loaves, on the day of pentecost. Before the offering up of the first fruits all was unclean ; after this oblation all was holy. To which St^ Paul alludes in the eleventh chapter of his Epis- tle to the Romans, verse 16, when he says, " If the first fruit be holy, the lump is also holy.'' The law commands, says Philo, that as often as the people make bread, they should lay aside the first fruits for the priests, and this keeps up religion in their hearts ; for when they accus- tom themselves to lay aside something for God, they cannot easily forget him. To which Maimonides adds, that he that ate of his fruits before he had paid the tithe of it, was punished with sudden death. And aa of fruits and animals, so likewise of oil and wincv the first fruits of them were paid to God, Deut»- xvii, 4. 2dly. Beside first fruits, the Jews likewise' paid the tenths of all the fruits of the earth. St. Jerom, in his CommeiUanj on the FijUj-fourih THEIR FIRST FRUITS. 313 Chapter of Ezekiel, divides the tenths into four sorts ; 1st, such as were paid to the Lévites by the people, who were forbidden the eating any fruit before this tenth was paid, upon pain of death ; 2dly, such as were paid by the Lévites to the priests ; 3dly, such as were reserved for the banquets which were made within the verge of the temple, to which the priests and Lévites were invited ; and 4thly, such as were paid every three years, for tha support of the poor. If any one had a mind to redeem the tithes he was to pay, he was obliged to pay one fifth above their real value ; and the tithes that be- longed neither to the priests nor Lévites were carried to the temple of Jerusalem, from all parts of the world where any Jews were. But the distant provinces converted it into money, which was sent to Jerusalem, and applied to the sacrifices and entertainments, at which the law required gayety and joy. Josephus, who relates this custom, calls this money conse- crated. And we may say that it was either in order to support this pious custom, or else in order to substitute a more necessary one in the room of this, which wàs now no longer so, that the apostle took care to send alms to Jerusa- lem from all parts of the world. The account of it is in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, chapter xvi, 1-3, where St. Paul says, " Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the Churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week Jet every one of you lay by him in store as God 21 314 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. And when I come, whomsoever you shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem." CHAPTER V. Of the JVLinisters of the Temple^ the Priests^ Le* vites, JVazarites^ and Rechabites, The Jews, in the establishment of their re- public, had no other king but God himself ; and the place appointed for their sacrifices and prayers was at the same time both the temple of their God, and the palace of their sovereign. And hence comes all that pomp and magnifi- cence in their worship, that prodigious number of ministers, officers, and guards ; and that very exact order in their functions, which was first estabhshed by Moses, and afterward re- newed by David with yet greater splendour. The tabernacle was the first palace God had among the Hebrews, and to that the temple succeeded ; and the tribe of Levi was chosen, if I may so speak, to form his household. And for this reason it was disengaged from all other cares and absolutely devoted to the service of the altar : but the honour of the priesthood was reserved to the family of Aaron alone, and the rest of the tribe divided #nly the inferior offices of the temple among theni, so that all the priests were indeed Lévites^ but iall the Lévites were MINISTERS OF THE TEMPLE. 315 not priests : nor were the priests and Lévites the only sacred persons among the Jews ; and . therefore, in order to comprehend them all, I shall in this chapter speak, 1, of the Lévites; 2, of the priests ; 3, of the officers of the syna- gogue ; 4, of the JVazarntes ; 5, of the Recha- bites ; 6, of the patriarchs ; and 7, of the joro- phets. I. Of the Lévites. But before I enter into a particular account of their functions I shall say something, 1st, of the estates which God as- signed them for their subsistence, in order to free them from the importunate cares of life, which might otherwise have diverted them from his service ; 2dly, of their consecration ; 3dly, of their age ; and then proceed to say something, 4ihly, of their functions ; 5thly, of their num- ber ; 6thly, of such of them as were officers of the temple ; and, Tthly, of the JVethinim, or their servants. 1st. Then, in the division of the land of promise, the Lévites had not their portion of it ; there were only eight and forty cities, with their territories assigned them for the support âï>f their cattle, and thirteen of these came to shjffe with the priests. And these are all the pos- sessions the Lévites had ; but to make 'them amends for that, the other tribes paid them the tithe of all their estates, and they paid the tenths of that to the priests. And Ijeside this, the priests had likewise the first fruits, and a con- siderable part of the offerings that were m^de to God. All which may be seen in the book of JSTumbtrs, chap, xviii. 316 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. 2dly. As to the admittance of the Lévites into the ministry, birth alone did not give it to them ; they were Ukevvise obliged to receive a sort of consecration. " Take the Lévites from among the children of Israel," says God to Moses, '^and cleanse them. And thus shalt thou do unto them, to cleanse them ; sprinkle water of purifying upon them, and let them shave all their flesh, and let them wash their clothes, and so make themselves clean. Then let them take a young bullock,'' &c. Num. viii, 6, 7, 8 ; Exod. xxix, 1-37. 3dly. Nor was any Levite permitted to exer- cise his function, till after he had served a sort of noviciate for five years, in which he carefully learned all that related to his ministry. Mai- monides, who gives an account of this custom, thereby reconciles two places in Scripture, which appear contrary to one another : for it is said in the book of JVumbers, in one place. Num. iv, 3, that the Lévites were not admitted into the service of the temple, till they were thirty years old, and in another, Num. viii, 24, that they were admitted at twenty-five. The last of which two ages shows the time when they began their probation, and the other the time when they began to exercise their functions. So that the Lévites were at the full age of a man, when they were admitted into their oflice ; and at the age of fifty they were discharged from it. But this rabbin pretends, that this discharge was only granted in the wilderness, because the tabernacle often changed place, and the removal OF THE LEVITES. 317 of it being troublesome and laborious, required young men to do it ; and that when the taber- nacle was fixed, age was no dispensation for the Lévites to quit the exercise of their offices. 4thly. As to their functions ; Moses is very particular in giving an account of what each Levite was to carry, upon the removal of the tabernacle. Num. iv ; l3ut these offices subsist- ing no longer, after the conquest of the land of Canaan, David established a new order among the Levitesy whereby some were appointed to guard the gates, 1 Chron. ix, 17-26, and xxvi, some to sing psalms, 1 Chron. xxv, and some to guard the treasures, 1 Chron. ix, 29 ; and he likewise divided them into different classes, of which Maimonides reckons twenty-four ; and each of these was to serve a whole week. The head of each of these classes divided those who were under him into different families, and chose out every day a certain number of them who were to serve for that day ; and the heads of these families assigned every one his office. But the Lévites were not permitted to do any thing that was to be done about the altar. 5thly. The number of these Lévites^ upon the account that was taken of those who were thirty years of age, in Solomon's time, was thirty-eight thousand, 1 Chron. xxiii, 3 ; and thence we may judge of the magnificence of the house of God, in which there were so many officers. " Of which," says the Scripture, " twenty and four thousand were to set forward the work of the house of the Lord ; and six 318 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. thousand were officers and judges. Moreover^ four thousand were porters, and four thousand praised the Lord with the instruments, and David divided them into courses," 1 Chron. xxiii, 4-^6. To which the Scripture adds, *' For by the last words of David the Lévites were numbered from twenty years old and above : because their olfice was to wait on the sons of Aaron, for the service of the house of the Lord, in the courts, and in the chambers, and in the purifying of all holy things, and the work of the service of the house of God ; both for the show bread, and for the fine flour for meat offering, and for the unleavened cakes, and for that which is baked in the pan, and for that which is fried, and for all manner of mea- sure and size ; and to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at even, and to offer all the burnt sacrifices unto the Lord, in the Sabbaths, in the new moons, and on the set feasts," &c, 1 Chron. xxiii, 27, 28, 29,30,31. And, 6thly. The Gospel likewise tells us that there were officers in the temple : and the name St. Lukegives them signifies officers of ivar so that w^e may on this account also look on the temple as a camp. Beside the general officer, Mai- monides reckons up fifteen subalterns,! whose business it was to give notice of the time for the solemnities, the day and hour of the sacri- fices, and to set the guard. Beside which, they * Luke Xxii, 52. arpaTtjyoL rov i&pov. fin this treatise called Chelinij chap. vii. or THE LEVITES. 319 had likewise the charge of the music, the instru- ments, the table in which every one's office was set down according as it had fallen to him by lot, the seals, the Hbations, the sick, the waters, the show bread, the perfumes, the oils, and the sacerdotal habits. But to give the greater light to all this, I will repeat what Maimonides has said of it, which will make the reader more and more admire the magnificence of the house of God. " Every officer (says he) had under him several persons, who executed his orders in every thing that related to his charge. He< for example, who was to mark the time, caused the hours to be reckoned, and when that of the sacrifice was come, either he or some of his men cried with a loud voice, ' To the sacrifice, ye priests ; to the tribune, {Music Gallery,) ye Lévites ; and to your ranks, ye Israelites and then immediately every one prepared himself to set about his duty. He, who had the care of the gates, ordered when they should be shut, and when opened ; and the trumpets which gave notice that the gates were going to be opened, could not sound till they had his orders. The officer of the guard took his rounds at night, and if he found any of the Lévites upon guard asleep, he either caned him, or burnt his vests. The superintendent of the music every day chose the musicians who were to sing the hymns, and gave orders to the trumpets to give notice of the sacrifices. The masters of the instru- ments delivered them out to the Lévites, and appointed what instruments should every day be 1^20 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. used. And he who had the charge of the table, made the priests draw lots, and assigned every one his office."* If the reader has a mind to see more of this, I refer him to the book itself; and shall only add here, that there was another officer beside these, whose business it was to take care of the priests that fell sick, which often happened. For, as they wore nothing but a single tunic, and drank no wine, and were obhged to go barefoot in the temple, which was paved with marble, they were very subject to the colic. But I must not forget to observe here, that David chose out two hundred and eighty-eight Lévites to be masters of music, and teach the others to sing, 1 Chron. xxv, 7 ; so that as there were four-and-twenty courses of singers, each class had twelve masters ; and in their performances they mixed both voices and instruments together. Tthly and lastly. As the priests had the Lévites under them, so had the Lévites also others under them, whose business it was to carry the water and wood that was used in the temple. Joshua at first made use of the Gi- beonites. Josh, ix, 3-27 for this purpose ; and afterward other nations were employed in it ; and called JVethinim^ Ezra viii, 20. (See De Tahern, 1. ,vii, c. 3. sec. 4,) that is, persons who had given themselves up^ from the Hebrew JVathan, which signifies to give. From the consideration of the Lévites we proceed now * In Chelimf chap. vii. OF THEIR PRIESTS. 321 II. To that of the priests. In which we shaJl mention, 1st, their order; 2dly, their election ; Bdly, their manner of life ; 4thly, their laws ; 5thly, their functions ; 6th]y, their habits; Tthly, the consecration of the high priest ; Sthly, his succession ; and 9thly, his dress. 1st. The order that was observed among the priests was this : they were divided as we have seen, into four-and-twenty classes, each of which had its head, who was called the prince of the priests. Every week one of these classes went up to Jerusalem to perform the offices of the priesthood, and every Sabbath day they suc- ceeded one another, till they had all taken their turns : but on the solemn feasts they all as- sembled there together. The prince of each class appointed an entire family every day to offer the sacrifices, and at the close of the week they all joined together in sacrificing. And as each class had in it different families, and each family consisted of a great number of priests, they drew lots for the different offices which they were to perform. And it was thus that the lot fell on Zacharias the father of John the Baptist to burn incense when he v/ent into the temple of the Lord," Luke i, 9. 2dly. From considering their order, we pro- ceed to consider the manner in which the priests were chosen, and the defects which excluded them from the priesthood. Among the defects of body, which rendered them unworthy of the sacerdotal functions, Lev. xxi, 16, 24, the Jews 322 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. reckon up fifty which are common to men and other animals J and ninety which are pecuHar to men alone. {De Tabern. lib. iii, c. 9, sec. 3.) The priest, whose birth was polluted with any profaneness, was clothed in black, and sent out without the verge of the priests' court ; but he who was chosen by the judges appointed for that purpose, was clothed in white, and joined himself to the other priests. And I know not whether St. John does not allude to this custom when he says, " He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life," Rev. iii, 5. They whose birth was pure, but who had some defect of body, lived in those apart- ments of the temple wherein the stores of wood were kept, and were obliged to split and prepare it, for keeping up the fire of the altar. 3dly. All the time the priests were performing their offices, both wine and conversation with their wives, were forbid them, Exod. xix, 15; Lev. X, 8-11. And they had no other food but the flesh of the sacrifices and the show bread. They performed all their offices standing, (JMaim, de Ratione adtundi Tempi, c. v,) and barefoot, and with their heads covered, Lev. x, 6 ; xxi, 10, and feet washed, Exod. xxx, 19. 4thly. The laws which God laid upon the priests are these : God said unto Aaron, Da not drink wine nor strong drink, thou nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die. Lev. x, 8, 9. The priests shall not be defiled for the dead OF THEIR PRIESTS. 323 among his people, but for his kin, Lev. xxi, 1, 2. They shall not take a wife that is a whore, or profane ; neither shall they take a woman put away from her husband, Lev. xxi, 7. The daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father, she shall be burnt with fire," Lev. xxi, 9. ôthly. As to the functions of the priests : their business was to keep up the fire upon the altar of burnt oflTerings, that it might never go out; (Lev. vi, 13; J\Iaim, de Ratione Sacrif. c. V, n. 7;) to guard the sacred vessels ; to offer the sacrifices ; to wash the victims ; to make the aspersions, whether of blood or water, upon the persons offering the victims, or the book of the law ; to burn the incense upon the altar ;* to dress the lamps ; to put the new show bread upon the table, and to take away the old. And to them only it belonged to catch the blood of the victims, and sprinkle it upon the altar. (De Tab, sec. 5 ; Exod. xxx, 7 ; 2 Chron. xxvi, 16-19.) Such as were of the sacerdotal race, and were excluded from the priesthood on ac- count of any defect, had the care of cleaving the wood which was burnt upon the altar ; for they were very nice in choosing it, and thought it unlawful to use any there which was rotten or worm eaten. All the officers just now men- tioned were in common to the priests and high priests ; but beside them there was a particular one, annexed to the latter dignity only, and that * This was the first business of the day. (De Tab, I.7.C. 6, sec. 2, 3.) 324 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. was, that the high priest alone went into the holy of holies once a year on the day of expia- tion, and he alone could offer up the sacrifice which was then prescribed, both for his own sins and those of all the people. 6thly. As to the names and forms of the sa- cerdotal habits, we find them in Exodus xxviii, and Leviticus viii. Those that were common to all the priests, were, 1st, linen drawers ; 2dly, the linen robe, which was so straight that it had no fold in it ; 3dly, the girdle ; and, 4thly, the tiara, which was a sort of bonnet or turban, made of several rolls of linen cloth twisted round about the head. 7thly. All the priests had over them a high priest, whose habits were different from theirs, and who- was consecrated with some particular ceremonies. At the time of his consecration, they poured a precious oil upon his forehead, Lev. xxi, 10, and this unction was made in the form of the Greek letter X. Maimonides tells us that this was not observed in the second temple, and that the high priest was then no otherwise consecrated than by the pontifical habits which he wore. But when it was ob- served, it was done in such plenty, that we are not to wonder if the holy oil, which was poured upon his forehead, ran down on all sides upon the beard of the high priest ; to which the psalmist refers when spoaking of a precious perfume, he compares it with that which was used at Aaron's consecration. Psalm cxxxiii, 2. Sthly. The highpriesthood, as to its succès- HABITS OF THE HIGH PRIEST. 325 sion, descended by inheritance, and belonged to the eldest. In its first institution it was for life; but from the time that the Jews became subject to the Greeks and Romans, the duration of this venerable office depended upon the will of the princes or governors. And under the Asmo- nean princes there was another considerable alteration made in this office. It then went out of the family of Aaron, and passing into that of Judas Maccabeus, came into a private Le- vitical family ; as appears from the catalogue which Josephus has given us of the high priests.* There could not be two high priests at once ; but they chose a sort of vicar-general, who supplied their places in their absence, and had the precedence before all other priests. The Hebrews gave him the name sagan^ and he sat at the right hand of the high priest. And therefore some think that Caiaphas was high priest, and Annas his sagan, and that this is the reason why Jesus Christ was brought before them both, Luke iii, 2. 9thly. As to the habits peculiar to thé high priest, the first we shall speak of is that which the Hebrew text calls mehil. The Greek in- terpreters have once rendered it by 'Tro^^jpyjcr, Exod. xxviii, 4,1 which signifies a garment * See De Tab. 1. vii, c. 5, sec. 7: see Joseph. Ant. b. XX, c. 10, and x, c. 8, s. 6. t '^yo ft'oi'r» nSj7 alah, to go up, was probably so called from being a sort of outer, or upper coat. Jose- phus says, " It reached down to the feet, and was not made of two distinct pieces sewed together at the shoul- ders and sides, but was one entire long garment, woven 326 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. that reaches down to the feet ; and this is the word which Josephus also makes use of. But as the same Greek interpreters sometimes ren- der it by other words, I am of opinion that the mehil was not so long ; it might be a shorter sort of garment. Upon the border of this garment, whatever it was, there were instead of a fringe, seventy-two golden bells, and as many pomegranates : and if then this garment had reached down to the ground, it would not only have hidden the timic, or linen a/6, which the high priest wore under it, and which he had in common with the other priests, but these pomegranates and bells would likewise have lost their sound. And therefore the mehil may be said to have been called jpo- deres^ because it came down almost to the feet. The colour of it was purple ; and under it was the tunic, or linen alb,* which was common to all the priests. This linen was very fine, and twisted, so that the tunic was not woven close, but open ; and there was raised work, and hol- lows, and figures in it ; and its extremities reached down to the ground. 2dly. And beside this, the high priest wore another sort of garment, which is like a waist- coat without sleeves, and which is by the He- brews called an ephod, and by the Latins super- throughout." Antiq. b. iii, c. 7, s. 4. Our Lord's coat, mentioned John xix, 23, appears to have been precisely the same with the mehil. The English translators cal! it the robe, * English, a hrnidered coat. HABITS OF THE HIGH PRIEST. 327 humerale, because it was fastened upon the shoulders. (And they likewise gave the name of ephod to another garnient something like this, which laymen were permitted to wear, as appears from David's being said to have been dressed in a linen ephod^ 2 Sam. vi, 14.) Upon each shoulder he had also a precious stone, in which were engraA^en the names of the children of Israel ;' in that on the right shoulder were the names of the six eldest, and in that on the left, those of the six youngest. And he had upon his breast a square piece of stuff, Exod. xxviii, 15-30, of the dimensions of the Hebrew zereth^ that is, about half a cubit. The Hebrews call it hoschen^ that is, the hreasiplate, because it was worn upon the breast ; but the Greeks call it logion^ and the Latins, from them, rationale^ and from these latter comes the French term rational. The Greek word may be translated by this Latin one ; but I think it would be better rendered oracuhm^ because this was as it w^ere the oracle by v/hich God gave his answers : for the high priest, when he would consult God on any occasion, put on this ornament upon his breast, and God answered him in the manner we are going to relate. There were upon the breastplate twelve precious stones, upon which were likewise engraven the names of the twelve sons of Jacob ; and upon it were also the Urim and Thummim. The first of these words sig- nifies lights or knowledge^ and the other truth or perfection ; and the Jews pretend that they were two sacred signs, by which God made •328 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. known his will; and when they ceased to ap- pear, it was no longer known what they were. All that is certain concerning this opinion is, that the word urim signifies lights ; and per- haps it was so called because these precious stones shone with an extraordinary and miracu- lous fire. So that the Urim and Thummim were something more than barely two words engraven on the breastplate ; and indeed we often find in Scripture that God was consulted by Urim, Deut. xxxiii, 8; Num. xxvii, 21; 1 Sam. xxviii, 6. 3dly, and lastly. The high priest wore like- wise a plate of gold upon his forehead, on which were engraven these two words, Kodesch lay- hovah^ that is, Holy to the Lord. It was tied with a purple or blue ribbon to his tiara, which was made of linen, like those of the other priests, and was only distinguished from them by this plate and ribbon. III. Next to the priests and Lévites, the officers of the synagogue ought to find a place in this chapter. They were in some sort sacred persons, since they had the superintendency of those places which were set apart for prayer and instruction. They were of several sorts ; some of them being presidentsSaviour gavé the books when he had done reading iu 22 330 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. were joined other officers, who had the care of the poor, and collected the alms ; and these were called parnasim, that is, pastors and rec- tors. As to the reading of the law in the syna- gogues, it was always done in Hebrew,* and this made it necessary^ as soon as that language ceased to be their mother tongue, to establish an interpreter^ whom the Jews called targum" ista. And by this means the doctor who ex- plained the law in Hebrew, came to have an interpreter always by him, in whose ears he softly whispered what he said, and this inter- preter repeated aloud to the people what had been thus whispered to him. This Lightfoot plainly proves in his Horœ Talmudicœ ; and this Jesus Christ had in view when he said to his disciples, What ye hear in the ear, that proclaim ye upon the house tops," Matt, x, 27, But the synagogues were not only places set apart for prayer, they were also schools where the young were taught. The sages^ for so the masters were called, sat upon benches, and the young men sat at their feet ; which is the rea- son St. Paul says< he learned the law at the feet of Gamaliel, Acts xxii, 3. We shall now add an account of such as distinguished them- selves from the people by the holiness of their lives ; and such were, the synagogue, Lnke iv, 20. Connec. part i, b. 6. Un-j der the year 444, p, 306, 307 of the fol. edit.^ / * Of the manner of reading the Scripture m the syna-| gogue, see Prid. Con. part i, b. 6. Under the year 444, p. 306 of the fol. edit. OFFICERS OF THE SYNAGOGUE. 'é'éi 4thly. The JVazarites, or as some called them, JVazareans ; which is a Hebrew word, and signifies separated. God himself is the author of this kind of Hfe.* From the moment that they devoted themselves to it, they ab- stained from all sorts of liquors that could in- toxicate, and never cut their hair afterward, till the day that their vow ended. And of these there were two sorts : 1st. Nazarites by birth, as were Samson, and John the Baptist : and 2dly. Nazarites by yoiv and engagement. The latter followed this kind of life only for a time, after which they cut off their hair at the door of the tabernacle. Maimonides observes,! that there were sometimes some zealous persons, who voluntarily defrayed the expenses which were necessary for cutting off the hair of one or more Nazarites, after they had offered the necessary sacrifices, when the time of their vows was expired. Which may serve to ex- plain that passage in the twenty-first chapter of the Acts, which some persons misunderstand, in thinking that St. Paul is there spoken of, as having made a vow to become a Nazarite. But the true sense of the chapter is this ; the apostles advise St. Paul to bear the necessary expenses of four Nazarites, in order to remove the opinion the people had received of him, that he despised the law of Moses. Now they that * In the sixth chapter of Numbers you have an ac- cx)unt of the qualifications of the Nazarites and their austerities. t In his treatise of the Jfazareate. 332 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. bore these expenses were obliged to purify themselves : and therefore St. Paul appointed a day, whereon he would (after the time of tho 'vow was past) pay the money that was neces- sary to buy the victims that were to be offered up on this occasion ; in order thereby to unde- ceive the Jews concerning the reports that had been spread about him.* 5thly. The Rechabites, like the Nazarites, separated themselves from the rest of the Jews, in order to lead a more holy life.| Jeremiah describes the life and customs of the Rechabites in the thirty-fifth chapter of his prophecy, verse 6-7, thus, " I set," says he, before the sons of the house of the Rechabites, pots full of wine, and cups, and I said. Drink ye wine. But they said, We will drink no wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, say- ing. Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye nor your sons, for ever. Neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any." * Not that this is so to be understood, with Petit, as to imply that St. Paul had no vow upon himself: it is to me very evident, fiom Acts xviii, 18, that he had a vow upon himself, (which he made at Ccnchrea, and there- fore shaved him&ell' there, by r/ay of initiation into it, as all those who made vows, or were Nazarites, did,) as Aveil as assisted the others in defraying the expenses of their vows. (See Lamy De Tabern. 1. vii, c. 3, sec. 2.) t The Rechabites' manner of living was not only a matter of religioTiy but also a civU ordinance grounded upon a national custom. The}'^ were Kenites or Midianiies, who used to live in tents, as the Arabians still do, IJeb. iii, 7. (Mcde's Works,p. 127.) OF THE RECHABITES. 338 This Rechab, the father of Jonadab, lived under Jehu king of Israel, in the time of the prophet Ehsha, 2 Kings x, 15. These Rechabites lived in tents, and flourished about a hundred and four-score years. But after the captivity they were dispersed, unless the Essenes, of whom we have spoken before, (see page 252,) suc- ceeded them. It is certain that they followed the same kind of life. 6thly. Among the number of sacred persons we may likewise put the patriarchs. Such were Adam, Noah, Abraham, and the rest, since they did the offices of priests, offered sacrifices, and taught religion at home and abroad, in pro- portion to the light they received from God. 7thly. The prophets are also of this number, and were raised up in an extraordinary manner for the performance of the most holy functions. They were at first called seers^ they discovered future things, they declared the will of God, and spoke to both kings and people with a surprising confidence and freedom. Prophecy was not always annexed to the priesthood ; there were prophets of all the tribes, and sometimes even among the Gentiles, Num. xi : and the office of a prophet was not only to foretell what should afterward come to pass, it was their business likewise to instruct the people, and they inter- preted the law of God ; insomuch that the word prophet sometimes signifies an interpreter or teacher. But of both patriarchs and prophets we have already spoken. — See pages 29-4 1 , and page 180. * 334 Manners of the Israelites. CHAPTER Vr. The Jewish Confession of Faith — Doctrine of Orignal Sin — Opinion of the Messiah^ s Kingdom, Nothing more facilitates the understanding of an author, than the knowing what ends he proposed to himself in writing; and we can never well understand what these views were, unless we know what were the dispositions, sentiments, and customs of those for whom he wrote. For an author always adapts his dis- course to all these things; he either touches upon them transiently, or he maintains them, or he refutes them. And from hence it is easy to perceive how useful it is, in order to understand the Gospel and apostolical epistles, to know what were the opinions and usages of the Jews, at the time when the authors of the New Testa- ment wrote. By Jewish opinions, I do not mean the precepts and doctrines of the law, but certain traditions which they pretend were left them by their fathers, which are now found in the Talmud, and which the Jews, who are strict adherents to their customs and ceremonies, do yet observe to this day. The confession of faith which contains these traditions, consists of thirteen articles, but they are not all equally ancient. The ninth, which declares that the law of Moses cannot be abo- lished by any other law, was evidently drawn up JEWISH CONFESSION OF FAITH. 3^5 against the Christian religion. This confession of faith, as represented byBuxtorf in his treatise de synagoga Jiidica, is as follows : — 1. I firmly believe, that God, blessed be his name for ever, is the Creator and the Mas- ter of all things ; and that every thing was, is, and will be made for him alone. " 2. I firn^ly believe, that this Creator of all things, blessed be his name for ever, is one, by a unity peculiar to himself, and that he alone has been, is, and will be our God. " 3. I firmly believe, that this Creator, bless- ed be his name for ever, is not corporeal, nor can in any manner whatsoever be conceived to be corporeal, and that there is nothing in the world that is like him. " 4. I firmly believe, that the Creator, bless-» ed be his name for ever, is eternal, and that he is the beginning and end of all things. " 5. I firmly believe, that the Creator, bless- ed be his holy name for ever, ought alone to be worshipped, exclusive of any other being. " 6, I firmly believe, that all the words of the prophets are true. 7. I firmly believe, that all the prophecies of Moses our master (may his soul rest in peace!) are true, and that he is superior to all the sages who went before or came after him. " 8. I firmly believe, that the law which we have now in our hands was given by inspiration to Moses. '* 9. I firmly believe, that this law will never 336 MANNERS or THE ISRAELITES. be changed, and that the Creator, blessed be his holy name, will never give another. "10. I firmly believe, that the Creator, bless- ed be his holy name, knows all the actions and all the thoughts of men, as it is said, ' He hath formed the hearts of all men, and is not ignorant of any of their works,' Psa. xxxiii, 15. "11. I firmly believe, that the Supreme Creator rewards those who keep his law, and punishes those who break it. " 12. I firmly believe, that the Messiah must come, and though his coming be delayed, I will always expect it, till he does appear. " 13. I firmly believe, that the dead will rise at the time appointed by the Creator, whose name be blessed, and his glory magnified throughout all ages, to all eternity." The Jews were so strictly attached to the worship of the true God, long before the birth of Jesus Christ, that no remains of their former inclination to idolatry was observed in them and therefore neither Jesus Christ nor his apos- tles cast any reproaches upon them on that ac- count. But because they received several other doctrines, which it is of some importance to know, beside those contained in these thirteen *The true reason why the Jews were so prone to idolatry before the Babylonish captivity, and why they were so cautiously fixed against it ever after that cap i tivity, plainly appears to be this, that they had the law and the prophets read to them every week in their syna- gogues after the captivity, which they had not before * for they had no synagogues nil after it. Prid. Con. part 1, b. G. Under the year 444, p. 559 of the 8vo. edition. JEWISH CONFESSION OF FAITH. 337 articles, I shall therefore give an account of them, beginning with that which relates to the birth of man. The rabbins acknowledge, that there is in man a fund of corruption ; and the Talmud speaks of original sin thus, *' We ought not to be surprised that the sin of Eve and Adam was so deeply engraven, and that it was as it were sealed with the king's signet, that it might be thereby transmitted to all their posterity ; it was because all things were finished the day that Adam was created, and he was the perfection and consummation of the world ; so that when he sinned all the world sinned with him. We partake of his sin, and share in the punishment of it, but not in the sins of his descendants." The rabbins teach, that the wounds which were made in man by sin, will be cured by the Messiah ; but they say there will be two Mes- siahs, one of which shall be put to death, and the other shall appear with glory. As to the time of his coming, they acknowledge that their fathers believed that the space which the world was to last was six thousand years ; that of these God appointed Iwo ihotisand for the law of na- ture, tivo thousand for the law of Moses, and two thousand for the Messiah ; and that, according to this account, the Messiah must have come much about the same time that Jesus Christ was born and died : but, say they, the iniquities of men, which are increased ad infinitum^ have obliged God to let a great part of this last two thousand years pass away, before the coming 338 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. of the Messiah. And they now forbid the making of any computation of the years of his coming. The Jews hate all the rest of mankind ; they even think themselves obliged to kill them, un- less they submit to the precepts given to Noah; and nobody is with them their neighbour but an Israelite.* And what praises soever they may give to the law of Moses, yet they think it law- ful for them to break it to save their lives. They seldom make use of the name of God in their oaths : when they do^ it makes them inviolable: i but when they swear by the creatures, they do not look on those as sacred ; nor do they make any scruple of breaking them : and this gave occasion to Jesus Christ and his apostles to forbid the use of all sorts of swearing, Matt, v, 34, in order thereby to correct that horrid abuse of oaths which was common among the Jews, when the name of God was not in them. * As this is an avowed sentiment of all the ancient and modern Jews, {see page 263,) we may see how dan- gerous it would be to permit them to have any rule or influence in any nation under the sun. Had they strength and authority, their career would be like that of Moham- med, every man must be butchered who would not sub- mit to be circumcised. OP THE HEBREW TALENT. 339 CHAPTER VII. Of the Hebreiv Talent, and how to reduce it into English JVLoney, Befjore the value of any number of talents of gold can be found in sterling money, at the rate the gold in Great Britain is now valued at, which is 21 shillings the guinea, this must be premised, viz. that the learned Doctor Prideaux, dean of Norwich, in his valuation of a talent of gold, makes it sixteen times the present value of a talent of silver ; and, according to that valuation, one pound weight of pure gold is only equal in value to sixteen pounds weight of silver that has eighteen pennyweights of alloy in each pound weight of it, and so the gold is 4/. an ounce, which indeed is the present value of an ounce of pure gold ; but forasmuch as the stand- ard for the gold coin of great Britain is twenty- two caracts, fine, i, e, the twelfth part of every ounce of it is alloy, and so an ounce of it is of less value than 4/. sterling. The best way to find the present value of one ounce, or any other quantity, is by the rule of three direct proportion, to say. As 5 dw.d gr. is to 21s. so is 1 oz. to 78.1394s. Note, five pennyweights, nine grains, is the exact weight of one guinea. And as five pen- nyweights, nine grains, is in proportion to twenty-one shillings, so is one ounce, troy weight, in proportion to 78.1394.*?. ?. e. 3/. 18*, 340 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. l-^d, sterling; and so much one ounce troy, of the coined gold of Great Britain is worth, at the rate of twenty-one shiUings the guinea. But a crown, which is one ounce troy weight, is bet- ter worth five shilhngs sterhng, than an ounce of the gold coin of Great Britain is worth 3/. 185. l^d, sterling, because one twelfth of the gold coin is alloy, and there is not so much in the silver coin. Now to find the present value of any number of Hebrew talents of gold, this is the rule : — Multiply 78.1394s. (the present value of an ounce troy of the gold coin of Great Britain) by 1800 ounces troy, (the weight of a Hebrew talent,) and the product will be the value of that talent in shillings sterling, or in shillings and part of a shilling sterling ; then multiply the product by the number of talents, the next or second product will be the value of all the ta- lents in shillings sterling, or in shilhngs and part of a shilling sterling : divide the second product by twenty, (the shillings in the pound sterling,) and the quotient will be the present value of all the talents in pounds sterling, or in pounds sterling and part of a pound sterling. And so the present value of the hundred and twenty talents of gold which it is said, 1 Kings X, 10, the queen of Sheba gave to King Solo- mon, will be found to be 843905.52/. t. e. eight hundred forty-three thousand nine hundred and five pounds, ten shiUings, and four pence three farthings sterling. For if 78.13945. be multipHed by 1800 OF THE HEBREW TALENT. 341 ounces, the product will be 140650.925. which multiplied by 120, the next product will be 16878110,405. which divided by 205. the quo- tient will be 843905.52/. equal to 843,905/. 105. 4c/. Iç. sterling. It is said that *' King Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold ; six hundred shekels of beaten gold went to one target," 2 Chron. ix, 15. King Solomon made likewise three hundred shields of beaten gold ; three hundred shekels of gold went to one shield," 2 Chron. ix, 16. To find the value of two hundred targets,^ I consider that one target is one fifth of the weight of a talent ; for a talent is 3000 shekels, and a target is but 600, which is the fifth of 3000, therefore one of the targets of gold is but one fifth the value of a talent of gold : and so this will be the rule : — Divide 140650.920 {ie. the shiUings sterling that are equal to one talent of gold) by five, the quotient will be 28130.1845. {i. e. the value of one target,) which multiply by 200, (the number of the targets,) the product will be the value of the two hundred targets in shillings sterling; divide the product by 205. the quo- tient will be the value of the 200 targets in pounds and part of a pound sterling, viz, 281301.84/. equal to 281,301/. I65. 9^d. See the operation following; — 342 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. Example. 5) 140650.920s. equal to one talent of golfJ. Ctuotient, 28130.184s. equal to one target of gold. 200 targets. Product, 5626036.800s. equal to two hundred targets. 20) 5626036.80s. auotient, 281301.84/. equal to 281,301/. 16s. 9^^. To find the value of the 300 shields of gold^ each containing 300 shekels, equal to one half of a target, the rule is : — Multiply 14065.092s. {i. e. the value of one shield, equal to half the value of one target,) by 300, (the number of shields,) the product wiH be the value of the 300 shields in shilUngs and part of a shilling sterling : divide the product by 20, the quotient will be the pounds and part of a pound sterling that are equal in value to the 300 shields, viz. 210976.38/. equal to 210,976/. 75. 7d. See the operation follow- ing:— Example. 14065.092s. the value of one shield. 300 shields. Product, 4219527.600s. equal to 30Q shields. 20) 4219527.600s. auotient, 210976.38/. equal to 210976/. 7s. 7d. In 1 Kings x, 14, we are told that the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year, was OF THE ANCIENT SAMARITANS. 343 666 talents. And by the preceding rule the reader will find that this annual income amount- ed to 4,68e3,675/. 125. Sid. sterling.^ CHAPTER VIII. Some Account of the Ancient Samaritans^ As the history of this singular people is so intimately connected with that of the ancitni Israelites^ it may not be improper to give a short account of them in this place. About the year of the world 3295, 709 be- fore the Christian era, Sennacherib king of Assyria, having failed in his attempts upon Ju- ^ dea, and becoming cruel and tyrannical eveo among his own people, in consequence of his disappointment, was slain by his two eldest sons, Adramelech and Sharezar, while worship- ping in the house of his god JVisroch, The parricides having fled, Esarhaddon the third son, assumed the reins of government in the Assyrian empire, 2 Kings xix, 37 ; 1 Chron* xxxii, 21 ; Isa. xxxviii, 38. After he had fully settled his authority in Babylon, he began to set his heart on the recovery of what had been * These calculations, in which I have followed Mr. Reynolds, (State of the greatest King) &c, p. 58,) will be found materially to differ from those of the Abbe Fleury, in pp. 221, 222, of this work ; but as they appeared to me to be perfectly correct, I judged them of too much con- >5efiuence to be omitted. 344 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. lost to the empire of the Assyrians, in Syria and Palestine, on the destruction of his father's army in Judea. Having gathered together a great army, he marched into the land of Israel, and took captive all those who were the remains of the former captivity, (a few excepted who escaped into the mountains, &c,) and carried them away Into Babylon and Assyria. As the land was in danger of becoming entirely deso- late through lack of inhabitants, he brought co- lonies from Babylon, Cullia, Ava, Hamath^ and Sepharvaim, and established them in the cities of Samaria, instead of those whom he had car- ried into captivity, 2 Kings xvii, 24 ; Ezra iv, 2, 10. And thus the ten tribes which had se- parated from the house of David were brought to an utter destruction, and could never after- ward assume any political consequence. It appears that some considerable time must have elapsed from the captivity of the Israelites of Samaria, before the above heathen colonies were brought in ; for we find immediately on their settliiig they were much infested with lions, commissioned by the Lord to be a scourge to these idolaters, 2 Kings xvii, 26, and which, we may suppose, had multiplied greatly after the desolation of the land. The king of Baby- lon being told that it was because they wor- shipped not the God of the country, that they were plagued with these ferocious animals, ordered that one of the captive Jewish priests should be sent back, to teach these new set- tlers the manner of the God of the Imd^ 2 OF THE ANCIENT SAMARITANS. 345 Kings V, 26 ; i, e. how to worship the God of Israel, as it was an ancient opinion among the heathens, that each district and country had its peculiar and tutelary deities. A priest was accordingly sent back, who took up his resi- dence at Beth-eîy and there established the worship of the true God, and the heathens in- corporated this worship with that which they paid to their idols. The few remaining Jews soon became miserably corrupted both in their manners and religion, and while Jehovah was feared because of his supposed superior influ- ence in that land, all the other gods of the Babylonians, Cuthites, Hamathites, Avites, and Sepharvites, had Divine honours paid to them. This monstrous mixture of idolatry with the worship of the true God continued for about three hundred years, till the building of the Sa- maritan temple on Mount Gerizim, by Sanballat the Horonite, about A. M. 3595, B. C. 409. As the Jewish priesthood had been greatly corrupted by impure connections and heathen- ish alliances, Sanballat found no difficulty to procure a priest, a regular descendant of the house of Aaron, to officiate in the schismatical temple which he had lately erected : for one of the sons of Joiada the high priest, whom Jose- phus calls Manasseh, {Antiq, b. xi, c. 7,) hav- ing married the daughter of Sanballat, and refusing to separate from her when JVehemiah insisted on all the Jews to put away their strange wives or to depart the country, Manas- 5eh fled to Samaria, and there became high 23 346 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. priest of the temple on Mount Gerizim, built by his father-in-law. Samaria now became a common asylum for refractory Jews; for all who had violated the law by eating forbidden meats, &c, and were called to account for it, fled to the Samaritans, by whom they were kindly received ; and as multitudes had apos- tatized in this way, in process of time the major part of the people was made up of apostate Jews and their descendants. This soon brought about a general change in the religion of the country ; for as they had hitherto worshipped the God of Israel only in conjunction with their false gods, after a temple was bi^ilt among them, in which the daily service was constantly performed in the very same manner as in Jeru- salem, and the law of Moses brought to Sa- maria and there publicly read, they abandoned the worship of their idols, and became wholly conformed to the worship of the true God, ia which they have hitherto continued with unde- viating exactness ; being in many respects more conscientious than the Jews themselves. {Prideaux. Connex» vol. i, p. 42, &c, vol. ii, p. 588, &c.) The Jews, however, considering them as apostates, hate them worse than any other nation ; and the Samaritans consider the Jews their worst and most inveterate enemies. It is necessary to observe, that as out of Sa- maria no prophet arose after this time, and the Jewish prophets having inveighed strongly against the Samaritan corruptions, they have never received tha prophetical writings of thii^ OF THE ANCIENT SAMARITANS. 347 Hebrews, and have none of their own : so that all they acknowledge of the Jewish Scriptures to be Divine, is the five books of Moses, which they have in the most scrupulous and conscien- ^tious manner preserved till the present day ; and to them the republic of letters is obliged for the preservation of the ancient genuine He- brew character, now called the Samaritan, which was thrown aside by Ezi^a when he published a connected edition of the Old Tes- tament Scriptures, in which he used the Chal- dee character, since improperly termed the Hebreiv."^ It is scarcely necessary to observe, that the Pentateuch is printed in this ancient Hebrew character, in the first volume of the London Polyglott, and its various readings are given in a parallel column in the first volume of Dr. Kennicott's Hebrew Bible. Having taken this general view of the rise and continuance of this remarkable sect, it may be necessary next to consider what their pre- sent state is, both in a religious and civil point of view. CHAPTER IX. Jl short Account of the Samaritans in Judea and Egypt. The present state of the Samaritans in Egypt and Judea cannot be better known than from * See a farther account of this in the Bibliographical Dictionary, vol. vii, Succession of Sacred Literature, under th« article Ezra. 348 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES* Dr. Huntington's Letters. This learned Eng- lishman had seen them at Cairo and Napo** lussa, had corresponded with them, and exa- mined them upon several things, which common travellers generally omit. " There are no Samaritans,'' he observes, " at Damascus ; and though those of Sichem boast of their numerous brethren at Cairo, I saw there but one Samaritan and his wife, who were very poor. The synagogue is a little, nasty, and obscure chamber. Here are kept two copies of the law, which may be about five hundred years old. They have a form of prayer, and a book which they call Joshua, which contains a very short chronicle from the creation of the world to Mohammed. This false prophet is cursed at the end of the book, but that word is written in Samaritan, that the Arabians may not understand it ; lastly, they keep in this little library some commentaries on the law, written in Arabic. This is the lan- guage in common use, except when they quote any passage of the law, or write the names of their high priests, for then they use the Sama- ritan characters. " Those of Sichem or Napolussa are for the most part farmers of the customs, and collec- tors of the tribute at Sichem, Gaza, Joppa, or else are secretaries to the Bassa, which gives them some countenance. They walk the streets well enough dressed, and are not so miserable as in other places. Their principal Merchah ben Yacoub, wrote to me at Jerusa- SAMARITAN CREED. 349 iem. The letters were signed by eighteen per- sons which were almost all of consideration at Sichem. ** This commissary of the customswas after- ward obliged to retire to Leghorn, because of the persecutions he met with in the Holy Land. These Samaritans boast of having a copy of the law written by the hand of Ahisha. ' We have,' say they in their letters, *a sacred writ- ing ; 'tis the copy of the law, in which are found these words : " I, Abisha, the son of Phineas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the high priest, have transcribed this copy at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, in the thirteenth year of the children of Israel's entrance into the Holy Land, or upon the fron- tiers." ' The Samaritans having boasted of this copy, I was wilhng in a second journey I made to Sichem, to examine the truth of the fact with my own eyes. But I turned over the manuscript long enough without finding the words ; and the Samaritans, who were present, confessed that these words were not now in their copy ; that they were there formerly, but somebody had maliciously expunged them." Thus, instead of honestly acknowledging their imposture, they face it with a new false- hood, and sacrifice their conscience to a chime- rical antiquity. All the Samaritans hate the Jews mortally; for this traveller relates, that they having one day asked him whether there were Hebrews in his country, they were over- joyed to hear there were ; but when he went to 350 MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES. undeceive them, because they took the Jews of England for Samaritans, they would not believe him : *' No, no !" cried they, " they are Israel* ites, Hebrews, our most brotherly breiliren.^^ — As they do not give the Jews the title of He- brews, or Israelites, they think all nations do the like. And indeed they fancy that they are the only stock of ancient Israel. One of them had a design to come and see those whom he called his brethren in England ; but under- standing he must be upon the sea on the Sab- bath, he thought it was breaking the rest of it, and would hear no more of the voyage ; for they observe the Sabbath with the utmost strict- ness. They do not pronounce the name Jefto- vah, but make use of the word Sema >