/*//-
. AVI
MANNERS
ANCIENT ISRAELITES :
CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THEIR
PECULIAR CUSTOMS AND CEREMONIES,
.AWS, POLITY, RELIGION, SECTS, ARTS AND TRADES, DIVISIONS
OF TIME, WARS, CAPTIVITIES, ETC.
WITH A SHORT ACCOUNT OF
&fje Ancient antr ptotrrm Samaritans*
WRITTEN ORIGINALLY IN FRENCH, BY
CLAUDE FLEURY,
Abbe of Argentcuil, and Member of the Royal Academy, Paris.
IE WHOLE MUCH ENLARGED FROM THE PRINCIPAL WRITERS ON
JEWISH ANTIQUITIES,
BY ADAM CLARKE, L. L. D. F. S. A.
F/-om the Second London Editwii.
NEW-YORK,
PUBLISHED BY N. BANGS AND J. EMORY, AT THE METHODIST
PRINTING OFFICE, CROSBY-STKEET.
A. Hoyt, Printer.
1825,
PREFACE.
EVERY attempt to illustrate the BIBLE, the oldest
and most important book in the world, a book that has
God for its Jluthw, and the eternal happiness of the hu-
man race for its end, deserves the most serious attention
of all those who profess the Christian religion.
It is granted on all hands, that this book has many dii
ficulties ; but this is not peculiar to the Jewish scriptures :
all ancient writings are full of them : and these difficul-
ties are generally in proportion to the antiquity of such
writings ; for the customs, manners, and language oi
mankind are continually changing ; and were it not for
the help received from the records of succeeding ages,
which are only accessible to the learned, many valuable
works of primitive times must have remained in impene-
trable obscurity. Scholars and critics have exerted them-
selves in the most laudable manner to remove or eluci-
date the difficulties occurring in ancient authors ; and
(thanks to their industry) they have rendered the study
of these writers not only easy but delightful ; and brought
the literature of ancient Greece and Rome within the
reach even of our children.
But the heathen icriters have not been the only objects
of regard in the grand system of critical disquisition. A
host of the most eminent 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 ex-
cellencies ; 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 tc
20 r
4 Preface.
understand. Some of these have been addressed to the
infidel, others to the scholar, and some to the plain un-
lettered Christian. The number of the latter, it is true,
has not been great ; but what is deficient in quantity, is
supplied 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 Mceurs des Israelites,
(the book now before the reader) aud the latter by his
well-known work called Apparatus Biblicus. The former
is the most useful treatise on the subject I have ever met
with.
In 1756 the Mceurs des Israelites was translated by the
Rev. Ellis Farnemnrth, and dedicated to the Bishop of
Litchfield and Coventry. How it was received I cannot
tell, being long before my time ; but if it sold in propor-
tion to the merit of the work, and the fidelity of the exe-
cution, 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. Farneworth, I was satisfied that a better one, on
the whole, could scarcely be hoped for. In general the
language is simple, pure, and elegant ; and both the spirit
and unction of the original are excellently preserved. 1
therefore made no scruple to adopt it, reserving to mysell
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 original work
rather too concise, and hinted that several useful addi-
tions might be made to it on the same plan, I was natu-
rally led to turn to Father Lamy for materials, whose
work above-mentioned I considered as ranking next to
Preface. b
that of the Mbc Fleury. From Mr. Bundy's edition,
much of the fourth part of the present volume is extract-
ed. Those points which I suppose the Abbe 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 Index, by which any subject discus-
sed in the work may at once be referred to. I have now
reason to hope, that every serious Christian, of whatever
denomination, will find this volume a faithful and pleasant
guide to a thorough understanding of all the customs and
manners, civil and religious, of that people to whom God
originally entrusted the sacred Oracles. Without a pro-
per knowledge of these, it is impossible to see the rea-
sonableness and excellency of that worship, and those
ceremonies, which God himself originally established
among the Israelites ; and by which he strongly prefi-
gured that glorious revelation under which we have the
happiness to live.
The late excellent Bishop of Norwich, Dr. Home, re-
commends this work in the following terms. " This
little book contains a concise, pleasing, and just account
of the manners, customs, laws, polity and religion of the
Israelites. It is an excellent introduction to the reading
of the Old Testament, and should be put into the bands
of every young person." Discourses, Vol. I.
This recommendation will have its due weight both
\vith the /corned and the pious.
1*
ADVERTISEMENT,
TO THE SECOND EDITION.
THE former edition of this work has been received by
the British public, with such flattering marks of appro-
bation as are highly honourable to the memory of its
excellent author. In no common case has the public
opinion been more correctly formed, nor more unequivo-
cally expressed. The editor too, has had his share of the
public approbation ; and takes this opportunity of acknow-
ledging his grateful sense of the praise bestowed on his
part of the work. Actuated solely by the desire of doing
good to his countrymen, and especially to the plain un-
lettered Christian, he undertook a work from which
he neither expected nor received any kind of emolu-
ment. He has, however, been amply rewarded by the
satisfactory consciousness of having endeavoured to pro-
mote 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 for, believing the
work susceptible of still farther improvements, and con-
sequently of being more useful to the public, he deter-
mined to spare no pains to render it fully worthy of that
patronage, by which it has been already so highly favour-
ed. Having now accomplished his design, as far as cir-
cumstances would permit, he thinks it proper to inform
the reader what has been done, in order to furnish him
with additional pleasure and instruction.
Advertisement. 7
1. The translation has been collated with three copies
of the original: the first edition, published by the Abbe.
Paris, 1681, 12mo. The Paris edition of 1736, 12mo.
with additional references ; and that in the OPUSCULES
de M. L'&bbe FLEURY, tome I. a JV/'smes 1780, 5 vols.
8vo. This collation has given rise to innumerable alter-
ations 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 serviceable to the
reader, many of them have been produced at full length,
accompanied with an English translation, where the mat-
ter appeared to be of considerable importance.
4. A great variety of notes have been added, to illus-
ti-ate 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 : the Hebrew Poetry. Instruments of Music among
the ancient Hebrews. Hindoo and Mohammedan 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 work a Life of the Author is prefixed, which
had not been done in the former English editions, and
which, though short, will, it is hoped, serve to bring the
reader more particularly acquainted with the amiable
spirit of this excellent man.
On the whole, the editor hopes the work will now more
effectually answer the purpose for which it was formed,
viz. to render the study of the Bible improving and de-
lightful ; and thus especially to the young and inexper
3 Advertisement.
rienced, prove an antidote against deism, irreligion and
impiety of all sorts. For, he thinks it would be impossi-
ble even for a prejudiced mind to read over the history ol
this ancient people, and compare their political and eccle-
siastical state with that of any other nation upon earth,
without being convinced, that they had statutes and judg-
ments, 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. Farncwortb, I
hare 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 received so much instruction : and
are glad to meet with any account of lives, which they
know must have been spent not only innocently but use-
fully. This disposition so natural to man, has been deep-
ly 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 exam-
ple, and hereby seems to assume a body and render itself
palpable. Of the Abbe Floury 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 published 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.
Claude Fleury, in Latin, Claudius Florus, was born at
Paris, Dec. 6, 1640 ; he was son of a lawyer, originally
of the diocese 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,
''voting all his time to the study of jurisprudence and the
10 Short account of
belles lettres, in which he made uncommon proficiency
This kind of life not entirely suiting his natural inclina-
tion, 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 priesthood.
From this time he devoted himself solely to the study
of the Sacred Writings, divinity, ecclesiastical history,
the canon law, and the works of the fathers. He confi-
ned 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
tender the judgment and understanding less profound.
His deep piety and solid learning gained him great
reputation : and Lewis XIV, who was well qualified to
discern great and useful talents, and well knew how to
employ them, made him preceptor to the princes of Conti
in 1762, whom he caused to be educated with the Dauphin
his son. These princes were, Lewis Jlrmand, and Francis
Lewis, son of Armand de 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 busi-
ness, procured him another pupil from the royal family,
for in 1680, the king made him preceptor to the Prince
de Vermandois, admiral of France ; one of his legitimated
natural sons ; but this prince died in 1683.
In 1684, the king, highly pleased with his fidelity and
success in the office of preceptor to the princes, gave him
the Abby of Loc-Dieu, in the diocese of Rhodes : and in
1689, he appointed him subpreceptor to his three grand-
children, Lewis, duke of Burgundy ; Philip, duke of Jin-
jou; and Charles, duke of Berri, sons of the Dauphin.
In this important employment he was associated with
; hat most accomplished scholar and most amiable of men
the Mbe Fkury. 11
yiousr. Fenelon, afterward archbishop of Cambray. Like
his assistant, the Abbe Fleury had the happy art of ren-
dering virtue amiable by connecting delight with instruc-
tion, and of making the precepts of religion pleasant by
exemplifying them in a placid, steady, and upright con-
duct. Thus precept and example went hand in hand,
and mutually supported each other. Never had pupils
greater advantages ; and never were teachers more re-
vered by their pupils. Lewis, duke of Burgundy, be-
came Dauphin, April 14, 1711, and died Feb. 18, 1712.
Philip, duke of Anjou, became king of Spain in 1700.
with the title of Philip V.
In 1696 the French Academy chose him for one of its
40 members : the highest literary honour in France. A
choice due to the merit of Abbe Fleury, and which was
at the same time on honour to the Academy itself.
The studies of the three princes being ended in 1706.
the king, who knew as well how to reward merit as to
distinguish it, presented him with the priory of A'ofov
Dame d' Jlrgenteuil, in the diocese of Paris : but thi*
learned and conscientious man, an exact observer of the
canons, (which indeed he had made a particular object
of study) gave a rare example of disinterestedness in de-
livering up into the hands of the king the Abby of Loc~
Dieu, which he refused to hold in conjunction with his
priory ! An example, which in tha present day we may
hope in vain to find, as sinecures and pluralities are
aought after with an extreme avi-dity, every one seeking
his gain from his own Quarter, and never savinsr in hi?
heart, it is enough.
In 1716 the duke ot UrleaYis, regent ol the kingdom,
made him Confessor to the yormg king, Lewis XV, son to
the duke of Burgundy. In this important employment
he continued till 1722, when 'his age and infirmities obli-
ged him to give it up. HacV it not been well known that
the Abbe had executed tf'ie office of ureceptor to the
2 Short account of
father with the strictest zeal and integrity, 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 nation. This was the highest eulogium
that could possibly be given of the merit of this extraor-
dinary man. For many years he had been in the very
high road to preferment, but his deadness to the world
induced him steadily to avoid any farther advancement ;
find 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 lived in the centre
of fashion and folly, as if he had been in the inmost re-
cesses of a cell, constantly refusing the slightest compli-
ance 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 labo-
rious usefulness, he died of an apoplexy July 14, 1723, in
the 83d year of his age.
On his death several of the academicians signalized
themselves by eulogiums to his memory : a few extracts
from which will show in what estimation he was held by
that learned body. Mr. Jldam, who was chosen to suc-
ceed him in the academy, speaks of him in the following
terms in his inaugural discourse, delivered before that
august assembly, Dec. 2, 1723.
" Where shall we find so many inestimable qualities
\mited in one person ? An excellent understanding cul-
tivated with intense labour ; profound knowledge ; a heart
full of uprightness : not oniv innocent in his manners, but
leading a simple, laborious and edifying life, always
accompanied with sincere modesty : an admirable dis-
interestedness, an unfailing: regularity of conduct, and
perfect fidelity in the performance of his duty ; in a
word, an assemblage of all \ those talents and virtue?
the Mbe Flewy. 18
which constitute the scholar, the honest man and the
Christian."
In answer to Mr. Adam, the Mbe de Roquette spoke
of this great man in the same high strain of justly me-
rited panegyric. " We shall always deplore the loss of our
late pious, learned, and illustrious associate. Nothing
can obliterate the strong impression which his virtues
have made on our minds. Candour, uprightness, affa-
bility, meekness, and strict probity seemed to constitute
the very essence of his soul. Nature had lavished her
choicest talents on his mind ; and study had put him in
possession of the riches of knowledge. In him a solid
judgment was combined with profound penetration. An
exquisite taste in every department of literature, with a
vast and retentive memory : and a fertile genius with an
indefatigable ardour for application. To these gifts of
nature let us add those which he received from grace :
a sincere and intelligent piety ; an ardent and insatiable
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 detach-
ment from perishing 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 irreproachable 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.
Besides the "Manners of the Israelites," and the
Manners of the primitive Christians," the Abbe Fleury
published many other works, the principal of which is his
Ecclesiastical History, 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
Short account of
well received by the public, and is in general a truly excel-
lent work, but it is now become almost obsolete, the public
having decided hi favour of similar works, perhaps a little
more accurate in some dates and facts, but much less spirit-
ual, and consequently better adapted to the depraved reign-
ing 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 different treatises, have been collect-
ed into 5 vols. 8vo, and published at Nismes 1780, un-
der the title, Opuscules de M. UAbbe Prieur d'ArgenteuiL
et confesseur de Roi Louis XV. This edition was printed
to accompany a new edition of the Ecclesiastical History.
published at the same place in 25 vols. 8vo. Great, pious,
and useful as the Abbe Fleury was hi his life, his name
would have long since been extinct, had he left no wri-
tings behind him : by these his memory has been embalm-
ed, 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-ftie great, becomes introduced to every department
of society, teaching piety to God and benevolence to men
by his most excellent precepts and amiable spirit. It is
to be lamented that no account has been given to the pub-
lic of the religious experience of this eminent 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 unaffected piety. His
religion was such as to emit a steady and brilliant light in
the midst of a court which at that time had attained the
acme of worldly glory. Yet even there the man of God
was distinguished, and all were obliged to own that the
the Mbe Fleury. 16
glory of that kingdom which is not of this world, infinite-
ly exceeds all the splendours which can possibly adorn
the most illustrious kingdoms of the universe. 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
place, as a testimony to his power and goodness : and let
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,.. December 12, 1804.
MANNERS OF THE ISRAELITES.
PART I
CHAPTER I.
The Design of this Treatise.
THE people, whom God chose to preserve the true
religion 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 method 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 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 car-
nally minded. All this r joined to a general preju-
dice, that what is most ancient is always most im-
perfect, easily influences us to believe, that these men
2*
18 Manners of the Israelites. [Parti.
were brutish and ignorant, and their customs more
worthy of contempt than admiration.*
And this is one reason why the Holy Scriptures,
especially those of the Old Testament, are so much
neglected, or read to so little purpose. Several well-
meaning people, who have not quite got over such
prejudices are discouraged by the outward appear-
ance 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 preten-
ces, to despise the Scripture 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 pre-
ferable to all refinements ; that the Israelites had
every thing that was valuable in the customs of their
contemporaries, 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 thaf
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 it-
self, displeases us for no other reason, than because
* It would not be difficult to prove, that the major part, if not thi
tvhole of the animals, the eating of whose flesh was forbidden under
the Mosaic law, are unfit for the purposes of nutrition. Bloody which
is so often and so solemnly forbidden, affords a most gross and innu-
tritive aliment. The laws relative to lepers and other infected per-
sons, and those which forbade contact with dead or putrid carcasses,
were wisely ordered to prevent the reception and diffusion of conta-
gion* Their frequent washings and bathings also, had the most direci
tendency to promote health and ensure a long and comfortable life.
Ch. l.J Design of this Treatise, 19
we are corrupt in our manners. For, most of the
difference betwixt us and them does not proceed
from our being more enlightened by Christianity, but
from our being less guided by reason. The Chris-
tian religion did not introduce this great 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 life,
which make us differ so much from the ancients. 11
would have been much easier to have made good
Christians of those shepherds and ploughmen, which
we see in their history, than of our courtiers, law-
yers, 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 shall 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
j utoe of these customs by good sense and right rea-
sdHTalone ; 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 neigh-
bours, 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 dis-
tance of time and place occasions in people's man-
ners. We inhabit the same country which the an-
cient 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 coun-
trymen, who lived seven or eight hundred years
ago ?* And at present, what likeness is there be-
* Who would imagine that the present inhabitants of Great Britain,
who spend so much time and money in unmeaning, useless, and ridi-
'ulous modes of dress, are the descendants of a race of people, who,
in the very same climate and land, went almost naked, not only du-
ring the scorching heats of summer, but also through the chilling blasts
of winter ? And yet, were more healthy, vigorous and robust than
their present degenerate offspring.
>0 Manners of the Israelites. [Part 1
tween our customs and those of the Turks, Indians,
and Chinese ? If then, we consider these two sorts
of distance together, we shall be so far from being
astonished, that they who lived in Palestine three
thousand years ago, had customs different from ours,
that we shall rather wonder if we find any thing in
them alike.
We must not imagine, however, that these chan-
ges 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 poli-
tics ; as, at this day, Spain and Africa, which, under
the Roman empire, had the same customs. On the
contrary, there is now a great resemblance betwixt
those of Spain and Germany, though there was then
none. The same holds good in respect to the dif-
ference of times. They that are not acquainted 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 staoid
and ignorant he will find mankind to have been.^l
But it is not really so in countries that have been
inhabited successively by different people : the revo-
lutions that have happened there have always, from
time to time, introduced misery and ignorance, after
prosperity and good manners. So, Italy is now in
a much better condition than it was eight hundred
years ago. But eight hundred years before that,
under the first Caesars, 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 their periods of duration, like particular men.
The most flourishing state of the Greeks was under
Alexander ; of the Romans, under Augustus ; and of
the Israelites, under Solomon.
Chap. II.] Of the Patriarchs. 21
We ought therefore to distinguish in every peo-
ple, ttafiir beginning, their greatest prosperity, and their
declension. In this manner I shall consider the Is-
raelites, during all that space of time that they were
a people, from the calling of Abraham, to the last
destruction of Jerusalem. It contains more than
two thousand years, which I shall divide into thret
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, af-
ter they returned from captivity, to the promulgation
of the gospel.
CHAPTER II.
Of the Patriarchs.* Their Nobility.
THE patriarchs lived after a noble manner, in per-
fect freedom and great plenty, notwithstanding their
wajrfFliving was plain and laborious. Abraham knen
th^vhole succession of his ancestors, and no way
lessened his nobility, 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 oppor-
tunity of educating their children well, and of making
them serious and considerate betimes. Abraham
* Patriarch, from the Greek irarpiapxijs, which literally signifie.*
the chief or head of a family. The term is applied properly to the pro-
genitors of the Jewish people, and especially to Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, and the twelve sons of the latter. The patriarchal government
existed in the fathers of families and their first-born sons after them,
and included the regal and sacerdotal 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 patriarchal dispensation includes all
the time from the creation of the world, till the giving of the law.
The patriarchs are divided into classes, the antediluvian and postdilu-
vian : to the former belong Adam, Seth, Enoch, &c. To the latter
\bram, Isaac, Jacob, &c.
22 Manners of the Israelites. [Parti,
lived more than a hundred years with Shem, and no
doubt learned from him the state of the world before
the deluge. He never left his father Terah, and
was at least seventy years old when he lost him.
Isaac was seventy-five when Abraham died, and, ag
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 bene-
fit of their experience and inventions. They prose-
cuted their designs, adhered firmly to their maxims,
and became constant and uniform in their conduct.
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 na-
turally love to tell stories of ancient times, and had
so much leisure for it. By this means they had no
great use for writing ; and it is certain we fin^io
mention of it before Moses. However difficulr it
may seem to conceive that so many calculations as
he recites should have been preserved in the memo-
ry of men, as the age of all the patriarchs ;f the
exact dates of the beginning and end of the flood ;^
the dimensions of the ark, &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. || 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
* The author follows here the chronology of archbishop Usher, who
supposes that Shem did not die till 150 years after the birth of Abra-
ham. But Usher leaves the second Cainan out of his chronology,
whom the Septuagint and St. Luke place between Arphaxad and Sa-
lah. This second Cainan throws the birth of Abraham much farther
back.
tGen. vii, 11. viii, 13. Gen. vi, 15. |] Gen- ir,21
Ch. II. ] Of the Patriarchs. 23
facts, rather than others, and express them in terms
most proper for the purpose.
Besides, 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 different places where
God had appeared to him.* Jacob consecrated the
stone which served him for a pillow while he had the
mysterious dream of the ladder ;f and the heap of
stones, which was witness to his covenant with
Laban, he called Galeed.J Of this kind was the
sepulchre of Rachel ; the well called Beersheba ;
and all the other wells mentioned in the history of
Isaac. Sometimes they gave new names to places.
The Greeks and Romans relate the same of their
heroep, the eldest of whom lived near the times of
the patriarchs.|| Greece was full of their monu-
ments : ^Eneas, to mention no others, left some in
every place that he passed through in Greece, Sicily,
and Italy. f[
The very names of the patriarchs were besides a
sorrof more simple and familiar monuments. They
signified some remarkable circumstance 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-
* Gen. xii, 8. xiii, 18. f Gen. xxviii, 18. \ Gen. xxxi, 48. Gen.
xxvi, 33. || Pausan. passim. Dion. Hal. lib. i. IT Virgil. .(En. passim.
** Such, for instance, as ABRAM from 3X ab> & father, and QI ram,
high ; called afterward Abraham DJVUN a father of multitudes, the
H being inserted before Q ; for on nam > s a contraction of pnn
hamon, a multitude.
PELEG, from 3*73 palag, he divided: for in his days, says the exl,
Gen. x, 25, the earth (niSflJ nipilegah) was divided.
MANASSES, the son of Joseph, signifies forgetting, from n^i nashab,
he was forgetful, for said he, Gen. xli, 51, God hath made me forget
('3K?3 nashshani) all my labours, and my father's house.
EPHRAIM, fruitful, from ni3 pharah, he was fruitful; for said Jo-
seph his father, 'j-)3n Hiphrani, God hath made me fruitful in the land
of my affliction. Gen. xli, 52.
JOSEPH, addition or increase, from rp^ Yasaph, he added or increa-
sed; because said his mother niTT HOV Yoseph Jehovah, tkt Lord
shall add to me another son. Gen. XXK, 25.
34 Manners of the Israelites. [Parti.
out refreshing the mempry with it. This care for
posterity, and providence for the future, was an ar-
gument 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 Abraham want of the
power of sovereigns, but their vain titles and incon-
venient 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.* Ishmael, Jacob, and Esau, were
likewise independent. We must not then suffer our-
selves to be misled by names, nor think Abraham in-
ferior to Amraphel or Abimelech, because the Scrip-
ture does not call him king as well as them. He was
certainly equal to one of those four kings, whom he
defeated with his domestic forces, and the assistance
of his three allies. f 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 chiefly in
cattle. Abraham must have had a vast stock, when
he was obliged to part from his nephew Lot, because
the land ivas not able to bear them together. J Jacob
had a great number when he came back from Me-
sopotamia ; since the present that he made to his
brother Esau was Jive hundred and eighty head of
different sorts. From which we may likewise learn
" Gen. xxvi, 26, 28. f Gen.xiv, 14, 15. {Gen. xiii, 6, Gen. xxxii,
13, 15.
Ch. III.] Riches and Employments. 25
what sort of beasts they bred, viz. goats, sheep, ca-
mels, horned cattle, and asses. There were no horses
nor swine among them. It was such plenty of cattle
which made them set so^ great a value upon wells and
cisterns, 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 himself.* In proportion, he must
have had plenty of children, old men, women, and
slaves that were bought with money. When he re-
turned from Egypt, it is said he was rich in gold and
silver, f The bracelets and earrings, which his ser-
vant Eliezer made a present of to Rebecca from his
master, weighed six ounces of gold ; J: and the pur-
chase of his burying-place shows that money was in
use at that time. We see likewise that perfumes
and costly raiment were made use of || by Esau's
clothes, which Jacob wore to obtain his father's
blessing.
With all their riches they were very laborious,
always in the field, lying under tents, shifting their
abode according to the convenience of pasture, and
consequently often taken up with encamping and de-
camping, and frequently upon the march : for they
could make but short days' journies with so nume-
rous an attendance. Not but that they might have
built towns as well as their countrymen : but they
chose this way of living. It is 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 repre-
sented, who lived here only as sojourners waiting
*Gen.xiv, 14. fGen-xi", 2 - | Gen. xxiv, 22. Gen. xxiii, 16.
II Gen. xxvii. 27. But does not this rather intimate that odorife-
rous plants or herbs, were laid up with the clothes in the chests or
coffers where they were kept ? A custom that prevails among the in?
habitants of some countries to the present day.
3
26 .Manners of the Israelites. [Parti.
for the promises of God,* which were not to be ac-
complished till after their death. The first cities
that are mentioned were built by wicked men.f
Cain and Nimrod were the first that erected walls
and fortifications to secure themselves from the pun-
ishment due to their crimes, and to give them an
opportunity of committing fresh ones with impuni-
ty. % 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
of themselves to the king of Egypt. Though hus-
bandry be very ancient, the pastoral life is the more
perfect. The first was the lot of Cain, the brother
of Abel. || It has something in it more simple and
noble ; it is laborious, attaches one less to the world,
and yet more profitable. The elder Cato** prefer-
red 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
Ihee twenty years, says he, in the day the drought con-
sumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep departed
from mine et/es.ft One may judge of the men's la-
borious way of living by that of the young women.
Rebecca came a good way off to draw water, and
carried it upon her shoulders ; J J and Rachel herself
kept her father's flock. Neither their nobility nor
beauty made them so delicate as to scruple it. This
primeval simplicity was long retained amongst the
Greeks, whose good breeding we yet admire with so
much reason. Homer affords us examples of it
throughout his works, and pastorals have no other
foundation. It is certain that in Syria, Greece, and
* Heb. xi, 9, 13. f Gen. iv, 17. { Gen. x, 10. Gen. xlvii, 3.
|| Gen. iv, 2. ** De Re Rustic, in Init. ft Gen. XXXK 40. ft Gen.
xxiv, 15. Gen. xxix, 9.
Ch. IV.] Their Frugality.
Sicily, there were persons of eminence who made
it their sole occupation to breed cattle for more
than one thousand Jive hundred years after the pa-
triarchs ; and who, in the great leisure that sort of
life afforded, and the good humour those delightful
countries inspired them with, composed several lit-
tle pieces of poetry, still extant, of inimitable beauty
and simplicity.
CHAPTER IV.
Their Frugality.
THE patriarchs were not at all 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 birth-
right.* But we have an instance of a splendid en-
tertainment in that which Abraham made for the
three angels, f He set a calf before them, new bread,
but baked upon the hearth ; together with butter 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, $ Abraham dressed a whole calf for the
angels, and three measures of meal made into bread 4
which conies to more than two of our bushels, and
nearly to fifty -six pounds of our weight. Whence we
may conclude they were great eaters, used much ex-
ercise, and were perhaps of a larger stature as welj
as longer lives than we. The Greeks seem to think
that the men of the heroic ages were of great
stature ; and Homer makes them great eaters.
When Eumaeus entertained Ulysses, he dressed two
pigs, probably young ones, for himself and his guest ;
and on another occasion, a hog of five years old for
five persons.
* Gen. xxv, 29, 34. | Gen. 1 xviii, 6. t Gen. xxvii, 9. Odyss.
xiv, 1 74. Ib. 1. 419
38 Manners of the Israelites. [Part I.
Homer's heroes wait upon themselves in the com-
mon 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 wa-
ter 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.* I will allow that he was animated 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, when he went into
Mesopotamia, to travel a journey of more than two
hundred leagues (for it was at least so far from Beer-
sheba to Haran) alone and on foot, with only a stall'
in his hand ?f what, I say, could oblige him to it
but his own commendable plainness and love of toil ?
Thus he rests where night overtakes him, and lays a
stone under his head instead of a pillow. And al-
though he was so tenderly fond of Joseph, he does not
scruple sending him alone from Hebron to seek his
brethren at Sichem, which was a long day's jour-
ney ; and when Joseph does not find them there, he
goes on to Dothan, more than a day's journey far-
ther,]: 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 life. 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. The
first time we read of physicians is, when it is said, that
Joseph commanded his domestics to embalm thf
* Gen. xyiii, 4. f Gen. xxxii, 10. 1 Gen. xxxvii, 15, \J. Ger,
wv. 8.
Ch. IV.] Tlieir Frugality. 29
body of his father.* This was in Egypt ; and many
have ascribed the invention of physic to the Egyp-
tians, f
The moderation of the patriarchs with regard to
wives is no less to be admired, when we consider, 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 innume-
rable 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. | He did not take a second till he was
eighty-six years old, and it was his own wife who gave
her to him. We must not say that he was still
young with respect to his life, which was a hundred
seventy-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. || 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 ;** and though Rebecca had no
child for twenty years, and never but two, and those
at one birth,ft 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 con-
sider the reason of it. He staid till he was seventy -
seven with his father, waiting for the important bless-
ing which he had a right to by the resignation of his
brother : at that age he thought of marrying, and
asked for Rachel, but did not obtain her till he had
served seven years. J:}: At last then he married at
* Gen. I, 2. f Aug. de Civ. Dei. xvi, 25. } Gen. xv, 2.
Gen. xvi, 2. The handmaids, as they are termed, were a sort of
slaves, one of which was usually given by a father to his daughter on
her marriage : hence they were considered the unalienable property
of their mistresses, who claimed not only the fruit of their labour,
but also the very children they bore. See above, and also chap, xxix,
24, 29.
|| Gen. xviii. 11. ** Gen. xxv, 20. ft Gen. xxv, 21, &c. ff Gen.
xxiv. 90
3*
30 Manners of the Israelites. [Part. L
eighty-four* They gave him Leah against his will,
and he kept her, that she might not be disgraced.
But as he might have more wives than one, or mar-
ry two sisters, without the breach of any law
then existing, he took her too that he had first enga-
ged to wed.f When she found herself barren, she
gave her husband a handmaid to have children by
her. This was a sort of adoption practised at thai
time : and her sister did the same, that the family
might be increased. From all which St. Augustin
draws this conclusion : We do not read that Jacob
desired any more than one wife, or made use of
more, without strictly observing the rules of conjugal
chastity. | We must not imagine he had other
wives before ; for why should the last only be
mentioned ?
And yet I do not undertake to justify all the pa-
friarchs in this point. The story of Judah and his
sons affords but too many examples of the contra-
ry^ I would only show that we cannot, with jus-
tice, accuse those of incontinence whom the Scrip-
ture reckons holy. For with regard to the rest oi
mankind they were from that time very much cor-
rupted. 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 abso-
lute monarch in his own family. A life very natu-
ral and easy, through a great abundance of necessa-
ries, and an utter contempt of superfluities ; through
an honest labour, accompanied with care and fru-
gality, without anxiety or ambition.
Let us now proceed to the second period : which is,
that of the Israelites, from their coming out of Egypt
* When Joseph appeared before Pharaoh he was thirty years of age.
Gen. xli, 46, at which time his father was 121 ; for when he appear-
ed before Pharaoh he was 130 years old, Gen. xlvii, 9, and nine years
had elapsed from the time Joseph was presented to Pharaoh till the
time that Jacob and his family came into Egypt, viz. seven years of
plenty and two of famine ; consequently Jacob was ninety-one year
old when Joseph was born. August, de civit. Dei. lib. xviii, c. 4.
t Gen. xxix, 30. I De Civ. Dei. xvi, 25, 33. Gen. xxxviii
Oh. I.] Their Nobility. 31
to the Babylonish captivity. It lasted more than
nine hundred years, and most of the Sacred Writings
relate to it.
PART II.
CHAPTER I.
The Israelites. Their Nobility.
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 man-
ner as they said, the children of Edom, the children
ofMoab, &c. Indeed all these people were still dis-
tinct : they knew their own origin, and took a pride
in preserving the name of their author. Thence
probably it comes that the name of children 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, the children of the east, are the eastern
people ; the children of Belial, the wicked ; the chil-
dren of men, or Adam, 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 Israelites were divided into twelve tribes/'
There was the same number of the Ishmaelites,f and
as many of the Persians. | The people of Athens
were at first composed of four tribes, afterward divi-
ded into ten, to which they gave the names often he-
roes, who for this reason were called Eponymi, and
whose statues were set up in the public exchange.
The Roman people were also distributed into three
or four tribes, which increased to thirty-Jive. The
* Gen. xlix, 1 28. fGen. xxv, 13 16. JXenoph. Cyrop. p. u
Edit. Steph. 1581. Demosth. in Timocr. in Leptin. et ibi Ulpian
.EfWH'fO/, HpUlff,
32 Manners of the Israelites.
ilanies of them are still upon record. But these
Athenian and Roman tribes were made up of differ-
ent families, collected together to keep order in their
assemblies and elections : whereas, those of the Is-
raelites were naturally distinct, and were only twelve
large families, descended from twelve brothers.
They were very exact in keeping their genealo-
gies, and knew all the succession of their ancestors,
as high as the patriarch of their tribe, from whom it
is 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.
They had preserved the purity of their families.
by taking care, as their fathers did, not to marry with
the nations descended from Canaan, who were un-
der a curse.* 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 at-
tached by the same law to certain lands, on 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 disgraceful weddings in it, or change of man
<ion ? Few noblemen in Europe can prove so much.
What deceives us in this respect is, our not seeing
iitles 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 manner a short prayer. Elijah and
Joel are made up of two of God's names joined in a
different way :f Jehosaphat and Sephatiah signify
* Exod. xxxiv, 16. Dent, vii, 3.
f ELIJAH, in Hebrew irr^Ni a contraction of xin J"P ^X Jtkovah
lie is my strong God.
JOEL ^KV signifies willing or acquiescing, from ^x 1 y aa l> h* willed.
ond is not compounded of TV yah, Jehovah ; and 'jx El, the strong
<iod, RS the Abbe seems to have supposed.
Ch. I.] Their Nobility. 33
the judgment of God : Jehozadak and Zedekiah, his
justice : Johanan, or John, the son of Hananiah, his
mercy : Nathanael, Elnathan, Jonathan, and Netha-
niah, all four signify, God given, or the gift of God.
Sometimes the name of God was understood, as in
Nathan, David, Obed, 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.* Other names showed the piet\
of their fathers ; and we may see instances of it in.
the names of David's brethren and children. f
Such are the names which appear so barbarous
to us for want of understanding the Hebrew tongue.
Are they not full as significant as those of castles
and towns, which our nobility assume ? The Greek
names, whose sound we are so fond of, are of the
same import. Many are composed of the names ot
their gods ; as Diodorus, Diogenes, Hermodorus, He-
ph&stion, Jlthenais, Artemisia. But several are derived
from their love of exercise, particularly of riding, as
Philip, Damasippus, or Hippodamus, Hegesippus, Hip-
pomedon, &c.|
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 Solomon had this
custom in his eye, when he said, the, glory of children
are their fathers. Thus we see in Homer, that the
Greeks took the paternal name for a mark of ho-
nour. || Sometimes the mother's name was given
* Hosea i, 4. Isaiah viii, 3. fl Chron. ii, 13, and iii. 1.
t DIODORUS, rm <5toj Supov, the gift of Jupiter. DIOGENES, yrvo? TO;
-"(os, born of Jupiter. HERMODORDS, from Epptis and Swpov, the gift cj
Jtfercurj. HEPH^ESTION, Vulcan. ATHENAIS, Minerva. ARTEMISIA,
Diana. PHILIPPUS, a lover of horses. DAMASIPPUS, HIPPOMEDOX,
HIPPODAMCS, a tamer of horses. HEGESIPPUS, chief or captain ofh.ors< t
Prov. xvii. 6.
!| narpoOev cic ytveijs ovopafrv avSpa txaarov. Iliad X, 0*
' Call every single person by his name.
\n<\ add the father's name to grace the son's,"
34 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
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 sister.* If the name of
the father was not distinction enough, they added
the grandfather's as Gedaliah the son of Jlhikam, the
son of Shaphan.i[ 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 high-
er. Sometimes a surname was taken from the head
of a particular branch, from a town, a country, or a
nation, if they were originally strangers ; as Uriah
the-Hittite, Araunah 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 distinc-
tion of some great office or remarkable victory ; but
in deeds, they always set down the father's name.
Many of the European 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 themselves. 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 occasioned
among the Israelites, was that of the Levites and
priests. The whole tribe of Levi was dedicated to
God, and had no inheritance but the tenths and the
firstfruits, which it received from the other tribes.
Of all the Levites, 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 instructing the people .
Two of the other tribes were sufficiently distinguish-
ed. That of Judah was always the most illustrious
* 1 Chron. ii, 16. f Jerem. xxxix, 14.
Chap. II.] Their Employments. 35
and the most numerous ; of which, according, to
Jacob's prophecy, their kings and the Messiah him-
self, were to come.* That of Ephraim held the se-
cond 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, Jim
not I of the smallest of the tribes of Israel, and my family
the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin ?f
Age too made a great distinction ; and the name
of old man in Scripture generally denotes dignity.
Indeed, there was nothing bat age and experience that
could distinguish men equally noble, and of the same
education and employments and almost equally rich.
CHAPTER II.
Their Employments . Agriculture .
WE do not find any distinct professions among
the Israelites. From the eldest of the tribe of Judah
to the youngest of that of Benjamin, they were all
husbandmen and shepherds, driving their ploughs
and watching their flocks themselves. The old man
of Gibeah, that lodged the Levite, whose wife was abu-
sed, was coming back at night from his work, when he
invited him to sojourn with him. f Gideon himself
was threshing his corn when the angel told him he
should deliver his people. 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. || Every
body knows that David was keeping sheep, when Sa-
muel sent to look for him to anoint him king ;** and
he returned to his flock after he had been called to
play upon the harp before Saul, ft After he was king,
his sons made a great feast at the shearing of their
sheep.^ Elisha was called to be a prophet as he
* Gen. xlix, 10. 1 1 Sana, ix, 21. J Judg. xix, 16. Judg. vi, 11.
|| 1 Sam. xi, 5., ** 1 Sam. xvi, U. ff 1 Sam. xvii, 15. tj 2 Sam.
36 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
drove one of his father's twelve ploughs.* The
child that he brought to life again was with his fa-
ther at the harvest when it fell sick.f And Judith's
husband, though very rich, got the illness of which
he died on the like occasion.^ The Scripture
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 them-
selves a parcel of clownish boors, that lead a slavish
miserable life, in poverty and contempt, without cou-
rage, without sense or education. They don't consi-
der, that what makes our country people commonly so
wretched is their being slaves to all the rest of man-
kind : since they work not only for their own main-
tenance, but to furnish necessaries for all those that,
live in high and polished life. For it is the country-
man 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 together,
we generally place those that work in the country
in the last rank : and most people set a greater value
upon fat idle citizens, that are weak and lazy and good
for nothing, because, being richer, they live more
luxuriously, and at their ease.
But if we imagine a country, where the difference
of conditions is not so great, where to live genteelly
is not to live without doing any thing at all, but care-
fully to preserve one's liberty, which consists in be-
ing subject to nothing but the laws and public au-
thority ; where the inhabitants subsist upon their
own stock, without depending upon any body, and
are content with a little, rather than do a mean thing
to grow rich ; a country where idleness, effeminacy,
* 1 Kings six, 19. f 2 Kings iv, IS. 1 Judith vii, 3.
Oh. II.] Their Employments. 37
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 necessity
of having any recourse to Plata's commonwealth
to find men of this character, for so lived the great-
est 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 Ro-
mans. We see everywhere in Homer, kings and
princes living upon the fruits of their lands and their
flocks, and working with their own hands.* He-
siod has written a poem on purpose to recommend
husbandry, as the only creditable means of subsist-
ing and improving 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 fol-
lowing affairs of that kind.f He reckons this em-
ployment, which is the sole occupation of so many
amongst us, no better than idleness. We see by
Xenophon's (Economics that the Greeks had no way
lessened their opinion of husbandry, when they were
at the highest pitch of politeness.
We must not therefore impute the fondness of the
Romans for husbandry to stupidity and want of let-
ters : 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 afford them a certain mainte-
nance and innocent plenty. It was not, however,
covetousness that recommended it to them ; since
the same Romans despised gold, and the presents of
strangers. Nor was it want of courage and brave-
ry ; since at that very time they subdued all Italy,
* See the Iliad and Odyssey passim.
t 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.
4
38 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
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 their bodies robust by inuring them to labour,
and accustoming them to severe discipline. Who-
ever is acquainted with the life of WCato the Censor,
cannot suspect him of a low way of thinking, or of
meanness of spirit ; yet that great man, who had
i^one through all the offices in the commonwealth
when it flourished most, who had governed provin-
ces and commanded armies ; that great orator, law-
yer, and politician, 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 vainglory, but for the benefit of
mankind.*
Let us then frankly own that our contempt of
husbandry is not founded upon any solid reason ;
since this occupation is no way inconsistent 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 countries that were co-
vered 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, and settled on better lands, they were ready
enough to take the advantages that result from agri-
culture, arts, and trade ; but would not apply them-
selves to any of them. They left this occupation to
the Romans whom they had subdued, and continued
in their ancient ignorance, which time seemed to
* See his work De Re Ritstica.
Ch. II.] Their Husbandry, fyc. 39
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 hunting into
credit, of which the ancients made but little account.
They held it fn 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 rear-
ing tame creatures, answers at least as well, as that
which only aims at catching wild beasts, often at the
expense of tillage. The moderate pains of one that
has the care of a great number of cattle and poultry,
is, surely, as eligible as the violent and unequal ex-
ercise 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 customs, in
this point, are not as agreeable to reason as those of
the ancients.*
Besides, iheGreeks and Romans were not the only
people that esteemed agriculture as the Hebrews
did : the Carthaginians, who were originally Phoeni-
cians, studied it much, as appears by the twenty-
eight books which Mago wrote upon that subject. f
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. | As
* This relict of ancient barbarism is continued among us in full
vigour ; and without any kind of reason to vindicate the practice.
By it our gothic ancestors provided for their sustenance : but theii
descendants use it as a species of pleasure, without being impelled to
it by any kind of necessity. Often the peaceable inhabitants 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 ?
t Yarro's Preface, t Xenoph. (Econ.
40 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II,
to the Chaldeans, we cannot doubt of their being-
well skilled in husbandry, if we reflect upon the fruit-
fulness 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. Nothing but the tyranny of the north-
ern nations has made it so generally disesteemed.
Let us then divest ourselves of the mean opinion we
have conceived of it from our infancy. 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 con-
tained 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 re-
pair, and exceedingly clean. We may see descrip-
tions of them in Varro and Colwnella. 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
masters, frugal as they were, lived more to their sa-
tisfaction than our gentry. We read in Xenophon of
an Athenian citizen, who, taking a walk every morn-
ing into the fields to look after his workmen, at the
same time promoted his health by the exercise of his
body, and increased his substance by his diligence to
make the most of it.f So that he was rich enough to
give liberally to religious uses, the service of his
friends, and country. Tully mentions several 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.}:
In fine, it must be owned, that as long as the no-
bility and rich men of a country were not above this
most ancient of all professions, their lives were more
* Toy fo rtjs At7/j?rpoj xapirov cofc aya$>} CK<f>epciv tan, axrrs tin litjKoma-
.-.vi rpwoaia ticQtpu. Herodot. Clio. p. 89. Edit. Steph. 1592,
fXenoph. OEcon. and Ctc. Cato Major, c. 17.
i Lib. iv ? in Ver. Edit. Lond. 1630, vol. II. p. 2721,
Oh. II.] Their Husbandry, $c. 41
happy, because more conformable to nature. They
lived longer, and in better health, their bodies were
fitter for the fatigue of war and travelling, and their
minds more serious and composed. Being- less idle,
they were not so tired of themselves, nor solicitous in
refining their pleasures. Labour gave a relish to the
smallest diversions. They had fewer evil designs in
their heads, and less temptation to put them in exe-
cution. Their plain and frugal way of living did
not admit of extravagance, 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 husbandry. 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 innocent
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 of
the Israelites from making them contemptible, 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 pa-
radise to work there ;* and that, after his fall, he
was condemned to more laborious and ungrateful
toil.f They were convinced of those solid truths so
often repeated in the books of Solomon : that poverty
is the fruit of laziness.^ That he who sleeps in sum-
mer, instead of minding his harvest, or that ploughs not in
winter for fear of the cold, deserves to beg and have no-
thing. That plenty is the natural consequence of la-
* Gen. ii, 15. f Gen. iii, 17. J Prov. x, 4, 5. Prov. xx, 4, 1?.
42 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
hour and industry.* That riches, too hastily got, arc
not blessed.^ There we see frugal poverty, with
cheerfulness and plainness, preferred to riches and
abundance, with strife and insolence ;:}: the inconve-
nience of the two extremes of poverty and wealth, and
the wise man's desires, confined to the necessaries
of life. He even enters into a minute detail of eco-
nomical precepts : Prepare thy work, says he, without,
and make it jit for thyself in the field, and afterward
build thine house ;IJ which is the same with thai
maxim in Cato, that planting requires not much con-
sideration, but building a great deal.
Now that which goes by the name of work, busi-
ness, goods, in the book of Proverbs, and throughout
the whole Scripture, constantly relates to country af-
fairs ; it always means lands, vines, oxen and sheep.
From thence are borrowed most of the metaphorical
expressions. Kings and other chiefs are called shep-
herds ; and the people, their flocks ; 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 from hence, all that en-
riches mankind, whether by manufactures, trade,
rents, or trafficking with money, is ultimately de-
rived.**
CHAPTER III.
The Nature of the Soil.Ilsfmitfulness.
THE Israelites dwelt in the land that was promi-
sed to the patriarchs, which the Scripture often de-
scribes 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
temperate zone, between 31 and 33 degrees of north-
ern latitude. It is bounded on the south by very
* Prov. xxvii, 18. ] Prav. xx, 21. J Prov. xvii, 1. xix, 1. Prov.
xxx, 8, 9. || Prov. xxiv, 27.
** What a blessing would it be to the world, were these times o!
primitive simplicity and common sense restored to mankind.
Oh, III.] Soil and Produce. 43
high mountains, that defend it from the scorching-
winds that blow from the Arabian deserts, and which
run as far to the east as they do. The Mediterra-
nean, which bounds it to the west north-west, sup-
plies it with refreshing breezes ; and mount Libanus,
that is situated more to the north, intercepts those
that are colder. The Mediterranean is what the
Scripture commonly calls the Great sea ; for the He-
brews knew little of the ocean, and gave the name oi
seas to lakes and all great waters. The inland part
of the country is varied with a great many mountains
and hills proper for vines, fruit trees, and small cattle ;
and the valleys 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
one day. In summer, the great dews compensate
for the scarcity of rain. They had plains fit for til-
lage and pasture, particularly the great plain of Ga-
lilee : and this variety of land, within so small a com-
pass, must needs afford very beautiful landscapes,
especially where a country is well peopled and cul-
tivated.
For \ve 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 be seen
but little paltry villages, ruins, lands uncultivated
and deserted, but full of high grass, which shows
their natural fertility. The Turks neglect it, as they
do their other provinces ; and several of the Arabian
clans, called Bedouins, encamp there at pleasure, and
plunder it with impunity. To know then what it was
formerly, we must consult ancient authors ; Josephus,
but above all the Holy Scriptures.* Consider the
* Jos. WAR, b. 3, c. 3. ANT. b. 5, c. 1, 5, 21. Winston's Transla-
tion, fo!. Lond. 1737.
44 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II,
report which the spies made that were sent by Mo-
ses, and the prodigious bunch of grapes they brought
back.* And that we may not be surprised 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 then-
extraordinary size and natural flavour with their
names.
The Israelites had vast crops of corn and barley .
wlieat is reckoned among the chief commodities that
they carried to Tyre.f They had plenty of oil and
honey. The mountains of Judah and Ephraim were
great vineyards. J The palm trees that grow about
Jericho yielded a considerable profit ; and it was the
only place in the world where the genuine balsam tree
was to be found.
This fertility of their country, and the pains they
took to cultivate it, account for its maintaining such
a multitude of people, though it was of so small ex-
tent. For what the Scripture 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. j| In the war of Gibeah, the tribe of Ben-
jamin alone, which was the least of all, had an
army of twenty-six thousand men, and the rest of the
people had one of four hundred thousand.** Saul
headed two hundred and ten thousand men against the
Amalekites, when he rooted them out. ft David
always kept up twelve corps, each consisting of twenty-
four thousand men, which served by the month, and
amounted to two hundred and eighty thousand. J J And
when he numbered the people, which brought down
the wrath of God upon him, there were one million
three hundred thousand fighting men. Jehosha-
* Numb, xiii, 23. t Ezek. xxvii, 17. | Josephus, WAR, b. 1, c. 5.
SFastidit Balsamum alibi nasci. Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. xvi, c. 32.
|| Numb, xi, 21. **Judg. xx, 17. ftl Sam. xv, 4. tf 1 Chron.
jxvii, 1. 2 Sam. xxiv, 9.
Ch. III.] Soil and Population. 45
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, altogether, made
eleven hundred and threescore thousand men, all under
his immediate command, besides the garrisons in his
strong places.*
Nor is there any thing incredible in all this : we
see examples to the same purpose in profane his-
tory. The great city of Thebes in Egypt furnished
out of its own inhabitants alone seven hundred thou-
sand fighting men.f In the year 188, from the
foundation of Rome, when Servius Tullius first num-
bered the people, they reckoned eighty thousand citi-
zens fit to bear arms4 Yet they had nothing to
subsist upon but the land about Rome, which is now
most of it barren and desolate ; for their dominion
did not extend above eight or ten leagues.
That was the chief foundation of their politics in
old time. In the multitude of people, says the wise
man, is the king's honour, but in the want of people is the
destruction of the prince. \\ They supported themselves
much less by cunning than real strength. Instead
of being industrious in setting spies upon their neigh-
bours, and endeavouring to sow divisions among
them, or gain credit by false reports, they took pains
to people 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 of 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 called 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 number oi
*2Chron. xvii, 14, 15, &c. f Tacit. Annal. ii. JLiv. i, 24. Sec
'.he supplement at the end of this chapter. || Prov. siv, 23.
Iti Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
people. In order to do this, we must have patience
to go through a short calculation, and not to think
it below us to descend to particulars, which is the
only way of proving it to satisfaction.
Josephus has preserved a valuable fragment of
Hecataeus the Abderite, who lived in the time of
Alexander the Great, and was a courtier of Ptolemy
the First. After relating many remarkable particu-
lars concerning the manners of the Jews, he adds,
that the country they inhabited contains about three
million anires of very rich and fruitful ground.* The
arure, according to Eustathius, was a hundred square
cubits, that is, one hundred and fifty feet, which, mul-
tiplied into so many square feet, make twenty-two
thousand five hundred.^ Now, our arpent, or acre of
a hundred perches, contains forty thousand square
feet, reckoning the perch but twenty feet. So nine
of our arpents make sixteen arures.
I have informed my self of the produce of our best
land, and find that it yields five quarters of corn per
arpent, Paris measure. I have inquired likewise, how
much goes to the sustenance 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 bush-
els 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 Scripture. When God
gave them manna in the wilderness, he ordered each
man to take an omer of it every day, neither more
nor less ;t and it is often said, that it was as much
as a man could eat. Now, an omer, reduced to our
measure, held above five pints, and its weight was
more than five pounds and a half. It was then about
eighty-four bushels per year : consequently, each
arpent, or acre, could maintain but two men at most ;
and three millions of arures making one million six
hundred eighty-seven thousand five hundred arpents,
* Joseph, cont. App. b. II, p. 990. Whiston's edit. Lond. fol. 1737
. t Eustath. ex Horn, t Exod. xvi, 16. Ibid. ver. 18.
Ch. II.] Soil and Produce. 4?
would feed three million three hundred and seventy-five
thousand men.
I know very well this number would not be suf-
ficient to furnish out the one million two hundred
thousand fighting men of Jehoshaphat. He had not
dominion over half the land ; and though all the
Israelites bore arms without distinction, there were
always a great many persons among them unfit for
war. We must reckon nearly as many women as
men, a great many old men, and more children : and
though in proportion they need less food, however
it must require a great deal to suffice such a multi-
tude. Besides, they were obliged by the law to let
the land have rest every seventh year.
But it must be observed that this passage in He-
cataeus relates only to the ploughed lands of the Jews,
and those too that were most fruitful. For if we
take the whole extent of the land of Israel, it would
be fourteen times as much. It cannot be computed
as less than five degrees square, according to our
maps. Now one degree makes two million, nine hun-
dred thirty thousand, two hundred fifty-nine square
arpents ; and the five degrees, fourteen million, six
hundred fifty-one thousand, two hundred ninety five ar-
pents. So that it is evident Hecataeus has reckoned
only a small part. He has left out what the Sama-
ritans enjoyed in his time ; their lakes, deserts, and
barren grounds, vineyards, plantations, and pastures,
of which they must have had a large quantity for
the support of their great herds of cattle. For be-
sides what they bred, they had some from other
countries. The king of Moab paid Ahab king of
Israel a tribute of a hundred thousand lambs, and as
many rams. Other Arabians brought Jehoshaphat
seven thousand seven hundred rams, and as many he-
goats.* All this cattle was a great help to maintain-
ing them, not only by the flesh, but the milk. Con-
sidering that the Israelites lived in a simple manner,
and laid out all their good ground in tillage ; for they
* 2 Chron. xvii, 11.
48 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
had few groves, no parks for hunting, nor avenues,
nor flower gardens. We see by the Song of Solomon
that their gardens were full of fruit trees and aroma-
tic plants ; we may therefore be in still less concern
for their lodging than their food, since half, nay a
quarter of an acre, is more than sufficient to lodge,
not only one man, but a whole family, with ease and
Convenience.
SUPPLEMENT TO CHAPTER III,
Concerning the population of ancient nations.
As popular arithmetic is become a subject of con-
siderable importance, the reader will not be displea-
sed to see the following collections in this place, re-
lative to the population of some ancient states.
The free citizens of Sybaris, able to bear arms,
and actually drawn out in battle were 300,000,
they encountered at Siagara with 100,000 of Cro-
tona, a neighbouring Greek city, and were defeated.
Diod. Sicul. lib. xii. Strabo confirms this account,
lib. vi.
The citizens of Agrigentum when it was destroy-
ed by the Carthaginians amounted according to Di-
odorus Siculus (lib. xiii,) to 20,000, besides 200,000
strangers ; but neither the slaves nor women and
children are included in this account. On the whole,
this city must have contained nearly 2,000,000 of
inhabitants.
Polybius says, (lib. ii,) that when the Romans
were threatened with an invasion from the Gauls, be-
tween the first and second punic war, on a muster
of their own forces, and those of their allies, they
were found to amount to 700,000 men able to bear
arms. The country that supplied this number was
not one third of Italy, viz. the pope's dominions,
Tuscany, and a part of the kingdom of Naples. But
Diodorus Siculus (lib. ii,) makes the same enume-
ration amount to nearly 1,000,000.
Julius Caesar, according to Appian (Celtica) en-
Oh. III.] Population of Ancient Nations. 49
countered 4,000,000 of Gauls, killed one million,
and took another million prisoners.
Athenaeus says (lib. vi, cap. 20,) that by the 1 enu-
meration of Demetrius Phalerius, there were in
Athens 21,000 citizens, 18,000 strangers and 400,000
slaves.
The same author says, that Corinth had once
460,000 slaves, and Egina, 470,000.
The Spartans, says Plutarch, (in vit. Lycurg.)
were 9000 in the town, 30,000 in the country : the
male slaves must have been 78,000, the whole more
than 3,120,000.
In the time of Diodorus Siculus there lived in Alex-
andria 300,000 free people : and this number does
not seem to comprehend either the slaves (who must
have been double the number of grown persons) or
the women and children, lib. xvii.
Appian says, (Celt. pars. 1,) that there were 400
nations in Gaul ; and Diodorus Siculus says, (lib. v,)
that the largest of these nations consisted of 200,000
men, besides women and children, and the least of
50,000. Calculating therefore at a medium, we
must admit of nearly 200,000,000 of people in that
country, the population of which does not now
amount to 30,000,000. The latter historian tells us,
that the army of Ninus was composed of 1,700,000
foot, and 200,000 horse, (lib. ii.) There were
exact bills of mortality kept at Rome ; but no an-
cient author has given us the number of burials, ex-
cept Suetonius, who tells us, that in one season
30,000 names were carried to the temple of Libitina,
(the goddess of death) but it appears that a plague
raged at that time. Suet, in vit. Neronis.
Diodorus Siculus (lib. ii,) says, that Dionysius the
elder, had a standing army of 100,000 foot, 10,000
horse, and a fleet of 400 gallies.
If the preceding statements be correct, what de
solations must have taken place in the earth in the
course of the last 2000 years !
Baron Montesquieu supposes that population is
5
50 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II,
not so great now as it was formerly. Lettres per-
sonnes, et L'Esprit de Loix, liv. xxiii, chap. 17, 18,
19. Travel (says this sensible writer) through the
whole earth, and you will find nothing but decay :
one might well suppose it to be just arising out of
the ravages of the plague or of the famine. After the
most exact calculation which subjects of this nature
can admit of, we find that there is scarcely the
fiftieth part of men upon the earth now, that there
was in the time of Julius Caesar. What is most
astonishing is, that population decreases daily, and if
this should continue, the world must become a de-
sert in the course of ten centuries. This is the most
terrible catastrophe that has ever taken place in the
world ; but it is scarcely perceived because it comes
insensibly, and in the course of a great number of
centuries : but this proves that an inward decay,
a secret and hidden poison, a languishing disease
afflicts the whole course of human nature. See
Mr. Hume's Essay on the populousness of ancient
nations.
CHAPTER IV.
The Riches of the Israelites.
EACH Israelite had his field to till, which was the
same that had been allotted to his ancestors in the
time of Joshua. They could neither change their
place, nor enrich themselves to any great degree.
The law of jubilee had provided against that by
revoking all alienations every fifty years, and for-
bidding to exact debts, not only this forty-ninth year,
but every sabbatical year : for as the ground lay
fallow those years, it was but reasonable to put a
stop to law proceedings at the same time.* Now
this difficulty of being paid again, made it not so easy
to borrow money, and consequently lessened the oppor-
* Lev. xxv, 10, 11, &c, Joseph. Antiq. b. iii, c. 12, s. "3. Whiston's
edit. fol. Lond. 1737,
Uh. IV.] Thtir Riches. 51
tunities of impoverishment ; which was the design oi
the law. Besides, the impossibility of making lasting
purchases gave a cJieck to ambition and anxiety ; every
body was confined to the portion of his ancestors,
and took a pleasure in making the best of it, knowing
it could never go out of the family.
This attachment was even a religious duty found-
ed upon the law of God : and thence proceeded the
generous opposition made by Naboth, when king
Ahab would have persuaded him to sell the inherit-
ance of his fathers.* So the law says they were
no more than usufructuaries of their land, or rather
God's tenants, who was the true proprietor of it.f
They were obliged to pay no rent, but the tenths and
firstfruits which he had commanded : and Samuel
reckons taxes upon corn and wine as one of the
encroachments of kings that he threatens the peo-
ple with. | All the Israelites were then very nearly
equal in riches as well as quality : and if, by the in-
crease of a family, the estate in land was forced to
be divided into more shares, it was to be made up
with industry and labour, by tilling the ground more
carefully, and breeding greater numbers of cattle in
deserts and commons.
Thus, it was cattle and other moveables that made
one richer than another. They bred the same sort
of creatures as the patriarchs did, and always many
more females than males ; otherwise they had been
liable to many inconveniences, for the law forbad to
castrate them. They had no horses, nor are they
of any great use in mountainous countries : their
kings had them out of Egypt, when they had occa-
sion for them. The common way of riding was upon
asses, even among the rich. To give us a great idea
of Jair, one of the judges over the people, the Scrip-
ture tells us that he had thirty sons riding upon thir-
ty asses,|| who were rulers of thirty cities. It is re-
corded of Abdon, another judge, that he had forty
* 1 Kings xxi, 3. f Levit. xxv, 23. } 1 Sam. viii, 15. Levit. xxii,
fiulg. x, 4.
32 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II
sons, and thirty grandsons, that rode upon threescore
and ten asses ;* and in the Song of Deborah, the
captains of Israel are described as mounted upon
sleek and shining asses. f
It does not appear that they had a great number
of slaves, neither had they any occasion for them,
being so industrious and numerous in so small a
country. They chose rather to make their chil-
dren work, whom they were obliged to maintain : who
served them better than any slaves. The Romans
found a great inconvenience at last from that vast
multitude of slaves of all nations, which luxury and
effeminacy had introduced among them : it was one
of the chief causes of the ruin of that empire.
Ready money could not be very common among
the Israelites : there was no great occasion for it in
a country of little trade, and where it was scarcely
possible to alienate lands or run into debt.:J: They
were forbidden to take usury of one another, though
they might of strangers : but if they observed their
law, it was no easy matter to have any dealings with
foreigners.|| Thus their wealth, as I said before, cd*n-
sisted chiefly in land and cattle.
And they are riches of this kind which God pro-
mises them, such as are most natural and substantial.
He speaks to them neither of gold, nor silver, nor pre-
cious stones, nor fine furniture ; much less of other
riches which depend more upon trade, and the in-
ventions of men : but he says he will send rain in its
season, that the earth shall bring forth corn in abun-
dance, that the trees shall be laden with fruit, that
the harvest, the vintage, and seed-time, shall follow
one another without interruption.** He promises
them plenty of food, undisturbed sleep, safety, peace.
* Judges xi;, 14.
f Judg. v, 10. -in tsacbar signifies not only white, as it is transla-
ted in our Bibles, but sleek or shining; nitentes, as the Vulgate has i(
And probably the asses here mentioned might be both ; the authorV
words are anes polls et luisaiis. The word occurs but twice in the
Hebrew Bible : viz. in the above text, and Ezek. xxvii, 18.
| Lev. xxv, 10. Deut. xv, 1, 3. Lev. xxv, 36. Dent, xxiii, If
; ' 9 Cbror.. ii. 17. ** Lev. xxvi, 3, &c.
Ch. V.] Their Arts and Trades. 53
and even victory over their enemies. He adds, that
he will make them increase and multiply by looking
favourably upon them, that his blessing shall make
their wives fruitful, that he will bless their herds of
cattle, and flocks of sheep, their granaries and cel-
lars, and the works of their hands.* These are the
temporal good things which God allows men to ex-
pect from him.
CHAPTER V.
Their Arts and Trades.
WE know no people more entirely addicted to
agriculture than the Israelites. The Egyptians and
Syrians joined manufactures, navigation, and trade
to it : but above all, the Phoenicians, who, finding
themselves straitened in point of room, from the time
that the Israelites drove them out of their country,
were obliged to live by trade, and be in a manner
brokers and factors for all the rest of the world. The
Greeks imitated them, and excelled chiefly in arts.
On the contrary, the Romans despised mechanics,
and applied themselves to commerce. f As for the
Israelites, their land was sufficient to maintain
them ; and the seacoasts were, for the most part,
possessed by the Philistines and Canaanites, who
were the Phanicians. There was only the tribe of
Zabulon, whose share of land lay near the sea, that
had any temptation to trade : which seems to be
foretold in the blessings pronounced by Jacob and
Moses. |
Nor do we see that they applied themselves any
more to manufactures. Not that arts were not then
invented : many of them are older than the flood :
and we find that the Israelites had excellent work-
* Deut. xxviii, 4. f Joseph, cont. App. 1. i, 12. \ Gen. xlix, !?
Deut. xxxiii, IB. Gen. iv, 2022.
54 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II,
men, at least as early as the time of Moses. Beza-
leel and Aholiab, who made the tabernacle and eve-
ry thing that was necessary for the service of God,
are an instance that puts this past dispute.* It is
surprising how they came to be so well skilled in
arts that were not only very difficult, but very differ-
ent from one another. They understood melting
of metals, cutting and engraving precious stones"
they were joiners, makers of tapestry, embroiderers,
and perfumers.
There are two of these arts that I most of all
admire, the cutting of jewels, and the casting oi
figures ;f such as the cherubim of the ark, and the
golden calf which was made at that time. The}
who understand the arts ever so little, know how
much ingenuity and what a number of tools those
works require. If they were invented before, it is a
sign that even the arts which serve only for orna-
ment were then brought to great perfection : and ii
they had any secret, to do the same thing with more
ease and a less apparatus, it was still a higher de-
gree of improvement. But this only by the by, to
show that people were not so dull and ignorant in
these ancient times as many imagine, the world be-
; ng two thousand five hundred years old in the days
of Moses.
But whether these two famous workmen had
iearnt from the Egyptians, or their skill was miracu-
lous and inspired by God, as the Scriptures seem to
say, it does not appear that they had any to succeed
them, nor that any of the Israelites were artificers
by profession, and worked for the public till the
time of the kings. When Saul began to reign, it is
taken notice of, that there was no workman that un-
derstood forging iron in all the land of Israel 4
and that they were forced to go to the Philistines to
sharpen even the instruments which they used in
husbandry. It is true, this was owing to the op-
"Exod. xxxi,2.6. xxxvi, xxxvii, &c. fExod, xxxi, 5, + 1 Sam, xiii, 1 P
Oh. V:] Their Arts and Trades, 55
pression of the Philistines, to hinder them from ma-
king arms. But several years after, David was obli-
ged, when he fled, to take the sword of Goliah, which
must have been rather too heavy for him, and take it
too out of God's tabernacle,* where it was hung up
for a lasting monument of his victory. This makes
me think there were no arms to be bought.
It seems likewise as if there was no bread sold ;
since, upon the same occasion, Abimelech the priest
was obliged to give David the show-bread ; which
intimates moreover, that people kept but little bread
in their houses, it may be, upon account of the coun-
try's being so hot. So the witch to whom Saul went,
made him bread on purpose when she entertained
him, that he might recover his strength. f Every
one had an oven in his own house, since the law
threatens them, as with a great misfortune, that ten
women should bake their bread at one oven.:}: At
Rome there were no bakers till the time of the Per-
sian war, more than five hundred and eighty years
after the foundation of the city.
Were we to reckon up all trades particularly, it
would appear that many would have been of no use
to them. Their plain way of living, and the mild-
ness of the climate, made that long train of conve-
niences unnecessary, which we think it hard to be
without ; though vanity and effeminacy, more than
real want, have introduced them. And as to things
that were absolutely necessary, there were few of
them that they did not know how to make them-
selves. All sorts of food were cooked withindoors.
The women made bread and prepared the victuals,
they spun wool, made stuffs and wearing apparel :
the men took care of the rest.
Homer describes old Eumae,us making his own
shoes, and says, that he had built fine stalls for the
* 1 Sam. xxi, 9. f 1 Sam. xxviii, 24. f Lev. xxvi, 26.
Pistores, Romae non fuerunt ad Persicum usque bellum, annis a!*
urbc condita super 580. Ipsi panem faciebant Quiritcs, muliejrum id
opus erst P!in. Hist. Nat. lib. xviij, c. 11.
50 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
cattle be bred.* Ulysses himself built his own house,
and set up his bed with great art, the structure of
which served to make him known to Penelope
again. f When he left Calypso, it was he alone that
built and rigged the ship ; from all which we see the
spirit of these ancient times.:}: It was esteemed an
honour for each person to understand the making of
every thing necessary for life, without any depe-nd-
ance upon others, and it is that which Homer most
commonly calls wisdom and knowledge. Now, I
must say, the authority of Homer appears to me
very great in this case. As he lived about the time
of the prophet Elijah, and in Asia Minor, all the ac-
counts that he gives of the Greek and Trojan cus-
toms, have a wonderful resemblance with what the
Scripture informs us of concerning the manners oi
the Hebrews and other eastern people : only the
Greeks, not being so ancient, were not so polite.
But however it might be in former times, we are
sure that David left a great number of artificers in his
kingdom of all sorts ; masons, carpenters, black-
smiths, goldsmiths, and indeed all such as work in
stone, wood, and metals. || And that we may not
think they were strangers, it is said that Solomon
chose out of Israel thirty thousand workmen, and
that he had 70,000 that bare burdens, and eighty
thousand hewers in the mountains.** It is true, he
borrowed workmen of the king of Tyre,tt and owned
that his subjects did not understand cutting wood so
well as the Sidonians, and that he sent for Hiram, an
excellent founder, to make the sacred vessels.
But luxury increasing after the division of the two
kingdoms, there is reason to believe they had always
plenty of workmen. In the genealogy of the tribe
* Awroj S'afi<l>i iroStaaiv lots apaptoxs JiAo,
'rapMv fep/ia ftociov, ev^poEj. Odyss. lib. xiv, v. 23,
Here sat Eumaeus, and his care apply'd
To form strong buskins of well season'd hide. POPE.
| Odyss. lib. xxiii, v. 183204. { Odyss. lib. v. 243257. Mann
Arundel. || 1 Chron. xxii, 15, 16. ** 1 Kings v, 13, 15. ft 1 Kine-
r, 112. vii, 13, &c.
Ch. V.] Their Arts and Trades, 57
of Judah, we may observe, there is a place called
the valley of craftsmen,* because, says the Scripture,
they dwelt there. There is likewise mention made
in the same place, of people that wrought fine linen,
and of potters, who worked for the king, and dwelt
in his gardens. All this shows the respect that was
paid to famous mechanics, and the care that was
taken to preserve their memory. The prophet Isaiah,
amongst his menaces against Jerusalem, foretells,
that God will take away from her the cunning artifi-
cers :f and when it was taken, it is often said, that
they carried away the very workmen .J But we
have a proof from Ezekiel, that they never had any
considerable manufactures, when the prophet, de-
scribing the abundance of their merchandize which
came to Tyre, mentions nothing brought from the
land of Judah and Israel, but wheat, oil, resin, and
balm ; all of them commodities that the earth itseli
produced.
These were the employments of the Israelites,
and their manner of subsisting. Let us now come
to something more particular, and describe their
apparel, their houses, furniture, food, and whole
manner of living, as exactly as we can. They rose
early, as the Scripture observes in a great number oi
places, that is, as often as it mentions any action,
though never so inconsiderable. Hence it comes,
that in their style, to rise early signifies, in general to
do a thing sedulously, and with a good will : thus it
is frequently said, that God rose up early to send the
prophets to his people, and exhort them to repent-
ance. || It is a consequence of country labour. The
Greeks and Romans followed the same custom :
they rose very early, and worked till night: they
bathed, supped, and went to bed in good time.
* 1 Cfaron. iv, 14. The valley of craftsmen D'Knn K'i gi chara-
shim, translated vallis arlificum, by the Vulgate, Bnn charash, signifies
to work in iron, wood, stone, pottery, &c. and Joab, the person men-
tioned in the text, b styled by Rabbi Joseph's Targum, the chief or
superintendant of the craftsmen or artificers.
t Isaiah iii, 3. {2 Kings xxiv, 14. Ezek. xxvii, 17. || 2Chrop.
xxxvii, 15. Jerera, vii, 13. xi, 7. xxxv, 11.
58 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
CHAPTER VI.
Their Wearing Apparel*
As to the clothes of the Israelites, we cannot
know exactly the shape of them. They had no pic-
tures or statues, and there is no coming at a right
notion of these things without seeing them. But one
may give a guess at them, from the statues which
remain of the Greeks and other nations : for as to
modern pictures, most of them serve only to give us
false ideas. I do not speak only of those Gothic
paintings, in which every person, let him have lived
where and when he would, is dressed like those the
painter was used to see ; that is, as the French or
Germans were some hundred years ago ; I mean the
works of the greatest painters, except Raphael, Pous-
sin, and some few others that have thoroughly studied
the manner or costume of each age, as they call it.
All the rest have had no more sense than to paint
the people of the east such as they saw at Venice,
or other parts of Italy : and for the stories of the
New Testament, they painted the Jews like those of
their own country. However, as most Scripture
painting is copied from these originals, we have
taken the impression of it from our infancy, and are
used to form to ourselves an idea of the patriarchs
with turbans, and beards down to their waist ; and
* There is every reason to believe that the dress of the Jews was
similar to that of the ancient Egyptians : and, as many statues and
monuments of Egyptian antiquity still remain, we may see by them
what the ancient Jewish habits were. A tunic was the principal par!
of their dress : this was made nearly in the form of our present shirt.
A round hole was cut at the top merely to permit the head to pass
through. Sometimes it had long sleeves which reached down to the
wrists : at other times short sleeves which reached to the elbow, and
some had very very short sleeves which reached only to the middle of
the upper arm ; and some had no sleeves at all. The tunic was nearly
the same with the Roman stola, and was in general' girded round the
waist or under the breasts with the zona or girdle. Besides the tunic.
they wore the pallium which covered the shoulders and back, and way
the same with the chlamys of the Greeks. Indeed all these ancrem
nations seem to have had nearly the same dress.
Ch. VI.] Their Apparel 59
of the Pharisees in the gospel with hoods and
pouches. There is no great evil in being deceived
in all this ; but it is better not to be deceived, if pos-
sible.
The ancients commonly wore long garments, as
most nations in the world still do ; and as we our-
selves did in Europe not above two hundred years
ago. One may much sooner cover the whole body
all at once, than each part of it singly ; and long
garments have more dignity and gracefulness. In hot
countries they always wore a wide dress, and never
concerned themselves about covering the arms or
legs, or wore any thing upon the feet, but soles fasten-
ed in different ways. Thus their dress took but little
making : it was only a large piece of cloth shaped
into a garment ; there was nothing to cut, and not
much to sew. They had likewise the art of weaving
gowns with sleeves all of one piece, and without
seam, as our Saviour's coat was.*
The fashions never changed, nor do they now,
in any part of the east. And since clothes are made
to cover the body, and men's bodies are alike in all
ages, there is no occasion for the prodigious variety
of dresses, and such frequent changes, as we are
used to. It is reasonable to seek that which is most
convenient, that the body may be sufficiently defend-
ed against the injuries of the weather, according to
the climate and season, and be at perfect liberty in
all its motions. There must be a proper respect paid
to decency, age, sex, and profession. Pne may have
an eye likewise to the handsomeness of clothes, pro-
vided, under that pretence, we do not wear uneasy
ornaments, and are contented, as the ancients were,
with agreeable colours and natural drapery : but when
once we have found what is handsome and conve-
nient, we ought by no means to change.
Nor are they the wisest people who invent new
fashions : they are generally women and young people,
with the assistance of mercers, milliners, and taylors t
* John xix, 23,
60 Manners of the Israelites. [Part. II.
who have no other view but their own interest. Yet
these trifles have very grievous consequences. The
expense occasioned by superfluous ornaments, and
the changing of fashions is very hard upon most peo-
.ple of moderate circumstances, and is one reason
that marrying is so difficult : it is a continual source
of quarrels betwixt the old and young, and the reve-
rence for ancient times is much lessened by it.
Young fantastical people, when they see their ances-
tors' pictures in dresses which are only ridiculous
because they are not used to them, can hardly believe
they were persons of a good understanding, or their
maxims fit to be followed. In a word, they that pretend
to be so very nice and exact in their dress, must spend
a great deal of their time in it, and make it a study,
of no use surely towards improving their minds, or
rendering them capable of great undertakings.
As the ancients did not change their fashions, the
rich had always great quantities of clothes by them,
and were not liable to the inconvenience of waiting
for a new suit, or having it made up in haste. Lu-
cullus had five thousand cloaks in his wardrobe,*
which was a sort of military dress ; by which we
may judge of what he had besides. It was common
to make presents of clothes ; and then they always
gave two suits, for change, and that one might be
worn whilst the other was washing, as we do with
our sets of linen.
The stuffs were generally made of wool. In Egypt
and Syria they wore also fine linen, cotton, and
byssus, which was finer than all the rest. This byssus,
which the Scripture so often mentions, is a sort of
* Chlamydes Lucullus, ut aiunt,
Si posset centum scenae praebere rogatus,
Qui possum tot ? ait : .
post paulo scribit, sibi millia quinqite
Esse domi Chlamydum. HORAT. Epist. lib. 1, E. vi, v. 40 44.
As this was a kind of military dress, it is probable that Lucullus had
them principally for the purpose of clothing his soldiers. Lucullus
commanded the Roman armies against Mithridates, king of Pontus,
and Tigranes, king of Armenia, and was honoured with a triumph in
the year 691 . He is accused of being the first who introduced luxury
>mong the Romans,
Ch. III.] Their .Apparel. 61
silk, of a golden yellow, that grows upon great shell
fish.* As to our silk made from worms, it was un-
known in the time of the Israelites, and the use of it
did not become common on this side the Indies, till
more than five hundred years after Christ. The beauty
of their clothes consisted in the fineness and colour
of the stuff. The most esteemed were the white and
the purple, red or violet. And, if seems, white was
the colour most in use among the Israelites, as well
as the Greeks and Romans ; since Solomon says, let
thy garments be always whiterf meaning clean. No-
thing in reality can be plainer than to make use of
wool or flax just as nature produces it, without
dying. Young people of both sexes wore clothes
variegated with divers colours. Such was Joseph's
coat which his brethren spoiled him of when they
sold him ;t and of the same sort were the gowns
which kings' daughters wore in the time of David.
The ornaments of their habits were fringes, or
borders of purple or embroidery, and clasps of gold
or precious stones, where they were necessary.
Greatness consisted in changing dress often, and
wearing only such clothes as were thoroughly clean
and whole. Besides, no body will doubt that the
Israelites went very plain in their dress, if we consi-
der how remarkable the Greeks and Romans were
for it, even in the time of their greatest luxury. We
see it in ancient statues, Trajan's pillar, and other
pieces of sculpture.
The garments commonly mentioned in Scripture
are the tunic and mantle : and the Greek and Roman
dress consisted of these two only.|| The tunic was
made wide, to leave freedom of motion at work :
they loosed it when they were unemployed ; but
in travelling or at work they tied it up with a girdle.
Thence comes the phrase so frequent in Scripture,
Arise, gird up thy loins, and do this. The Israelites
were ordered to wear ribands of blue on the borders
* Gesner. Hist. Anim. 1. iy, de Pinna, f Ecctes, ix, 8. 1 Gen,
xxxvrt, 32. 2 Sam. x!it> 18. || See the note p. 59.
6
62 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
of their garments, to make them continually mindful
of the law of God.* They had the head covered
with a sort of tiara, like that of the Persians and
Chaldeans, for it was a sign of mourning to go bare-
headed : and they wore their own hair, for to be
shaved was another mark of affliction. As to the
beard, it is very certain they wore it long, by the
instance of the ambassadors that David sent to the
king of the Ammonites, half of whose beards that ill
advised prince shaved off to affront them :f so that
they were forced to stay some time at Jericho, to let
their beards grow again, before they could have the
face to show themselves : he also caused their clothes
to be cut off in the middle, and in such a manner as
shows they wore them very long.
They bathed frequently, as is still the custom in
hot countries, and washed their feet still oftener ;
because, wearing nothing but sandals, they could not
walk without gathering much dust. Thence it comes
that the Scripture speaks so much of washing the
feet at first coming into a house, at sitting down to
victuals, and going to bed. Now because water dries
the skin and hair, they anointed themselves, either
with plain oil, or such as had aromatic spices infu-
sed in it, which was commonly called ointment. This
custom still prevails in the East Indies.
We see in several parts of the Scripture after what
manner the women dressed and adorned themselves.
God, reproaching Jerusalem with her breaches of
faith, under the figure of a husband, who has brought
his wife out of the greatest misery to heap blessings
upon her, says, by the prophet Ezekiel, that he has
given her very fine stuffs, and of different colours, a
silken girdle, purple shoes, bracelets, a neck-lace,
earrings,| and a crown or rather mitre, such as the
* Numb, xv, 38. f 2 Sam. x, 4. } Ezek. xvi, 10, 11, &c.
Ite, quibus grata est picta lupa barbara mitra. Juv. Sat. iii, v. 66.
The barbarous harlots crowd the public place ;
Go, fools, and purchase an unclean embrace ;
The painted mitre court, and the more painted face. DRTD.
Mitres, variously painted and ornamented, arc still used by the
ivonrenof the east.
h. VIL] Their Houses and Furniture. 63
Syrian women used a great while after ; that he
adorned her with gold and silver, and the most costly
raiment. When Judith dressed herself to go to Ho- '
lofernes, it is said that she washed and anointed
herself, that she braided her hair, and put attire upon
her head ; that she put on her garments of gladness,
with sandals upon her feet, and adorned herself with
bracelets, earrings, and rings upon her fingers.* In
a word, we cannot desire a more particular account
of these female ornaments than what we read in
Isaiah when he reproaches the daughters of Sion with
their vanity and luxury ;f for corruption was theu
got to the highest pitch.
CHAPTER VII.
Their Houses and Furniture.
THERE was occasion for much less furniture iu
those hot countries than in ours : and their plainness
in all other respects give us reason to think they
had but little. The law often speaks of wooden
and earthen vessels ; and earthen ware was very
common among the Greeks and Romans, before
luxury had crept in among them. They are men-
tioned among the things that were brought for the
refreshment of David, during the war with Absalom.J
We see the furniture that was thought necessary, in
the words of the Shunamite woman who lodged the
prophet Elisha : Let us make, said she to her husband,
a little chamber for the man of God, and set for him there
a bed, a table, a stool, and a candlestick.^ Their beds
were no more than couches without curtains, except
they were such light coverings as the Greeks called
canopies, || because they served to keep off the gnats.
The great people had ivory bedsteads,** as the prophet
Amos reproaches the wealthy in his time ; and they
that were most delicate made their beds very soft,
* Judith x, 3, &c. f Isaiah iii, 1 6, &c. { 2 Sam. xvii, 28. 2 Kings
iv, 10. l| Konopeion from Kuvtan^, a gnat. ** Amos vi, 4.
64 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
decked them with rich stuffs, and sprinkled them with
odoriferous waters.* They placed the beds against
the wall ; for it is said, when Hezekiah was threat-
ened that he should die soon, he turned his face to
the wall to weep.f
The candlestick mentioned among Elisha's furni-
ture was, probably, one of those great ones that were
set upon the ground to hold one or more lamps.:}:
Till then, and a long while after, even in the time of
the Romans, they burnt nothing but oil to give light.
Thence it is so common in Scripture to call every-
thing that enlightens the body or mind, whatever
guides or refreshes, by the name of lamp. There
is not much reason to think they had tapestry in their
houses. They have occasion for little in hot coun-
tries, because bare walls are cooler. They make use
only of carpets to sit and lie u^>on, and Ezekiel speaks
of them among the merchandise which the Arabians
brought to Tyre. They are also mentioned among
the things provided for David's refreshment, which
would incline one to think the Israelites used them
in camp, for in houses they had chairs. ||
Their houses differed from ours in all that we see
still in hot countries. Their roofs are flat, the win-
dows closed with lattices or curtains, they have no
chimneys, and lie for the most part on a ground floor.
We have a great many proofs in Scripture that
roofs were flat in and about the land of Israel. Rahab
hid the spies of Joshua upon the roof of the house.**
When Samuel acquainted Saul that God had chosen
him to be king, he made him lie all night upon the
* Prov. vii, 16, 17. t 2 Kings xx, 2.
$ I have now before me a cast from a lamp, brought by Mr. Jack-
son, (author of A Journey from India overland, &c. 8vo. Lond. 1799,)
from the ruins of Herculaneum ; it is circular, 22 inches in diameter,
and contains places for twelve lights. The oil is put into a large
cavity in the centre which is covered with a lid, and with this cavity
all the wick places communicate. It is finely ornamented on the top,
with the thyrses and masks alternately placed. As there are no orna-
ments on the under side, it is evidently one of that kind mentioned
above, which stood upon a table, or was placed on the ground.
Ezek. xxvii, 24. || 2 Sam. xvii, 23, where they are termed bcfc
orcoucftes. **Josh. ii ? 6,
(Jh. VII.] Their Houses and Furniture. 65
roof of the house, which is still usual in hot coun-
tries.* David was walking upon the roof of his
palace, when he saw Bathsheba bathing. f When
Absalom had rebelled against his father, he caused a
tent to be raised upon the roof of the same palace,
where he lay with his father's concubines 4 This
action was in a manner taking possession of the king-
dom, and made public, to show that he was deter-
mined never to return to his duty They ran to the
toj3s of their houses upon great alarms, as is plain
from two passages in Isaiah. All this shows the
reason of the law, that ordered a battlement to be
raised quite round the roof, lest any body should fall
down and be killed, || and explains the expression in
the gospel, what you have heard in the ear, publish on
the house-tops. Every house was a scaffold ready
built for any one that had a mind to make himself
heard at a distance.
The casements of windows are taken notice of
in the Proverbs,** the Song of Solomon,tf and the
story of the death of Ahaziah king of Israel4j:
When king Jehoiakim burnt the book which Je-
remiah had written by the order of God, he was
sitting in his winter house, with a fire on the hearth
burning before him. Whence one may judge they
had no chimneys ;|||| which indeed are the invention
* 1 Sam. ix, 25. f 2 Sam. xi, 2. J 2 Sam. xvi, 22. Isaiah xv, 3,
and xxi, 1. || Deut. xxii, 8. ** Prov. vii, 6. tt Song of Sol. ii, 9.
U 2 Kings i, 2. Jer. xxxvi, 22.
|| || The fire which the king had before him, is supposed to have been
in a moveable stove, whence the Vulgate translates it, anda coram eo,
plena prums ; and therefore had no fixt chimney to it. And that the
ancients had none, has been asserted by several of the learned, par-
ticularly by Manutius, in Cic- Fam. 1. vii, ep. x, and Lipsius, Ep. ad
Belgas, iii, 75, and that the smoke went out at the windows, or at the
tops of the houses. Cato, de Re Rust. c. xviii, says, focum purum
r'reumversum, pnusquam cubitum eat, habeat. The hearth could no'
'ic swept round, if it was, as with us, built in a chimney. Colurnella.
1. xi, c. ult. speaks of the smoke adhering to the ceilings over tin-
hearth : Fuligo, qu<K supra focos tectis inharet, colligi debet. Sonera,
ep. 90, describes stove tubes, then lately invented, placed round the
walls of the rooms, to throw an equal warmth into them. On tin
other hand, Dan. Barbaras, in his comment on Vitruvius, and Ferra-
rius, i, 9, maintain that they often had chimneys : but only in tlu
6*
66 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II,
of cold countries. In hot climates they were satisfied
with stoves for the kitchen. They made use of stone
in building, especially at Jerusalem, where it was
very common, and they knew how to cut it into
very large pieces. There is mention made, in Solo-
mon's buildings, of stones eight or ten cubits long,
that is, twelve or fifteen feet ;* and those called
costly stones are doubtless, different sorts of marble. f
The beauty of their buildings consisted less in
ornaments placed in certain parts, than in the whole
model ; in cutting and joining the stones, they took
care to have all even and well dressed by the level
and square. This is what Homer says of the build-
ing he commends, and this sort of beauty is still
admired in the ancient Egyptian edifices. The Israel-
ites made use of fragrant woods, as cedar and cy-
press, to wainscot the inside of the most pompous
buildings, and out of these they made the ceiling
and pillars.:}: This was used in the temple, and Solo-
mon's palaces : and David says, that he dwells in a
house of cedar, || to express the magnificence of his
apartments.
CHAPTER VIII.
Their Diet.
**" As to what regards the table, the Israelites ate
sitting, as the Greeks did in Homer's time : and it is
upper rooms, in cceriationibus, which is a reason why no remains ol
them are found, the highest stories first falling to ruin. Aristophanes,
Vesp. i, 2, 8, introduces an old man, shut up by his son, endeavouring
to escape up the chimney. Herodot. vii, p. 578, 579, mentions the
*un shining upon the hearth down the chimney : and Appian B. C.
iv, says, some of the proscribed hid themselves in jakes, some in
wells, some in chimneys. The reader may see more in the above-
cited authors. E. F..
* Josephus says, that the stones with which the temple was built,
" were white and strong, fifty feet long, twenty-four broad, and sixteen
in thickness," Antiq. b. xv, c. xi. Our Lord's disciples are represented
as struck with wonder at seeing such immense masses wrought up in
the walls of the temple. Mark xiii, 1.
f I Kings vii, 9, 10. 1 2 Sam. v, 11. Song of Sol. Hi, 6. ||2Sam.
Ch VIII.] Their Diet. 67
necessary to take notice of it, to distinguish one
period from another. For afterward, that is to say,
from the reign of the Persians, they ate lying upon
beds,* as the Persians and other eastern people did ;
from whom the Greeks and Romans also took the
custom. Regular people did not eat till after their
work, and pretty late. Wherefore, eating and drink-
ing early in the morning signify intemperance and
debauchery in Scripture. f Their food was plain.
They commonly mention only eating bread and
drinking water ; which is the reason that the word
bread is generally taken in Scripture for all sorts of
victuals. They broke their bread without cutting it,
because they made use of none but small, long taper
rolls, as is still done in several countries.:]: The first
favour that Boaz showed Ruth, was to let her drink
of the same water with his young men, and come and
eat with them, and dip her morsel in the vinegar :
and we see, by the compliments she made in return,
that this was no small favour.
We may judge of their most common provisions
by the refreshment David received at different times
from Abigail, Ziba, and Barzillai, and by what was
brought to him at Hebron. || The sorts there men-
tioned are bread and wine, wheat and barley, flour of
both, beans, lentiles, parched corn, raisins, dried figs,
honey, butter, oil, sheep, oxen and. fat calves. There is
in this account a great deal of corn and pulse, which
was also the most common food of the ancient Egyp-
tians, and of the Romans in the best times, when they
gave themselves most to husbandry. Hence came
the illustrious names of Fabius, Piso, Cicero, and
Lentulus.** The advice of the wise man shows the
* Esther i, 6, 7, 8. f Isaiah v. 11.
t Or rather thin crisp perforated cakes, called in Scripture tTipj
naicudeem, such as the Jews frequently make to the present day, and
which are still common in the east.
Ruth ii, 9, 14. || 1 Sam. xxv. 18. 2 Sam. xvi, 1, xvii, 23.
** Clem. Alex, 2 Pa-dag. I. in sine. See also Plin. Hist. Nat. lib.
xviii, c. 3, where he shows that the Pihimni were so called for having
invented the pestle, the Pisones from pounding the corn : the Fabii t
Cicerones and Lentidi from their delighting to sow and rear beam,
vetches and lentiles.
68 Manners of the Israelites. [Part If.
use the Israelites made of milk. Take care, says he,
that thou have goafs milk enough for thy food., for
the food of thy household, and for maintenance to thy
maidens*
Though; it was lawful to eat fish, I do not find that
it is mentioned till the later times. It is believed the
ancients despised it, as too dainty and light food for
robust men.f Neither does Homer speak of it, or
the Greeks, in what they write relating to the heroic
times. We hear but little of .sauces, or high-season-
ed dishes among the Hebrews. Their feasts con-
sisted of substantial wellfed meat ; and they reckon-
ed milk and honey their greatest dainties. Indeed,
before sugar was brought from the Indies, there was
nothing known more agreeable to the taste than
honey. They preserved fruits in it, and mixed it in
the nicest pastry. Instead of milk, they often men-
tion butter, that is, cream, which is the finest part of
it. The offerings prescribed by the law show, that
ever since the time of Moses, they had divers sorts of
pastry,^ some kneaded with oil others without it.
And here we must not omit the distinction of meats
allowed or forbidden by the law. It was not peculiar
to the Hebrews to abstain from certain animals out
of a religious principle ; the neighbouring people did
the same. Neither the Syrians nor Egyptians ate
any fish ; and some have thought it was superstition
that made the ancient Greeks not eat it. The Egyp-
tians of Thebes would eat no mutton, because they
worshipped Ammon under the shape of a ram : but
they killed goats. In other places they abstained
from goats' flesh, and sacrificed sheep. The Egyp-
tian priests used no meat nor drink imported from
foreign countries :|| and as to the product of their
own, besides fish, they abstained from beasts that
have a round foot, or divided into several toes, or
that have no horns ; and birds that live upon flesh.
Many would eat nothing that had life : and in the
* Prov. xxvii, 27. | Plato, Rep. iii. J Lev. ii, 4, 5, &c. Herod, ii.
jl Porphyr. Abstin. iv.
Ch. VIII.] Their Diet. 69
times of their purification they would not touch so
much as eggs, herbs, or garden stuff. None of the
Egyptians would eat beans.* They accounted swine
unclean : whoever touched one though in passing by,
washed himself and his clothes. Socrates, in his
Commonwealth, reckons eating swine's flesh among
the superfluous things introduced by luxury ;f In-
deed, they are of no use but for the table. Every
body knows that the Indian Bramins still neither eat
nor kill any sort of animal, and it is certain they have
not done it for more than two thousand years.
The law of Moses then had nothing new or extraor-
dinary in this point : the design of it was to keep the
people within reasonable bounds, and to prevent their
imitating the superstitions of some other nations, with-
out leaving them quite at liberty, of which they might
have made abad use. Forthis abstinence from particu-
lar sorts of meat contributed to the preservation both of
their health and morals. It was not only to tame their
untractable spirit that God imposed this yoke, but to-
wean them from things that might be prejudicial.
They were forbidden to eat blood or fat : both are
hard of digestion : and though strong working peo-
ple, as the Israelites, might find less inconvenience
from it than others, it was better to provide whole-
some food for them, since it was a matter of option.
Swine's flesh lies heavy upon the stomach, and affords
a very gross species of nutriment : so do fish that
have no scales. The solid part is fat and oily, whe-
ther it be tender, as that of eels, or hard, as that of
tunny, whale, or others of the same kind. Thus we
may easily account for most of these things being
forbidden, as Clemens Alexandrinus has observed.
As to the moral reasons, all sensible people have
ever reckoned gluttony a vice that ought principally
to be guarded against, as the beginning of most
others. The Socratic philosophers strongly recom-
mended temperance : and Plato despaired of reform-
* Herod, ii. f Plato ii, Rep. t See the note on p. 18. 2 Psed. 1
P assian. Instit. 5.
70 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
ing the manners of the Sicilians, so long as they ate
two great meals a day.*
It is supposed, that what Pythagoras aimed at by
enjoining abstinence, was to make men just and dis-
interested, in using themselves to live on a little.
Now, one of the chief branches of gluttony is a desire
of variety of dishes. Too much soon palls, but, as
variety is infinite, the desire after it is insatiable.
Tertullian comprehends all these reasons in the fol-
lowing passage : " 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 tem-
perance, and look upon it as a restraint laid upon glut-
tons, who hankered after the cucumbers and melons
of Egypt, whilst they were eating 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
Jove of money, by taking away the pretence of its
being necessary tor providing of sustenance. It was>
finally, to enable men to fast with less inconvenience
upon religious occasions, by using them to a mode-
rate and plain diet."f
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 like na-
ture : among others the Egyptians, whose priests
shaved off all their hair every three days, and wash-
ed their bodies all over twice in the night, and two
or three times a day .| The legal purifications of
* Plat. Ep. vii, in Init. But had he lived in these latter times, how
great must his astonishment have been, to find persons, Christians,
professing the utmost purity of manners and elevation of mind, feed-
ing themselves four, yea, six or seven times in the day !
t Tertullian adv. Marc. lib. ii, cap. 18, in fine. } Herod. I. ii, Pnr
phyr. de Abstin.
Ch. IX.] Their Purifications. 71
the Israelites were of advantage in preserving 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 devout people have affected to be
dirty, to make themselves more despicable, and to
show the plainer by their outward appearance, the
abhorrence they had of their sins. Thence too, ex-
ternal purification is called sanctification, because it
makes those observe, at least, an outward purity,
who draw near to holy things. Nay, one may ven-
ture to say, that cleanliness is a natural consequence
of virtue ; since filthiness, for the most part, proceeds
only from sloth and meanness of spirit.*
Besides, cleanliness is necessary to preserve health
and prevent sickness, especially in hot countries ;
accordingly we find people generally cleanlier there.
Heat inclines them to strip themselves, to bathe, and
often change their clothes. But in the cold coun-
tries we are afraid both of the air and water, and are
more benumbed and sluggish. It is certain, the nasti-
ness 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 ? Besides, 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 gave his people laws that were usefol so
many different ways : for they served altogether to
inure them to obedience, to keep them from super-
stition, to improve their manners, and preserve their
health. Thus, in the formation of plants and ani-
mals, we see many parts serve for different uses.
Now, it was a matter of consequence that the pre-
cepts that enjoined cleanliness should make a part
f A great man has asserted, " That cleanliness is next to godliness."
And we generally find cleanliness practised in proportion to the pre-
valence of the spirit of genuine piety. Christianity disowns the sloth-
ful and the filthy, as well as the dishonest and the impure.
72 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
of their religion ; for as they related to what was
done within doors, and the most secret actions of life,
nothing but the fear of God could keep the people
from transgressing them. Yet God formed their
conscience by these sensible things, and made it fa-
miliar 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 ves-
sels : 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 burdensome, the
same goodness of God also instituted prophets, who
taught maxim's worthy of him.* ' Wash ye, make ye
clean, put away the evil of your doings from before mine
eyes, &c.' "f So that the people were sufficiently in-
structed in the meaning of all these ceremonies, and
outward performances.
This is the foundation of those laws which order
bathing and washing one's clothes after having touch-
ed a dead body, or unclean creature, and upon seve-
ral other accidents.:}: Thence comes the purifying
of vessels by water or fire, and of houses where
there appeared any corruption, and of women after
child-bearing, and the separation of lepers ; though
the white leprosy, which is the only sort mentioned
in Scripture, is rather a deformity than an infectious
disease. ||
It belonged to the priests to separate lepers, to
judge of other legal impurities, and order the man-
ner of their cleansing. Thus they practised a branch
of physic ; and though physicians are sometimes
mentioned in Scripture,** it is probable surgeons are
*In Marc. 1. ii, c. 19. t Isaiah i, 16. JLev. xi, 24, &c. ifiii,
58. Numb, xxxi, 23. Lev. xiv,48. Ib. xii, 1, &c. Ib. xiii, 1, &c.
i! Aug. ii, Quaest. Evang. 40. ** Gen. 1, 2. 2 Chron. xvL 12. Job xiii.
4. Jer. viii, 22. Isaiah iii, 7.
Ch. IX.] Their Purificatidns. 73
meant : for the ancients made no distinction betwixt
these two professions. The law speaks of them when
it condemns him that hurts another to pay the physi-
cian's charges :* and in other places we read of
bandages, plasters, and ointments ;f 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. | Perhaps the Israel-
ites still followed the same maxims, as the Greeks of
the heroic ages, when physicians, as Plato informs
us, applied themselves to nothing but healing wounds
by topical remedies, without prescribing a regimen ;
supposing that other illnesses would be prevented or
easily got over by a good constitution, and the pru-
dent management of the sick. As for wounds, they
must of necessity happen sometimes from divers ac-
cidents, even in the course of hard labour only.
The Israelites avoided conversing with strangers,
and it was a consequence of those laws that enjoin-
ed 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
offered 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 morals, serving as a
fence against too great a familiarity with strangers,
which is always pernicious to the generality, and
which was still more so at that time because of idola-
try. The Egyptians were strict observers of this
maxim : the Scripture takes notice that they would
not eat with the Hebrews ;|| and Herodotus says,
they would neither salute a Greek, nor make use of
his knife or plate.** The Mohammedans have several
* Exod. xxi, 19. t Isaiah i, 6. Jerem. viii, 22. xlvi,ll. 12Chron.
xvi, 12. iii, Rep. || Gen. xliii, 32.
** 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.
7
74 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II
customs of the same nature at this day ; but the Hin-
doos have more, and observe them with the greatest
superstition.*
They did not keep at an equal distance from all
sorts of strangers, though they comprehended them
all under the name of Goimor Gentiles. They abhor-
red all idolaters, especially those that were not cir-
cumcised : for they were not the only people that
practised circumcision ; it was used by all the de-
scendants of Abraham, as the Ishmaelites, Midianites,
and Idumeans ; and the Ammonites and Moabites
that were descended from Lot. The Egyptians
themselves, though their original was in no case the
same with the Hebrews, looked upon circumcision
as a necessary purification, and held those unclean
that were not circumcised, f As for the Israelites,
they bore with the uncircumcised that worshipped
the true God, so far as to let them dwell in their
land, provided they observed the laws of nature, and
abstinence from blood. But if they got themselves
circumcised, they were reputed children of Abraham,
and consequently obliged to observe the whole law
of Moses. The rabbins call these last proselytes of
justice; and the faithful that were not circumcised,
they call proselytes by abode, or Noachides,^ as being
obliged to observe no precepts but those that God
gave to Noah when he came out of the ark. In Solo-
mon's time there were one hundred and fifty-three
thousand six hundred proselytes in the land of Israel.
The strangers that the Israelites were most of all
obliged to avoid, were the nations that lay under a
curse, as 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
* For several of these customs see the supplementary chapter.
f Herod, lib. 2, p. 116, edit. Steph. 1592. The same author says,
that the Colchians, Egyptians, and Ethiopians, are the only nations in
the world who have used circumcision from the remotest period, am'
* fX T>{ : and that the Phoenicians and the Syrians who inhabit Pales-
tine, acknowledge they received this from the Egyptian?. Ibid. p. 143.
i Selden dc Jure Nat. 2 Chron. ii, 17.
Ch. IX.] Their Purifications. 75
marry.* Moses married a Midianite.f Boaz is com-
mended for having married Ruth the Moabite. Absa-
lom's mother was the king of Geshur's daughter.:}:
Amasa was the son of an Ishmaelite, and of Abigail,
David's sister. 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 :|| there-
fore what the Scripture afterward says, to blame his
marrying with strange women, must be understood
of the Canaanitish woman whom he married, and
that, instead of endeavouring to convert them, he
paid them such a criminal complaisance as to wor-
ship their idols.**
Much more were marriages free among the Israel-
ites, and it was not necessary for every one to mar-
ry 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 con-
founded, ff Besides, David married Michal the
daughter of Saul, of the tribe of Benjamin : and ano-
ther of his wives was Ahinoam of Jezreel, a city of
the tribe of Ephraim. 2 Sam. iii, 2.
SUPPLEMENT TO CHAPTER IX.
On the Purifications of the Hindoos and Mohamme-
dans. Referred to p. 74.
PURIFICATIONS among the Hindoos make an es-
sential part of religion. Several of those at present
* Exod. xxxiv, 16. Deut. vii, 3.
t If our author's comment be right, Dr. Warburton is mistaken 1n
saying Solomon transgressed a law of Moses, when he married Pha-
raoh's daughter. Div. Leg. book iv, sect, v, 2d edit. And Dr. Jor-
tin might less admire Theodoret's parallel between Moses and Christ,
in that the former married an Ethiopian woman, and the latter espou-
sed the church of the Gentiles. There was nothing so particular in
the marriage of Moses : and if there had been, the similitude, I think,
would have been closer, if Moses had married two wives, for the Jews
were the firstfruits of the gospel. See Dr. Jortin's Remarks on ccto.
Hist. vol. i, p. 209. E. F.
1 2 Sam. iii, 3. 1 Chron. ii, 17. || 1 Kings iii, 1. ** 1 Kings xi, 1.
ft 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 of the TRIBE (or HOUSE) of their
76 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
in use among this, people, are dictated by common
sense and expediency ; but the far greater part are
the issue of the grossest superstition. In this latter
class are found many that are absurd, nugatory, and
ridiculous. The following, which I have extracted
from the Jlyeen Jlkbery, will exhibit a satisfactory
view of this subject.
The soul, say the Hindoo sages, is purified by
knowledge, and religious worship. A drunkard is
purified by melted glass. When the body is defiled
by any impurity that proceeds from itself, it is puri-
fied by earth and water, and by washing the teeth
and eyes. Water that has been defiled by the sha-
dow of an impure person, is purified, sunshine, moon-
shine, or wind. If any filth falls from an animal 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
whatever grows in the earth, are purified by being-
washed in water. If they have been defiled by un-
clean oil, they must be washed in hot water. Wood-
en 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 hindoo casts) they may be purified by scra-
ping. The same rule is to be observed of bone or
horn. Any stone vessel that has been defiled, after
be 1 ing washed must be buried for seven days. A
fathers shall they marry. And that the Jews so understood the law,
appears from Judith viii, 2. Tobit iii, 15. This I chose to observe,
because a late ingenious writer, who would seem te have examined
this point, says, it does not appear that there was any other obligation
even upon heiresses, than to marry only within their mon TRIBE. Dr.
Middleton's reflections on the inconsistencies which are found in the
four evangelists, in his works, 8vo, vol. ii, p. 309. Not only the words
of the law, and the practice of the Jews, but Grotius. and the other
commentators which he had before him, expressly taught him other-
wise. See likewise Kidder's Dem. of the Messiah, part ii, p. 416-17,
ivhere the reader, if he pleases, may find three or four other of th<
Doctor's assertions fnlly confuted, E. F.
Ch. IX.] Purifications of the Hindoos, $c. 77
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 isdefiled 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 oJ
the body, excepting the hands, he must scour him-
self 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 con-
nexion with an impure woman, or by any human ex-
crement, 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,* cow's
milk 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 atame dog, he is purified by water alone .
But if he touch an unclean woman, a sweeper, a sin-
ner, 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 pol
luted by such things as would require a man, if touch -
* Clarified butter-
7*
78 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
ed, to bathe, it is purified by the wind or sunshine.
Ayeen 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 burthensome and useless rites, it
would be most joyfully received ? But alas ! so per-
verted 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."
Among the Mohammedans purification is consi-
dered as essential to devotion, and the key of prayer,
without which it is of no effect. It is of two descrip-
tions, the ghosse or complete ablution of the whole-
body ; and the wazoo 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 Mohammed copied many from the
Jewish Scriptures, of which he made a pretty exten-
sive use in composing his Koran. See the Hedaya
Prel. Disc. p. liii.
CHAPTER X.
Their Women and Marriages.
FROM the manner in which the Israelites lived,
marriage was no incumbrance to them ; it was rather
a convenience, for which it was originally designed.
The women were laborious as well as the men, and
wrought in the house, whilst their husbands were at
work in the fields.* 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 people, he says, your
kings will take your daughters to be confectioners, and to
* We learn from Herodotus, lib. ii, p. 115, edit. Steph. 1592, that
the Egyptian women were treated in. the same way.
Ch. X.] Their Women and Marriages. 79
be cooks, and to be bakers* 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, f which she dressed
herself notwithstanding 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.^ 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. For a proof out
of Scripture, it is said that Samuel's mother made
him a little coat, which she brought him upon festi-
val days ;|| and we see the virtuous wife in the Pro-
verbs seeking wool and flax, and laying her hands to
the spindle,** and giving two suits of clothes to all
her servants-It
All this work is done under shelter, and in 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 reason why women were generally
doorkeepers, even to kings. There was only one
servant maid at the gate of king Ishbosheth,||
* 1 Sam. viii, 13. f 2 Sam. xiii, 6. { Theoc. Idyll. 15, Ter. Heauf.
Act. ii, Sc. 2. Seut. Aug. 73. || 1 Sam. ii, 19. ** Prov. xxxi, 13,
and 19, and 21.
It Here our author follows the Vulgate, which translates Prov. xxx,
21, Omnes enim domestici ejus vestiti sunt duplicibus ; and we, for all
her household are clothed with scarlet ; and in the margin, or double gar-
ments; for tZTiiy signifies either. E. F. But double clothing seems
to be chiefly intended, because the clothing referred to is for a de-
fence from the cold; in which case scarlet could avail no more than
any other colour ; therefore our translation) is evidently improper.
Jt 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 Vulgate took it from the Seventy. However, what our
80 ' Manners of the Israelites. [Part II .
who was busy in picking corn. And David, when he
fled before Absalom, left ten women, who were his
concubines, to keep his palace.* The women lived
separated from the men, and very retired, especially
widows. Judith lived in this manner, shut up with
her women in an apartment upon the top of the
house,f and so did Penelope in Homer.!
The Israelites made great feasts and rejoicings at
their weddings. They were so drest out, that David
could find no fitter comparison to describe the splen-
dour 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 complained
that they had given him Leah for Rachel, Laban said
to him, Fulfil the week of the marriage. Samson,
having married a Philistine, made feasts for seven
days, and the seventh day the feast ended. || When
young Tobias had a mind to go home, his father-in-
law pressed him to stay two weeks, doubling the
usual time, because they were never to see one ano-
ther again.** This is the constant tradition of the
Jews, and their practice is agreeable to it. ft Who-
ever thoroughly studies the Song of Solomon, will
find seven days plainly pointed out, to represent the
first week of his marriage 4 1
We see in the same Song, the friends of the bride-
groom and the companions of the bride, who were
always at the feast. He had young men to rejoice
with him, and she, young women. |||| In the gospel,
there is mention made of the bridegroom's friends,
and of the virgins who went forth to meet the bride
and bridegroom.**" He wore a crown in token oi'
author asserts is notorious : for the women spoken of, Exod. xxxviii,
8, were probably doorkeepers, as well as those who assembled at the door
of the tabernacle of the congregation, I Sam. ii, 22. Athenaeus says the
keepers 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 the door
in the gospel, John xviii, 17, every body remembers. E. F.
* 2 Sam. xv, 16. | Judith viii, 4, 5. i Odyss. 1. i, v. 328-330. Gen.
xxix, 27. ||Judg. xiv, 12, &c. **Tobit viii, 20. ft Cod. Talm.
Pirke Aboth, cap. xvi. }J Seld. Uxor Heb. ii, c. 3, Buxtorf. Syn. Jud.
c. 28. Song of Sol. v, 1. |||| Jud. xiv, 11. *+*Matt. ix, 15.
xxr, 1, foe.
Ch. X.J Their Women and Marriages. 81
joy, and she too,* according to the Jewish tradition.
They were conducted with instruments of music, and
their company carried branches of myrtle and palm-
tree in their hands, f
As for any thing farther, we do not find that their
marriages were attended with any religious ceremo-
ny, 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 lsaac,i of Ruth with Boaz, and of Sara with
Tobias, jj We do not see that there were any sacri-
fices offered upon the occasion ; or that they went
to the temple, or sent for the priests : all was trans-
acted betwixt 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 Abraham.** But
yet it was performed in private houses, without the
ministry of priests or Levites. If any body of a public
character was sent for, it was a sort of surgeon used
to the operation, whom they called Mohel : and such
sort of people the Jews have still, ff In all these ce-
remonies we must take care not to be imposed upon
by modern pictures, as I said about clothes.
The Israelites were so far from being afraid of
plenty of children, that it was what they wished for.
Besides their natural inclination, they had great mo-
tives to it from the law. They knew that God, when
* Isaiah Ixi, 10. The Chaldee paraphrast renders it, as the high
priest is adorned with Ids vestments, that is, magnificently, which the
Vulgate translates, quasi sponsum decoratum corona, and the Seventy
in the same manner : and them our author follows, according to cus-
tom. E. F.
t Pirke Aboth. c. xix. Selden. c. xv. | Gen. xxiv, 60. Ruth iv,
11. || Tobit vii, 13. ** See Part IV, c. 1.
tt SniD mohel, a circumciser, from the Chaldee ^niD mahal, he cir-
cumcised. When the operator has performed the act, he pronounces
the following benediction : O Lord our God, the God of our fathers,
strengthen this child, and preserve him to his parents ; and let his namt
among the people of Israel be (here the name is first given.) Let Afc
father rejoice and be glad for that which is descended from his loin'' .
md let his mother be delighted with the fruit of her womb.
82 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
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 Sa-
viour 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 whilst 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,
Saul's servant, ploughed Mephibosheth's estate with
his fifteen sous and twenty servants.* They were in
no pain about providing for their children, since they
had no fortunes to raise for them : all their ambition
was to leave their children the inheritance they had
received from their ancestors, better cultivated if
possible, and with a larger stock upon it. As for the
daughters, they never inherited but in default of male
issue ;f they were sought in marriage more upon
account 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, $ and surrounded with a great number of
children, and grandchildren, always ready to receive
his instructions and execute his commands, and was
under no apprehension of having his name forgotten
whilst his posterity subsisted. Children's children art
the crown ofoldmen, says the Scripture ; and when
it takes notice of the number of children, it is com-
monly in praise of their parents : as those two judges
of Israel, one of whom had thirty sons, the other
forty, and thirty grandsons ;|| as David, nineteen of
* 2 Sam. ix, 10. | Numb, xxvii, 8. t Psa. cxxvii, 3, 4, 6. Prov
*vii, 6. || Judg. x, 4. xii, 14.
Ch. X.] Their Women and Marriages. 83
whose sons are named,* besides those that he had
by his concubines ; Rehoboam, who had twenty-
eight sons and sixty daughters,! and Abia, who had
twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters 4 In the
same manner the poets make mention of the fifty
sons of Priamus, for the Greeks had no less esteem
for fruitfulness. Virginity, considered as a virtue,
was at that time little known, and looked upon in
the same light with sterility ; and the women that
died unmarried, were reckoned unfortunate. Elec-
tra, in Sophocles, bemoans herself expressly upon
it, and this was the occasion of the repining of Jep-
tha's daughter. Hence, barrenness came to be a
reproach to married women, as we see by Samuel's
mother, and many others. || 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 brother's
widow, when he died without children. A law, ex-
isting in the patriarchal times, as appears by the
story of Tamar :** 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 genealogies of Jesus
Christ ; one according to St. Matthew ; and the other
according to St. Luke. ft For thus it was found that
Joseph had two fathers, one by whom he was begot-
ten, and the other by legal adoption 4 1 Besides, the
marrying a sister-in-law was not contrary to the first
law of nature, which allowed marrying even one's
own sister, before God forbade it.
It was the desire of having a great number of chil-
dren, 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
* 1 Chron. iii, 1, &c. f2Chron. xi, 21. J 2Chron. xiii, 21. Judg.
xi, 31. || 1 Sam. i, 2-6. ** Gen. xxxviii, 8. ft Matt. i. Luke iii.
Jt Commentators are greatly divided concerning tbese two genealo-
gies. 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, being the father of Mary.
84 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
valued those of God's people should be, whom he
should preserve, says, that seven women shall take hold
of one man,* offering to live at their own expense, pro-
vided they had the honour to be called by his name.
Thus it is likewise said, that Rehoboam had eighteen
wives and threescore concubines, and that he gave
many wives to his son Abia whom he chose for his
successor.!
They were yet very sparing in the use of marriage ;
they did not only abstain from it, whilst their wives
were big with child, and otherwise 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,; Mephibosheth's, and she that
nursed Joash king of Judah.||
We ought not then to wonder that God tolerated
polygamy, which was introduced before the deluge,**
though it was contrary to the first institution of mar-
riage. For when 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 hard-
ness of their hearts, ff Besides wives, they had like-
wise concubines, who were commonly slaves : law-
ful wives had no other advantage over them, than the
honour of having their children preferred to the in-
heritance. So that the name of concubinage had no
ill signification, as with us. It was only a less so-
lemn wedding.
This liberty, besides, was very far from rendering
the state of matrimony more convenient ; it made the
yoke of it much heavier. A husband could not so
equally divide his heart amongst many wives, as to
* Isaiah iv, 1. f 2Chron. xi,21, 23. J Gen. xxiv, 59. 2 Sam. iv,4.
|| 2 Kings xi, 2. But besides these, it is said that Naomi was nurse
to the child of Boaz and Ruth. See Ruth iv, 16.
** Gen. iv, 19. Lamech was the first polygamist, and from all that
the Scripture says concerning him, there is much reason to fear he
was a very bad man. ft Matt, xix, 8.
Ch. XL] Education of their Children. 85
please them all ; which obliged him to govern them
in an absolute manner, as the eastern people still do.
So that there was no longer any equality, friendship,
or society in marriage. It was still harder for the
rival wives to agree amongst 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
Scripture, it is my brother and the son of my mother.
We see examples of these divisions in the family of
David, and still worse in that of Herod.
The liberty of being set loose by divorce, had 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 ; where-
as, whilst 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 permitted
by the laws.* The children suffered very much by
it too : they were orphans, even whilst their father
and mother were living, and could scarcely avoid
being hated by one of them, and taking part with
one against the other.
CHAPTER XI.
The Education of their Children, their Exercises,
and Studies.
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. f They
formed their body by labour and exercise, and their
* Gellius iv, c. 3. f Plato Rep. 2, 3.
8
86 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
mind by literature and music. Strength of body
was greatly esteemed ; and it is that for which sol-
diers are mostly commended in Scripture, as David's
valiant men are.* Foot-racing must have been one
of their chief exercises, since men were known by
their running at a distance, as those who brought
the news of Absalom's defeat ; they must needs have
seen them run often, f It is also said of Asahel,
Joab's brother, that he was as light of foot as a wild
roe.:}: Zechariah speaks of a burdensome stone,
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 ima-
gine they had that sort of exercise. The example
of Jonathan shows they used to exercise themselves
in shooting with the bow.**
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 greatest improve-
ments in it. They called this art gymnastic, because
they exercised themselves naked, and the schools
gymnasia, whicn were spacious, magnificent, and
built at a great expense. ff There the best masters,
with many assistants under them, formed the bodies
of young people by a very exact discipline and re-
gular exercise. Some took such delight in it, that
they practised nothing else all their lives, and were
wrestlers, &c., by profession. By this means they
acquired prodigious strength, and brought their bo-
dies into such exact shape, that they served as mo-
dels for the finest statues. But in other repects it
made them brutal, and incapable of any application
of mind ; nor were they even fit for war, or any sort
* 2 Sam. xxiii, 1, &c. 1 2 Sam. xviii, 27. t2Sam.ii, 18. Zech.
|| St. Jerom assures us that this was an ancient custom in all the
cities and towns of Palestine, which subsisted even in his days : and
that he had seen a great brazen ball at Athens in the citadel, near the
statue of Minerva, which was used to try the strength of the Athletse,
that those of simitar powers might be paired together, that the advan-
tages on each side might be equal. See his comment on the above text.
** 1 Sam. xx, 20. ft Hier. Mercurial. De arte gymnast.
Ch.XL] Their Language. 87
of enterprise that deprived them of their usual diet
or rest, or put them at all out of their regular way of
living. The Hebrews were too serious to give into
these niceties ; and it was an odious novelty to them,
when there was an academy built at Jerusalem, un-
der Antiochus Epiphanes, after the Greek fashion.*
They were content with field labour, and some mili-
tary exercises, as were the Romans.
Nor had they occasion for hard study to improve
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, because that was as much in the
power of slaves as those of higher rank.f Their
native language was sufficient for them, that is, the
Hebrew, in which the Scripture 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, mot of
which express whole phrases. To be great, to make
great, to be made great, are all simple words, which
no translation can fully express. Most of the pre-
positions and pronouns are no more than single let-
ters added to the beginning or end of other words.
It is the most concise tongue we know, and conse-
quently comes nearest to the language of spirits, who
have little need of words to make themselves under-
stood ; 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 propo-
sition 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
constantly relate the same thing in the same words.
* 1 Mace, i, 14. 2 Mace, iv, 12. t Joseph. Antiq. lib. xx, c. 1J.
88 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II .
And this is what makes us, at first, think the Scrip-
ture 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 altered 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 lan-
guage well, and in writing and reading it correctly ;
with this difference, that it does not appear they had
reduced it into an art, and learnt it by rules. Their
letters were those which we call at present Samari-
tan, because 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 amongst the Israelites to know how to
write : and the rather, as learned men are called in
Scripture Sopherin, that is to say, Scribes, according
to the old translations. Labouring people, too, have
much less occasion for writing, than merchants and
men of business. But it is probable that most of
them knew how to read ; since it was recommended
to all to learn the law of God, and meditate upon it
day and night :* and this study was their whole em-
ployment upon the sabbath days.f
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 especial-
ly of those they were most concerned to be best ac-
quainted with, the descendants 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
* Deut. vi, 6, 7, &c. t Joseph. Ant. 1. xvi, c. 2, s, 3. Orig. cont
Cels. lib. iv.
Ch.XL] Their Books. 39
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 Mo-
ses, the book of the wars of the Lord* is mentioned ;
and in other places the book ofjasher.^ The books
of kings often refer to the chronicles of the kings
of Judah and Israel. Solomon wrote three thou-
sand parables, and one thousand and five songs :$
he wrote treatises upon all sorts of plants and ani-
mals, and he himself complains that of making books
there is no end. All these, and perhaps many others
that we never heard of, are lost ; as those of the
Egyptians, Syrians, and other eastern people. The
only books that remain, of so great antiquity, are
such as God dictated to his prophets, and has pre-
served by a particular providence.
It is not at all likely that the Israelites studied the
books of foreigners, from whom they were so care-
ful to separate themselves. And this study might
have been dangerous ; since it would have taught
them the impious and extravagant fables of which
the theology of idolaters was composed. But they
abhorred it to that degree that they would not so
much as pronounce the name of false gods,|| and,
if they made part of any proper names, they changed
them. Thus they said Ishbosheth and Mephibo-
* Numb, xxi, 14.
' t Josh x, 13, and 2 Sam. i, 18. Our author calls it Livre desjustes,
after the Vulgate, liber justorum : but the Chaldee paraphrast, The
book of the law : the Syriac, The book of Canticles, in one place ; and,
The book ofrfshir, in the other. Now it may be doubted, whether any
of these come up to the original ^tyn ISO that is, literally, The book
of the upright, or, The book which is right, as the Seventy seem to have
understood it, by translating it r 66At u0r. The sacred wri-
ter appeals to the authentic copy of Joshua and Samuel that was pre-
served by the high priest, as the law was, Deut. xxxi, 26, and xvii, IS,
it may be,'fc the tabernacle or the temple, for Josephus, when he men-
tions the sun's standing still, Ant, 1. v, cap. 1, says, This is manifest
by the writings deposited in the temple. The Arabic in 2 Sam. i, 18,
gives the passage 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 Canticies."
1 1 Kings iv, 32, 33. Eccles. xii, 12. || Psal. xvi, 4. Wisdom
xiv, 27.
8*
90 Manners of the Israelites. [ Part 1 1 .
sheth, for Eshbaal 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 ancient truths,
and embellished 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 divinity,
and corruption of manners : but the evil was past
remedy. f
The Israelites were the only people that related
truths to their children, capable of inspiring them
with the fear and love of God, and exciting them to
virtue. All their traditions were noble and useful.
JSfot but they made use of parables and riddles, be-
sides simple narrations, to teach truths of great im-
portance, 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^ and the
queen of Sheba. The Greeks tell us the same thing
of their first sages. || They made use too of these
* Compare 1 Chron. viii, 33, 34, with 2 Sam. ii, 8, and iv, 4.
ESHBAAL, ( ?JJ3tPX the fire of Baal or of the idol, changed into ISH-
BOSHETII ;y^3 w'K the man of shame.
MERIBBAAL ^3 3'"V3 the contention of Baa], changed into ME-
PIHBOSHETH, f\EO '30 from the mouth of shame, both names being
intended to ridicule those which appear to have been imposed in
honour of the idol.
BETHEL ^^ jva the house of God, which, when Jeroboam set up
the worship of his golden calves in it, was called BETHAVEN J1NJV2
the house or temple of iniquity.
BEELSEMEN o^p^ 7V3 J-wd or ru ^ er of the heavens, was through
contempt changed into BEELZEBUB 3131 Sy3 the fly god, or god of
flies; and BEELZEBUL ^3; ^3 the god of dung. In this latter form
the word is read in the Greek Testament.
f Plato Rep. ii, in fine, et init. iii. \ Judg. xiv, 14.
1 Kings x, i. Our translation says, she came to prove him with hard
questions : but the Abbe follows the Vulgate, venit tentare eum in aenig-
matibus, which is the same with the ev mvi^aai, (with riddles or enig-
mas) of the Septuagint ; which is the true import of the Hebrew word
ni"Vn3 oacheedoth, from r\~\T\ chadah, to penetrate; because such say-
ings penetrated the mind, and engrossed the attention more than
others.
Plutarch Coram. Sept. Sap.
Ch. XL] Method of giving Instructions. 91
fables, as Esop did, the fiction of which is so plain that
it can impose upon nobody. We have two of them
in Scripture, Jotham's the son of Gideon,* and that
of Joash king of Israel. f But the chief use of alle-
gories and a figurative way of speaking was to com-
prehend the maxims of morality in few words and
under agreeable images, that children might learn
them more easily; and such are the parables or
proverbs of which the books -of Solomon are com-
posed.
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 learn-
ing 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 America. J
Though the Hebrews had letters, they knew that
words in measure and set to a tune were always best
remembered ; and from thence proceeded 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, the other when he died, to
recommend the observation of the law. || Such like-
wise is that of Deborah/* that of Samuel's mother, ff
and many others : but, above all, the Psalms of Da-
vid. These poems are wonderfully instructive, full
of the praises of God, the remembrance of his loving-
* Judg. ix, 8. 1 2 Kings xiv, 9.
:f This custom prevailed also among the Hindoos, witness the great
ind ancient epic poem of India, the Mahabarat ; among the Persians,
witness the famous Shah Nameh of Ferdoosee ; among the Irish,
Welsh and Scotch, witness the remains of their ancient bards, Ossian,
Urran, Oscar, &c.
Exod. xv,l;&c. HDeut. xxxii.l.&c. **Judg, v. J,&c, ft ! Sam
ii, 110,
92 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II,
kindness, containing, besides, 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 pas-
sions. The Greeks themselves 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.* 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 express their sentiments in a lively man-
ner, than to represent an action, as is done in thea-
trical performances, f
There are no remains of the Hebrew music, but
there are several of the structure of their verse ; J and
if we may judge of the beauty of their songs by that of
the words, they must have been excellent ; grave and
serious, but affecting and diversified. And if we may
form an opinion of them from their effects, the Scrip-
ture 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. 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 example of those
whom Saul met, as Samuel had foretold, and with
whom he himself entered into holy transports of
joy ;|| and by that of Elisha, who asked for a player
upon a minstrel, that he might prophesy :** that is,
* Plato leg. vii. f See the supplement at the end of this chapter.
J See Lowth's Dissertation on the Poetry of the Hebrews ; and
Kennicot's Hebrew Bible.
1 Sam. xvi, 23. j| 1 Sam. x, 5. ** 2 Kings iii, 15.
Ch. IX.] Their Music and Poetry. 93
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 we
contradict all history, it must be owiued that the music
of the ancients was more affecting than ours.
Not that it was an uncommon thing amongst them,
for they were all musicians : and, to confine myself
to the Hebrews, and speak only of such as were pro-
fessed musicians, there were in David's time four thou-
sand Levites appointed for that purpose only,* under
the direction of two hundred and eighty-eight masters, f
the chief of whom were Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun,
so often named in the titles of the Psalms. David
himself was a great poet, and excellent musician ;
and it is very well known how much the inclination
of kings conduces to the improvement of arts. They
had great variety of wind instruments, as trumpets,
and flutes of different sorts ; drums, and instruments
with strings. The two that are most frequently
mentioned, are kinour and nabel, which the Greeks
have changed into kinyra and nabla. 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 accompanied 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 uni-
form. | They sang together, and danced in a ring, be-
ing sorted according to their age and sex, young men
and maids, old men and wives, without mixing one
* 1 Chron. xxiii, 5. f Ibid, xxv, 7.
J^opoy, a dance, and often in the profane writers a company of dan-
cers : hence xfiY eu which signifies not only to lead a dance, but also
to furnish that kind of uniform used by the chorus or company oi
dancer?.
94 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
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 upon occasion of seve-
ral victories, where it is said that the maidens came
out of the cities dancing and singing.*
I do not perceive that the Israelites had any pub-
lic 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 occa-
sion 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 busi-
ness, endeavoured to amuse themselves in an inno-
cent manner : and the Latin word Indus, which sig-
nifies 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 children 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 ceremonies.^ These instruc-
tions, thus joined to sensible objects, and so fre-
quently repeated, could not fail of having their due
\veight. They taught them, besides, every thing re-
lating to husbandry, adding continual practice to
their lessons. And we cannot doubt of their being
very expert in it, considering that for so many ages
it was their sole employment. Now, though this
art be followed amongst us, by uncultivated people,
who seldom reflect upon any thing, it nevertheless
contains a great extent of knowledge, much more
useful 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,
* 2 Sam. vi, 5, 14, 15, 20, and 1 Sam. xviii, 6, 7. f S^oX*, from
, to be unemployed. J Deut. vi, 7, 20.
Ch. XL] Their Literature. 95
both the ancients and moderns have written suffi-
cient on this subject to recommend it to our esteem.*
An Israelite, 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 life ; who thoroughly understood
the nature of different 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 gathered and pre-
served ; who understood the nature of cattle, how
they are to be fed, the distempers they are liable to,
with the cure of them, and many other things of the
same kind, which most of those that reckon them-
selves men of breeding and letters know nothing of;
this honest Israelite, methinks, would be full as valu-
able a man, as one bred in our inns-of-court, exche-
quer, 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
cultivation 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 solicitous about their
intellects, take too little care of their persons, and be-
come unfit for action and bodily labour. Nay, many
grow so effeminate, 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 despica-
ble life.
There were, however, some Israelites that applied
themselves particularly to study, and may be called
*The works of Cato, Varro, Paladius, the Georgics of Virgil, and
many others, contain many important lessons concerning agriculture,
which show us that it had been carried to a great perfection in ancient
times. In the present day it is become a science of the first import-
ance, many of the nobility, gentry, and literati, cultivating it with the
utmost assiduity and success.
96 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II,
learned men, according to our own ideas. It is said,
that in David's time there were men in the tribe of Is-
sachar who had understanding of the times to know what
Israel ought to do.* And commentators say that
they observed the stars, to regulate the feasts and
the whole course of the year by them. The pro-
phet Malachi says of priests in general, that their lips
should keep knowledge, and that they should seek the law
at their mouth.^ One of their chief functions there-
fore was to teach the law of God in the meetings
which were held in every city on the sabbath day,
and which the Greeks called synagogues or churches,^
for both words signify almost the same thing. Other
learned men were appointed to speak there too, espe-
cially 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 parti-
cular persons who had nothing else to do, but the
people in general.
None but the priests and prophets undertook to
compose books, especially history. \\ It was the same
in Egypt. Their priests renounced all worldly affairs.
They led a very serious and retired life, wholly em-
ployed in the service of the gods, and the study of
wisdom. They spent the day in the offices of reli-
gion, and the night in mathematical contemplations,
for so they called the study of the heavens. They
were the only historians. So the most ancient Ro-
man 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 There is neither va-
nity, nor flattery, nor affectation in them to show their
* 1 Chron. xii, 32. J Malachi ii, 7. J Orig. cont. Cels. 1. iv. *.
Such were the schools of the prophets at Naioth in Ramah, where
Samuel presided, 1 Sam. xix, 19, 20, &c., and at Bethel, where Elijah
and Elisha gave public instructions.
|| Joseph, cont. App. i, c- 2-
Ch. XI.] Their Literalu.-e. 97
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 histo-
rians do not set down their own names, nor do they
ever conceal any circumstance that appears disad-
vantageous to themselves or their sovereigns. They
that wrote the history of David have been as particu-
lar in the account of his greatest crime as in any of
his most righteous 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 proper for their purpose with won-
derful 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 exaggerations on pur-
pose, 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 expatiate upon what he had only plainly related in
the preceding books. Thus the prophet Isaiah barely
relates the defeat of Sennacherib,* after having ex-
aggerated, 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 maxims of moral-
ity are contained in short sentences, adorned with
agreeable figures, and expressed in a concise style ;
for alt this serves to make them remembered. In
line, the poetry is sublime, the descriptions lively,
the metaphors bold, the expressions noble, and the
figures wonderfully varied. But it would require
* Isaiah xxxvi, 1, &c., compared with xxxvii, 37, 38.
9
98 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
whole books to treat of their eloquence 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 myste-
rious designs of God : but for any thing more the
Holy Ghost made use of their natural manner of ex-
pression. This is plain from the different styles of
the prophets, and still more so from the likeness they
all bear to the most ancient profane writers. Homer,
Herodotus, and Hippocrates, tell a story in the same
way. Hesiod's instructions are written in the like
manner. f The elegies of Theognis and Solon re-
semble the exhortations of Moses and the prophets.
We see in Pindar, and the choruses of tragedians,
great boldness and variety of poetry ; and the more
ancient Greek authors are the more they resemble
the Hebrews, both in the distinction of style, accord-
ing to the nature of the work, and in their concise-
ness 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 judgment 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 ornaments of true eloquence so proper-
ly, I am rather inclined to believe they had already
some rules, taken from the experience of their fa-
thers, 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
knowledge of grammarians and rhetoricians .consist-
* See Bishop Lowth's Dissertation, and his- Preliminary Discourse
to his Translati m of the prophet Isaiah,
t Dembsth. de fals. leg. et. alibi.
Ch. XI.] Their Music and Poetry. 99
ed; but which alone never made either 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 Solo-
mon, and it is nearly three thousand since. Before
his time men's lives were long, and there had been
no inundations of barbarians in the countries where
arts and sciences had their origin.
A SUPPLEMENT TO CHAPTER XI.
Concerning the Music and Poetry of the Hebrews. Re-
ferred to in page 92.
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 play-
ers on musical instruments, but this was rather by
the permission, than by the express authority of
God. As David was a very elegant poet, and was
led to devote his extraordinary talents to the most
sublime and glorious 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 fond-
ness 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 accompanied on the different solemnities obser-
ved among the Jews.
It is in vain to attempt to trace the use of musi-
cal .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 not then in use. Nor does
it appear from any part of the Scriptures, as far as
I can recollect, that their introduction was ever
* Sec Isa. v. 12, compared with Amos v, 23, and vi, 15,
100 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II
sanctified by divine authority. In 1 Chron. xvi, 42,
it is said, that Heman and Jeduthun were appointed
with trumpets and cymbals for those that should make a
sound ; and with musical instruments of God ; 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. a - nbn TP '*?j kelee
sheer haeloheem, literally signifies, the instruments of
God's song : properly translated by the Septuagint
o^yava TUV uSuv <rou dsov, the organs of the songs of God.
The parallel text in 2 Chron. vii, 6, the instruments
of music of the Lord, has precisely the same mean-
ing with the above, the words being the same, only
run- yehovah is in the latter text put for OTiSs eloheem
in the former. The song God inspired, and com-
manded to be sung ; but the instruments were of a
different appointment.
In the first, the pure and perfect ages of the Chris-
tian 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 conforming the church to the syna-
gogue.
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 with the Eng-
lish version or with the Hebrew text. " These are
the names of the men who were employed in praises.
Heman and Erithun (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 instru-
ments 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 before the Lord God Almighty, the God
of Israel." The Arabic version is almost word for
Ch. XL] Their Music and Poetry. 101
word 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 original, that instru-
mental 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 persons together.
Where poetry had attained such a high state of
cultivation as the poetic compositions of the Hebrew
prophets sufficiently prove, instrumental music must
have kept proportionable pace. According to the ac-
counts of the rabbins, the Hebrews had moFe instru-
ments of music among them than any other people on
the earth. They generally reckon about thirty-four
different kinds. Calmet, who has examined this sub-
ject with great accuracy and critical acumen, Dis-
sertation sur les instrumens de musique des Hebreux,
prefixed to his commentary on the Psalms, reduces
this number by taking away the following, fourteen.
1. NEGINOTH (nirjj) translated, by the Ixx, u^vos
a hymn, and by the Vulgate canticum, a song, signi-
fies those who play on instruments, or the pieces
themselves which are played. See Job xxx, 9 ; Psal.
Ixix, 12, and the titles of several Psalms.
2. NEHILOTH (mVnj) signifies dances, or choirs
of dancing women, from the verb S^n chalal, to dance.
It is found in the title of Psal. v.
3. SHEMINITH (jvroip) : as this word literally sig^
nifies 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 Psal. vi, in the title of which
it stands in connexion with Neginoth mentioned
above.
4. SHIGGAION (p'Jtf) signifies a song of consola-
tion in distress, or a poetic composition similar to
our elegy. It is found in the title of Psalm vii, and
the plural Shigionoth, in Habakkuk iii, 1.
5. GITTITH (n-rvi) a person of Gath, or the wine
pressing, probably an air or song sung at the time of
9*
102 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II
vintage. It occurs in the titles of the 8th, 81st, and
34th Psalms.
6. MUTHLABBEN ({3*?niD ty) almuthlaben, concern-
ing the death of the son. Title of Psalm 9th. In 1
Chron. xvi, 20, alamoth (runty) is used which signi-
fies damsels, or virgins, and Calmet thinks that a
band of female musicians is meant, and that Laben
i. e. to Ben, refers to Beniah who was set over the
band.
7. MICHTAM (oron) this occurs in the titles of
the 16th, 56th, 57th, 58th, 59th and 60th Psalms. It
comes from the root oro katham to inscribe, or en-
grave : and as it is always accompanied with nnV le
david, to David, it probably signifies that those Psalms
were particularly attributed to David. Those, says
Calmet, who wish to make it signify an instrument
of music, only make use of this cloak to cover their
idleness or ignorance.
8. AYELETH SHAHAR (ins^n rirx) Psal. xxii, 1,
translated by the Septuagint, the reception, or succour
of the morning, and by others, the hind of the morn-
ing ; appears to signify a band of either male or fe-
male musicians, or a Psalm that was sung at break
of day.
9. SHOSHANNIM (cniyK>) Psalm xliv, lx, lxix ?
Ixxx, variously translated by the ancients and mo-
derns, 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 pro-
bable the word only points out the rejoicings used on
such occasions.
10. MAHALATH (n^nn) title of Psalm 53d, signi-
fies a dance, such as was used at some religious as-
semblies. See Exod. xv, 20; Jud. xxi, 21; 1 Sam.
gvii, 6.
11. JONATII ELEM RECHOKIM (o'prn oV njv)
The dumb dove in Its banishment, probably the air or
tune to which some particular Psalm or ode was sung
12. HIGAION (jvjn) Psalm xcii v 4, from n:n to
murmur, growl, or coo, was either a deep hollow bass
Oh. XL] Their Music and Poetry. 103
in the music ; or a mournful tune, sung on occasions
of public or private calamity. But from its con-
nexion in the above passage with several musical in-
struments, it may probably signify some kind of harp,
or some mournful accompaniment in the voice like
our recitative.
13. MASCHIL CTJ^D) occurs in the titles of Psalms
32d, 42d, 44th, 52d, 74th, 78th, and 142d; as it is
evidently derived from the root ^Jty to be wise, to
behave wisely or prudently, it signifies simply to give
instruction. The Psalms to which it is prefixed*
are to be considered as peculiarly calculated to give
instruction and direction in the most important
matters which respect the well-being of the body
and soul.
14. AL TASCHITH (nntyn bx) This term literally
means destroy not; and may signify either a depre-
cation 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, 58th, 59th, and 75th.
I am of Calmet's opinion, that none of these sig-
nifies 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, 01
mouth organ, composed of seven unequal pipes.
The tuph, or tambour, the skin being extended only
over one side. The machalath, probably a sort of
bagpipe. The chazazeroth, the long straight trum-
pets made by Moses in the wilderness, and the scho-
phar or trumpet. To these some add the jubal 01
jobel, supposed to have been a sort of musical instru-
ment 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 Pro-
phets, mention is made of nabelim, psalteries or
* See the Note at the end of C. xvj.
104 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
harps : MEZILOTHAIM, cymbals. MENANAIM, differ-
ent kinds of flutes, and ZALZELIM, cymbals, according
to some; and sistrums according to others. SHALI-
SHIM, sonorous trigons, or triangles, and MEZILO-
THAIM, a species of small bells.
In Daniel iii, 5, the following are mentioned. K AR-
NA, the cornet or horn : MASHROKITA, the flagelot :
KITHROS, the cithara or harp : SABEKA, the sacbut, a
species of cymbal : PESANTERIN, the psaltery or a
species of harp in form of an equilateral triangle,
nearly the same as the nabla : SUMPHONIA, a dulci-
mer or cymbal with four strings. The GNASUR or
HASUR (~\wy) mentioned in the Psalms, appears to
have been an instrument of ten strings similar to or
the same with the cythara or harp. As the nabla or
kinoor were the most common, a farther description
may be necessary.
NABLA or NEBEL (Saj) a stringed musical instru-
ment, probably so called from its belly resembling a
jug or flagon, 2 Sam. vi, 5. Psa. xxxiii, 2. Athenaeus
says, " NaXa poivixwv sivai ^fxa, the nabla was invent-
ed by the Phoenicians," which he proves from these
words of Sopater,
Aafvyyot/itavos
And the Sidonian nabla,
Sonorous instrument, is not unstrung.
I\*aXa here seems undeclinable, like the Phoenician
and Syriac vhi). Heb. ^j. Strabo, lib. x, p. 722,
Edit. Amstel. acknowledges that the name is barba-
rous or foreign ; ruv o^yavwv svia fapSa^wj ovofjiarf-ri, vaXa
xai rfa^ux*) /; xai apiro?, xai aXXa isXeiu, " Some mu-
sical instruments have barbarous names, as the nabla
and sambuke, the barbitos, the magadis, and several
others." Josephus, Ant. lib. vii, cap. 12, 3, de-
scribes it thus : H 5s vaXa, SuSsxa (pdo/Jsg' gj^rfa ro.c
^axruXoiff 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.
Ch. XL] Their Music and Poetry. 105
Disce etiam duplici genialia nablia palmu.
Vertere ; conveniunt dulcibus ilia modis.
Its name, like that of the utricularis tibia, (English
bagpipe,) is taken from its resemblance to a bottle or
flagon, (utris,) for thus also ^733 signifies.
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 Psalms, and by the
sacred writers who succeeded, but never once by
those who preceded him. Hesychius says it was
(Wrjpcov a harsh sounding instrument. Others, how-
ever, highly commend it. And in the Adulterer of
Philemon, when one says that he knows not what
the nabla is, another replies, Oux oirfda vaS>.av ; soav sv
wrfd' ayadov. " Not know the nabla ! Then thou know-
est nought that is good." Thus Bochart, vol. 1, p.
728. And from the passage of Sopater there produ-
ced, from what Josephus says of the nabla, and from
his joining it in the place above cited with the xivu^a,
of which he says H ,asv xwu^a, Ssxa xS^ M S *t*W* tifiVf fc TU-TTS-
rau -sXyjxTfw, 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 in-
genious writer, to whom I am very much obliged, has
supposed, a kind of bagpipe, such as Dr. Russell*
informs us is still in use about Aleppo. From Psa.
xxxiii, 2, cxliv, 9, the nabla appears to have some-
times at least had only ten strings. And the Targum,
Syriac, Septuagint and Vulgate, in both passages agree
in this explanation of the word wy gnasur or hasur.
The KINOOR (-OJ3) 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 Jose-
phus, Ant. lib. vii, cap. 12, 3. Edit. Hudson, says,
that the cinyra david, made for the Levites, was fur-
nished with ten strings, and played on with a plec-
trum. From this word no doubt are derived not only
the Greek xivupa, a harp,-by which the seventy very fre-
Nat. Hist, of Aleppo, p. 94,
106 Manners of the. Israelites. [Part II:
quently render it, but also xivu^og- and xivuperfdai, signify-
ing lamentation or moaning. Whence as Bochart,
vol. i, p. 729, has observed, it is probable that the
Greeks Used this instrument on mournful occasions ;
whereas amon^ the Hebrews, playing on the ~nj3
kinoor was a sign of joy, as Gen. xxxi, 27 ; 2 Chron.
xx, 27, 28 ; Job xxi, 12 ; Psa. cxliv, 2, 3. Hence,
however, as he farther remarks, it will not follow that
the Hebrew ^JJ kinoor and Grecian xivu^a were in-
struments of different kinds ; since the same sort of
instruments might affect the mind in different man-
ners,' according as it was differently played upon.
See Isa. xvi, 11, and Calmet as above, and Parkhurst.
Effects the most astonishing and almost preterna-
tural 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 perfectly adapted to the
effects they were intended to produce, and the musi-
cians uncommonly skilful. Of their instruments we
know little besides the names, and even the significa-
tion 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.
Even an infidel who is capable of examining the
poetic compositions of the Hebrews in their original
language, will allow that they possess all the charac-
teristics of the most energetic, sublime, and affecting
poetry. In sacred poetry the inspired writers alone
have succeeded : 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
lull evidence of the exquisite art possessed by some
Ch. XL] Their Music and Poetry. 107
of the prophets in conveying the sense of their words
by their sounds, I shall refer the learned reader, first
to the original of David's lamentation over Saul and
Jonathan, 2 Sam. i, 19-27. This lamentation 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 alternate 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 a warrior, it is in that character he sees
their greatest excellence, and though his imagina-
tion hurries from one point of recollection to ano-
ther ; 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 word swollen with a sigh or broken
with a sob. A heart pregnant with distress, and stri-
ving 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.
.Mphleathah ahabtecha lie meahabath nashim.
Thy love to me was wonderful, beyond the love of women.
Eik naphelu gibborim.
How are the mighty fallen !
nonSo '^3 nan
Wayobedn kelee milchamah.
And the weapons of war perished !
The Psalms afford several instances of this con-
nexion of sense and sound. The following from
Psal. xviii, 15, is a fine specimen.
onm on n'piai
Oobrakkeem rabb Vayhummem.
And lightnings he multiplied and confounded them :
108 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
in which Dr. Delany has justly observed, the rat-
tling and pounding of thunder are distinctly heard in
the sounds of the original words.
We have another striking example in the 10th
verse :
Wayircav hhal kerub waiyahoph.
He rode upon a cherub and did fly ;
nn '933 ^>y Kvi
Wayede hhal kanphee roodch.
Yea, he flew on the wings of the wind !
How astonishingly are the bloicing and rushing of
the wind expressed in the last word of each hemis-
tich ! The clap of the wing also in the word '3J3
Kanphee may be distinctly heard. Could such a co-
incidence be the effect of accident ?
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 those who un-
derstand it, will be found to be surprisingly literal.
" On cherub and on cherubim
Full royally he rode ;
And on the wings of all the winds
Came flying all abroad ;"
But the most complete and striking examples of
the combination of sense and sound which I recol-
lect to have met with in the sacred writings, are the
two following : the first is taken from Psal. Ixxxi, 14.
^ ynw
Loo ghammee shomeagh lee
O that my people had hearkened unto me,
Yisrael biderakec yehallekoo !
And Israel had walked in my ways !
The deep hollow sounds in these words, interspersed
and interrupted at proper distances with strong gut-
turals, 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 affection-
Ch. XII.] The Politeness of the Israelites. 109
ate 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 !
iHJfa D'tJD *S MX
Jlue.e lee, bogedeem bagadoo,
Wo is me ! the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously !
run cma nj3i
Oobeged bogedeem, bagadoo.
Yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously !
I question whether the justly celebrated
B>j &' aKtiav Ttapa 6iva iro\v(]>\oi
Silent, he wandered by the sounding mean.
Iliad, i, v, 32.
where the swelling of the wave and its dash upon
the beach are inimitably expressed by the sounds of
the words ; or the famous
Quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum.
..... the thundering coursers bound
Thro' clouds of dust, and paw the trembling ground.
Virgil, En. viii, 1. 596.
where the numbers of the verse perfectly imitate the
prancing or trotting 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 hemistichs ?
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 ingenuous, they
could not fail of being polite : for we are not to sup-
pose that inconsistent with a country life and bodil>
10
110 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
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 transactions
of life : and on the other, prudence in business, ad-
dress, and propriety of behaviour, and all that comes
under the denomination of good conduct.
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.
The Hebrews did so even before they had kings,
as early as the time of the patriarchs : which pro-
ceeded, in all likelihood, from the customs of the
neighbouring people, who had long been subject to
masters. It was not reckoned ill manners to say
thou 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 oft'
their shoes when they went into sacred 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,* Abigail,! the woman of Tekoah,:}: whom Joab
employed to get Absalom recalled, and Judith. All
these are examples of women, who are generally
more complaisant than men. They liked to speak in
parables and ingenious riddles. Their language was
* Ruth ii, 10, 13. 1 1 Sam. xxv, 23, 41. |2 Sam, sir, 4, 9, 17.
Judiths, 23.
Ch. XIII.] Their Amusements. Ill
modest and chaste, but in a different way from ours.
They said the water of the feet, for urine ; and to cover
the feet, for easing nature ; because in that action
they covered themselves with their mantle, after they
had dug a hole in the ground.* They said the thigh)
when they meant the parts which modesty forbids to
name. In other respects they have expressions that
seem very harsh to us ; as when they speak of con-
ception and the birth of children, of women that are
fruitful or barren, and make no scruple of naming
some infirmities of both sexes which we make use of
circumlocution to express.
All these differences proceed only from distance
of time and place. Most of the words, which are
now immodest according to the present use of our
language, were not so formerly, because they convey-
ed other ideas ; and the eastern people, especially the
Mohammedans, are ridiculously nice about certain
indecencies that have no influence upon the man-
ners, whilst they give themselves great liberty in the
most infamous pleasures. The Scripture speaks
more plainly than we should do of conjugal affairs,
because the*e was not one Israelite that renounced
marriage, and they that wrote were grave and com-
monly old men.
As for prudence, good or bad conduct, address,
complaisance, artifice, and court intrigues, the histo-
ry of Saul and David furnishes us with as many ex-
amples of them as any other with which I am ac-
quainted.
CHAPTER XIII.
Their Amusements.
THEIR easy and quiet life, added to the beauty oi
the country, inclined them to amusements ; but such
as were rational, and easy to be procured. They
had scarcely any but music and conviviality. Their
* Deut. xxiii, 13.
1 12 Manners of the Israelites. Part II.]
feasts, as I have before observed, were made of plain
meat, which they had out of their own stock : and
their music cost them 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.*
The author of Ecclesiasticus compares a concert of
music in a banquet of wine to a signet of carbuncle set
in g-o/d.f So Ulysses frankly owned to the Phaea-
cians, that he knew no greater happiness than a
feast accompanied with music. J We see the same
pleasures mentioned in those passages of Scripture,
where the prophets reproached those that abused
them, but they added excess of wine, crowns and
flowers, and perfumes, as we see the Greeks and
Romans did.
We have a catalogue of the perfumes which the
Hebrews made use of in the Song of Solomon, 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.|| 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 countries to seek
coolness and fresh air. So when the Scripture de-
scribes 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.**
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 rejoicing, sabbathdays, and all other
feasts taken notice of in the law, weddings, dividing
the spoil after victory, sheep-shearing, harvest and
* 2 Sam. six, 35. f Ecclus. xxxii, 5, 6. J Odyss. lib. viii. Amos
vi, 4, 6. Isaiah v, 11, 12. Ibid, xxviii, 3. || Exod. xxx, 23, &c
'* I Kings iv, 4, 5. Mic. iv, 4. Zech. iii, 10.
Ch. XIII.] Their Amusements. 113
vintage, in each particular estate, where the neigh-
bours came together to assist each other.* It is
well known that the feasts of Bacchus and Ceres
had their rise among the Greeks from such rejoi-
cings ; and we still see some footsteps of it among
the country people. f The Israelites had no profane
show r s. They were contented with the ceremonies
of religion, and the pomp of sacrifices, which must
needs have been very great, since the temple was
the most magnificent building in the whole country,
and there were thirty-two thousand Levites 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 Lydia had already invented
games, if what is said of them be true 4 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 plea-
sure. 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 would no doubt have
made them odious to have hunted over ploughed lands,
or bred beasts to do mischief. Hunting prevails
chiefly in the vast forests and untilled lands of eold
countries.
* Isaiah ix, 3. Ibid, xvi, 9, 10.
t In the feasts usually made at the conclusion of harvest, and bring-
ing home the corn.
$ Herodotus says, Clio. p. 45, that the Lydians invented the play^
of Dice, Tennis, Tables, &c. (^tvptGnvai Ss <av rare /cat riav mfav, *a<
riav atpayaXwv, (cat TIJS c^atpi?;) to divert and amuse them in a time of
great scarcity : but the account is accompanied with such circumstan-
ces as render it incredible.
As it does those who employ themselves in this unmanly ami
destructive exercise in the present day.
10*
114 .Manners of the Israelites. Part II.]
CHAPTER XIV.
Their Mourning,
AFTER rejoicings, let us speak of their mourning
and signs of affliction. The ancients did not only
go into mourning upon the death of relations, but as
often as any misfortune happened to them : and it did
not consist merely in changing dress. The causes
of it were either public calamities, as a mortality, 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 present at com-
mitting any great wickedness, as blasphemy, or any
other sin against God ;* to beat their breast ; to put
their hands upon their head ;f uncover it, and throw
dust or ashes upon it, instead of perfumes, which
they used in the times of joy ; to shave the beard
and hair off. On the contrary, 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 sackcloth, which was a
straight garment without folds, and consequently was
very uneasy: they called it also haircloth, because
the stun was made of coarse camelot, or something
else that was coarse or rough. They bared the feet
as well as head, but had their face covered.:}: Some-
times 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 either
ate nothing at all, or not till after sunset, and then only
* 1 Kings xxi, 27. f Jerem. ii, 37. ! Ezelf. xxiv, 17
Ch. XIV.] Their Mourning. 115
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 profound silence,*
and not speaking but to bemoan themselves, or sing
some doleful song. Mourning for a dead person com-
monly lasted seven days ;f sometimes they continued
it a month, as for Aaron and Moses ;| and sometimes
seventy days, as they did for the patriarch Jacob.
But some widows mourned their whole lives, as Ju-
dith, and Anna the prophetess.
Thus their mourning was not, like ours, a mere
ceremony, in which the rich only observe some set
forms. It was attended with all the natural conse-
quences of real grief; fora person in affliction takes no
care of his dress, or of keeping himself clean; he can
hardly resolve 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 manner ; the Greeks
and Romans did so long after ; since St. Chrysos-
tom 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 mentioned, 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 passions. They
sang 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
* Lament, ii, 10. 1 1 Sam. xxxi, 13. } Numb, xx, 29. Deut
txxiv, 8.
Gen. 1, 3. But this seems to have been an Egyptian custom
rather than one peculiar to the Hebrews : for it is expressly said that
it was the Egyptians who mourned for him (Jacob) threescore and ter.
days.
11 Chrysost. art Demetr. de compunet. t. 6.
116 Manners of the Israelites. Part II.]
in every page. See what affliction Achilles is in for
the death of Patroclus, and in Sophocles the bitter
lamentations of Oedipus and Philoctetes. Philosophy
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 he-
roes or saints, though most are not at all better at
the bottom, and are contented to disguise their pas-
sions, without conquering, or even striving against
them.
CHAPTER XV.
Their Funerals*
THEIR funerals will fall in pretty well here with
their mourning. The ancients in general took great
care about them, and looked upon it as a terrible mis-
fortune that their bodies, or those of their friends,
should lie exposed to be torn by wild beasts and
birds, or to putrify 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 embalmed
persons of distinction to lay them in sepulchres.
They also sometimes burnt perfumes 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 divers kinds of spices prepared by the apotheca-
ries' art ; and they made a very great burning for
him ;"f 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 drying spices ; after this they laid it
in the sepulchre, which was a little cavity or closet,
* For ample information on the subject of this chapter, see Joan.
YtcoJai de Sepulchris Hebrceorum, 4to. Lug. Bat. 1706.
f2 Chron. xri, 14, compared with 2 Chron. xsi, 19, and Jerem.
xxxiv, 3.
Ch. XVI.] Their Religion. 117
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 out 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.*
There were women that made a trade of crying
upon these occasions, and joined the mournful sound
of flutes with their voices. f In fine, they composed
songs instead of funeral orations for illustrious per-
sons that came to an unfortunate end. Such were
those that David made upon the death of Saul,t and
Jeremiah the prophet upon that of Josiah
Though burying the dead was a duty of piety, yet
there was no religious ceremony used at it : on the
aontrary it was a profane action, and rendered all
those unclean that were concerned 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. || When
Josiah designed to root out idolatry, he caused the
bones of the false prophets to be burnt upon the
altars of the idols,** to inspire his people with a
greater abhorrence of them.
CHAPTER XVI.
Their Religion.
WHAT has been said relates to the private life oi
the Israelites. We come now to their religious and
political government. I shall not at present be very
* 2 Sam. iii, 31.
t Jerem. ix, 17. Matth. ix, 23. This ceremony is still kept up
nmong the native Irish ; in what is termed their Caoinian or funeral
cry, between whose customs and those of the ancient Hebrews there
is a striking similarity.
i2Sam. i, 17. 2 Chron. xxxv. 25. || Lev.xxi, 1,2, 3. **2Cbron.
xxxiv, 5.
118 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
prolix in explaining their creed : we ought to be ac-
quainted with it, for it is contained in our own. I
shall only observe, that some truths were revealed to
them clearly, whilst others were still obscure, though
they were already revealed.*
What they knew distinctly was this : that there is
but one God :f that he governs all things by his
providence,^ that there is no trust to be put in any
but him, nor good to be expected from any one
else : that he sees every thing, even the secrets of
the heart :jj that he influences the will by his in-
ward operation, and turns it as he pleases :** that all
men are born in sin, and naturally inclined to evil :ff
that, however, they may do good, yet only by God's
assistance :^| that they are free, and have the choice
of doing good or evil : that God is strictly just,
and punishes or rewards men according to their
works: i| |j that he is full of mercy and compassion
for those that sincerely repent of their sins :*** that
he judges the actions of all men after their death jfff
whence it follows that the soul is immortal, and that
there is another life.
They knew besides, that God, out of his mere lo-
vingkindness, had chosen them from among all man-
kind to be his faithful people : ||| that from them,
of the tribe of Judah, and the family of David, would
be born a Saviour, that should deliver them from
all their hardships, and bring all nations to the know-
ledge of tbe true God. All this they knew very
clearly, and it was the most usual subject of their
prayers and meditations. This was that exalted wis-
dom which distinguished them from all the people
* Jos. cont. App. 1. ii, c. 8. f Deut. iv, 39, vi, 4. J Psalm civ,
cxxv. Psalm Ixii. Isaiah xxxvi, xxxvii. Jer. xvii, 5 8. || Psalm
exxxix. *+ Prov. xxi, 1. ft Psalm li, 5. Gen. vi, 5. tt Deut - xxx 6-
Ezek. xxxvi, 25, 27. Deut. xxx, 19, 20. |||j Psalm xxxvii, 1, 6,
xc, 1, &c.
*** Deut. xxxii, 1, 2. Exod. xxxiv, 7. Num. xiv, 18.
ftt Eccles. viii, 11, xi, 9, xii, 14. Wisd. ii, 23. How far this was
their general belief, I must leave to be settled between Dr. VVarbur-
ton and his opponents.
Jtt Deut. vii, 6, ix, 5, 6. Gen. xlix, 10. Isaiah xi, 1, 10.
Ch. XVI.] Their Religion. 119
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 ;* all the Israelites were instructed in
this doctrine, and did not vary the least in their no-
tions about it.f
The truths they were taught more obscurely were,
that in God there are three persons, Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost ;} that the Saviour they expected
should be God, and the Son of God ; that he should
be both God and man at the same time ;|| that God
Would not give men his grace, and the assistance
necessary to perform his law, but through this Sa-
viour, and upon account of his merits ;** that he
should suffer death to expiate the sins of mankind ;ff
that his kingdom should be altogether spiritual ; that
all men shall rise again :|| that in another life there
shall be a just reward for the good, and punish-
ment for the wicked. All this is taught in the Scrip-
tures of the Old Testament ; but not so clearly that
all the people knew it ; neither were men capable at
that time of bearing such sublime truths.
But my design is only to explain in what the out-
ward practice of their religion differed from our cus-
toms. They had only one temple and one altar on
which it was lawful to offer sacrifice to God : this
was a symbol of God's unity : and this building was
the most magnificent in the whole world, to repre-
sent also his sovereign majesty. It was not one only
building, like most of our churches, but a great en-
closure, comprehending courts surrounded with gal-
leries, and several offices for the different courses of
priests and Levites, besides the body of the temple.
The temples of other nations, as the Egyptians and
Chaldeans, had also large edifices adjoining to them,
and stood upon a great deal of ground : but they
always planted trees about them : whereas the Israel-
* Orig. cent. Cels. f Joseph. 1. ii, c. App. 6. | Gen. i, 26. Psalm
xxxiii, 6. Isaiah xlviii, 16. Prov.xxx,4. || Isai. vii, 14. ** Psalm
xlv, 6, 7. Gen. xxii, 18. ft Isaiah liii, 5, 6, 11. Dan. is, 26. t{ Job
six, 25 -27. Psalm xvii, 15.
120 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
ites would not suffer 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,
and twenty broad, and thirty high, without reckon-
ing 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. f At the entrance
there was a porch that supported a great tower a
hundred and twenty cubits high, and twenty broad 4
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, morning and evening, to light
the lamps, and offer bread and perfumes. The high
priest was the only person that entered into the sanc-
tuary where the ark of the covenant stood, nor did
he go in oftener than once a year.
The whole temple and sanctuary too were wain-
scoted 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 different uses. Before the
temple, in a great court, was the altar for holocausts,
or whole burnt offerings, that is to say, a platform
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
* We find two different cubits in the Scripture ; one of them equal
(as Dr. Arbuthnot says) to an English foot, nine inches and y 8 ^ 5
of an inch ; being a fourth part of the fathom, double the span, and
six times the palm. The other equal to one foot and -$ of a
foot, or the 400th part of a stadiwn. The Romans too had a cubit
equal to one English foot, five inches, and -^^ of an inch. Father
Mersenne makes the Hebrew cubit one foot four digits and five lines,
with regard tp the foot of the capital. According to Hero, the geo-
metrical cubit is 24 digits : and according to Vitruvius, the foot is |
of the Roman cubit, i. e. sixteen digits or finger's breadths. The
Scripture says here, the cubits were after the first measure. Vid. 2
Chron. iii, 3. E. F.
f 1 Kings vi, 2, 3, 20. Jos. Ant. 1. xv, c. tilt. & de bell. Jud. I. vi, C, 6-
1 2 Chron. iii, 4. lKingsvi,3. Coenacula.
Ch. XVI.] Chambers of the Temple. 121
court were ten great brazen basins set upon rolling
bottoms ; and that which was supported by twelve
oxen the Scripture calls the brazen sea.
This court belonged to the priests, especially that
part betwixt the altar and the porch, for the laity
might advance as far as the altar to present their vic-
tims and slay them when they offered sacrifices.
The Levites stood upon the stairs of the porch which
faced the temple to sing and play upon musical in-
struments.* The court of the priests was enclosed
with galleries, and surrounded with a first court much
larger, which was the usual place for the people,
where the women were separated from the men, and
the Gentiles might not come any farther than to stand
under the aralleries which made the enclosure of the
120 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
ites would not suffer 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,
and twenty broad, and thirty high, without reckon-
ing 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. f At the entrance
there was a porch that supported a great tower a
hundred and twenty cubits high, and twenty broad.!
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 ;
Ch. XVI.] Chambers of the Temple. 121
court were ten great brazen basins set upon rolling
bottoms ; and that which was supported by twelve
oxen the Scripture calls the brazen sea.
This court belonged to the priests, especially that
part betwixt the altar and the porch, for the laity
might advance as far as the altar to present their vic-
tims and slay them when they offered sacrifices.
The Levites stood upon the stairs of the porch which
faced the temple to sing and play upon musical in-
struments.* The court of the priests was enclosed
with galleries, and surrounded with a first court much
larger, which was the usual place for the people,
where the women 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. f
They had treasuries for the sacred vessels of gold
and silver, which were so numerous that even at
their return from the captivity they brought home
five thousand four hundred ;| vestries likewise for
the sacerdotal habits, arid storehouses, where they
laid up the offerings set apart for the maintenance
of the priests and Levites, widows and orphans ; and
what was committed to their charge by private peo-
ple. || For it was customary with the ancients to de-
posite what was given for the public in temples.** In
other places they kept wine and oil for the libations,
salt to season all the sacrifices, and the lambs that
had been picked out to be offered at the evening
and morning sacrifice, which was never omitted. In
other places they 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 Levites, that kept the
iloors and watched the temple day and night ; be-
* Ezek. xl, xli, xlii. f Gazophylacia, Pastophoria, Thalami, Exedrse,
vid. Jer. xxxv, 4. J 1 Esd. ii, 14. Ezek. xliv, 19. j| 2 Chron. xxxi,
11.2 Mace. Hi, 10. ** Talmud. Cod. Middoth.
11
1 22 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II ,
sides lodgings for those of them that were musi-
cians ;* 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 the continual sacrifice.^ On sab-
bath and festival days the sacrifices were multiplied
iii^proportion to the solemnity, without reckoning the
offerings of private people, which were daily very
numerous.
We are offended at the bloody sacrifices which
made the temple a shambles : but it was the same
among other nations ; and the Israelites had taken
sufficient precautions for performing 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 un-
derneath 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.^ There were others 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 Eli. The priests never did these
things but at the public sacrifices that were offered
for all the people.
After this, we are not to think the comparison of
a pot strange, which we read of in Jeremiah and
Ezekiel, to represent Jerusalem. || These two pro-
phets were priests, and used to see the sanctified
meat dressed. Now they esteemed every thing ho-
nourable that was employed in the service of God, and
the performing of the law : besides, it was usual for
* Ezek. xl, 44. t TOH ev3Xxr/>f, juge sacrificium. i Lev. iv, 1 0.
1 Sam. ii, 13. || Jer. i, 13. Ezek. xxiv, 3, 4,
Ch. XVI.] Their Sacrifices, 123
the very best of people to work with their own hands,
and do the necessary offices of life themselves, as we
said before. Thus, in Homer, king Agamemnon
kills the lambs with his own hands,* the blood of
which was the seal of the treaty he had made with
the Trojans. Thus, when Nestor sacrificed to Mi-
nerva, his own sons kill the victims, cut the flesh in
pieces, and broil it.f Homer abounds with exam-
ples of this sort, not only when he is speaking of re-
ligious matters, but upon other occasions ; as when
Achilles entertained the messengers of the other Gre-
cian 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 superstitions by confining
them to a few ceremonies, than to introduce new
ones.:}: Idolaters sacrificed in more places, used
more ceremonies, and a greater variety of animals :
for they had every where temples and altars, and each
family had their domestic gods and particular super-
stitions. Thus God prepared his people in a dis-
tinct manner for the abolishing bloody sacrifices, tell-
ing them often at the same time by his prophets, that
he had no need of them, that they were not essen-
tial to religion, and that the worship most agreeable
to him was gratitude and purity of heart. ||
It was necessary for the priests to be married, 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.** The same ab-
stinence 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 might not have any
thing about them that came from dead beasts, and
* Iliad iii, v. 290. fOdyss. iii, v. 448465. J Tertull. in Marc.
1. ii, cap. 18. Herod. 1. ii, c. 40. || 1 Sam. xv, 22. Psalm 1, 8, &*,
J.- iuli )\vi, 3. **Lev. x, 9.
124 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
tended to corruption. The Israelitish priests offi-
ciated 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.* The prievsts and all
the Levites 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 lei-
sure 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 t than of any else, they had
tithe of all fruits gathered by the other twelve, and
consequently their share was the largest. They had
besides, the firstlings of all animals, without reckon-
ing their own cattle, and the daily offerings, on
which the priests lived when they served at the altar.
I do not perceive 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;! for they made use of silver
trumpets to proclaim the feasts and call the people
to public prayers ; and the name of jubilee is derived
from a ram's horn, which was sounded to give notice
of its opening. The ancient monks of Egypt ob-
* Ezek. xliv, 17. f About a 30th of the whole. Nearly a 27th part,
Numb, i, 32. iii, 43. and J, in 1 Sam. xxiv, 9. 1 Chron. xxiii, 3. E. F.
t 2 Chron. xiii, 12. '
Numb. x. Joseph. Ant. iii, 12. Lev. xxv, 9. Jubilee in Hebrew
S^V yobel, some say/rom '-jy yabal, to bring or carry along; there is
no evidence that it ever signifies a rain's liorn, though translated so in
a few 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 ; Josephus says it signifies liberty. eXtvfopcav
it atjpcHvei rovvopa. Ant. lib. 3, c. 10, p. 96, edit, colon. 1691. What
authority he had for this interpretation of the word I know not : but
it is full as likely as the rabbinical definition ram's horn, which is now
commonly imposed on it. Calmet derives it from VsiH hobeel, to
cause to bring back or recall, because estates, &c., which had been
alienated were then brwight back to their primitive owners. This ap
pears to be the true derivation of the word,
Ch. XVI.] Their Feasts. 125
served 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 sabbath ; the
first day of each month, called in our translation
calends or new moon; the three great feasts of the
passover, pentecost, and tabernacles, instituted in me-
mory of the three greatest blessings they received
from God, the coming out of Egypt, the promulga-
tion of the law, and their settlement in the promised
land after their journeying in the wilderness, where
they had so long lodged under tents.* 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,f very little different from ours. Thus
we find it regulated from Noah's time, as appears
by the date of the deluge ; but it is thought it began
then at the autumnal equinox. Moses was ordered
to begin it in spring, in the month Abib, which was
that of the passover ;| 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
oome from the old year that began in the month of
March. Thus, the eighth month was October, at least
part of it ; the ninth happened in November, and so
en. They computed their month by the moon, at
least in later times ; not astronomically, but accord-
ing 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, that
is to say, times of real joy. All the men were obli-
ged to be at Jerusalem at the great feasts of the pass-
over, pentecost, and tabernacles, and the women
were permitted to come too. The concourse was
then very great ; every body dressed and adorned
themselves intheir best clothes. They had the plea-
* Lev. xxiii. | In Gen. vii, 11, compared with viii, 3, 4, we see on
fcundred and fifty days are equal to five months. 1 Expel, xiij, 4,
u*
12G Manners of the Israelites. [Part If.
sure 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.
We must not wonder, therefore, if it was agreea-
ble 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 life there ;*
that they went thither in great troops, singing and
playing on instruments ; and that, on the contrary,
they thought themselves unhappy when they could not
be there, which David so often laments in his exile. t
CHAPTER XVII.
Their Fasts and Vows.
FASTING days were quite the reverse of festivals.
Upon those they did all that I have related in speak-
ing of mourning : for fasting and mourning with
them were the same thing. It did not consist there-
fore only in eating later, but being afflicted in all re-
spects. They spent the whole day without eating
or drinking till night. :{: 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 ex-
pressed every other sign of affliction. The public
fasts were proclaimed by sound of trumpet, as well
as the feasts :|| all the people at Jerusalem met to-
gether in the temple, and at other places in the pub-
lic square : they read lessons out of the law, and the
most venerable old men exhorted the people to con-
fess their sins and repent of them. They never
* Psa. cxxii, 1. Ixxxiv, 1, &c. \ Psa. xlii, 4. xliii, 3, 4. J Isa. Iviii, /J.
See an enumeration of the fasts of the Hindoos and Mohamme-
dans, at the end of this chapter
|| 1 Kings x*i, 12= Joel ii, 15, 16, &c.
Oh. XVII.] Their Vows. 127
married upon those days ; such as were already
married separated themselves from their wives.
The law had appointed but one fast day, the tenth
of the seventh month, which was the feast of atone-
ment :* but from the time of the prophet Zachariah
they reckoned three more ; one in the fourth month,
one in the fifth, and another in the tenth. f 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 sick-
ness of his child, that was the offspring of his great
crime :\ for the death of Abner, and upon many
other occasions mentioned in the Psalms. j| 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 VQWS and oaths.
As to vows, the instance of Jephthah is but too con-
vincing:** and for oaths, Joshua kept the promise
he made to the Gibeomtes,ff 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 transgressing the order he had
made with an oath,|| 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 lati-
tude in interpreting them. Swearing by the name of
God was an act of religion ; for this oath distin-
guished the Israelites from those that swore by the
name of false gods : this is to be understood of law-
ful 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 itself. Thence came
those great treasures in Solomon's temple, which
were made up of the offerings of David, Samuel,
* LCT. xvi, 29, &c. | Zech. viii, 19. } 2 Sam. xii, 16. Ibid, iii,
3rl. || Psalm xxxv, 13, 14. Ixix, 10, 11. ** Judg. xi, 35. ft Josh, ix,
19. tf 1 Sam. xiv, 27. Psalm Ixiii, 11.
128 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
Saul, Abner, and Joab.* It was chiefly of the booty
taken from enemies. The Gentiles made such offer-
ings 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
Cro3sus sent to obtain favourable oracles. f
The most considerable vow was that of the Naza-
rites, 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 impu-
rities, particularly from coming near dead bodies. :
The rule of the Rechabites seems to be founded upon
such vows. The author of it was Jonadab the son
of Rechab, who lived in the time of Jehu king of
Israel, and the prophet Elisha. He forbade his chik
dren to drink wine, build houses, to plant, have lands,
or vineyards. {I They abode therefore under tents,
employing themselves in all probability as the Levites
did, in breeding cattle, and exactly imitating the pas-
toral life of the patriarchs : they were married, and
inviolably 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 XVII.
Concerning the Fasts of the Hindoos and Moham-
medans.
As the Hindoos and Mohammedans approach near-
est in their religious austerities to the ancient He-
brews, the following concise view of the fasts prac-
tised among them, taken from the best authorities,
will not be considered an unprofitable 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.
* 1 Chron. xxvi, 27. | Herodot. I i, p. 91,22. \ Numb. T}, 121'.
$ 2 Kings x, 15. || Jerem. xxxv, .
Oh. XVII.] Hindoo and Mohammedan Fasts. 129
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.
6th. Called chanderaym, which is to eat one mouth-
ful only on the first day, two on the second, 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 supported I cannot
tell. Though it is prescribed in their law, it is not
likely that it is ever observed, 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 handful if it be
brought to him, if not he takes nothing. 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.
llth. Lasts fourteen days: three days and three
nights he eats nothing but leaves ; three days and
three nights nothing but the Indian fig ; three days
and three nights nothing but the seed of the Lotus ;
three days and three nights nothing but Peepul
leaves ; three days and three nights the expressed
juice of a particular kind of grass called Doobah.
130 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
12th. Lasts a week: 1st day he eats milk; 3d,
milk curds ; 3d, Ghee, i. e. clarified butter ; 4th,
cow's urine ; 6th, cow's dung ; 6th, water ; 7th,
nothing : plays at no game ; has no connexion with
women ; neither shaves nor anoints himself, and
bestows alms each day. Jlyeen Jlkbery, vol. iii, p.
247250.
MOHAMMEDAN PASTS.
Fasting is considered by the Mohammedans as an
essential part of piety. Their orthodox divines term
it the gale of religion: with them it is of two kinds,
voluntary and incumbent ; and it is distinguished by
the J\fosliman doctors into three degrees : 1st. Ab-
stinence from every kind of nourishment or carnal
indulgence. 2d. Restraining the various members
from every thing which might excite sinful or corrupt
desires. 3d. The abstracting the mind wholly from
worldly cares, and fixing it exclusively upon God.
Their great annual fast is kept on the month Ram-
zan, 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
required 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 Mohamme-
dan Lent. Any breach of the duty of fasting, espe-
cially in the month Ramzan, must be expiated by a
donation of alms to the poor.
The Nifl or voluntary fasts are those not enjoined
by the law, but which a man imposes on himself for
some particular reason. They are often sufficiently
severe. All fasting is considered in the light of
making atonement for sin. The common sense of
all nations agreeing in this, that sin requires an expi-
Ch. XVIII.] Their Prophets. 131
ation : but the Christian religion alone shows the
true one. See Hedayah. Prel. Dis. p. Iv.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Their Prophets.
ANOTHER sort of religious people, and much more
considerable (than the Rechabites)were the prophets.
There was a great number of them from Samuel's
time: witness that company which Saul met, who
prophesied at the sound of instruments, transported
by the Spirit of God ;* and that other company which
prophesied before Samuel, and seem to have been his
disciples. f But it does not appear that there ever
were so many, as from the days of Elijah and Elisha to
the Babylonish 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 woman, who
lodged Elisha when he went by Shunem, had a cham-
ber, as I said, built and furnished for him, \ where he
lived 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
would not let her touch the prophet's feet. 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.||
Two other of this prophet's miracles show that his
disciples lived in societies ; that of the herb pottage
which he made wholesome, and shat of the barley
bread which he multiplied ;** which shows also the
plainness of their food. There were a hundred pro-
phets 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
* 1 Sam. x, 5. f Ibid, xix, 20. J 2 Kings iv, 10. Ibid. ver. 27.
:| 2 Kings v, 10. +* 2 Kings iv, 38, 41, 43, 44.
132 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
build with, and were so poor, that one of them was
obliged to borrow a hatchet.*
Their dress was sackcloth or haircloth, that is
mourning, to show they were always in affliction 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 about his loins. t
Thus, when God bids Isaiah undress himself, he
orders him to loose his sackcloth from off his loins, j
It appears that the two great prophets mentioned in
the Revelation were both clothed in sackcloth.
The prophets, at least some of them, were never-
theless married men ; and that widow whose oil
Elisha multiplied, was a prophet's widow. || 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 pro-
phet's son, but only a herdsman ;'** to show that he
did not prophesy by profession, but by an extraordi-
nary 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, ft because
the two first were kings, living delicately and magni-
ficently ; 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, preserved
the purest tradition of the true religion : their employ-
ment was meditating upon the law of God, praying to
him often day and night, both for themselves and
others, and inuring themselves to the practice of
every virtue. They instructed their disciples, ex-
* 2 Kings vi, 5. f 2 Kings i, 8. t Isaiah xx, 2. Rev. xi, 3.
II 2 Kings iv, 1. ** Amos vii, 14. -H Ecclus. xlix, 10.
h. XVIII.] Their Prophets. 133
plained 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 hea-
ven, after the Messiah should come, that were hidden
under allegories of things sensible and seemingly
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 hap-
pen to them.* This liberty which they took of speak-
ing the most disagreeable truths, even to kings, made
them hated, and cost many of them their lives.
However, there were many impostors, who coun-
terfeited the outward demeanour of true prophets;
wore sackcloth as they did ; spake the same language,
pretending they were also inspired by God :f but
they took care not to foretell any thing that would be
disagreeable either to the prince or the people. The
false gods also had their prophets, as the eight hun-
dred and fifty whom Elijah caused to be slain. J Of
the same sort were the soothsayers among the
Greeks, who were called mantels fjuwsis, as 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 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 believed 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 tho-
roughly 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.
* 1 Kings xxi, 20. f Zech. xiii, 4. J 1 Kings xviii, 19 and 40.
12
J34 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
CHAPTER XIX.
Their Idolatry.*
THIS propensity to idolatry appears to us very
strange and absurd in the manners of the Israelites ;
and hence many have imagined 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 almighty.
The most ignorant country people know this truth
distinctly ; we conclude, therefore, 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. How-
ever, we cannot call the Romans, Greeks, Egyptians,
Syrians, and other people of antiquity, ignorant and
barbarians, from whom all arts, human learning, and
politeness 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 perfectly 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
whilst he continues in the state of corrupted nature,
he has no notion of spiritual things ; he thinks of
nothing but matter and corporeal subjects, and makes
light of whatsoever does not fall within the compass
of his senses ; nor does any thing appear 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
* On the origin and progress of idolatry, see Maimmides de idotatria,
cum interpretatwne et notis Dionysii Vossil, 4to. Amst. 16-12, which
contains a great variety of curious matter.
Ch. XIX.] Their Idolatry. 135
in the air. Yet these men are brought up in the true
religion, in the knowledge of God, in a belief of the
immortality of the soul, and a future state. What
sentiments had the ancient Gentiles, who never heard
these things mentioned, and had only objects 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 v The design of their
bodily exercises, and all that gymnastic regimen
which they made so much noise about, was to pre-
serve and increase their health, strength, dexterity,
and beauty ; and they carried that art to the utmost
perfection. Painting, sculpture, and architecture
delight the eyes ; and they had advanced them to
such a pitch, that their villas, cities, and whole coun-
try, 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 imagina-
tion, which has the same objects, and produces the
like effects. Their laws, 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 be fit for war ; and that every body
should be protected from being injured, either by
strangers or bad neighbours.
They studied the good of the soul so little that
they depraved it extremely by the too great care
they took in improving the body. It was of danger-
ous consequence to expose statues and pictures, even
the most obscene, in every part naked and uncovered:
and the danger was still greater to painters and sculp-
tors, who copied from the life. No matter, there
136 Manners of the Israelites. [Part H.
was a necessity for gratifying the lust of the eyes.
It is well known at what a degree of debauchery the
Greeks were arrived by these fine customs : they
practised the most abominable lewdness, and not
only practised, but held it in esteem. Their music
and poetry likewise fomenting the same vices, both
excited and kept up jealousies and mortal hatred
betwixt the poets, the actors, and spectators ; and
particular 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 : instead of
improving, it was prejudicial to their morals. Now
the rise of all these evils was man's forgetting himself
and his spiritual nature. 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 themselves
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 some, and that each
nation, city, and family, had deities peculiar to itself.
They fancied they were immortal, and, to make them
happy, attributed to them all sorts of pleasures,
("without which they thought there could be no true
felicity,) and even the most shameful debaucheries :
which afterwards again served to countenance their
own passions by the example of their gods. They
were not content with imagining them either in hea-
ven 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.
Ch. XIX.] Their Idolatry. 137
Their worship was of a piece with their belief.*
It was wholly founded 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 Bacchus. f The Olympic games,
and other trials of skill, so much celebrated in history,
were instituted in honour of their gods. In short, all
the Grecian shows were acts of religion, and it was
a piece of devotion, in their way, to assist at the most
scandalous of Aristophanes's comedies. Thus, their
chief business in time of peace was taking care of the
sacred combats and theatrical 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;!
Their religion then was not a doctrine of morality,
like the true religion ; they reckoned him a saint
that was neither murderer, traitor, nor guilty of per-
jury ; who avoided the company of those that had
committed such crimes, who kept up the rights of
hospitality and places of refuge, who faithfully per-
formed his vows, and gave liberally towards sacrifices
and public shows. Religion was looked upon as a
trade ;j| 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 villanous actions with which
he fills his metamorphosis, concludes with a descrip-
tion of his devotions,** that is, how officious h^e was
to get himself initiated into all sorts of mysteries, and
how exact in observing all the ceremonies of them.
Debauchery was so far from being condemned by
religion, that it was sometimes enjoined : there was
no celebrating the Bacchanal feasts in a proper man-
ner without getting drunk,ff and there were women
* Wisdom xiv, 2729. f Tcrtull. de Spect. August. 2. de Civ. Dei.
i Demosth. Philipp. 5. August, de vera Relig. in init. j| Plate Euty-
phron. ** Apul. 1. i. jt Clem. Alex, in protrept.
12*
138 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
that prostituted themselves in honour of Venus, par-
ticularly 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 thought
kind and beneficent. But for the infernal deities,
Hecate, the Eumenides, or Furies, the Parcse, or
Destinies, and others, with the stories of whom they
were terrified, they were to be appeased with noc-
turnal sacrifices and frightful inhuman ceremonies.
Some buried men alive ; others sacrificed children,
and sometimes their own :* as the worshippers of
Moloch mentioned with so much detestation in Scrip-
ture, who still kept up this abominable custom in
Africa in Tertullian's time.f
To this fear and dread were owing all the rest of
their cruel and troublesome superstitions ; as letting
themselves blood with lancets, or cutting themselves
with knives, as the false prophets of Baal and the
priests of Cybele did \% as their fasting, and bathing-
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 pro-
digies, according to the interpretation of their sooth-
sayers. These were the remedies by which they
imagined they could prevent sickness, plagues, hail,
and famine. For upon such occasions mankind is
apt rather to do things that are of no use at all, than
to omit any thing that may be thought serviceable.
All their lustrations or expiations for crimes were
troublesome superstitions of this sort : they consisted
in purifying the body by water or fire, and perform-
ing certain sacrifices ; but there was no mention ot
either repentance or conversion.
* Wisd. xiv, 23. t Tertull. Apol. c. 9. J 1 Kings xviii, 28.
Jupiter, ingentes qui das adimisque dolores,
Frigida si puerum quartana reliquerit ; illo
Mane die, quo tu indicis jejunia, nudus
In Tiberi stabit. Hor. Lib. II, Sat. iii, 238292.
Jupiter, thou who inflictest and removest great calamities,
Jf this shivering ague shall leave my son,
He shall stand naked in the Tiber on the morning of thy fast day
Ch. XIX.] Their Idolatry. 139
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 Macedonians, they had made no great progress
in such learning as might cure them of superstition.
They excelled in aits ; their laws were wise : in a
word, they had brought every thing to perfection that
makes life easy and agreeable : but they took little
pains in the speculative sciences, geometry, astrono-
my, and physics. The anatomy of plants and animals,
the knowledge of minerals and meteors, the form of
the earth, the course of the planets, arid 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 superstitions and fables.
As these sciences depend chiefly upon experience,
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,
divination, and magic ; ,however, we find but too
many that give ear to astrologers and such impostors,
not only peasants and ignorant people of the lowest
sort, but ladies that value themselves upon their wit,
politeness, and knowledge ; and men that, notwith-
standing they have had a good education, set up for
freethinkers, and cannot possibly submit to the dic-
tates of true religion.
What then must be the case when all this nonsense
made a part of religion ; when conjurers were taken
for men really inspired ; when astrology, pyromancy,
necromancy, and such knaveries, were esteemed di-
vine knowledge ? How was it possible to resist the
authority of the priests, who gravely recounted an
140 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
infinite series of proofs in confirmation of their doc-
trine, 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 philo-
sophical manner ; and if they had known, they must
have been very bold to have contradicted them.*
A proneness to idolatry was not therefore peculiar
to the Israelites. It was a general evil; and the
hardness of heart with which the Scripture so often
reproaches them, is not for their being more attached
to earthly thii gs than other people, but for being so
much as they were, after having received such par-
ticular 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 Israelite was out of his own country, and
among infidels, they reproached him with having 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 tcas.f Weak minds were staggered with
these attacks, and ofteii gave way to them.
The propensity that all mankind has to pleasure
heightened the temptation : as th^e heathen feasts were
very frequent and magnificent^ curiosity easily pre-
vailed upon young people, especially women, to go
and see the pomp of their processions, the manner of
* The intelligent Abb<5 had no doubt the case of Galileo in view
when he wrote the above. This great philosopher, for asserting the
true system of the world, was twice imprisoned by the holy infallible
inquisition, in 1612 and 1632 ; obliged to renounce his heretical opi-
nions, 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 pub-
licly burnt at Rome ! The doctrine, for which he was persecuted, is
now believed by the Pope and all his conclave !
f Psalm xliii, 3.
Ch. XIX.] Their Idolatry. 141
dressing out the victims, the dancing, the choirs of
music, and ornaments of their temples. Some offi-
cious body engaged them to take a place at ttie feast,
and eat the meat that was offered to idols, or come
and lodge at his house. They made acquaintance
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 Midian-
itish women,* who were the strange women that per-
verted Solomon.
Besides, 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 tabernacles : a very few for people that
lived in plenty, and in a climate that inclined them
to pleasure . as they lived in the country, employed
in husbandry, they could not conveniently meet
together but at feasts, and for that reason were
obliged to borrow some of strangers, 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, often prefer the possession of tem-
poral things to the hope of eternal ? And do not we
endeavour to reconcile many diversions with the
gospel, which all antiquity has judged inconsistent
with it, and against which our instructers are daily
exclaiming ? It is true we hold idolatry in detestation,
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 imagine 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
* Numb, T, 13,
142 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
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 nations, particularly among the
Greeks and Egyptians ; who were in other respect?
the most enlightened.
CHAPTER XX.
Their political State, Liberty, and domestic Power.
AFTER religion we must say something of the poli-
tical 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 depen-
dencies which are so common 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 appears from his reproof deli-
vered to them by Samuel, when they asked for a
king :f and Gideon seemed to be well apprised of it,
since, when they offered to make him king, and
secure the kingdom to his posterity, he answered
generously, * I will not rule over you, neither shall
my son rule over you ; the Lord shall rule over you.:]:
Their government was therefore neither a mo-
narchy, aristocracy, nor democracy, but a theocra-
* And here we may see the absolute necessity of that holy Spirit
which the gospel has promised, to purify thu heart from all its defile-
ments, to bring life and immortality to light, and to give us corren
notions of that infinitely pure and holy Being, who is to be worship-
ped in spirit and in truth.
t 1 Sam. x, 18, &c. J Judg. viii, 23.
Ch. XX.] Their Political State. 143
cy,* as Josephus calls it : that is, God himself govern-
ed them immediately by the law that he had given
them. As long as they observed it faithfully they
lived in freedom and safety ; as soon as they trans-
gressed it to follow their own imaginations they fell
into anarchy arid confusion ; which the Scripture
shows, when, to account for the prodigious wicked-
ness of the times, it says, ' In those days there was
no king in lsrat-1, every one did what was right in his
own eyes.'f This confusion divided and weakened
them, and made them become a prey to their ene-
mies ; till, recollecting themselves, they returned to
God, and he sent them some deliverer. Thus they
lived under the Judges, relapsing time after time into
idolatry and disobedience to the law of God,J and
consequently into slavery and confusion, and as often
repenting. At last they chose rather to have a mas-
ter over them than to continue in freedom by faith-
fully observing the law of God.
Their liberty reduced to these just bounds consist-
* Though they were guided by God's peculiar direction, yet the form
of their government was at first aristocratical, which continued to be
the basis of it ever after. It commenced from the death of Jacob,
who divided 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. xlix, 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 j
not a dominion, to be exercised by Judah over all the other tribes,
which it never obtained ; but that the government now settled in each
of the tribes, which would depart from the rest long before the coming
of hiloh, should remain with Judah till Shiloh came. Accordingly
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 Jerusalem. See this proved at
large in the third incomparable dissertation of the bishop of London.
E. F.
i Judg. xxi, 25. { Ibid, ii, 11, 22.
144 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
ed in a power to do every thing that was not forbid-
den by the law, without obligation to do any more
than it commanded ; or being subject 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 re-
duced them to that condition; poverty, which obliged
them to sell themselves ;* and commission of theft,
which they were not able to make amends for.f It
appears that the second case comprehended debts
likewise, 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.]:
It is true, these Hebrew slaves might regain their
freedom at the end of six years, that is, in the sab-
batical year : and if they were then not disposed to
make use of this privilege they might claim their
liberty, and that of their children, in the jubilee or
fiftieth year. || 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.'**
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, ft when, instead
of killing their enemies, they chose rather to give
them their lives that they might have the use of them ;
go it was suppo,secl the conqueror always reserved
the power of taking away their lives, if they commit-
ted any thing that deserved it ; that he acquired the
same power over their children, because they had
* Lev. xxv, 39. f Exod. xxii, 3. J 2 Kings iv, 1 . Exod. xxi, 2,
(1 Lev. xxv, 40. ** Psa. cxxiii, 2. |t Just, de Jure Pers. 3.
h. XX.] Their Political State. 14d
never been born, if he had not spared the father, and
that he transmitted 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 punished who had
smote a servant, if he continued alive a day or two
after. He is his money,* says the law, to show that
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 people, who did not make that dis-
tinction. The Romans, for more than five hundred
years, had a power to put their slaves to death, to
imprison their debtors upon default of payment, and
to sell their own children three times over before
they were out of their power ;f 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;}: but the
sale was a sort of marriage, as it was with the Ro-
mans^ We see however by a passage in Isaiah,
that fathers sold their children to their creditors ;|j
and in the time of Nehemiah the poor proposed to
sell their children for something to live upon, and
others bewailed themselves that they had not where-
with to redeem their children that were already in
slavery.** They had the power of life and death
over their children, since the wise man says, * Chas-
ten thy son whilst there is hope, but persist not in it
* Exod. xxi, 20, 21. f Instit. de his qui sui vel al. 2. Instit. quib.
mod. jud. Part 6. J Exod. xxi, 7. Per Cocmptioncm. || laa. I, l
** Nehem. v, 2, 5.
13
146 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
to cause him to die.'* Indeed they had not so much
liberty as the Romans to make use of this severe
privilege without the magistrate's knowledge.! The
law of God only permitted 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
stubborn and rebellious, and upon their complaint he
was condemned to death and stoned, t The same
law was practised at Athens, 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 keeping 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
respect. 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 de-
bauchery and ruin themselves. If they are poor, they
turn vagabonds whom nobody cares to own, and are
capable of all sorts of villany. Besides the corrup-
tion of manners, this independency may also occa-
sion great disorders in the state ; for it is much more
difficult to rule a multitude of single, untractable
men, than a few heads of families, each of whom
was responsible for a great number of persons, and
was commonly an old man that understood the laws.
* Prov. xix, 18. See the Hebrew, and the margin of our Bibles,
t Liv. lib. ii. { Deut. xxi, 19. Heliod. i.
Ch. XXI.] The Authority of Old Men. . 147
CHAPTER XXI.
The Authority of Old Men.
. NOT only fathers but all old men had great autho-
rity among the Israelites, and all the people of anti-
quity. 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
Lacedemonians. Nothing is more conformable to
nature. Youth is only fit for motion and action. Old
age is qualified to instruct, advise, and command.
' The glory of young men is their strength,' says
Solomon, ' and the beauty of old men is their gray
head.'f 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 his-
tory proves that the best governed 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 wise man
says, 'Wo to thee, oh land, when thy king is a
child.'! And it is this wo that God threatens the
Jews with, when he tells them by Isaiah, that ' ho
will give them children for princes. ' In reality
youth has neither patience nor foresight, is an ene-
my to all rule, and seeks nothing but pleasure and
variety.
As soon as the Hebrews began to be formed into
* 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 Seni&res,
as with us aldermen, came to denote rank of dignity, not of age ; as
Selden observes, de Synedriis, lib. i. c. 14, p. 1092, and lib. ii, c. 9.
4, p. 1423, ed. fol. E. F.
1 Prov. xx, 29. } Eccles. x, 16.
Isaiah iii, 4. Europe well knows how miserably the affairs of n
nation are conducted when the helm of the state is confided to thf
fjands of a rash young man.
148 Manners of the Israelites. Part II.]
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 el-
ders together,* 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. f When God thought fit to
give council to relieve him in governing that great
people, ' Gather unto me,' said he, ' seventy men of
the elders 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 4 In the whole Scrip-
ture afterwards, as often as mention is made of as-
semblies and public affairs, the elders are always put
in the first place, and sometimes named alone.
Thence comes the expression in the Psalms, ex-
horting to praise God in * the congregation of the
people' and in the seat of the elders,' that is, the
public council. These are the two parts that com-
posed all the ancient commonwealths ; the assembly
(which the Greeks call ecclesia, (sxx>.7]<ra,) and the
Latins concio) and the senate. The name of elder
Hgs$SvTsp<&> became afterwards a title of dignity;
and from this Greek word is derived the Latin name
presbyter ; and from the Latin word senior, elder,
comes the name of seigneur, or lord.|| We may judge
*Exod. iv,29. flbid. xviii, 12.
t This is a proof that the power, which we before mentioned to be
given by Jacob to the heads of tribes, took place immediately upon his
death. From that time all applications and messages are not to the
people, but to the elders of Israel ; Exod. iii, 16, xii, 21. The com-
mand 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,
S, 7. Bishop Sherlock's third dissertation, p. 304, 305. Whether the
number of these elders who made up the sanhedrim was just seventy
of 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, anfl
Selden, de Synedriis, lib. II, c. iv, 8. E. F.
Psalm cvii, 32.
jj It is sometimes curious to remark the progress of corruption in o
word, Tpcfffivrcpof, presbyter, ancient French prestre, modern Frencl.
pretre, and English pries/. So Kvpiov ojxof, Kuriou oikos, the hmtsf of
Ch. XXII.] Their administration of Justice. 149
of the age required by the Hebrews before a man was
reckoned an elder, by those being- called young men
whose advice Rehoboam followed;* 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. f ,
CHAPTER XXII.
Their administration of Justice.
JUSTICE was administered by two storts of officers,
shophetim and shoterim, established in every city by
the command which God gave by Moses.:}: It is
certain the word shophetim signifies judges : as to
shoterim, it is differently translated by the Vulgate :
but the Jewish tradition explains it of ministers of
justice, as sheriffs, sergeants, or their guards, and
other officers. These posts, were given to the Le-
vites, and there were six thousand of them in David's
time. || Such were the judges that Jehoshaphat re-
stored in each city, and to whom he gave such good
instructions ;** the Scripture adds, that he settled at
Jerusalem a company of Levites,ff priests, and heads
of families, to be judges in great causes. tJ It was the
council of seventy elders, erected in the time of Mo-
ses, over which the high priest presided, and where
all questions were decided that were too hard to bo
determined by the judges of smaller cities. The tra-
dition of the Jews is, that these judges of particular
cities were twenty-three in number; that they were
all to meet to judge in capital cases, and that three
the Lord, contracted into Kupiooc, Kurioik, Scottish Kirk, and English
Church. * 1 Kings xii, 8. f 2 Chron. xii, 13.
J Deut. xvi, IS. iS |nn 0'iBBn erBflff
Judges and officers shalt thou make unto thee.
See the note at the end of this chapter.
JWtsiri, masters ; pr&fecti, prefects ; duces, leaders or captains ;
prcecones, heralds. Josh, iii, 2.
|| 1 Chron. xxiii, 4. + * 2 Chron. xix, 5, 6, 7. ]] Ibid, v, 8. JJ Dent
xvii, 8.
13*
i50 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
were sufficient for causes relating to pecuniary mat-
ters, and such as were of little consequence.* The
chief judge was the king, according to the saying oi
the people to Samuel, ' Give us a king to judge us.'f
The place where the judges kept their court was
the gate of the city ; for as all the Israelites were hus-
bandmen, 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 cities of
our provinces, which can hardly be maintained by
the produce of twenty or thirty leagues round them.
They were only the habitations of as many labour-
ers as were necessary 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, | when they took possession of it, be-
sides those that were built afterwards ; and each city
had villages dependant 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 ex-
change, 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 seraglio ; and this custom of making
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 passages in the book of Esther.
The gate of the city was the place for doing all
public and private business ever since the times of
* Sanhedr. c. i, s. 6, &c, f 1 Sam. viii, 5> + Josh, xv, 21, &f
$ Esther ii, 19. HI, 2, 3..
Ch. XXII.] Their administration of Justice. 151
the patriarchs. Abraham purchased his burying place
in the presence of all those that entered into the gate
of the city of Hebron.* When Hamor and his son
Sichem, who ran away .with Dinah, purposed to make
an alliance with the Israelites, it was at the city gates
that they spake of it to the people. f We see the
manner of these public acts, with all the particulars,
in the story of Ruth . ^ 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 kins-
man 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 ac-
knowledgment which he desired from his relation,
with all the formality prescribed 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 un-
likely 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 concerned about each other's
affairs.
Perhaps they took these acts down in writing : 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 oi
a bond for money lent, of a marriage contract, and
an instrument of covenants made upon the same ac-
count^ In Jeremiah, there is a contract upon a
purchase. || The law of Moses prescribes no writing
except in case of divorce.** But if they had not made
use of any writings in those early times, their con-
tracts would have been very safe, since they were
made in so public a manner. If the kinsman of Boa/
should have denied that he had given up his right, all
the inhabitants of Bethlehem could have convicted
* Gen.xxiii,10, 18. f Ibid, xxxiv, 20. ! Rnth iv. Toh. \ii.l 1;
ii Jr. xxxli, 625. ** Deut. xxiv, 1 .
152' Manners of the Israelites. Part 1 1. f
liim 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 putting
private contracts into writing was introduced 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 pronoun-
ced 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 public as those among us that are done in pri-
vate houses before a public 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 provisions was held at
the city gate. Elisha foretold that victuals should be
sold cheap the day after in the gate of Samaria.*
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, f
This chamber might be the place for private delibera-
tions. Even in the temple of Jerusalem causes were
tried at one of the gates, and the judges held their
assizes there 4 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
(he gospel the gates of hell signify the kingdom or
power of the devil.
But as open and fairly as we may think the Israel-
ites transacted their affairs, it must not be imagined
* 2 Kings vi>, 1. -f 2 Sam. xViii, 33. { Jer. xxvi, 10,
Oh. XXII.] Officers Civil and Military. 153
that they had no frauds and rogueries, unjust prose-
cutions, or false accusations. These are evils inse-
parable from the corruption of human 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 sorrow
in the midst of it, and deceit and guile in her streets.'*
The prophets 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 go-
verned by the law of God, there was no distinction of
tribunals : the same judges decided cases of con-
science, and determined civil or criminal causes.
Thus they had occasion for but few different offices
and officers, in comparison 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 em-
ployment than improving our estate, or governing our
family. Every body is desirous of some public post,
to enjoy honours, prerogatives, and privileges : and
employments are considered as trades which are a
livelihood, or as titles of distinction. But if we were
to examine what public offices only are really neces-
sary, and the business done in them, we should find
that a very few persons would be sufficient to execute
them, and have spare time enough besides for then-
private affairs.
This was the practice among all the people of an-
tiquity,, and especially the Hebrews. In Joshua's
time we find but four sorts of public officers ; ziko-
mm, senators or elders ; rashim, chiefs ; shophetim,
judges ; and shoterim, inferior officers. f When the
* Psalm Iv, 10, Sic.
f ZIKONIM, from jpf to grmo old, were the elders of (he people,
something like our eldermen, or aldermen.
154 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II .
kingdom was more flourishing, in David's time, the
following officers are mentioned : six thousand Le-
vites, officers and judges ; the heads of tribes ; heads
of families ;* 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 hundred men ; the heads over those that tenanted the
king's 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 another language. Thus, neither
the Greek nor Latin versions give us a just idea of
the Chaldean employments, taken notice of in Da-
niel, | Ezekiel, and others.
Besides, among David's officers they reckon his
eunuchs or domestic servants ; for throughout 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 personal imperfection. Cap-
tains over fifty men are likewise mentioned in other
places : but we find nothing of captains over tens, ex-
cept in the law. Most of these posts are military :
and the rest are but a trifle, if one considers the mul-
titude of people, and the extent of David's kingdom.
RASHIM, from jytf"1 to be head or chief, probably military chiefs or
captains.
SHOPHETIM, from 0327 ' discern, judge, determine, judges in civil
matters ; hence the Carthagenian sufetes.
SHOTERIM, from -^jy a side or part, subordinate magistrates who
appear to have been deputies to the shophetim. See Josh, xxiv, 1.
' * 1 Chron. xxiii, 4.
t SARJM, from ly to direct, rule, and regulate, probably military
officers over larger and smaller companies of men ; captains ovn
Thousands, hundreds, &c. See 1 Curon. xxviii, 1.
* Dan. Hi, 3. Ezek. xxiii, 23.
h. XXIII. ] Their Wars. 155
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 Levites not excepted. Benaiah
the priest, son of Jehoiada, was one of the most re-
nowned for bra very in David's army,* 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 up wards, f They
were like the militia in some countries, always ready-
to assemble at the first notice. The difference is,
that with us all ecclesiastics 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 shepherds,
inured from their childhood to labour and fatigue. |
Nor is it improbable that they used them to handle
arms, at least from the time of David and Solomon.
Thus, 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 choosi,ng them, because they had always a
great many more than they wanted. || It was no dif-
ficult 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 day's march.
* 2 Sam. xxiii, 20. 1 Kings ii, 35. | Numb, i, 3, 22. J 2 Chron.
viii, 9.
Habere delectum civis et Peregrini. Cic.
|| And this is what our Lord refers to in the gospel, when he so often
says, ' Many are called, but few chosen.' The great mass of the people
was called together, and a choice was made of those who were most fit
for service. The rest returned to their respective occupations, and
those on whom the choice fell were employed in military duty. But
both parties were equally valuable, and necessary to the safety and
welfare of the state.
156 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II,
Their arms were nearly fhe same with those of the
Greeks 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 cavalry used. Their swords were
broad, and hung upon their thigh.* 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 Gibeonites fought alike with both
hands. f Saul commonly held a javelin in his hand.:}:
Homer represents his heroes, and the Romans, Qui-
rinus 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,' though they lived in a state of conti-
nual alarm. The custom of always wearing a sword
by the side was peculiar to the Gauls and Ger-
mans.
For defensive arms they carried shields, bucklers,
helmets, armour for the back and breast, and some-
times greaves to cover the legs. We see an instance
of a complete suit of armour in that of Goliah, which
was all brass, || like 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 common afterwards, and
Uzziah had sufficient to furnish all his troops, which
. were more than tliree hundred thousand men.** 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 invention
of fire arms.
The Israelites had only infantry at first, and that
was also the chief strength of the Greeks and Ro-
* Psalm xlv, 3. Cant, iii, 8. f J"dg. xx, 16. J 1 Sam. xviii, 10, and
xix, 9. 1 Sam. xxv, 13. *1 Sam. xvii, 5, 6. Ibid. 38. ** 2 Chron.
xxvi, 1315.
Ch. XXIII.] Their Wars. 157
mans. Cavalry is not so necessary* in hot countries,
where they can always travel dryshod : neither can
they be of much use in mountains ; but they are of
great advantage in cpld 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 escape, f Solomon, who
could bear any expense, sent for a vast number of
horses out of Egypt, and kept forty thousand of them,
with twelve thousand chariots 4 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 forepart. The
succeeding kings, who could not support the great
expense that Solomon did, sent from time to time for
succours to Egypt, and upon these occasions there
is always mention made of horses. The Jews must
have had no cavalry in Hezekiah's time, by Rabsha-
keh's insolence in saying to them, ' Come into my
master's service, the king of Assyria, and I will de-
liver thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy
part to set riders upon them.'
* The neglect of cavalry among the Israelites has afforded to an ex-
( client writer a strong internal proof of that people's being under the
immediate guidance of a supernatural power. "The prohibition is ex-
press, Deut. xvii, ' He' (that is, whoever shall be king of Israel) ' shall
not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt.'
Vceordingiy they prospered or were defeated as they obeyed or trans-
gressed this divine command ; which, as he observes, it is impossible to
justify by the measures of human prudence. See Bishop Sherlock's fourth
Diosertat. Dr. Warburton, pursuing the same argument, observes,
with our author, that even upon political reasons the Jews might be
justified in the disuse of cavalry in defence of their country, but not in
conquering it from a warlike people who abounded in horses. Here at
least the exertion of an extraordinary providence was wonderfully
conspicuous. See Div. Leg. vol. ii, book iv, 5. E. F.
f 2 Sam. xviii, 9. J 1 Kings iv, 26. 2 Chron. ix, '25.
2 Kings xviii, 23. The above is a literal translation from the Vul-
gate, iind differs considerably in the first clause from that in the English
version. The word 3ijnn which we translate give pledges, and the
14
158 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II.
The Scripture informs us of no particulars relating
to their military evolutions, the form of their batta-
lions, or general order of battle, though it often speaks
of troops in battle array : but for the art of encamp-
ing 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, according to
the order of birthright among the patriarchs, and the
quality of their mothers.* They marched, by sound
of trumpet, always in the same order ; and always
quartered in the same situation about the tabernacle
of the covenant, which was the centre of the camp.
They took all proper care for keeping their quarters
clean,f which was very necessary in so warm a coun-
try, 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 admire 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 na-
tions of antiquity did : they were marks of honour.
From Joshua's time to the kings the command of
armies belonged to those whom the people chose, or
God raised up in an extraordinary manner, as Oth-
niel, Barak, and Gideon : but none were subject to
them but the country or the people that chose them,
or to whom God gave them for deliverers. The rest
of the people, abusing their liberty, often exposed
themselves to the insults of their enemies : which
made them ask for a king, not only to do them jus-
tice, but also to conduct their armies, and make war
for them. | From that time too they were in much
Vulgate transite, passovcr, will have this latter meaning by the simple
transposition of the two last letters 3 and ^ thus: TTUjin j 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 is the true original reading.
* Numb, i, 2, &c. f ^id. v, 2, &c. Deut. xxiii, 10, 11, &c. 1 1 Sam.
THi, 20.
Ch. XXIV.] Their Kings. 159
more safety. The king called the people together
when he judged it convenient, and always kept up a
great number of forces. It is observed in the begin-
ning of Saul's reign that he maintained three thou-
sand men.* David had twelve bodies of four and
twenty thousand each, who served monthly by turns.
Jehoshaphat had not a third part of David's kingdom,
and yet he had eleven hundred and sixty thousand
fighting men in his service, without reckoning gar-
risons, f
CHAPTER XXIV.
Their Kings.
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.| The Roman
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 ;
and it appears that Solomon had laid excessive taxes
upon them by the complaints made to Rehoboam.|[
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 may see by the description that
Samuel gave of their manners to put the people out
of conceit with them :** he allows them only women
for household affairs ; yet they had a great attend-
ance when they appeared in public. Among the
igns of Absalom's rebellion, the Scripture reckons
* 1 Sam. xiii, 2. f iChron. xxvii, 1, &c. J 2 Sam. i, 15. Ibid, iv, 12:
1 Sam. XTii, 25. || 1 Kings xii, 14. ** 1 Sam. viii, 1018.
160 Manners of the Israelites. [Part II ,
fifty men that ran before him,* and the same is said
of his brother Adonijah.f
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 plantations of olive and fig trees, his herds
and kine, camels, asses, and sheep. f Thus Homer
describes the riches of Ulysses ; he says he had
twelve great herds of each sort of cattle upon the
continent, besides what he had in his island. They
took out of this great stock what was necessary to
maintain their household. There were in Solomon's
time twelve overseers distributed through the land
of Israel, who, each in his turn, sent monthly pro-
visions for the table,)! which for one day were 'thirty
measures of fine flour, and threescore measures of
meal, ten fat oxen, and twenty out of the pastures,
and a hundred sheep, besides harts, and roebucks,
and fallow deer, and fatted fowl,'** 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, trea-
surers, 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 na-
tural use, to be manufactured into plate and house-
hold ornaments.
Hence came the vast riches of David and Solo-
mon, ft David prepared all that was necessary for
building the temple, the value of which came to
hundred and eight thousand talents of gold, and u
million and ten thousand talents of silver ;|| that is.
about fa e hundred and thirty-four millions, eight hun-
dred and fifty-nine thousand, seven hundred and eighty-
*2Sam. xv, 1. f 1 Kings i, 5. \ 1 Chron. xxvii, 25, &c. 0dys.
\iv, v. 100. I] 1 Kings iv, 7. ** 1 Kings w, 22, &c. if 1 Chron.
xxix. t| 1 Chron. xxii, 14. In the original only one hundred thon-
simd talents of gold.
Ch. XXIV.] Their Royal Revenues. 161
four pounds sterling. Besides, he caused great trea-
sures to be laid up in his sepulchre. Solomon built
a great number of palaces, fortified several cities, and
rinished several public works. All the plate and fur-
niture of his house at mount Libanus was of pure
gold ; besides two hundred golden targets, each of
which was worth about jive hundred and ninety-six
pounds ; or a hundred and nineteen thousand two hun-
dred pounds sterling in all ; and three hundred buck-
lers, worth two hundred and seventy-Jive pounds apiece ;
which amounts to about eighty-two thousand jive hun-
dred pounds sterling.*
His revenues too were great. Commerce alone
brought him in every year six hundred and sixty -six
talents of gold ; which make one million, nine hun-
dred and seventy thousand, eight hundred and thirty-
four pounds sterling. He made the Israelites pay
tribute, and all foreigners that were under his domi-
nion, the Hivites, the Amorites, and all the other
ancient inhabitants of the land of Israel, the Idu-
means, great part of Arabia, and all Syria : for his
empire extended from the border-s of Egypt to Eu-
phrates ; and all the countries that were so rich sent
him every year vessels of gold and silver, cloth,
arms, perfumes, horses, and mules. These reflec-
tions may serve to make one understand how Croesus
came by his riches in a kingdom 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 prosperity
of Solomon, for it is an agreeable contemplation.
If we were to read all history 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 hand-
* See 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.
14*
1 C 3 Manners of the Israelites. [ Part 1 1 .
some person, of great parts, learning, and accom-
plishments ; in such reputation for wisdom that all
the earth sought to hear him ;* and a queen came in
person from a great distance to converse with him.f
He was master of a large kingdom, which was in a
state of profound peace, inhabited the finest country
in the world, had the most magnificent palaces, and
numerous attendants ; was loaded with riches, swim-
ming in pleasures, denying himself nothing, as he
owns, and employing all his vast genius to satisfy his
desires. | This we should call a happy man, ac-
cording to our natural ideas. Yet it is certain he
was not so, because he was not contented. He him-
self says that he found pleasure and joy were only
illusion, and that all his labour was but vanity and
vexation of spirit.
By this prosperity of Solomon and his people, God
gave two important lessons to mankind at the same
time. First, he shows his faithfulness in accom-
plishing his promises, by giving the Israelites so
plentifully of all the good things which he had pro-
mised their fathers in the possession of this land ;
that no one hereafter might doubt of his power to
reward those that adhere to him and keep his com-
mandments. Men that applied themselves so en-
tirely 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 life. But besides, 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 op-
portunity of seeing them in a true light, and con-
ceiving higher hopes. For who under the sun cau
pretend to be happy if Solomon was not ? Who can
doubt that whatever 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.
* 1 Kings x, 34. } Ihid. x, 1. i Efclcs. ii, 10. Ibid, v, 11.
Ch. XXIV.] Their Royal Revenues. 163
but dangerous ? not only incapable of satisfying the
heart of man, but likely to corrupt it ? What reason
have we 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 proposed 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 women, that he
had a thousand of them, though a multiplicity was
absolutely forbidden by the law of God ;* and his
complaisance to them carried him even to idolatry.
His subjects 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 felicity, and now began to decline.
The division of the two kingdoms of Israel and
Judah' still augmented the evil. The corruption was
much the greatest in Israel, where idolatry always
prevailed, which is the fountain of all sorts of wick-
edness : rebellion and treason were common there. f
In Judah the crown never went out of the family of
David : there were several pious kings in it. The
priests and Levites, who retired thither, preserved
the tradition of the true religion, and a more pure
practice of the law.
In these latter times, 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 reproached by the prophets
with their want of trust in God. The strangers,
whose alliance they courted most, were the Assyrians
and Egyptians, the two most powerful nations of
those times. To please them they imitated their
customs and idolatry : and the ruin of the Israelites
followed the fortune of these nations when Egypt
frll and Assyria got the superiority.
* Dent, xvii, 17. f Wisd. xiv ; -27.
164 Manners of the Israelites. Part III.]
PART III.
CHAPTER I.
The Jews. Their Captivity.
WHAT has already been noted appeared to me the
most remarkable in the manners of the Israelites,
whilst they lived 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 disper-
sion. Though they were still the same people, and
their manners the same in the main, there was how-
ever a great alteration in both.
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
Salmanasar had taken the ten tribes captive, which
bore the name of Israel above a hundred years before
the ruin of Jerusalem. And though the kingdom of
Judah comprehended the two whole tribes of Ben-
jamin and Levi, and many particular persons of all
the rest, whom a religious zeal had brought thither
after Jeroboam's schism ; all was confounded in the
name of Judea and Jews, and so they were usually
called before the captivity.*
As the kingdom manifestly tended to its ruin after
the death of Josiah, great numbers of Jews were dis-
persed on all sides, and retired to the Ammonites,
Moabites, Idumeans, and other neighbouring people. f
The Chaldeans carried away captive the most con-
siderable 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. :
As to those that were carried to Babylon, they
were servants to the king and his sons, as the Scrip-
* 2 Kings xvi, 6. t -far. xli, 10- t Jer. xfiiv 1-7.
Oh. I.] Their Captivities. 165
ture tells us : for such was the law of war at that
time.* All that were taken in arms, all the inhabit-
ants of a town carried by storm, or surrendered at
discretion, and of the adjacent country which de-
pended upon it, were slaves to the conquerors.
They were either the property of the public, or that
particular person that had taken them, according to
the laws concerning the acquisition 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 prin-
cesses her daughters.
The Greek and Roman history are full of such ex-
amples ; 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 common 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 Is-
raelites were so hardly used by the Assyrians. Some
had great liberty allowed them, as Tobit by king Ene-
messar ; and there were some rich among them, as
Tobit himself, his kinsman Raguel, and his friend
Gabael ;f and at Babylon Joachim, Susanna's hus-
band.! It appears likewise by the story of Susanna,
that the Jews, notwithstanding their captivity, had
the exercise of their laws, and the power to appoint
judges of life and death.
However, it was impossible but this mingling with
strangers should cause some change in their man-
ners, since one of their chief maxims was to separate
themselves from all other nations. Many were pre-
vailed upon to worship idols, eat forbidden food, and
marry wives from among strangers, and all conform-
ed to their masters in things indifferent, one of which
was their language. Thus, during the seventy years
that the captivity lasted, they forgot Hebrew, and
' Chron. xxxvi,^0. t Tob. i, 14. i Hist, of Susanna.
166 Manners of the Israelites. [Part III.
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 paraphrases upon Scripture that were com-
posed afterwards, that the people might understand
it. They changed their letters too, and instead of
the old ones, which the Samaritans have preserved,
took the Chaldean, which we erroneously call the
Hebrew.
CHAPTER II.
The return of the Jeios, 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 Babylon, and in all places
where they were settled : and they that came back
were not all Jews : some few of the ten tribes joined
themselves to them, and yet they made but a small
number altogether. The first, that Zerubbabel con-
ducted, did not amount to fifty thousand, with the
servants that attended them :* and one may see their
poverty by the small number of their servants and
cattle. What comparison is there betwixt fifty thou-
sand souls, and what there must have been in the
time of Jehoshaphat to make up twelve hundred
thousand fighting men ? There came besides with
Ezra about fifteen hundred,! and we may suppose
there were several other companies.
They did what they could to discover their for-
mer inheritances, and preserve each family's share.
Upon this account Ezra collected all the genealo-
* The whole number was as follows : the people, 42360 ; male and
female servants, 7337 ; male and female singers, 200 ; horses, 736 :
mules, 245 ; camels, 435 ; asses, 6720. Ezra ii, 6467,
f Ezra viii, 114.
Ch. II.] After their return from Captivity. 167
gies 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 people Jerusalem, they re-
ceived all that would come and settle there, which
confounded, no doubt, the order of their shares.*
Besides, 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 pre-
served their genealogies, as we see by Joseph's, who
was only a poor artificer. They likewise carefully
distinguished the true Israelites from strangers that
had been admitted into their society, f whom they
called geiores in their own tongue, and proselytes in
Greek.*
Thus one of their first concerns, after their resto-
ration, was to separate themselves .from strangers,
and to cause the prohibitions of the law, relating to
marriages with infidels, to be observed : which they
extended to nations not specified in the law ; namely,
to the people of Azotus, who were part of the Phi-
listines ; to the Egyptians, Ammonites, and Moabites.
The evils that the Jews were sensible they had re-
ceived from these marriages, since the bad example
of Solomon, inclined the wi >e men to interpret the
law in this sense, and extend it rather beyond the
* Neheim xi, 3.
t Two softs of men joined themselves to the Israelites when they
went out of Egypt : one sort were native Egyptians, called by the
Scptuagint au^T^Oovfj, those born in the land; the othejs were a mixed
multitude, who are termed by the Scptuagint ywpa<y, Exod. xii, 19,
from ij gwr, a stranger. These were extraneous persons among the
Egyptians, who took the land to till at a certain 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 mixed mnllituc'c.
Exod. xiii, 38. See Valesius's Notes on Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. i, c. 7.
E. F. & A. C.
{ African, apud. Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. i, c. 7. Ezra ix, 1, &e.
168 Manners of the Israelites. [Part III.
import of the letter, that they might more effectually
fulfil the intention of it. The priests were most strict
in observing these prohibitions : they married none
but women of their own tribe, and Josephus has in-
formed us of the precautions used about it even in
his time.* In general the Jews were never so faith-
ful to God ; and, after they returned from captivity,
we never hear idolatry once mentioned among them :
so much were they struck with that severe punish-
ment, and the accomplishment of the prophecies that
threatened them with it. Indeed, apostates were en-
tirely at liberty to stay among the infidels, so that
there appeared none but such as were really Jews.
Under the first kings of Persia they were still very
weak, envied by the strangers their neighbours, espe-
cially the Samaritans, exposed to their insults and
calumnies, and in danger of having their throats cut
upon the least signification of the king's pleasure ; as
we see by the cruel edict that Haman obtained against
them, from the effects of which they were saved by
queen Esther. f They could not finish the rebuild-
ing of the temple till twenty years after their first
coming back, nor raise the walls of Jerusalem again
under sixty years more : so they were fourscore
years in renewing the whole. The country must
have been very poor, since Herodotus, who lived at
that time, comprehends Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine,
and the Isle of Cyprus, under one single government,
that paid Darius but three hundred and fifty talents
tribute,}: 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 Palestine 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.
* Cont. App. 1. i, c. 7. p. 978. Whiston's Edition,
f Esther iii, iv, v. { Herod, lib. iii, p. 22G.
Joseph. Bell. Jud. 1. ii, c. 6, p. 766.
(Jh. II.] Under the Persians. 169
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, go-
verned by the high priest, and the council of seventy-
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 thre 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 honoured even by strangers, who visited
it, and brought offerings thither.* 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 Messiah's reign, f
The Greeks began then to be acquainted with the
Jews in Egypt and Syria, whither they often travel-*
led ; and they made great use of this correspondence,
if we may believe the most ancient Christian authors,
as Justin Martyr and Clemens of Alexandria ; for
they assure us that the Greek poets, lawgivers, and
philosophers, 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
like 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 con-
versed 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 some-
thing of them.
The best things which Plato teaches in his laws
and commonwealth, the Jews really practised ; as
* Philo. leg.
t Several prophecies relative to this time of peace and prosperity,
have been applied by commentators to the days of the Messiah e-.
ulusively. This should be carefully avoided.
15
170 Manners of the Israelites. [Part III.
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 blessings, and avoiding all novelty and
change. In the persons of Moses, David, and Solo-
mon, 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 venerable antiquity
in several places, without supporting them with any
proof, relating to the judgment of mankind after
death, and the state of the other life, which are
manifestly doctrines of the true religion.* If Plato
and the other Greeks had not learnt these truths
immediately from the Jews, they had them at least
from other people of the east, who being nearer the
origin of mankind, and having writings more ancient
than the Greeks, had preserved many more tradi-
tions of the first men, though obscured and involved
in fables.
CHAPTER III.
The Slate of the Jews under the Macedonians.
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 tes-
timony of Clearchus, a disciple of Aristotle, and
Hecataeus the Abderite.f They continued to live
according to their own laws, under the protection of
the Macedonian kings, as they had done under the
Persians ; but as their country lay betwixt 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. Alex-
* Plato de Repufc. vi, et x, in fine, f Joseph, cont. App. i, 22, 9.3,
if, 4.
Ch. III.] Under the Macedonians. 171
ander the Great, being convinced of their affection
and fidelity, gave them the province of Samaria, and
exempted it from tribute ; and when he built Alexan-
dria, settled some Jews in it, granting them the same
privileges as the other citizens, till at last they also
were called Macedonians.* Indeed, the first of the
Ptolemies, having taken Jerusalem by surprise, car-
ried great numbers of the Jews captives into Egypt,
who were spread as far as Cyrene. But afterwards
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.f It is said that his son Philadelphus
redeemed all the Jews that were slaves in his domi-
nions, and sent great presents to Jerusalem to pro-
cure that translation which he got made of their law. if:
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 Ccelo-
Syria, and even in Antioch his capital, with privileges
that they also enjoyed under the Romans. Antio-
chus the Great having received signal services from
the Jews, granted considerable favours and immu-
nities to the city of Jerusalem ; and to secure Lydia
and Phrygia, which were not quite sound in their
allegiance, he established colonies of Jews there,
giving them lands to cultivate and build on.
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
* Joseph. Ant. xii, 1, et cont. App. 1. ii, c. 2. t Ibid- Ant. xii, 2.
\ See Aristeus's Hist, of she Septuagint. Notwithstanding the tes-
timony of Josephus, Aristaeus, and several of the primitive fathers, the
history of the Greek translation of the Scriptures, by the command of
Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, is now considered either & fable,
or truth so disguised as to be no longer perceptible.
Josrph. Ant. xii, 3.
172 Manners of the Israelites. [Part III,
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, Hierosolyma 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 Grecian 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 Hellen-
ists ; and they gave the Gentiles the name of Hel-
lenes, which properly signifies Greeks ; whence it
comes that in St. Paul's epistles Greek and Gentile
signify the same thing.*
The Jews could not be so mixed with the 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. f All admired the mag-
nificence of their temple an'd exact order of their
ceremonies. Agrippa himself, son-in-law of Augus-
tus, 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 max-
ims 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
* Rom. i, 16, ii, 10, &c. J Strabc. lib. xvi.
i Ut primum positis nugari Graccia bellis
Cocpit, &c. Hor. 1. ii, ep. i, 93
Oh. III.] Under the Macedonians. 173
them contented themselves with only discoursing
upon virtue, and exercising themselves in disputation.
All the rest of the Greeks were possessed with cu-
riosity 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 gym-
nastic exercises, to form their bodies and make them
good wrestlers. Others studied geometry, astronomy,
and natural philosophy. There were every where
virtuosi, connoisseurs, curious and idle people of
all sorts.
The manners of the Romans were at that time much
more solid.* They applied themselves to nothing
but agriculture, the knowledge of the laws and war,
and willingly 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 government of their subjects, making po-
litics, as Virgil says,f 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. Yel
this was the reason that the Greeks looked upon
them as an ignorant people, seeing they would learn
nothing but their own law. I They called them bar-
barians, as they did all nations that were not Greeks,
and despised them more than any other strangers,
upon account of their religion, which appeared to'
them austere and absurd. They saw them refrain
from debauchery, not out of frugality and policy, but
from a principle of conscience : this appeared to them
too strict, and they were particularly offended at their
sabbaths, their fasts, and distinction of meats. They
* Romae duke- diu fuit ct solenne reclusa
Mane domo vigilare, &c. Hor. 1. ii, ep. i, 103.
} Excudent alii spirantia mollius aera, &c. JEneid. vi, 347.
t Joseph, cont. App. 1. i, c. 4, et 1. ii, c. 6. Orig. cont. Ceh. 1. iv
$ Judseorum mos tristis absurdusque. Tatit. hist, v, init.
15*
174 Manners of the Israelites. [Part III
accounted them enemies to all mankind. They live
separate from every body else, says a Greek philoso-
pher, having nothing common with us, neither altar,
offerings, prayers, nor sacrifices. They are at a greater
distance from us than the inhabitants of Susa, JBactria,
and India.*
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, ridi-
culous pieces of workmanship, and the fruits of
idleness ;f 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 outside, and serve
to no manner of good purpose .J They are also
called an abomination,^ because they cannot be suf-
ficiently detested, when we consider the stupidity
that attributes the incommunicable name of God to
them. For the same reason the Jews could not heav
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 rhap-
sodists, 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 de-
pended upon poetry and false theology.
The Jews indeed made it a rule not to laugh at
other nations, nor to say any thing disrespectful of
their gods;|| but it was scarce possible that some
word of contempt 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
ridicule 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 abomi-
* Philostr. vit. Apol. lib. v. c. 1 1. f Orig. cont. Cels. 1. iv. + Isaiah
*1iv 3 1C[. Jer. x, 15. Wisdom xiii, 1319, || Joseph, cont. Apg.
Ch. III.] Martyrdom of several Jews. 175
uable 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 possession 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 be-
twixt those miracles and the prodigies which they
also related in their fables ; and philosophers thought
them impossible, because they only reasoned from
the laws of nature, which they held to be absolutely
fixed and unalterable.*
This being the disposition of the Greeks, they lis-
tened the more eagerly to the calumnies of the Phoe-
nicians, Egyptians, and other enemies of the Jews.
And thence proceeded those impertinent stories that
Tacitus tells us so gravely, f when he is explaning
the origin of the Jews, and has a mind to act the
learned historian ; and which are to be met with
likewise in Justin, who had had the same informa-
tion. | Strabo does not seem to know much more of
the matter, though he treats it more sensibly.
But besides these slanders, which might easily
have been overlooked, the Greeks proceeded to vio-
lence 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 letting 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 plun-
der the sacred treasure, and nothing but a miracle
prevented t his doing it.|| At last, under Antiochus
Epiphanes began the greatest persecution they ever
* Galen de usu Partium. fHist.1. v,init. tJustini Hist. lib. XXXVT,
c.2,3. Lib.xri. || 2 Mace, in, 7, &c.
1 76 Manners of the Israelites. [Part I II ,
suffered, and which is not inferior to any that tht
Christians have endured since.* 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 companions of
Daniel, when they were cast into the furnace, f and
lie himself, by being exposed to the lions, had all the
merit of martyrdom ; but God wrought miracles to
preserve them. Eleazar, the seven brethren, and the
rest that are mentioned in the history of the Macca-
bees,^: really gave up their lives for the sake of God
and the law of their fathers, which is the first exam-
ple, 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 :
Many 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 laic, 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 ?
Indeed, some Jews were overcome by persecution :
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 faithful 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 con-
firmed by Alexander and the other Macedonian kings ;
and seemed determined to abolish the true religion,
which was still at that time confined to a particular
people and country.
* 1 Mace, i, &c. f Dan. iii ? 21. } 2 Mace. TI, 13, and c. vli
$ Contra App. lib: i,
Ch. IV.] Under the Asmoneans. Ill
CHAPTER IV.
The reign of the Jlsmoneans.
WE are now come to the time of the Maccabees,
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 happiness only consisted in being at
liberty to cultivate 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. * The kings
of Egypt and Syria, who had used them so ill, were
forced afterwards to court their friendship. They
also made conquests : John Hyrcanus took Sichem
and Gerizim, and destroyed the temple of the Sama-
ritans ;f so absolute was he over all the land of Israel.
He extended his dominions into Syria, where he con-
quered several towns, after the death of Antiochus
Sidetes ; and into Idumea, which he so entirely sub-
dued, that he obliged the inhabitants to be circumci-
sed and observe the law of Moses, as being incorpo-
rated into the nation of the Jews. His son Aristo-
bulus added the ensigns of royalty to the real power,
taking the diadem and title of king :| and Alexander
Jannaeus made still greater conquests.
But this glory of the Jews was of short continu-
ance : for, though the weakening the kingdoms oi
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. In-
deed, the beginning of their decay was occasioned
by their domestic quarrels, and the continual misun-
derstandings betwixt the two sons of Alexander Jan-
naeus, Hyrcanus, and Aristobulus. In short, they had
* 1 Mace, xiv, 4, 18. t Joseph. Ant. xiii, 17. 1 Joseph. Ant. xiii,
e. 20, 21, 22.
178 Manners of the Israelites. [Part III.
enjoyed their liberty but fourscore years, since Simon
had been declared head of the nation, after casting
off the Grecian yoke, till Pompey, invited by Hyrca-
nus, took Jerusalem, 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 Romans,* who
took from them, at different times, above ten thou-
sand talents, which is about one million, eight hundred
and thirty-three thousand, three hundred and fifty pounds
sterling. After the defeat of Brutus and Cassius, the
Parthians, taking advantage of Marc Antony's weak-
ness, who was governor of the east, made themselves
masters of Syria and Palestine, and took Hyrcanus
captive.
During all the time of the Roman civil wars, and
whilst the Parthians had the better of them, Palestine
was exposed to cruel ravages by so many armies ol
different nations passing through it, and by the in-
cursions of neighbouring people, particularly the
Arabians.
It is true, it recovered again a little under Herod :|
he brought back peace and plenty to it : he was pow-
erful, rich, and lived in great state. But it cannot be
said the Jews were free in his time. He was not so
himself, and depended entirely upon the Roman em-
perors. He was a foreigner, by birth an Idumean,
had no religion, and only kept up the appearance ol
it to serve political purposes. He destroyed the suc-
cession of the high priests, sending for one Hananiel
from Babylon, a despicable man, though of the sacer-
dotal family ;| after whom they had no high priests
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 Jews were banished out of it, and reduced
* Joseph. Ant. xiv, 8, 12. t Ibid, xv, f Joseph. Ant. xv, c. 2,
Ch. V.] Of the modern Jews. 179
to their present condition. This therefore is the last
time that any account is to be mttde of them as a
nation, from their liberty under Simon and the Asmo-
neans till their destruction under Vespasian. 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 different from what they were,
before.
CHAPTER V*
The Manners 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,'* 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. Besides, 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 Arabians, Egyptians, Syrians, and Greeks.
All the Jews still looked upon themselves as bre-
thren, and assisted each other in whatever part of the
world they were dispersed. They exercised hospi-
tality towards such as travelled ; and relieved the poor
in all provinces, but especially in Judea. As they
that were at a distance could not pay their tenths and
firstfruits in kind, nor come to the temple to make
their offerings upon all festivals, they turned all these
dues into money, and these contributions altogether
made up a considerable sum ;f which es&h province
sent annually to' Jerusalem for the expense of sacri-
* A"ts ii, 5. f Joseph.. Ant. xiv, 12.
180 Manners of the Israelites. [Part III.
fices and maintaining the priests and poor. This is
the Jewish gold that Tully speaks of.*
These collections continued many years after the
destruction of the temple . f The chief of the nation
sent out senators at certain times, who commonly
resided near him, and were called apostles, that is to
say, envoys. They went through the provinces 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 Christian emperors forbad the
continuance of it.:}: The patriarchs came to this
dignity by succession ; so that they were often in-
fants^ But before Jerusalem was destroyed, some
of the heads of their nation resided in every province,
who were called in Greek cthnarchs, and judged 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 san-
hedrim, from a Greek word corrupted ;|| and these
are the elders of the people mentioned in the gospel.**
In every synagogue there was a head or ruler of it,
as we see in the New Testament. ft There were
priests or elders, and deacons or servants, named
Hazanin, to take care 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 time chiefly, that
all which the Talmud says concerning the form of
judgments and the execution of justice, must be re-
ferred. |J
The Jews of Judea always applied themselves to
tillage, breeding of cattle, and all kinds of husbandry.
There are some medals still remaining, as old as the
* Pro Flacco. f Epiph. haer. xxx, n. 4, 7, 11. J Lib. iv, Cod. de
.Tudaeis. Hjfr. in Isaiah iii, 4.
|| Epiph. ]pr. xxx, n. 1. plinJD sanhedrin, from the Greek
Suvtfyiov ; frdm <rw together, and Ufa a seat, an assembly of coun-
sellors.
<* Lufce xxii, 66, &c. ft Bake viii, 41. J| Cod. Sanhed. Maccoth.
Ch. V.] Of the modern Jews. 181
times of the Maccabees, upon which are to be seen
ears of corn and measures,* to show the fertility of
the country, and the honour in which they held agri-
culture. 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 consulting together for the good of the
country, and the young men put on glorious and warlike
apparel. He provided victuals for the cities, and sent
them in all manner of munition, so that his honourable
name was 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 vine and his fig-tree,
and there was none to disquiet them.~\ And the author
of Ecclesiasticus has not omitted taking notice of
this duty. Hate not laborious work, neither husbandry,
says he, which the Most High has ordained. |
There are some remains of old customs in every
nation : there were still at that time husbandmen of
good families in Italy and Sicily, and there will
always be hunters in Germany.
Most of the parables in the gospel are taken from
a country life : the sower, the good seed, the tares, the
vineyard, the good tree, the bad tree, the strayed sheep,
the good shepherd ; and all this often spoken in cities,
and in Jerusalem itself. Indeed, many parables show
us that trading with money was common among the
Jews, and that there were bankers and usurers by
profession. Many were publicans, that is, farmers
of the tribute and revenues : but this was an office
that drew upon them the public hatred. Joseph the
son of Tobit is a notorious example, who got all the
tribute of Syria and Phoenicia awarded to him under
Ptolemy Epiphanes, and acquired immense riches
by it.
If there were bankers and tax-gatherers among
tht Jews, there is more reason to think there were
* Vales, in Euseb. vii, 10. Palad. Vtta Chrysost. f 1 Mace, xiv,
S> &c. t Ecclus. vii, 15. Joseph. Ant. xii, 4.
16
182 Manners of the Israelites. [Part III.
wholesale and retail merchants ; both which are
mentioned by the author of Ecclesiasticus, where he
says he looked upon them as dangerous trades : Jl
merchant can hardly keep himself from doing wrong, and
a huckster shall not be freed from sin.* 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 stones,
so doth sin stick close betwixt buying and selling.^
Thus did God call back his people to their ancient
customs, showing them the powerful reasons that
induced their fathers not to trade.
But they were not much better for his instructions ;
and since their utter reprobation they have always
been departing farther and farther from the simple
and natural way in which the Israelites lived. Iti s
a long time since the Jews had any lands, or follow-
ed husbandry ; they live only by trade, and by the
worst sort of it too. They are retailers, brokers,
and usurers ; their whole substance consists only in
money, and other moveables ; few of them have
habitations of their own in any city.
Many profess physic, and have done so ever since
the time I am speaking of. The author of Eccle-
siasticus shows it, who recommends the use of this
art, and the composition of medicines.:}: There is
mention made in the gospel of a woman who had
spent all that she had upon physicians. What the
forementioned author says afterwards of the great
leisure required for the study of wisdom, || 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.** 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 trade. The Jews
relate the same of their most celebrated rabbins. ff
*Ecclus.xxvi,29. f Ibid, xxvii, 2. { Ibid, xxxviii,! 15. Lul-
viii, 43. |i Ecclus. xxxviii, 24. ** Ibid, xxxviii, 27, &c. -ft Talmud.
Ch. VI.] Their Sects. 183
CHAPTER VI.
Their Sects and Superstitions.
THE difference of sects began at that time : under
Jonathan the son of Mattathias there were already
Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes * The Pharisees
joined the traditions of the fathers to the text of the
law, which were preserved without writing : and
though the doctrine they maintained was good at the
bottom, they mixed a great many superstitions with
it. They believed in fate, moderated by freewill, 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 interpreted literally,
and pretended that they did not oblige them to be-
lieve a resurrection, or the immortality of the soul, or
that there were angels or spirits. f Thus they served
God only for a temporal reward, and gave themselves
up much to sensual pleasures. They had little agree-
ment 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
priests. The common people were more attached
to the Pharisees, who kept an outward show of great
piety. Queen Alexandra gave them considerable
power in the minority of her sons.|
The sect of Essenes was the most singular. They
avoided living in great towns, their goods were in
common, and their diet veryplain. 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 con-
templative, and in such purity that many of the fathers
have taken them for Christians. They were a very
simple and upright people, and are never reprehended
by Christ or his apostles.
* Joseph. Ant. xiii, 9. XTiii, 2. t Acts xxiii, 8. J Joseph, Bell, i, 4
Ibid, ii, 7.
184 Manners of the Israelites, [Part III,
The Pharisees lived in the midst of the world, in great
amity with one another, leading a plain and outward-
ly strict life : but most of them were interested, am-
bitious, and covetous. They valued themselves on
a great exactness in the outward performance of the
law.* 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, f and in his disciples to pluck
some ears of corn to eat as they passed along-!
They fasted often, many of them twice a week, 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 ordinary.** The totaphot, tephillin, or
phylacteries, are scraps of writing, containing some
passages of the law, fastened upon their forehead
and left arm, in obedience to the command of having
the law of God always before their eyes or in their
hands. ff The tsitsith or fringes were of different
colours, and they were ordered to wear them on the
borders of their garments, that they might look upon
them ; and remember the commandments of God.||
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 remembrancers.
* Matt, xxiii, 23. Markvii,2. fJohnix,6. JMatt.xii,2. SLukc
xviii, 12.
llnaOllO Totphot, according to R. S. Jarchi, signifies two and two,
or twice two; {jg signifies two in the language of the Cathpians, (a
people of Spain,) and RQ the same in the African or Punic tongue.
Hence the totphot are always divided into four compartments. See
Jarchi on Exod. xiii, 16.
** Matt, xxiii, 5. tt Deut. vi, 8. J{ Numb, xv, 38.
Buxtorf. Synagog. Jud. c. 4. PHYLACTERIES, 0uXa/tr^ia from
$v\aaata, to keep or preserve, were small slips of parchment or vellum.,
an which certain portions of the law were written. These the Jew^
Ch. VI.] Their pretended Sanctity. 185
The Pharisees gave alms in public, and made their
faces that they might look as if they fasted much.*
For an unclean person to touch them was reckoned
the highest affront . and such they esteemed not
only the Gentiles and public sinners, but all that
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
amulets or charms to drive away evil spirits. The first use of these
phylacteries is evident from their name. The second use appears from
what is said on the subject from Gemara, Beracoth, quoted by Kypke.
"Whence is it proved that phylacteries (fS'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
niTV Jehovah ; and they shall be afraid of thee." The third 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 phylacteries 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 permitted 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 unequal compartments : in the first is written
in a very fair character (with many apices after the mode of the Ger-
man Jews) the first ten verses of Exod. xiii. In the second compart-
ment is written from the eleventh to the sixteenth verse of the same
chapter, inclusive.
In the third, from the fourth to the ninth verse, inclusive of Deut.
vi, beginning with, Hear, O Israel, SfC.
In the fourth, from the 13th to the 21st verse, inclusive, of Deut. xi,
Jlnd it shall come to pass, <$<:. 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 phylactery became an important appendage to a
Pharisee's character ; insomuch that some of this sect wore them very
broad, either that they might have the more written 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 (Numb, 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 remem-
ber not only the law in general, but also the very minute or smaller
parts of all the precepts, rites and ceremonies belonging to it. As
these hypocrites were destitute of the life and power of religion
within, they endeavoured to supply its place by phylacteries and fringes
without.
* Matt, vi, 2, 5, 16 IS.
16*
1S6 Manners of the Israelites. [Part HI,
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 themselves of whatever
was valuable, to enrich them ; aud, under pretence
that they were the people of God, with whom the
law was deposited, they despised the Greeks and Ro-
mans, and all the nations upon earth.
We still see in the books of the Jews these tradi-
tions, of which the Pharisees made so great a mys-
tery from time to time, and which were written about
a hundred years after the resurrection of Christ. It is
hardly possible for a Christian to conceive the fri-
volous questions with which these books are filled ;
as, Whether it be lawful 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 taking
up some grains with the foot and consequently of
sowing them ? Whether it be permitted on that day
to write as many letters of the alphabet as will make
sense ? If it be lawful to eat an egg laid on the sab-
bath 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 ? 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 ?*
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 majesty of
the law of God, applying themselves to mean and
trifling things ; and were now stupid 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 curi-
ous than the rest, who took pains to speak Greek
* Buxtorf. Synag. cap. xi.
Oh. VI.] Their knowledge of Greek. 187
correctly, read Greek books, and applied to their
studies, as grammar, rhetoric, and philosophy. Such
a one was Aristobulus, a peripatetic philosopher,
preceptor to Ptolemy Philometor ; and such were Eu-
polemus, Demetrius, and the two Philos. Some of
them wrote histories in Greek, and after the Greek
manner ; as Jason of Cyrene ; and the author of
the second book of Maccabees,* who has abridged
his works ; and Josephus the celebrated historian.
Most of the Jews that studied Greek lived at Alex-
andria. Others were content to speak Greek so as
to be understood, that is, badly, and always retain-
ing 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, despi-
sing 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 ac-
quainted with Hebrew and Syriac.f
The Jews of these later times employed themselves
much in reading their law, and the holy Scriptures
in general. They were not satisfied with expound-
ing them according to the letter : they found out se-
veral senses in them, expressed by allegories and
divers metaphors : we see it not only^tn the New
Testament, and the writings of the most ancient fa-
thers in controversy with them,| but by the books
of Philo, the Talmud, and oldest Hebrew commen-
tators upon the law, which they call great Genesis,
great Exodus, and so on. They held these figura-
tive senses by tradition from their fathers.
But to say all at once, the manners of the Jews
* 2 Mace, ii, 23.
t In order to understand the phraseology of the New Testament
properly, the Septuagint should be carefully studied ; and, indeed, a
knowledge of Hebrew is in many respects essential to a thorough
understanding of both.
t Justin. Dial, cum Tryph. Bereshith Rabba, &c.
188 Manners of the Israelites. [Part III.
in those times were excessively corrupt. They were
ridiculously proud of being descended from Abra-
ham, and puffed up with the promises of the Messiah's
kingdom, which they knew to be near, and imagined
would abound with victories and all manner of tem-
poral prosperity. They were selfish, avaricious, and
sordid, especially the Pharisees, who were in general
great hypocrites : they were wavering and unfaith-
ful, always ripe for sedition and revolt, under a pre-
fence 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 under-
go, and the unexampled injuries they did one ano-
ther, 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, Gamaliel 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 redemption 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.
Oh. I.] Their Tribes and Families. 189
PART IV. ; r 4
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 Families.
THE Hebrews were divided into twelve tribes,
according to the number of the sons of Jacob. But
God reserved to himself the posterity of Levi, and
consecrated them to the service of his altars. So
that tribe could not properly be reckoned among the
twelve tribes ; but then Ephraim and Manasseh, the
two sons of Joseph, made two different tribes, which
thereby supplied its place. The tribe of Levi was
divided into three families, which derived their names
and origin from the three sons of Levi. From Ger-
shon came the Gershonites ; from Kohath, the Ko-
hathites ; 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
lawgiver 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 pos-
terity David divided into twenty-four classes, who
performed the offices of the priesthood weekly, in
their turns.* Sixteen of these classes were in the
family of Eleazar ; whose names and order were as
follow: l.Jehoiarib, 2. Jedaiah, 3. Harim, 4. Seo-
rim, 5. Malchijah, 6. Mijamim, 7. Hakkoz, 8. Abi-
jah, 9.Jeshuah, 10. Shecaiah, ll.Eliashib, 12. Ja-
kirn, 13. Huppah, 14. Jeshebeah, 15. Bilgah, 16.
Immer. So that there were but eight in the family
of Ithamar, viz. 17. Hezir, 18. Aphses, 19. Petha-
* 1 Chron. xxiv.
190 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV.
hiah, 20. Jehezekel,* 21. Jachin, 22. Gamul, 23.
Delaiah, 24. Maaziah.
The other tribes were divided into different fami-
lies in the same manner, and their names were these :
The tribe of Reuben had four families ; the Hanoch-
ites, the Palluites, the Hesronites, the Carmites.
The tribe of Simeon had live ; the Nemuelites, the
Jaminites, the Jachiriites, the Zarhites, the Shaulites.
The tribe of Gad had seven ; tne Zephonites, the*
Haggites, the Shanites, the Oznites, the Erites, the
Arodites, the Arelites.
The tribe of Judah had five ; the Shelanites, the
Pharzites, the Zarhites, the Hesronites, the Hamul-
ites.
The tribe of Issachar had four ; the Tolaites, the
Punites, the Jashubites, the Shrimronites.
The tribe of Zebulun had three ; the Sardites, the
Elonites, the Jahleelites.
The tribe of Manasseh had eight ; the Machirites,
the Gileadites, the Jeezerites, the Helekites, the
Arielites, the Schechemites, the Shemiadites, the
Hepherites.
The tribe of Ephraim had four ; the Shuthalites,
the Bachrites, the Tahanii< :.-,, the Eranites.
The tribe of Benjamin had seven ; the Belaites, the
Ashbeelites, the Ahiramites, the Shuphamites, the
Huphamites, the Ardites, the Naamites.
The tribe of Dan had but one ; the Shuhamites.
The tribe of Jlsher had five ; the Jimnites, the Je-
suites, the Beriites, the Heberites, the Malchielites.
The tribe of Naphtali had four ; the Jahzeelites,
the Gunites, the Jezerites, the Shillemites.
Hitherto we have spoken only of the Hebrews 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,'
* Or, Ezechiel.
Ch. I.] Their Proselytes. 191
says he, ' circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of
Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the
Hebrews : as touching the law, a Pharisee.* The
second sort of the Hebrews we mentioned were such
as were Gentiles by birth, hut had embraced the Jew-
ish religion.
None was excluded from receiving Judaism but
eunuchs. All strangers were received into it when-
ever they thought fit to submit to its laws, or at least
to the principal of them ; for these proselytes (that
is to say, strangers^) were of two sorts. Some
were called proselytes of habitation, $ others, proselytes
of justice. The former had only their dwelling or
habitation among the Jews, and did not engage them-
selves to an entire observance of the law. But they
were nevertheless obliged to keep the sabbath, and
what the Talmudists call the precepts of Noah, that
is, what God commanded Noah to observe, namely,
not to worship idols, and to abstain from blood ;
together with some other commandments which he
gave him, and of which we shall speak more particu-
larly in another place. For the Jews were far from
suffering the strangers, who dwelled among them, to
live without laws. All which Maimonides explains
in his treatise of a proselyte. What," says he, " is
a proselyte of habitation ? He is one who engages to
renounce idolatry, and observe the commandments
which were given to the children of Noah ; but
neither is circumcised nor baptized. He is called a
proselyte of habitation, because we are permitted to
give such a one a habitation among the children oi
Israel, and he is received as a religious Gentile." He
adds, "Whoever engages to keep the commandments
of Noah, and is exact in his observance 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
* Phil, iii, 5. f npwmXro.
I Or, proselytes of the gate, because permitted to live within their
gates. Prid. Con. part ii, lib. 5. Chap. 2.
192 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV.
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 dif-
ference between the proselytes and you. And there-
fore, as to the law, let him embrace it that will ;
we force nobody to it : but as for the command-
ments of Noah, 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 proselyte of habitation,
and must engage himself to do so in the presence of
three learned persons."
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 holily and justly. And they there-
fore 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
compass sea and land to make one proselyte.'*
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 cove-
nant, 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.'! Circumcision was, as it were,
the seal which sealed the covenant which the prose-
lyte entered into with God, and the solemn profes-
sion he made of observing the law of Moses ; which
made St. Paul say,| * I testify to every man that is
* Matt, xxiii, 15. f Gen. xvii, 14. j Gal. v, 3,
Ch. I.] Baptism of Proselytes. 193
circumcised,* that he is a debtor to do the whole
law.' And Maimonidesf 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 washing, or baptism;
which must have been performed in the presence of
at least three Jews of distinction. At the time of
the performance of it, the proselyte declared his ab-
horrence of his past life, and that it was neither am-
bition nor avarice, but a sincere love for the law of
Moses, which prevailed 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 Christian
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 the
primitive church in the administration of it, have a
relation to this ceremony among the Jews.
The third ceremony to be performed was that of
offering sacrifice. All these, except circumcision,
were performed by the women as well as the men,
who became proselytes. And as 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 liber-
ty, 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 re-
proaching Nicodemus with his being a master in
* Or, as the French has it, Every man that causes himself to be cir-
cumcised, f Ibid. ch. i.
17
194 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV.
Israel, and yet being at the same time ignorant how
a man could be born a second time.*
But to be more particular ; I cannot forbear re-
lating 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 con-
version are pure, he shall be asked this question :
What have you seen in us which inclines you to be-
come a proselyte ? Don't you know that the Israel-
ites live now in sorrow and reproach, that they are
exiles, are dispersed abroad, and are laden every day
with fresh miseries ? 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 punishments 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 ? And that if
after you are become a proselyte you eat fat, you
will be excommunicated, and if you break the sab-
bath, stoned ? But nevertheless these punishments
are not>to be mentioned to him but with a great deal
of prudence, lest the terrible idea they give him of
religion should turn him from the right way. Men
* John iii, 10.
Ch. I.] How they received Proselytes. 195
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.'*
" And as he must be instructed in the doctrine of
punishments, so likewise in that of rewards. It shall
be declared to him, that the observance of the law
will gain him an immortal 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 righteous,
which are the Israelites ; arid that if they 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.
Jeskurun, as saith the Scripture, ' waxed fat, and
kicked. 'f So that God does not punish the Israel-
ites with design to destroy them. No, they shall be
preserved ; and it is the Gentiles which shall be de-
stroyed. 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 propose 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 of it."
*Hos. xi, 4. fDeut. xxxii, 15.
196 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV
CHAPTER II.
Names 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 afterwards called Palestine, from the people
which the Hebrews call Philistines; and the Greeks
and Romans (corruptly) Palestines, who inhabit the
seacoasts, 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 of Judea, 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 sanctified 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 inhabitants and masters ; se-
veral 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
undergone. For it was differently divided, 1 . By its
ancient inhabitants ; 2. By Joshua ; 3. By the Ro-
mans ; 4. In the time of Christ ; and 5. By Herod.
But it is not so as to its rivers and mountains ;
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 moun-
tains of Libanus, and after having run through the
sea of Galilee, loses itself in the Dead sea, which is
the other extremity of the land of Judah, towards the
south. It took its name from the city of Dan, in
Ch. II.] Mountains and ancient Inhabitants. 197
whose neighbourhood it rises ; for Jordan, 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 observed 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 Gomorrah stood. After Jor-
dan are reckoned Jarmach in the country of the Ger-
gesenes, which rises among the mountains of Gilead ;
and Kirmion, near Damascus, otherwise called Jlma-
nach, or Abana ; to which are added Pharphar, which
runs down from mount Hermon ; Kishon, which was
in the tribes of Issachar and Zabulun ; Jlrnon, 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 Jlntilibanus, to
the north ; the mountains of Gilead, those of the
Moabites, Hermon and Jlrnon, to the east ; the moun-
tains 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, Ebal, Sion,
Moriah, Hebron, and what the gospel calls the moun-
tains 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,f took their names from the eleven
sons of Canaan. They were these :
The Sidonians, descended from Sidon ; they pos-
sessed the cities of Sidon, Tyre, Jokneam, and Aeon,
since called Ptolemais.
* nvn Ha Yarden, the river of Dan, or judgment. \ Gen. x.
17*
198 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV.
The Jebusites, from Jebus their parent, since called
the Philistines ; their cities were Lachish, Gath,
Ekron, Ascalon, Azotus, Gerar, and Debir.
The JlmorHeS) descended from Amor ; who had
the cities of Nabah, Heshbon, Bozrah, and Ramoth-
Gilead.
The Girgashites, from Girgas ; they had the cities
of Damascus, Maachathi, Geshur, Zobah, Teman,
Ashteroth, and Edrei.
The Hivites from Heveh ; their cities are Jerusa-
lem, Jericho, Ai, Bethel, Gilead, Libnah, Makkeda,
and Bezer.
The Jlrkites, descended from Arak ; who had the
cities of Esebon, Midian, and Petra.
The Sinites, who descended from Sin, and were
masters of the cities of Admah, Sodom, Gomorrah,
Zeboim, and Zoar.
The JlrvaditeS) from Arad ; who possessed the cities
of Arad, Jarmuth, Hebron, Adullam, and Eglon.
The Zemarites, from Zemar ; in their territories
were built Samariah, Tappuah, Tirzah, and Tanai.
The Hamathites, from Hamath ; who had the cities
of Shimron, and Kedesh, and Hazor, 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 inha-
bited it, were the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hi-
vites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Jebusites, and
the Girgashites. It was from them that Joshua
gained it by conquest, and he divided it into twelve
parts, which the twelve tribes drew by lot. The
tribe of Levi indeed possessed no lands : God assign-
ed the Levites the tenths and firstfruits of the estates
of their brethren : though nevertheless 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
Ch. II.] Later Inhabitants of Judea. 199
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 chil-
dren of the two sons of Joseph, Ephraim, and Ma-
nasseh, made two different tribes. Those of Reu-
ben, Gad, and a part of that of Manasseh, were pla-
ced beyond Jordan, towards 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 carried into cap-
tivity by the Assyrians. The Cutheans, 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 afterwards made
themselves masters of the empire of the east, and
some of them, who were kings of Syria, reunited the
greatest 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 different parts of the
land of promise had received upon the division Joshua
made of it among the twelve tribes, were changed
long before the birth of Jesus Christ.
3. The Romans divided this country into Pales-
tine and Phoenicia. The former contained the an-
cient 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 Jesus Christ the land of Israel
was divided into Judea, Samaria, Galilee, and Idu-
mea; and there were then several Galilees, as we
shall see presently.
Judea contained a part of the ancient tribe of Ju-
dah, and those of Benjamin, Dan, and Simeon. Its
breadth was from Jordan to the city of Joppa.
200 Manners of the Israelites. Part IV.]
Idumea, which was south of Judea, between Arabia
and Egypt, had been conquered by Hyrcanus ; and
this highpriest commanded the inhabitants either to
be circumcised, or to leave their country ; upon
which they chose to be circumcised, and from that
time their country 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.*
The name of Idumea was at tirst given only to the
country which was possessed by Esau, who in He-
brew is called Edom, that is, red. His first descend-
ants were at first called Edomites, and afterwards
Idumeans. We know of no king of Idumea but
Esau, whom the Greeks call sg&pos, 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 afterwards that of a province. It contained
the tribe of Ephraim, and the half tribe of Manasseh,
which was on this side Jordan ; 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
province. | Siehem, called by the Hebrews Sichar,
was its capital, and was situated between the moun-
tains 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 :'| 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 lower : they both join to Syria and
Phoenicia, to the west ; Samaria and Scythopolis, as
far as Jordan, to the south; the towns of Hippus and
Gadara, and the territory of Gaulonitis, to the east :
* Mark iii, 8. t John iv, 4. 1 Isaiah xxviii, 1.
Ch. II.] Divisions of Judea. 201
and Tyre and its territory to the north ; so that Gali-
lee contained the tribes of Issachar, Zabulun, Asher,
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
Libanns : all this latter territory 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 Perea, which
signifies a distant province, because it was beyond Jor-
dan. Its length, according to Josephus,* 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 ex-
tends towards Libanus northwards, and towards the
mountains of Hermon eastwards near Damascus,
was the portion of the half tribe of Manasseh ; but
afterwards it comprehended Gaulonitis, so called from
the ity of Gaulon, (which Josephus makes to have
been two cities, the upper and the lower ;f) Bataiiea,
which was formerly the kingdom of Bashan ; and
Trachonitis, which took its name from the craggy
mountains with which it abounded. 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, be-
yond mount Libanus. Pliny places Iturea in Celo-
syria itself; and Adricomius says, Iturea begins at
Jordan, and extends all along Libanus, as far as to
the mountains of Tyre and Sidon towards the west.
* Wars of the Jews, b. iii, c. 3. f Ibid. b. i, c. 1.
202 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV.
So that they must be mistaken who place Iturea in
Perea. They found their opinion indeed upon what
the Scripture tells us of the Itureans having assisted
the tribes of Reuben 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.*
But besides these, there was yet another canton in
Judea, which was called Decapolis, because it con-
tained ten cities, whose inhabitants lived after the
Grecian manner, arid Josephus therefore calls them
Grecian cities. Pliny reckons among the cities of
Decapolis, Damascus, Opoton, Philadelphia, Rapha-
na, Scythopolis, Gadara, and Hippus ; and Josephus
tells usf that Cesar separated Gaza, Gadara, and
Hippus, from the kingdom of Judea, and joined them
to Syria. But those geographers who place Caper-
naum, Corazin, Bethsaida, and Cesarea Philippi in
Decapolis, 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 there-
fore says that Galilee was encompassed with stran-
g'ers. 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 like 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^: should say,
that Jesus Christ did it in the country of the Gada-
renes, and St. Matthew in that of the Gergesenes :
nor is it any thing more strange, that these people
* Luke iii, 1. f Antiq. b. xvii, c. 1 1, s. 4, and, Wars of the Jews,
K ii, c. 6, s. 3. 1 Mark v, 2. Luke viii, 26. Matt, viii, 28.
Ch. II.] Divisions ofJudea. 203
should keep swine, since they were Gentiles. And
we find likewise in the same relation of the evange-
lists, a proof that Gadara and Gergesa were parts of
Decapolis. For St. Mark says,* 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, iu Decapolis ; whereas St. Matthew and
St. Lukef only say, that he published them * through-
out the whole city,' that is, either in Gadara or Ger-
gesa.
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 | places in
the tribe of Naphtali ; and in Numbers it is called
the sea of Chinnereth ; for both this passage, and
that in Joshua, are to be understood of this lake.
Afterwards the name of Genesareth was given both
to the lake and the country round about it ; which,
as Josephus testifies, || was watered by a spring called
Capernaum ; whence without doubt the city so called
had its name. The sea of Genesareth, as the He-
brews 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. Josephus
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 honour-
ed him with his friendship, chose out an agreeable
place upon the borders of the lake called Genesareth,
and there he built a city which he called Tiberius."**
Celosyria is without the borders of Judea, but joins
to them ; one part of it is called Abilene, from the
city Abila, its capital ; which I observe, because this
little province was a part of Herod the Great's king-
dom ; and St. Luke, ft speaking of the princes who
governed at the time that St. John began to preach,
* Mark v, 20. | Matt, viii, 33. Luke viii, 39. { Josh, xii, 3. Numb,
xxxiv, 11. || Wars of the Jews, b. iii, ch. 1 0, s. 8. * * Antiq. b. xriu,
c. 2, s. 3. ft Luke iii, 1.
204 Manners of the Israelites. Part IV.]
mentions it. This king, under whom Jesus Christ
was born, possessed Idumea, Judea, Samaria, Perea,
Galilee, Peneadis, Gaulonitis, Batanea, Trachonitis,
Auranitis, and Abilene.
5. When he died he divided all his dominions among
his three sons, Archelaus, Herod Antipas, and Philip.
He gave Archelaus the kingdom which contained
Idumea, Judea, and Samaria. He gave Herod Gali-
lee and Perea, under the name of a tetrarchy ; which
was a dignity that held the fourth place in the Roman
empire, after emperors, proconsuls, a/id kings. And
Philip had Gaulonitis, Trachonitis, Bfttanea, and Pa-
neadis, with the same title. This is Josephus's ac-
count of it ; but St. Luke makes Iturea a part of
Philip's tetrarchy. Perhaps Josephus confounds Itu-
rea and Auranitis under the general name of Paneadis.
Herod likewise gave Salome, his sister, the cities of
Jamnia, Azotus, and Phazealis.
As soon as Herod was dead Archelaus was pro-
claimed 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.*
CHAPTER III.
Of the different Ways of Measuring Time among the
Hebrews : their Hours, Days, Weeks, Months,
Years, and Jubilee.
GOD, who formed the republic of the Hebrews,
appointed certain fixed and regular times for the per-
formance of things, without which all would neces-
sarily 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
* Matt, ii, 22, 23.
Ch. III.] Their Measurement of Time. 205
them, if we knew not the manner in which the He-
brews 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 differ-
ent from those of the Hebrews ; and we shall there-
fore 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 dura-
tion 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 dura-
tion, in proportion as certain planets have made more
or fewer revolutions during its subsistence. The
time in which the 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 sun-
rising, 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.* 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 ;f which was
because the sabbath was then ended, and the Jews,
who were scrupulously exact in observing it, were
no longer afraid of any violation of it.
And it was likewise customary with the Hebrews,
to express a whole day by the terms, the evening and
the morning ;\ or by these, the night and the day:
which the Greeks express by their Nuchthemeron,
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 thing 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.
* Exod. xii, 18. Lev. xxiii, 32. From which last text it is evident
that the sabbath began at the evening or sunset of the day we term
Friday, and ended at the same time on the following day.
t Matt, viii, 16. Mark i, 32. J Gen. i, 5, 8, 13, 19, 23, U. Matt
xii, 40.
18
206 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV.
It is with time as with places, with respect to its di-
vision : it is purely arbitrary. Formerly the 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 point of elevation above the
horizon, and when it sets ; that is, they divided the
day only into morning, noon, and night. And these
are the only parts of a day which we find mentioned
in the Old Testament ; the day not being yet 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, con-
sisting 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 ninth 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 ?'*
The Flebrews 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 they call the space
of time between these two, that is, from noon to
sunset,f Been Haarbaeem, that is, between the two
evenings. J
The night was likewise divided by the Hebrews
into four parts. These were called watches, and
* John xi, 9.
t Or rather, the ninth hour, which is the middle point between them,
is what they called between the evenings. Lamy, de Tabern. I. 7,
c. 7, 1.
J Exod. xii, 6. a^^'H {'3 &ei haarbacem improperly translated
in the evening in our English Bibles.
Ch. III.] Days of the Week. 207
lasted each three hours. The first is called by Jere-
miah the beginning of the watches;* the second is called
in the book of Judges the middle watch ;f 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^, was called the
morning ioatch. 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 morn-
ing; and the fourth ended at sunrising. The Scrip-
ture sometimes gives them other names ; it calls the
first the evening, the second midnight, the third cock-
crowing, and the fourth the morning.\\
Secondly^ the Hebrews, like us, make their weeks
to consist of seven days, six of which are appointed
for labour; but they were not suffered to do any work
on the seventh day, 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.**
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 is with
them the first day of the week. But nevertheless the
Hellenist 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. ||
But besides this week of days, the Hebrews had
another week, which consisted of seven years ; the
* Lam. ii, 19. f Judg. vii, 19. J Matt, xir, 25. Exod. xiv, 24.
|| Mark xiii, 35. **Gen. ii, 2, 3. ft L " ke xviii 12 - *ir evu llf T< "'
aa66arov. JJ Mark XV, 42. napaoKCvn, ?* irpotrafHiaTov.
208 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV.
last of which was a year of rest, and was called the
sabbatical year. The earth rested on this year, and
no one was suffered to cultivate it. And at the end
of seven weeks of years, 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 mis-
taken. It is true, that according to the common
manner of speaking in the Scripture, the year of
jubilee is the fiftieth year ; as the sabbath day is called
the eighth day, that is, reckoning from one sabbath to
another, inclusively of both. And in the same man-
ner the Olympiads, which contained the space of four
years, are called quinquennium, the space of jive years;
because by one Olympiad was ordinarily 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.
Thirdly. It is certain that at first the months were
regulated by the moon ; because the intervals of time
are most easily distinguished 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 be-
comes 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, so does the
sun the year; and the division which we make of the
year into twelve months, has no relation to the
motion of the moon. But it was not so with the
Hebrews ; their months are lunar, and their name
sufficiently shows it. They call. them Yarchin, which
comes from Fame, which signifies the moon. It is
disputed, whether 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
Ch. III.] Of the Neic Moms. 209
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 phasis, as soon as upon her separation from
the sun, she first shows herself in the west, after sun-
set. And for this reason they call the beginning of
the month, the new moon; though the Latin inter-
preter, to accommodate himself to the Roman style,
calls it the calends.* The moment in which this
conjunction between the sun and moon is made, can
only be known by an astronomical calculation, be-
cause 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
commands them to begin their months at the first
phasis, or first appearance of the moon, which re-
quired no learning to discover it. And because this
first appearance of the moon was of importance in
their religion, God having commanded that the new
moon should be a festival, and that they should offer
up a particular sacrifice to him on that day ;f it can-
not therefore be improper, to give some account
here of the care the Hebrews took to 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 different 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 neighbour-
ing mountains at the time of the conjunction ; and
who no sooner perceived the new moon, but they
came with all speed, even on the sabbath day itself,
to acquaint the sanhedrim with it. It was the busi-
ness of that council to examine whether the moon
had appeared, and to declare it ; which was done by
* Numb, x, 10. Siquando habebitis cpulum & dies festos & calendas,
&c. Seethe Vulgate. fNumb. xxviii, 11.
18*
210 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV.
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
trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed,
on our solemn feast-day.* 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 immediately rectified, and not suf-
fered to pass into the next month. The decrees oi
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
moon, it appears that there are two sorts of months ;
the one, which is regulated by the circle which the
moon describes, and takes up twenty-seven days,
seven hours, and some minutes, which is called the
periodical month ; and another, which is measured
by the space between 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 ; because the phases
of the moon are most proper to distinguish the be-
ginning, middle, and end of it. The hours which
exceed nine and twenty days, make the months al-
ternately 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. Concerning 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 where-
* Psalm Ixxxi, 3.
Ch. III.] Of the Jewish Year. 211
by 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. 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 a different year.
The new moon, which followed the autumnal equi-
nox, after the fruits were gathered in, began the civil
year ; the common opinion concerning which is, that
the world was created in this season, and this was
formerly the first month in the Jewish year. But
after the Jews came out of Egypt, Moses, to pre-
serve the memory of their deliverance, 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 equinox
began a second year, which was called the sacrerf, or
the ecclesiastical year. But though these years have
different beginnings, yet they both consist of twelve
months, which are according 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 ver-
nal one, Jlbib, 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 Nisan ; the second, lyar ;
the third, Swan ; the fourth, Tamuz ; the fifth, Jib ;
the sixth, EM ; the seventh, Tisri ; the eighth, Mar-
chesvan ; the ninth, Cisleu ; the tenth, Tebeth; the
eleventh, Shebat '; the twelfth, Jldar. Nevertheless,
there were some years in which they added a thir-
teenth month, which was called Feadar, or the second
Mar. Nor were the planets only made use of to
distinguish time ; it was likewise distinguished by
the different seasons which succeeded one another,
212 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV.
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 summer,
the sun warms it, thereby to ripen the corn and fruits,
that they may be gathered in before the 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 understood, 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 equinoctial obliquely
in two opposite points ; and this they call the zodiac.
And upon this zodiac they have marked out four prin-
cipal points ; two in the places where it touches the
tropics, and the other two in its sections of the equi-
noctial ; and by this means they explain the length of
the year, the difference of the seasons, and the ine-
quality of days and nights. For the year is nothing
else but the space of time which the sun takes up in
running through the zodiac. When it is at the points
which cut the equinoctial the days and nights are
equal, and we then have spring or autumn. When it
advances towards 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 winter.
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 :
which six hours they joined together every fourth
Ch. III.] Of the Jewish Year. 213
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 the calends ; and they
reckoning back wards, into the days of the preceding
month, called them the first, second, third, &c., of the
calends. And this additional day being made the sixth
of the calends of JWarch, and they reckoning on these
years two sixth days of these calends, this was the
reason why the years, in which these additional days
were inserted, were called bissextile. So that every
four years the month of February, which ordinarily
consisted of twenty-eight days, had a day added to
it, and was made to consist of 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 in-
considerable soever it may appear, did yet introduce
a confusion in the seasons of the year in a succession
of several ages. So that the vernal equinox, which,
at the time of the council of Nice, fell on the twen-
tieth or twenty-first 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 there-
fore to put a stop to this disorder, which in time
would have thrown back the month of April, in which
nature awakes, and begins to dress herself in her
vernal ornaments, into the midst of winter, the
calender was reformed about the end of the fifteenth
century,* and by retrenching ten days, the equinoxes
were brought back to the same points they were at
at the council of Nice. And they have likewise re-
trenched one bissextile every hundred years, (which
nevertheless continues to be ordinarily placed every
fourth year as before,) because that, in the space ol
four centuries, the eleven minutes every year (as
above mentioned) are so far from making four com-
* This was done in the year 1512, during the pontificate of Gregory
XII, therefore called the Gregorian, or JVeu> Style.
214 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV.
plete days, that they make but little more than three ;
and by this 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 assist-
ance to those who have not thoroughly studied these
matters.
Let us now see by whattneans the Jews regulated
their year so exactly that its first month always came
in the spring. There were two reasons that enga-
ged them to be extremely exact 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 ; and the
other was, that the passover, which fell on the four-
teenth day of this month, could not be celebrated
without offering 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 which the feast of the passover was cele-
brated, should not be entirely passed before the ver-
nal equinox, 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 ele-
ven 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
astronomical calculations. And when therefore 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 thir-
teenth which they inserted, and therefore called, the
intercalary month. And this they did so exactly, that
the full of the moon of the month Nisan never came
before the equinox, that is, before the day when the
sun, entering the first degree of wSries, makes the
days and nights equal.
Oh. III.] Of the Jewish Year. 215
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 Tisri ; that of the sacred year, in the month
JVisan ; that of the tithe of the cattle, in the month
EM, 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 ;* and lastly, that of trees,
which was on the first or fifteenth of the month She-
bat. For the same rabbins likewise say, that the law
having commanded that the fruit of a tree newly
planted should not be eaten of till after three years,f
because the tree was, till that time, thought unclean ;
it is from the last mentioned month that they began
to reckon this sort of year.
What I have said concerning these four distinc-
tions, relates only to the common year of the Jews,
which, as has been said, consisted of twelve or thir-
teen lunar months. But besides 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, where-
in 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 sab-
batical year.%
And as seven common years made the sabbatical
year, so did seven sabbatical years make a third sort of
year among them, which was called the year of jubilee.
* Lev. xxvii, 32. f Ibid, xix, 23. t Ibid, xxv, 17
216 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV.
CHAPTER IV.
Of the Jewish Sacrifices : their different kinds, and
their different Ceremonies : and, of their Offerings,
Gifts, Firstfruits, and Tenths.
SACRIFICING is the offering up to God a living ani-
mal, whose blood is shed in adoration of his majesty,
and in order to appease his 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 proper-
ties ? or how could it come to pass, that the use of
sacrifices should thus universally prevail among men ?
It is commonly said indeed, that this was a fond con-
ceit, which owes its rise to the barbarity of the Gen-
tiles ; and some think, that as to the Jews, they bor-
rowed 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 barely reform-
ing it. But can it be believed, that God would bor-
row the manner of his worship from a people that
was superstitious, and at enmity with him ? No : the
origin of sacrifices 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 cri-
minal soul of the sinner. "The law of sacrifices,
(says Eusebius,t) manifestly shows it ; for it com-
mands 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,
* Probably from Adam himself, who was clothed with the skins of
beasts, which were most probably slain in sacrifice. Gen. iii, 21.
De Tab. 1. 3, c. 7, 1.
f Demonst. Evang. lib. i, c. 10.
Ch. IV.] Their Sacrifices. 217
as it were to substitute it thereby in the room of their
own." And upon this is founded the law which for-
bids the eating of blood : which God himself explains
very clearly in the reason he gives for this prohibi-
tion : 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 atonement for your souls ; for it is the
blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.'* And
if then it be true, that God himself commanded the
patriarchs to offer sacrifices to him, and if he looked
on the blood that was shed in them, as the essence
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 uni-
verse ? 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 afterwards his own people, should
give types of this great sacrifice in those of their
victims ; and from hence they drew all their virtue.
" Whilst men (says the same Eusebius) had no vic-
tim that was more excellent, more precious, and more
worthy of God, animals became the price and ransom
of their souls. And their substituting these animals
in their own room, bore indeed some affinity to 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 like-
wise 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.
* Lev. xvii, 11.
19
218 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV-
sacrifice which Jesus Christ was to offer up. Unless
we are prepossessed with this truth, we can look on
the tabernacle and temple of Jerusalem only as
slaughterhouses, whose victims, blood, and fat, are
more proper to inspire disgust than religion. And
God himself testifies the distaste he had for this immo-
lation of animals, as soon as the Jews came to con-
sider and practise it without a view to Jesus Christ.
1 To what purpose,' says he in Isaiah,* is the multi-
tude 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 bullocks, 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
another ? No ; we cannot charge him with such
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 Jlesh of bulls, as David speaks, j
but only to typify thereby the great and precious
sacrifice 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 insupportable 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 ren-
der those parts of Scripture where they are men-
tioned intelligible ; and shall therefore here confine
myself to the explaining, 1. What these ancient sa-
crifices 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. W T hat was the manner of partaking of them. All
which I shall endeavour to do in a very few words.
1 . Sacrificing is the offering up an animal to God,
* Isaiah i> 11. f Psalm 1, 13-.
Ch. IV.] How they Sacrificed. 219
whereby his supreme majesty is acknowledged, 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 animals in his own room ; whose blood
nevertheless would have no efficacy in blotting out
sin, were it not that it was a type of the precious
blood which Jesus Christ has since poured out for
us on the cross, and by which he has reconciled us
to his Father. So that by the death which the vic-
tims 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 but five sorts of animals which
could be offered up in sacrifices, and these were oxen,
sheep, goats, turtle doves, and pigeons ; which are in-
deed the most innocent, the most common, and the
most proper animals in the world, for the nourish-
ment 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.'* Maimonides, in his treatise
on this subject, f gives us a long enumeration of all
the defects which pollute 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 this great
purity which God required in the choice of his vic-
tims, but another proof that they were only designed
to be the figures of Jesus Christ, whose innocence
was to be perfect, and the holiness of his sacrifice
infinite.
* Lev. xxii, 22. t De Katione Sacrif.
MO Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV,
3. He who offered sacrifice led up the victim be-
fore the altar ; laid both his hands, according to
Maimonides,* but only one, according to other rab-
bins, upon the head of it,f upon which he leaned with
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 sacrifice,
was to show that they loaded him with their iniqui-
ties, 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 ;| and
they were likewise the symbols of repentance. For
which reason, Maimonides adds, concerning the sin-
offering, 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 been sprinkled upon the vail,
or the altar, or other things, according to the nature
of the sacrifice. || What blood remained after these
sprinklings, was poured out at the foot of the altar,
either all at once, or at different times, according to
the kind of sacrifice that was offered. There was
round the altar, 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
* De Ratione Sacrif. c. iii, n. 13. | Lev. i, 4. I Isaiah liii, 6. DC
Rat* Sac. c. 3. J| Lev. iv, 5 7,
Ch. IV.] How they Sacrificed. 221
little hill or ascent to it. The priests as they went
up lifted up that part of the victim which they car-
vied towards 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 perpetually laying fresh
wood upon it.
As they went up to the altar, they salted the vic-
tim ; 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, 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, and the cake,
are all expressed in the single word corbanoth, that
is, gifts offered to God; and were all either to be
consumed, killed, burned, or poured out, with the
ceremonies which the law prescribes, or else to be
reserved for sacred banquets. Nevertheless, the vic-
tims and cakes have different names among the He-
brews ; the former of which they called zebachim,
that is, sacrifices ; and the latter mincha, that is,
offerings. And the cakes which were made of the
iiour 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.^ Salt was
likewise put in all these cakes ; and this is what
Virgil calls salsas fruges, for the heathen had all
these ceremonies. The cakes were burned upon
the altar, and the wine poured out at the foot of it;
* See DC Tabcrn. 1. 7, c. 7, 1. Maimon. de Ratioije Sacrjficij.
c. 6, n. Ifc. 1 Chap, ii, 1.
1.0*
J22 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV.
but it was not lawful to put upon the altar either
honey or leaven.
5. As to the ministration of the sacrifice, any one
might kill the victims, and skin them, and cut them
in pieces ; but the other ceremonies, as those of
catching the blood, and sprinkling it, belonged only
to the priests. And in 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.'* And it may be remarked
with Origen, that when Annas, Caiaphas, 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 sacrifice?
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 Deuteronomy :f and this law took
away from the Jews the liberty of sacrificing in an}
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 sacrifice the
paschal lamb here. And to this prohibition of sacri-
ficing any where but in the temple built at Jerusalem.
Jesus Christ alludes, when he says in St. Luke, 'that
it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem :'j
for by this means, not so much as the types of the
death of the Prophet could be represented any where
but in that city. Those victims that were most hoh
could only be offered up on the north side of the
altar.
7. As to the time of offering sacrifice, it 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 polluted as soon as the sun wa?=
*Lev. i, 11, 12. fDeut. xii, 14. j Luke xiij, 33.
Ch. IV.] Different kinds of Sacrifices. 223
down. But if the sprinkling 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 the 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 sacrifices.
One alone was not sufficient to represent the adorable-
sacrifice of Jesus Christ, whose effects are infinite ;
and therefore it was necessary 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. Mai-
monides 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
we shall say something of each.
1st. The burnt -offering or holocaust, as the word
implies, is a sacrifice or victim which is entirely con-
sumed by fire, together with the 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 hola, which signifies to rise,
because the victim appeared to rise up to heaven in
a smoke, as an odour of sweet smell before God.* It
sometimes happened, that fire came down from hea-
ven and miraculously consumed the victim. The
reader may likewise find an account of the ceremo-
nies that attended the offering up the burnt-offering in
Leviticus, chap, i, 5, 6.
* n^S differently pronounced olah, holafi, and gnolah. Lev. i, .3>
224 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV
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,* ' Sacrifice and offering-,
and burnt-offering, and offerings for sin, thou wouldst
not,' are not to be understood of God's having refused
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 like-
wise sometimes simply called sin; and therefore when
it is said, that Jesus Christ ' was made sin for us,'f
we 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 inadver-
tency, and which God always punished, unless it was
expiated. And they were persuaded that several dis-
eases and pains, as leprosy, and the pains of child-
bearing, were punishments for some sin ; and there-
fore 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 know what the
Hebrews meant by the word asham,$ which the Latin
interpreter renders delictum, arid 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 law of God, or no.
When they were in this uncertainty, they were obli-
ged to offer sacrifice. What the law commands con-
cerning it is this, ' If a person sin through igno-
* Chap, x, 8.
t 2 Cor. v, 21. Tp $/i/ upapTtav mown. The word a/;apria fc
used by the Septuagint for a sin-offering in 94 places in Exod., LeVi t
and Numb., which is their translation of the Hebrew flKDn chatah,
and which in all the above places is rendered sin-offering in our Eng-
Jish Bibles.
t Dl^H asham, to be guilty, orjiable to jninishment. fccv. v, 1 7,
Ch. IV.] Different kinds of Sacrifices. 225
ranee, and does any of those things which the law
forbids, and comes to a knowledge of his fault after
he has committed it,'* (in the Hebrew it is, 'the man
who shall sin, and commit some crimes against any
of the commandments 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, f ' shall pre-
sent unto the priest a ram of his flock, in proportion
to the crime he has committed ; and the priest shall
pray for him, because he hath sinned through igno-
rance, and it shall be forgiven him.'
4thly. The peace-offering, or sacrifice of gratitude,
(for the Hebrew word shelamim signifies both,) was
offered as a thanksgiving, either for having recovered
health, or for having received some signal mercy of
God, or for the happy state of their atfairs ; and there-
fore it was called eucharistical.%
But some divide sacrifices into those of consecration,
which was offered when any one was admitted into
the priesthood : those of purification, which was offer-
ed for women who had lain in, and lepers ; and
those of expiation, which were offered for purifying
the sanctuary, or temple, or people.
9. Nothing now remains, but to speak of the man-
ner of partaking of the sacrifices ; concerning which,
we must observe, that nobody partook of the burnt-
offerings, because they were entirely consumed by
fire : and that in the other sacrifices, the law declarer
what parts of the victims belonged to the priests, and
what parts belonged to those who offered them.
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 tegylle, and
nobody was admitted to this repast but Jews, and
such only of them as had contracted no legal impu-
rity. And as to the other sacrifices, which were
* According to the Vulgate, f v, IS.
f O'D^ty shelameem, from oSc? shalam, to make whole, complete,
to make up a difference between parties, to produce peace.
Numb, xviii, 8, 20.
226 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV,
thought less holy, as the paschal lamb, it was suffi-
cient to eat them within the walls of Jerusalem, but
nowhere else.*
But besides these sacrifices of animals there were
likewise, as has been said, some oblations among the
Jews, which were made of bread, wine, oil, and in-
cense. 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 showbread, which was otfered new
every sabbath day, and the old taken away, and eaten
by the priests.
2dly. The/ree 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 vow 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
engaged themselves to do something which was not
in itself unlawful, as not to eat of some particular
meat, not to wear some particular habits, not to do
such and such innocent things, not to drink wine,
nor 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 ; / charge myself with a burnt-offer-
ing, or / charge myself with the price of this animal, for
a burnt-offering. Besides which, they had likewise '
other shorter forms ; as ^or*example, when they de-
voted all they had they 4hily said, Jill I have shall be
corban, Hkfct 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,f ' 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
* Maimonides de Ratione Sacrificiorum 7 cap. xi, n. 5. t Mark rii, 1 1
Ch. IV.] Their First/mils. 227
his parents, as soon as he had pronounced the word
corban, he thereby consecrated all he had to God,
and could not even retain enough to support his
father and mother : and therefore Jesus Christ with
reason reproaches them with having destroyed by
their tradition that commandment of the law, which
enjoins children to honour their fathers and mothers.
The law required an exact performance of these
vows, and the things which were thus given to God
were reckoned among things sacred, which nobody
could alienate without sacrilege.
3dly. The prescribed oblations were either, 1st, the
firstfruits, or 2dly, the tenths.
1st. All the firstfruits of both fruit and animals
Were due to God.* Among animals, the males only
belonged to God, and they not only had the liberty,
but were even obliged to redeem them, in the case
of men and unclean animals, which could not be of-
fered 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 owzer, 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 firstfruits
all was unclean ; after this oblation, all was holy.
To which St. Paul alludes in the xith chapter of his
epistle to the Romans, ver. 1 6, when he says, If the
firstfruit be holy the lump is also holy.' The law
commands, says Philo, that as. often as the people
make bread, they should laiatide the firstfruits for
the priests, and this keeps' up religion in their hearts ;
for when they accustom Aemselves to lay aside
something for God, they cannot easily foflgft 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 as of fruits and animals, so
likewise of oil and wine, the firstfruits of them were
paid to God.f
* Exod. xxii, 29. f Deut. xvii.i 4.
228 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV.
2dly. Besides firstfruits, the Jews likewise paid
the tenths of all the fruits of the earth. St. Jerom,
in his Commentary on the Fifty-fourth Chapter ofEze-
kiel, divides the tenths into four sorts ; 1st, such as
were paid to the Levites by the people, who were for-
bidden the eating any fruit before this tenth was paid,
upon pain of death ; 2dly, such as were paid by the
Levites 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 Levites were
invited ; and, 4thly, such as were paid every three
years, for the 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 belonged neither to the priests nor
Levites 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 consecrated. 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 was now no longer so, that the
apostle took care to send alms to Jerusalem from all
parts of the world. The account of it is in the first
epistle to the Corinthians, ch. xvi, 1 3, where St.
Paul says, ' Now concerning the collection for the
saints, as I have given order to the churches of Ga-
latia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week
Jet every one of you lay by him in store as God hath
prospered him, that thrfre 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.'
Ch. V.] Ministers of the Temple. 229
CHAPTER V.
Of the Ministers of the Temple, the Priests, Levites,
Nazarites, and Rechabites.
THE Jews, in the establishment of their republic,
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 magnificence in their worship, that pro-
digious number of ministers, officers, and guards ;
and that very exact order in their functions, which
was first established by Moses, and afterwards 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 priest-
hood was reserved to the family of Aaron alone, and
the rest of the tribe divided only the inferior offices
of the temple among them, so that all the priests were
indeed Levites, but all the Levites were not priests :
nor were the priests and Levites the only sacred per-
sons among the Jews ; and therefore, in order to
comprehend them all, I shall in this chapter speak,
1, of the Levites ; 2, of the priests ; 3, of the officers of
the synagogue ; 4, of the Nazarites; 5, of the Rechab-
ites ; 6, of the patriarchs ; and 7, of the prophets.
I. Of the Levites. But before I enter into a par-
ticular account of their functions I shall say some-
thing, 1st, of the estates which God assigned 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 con-
secration ; 3dly, of their age ; and then proceed to say
something, 4thly, of their functions ; 5thly, of their
number ; Gthly, of such of them as were officers of
230 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV-
the temple; and, 7thly, of the Nethinim, or their
servants.
1st, Then, in the division of the land of promise,
the Levites had not their portion of it ; there were only
eight and forty cities, with their territories assigned
them for the support of their cattle, and thirteen of
these came to share with the priests. And these are
all the possessions the Levites 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 besides this, the priests had likewise
the firstfruits, and a considerable part of the offer-
ings that were made to God. All which may be seen
in the book of Numbers.*
2dly. As to the admittance of the Levites into the
ministry, birth alone did not give it to them ; they
wo.re likewise obliged to receive a sort of consecra*
tion. < Take the Levites from among the children
of Israel,' says God to Moses, and cleanse them.
And thus shall 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.f
3dly. Nor was any Levite permitted to exercise
his function, till after he had served a sort of novi-
ciate for five years, in which he carefully learned all
that related to his ministry. Maimonides, 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 Numbers, in
one place, | that the Levites were not admitted into
the service of the temple, till they were thirty years
old, and in another, 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 Levites were at the full age of a man,
when they were admitted into their office ; and at
* Numb, xviii. f Ibid, viii, 6, 7, 8. Exod. xxix, 137. J Numb, iv, 3.
Ibid. Tiii, 24.
Ch. V.] Of. the Levites. 231
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 it being
troublesome and laborious, required young men to
do it ; and that when the tabernacle was fixed, age
was no dispensation for the Levites to quit the exer-
cise of their offices.
4thly. As to their functions ; Moses is very par-
ticular in giving an account of what each Levite was
to carry, upon the removal of the tabernacle ;* but
these offices subsisting no longer, after the conquest
of the land of Canaan, David established a new order
among the Levites, whereby some were appointed to
guard the gates, f some to sing psalms, | and some
to guard the treasures ; 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 fami-
lies, 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 Levites were not permitted to do any thing that
was to be done about the altar.
Sthly. The number of these Levites, upon the ac-
count that was taken of those who were 30 years
of age, in Solomon's time, was thirty-eight thou-
sand ;|| 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 thousand were offi-
cers and judges. Moreover four thousand were
porters, and four thousand praised the Lord with the
instruments, and David divided them into courses.'**
To which the Scripture adds, For by the last words
of David the Levites were numbered from twenty
*Numb. iv. fl Chron. ix, 1726, and xxvi. { 1 Chron. xxv.
$ Ibid, w, 29. I! Ibid, xxiii, 3. ** Ibid, xxiii, 4. 5, 6.
232 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV.
years old and above : because their office was to
wait on the sons of Aaron, for the service of the
house of the Lord, in the courts, and in the cham-
bers, and in the purifying of all holy things, and the
work of the service of the house of God ; both for
the showbread, and for the fine flour for meat offer-
ing, 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 measure 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.* And,
6thly. The gospel likewise tells us that there were
officers in the temple : and the name St. Luke gives
them signifies officers of war ;f so that we may on this
account also look on the temple as a camp. Besides
the general officer, Maimonides reckons up fifteen
subalterns, | whose business it was to give notice of
the time for the solemnities, the day and hour of the
sacrifices, and to set the guard. Besides which, they
had likewise the charge of the music, the instruments,
the table in which every one's office was set down
according as it had fallen to him by lot, the seals, the
libations, the sick, the waters, the showbread, the
perfumes, the oils, and the sacerdotal habits. But
lo 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,
4 To the sacrifice, ye priests; to the tribune^ ye
Levites ; and to your ranks, ye Israelites ;' and then
immediately every one prepared himself to set about
1 Chron. xxiii, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31. f Luke xxii, 52.
, | In his treatise called Chelim. chap. vii. Music gallery
Ch. V.] Of the Levites. 233
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 Levites 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 instruments delivered them out to
the Levites, and appointed what instruments should
every day be 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
besides these, whose business it was to take care oi
the priests that fell sick, which often happened. For,
as they wore nothing but a single tunic, and drank
no wine, and were obliged 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 Levites to be masters of music, and
teach the others to sing ;f 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.
7thly and lastly. As the priests had the Levites
under them, so had the Levites 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 GibeonitesJ for this purpose ; and
afterwards other nations were employed in it ; and
called Nethinim, that is, persons who had given
themselves up, from the Hebrew JVaf/mn, which sig-
nifies to give.
* In Chelim, chap. vii. f Chron. xxv, 7. I Josh, is,
Ezra riU) 20. Sec DC Tabern. 1. vii, c. 3. sec- 4.
20*
234 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV,
From the consideration of the Levites we proceed
now
II. To that of the priests. In which we shall
mention, 1st, their order ; 2dly, their election ; 3dly,
their manner of life ; 4thly, their laws ; 5thly, their
functions ; Gthly, their habits ; 7thly, the consecra-
tion of the highpriest ; 8thly, his succession ; and,
ninthly, his dress.
1 st. 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 sabbathday
they succeeded one another, till they had all taken
their turns : but on the solemn feasts they all assem-
bled there together. The prince of each class ap-
pointed an entire family every day to offer the sacri-
fices, 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 upon Zecharias the father of John
the Baptist ' to burn incense when he went into the
temple of the Lord.'*
2dly. From considering their order, we proceed
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,!
the Jews reckon up fifty which are common to men
and other animals, and ninety which are peculiar to
men alone.^ 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
* Luke i, 9. f Lev, xxi, 16, 24, \ De Tabern. Ub. Hi, c. 9. 3
Ch. V.] Of their Priests. 235
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.'* They whose birth was pure, but who
had some defect of body, lived in those apartments
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 >rbid them.f And they had no other food but
the flesh of the sacrifices and the showbread. They
performed all their offices standing, \ and barefoot,
and with their heads covered, and feet washed. ||
4thly. The laws which God laid upon the priests
are these : ' God said unto Aaron, Do not drink
wine nor strong drink, thou nor thy sons with thee,
when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation,
lest ye die.** The priests shall not be defiled for the
dead among his people, but for his kin. ft They shall
not take a wife that is a whore, or profane ; neither
shall they take a woman put away from her husband Jt
The daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by
playing the whore, she protjyieth her father, she shall
be burnt with fire.'
Sthly. As to the functions of the priests : their
business was to keep up the fire upon the altar of
burnt-offerings, that it might never go out;|||| 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
* Rev. iii, 5. f Exod. xix, 15. Lev. x, 811. { Maim, do
Ratione adeundi Tempi, c. v. Lev. x, 6. xxi, 10. || Exod. xxx,
19. ** Lev. x, 8, 9. Jf Lev. xxi, 1, 2. ttlWd.wr.?; Ibid.
ver. 9. Jill Lev. vi, 13. Maimon. de Ratione Sacrif. c. v, n. 7.
.?** This was the first business of the day. DC Tab. J. 7. c. 6. 2, fc
236 .. Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV.
victims, and sprinkle it upon the altar.* Such as
were of the sacerdotal race, and were excluded from
the priesthood on account 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 offices just now mentioned were in
common to the priests and highpriests ; but besides
them there was a particular one, annexed to the latter
dignity only, and that was, that the highpriest alone
went into the holy of holies once a year on tye day
of expiation, and he alone could offer up the sacrifice
which was then prescribed, both for his own sins and
those of all the people.
Gthly. As to the names and forms of the sacer-
dotal habits, we find them in Exodtisf and Leviti-
cus. | 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 highpriest,
whose habits were different from theirs, and who was
consecrated with some^particular ceremonies. At
the time of his consecration, they poured a pre-
cious oil upon his forehead, and this unction was
made in the form of the Greek letter X. Maimonide.s
tells us that this was not observed in the second
temple, and that the highpriest was then no other-
wise consecrated, than by the pontifical habits which
he wore. But when it was observed, it was done in
such plenty, that we are not to wonder if the hoi)
oil, which was poured upon his forehead, ran down
on all sides upon the beard of the highpriest ; to
which the Psalmist refers when speaking of a pre-
cious perfume, he compares it with that which was
used at Aaron's consecration. ||
* De Tab. 5. Ex. xxx, 7. 2 Chron. xxvi, 1619. f Chap, xxfiii.
J Chap.TiU. Lev. i, 10. j| Psalm cxxxlii, 2.
Ch. V.] Habits of the Highpriest. 237
8thly. The highpriesthood, as to its succession,
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 de-
pended upon the will of the princes or governors.
And under the Asmonean 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 Leviti-
cal family ; as appears from the catalogue which
Josephus has given us of the highpriests.* There
could not be two highpriests 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 of
sagan, and he sat at the right hand of the highpriest.
And therefore some think that Caiaphas was high-
priest, and Annas his sagan, and that this is the rea-
son why Jesus Christ was brought before them both.f
9thly. As to the habits peculiar to the highpriest,
the first we shall speak of is that which the Hebrew
text calls me/a/. The Greek interpreters have once
Tendered it by ifofypy^ which signifies a garment
that reaches -down to the feet ; and this is the word
which Josephus also makes use of. But as the
same Greek interpreters sometimes render it by
oth%r 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
* See DeTab. 1. vii, c. A. 7. See Joseph. Ant. b. xx, <:. 10, and
X, c. 8. s. 6. f Luke iii, 2.
J Exod. xxviii, 4. S'^D fr m r\^y alah, to go up, was probably
so called from being a sort of outer, or upper coat. Josephus says,
" It reached down to the feet, and was not made of two distinct pieces
sewed together at the shoulders and sides, but was one entire long
garment, woven 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 call it the robe.
233 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV.
not only have hidden the tunic, or linen alb, which
the highpriest wore under it, and which he had in
common with the other priests, but these pomegra-
nates and bells would likewise have lost their sound.
And therefore the mehil may be said to have been
called poderes, 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 j and
there was raised work, and hollows, and figures in
it ; and its extremities reached down to the ground.
2dly. And besides this, the highpriest wore another
sort of garment, which is like a waistcoat without
sleeves, and which is by the Hebrews called an ephod,
and by the Latins superhumerale, because it was fast-
ened upon the shoulders. (And they likewise gave
the name of ephod to another garment something
like this, which laymen were permitted to wear, as
appears from David's being said to have been dressed
in a linen ephod.}) Upon each shoulder he had also
a precious stone, in which were engraven the names
of the children of Israel , in that on the right shoul-
der 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, | of the
dimensions of the Hebrew zereth, that is, about half
a cubit. The Hebrews call it hoschen, that is, the
breastplate, 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 oraculum, because this was as it were
the oracle, by which God gave his answers : for the
highpriest, when he would consult God on any occa-
sion, 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
* English, a broidered coat, t 2 Sam. vi, 14. J Exod. xxviii, 1530
Ch. V.] Officers of the Synagogue. 239
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 signifies lights or knowledge, and the
other truth or perfection; and the Jews pretend that
they were two sacred signs, by which God made
known his will ; and when they ceased to appear,
it was no longer known what they were. All that
is certain concerning this opinion is, that the word
urim signifies lights; and perhaps it was so called
because these precious stones shone with an extra-
ordinary and miraculous 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.*
3dly, and lastly. The highpriest wore likewise a
plate of gold upon his forehead, on which were en-
graven these two words, Kodesch layhovah, tb,at 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 Levites, 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 presidents, whom
the Greeks call princes of the synagogue, and the
Hebrews heads of the congregation.^ These were
men advanced in age, men of letters and under-
standing, and of known probity. The Hebrews
call them chocamim, that is, sages or wise men ; and
their authority was considerable. They were judges
of pecuniary matters, of thefts, damages, and such
like ; and St. Paul doubtless alludes to them in the
* Deut. xxxiii, 8. Numb, xxvii, 21. 1 Sam. xxviii, 6.
t These are in the New Testament called Apx.i<rvvayuyft or Tillers
Of the synagogue, Mark v, 35. Luke viii, 41.
240 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV.
sixth chapter of his first epistle to the Corinthians,
verse 5, when he reproaches the Christians with
carrying their differences before the tribunals of the
Gentiles, as if they had no persons among themselves
who were capable of judging them. ' Is it so,' says
he, ' that there is not a wise man among you ? no,
not one that shall be able to judge between his bre-
thren?' And these had likewise the power of punish-
ing those whom they judged to be rebellious against
the law ; and hence it is, that our Lord forewarns
his disciples, that ' they should be scourged in the
synagogues.'* Besides these presidents, or princes of
the synagogue, there was likewise in every synagogue
a sort of minister, who read the prayers, directed the
reading of the law, and preached, and was called
chazan, that is, an inspector or bishop, f And to
this minister were joined other officers, who had the
care of the poor, and collected the alms ; and these
were called parnasim, that is, pastors and rectors.
As to the reading of the law in the synagogues, it
was always done in Hebrew, J and this made it neces-
sary, as soon as that language ceased to be their
mother tongue, to establish an interpreter, whom
the Jews call targumista. And by this means the
doctor who explained the law in Hebrew, came to
have an interpreter always by him, in whose ears he
softly whispered what he said, and this interpreter
repeated aloud to the people what had been thus
whispered to him. This, Lightfoot plainly proves
* Matt, x, 17.
I He that read the prayers and gave the blessing in the synagogues,
was, according to Dr. Prideaux, a different officer from the chazan,
and was called sheliach zibbor, or the angel of the church ; whence it is
that the bishops are called (Rev. i,) angels of the churches. The
chazan, according to him, was an inferior officer, whose business was
to take care of the books and other utensils ; a sort of deacon, such
as the parnasim are here said to be. And to such a one as is called
a minister, our Saviour gave the books when he had done reading in
the synagogue, Luke iv, 20. Connec. part i, b. 6. Under the year 444,
p. 307, 306 of the fol. edit.
I Of the manner of reading the Scripture in the synagogues, see
Prid. Con. part i, b. 6. Under the year 444, p. 306 of the folio edi-
tion.
Ch. V.] The Nazarites. 241
in his Horat TalmudiccR ; 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.'* 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 mas-
ters were called, sat upon benches, and the young
men sat at their feet ; which is the reason St. Paul
says, he learned the law at the feet of Gamaliel.^ We
shall now add an account of such as distinguished
themselves from the people by the holiness of their
lives ; and such were,
4thly. The Nazarites, or as some call ihem^Waza-
reans ; which is a Hebrew word, and signifies sepa-
rated. God himself is the author of this kind of
life. | From the moment that they devoted them-
selves to it, they abstained from all sorts of liquors
that could intoxicate, and never cut their hair after-
wards, 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 vow and engagement. The latter follow-
ed this kind of life only for a time, after which they
cut off their hair at the door of the tabernacle. Mai-
monides observes, that there were sometimes some
zealous persons, who voluntarily defrayed the ex-
penses 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 explain 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
* Matt, x, 27. f Acts xxii, 3.
| In the sixth chapter of Numbers you have an account of th
qualifications of the Nazarites and their austerities.
In his treatise of the Nazareate.
21
242 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV.
opinion the people had received of him, that he de-
spised the law of Moses. Now they that bore these
expenses were obliged to purify themselves : and
therefore St. Paul appointed a day, whereon he would
(after the time of the vow was past) pay the money
that was necessary to buy the victims that were to
be offered up on this occasion ; in order thereby to
undeceive the Jews concerning the reports that had
been spread about him.*
5thly. The Rechabites, like the Nazarites, separa-
ted themselves from the rest of the Jews, in order
to lead a more holy life.f Jeremiah describes the
life and customs of the Rechabites in the thirty-fifth
chaptt^ of his prophecy, verse 5 7, thus, * I set,'
says he, ' before the sons of the house of the Rechab-
ites, 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, saying, 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.'
This Rechab, the father of Jonadab, lived under
Jehu king of Israel, in the time of the prophet Eli-
sha.J These Rechabites lived in tents, and flou-
rished about a hundred and fourscore years. But
after the captivity they were dispersed, unless the
Essenes, of whom we have spoken before, succeed-
ed 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,
* 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, from
Acts xviii, 18, that he had a vow upon himself, (which he made at
Cenchrea, and therefore shaved himself there, by way of initiation
into it, as all those who made vows, or were Na/arites, did ;) as well
as assisted the others in defraying the expenses of their vows. See*
Lamy DC Tabern. I. vii, c. 3. 2.
t The Rechabites' manner of living was not only a matter of reli-
gion, but also a civil ordinance grounded upon a national custom.
They were Kenites or Midianites, who used to live in tents, as the
Arabians still do. Hab. iii, 7. Mede's Work?, p. 127.
1 2 Kings x, 15. See page 183.
Ch. VI.] Their Confession of Faith. 243
Noah, Abraham, and the rest, since they did the
offices of priests, offered sacrifices, and taught reli-
gion at home and abroad, in proportion 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 :* and the office of a prophet
was not only to Joretel what should afterwards come
to pass, it was their business likewise to instruct the
people, and they interpreted the law of God ; inso-
much that the word prophet sometimes signifies an
interpreter or teacher. But of both patriarchs and pro-
phets we have already spoken. See page 21 30,
and page 131.
CHAPTER VI.
The Jewish Confession of Faith. Doctrine of Original
Sin. Opinion of the Messiah's Kingdom.
NOTHING more facilitates the understanding of an
author, than the knowing what ends he proposed tq
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
discourse 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 Testament wrote. By Jewish opinions,
* Numb. xi.
244 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV,
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 adhe-
rents to their customs and ceremonies, do yet observe
to this day.
The confession of faith which contains these tradi-
tions, consists of thirteen articles, but they are not all
equally ancient. The ninth, which declares that the
law of Moses cannot be abolished by any other law.
was evidently drawn up against the Christian religion.
This confession of faith, as represented by Buxtorf
in his treatise de synagoga Judaica, is as follows :
"1 . I firmly believe, that God, blessed be his name
for ever, is the Creator and the Master of all things ;
and that every thing was, is, and will be made for him
alone.
" 2. I firmly 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, blessed 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, blessed be
his name for ever, is eternal, and that he is the begin-
ning and end of all things.
" 5. I firmly believe, that the Creator, blessed 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 pro-
phets are tine.
"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 br
Oh. VI.] Their Confession of Faith. 245
changed, and that the Creator, blessed be his holy
name, will never give another.
"10. I firmly believe, that the Creator, blessed 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.'*
"11. 1 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 ex-
pect it, till he does appear.
"13. I firmly believe, that the dead will rise at the
time appointed by the Creator, whose name be bless-
ed, 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 ;f and therefore neither Jesus
Christ nor his apostles cast any reproaches upon
them on that account. But because they received
several other doctrines, which it is of some import-
ance to know, besides those contained in these thir-
teen 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 ori-
ginal 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 sig-
* Psalm xxxiii, 15.
t 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 captivity, 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 till after it. Pud. Con. part 1, b. 6. Under the yeap
4, p. 559 of the Svo. edition.
21*
246 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV
net, that it might be thereby transmitted to all theii
posterity ; it was because all things were finished the
day that Adam was created, and he was the perfec-
tion 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 Messiahs, one of which
shall be put to death, and the other shall appear with
glory. As to the time of his coming, they acknow-
ledge that their fathers believed that the space which
the world was to last was six thousand years ; that of
these God appointed two thousand for the law of na-
ture, two thousand for the law of Moses, and two thou-
sand 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 increa-
sed ad infinitum, have obliged God to let a great part
of this last two thousand years pass away, before the
coming 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, unless they sub-
mit to the precepts given to Noah ; and no body is
with them their neighbour but an Israelite.* And
what praises soever they may give to the law of Moses,
yet they think it lawful 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 : 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
* As this is an avowed sentiment of all the ancient and modern
Jews, (see page 192) we may see how dangerous 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 roust be butchered who would not submit to be cir-
camcued.
Ch. VII.] Of the Hebrew Talent. 247
occasion to Jesus Christ and his apostles to forbid
the use of all sorts of swearing,* in order thereby to
correct that horrid abuse of oaths which was common
among the Jews, when the name of God was not in
(hem.
CHAPTER VII.
Of the Hebrew Talent, and how to reduce it into English
money.
BEFORE 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 standard 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 41. 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. 9 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 pennyweights,
nine grains, is in proportion to twenty-one shillings, so
is one ounce, troy weight, in proportion to 78.1394s.
*. e. 3/. 18s. lf</. sterling ; and so much one ounce
troy, of the coined gold of Great Britain is worth, at
the rate of twenty-one shillings the guinea. But ;i
crown, which is one ounce troy weight, is better
* Matt, v, 34.
248 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV.
worth five shillings sterling, than an ounce of the
gold coin of Great Britain is worth 31. 18s. Ifrf.
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 talents in shillings sterling, or in shillings 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 hun-
dred 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 843905.521. i. e eight hun-
dred forty-three thousand nine hundred and five
pounds, ten shillings, and four pence three farthings,
sterling.
For if 78.1394s. be multiplied by 1800 ounces, the
product will be 140650,92s. which multiplied by 120,
the next product will be 16878110.40s. which divi-
ded by 20s. the quotient will be 843905. 521 equal to
843,905 J. 10s. 4d. %q. 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
ne shield,' 2 Chron. ix, 16.
To find the value of two hundred targets, I con-
sider that one target is one fifth of the weight of a
talent ; for a talent is 3000 shekels, and a target is
feut 600, which is the fifth of 3000, therefore one of
Ch. VII. ] Of Solomon's Targets. 249
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 (i. e. the shillings sterling that
are equal to one talent of gold) by five, the quotient
will be 28130 184s. (i. e. the value of one target,)
which multiply by 200, (the number of the targets,)
the product will be the value of the 200 targets in
shillings sterling ; divide the product by 20s. the quo-
tient will be the value of the 200 targets in pounds
and part of a pound sterling, viz. 281 301. 84/. equal
to 281, SOU. 16s. 9d. See the operation following.
Example.
5) 140650.920s. equal to one talent of gold.
Quotient, 28130.184.?. equal to one target of gold.
200 targets.
Product, 5626036.800s. equal to two hundred targets.
20) 5626036.80s.
Quotient, 281301.84*. equal to 28l,301J. 16s. 9$d.
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 will be the value of
the 300 shields in shillings and part of a shilling ster-
ling : 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
210,976J. 7s. 7d. See the operation following :
Example.
14065.092s. the value of one shield.
300 shields.
Product, 4219527 600s. equal to 300 shields.
20) 4219527.600s.
Quotient, 210976.38Z. 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 666
250 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV.
talents. And by the preceding rule the reader will
find that this annual income amounted to 4,683,675/,
12s. 8Arf. sterling.*
CHAPTER VIII.
Some Account of the Ancient Samaritans.
As the history of this singular people is so inti-
mately connected with that of the ancient Israelites,
it may not be improper to give a short account of
them in this place.
About the year of the world 3295, 709 before the
Christian era, Sennacherib king of Assyria, having
failed in his attempts upon Judea, and becoming
cruel and tyrannical even among his own people, in
consequence of his disappointment, was slain by his
two eldest sons, Jldramelech and Sharezar, while wor-
shipping in the house of his god Nisroch. The par-
ricides having fled, Esarhaddon the third son, assu-
med the reins of government in the Assyrian empire, f
After he had fully settled his authority in Babylon,
he began to set his heart on the recovery of what
had been 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 moun-
tains, &c.) and carried them away into Babylon
and Assyria. As the land was in danger of becoming
entirely desolate through lack of inhabitants, he
brought colonies from Babylon, Cutha, Jlva, Hamath,
and Sepharvaim, and established them in the cities
of Samaria, instead of those whom he had carried
* These calculations, in which I have followed Mr. Reynolds, (State
of the greatest Kins;, &c. p. 58) will be found materially to differ from
those of the Abbe Fleury, in p. 160, 161, of this Work ; but as they
appeared to me to be perfectly correct, I judged them of too much
ronsequence to be omitted.
|2 Kings xix, 37. 1 Chron. xxxii, 21. Isai. xxxviii, 39.
Ch. VIII. ] Of the Ancient Samaritans. 251
into captivity.* And thus the ten tribes which had
separated from the house of David were brought to
an utter destruction, and could never afterwards
assume any political consequence.
It appears that some considerable time must have
elapsed from the captivity of the Israelites of Sama-
ria, before the above heathen colonies were brought
in ; for we find immediately on their settling they
were much infested with lions, commissioned by
the Lord to be a scourge to these idolaters,! and
which, we may suppose, had multiplied greatly after
the desolation of the land. The king of Babylon
being told that it was because they worshipped not
the God of the country, that they were plagued with
these ferocious animals, ordered that one of the cap-
tive Jewish priests should be sent back, to teach
these new settlers the manner of the God of the land ;\
i. e. how to worship the God of Israel, as it was an
ancient opinion among the heathens, that each dis-
trict and country had its peculiar and tutelary deities.
A priest was accordingly sent back, who took up his
residence at Beth-el, and there established the wor-
ship of the true God, and the heathens incorporated
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 ieared because of his supposed
superior influence 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 wor-
ship of the true God, continued for about three hun-
dred years, till the building of the Samaritan 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 connexions
and heathenish alliances, Sanballat found no diificulty
to procure a priest, a regular descendant of the house
of Aaron, to officiate in the schismatical temple which
* 2 Kings xvii, 84. Ezra iv, 0,10. 1 2 Kings xvii, 25. } Ibid, v, 26.
352 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV.
he had lately erected : for one of the sons of Joiada
the highpriest, whom Josephus calls Manasseh,*
having married the daughter of Sanballat, and refii-
sing to separate from her when Nehemiah insisted on
all the Jews to put away their strange wives or to
depart the country, Manasseh fled to Samaria, and
there became highpriest 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 apostatized 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 built among
them, in which the daily service was constantly per-
formed in the very same manner as in Jerusalem,
and the law of Moses brought to Samaria and there
publicly read, they abandoned the worship of their
idols, and became wholly conformed to the worship
of the true God, in which they have hitherto conti-
nued with undeviating exactness ; being in many
respects more conscientious than the Jews them-
selves, f 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 Samaria
no prophet arose after this time, and the Jewish
prophets having inveighed strongly against the Sama-
ritan corruptions, they have never received the pro-
phetical writings of the Hebrews, and have none of
their own : so that all they acknowledge of the
Jewish Scriptures to be divine, is the five books of
* Antiq. b. xi, c. 7. f Prideaux. Connex. vol. i, p. 42, &c. vol.
ii>p.588,&c.
Ch. IX.] Samaritans in Judea and Egypt. 253
Moses, which they have in the most scrupulous and
conscientious manner preserved till the present day ;
and to them the republic of letters is obliged for the
preservation of the ancient genuine Hebrew charac-
ter, now called the Samaritan, which was thrown
aside by Ezra when he published a connected edition
of the Old Testament Scriptures, in which he used
the Chaldee character, since improperly termed the
Hebrew.* It is scarcely necessary to observe, that
the Pentateuch is printed in this ancient Hebrew
character, in the first volume of the London Poly-
glott, 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 neces-
sary next to consider what their present state is, both
in a religious and civil point of view.
CHAPTER IX.
.2 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 Dr. Hun-
tington's Letters. This learned Englishman had
seen them at Cairo and Napolussa, had corresponded
with them, and examined 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 cham-
ber. 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,
* See a farther account of this in the Bibliographical Dictionary,
vol. vii, Succession of Sacred Literature, under the article Ezra.
22
254 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV.
which contains a very short chronicle from the crea-
tion 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 language in common use, except when
they quote any passage of the law, or write the
names of their highpriests, for then they use the
Samaritan characters.
Those of Sichem or Napolussa are for the most
part farmers of the customs, and collectors of the
tribute at Sichem, Gaza, Joppa, or else are secreta-
ries to the Bassa, which gives them some counte-
nance. They walk the streets well enough dressed,
and are not so miserable as in other places. Their
principal, Merchab ben Yacoub, wrote to me at Jeru-
salem. The letters were signed by eighteen persons,
which were almost all of consideration at Sichem.
This commissary of the customs was afterwards
obliged to retire to Leghorn, because of the persecu-
tions he met with in the holy land. These Samari-
tans boast of having a copy of the law written by the
hand of Misha. " We have," say they in their let-
ters, " a sacred writing; 'tis the copy of the law, in
which are found these w T ords ; ' I, Abisha, the son of
Phineas, the son of Eleasar, the son of Aaron the
highpriest, have transcribed this copy at the door of
the tabernacle of the congregation, in the thirteenth
year ot the children of Israel's entrance into the holy
land, or upon the frontiers.' " The Samaritans having
boasted of this copy, I was willing, in a second jour-
ney I made to Sichem, to examine the truth of the
fact with my own eyes. But I turned over the manu-
script 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.
Ch. IX.] Of the Samaritans. 255
Thus, instead of honestly acknowledging their im-
posture, they face it with a new falsehood, and sacri-
fice their conscience to a chimerical antiquity." All
the Samaritans hate the Jews mortally ; for this tra-
veller relates, that they having one day asked him
whether there were Hebrews in his country, they
were overjoyed to hear there were ; but when he
went to undeceive them, because they took the Jews
of England for Samaritans, they would not believe
him : " No, no !" cried they, " they are Israelites,
Hebrews, our most brotherly brethren." As they do
not give the Jews the title of Hebrews, 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 sabbath, 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 strictness. They do not
pronounce the name Jehovah, but make use of the
word Sema HVV. Mr. Ludolf, with a great deal of
reason, believed it to be the word Shem OSP, which
signifies the NAME, by way of eminence. What is
more surprising is, that the Christians of Egypt do
the same thing, never pronouncing the word Phta,
which is the name the Egyptians gave God, to signify
that he did every thing without fraud, with art and
truth. But they call God Ebrudi."
" Their notions of the Messiah are very confused
and very different ; but they always speak honourably
of him, and they do not declaim much against those
that worship him. Their hatred to the other Jews
makes them more moderate perhaps to the Chris-
tians."
To omit nothing that concerns the religion of the
Samaritans, I shall here add the confession of faith
which the highpriest Eleazar sent to Scaliger, in the
name of the synagogue of Sichtm, which that great
man consulted.
256 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV.
"1. The Samaritans observe the sabbath with all
the exactness required in Exodus. For none of
them goes out of the place where he is on the sab-
bath day, but only to go to the synagogue, where they
read the law and sing God's praises. They do not
sleep that night with their wives, and neither kindle,
nor order fire to be kindled ; whereas the Jews trans-
gress the sabbath in all these points. For they go
out of town, have fire made, sleep with their wives,
and even do not make use of proper ablutions.
" 2. They hold the passover to be their first festival.
They begin at sunset by the sacrifice enjoined for
that purpose in Exodus. But they sacrifice nowhere
but on mount Gerizim, where they read the law, and
offer prayers unto God, after which the priest dis-
misses the whole congregation with a blessing.
" 3. They celebrate for seven days together the
feast of the harvest ; but thp.y dn not agree with the
Jews concerning the day on which it should begin.
For these reckon the next day after the solemnity of
the passover ; whereas the Samaritans reckon fifty
days, beginning the next day after the sabbath, which
happens in the week of unleavened bread, and the
next day after the seventh sabbath following, the
i'east of the harvest begins.
" 4. They observe the feast of expiation the tenth
of the seventh month. They employ the four-and-
twenty hours of the day in prayers to God, and sing-
ing his praises, and fasting. For all except sucking-
children fast ; whereas the Jews except children
under seven years of age.
" 5. The fifteenth of the same month they cele-
brate the feast of the tabernacles upon the same mount
Gerizim.
" 6. They never defer circumcision farther than the
eighth day, as it is commanded in Genesis ; whereas
the Jews sometimes defer it longer.
" 7. They are obliged to wash themselves in the
morning, when they have slept with their wives, or
have contracted any defilement in the night ; and all
Ch. IX.] Samaritan Confession of Faith. 257
vessels that may become unclean, are denied when
any such unclean person touches them.
" 8. They take away the fat from sacrifices, and
give the priests the shoulder, the jaws, and belly.
" 9. They never marry their nieces as the Jews do,
and have but one wife ; whereas the Jews may have
many.
" 10. They believe in God, in Jlfoses, and mount
Gerizim. Whereas the Jews put their trust in others.
We do nothing, say they, but what is expressly com-
manded in the law by the Lord, who made use' of the
ministry of Moses. But the Jews swerve from what
the Lord hath commanded in the law, to observe what
their fathers and doctors have invented."
Thus far their creed sent to Scaliger. They say,
that Mr. Huntington persuaded them they had bre-
thren at London ; but he says that the Samaritans
were misled by the name of Israelites, and thought
that all who went by the name of Hebrews were Sa-
maritans. Some fraud seems to have been practised
upon them relative to this subject, in order to get a
copy of their law, and they certainly did entrust him
with a copy of then 1 Pentateuch which Dr. Hunting-
ton seems to have requested from them in the name
of their pretended Samaritan brethren in England :
at least, so am I led to understand their letter to these
English Samaritans, a translation of which I subjoin
from Basnage, that the fact may speak for itself.
Indeed it is a literary curiosity, and being perfectly
authentic, is worthy of particular attention.
A Letter of the Samaritans, to their Brethren in
England.
IN the name of the Almighty, adorable God; in the
name of the great Lord, who is by himself, our God,
the God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
who has said in his law, " I am the God of Bethel,"
the supreme God, Lord of heaven and earth, God
Almighty, who has sent Moses the son of Amram,
commissioned with his laws, and by his means ha*
'258 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV.
revealed the holiness of mount Gerizim, and of the
house of God.
We salute you, oh synagogue of Israel, the peo-
ple of our Lord and master, who has chosen this
people above all nations of the earth ; for you are a
people holy to the Lord. We call ourselves Sama-
ritans, and we assure you, our brethren in Israel, that
we are extremely devoted to Moses the prophet, and
to the holy law. We observe the sabbath as God ,
has commanded, for on that day nobody moves out
of his place, except it be to pay his devotions at the
house of the Lord. As all those who sought God
went to the tabernacle of witness, we do nothing
there but read the law, praise God, and pay him our
thanksgivings ; and whereas the Jews ride on horse-
back, go out of the city, light fires on that day, and
converse with their wives : we separate ourselves the
night of the sabbath, and light no fire. The Jews
do not wash after every kind of pollution, but we do,
and purify ourselves thereby. We pray to God eve-
ning and morning according to the command he has
given us, * You shall offer me a lamb in the morning,
and another lamb between the two evenings.' We
lie upon the ground when we worship God before
mount Gerizim, the house of God.
We have seven solemn feasts wherein we assemble.
The first is the feast of the passover, at the time that
our fathers came out of Egypt. We sacrifice the
lamb the fourteenth day of the first month, at eve-
ning; a little before sunsetting and eat it roasted,
with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. We make
this sacrifice only upon mount Gerizim ; and we pre-
pare it on the first day of the month Nisan, accord-
ing to the Greeks. We reckon seven days for the
feast of unleavened bread ; six whereof we eat bread
without leaven. On the seventh we go early at break
of day to mount Gerizim, to celebrate the feast and
read the law. When prayers are ended the priest
gives the blessing to the people from the top of the
eternal mountain. We do not begin to reckon the
Ch. IX.] Samaritan Epistle. 259
fifty days of the feast of the harvest, like the Jews,
from the morrow of the feast of the passover, but we
reckon them from the day following the sabbath, that
happens in the feast of unleavened bread, till the mor-
row of the seventh sabbath, on which we celebrate
the feast of harvest upon Gerizim. We celebrate
also the seventh month, which begins with the feasl
of trumpets. Ten days after is that of propitiations ;
in which we sing hymns and say prayers, from one
clay to the other night and day. The women and
children fast as well as the men, and we dispense
with none but those that suck; whereas the Jews
dispense with all under seven years old. We ob-
serve the feast of tabernacles upon mount Gerizim
the fifteenth of the seventh month. We set up taber-
nacles, according to the order given us by God, Ye
shall take you the boughs of goodly trees, branches
of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees and
willows of the brook.' We spend seven days in joy
under these tents, and on the eighth we end the feast
of the Lord with a hymn.
We very circumspectly observe whether the con-
junction of the sun and moon happen in the night, or
'in the day before noon. If it happen before noon,
that day is the first of the month ; but if it happen at
twelve o'clock, or a little after, we delay the begin-
ning of the month till the morrow. If the conjunc-
tion be lunar, the month continues twenty-nine days,
but thirty if it be solar. If the new moon falls on
the eleventh of the month Mar of the Greeks, we
intercalate a month, and reckon thirteen that year.
And the month that immediately follows is the first
month of the year. But if the month begins on tin
twelfth of Adar or some days after, then that is the
first month of the year, and we reckon but twelve ;
for the week of unleavened bread must be in the
month JW'san. The Jews reckon otherwise than we .
we begin the sabbatic year and the jubilee from the
first day of the seventh month.
260 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV.
We sprinkle the water of separation the third and
fourth days, upon all that are defiled by the contact
of women, and we sprinkle it seven days upon the
woman who has an issue upon her. The woman
who is delivered of a boy, separates only forty-one
days ; and eighty if it be a girl : the circumcision is
made exactly on the eighth day after the birth, with-
out deferring it one single day, as do the Jews. We
purify ourselves from the defilements contracted in
sleep, and we touch none of the unclean things spe-
cified in the law without washing in clean water.
We offer to God the fat of the victim, and gire the
priest the shoulder, the jaw, and the ventricle.
It is not lawful for us to marry a niece, or a cousin,
as is done by the Jews. We believe in Moses, and
in mount Gerizim. We have priests of the race of
Levi, descended in a right line from Aaron and Phi-
neas. We are all of the tribe of Joseph, by Ephraim,
Manasses ; and of the tribe of Levi. Our habitation
is in the holy city of Sichem, and at Gaza ; we have
a copy of the law, written in the time of grace, in
which we read these words : /, Jlbishai, the son of
Phineas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Jlaron, have
written this copy at the door of the tabernacle, in the
thirteenth year of the people of Israel's entrance into the
land of Canaan, upon its frontiers. We read this law
in Hebrew, which is the holy tongue, and do nothing
but according to the commands of God, given us by
Moses, the son of Amram, our prophet, upon whom
be peace for ever and ever. We give you notice,
you that are our brethren, children of Israel, that
R. Huntington, an uncircumcised man, is arrived
here from Europe, and has acquainted us that you
are a great people, composed of men pure and holy
like ourselves, and that you have sent him to desire
of us a copy of the law ; to whom we would not give
credit, till he had written before us some characters
of the holy language ; in order to assure you that we
have the same Mosaic religion that you profess, and
if we had not been willing to oblige you, we should
Ch. IX.] Samaritan Epistle. 261
not have sent a copy of the law by the hands of the
uiicircumcised, for that is a reproach to us. Never-
theless we have committed it to him, with two other
little books, that we might not absolutely deny your
request. We also conjure you in the name of the
living God not to deny ours, and to tell us what reli-
gion you are of? Tell us what is the language you
speak, the city you live in, the king that governs you,
and what religion he professes ? Have ye any priests
of the race of Phineas ? Have ye only one priest ?
In the name of God tell us the truth, without any
shadow of dissimulation ; and send us a copy of the
law, as we have sent you ours. Send us also some
learned men, some prophets, some persons of repute,
and especially some descendant of Phiueas ; for know
that God has chosen us children of Israel to be his
people, and to live at Gerizim, according to what he
has said, Ye shall seek their habitation, and shall go
there. He has said also, You shall keep three feasts
every year ; the males shall rejoice three times a
year before the Lord. Know also, that all the pro-
phets are buried in the territory of Sichem : our
father Joseph, Eleazar, Ithamar, Phineas, Joshua,
Caleb, the seventy elders, with Eldad and Medad.
If you are willing to oblige us, acquaint us whe-
ther you are devoted to Moses, and his law, to Geri-
zim and the house of God ; and send us some persons,
without being concerned about the length of the
journey. Do not intrust a Jew, for they hate us.
If you send us any deputy, give us notice of it by
some friend. If ye have the book of Joshua, and
any liturgy, send us that also.
Tell us what your law is. As for us, we call the
law what begins with the first word of Genesis,
(iVBRia) aud ends with the last of Deuteronomy,
(^x-it^). Cause all this to be copied for us in the
holy tongue, and tell us by what name you go? We
adjure you by the name of the living God, not to
suffer a year to run over your heads without giving
us an answer. In the meantime, we bless God, the
262 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV.
Lord of heaven and earth, and we implore his mercy
and his justice, to instruct you in all that can please
him, and to guide you in the good way, amen. May
he preserve you and deliver you from the hands of
your enemies, and gather you together from your
dispersions into the land of your fathers, through
the merits of Moses. We add, that tlus is our faith :
we believe in God, in Moses his servant, in the holy
law, in mount Gerizim, the house of God, and in
the day of vengeance and peace. Blessed for ever
be our God, and let his peace rest upon Moses, the
son of Amram, the righteous, perfect, pure and faith-
ful prophet. We have written this letter at Sichem,
near Gerizim, the 15th day of the sixth month, which
is the 27th day of the lunar month, in the 6111th
year of the creation of the world, according to the
Greeks ; the second from the year of rest. This
year the seventh month will begin the fourth of Elul,
according to the Greeks ; and the next year is the
341 1th from the entrance into the land of Canaan.
God be blessed.
May this letter by the help of God arrive into the
city England, to the synagogue of the Samaritan
children of Israel, whom God preserve. It is writ-
ten by the synagogue of Israel, dwelling at Sichem.
Mechab, the son of Jacob, a descendant of Ephraim,
the son of Joseph, was the secretary."
The Samaritan Pentateuch which it appears from
the above that the Rev. Mr. Huntington (then chap-
lain to the Turkey company at Aleppo, and after-
wards bishop of Rapho in Ireland) had requested
from them in the name of the Samaritans dwelling
in England, is Cod. 65, in Kennicott's collection.
Mr. H. had made it a present to Abp. Marsh. It
seems it had been highly prized by its Samaritan
possessor, for, says Mr. Huntingtoli, in an epistle to
Ludolf, He had it in his bosom, suspended from his
neck. Kennicott supposes it to have been written
about the middle of the thirteenth century. The
33d and 34th chapters of Deuteronomy are supplied
Ch. X.] Present State of the Jews. 263
in this manuscript by J\[arcab ben Yacoub, the writer
of the above epistle. The manuscript is in the 12mo
form.
In the year 1790, I met with " an Epistle from
the Samaritans at Sichem to the Samaritans of Eng-
land," in Marsh's Library, St. Patrick's, Dublin,
neatly written in a very legible Samaritan character
upon paper ; it is probably the same with that men-
tioned above : I began to transcribe it as a curiosity,
but could not find opportunity to finish it. It is
directed in the following manner :
^j^jjx Yj73 crjJiyn a-iosyn 'jmar -33 mx 1 ?
Laedeth benee yisrad hashemereem hashokeneem baab~
angeland : " To the congregation of the children of
Israel, the Samaritans dwelling in the city England."
I mention this circumstance here, that any of the
literati who are curious in oriental matters may know
the residence of such a curiosity, and consult it when
opportunity may offer. If my recollection be cor-
rect, a part of the epistle is accompanied with a
Latin translation.
For further information relative to this people, I
must refer the reader to Prideaux's Connexions, as
quoted above, to Ludolf's and Huntingtori's Letters,
and to Basnage's History of the Jews. Whether any
remains of this very ancient sect of mongrel Jews be
now in existence at Sichem or elsewhere, I have not
been able to learn.
CHAPTER X.
State of the modern Jews. Their Liturgy.
THERE is some reason to fear that many Jews in the
present day have drank deeply into the infidel spirit
of the times, and no longer receive the writings of
the Old Testament as divinely inspired. A Jewish
rabbi, a man of extensive information, and consider-
able learning, lately observed to me, that " as Moses
had to do with a grossly ignorant, stupid and head-
264 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV.
strong people, he was obliged to have recourse to a
pious fraud, and pretend that the laws he gave them
were sent to him by the Creator of all things : and
that all the ancient legislators and formers of new
states, who had a barbarous people to govern, were
obliged to act in the same way, such as Menu, Numa,
Lycurgus, Mohammed, &e. ; and that the time was
very near at hand, when all the inhabitants of the
civilized world would be of one religion, viz. DEISM,
which he said was a system of truth, compounded
from Judaism, Mohammedanism, Christianity, and
the writings of the ancient heathen philosophers !"
When I expressed my suprise at hearing a Jew talk
thus, and asked him if any of his brethren were ol
the same mind, he answered with considerable emo-
tion, "Yes, every intelligent Jew in Europe who re-
flects on the subject, is of the same mind." If this
rabbi's testimony be true, the children of Jacob are
deplorably fallen indeed ! And from the manner in
which they conduct what they call the worship of God,
who would suppose they either credit his word, or
believe in his existence ? It cannot be called even a
solemn mockery ; the irreligion of it is too barefaced
to have any pretensions to solemnity, or indeed even
to decorum.*
Having brought the work thus far, I think it pro-
per to conclude the whole with some account of the
Jewish liturgy.
In former times their synagogue service was com-
posed of prayers, reading the Scriptures and expound-
ing them. At present the latter is not generally
regarded. At first their prayers were very short and
* A friend of mine went into the synagogue in Duke's place, Hounds-
ditch, London, to observe the method in which they conducted their
worship : happening to come near a Jew who was deeply engaged
in loudly chanting his part of the sacred office, he unfortunately trod
on his toes ; he instantly suspended his reading, and with a counte-
nance as fierce as a tiger, cried " your eyes, can't you see?" and
then recollecting his piety anew, he immediately resumed his sacred
employment, and with the same devotion as before, continued to ac-
company his brethren, having lost but about two seconds in pronoun-
cing his execration.
Ch. X.] Their Liturgy. 265
simple. Our Lord's prayer is a model of this kind,
and seems to have been taken from some of the Jew-
ish forms extant in his time : at least, every petition
of it is found in the ancient Jewish writings : but
even then there were some hypocritical Pharisees
who made long prayers, and these our Lord most cut-
tingly reprehends. The liturgy of the modern Jews
is greatly increased in size, which makes their syna-
gogue service long and tedious, and the rubric by
which they regulate it, is very intricate, perplexed,
and encumbered with many rites and ceremonious
observances ; in all of which, says Dr. Prideaux, they
equal if not exceed both the superstition and length
of the popish service.*
The most solemn part of their prayers are those
which they call mwy mint? Shemoneh Esreh. i. e. The
eighteen prayers.^ These, they say, were composed
by Ezra and the great synagogue : and to them Rob.
Gamaliel, a little before the destruction of Jerusalem,
added the nineteenth against the Christians, who are
intended under the names of apostates and heretics.
These prayers are allowed to be very ancient, for
mention is made of them in the Mishnah (Berachoth,
c. iv, s. 3,) as old settled forms ; and they were
doubtless (at least the major part of them) used in
our Saviour's time4 That which was formerly the
nineteenth prayer is now the twelfth in the order in
which they stand in the Jewish liturgies. The first
part, or rather the precatory part of each article, was
pronounced by the priest : the last or eucharistical
part was the response of the people.
" 1. Blessed be thou, oh Lord our God, the God of
our fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
the God of Jacob, the great God, powerful and tre-
mendous, the high God, bountifully dispensing bene-
* Maimonides in Tephillah. and Prideaux's Con. vol. 2. p. 538.
t The 10, 11, 14, and 17, seem to refer to the destruction of Jeru-
salem, and consequently to have been composed after that period.
Yet it is probable that these may refer to the calamities of more an
cient times.
t See Prideaux.
23
266 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV.
fits, the Creator and possessor of the universe, who
rememberest the good deeds of our fathers, and in
thy love sendest a Redeemer to those who are de-
scended from them, for thy name's sake, oh King,
our Lord and helper, our Saviour and our shield.
Blessed art thou, oh Lord, who art the shield of
Abraham.
"2. Thou, oh Lord, art powerful for ever, thou
raisest the dead to life, and art mighty to save ; thou
sendest down the dew, stillest the winds, and makest
the rain to come down upon the earth, and sustainest
with thy beneficence all that are therein ; and of thy
abundant mercy makest the dead again to live. Thou
raisest up those who fall; thou healest the sick;
thou loosest them who are bound, and makest good
thy word of truth to those who sleep in the dust.
Who is to be compared to thee, oh thou Lord of
might ! and who is like unto thee, oh our King, who
killest and makest alive, and makest salvation to
spring as the grass in the field ! Thou art faithful to
make the dead to rise again to life. Blessed art
thou, oh Lord, who raisest the dead again to life !
" 3. Thou art holy, and thy name is holy, and thy
saints do praise thee every day, selah. For a great
King and a holy art thou, oh God. Blessed art thou,
oh Lord God most holy !
" 4. Thou of thy mercy givest knowledge unto
men, and teachest them understanding : give gra-
ciously unto us knowledge, wisdom, and understand-
ing. Blessed art thou, oh Lord, who graciously
givest knowledge unto men !
" 5. Bring us back, oh our Father, to the obser-
vance of thy law, and make us to adhere to thy pre-
cepts, and do thou, oh our King, draw us near to thy
worship, and convert us to thee by perfect repent-
ance in thy presence. Blessed art thou, oh Lord,
who vouchsafest to receive us by repentance !
"6. Be thou merciful unto us, oh our Father, for
we have sinned ; pardon us, oh our King, for we
hare transgressed against thee. For thou art a God,
Ch. X.] Their Liturgy. 267
good and ready to pardon. Blessed art thou, oh Lord
most gracious, who multipliest thy mercies in the for-
giveness of sins !
" 7. Look, we beseech thee, upon our afflictions.
Be thou on our side in all our contentions, and plead
thou our cause in all our litigations; and make haste
to redeem us with a perfect redemption for thy name's
sake. For thou art our God, our King, and a strong
Redeemer. Blessed art thou, oh Lord, the Redeemer
of Israel !
" 8. Heal us, oh Lord our God, and we shall be
healed; save us, and we shall be saved. For thou
art our praise. Bring unto us sound health, and a
perfect remedy for all our infirmities, and for all our
griefs, and for all our wounds. For thou art a God
who healest, and art merciful. Blessed art thou, oh
Lord our God, who curest the diseases of thy people
Israel !
" 9. Bless us, oh Lord our God, in every work of
our hands, and bless unto us the seasons of the year,
and give us the dew and the rain to be a blessing
unto us, upon the face of all our land, and satiate the
world with thy blessings, and send down moisture
upon every part of the earth that is habitable.
Blessed art thou, oh Lord, who givest thy blessing to
the years!
" 10. Gather us together by the sound of the great
trumpet, to the enjoyment of our liberty, and lift up
thy ensign to call together all the captivity, from the
four quarters of the earth into our own land.
Blessed art thou, oh Lord, who gatherest together
the exiles of the people of Israel.
"11. Restore unto us our judges as at the first,
and our counsellors as at the beginning ; and remove
far from us affliction and trouble, and do thou only
reign over us in benignity, and in mercy, and in
righteousness, and in justice. Blessed art thouj oh
Lord our King, who lovest righteousness and jus-
tice !
263 Manners of the Israelites. [Part IV-
"12. * Let there be no hope to them who apos-
tatize from the true religion ; and let heretics, how-
many soever they be, all perish as in a moment. And
letf the kingdom of pride be speedily rooted out,
and broken in our days. Blessed art thou, oh Lord
our God, who destroyest the wicked, and bringest
down the proud !
"13. Upon the pious and the just, and uponj
the proselytes of justice, and upon the remnant of
thy people of the house of Israel, let thy mercies be
moved, oh Lord our God, and give a good reward
unto all who faithfully put their trust in thy name,
and grant us our portion with them, and for ever let
us not be ashamed, for we put our trust in thee.
Blessed art thou, oh Lord, who art the support and
confidence of the just !
" 14. Dwell thou in the midst of Jerusalem thy
city, as thou hast promised ; build it with a building
to last for ever, and do this speedily even in our days.
Blessed art thou, oh Lord, who buildest Jerusalem !
"15. Make the offspring of David thy servant
speedily to grow up, and flourish, and let our horn be
exalted in thy salvation. For we hope for thy salva-
tion every day. Blessed art thou, oh Lord, who
makest the horn of our salvation to flourish !
" 16. Hear our voice, oh Lord our God ; most
merciful Father, pardon and have mercy upon us,
and accept of our prayers with thy mercy and favour,
and send us not away from thy presence, oh our
King. For thou hearest with mercy the prayer of
thy people Israel. Blessed art thou, oh Lord, who
hearest prayer !
* This is the prayer which was added by rabbi Gamaliel against the
Christians, or as others say by rabbi Samuel the little, who was one of
his scholars.
f The Roman empire.
j The proselytes of justice were such as received the whole Jewish
law, and conformed in all things to their religion. Other proselytes
there were who conformed only to the seven precepts of the sons of
Noah, and these were called proselytes of the gate, because they wor-
shipped only in the outer court of the temple, and were admitted no
farther than the gate leading into the inner courts. Of all these we
have already spoken, p. 74, 191.
Ch. X.] Their Liturgy. 269
17. Be thou well pleased, oh Lord our God, with
thy people Israel, and have regard unto their prayers ;
restore thy worship to* the inner part of thy house,
and make haste with favour and love to accept of the
burnt sacrifices of Israel, and their prayers ; and let
the worship of Israel thy people be continually well-
pleasing unto thee. Blessed art thou, oh Lord, who
restores! thy divine presence to Zion !
" 18. We will give thanks unto thee with praise.
For thou art the Lord our God, the God of our fathers
for ever and ever. Thou art our rock, and the rock
of our life, and the shield of our salvation. To all
generations will we give thanks unto thee, and declare
thy praise, because of our life which is always in thy
hands, and because of thy signs, which are every day
with us, and because of thy wonders, and marvellous
lovingkindnesses, which are morning, and evening,
and night, before us. Thou art good, for thy mer-
cies are not consumed ; thou art merciful, for thy
lovingkindnesses fail not. For ever we hope in thee.
And for all these mercies be thy name, oh King,
blessed, and exalted, and lifted up on high for ever
and ever ; and let all that live give thanks unto thee.
Selah. And let them in truth and sincerity praise
thy name, oh God of our salvation, and our help.
Selah. Blessed art thou, oh Lord, whose name is
good, and to whom it is fitting alway to give praise.
" 19. Give peace, beneficence, benediction, grace,
benignity, and mercy unto us, and to Israel thy people.
Bless us, our Father, even all of us together as one
man, with the light of thy countenance. For in the
light of thy countenance hast thou given unto us, oh
Lord our God, the law of life, and love, and benignity,
and righteousness, and blessing, and mercy, and life,
* ;'. e. The adytum templi, which in the temple of Jerusalem was the
holy of holies, into which none ever entered but the highpriest once a
year, on the great day of expiation. From this place, after the Baby-
lonish captivity, were wanting the ark, the mercy seat, the Shecinah
of the divine presence, and the urim and thummira, which causing an
imperfection in their worship in respect of what it was formerly, a,
restoration of them seems to be what is prayed for in this place.
270 Manners of the Israelites. [Part I? .
and peace. And let it seem good in thine eyes to
bless thy people Israel with thy peace at all times,
and in every moment. Blessed art thou, oh Lord,
who blessest thy people Israel with peace. #men."
' God hath given them the spirit of slumber ; eyes
that they should not see, and ears that they should
not hear unto this day.
Behold the goodness and severity of God ; on them
who fell severity, but toward thee goodness,, if thou
continue in his goodness, otherwise thou also shalt
be cut off.
* Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the
fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so, ALL
ISRAEL SHALL BE SAVED : for there shall come out
of Zion the DELIVERER, and shall turn away ungod-
liness from Jacob:' Paul, Rom. xi.
Jlspice, VENTURO Icetentur ut omnia SECLO :
O mihi tarn longa maneat pars ultima vitce,
Spiritus et quantum sat erit tua dicerefacta !
TALIA SECLA CURRITE !*
* VlRG, Bucol, iv.
INDEX.
A
ABRAHAM, a sort of king, 24 ; numerous servants, 25 ; waits on
his guests, 28.
Mam, probably the first who offered a sacrifice, 216 ; note.
Administration of justice among the Israelites, 149.
Adoring, what, 110.
Age, the first foundation of authority, 147.
Agriculture, see Husbandry.
Alienation of lands revoked every fifty years among the Israelites, 51.
Altars erected for memorials of great events, 23.
Altaschith, what, 103.
Angel of the church, what it signifies, 240, in the note.
Anointing, reason of it, 62.
Animals used in sacrifice, 219, 220 ; manner of killing such, 220
flaying, salting, &c., 220, 221 ; offered at the door of the taberna-
cle, 222.
Animals, different, eaten and abstained from among different na-
tions, 68.
Apostles among the Jews, their office, 180.
Arms, all persons capable of using them, ecclesiastics as well as lay-
men, made up the ancient militia, 155 ; what the ancient arms con
sisted of, 156 ; not worn by the Israelites except on duty, 156.
Arts, curious ones among the Hebrews, 53, 54.
Artificers, few among the Israelites till the time of David, 54, 53 :
many of the Greek heroes such, 55.
Antre of land, how much, 46.
Asmoneans, see Maccabees.
Athenians, how at first divided, 31.
Ayeleth Shahar, what, 102.
B
Babylon, the fertility of its plains, 40.
Bakers, when first at Rome, 55.
Balsam-tree only found anciently in Palestine, 44.
Baptism administered to proselytes, 193 ; how performed, 193 ; Lo)v '
administered to women, 195.
Bathing, why frequent in the east, 62.
Beards long, worn by the Israelites, 62.
Bedsteads in the east often of ivory, and placed against the wall, 63.
Bells in churches, of modern invention, 125.
Bissextile how computed, 213.
Books now lost referred to in the Old Testament, 88, 89.
Bramins neither kill nor eat animals, 69.
Bread, how much per day a man eats, 46 ; very little bread kept among
the Israelites, 55 : the word used in Scripture means all sorts of
victuals. 67.
272 INDEX.
Breastplate, 238, 239.
Britons, ancient, their dress, 19.
Burial, the manner of it among the Israelites, 116, 117; no religious
ceremony used at it, 117.
Kyssus, what it was, 60.
C
Cakes of libation, 221, called nakudeem, 67.
Calends, what, 213.
Canaan, the Israelites prohibited from marrying with his descendants.
32, 74 ; Canaamtes the same with Phoenicians, 53 : their tribe?
197, 198.
Canopies, the use of them in the east, 63.
Captivity of 'the ten tribes above a hundred years before that of the
other two, 164 ; the consequences of captivity anciently, and of
Israel and Judah in particular, 165 ; the restoration of Judah from
it, 166; much reformed by it, 167, 168; how long after it before
they could rebuild their city and temple, 168.
Castration of cattle prohibited to the Israelites, 51.
Cato the censor, writes of country affairs, 38 ; his opinion of the
pastoral life, 26 ; a maxim in his book the same with one in Prov.
xxiv, 27, 42.
Cavalry of little use in mountainous countries, 157 ; forbidden to the
Israelites, though much used in Egypt, 157 ; numerous, however,
in Solomon's time, 157.
Ceremonies, some borrowed from the Jewish church, 193.
Ccelosyria described, 203.
Chazan, who, 240.
Children of this world of darkness light, &c., whence the expres-
sions, 31 ; increase of them desired by the Israelites, 81, 82 ; how
numerous in some families, 82, 83.
Chimneys among the ancients little known, 65.
CMamys of the Greeks, what, 58, 60.
Christians eat too often, 70.
Church, whence the word, 149.
Cicero, what he means by Jewish gold, 180.
Circumcision, practised by many nations besides Jews, 74 ; performed
in private houses without the ministry of priests, 81 ; the seal of
the covenant, 192.
Cities in Judea, the habitation of labourers, and very numerous, 150 ;
their gates the seats of justice, 150 ; at first built by wicked men, 26,
Cloaks a sort of military dress. 60.
Clothes of the ancients injudiciously represented by most painters, 58,
59 ; fashions of them little changed in the east, 59 ; ill conse-
quences of their change, 60 ; of white colour most in use among
the Israelites, Greeks, and Romans, 61 ; made generally among
them all very plain, 61 ; of the women more sumptuous, 62, 63.
Concubines, though generally slaves, yet to keep them not reckoned
disreputable, 84 ; ill consequences from the use of them, 84, 85.
Confession of faith, 244, 245.
Corban, what, 226.
Council of seventy-two and the highpriest at Jerusalem, and of twenty-
three in the smaller cities, their power, 149 ; kept their court at the
gate of the city, 150 ; continued while the Jews were subject to t&e
Persians, 169 ; and to the Romans, 180.
INDEX. 273
Country people, the cause of their misery, 36.
Courts of judicature among the Romans at the forum, of the Israelites
at the city gates, in feudal times at the courts of lords' castles, 150
Craftsmen, valley of, 57.
Crusades laid waste the Holy Land, 43.
Cubit, two sorts mentioned in Scripture, 120.
Cynara, what, 93.
D
Day, how divided by the Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans, 206,
David, his riches, 160.
Dancing in use among the Israelites, 93, 94.
Daughters of the patriarchs bred to hard labour, 26.
Death of the patriarchs, how described in Scripture, 28.
Decapolis, described, 202.
Deism of a Jewish rabbi, 263.
Diet of the ancient Israelites, 66, 67.
Divorce, ill consequences of it, 85 ; when first heard of at Rome, 85.
Dress of the Hebrews, 58 ; of the English, 19.
E
Eastern fashions change little, 60 ; their compliments more like our
than those of the Greeks and Romans are, 110 ; play at no games
of hazard, 113.
Edam, what it signifies, 200.
Egypt, physic supposed to have been invented there, 29 ; what food
the Egyptians abstained from, 68; Solon, Pythagoras, and Plato,
studied there, 169; becoming an addition to the Roman power
hastened the mm uf the Jc^un, irr.
Elders of Israel, the Jewish sanhedrim, 147, 180 ; the seat of the elders,
what meant by it, 148 ; number of, 148.
Elijah, meaning of the name, 32.
Embalming practised by the Israelites as well as Egyptians, 116.
Eponymi, what, 31.
Ephod described, 238, 239.
Equinox, what, 212, 214.
Essenes, their manner of life, 183.
Ethnarchs, what meant by them, 186.
Eumeus described by Homer making his own shoes, 55.
Eunuchs, servants about the king's person, without denoting personal
imperfection, 154.
Evenings, two, what, 205.
F
Fashions, see Clothes.
Fathers among the Israelites had power of life and death over their
children, 145 ; but under the direction of the magistrate, 146 ; the
same law practised at Athens, 146.
Fasts proclaimed by sound of trumpet, as well as feasts, 126 ; how
many stated ones, 127 ; Mohammedan, 130.
Feasts, religious, the number of them among the Israelites, 125, 140 ;
were times of general joy, 125, 126.
Feet, custom of washing them at visits, 62 ; to wattr and to (over the
feet, what meant by it, 111.
274 INDEX.
Fireplaces, 65.
Firstfruits, 227.
Fish, scarce eaten in the most ancient times either by Israelites or
Grecians, 68.
Fleury, Abbe", his life, 915.
Forces, see Militia.
Fruits brought into Europe from Asia and Africa hare degenerated. 44
Fniitfulness of the promised land, 42, 43, 44.
Funerals among the Hebrews, 116, 117.
G
Gadara described, 202.
Galttees, two of them, 200.
Galileans were the first who received the gospel, 201.
Galileo imprisoned for asserting the true system of the world, 140.
Note.
Games of hazard unknown to the Israelites, and forbidden by the
Arabians to this day, 113.
Gate of the city, courts of judicature held there, 150.
Genealogies of Matthew and Luke, how reconciled, 83.
Genestrreth, lake of, 203.
Germans introduced on this side of the Rhine the love of hunting, 38 :
and will always retain it, 181.
Gittith, what, 101.
Globe explained, 212.
Government of the Israelites, what the form of it, 142, &c. ; of the
patriarchs, lasted nine hundred years, 31.
Gout, king Asa blamed for trusting in physicians to cure it, 73-
Greek proper names explained, 33.
Greeks, ancient, employed in breeding cattle, 27 ; seem to have been
great eaters, 27 ; retained a great opinion of husbandry in the
height of their politeness, 37 ; joined manufactures and trade to it.
53, 54 ; their wisdom and religion, 135, 136 ; their worship, 137,
138 ; improved in sciences not till the time of Alexander, 139.
Greek tongue learnt by the Jews, especially of Alexandria, 187.
Greek and Gentile, whence the same, 172.
Gregorian Style, 213.
H
Habits of the priests, 236 ; ditto of the highpriest, 237, 239.
Hacamim, or chocamim, who, 239.
Handmaids, who they were, 29.
Hazanim, who, 180.
Hebrew, the genius of the language, 87, 88; lost by the Jews in their
captivity, 165.
Hebrews by birth, 190.
Hecatceus, a fragment of his concerning the extent of Palestine
explained, 46, 47.
Heiresses, obliged to marry within their own tribe and family, 75.
Hellenists, who meant by them in Scripture, 172.
Herod's reign, the last period in which the Jews were considerable.
178 ; his tetrarchy, 204.
Hesiod wrote a poem upon husbandry, 37 ; his manner of writing, 98,
Higgaion, what, 102.
INDEX. 275
Highpriest, sec Priest.
Hindoos, their purifications, 75.
Historians, the priests only such anciently, 96 ; excellence of the
Jewish, 97.
Holocaust, what, 223.
Holy Land, names and divisions of, 196 ; why called Palestine, 196.
Homer referred to, 26, 31, 37 ; shows his heroes were great eaters, 27.
Horse, see Cavalry.
Houses, and household furniture, in the east, what, 63.
Hunting in more credit among the moderns than the ancients ; a bar-
barous employment, 39 ; not followed much by the Israelites, 113.
Husbandry, the employment of the patriarchs, 26 ; and of the Israel-
ites afterwards, 35 42 ; and of other ancient nations, 42 ; brought
into disesteem by the tyranny of the northern nations, 40 ; more
useful than what is called learning, 95 ; parables in the gospel bor-
rowed from that employ, 181.
I
Idolatry, the rise of it, 134 ; the Israelites tempted to it by their neigh-
bours, 140. Idols, whence called vanity and abomination, 174.
Idumea described, 200.
Inspiration, how far it attended the sacred writers, and in what sense
to be understood, 98.
Instruments of Music among the Hebrews, account of, 99 ; Hebrew
and Chaldee names of these, 103.
Israelites, whence their name, 31 ; their country, see Palestine ;
divided into twelve tribes, 31 ; were really brethren, 32 ; did not
intermarry with other nations, 32 ; titles among them, what, 32 ;
employments, 35, &c. ; hindered from alienating their property, 51 ;
paid no rents but the tenths and firstfruits, 51 ; prohibited from
castrating their cattle, 51 ; used asses instead of horses, 51 ; had
but few slaves, and little money, 52 ; not much addicted to trade,
52 ; wanted artificers for arms and even instruments of husbandry,
54 ; no bakers among them, 55 ; wore their beards long, 82 ; used
originally to eat sitting, 66 ; afterwards lying, 67 ; had at first no
physicians, 72 ; how far avoided strangers, 73, 74 ; did not study
languages, 87 ; writing not common among them, 88 ; had no
public schools, 96 ; their government founded on aristocracy, 142 ;
fall into idolatry, and apply to strangers for succours, both which
brought on their ruin, 163. See Jews.
Italy, varied at different periods, 20.
J
Jasher, book of, 89.
Jews, a name applied to the kingdom of Judah not till after the captir
vity of the ten tribes, 164 ; less corruption in that kingdom than in
that of Israel, 163 ; what numbers returned from their captivity,
166 ; how long before they rebuilt their city and temple, 168 ; when
they recovered themselves, 169; enjoyed their own laws, 169;
communicated their doctrines to the Grecians, 169; privileges
granted them by several kings, 171 ; when they learned the Greek
tongue, 171 ; some of them writers in it, 171 ; dispersed in Asia
and Europe, 172 ; whence falsely reckoned an ignorant people, 173 ;
under what kings persecuted, 175 ; take up arms against the Syrian
276 INDEX.
kings, 176 ; become considerable under the Maccabees for fourscore
years, 177, 178 ; harassed by different nations, and at last subject
to the Romans, 178 ; became taxgatherers, &c., contrary to their
original institution, 181 ; many of them physicians, 182 ; would
not pronounce the names of false gods, 89 ; think themselves obliged
to kill the Gentiles whenever they can, 192, 246.
Jewish prohibitions, utility of, 18 ; confession of faith, 244, 246 ;
liturgy, 265.
Joel, meaning of the name, 32.
Jonath Elem Rechokim, 102.
Jordan, whence its name, 196.
Joseph, remarks on his age, 30.
Jubilee, the word does not signify a ram's horn, 124.
Judaism could not be embraced by eunuchs, 191.
Judges governed those tribes only who chose them, 158; judges in
courts of judicature, 149.
Justice, administration of, 149.
K
King, desired by the Israelites as preferable to their condition under
judges, 158; his standing forces, 159; had absolute power of life
and death, and of levying tribute, 159 ; in what respect limited, 159 ;
his splendour and riches, 160.
Kingdoms, at first small, 24.
Kinoor, what, 105.
Kithres, what, 104.
L
Lantech the first polygamist, 84.
Lamps, anciently used instead of candles, 64 ; description of a curious
one, 64.
Languages, not studied by the Hebrews or ancient Greeks, 87.
Law, always read in Hebrew, 240.
Leprosy, which sort meant in Scripture, 72.
Lem, whole tribe of, dedicated to God, 34.
Levites, sophetim or judges ; and inferior officers of justice, called
soterim, chosen out of them, 149.
Levites, estates, functions, and number, 229, 232.
Lemtical cities, 198.
Liturgy, Jewish, 265.
Lordships, not above seven hundred years old, 34.
M
Maccabees revived the Jewish state, 177.
Mahaloth, what, 102.
Mahometans scrupulously nice about some indecencies, 111 ; forbidden
games of hazard, 113.
Maimonides describes a proselyte, 191 ; shows what was required in
such, 191, 195 ; describes the magnificence of the temple, 232 ;
opinion concerning original sin, 245, 246.
Manners of nations alter by time and place, 19.
Marriage with strangers allowed to the Jews, except of heiresses," 75 ;
marriage feasts, how long they lasted, 80 ; transacted between the
relations and friends, without priests or sacrifices, 81 ; promoted
among the ancients, 81 ; necessary for the Jewish priests, 123.
INDEX.
Martyrs, who the first, 176.
Maschil, what, 103.
Meats clean and unclean among, other nations as well as the Jews, 68 :
physical and moral reasons for such distinction, 69.
Mehil, what, 237.
Messiah, types of his reign described in terms by which the prophet!"
foretel the happiness of the Jews, 169.
Michtam, what, 102.
JMttb, all persons of such an age made part of it in Judea and at
Rome, 155 ; of what number it consisted under different kings of
Israel, 156, 159.
Mincha, what, 221.
Ministers of the temple, 229.
Mtres, 62.
Mohammedan*, their purifications, 78; their fasts, 130.
Mohd, who, SI.
Money, little among the Israelites, 25, 52.
Moon regulated the Jewish months, 208 ; new, 209.
Month, periodical, 210 ; synodical, 210. Months, their names, 211.
Month among the Israelites computed from the moon's appearance,
209 ; reason of this, 209.
Mountains of Judea, 197.
Mourning among the Israelites for misfortunes, as well as the death
of relations, 114 ; the manner of it among them and other nations,
115.
Music among the Hebrews and other nations exquisite, 92 ; more
affecting than ours, 93 ; in what sense promoted prophesying, 92.
Musicians, four thousand under David, 93. Instruments of, 99.
Muthlabben, what, 102.
Mysteries, heathen, full of debaucheries, 136,137.
N
.Vabla, what, 93 ; particularly described, 104.
Naboth, whence his resolution not to sell the inheritance of his
fathers, 51.
Names of the patriarchs, historical, 23 ; of the Israelites, religious, 32 ,
of false gods not mentioned by them, 89 ; sometimes the father's,
sometimes the mother's name, continued to the children, 33 ; some-
times a surname added, 34 ; how distinguished among the Greek <
and Romans, 34.
Names of the Holy Land, 196.
Nations, how some vary in their manners and customs, how others
agree, 20.
Nazarites, vow, in what it consisted, 128 ; what they were, 229, 241.
Neginrih and Nehiloth, what, 101.
Noah, precepts of, 191.
Nuchthemeron, what, 205.
Nurses, three only mentioned in Scripture, 84.
O
Oblations, different kinds, 227, 228.
Ode, see Poetry.
Odoriferous plants laid up with wearing apparel, 25.
24
278 INDEX.
Offerings, numerous in the Jewish temple, 127 ; different kinds, 226,
223*
Officers, but four sorts in Joshua's time, 153; more in David's, 154 ;
their Hebrew names explained, 153, 154.
Officers of the temple, 232 ; of war, 232 ; of the synagogue, 239.
Oil used anciently instead of candles, 64 ; their paste kneaded with
it, 63.
Old Men, their authority, 147.
Olympiads, what, 208.
Original Sin, Jewish opinion of, 245, 246.
P
Painters injudiciously represent the habits of the ancients, 58 ; and a
priest present at the ceremony of circumcision, 81 ; by guess only
making David playing on a harp, 93.
Palestine, whence its name, 196 ; the advantages of its situation, 42 ;
whence its present desolation, 43 ; its fertility formerly, 43 ; the
number of its inhabitants, 44 ; its contents of acres, and how many
men it was able to maintain, 46 ; its contents in degrees, 47 ; the
people somewhat supported by tributaries, 47.
Pallium, what, 58.
Parnasim, who, 240.
Pastoral life more perfect than that of husbandry, 26 ; followed by
people of condition among the Greeks and other nations, 26 ; see
Husbandry.
Pastorals, their origin, 26.
Patriarchs, explanation of the name, 21 ; the advantage of their
longevity, 21 ; their very names historical, 23 ; a sort of kings, 24 ;
their riches chiefly in cattle, 24 -, but without horses or hogs, 25 ;
had slaves, money, and perfumes, 25 ; lived chiefly in tents, 25 ;
their lives laborious, 26 ; their meals plain, and were great eaters,
27 ; enjoyed good health, and attained to a great age, 28 ; their
moderation with regard to wives, 29.
Peace-offerings, 225.
Perfumes used by the Israelites before musk and ambergrise were
found out, 112; used sometimes at their funerals, 116.
Perea described, 201, 202.
Pharisees, their principles, 183 ; gave alms in public, 185.
Phoenicians, or Canaanites, whence addicted to trade, 53.
Phylacteries, what they were, note, 184 ; curious account of one, 185.
Physicians, first in Egypt, 29 ; originally surgeons, 72.
Plato borrowed probably from the writings of Moses, 170.
Plato's commonwealth realized among the ancient Hebrews, 37.
Plural, when first used in speaking to one person, 110.
Poetry, the most ancient species of it, 91 ; dramatic not used among
the Hebrews, 92; curious specimens of it, 107, 108.
Polygamy, the reason of it, 83 ; reasons why tolerated, 84.
Population of ancient nations, curious facts concerning, 48, &c.
Pot, whence Jerusalem compared to it, 122.
Presbyter, whence, 148.
Priests, not excluded from civil offices, or bearing arms. 124. 155;
among the Israelites and Egyptians the only writers of history, 96;
not necessary at the ceremony of circumcision, 81 ; forbidden to
be present at funerals, 117 ; their court in the temple, 121 ; what
INDEX. 279
part they bore in the sacrifices, 122 ; went barefoot into the tem-
Ele, 124, 233 ; their order, election, manner of life, laws, functions,
abits, 234 to 236 ; obliged to marry, but within their own tribe,
123, 167 ; forbidden from wearing woollen, 124 ; their support, 124 ;
highpriests from the time of Herod, as many as the kings pleased,
178 ; how consecrated, 236.
Priesthood (High) its succession, 237; passes from the family of
Aaron to that of Judas Maccabeus, 237.
Prophets, when most numerous, 131 ; lived in societies, 131 ; of low
circumstances, 131 ; wore sackcloth, 132; often married men, 132;
whence David, Samuel, and Daniel, not reckoned prophets, 132 ;
their office, 132 ; many counterfeited the demeanour of prophets,
133 ; false gods had likewise their prophets, 133 ; called Seers, 243.
Prophesying, how promoted by music, 92.
Proselytes, of two sorts, 74, 191, 268; one hundred and fifty-three
thousand of them in Judea in Solomon's time, 74 ; carefully dis-
tinguished from the true Israelites, 167.
Proselyte of habitation, 191 ; of justice, 192 ; ceremonies on admit-
ting one, 192, 193.
Publicans, who, 181.
Pulse, the most common food of the ancients, and which gave names
to the best families among the Romans, 67.
Purifications prescribed, for what reason, 70, 71.
Q
Queen of Sheba, her hard questions or enigmas, 90.
R
Rain, morning and evening, means spring and autumn in scripture, 43.
Rashim, who, 154.
Rechabites, who, 128, 229 ; their institutions, 242.
Riddles among the ancients, 90.
Rising early, what it denotes in Scripture, 67.
Rivers of Judea, 196.
Romans, their esteem for husbandry, 37, 95; their genius, 173;
dignities, 204.
S
Sabbath, its meaning, 207 ; when it began, 207 ; signifies sometimes
a whole week, 207.
Sabbatical year, 208; no debts exacted in them, 50; slaves then
recovered their liberty, 144.
Sacrifices, ordinarily presented and slain by the people at the altar,
121 ; by the priests at the public sacrifices for all the people, 122 ;
continual sacrifice of four lambs daily, 122 ; different kinds, '216,
223, 225; described by Eusebius, 216, 217.
Sacrificing, what it implies, 218, 219 ; the end of all religion, 218 ;
time of, 221.
Sadducees, their tenets, 183.
Sagan, highpriest's deputy, 237.
Samaria described, 200.
Samaritan letters the ancient Hebrew, 88, 166; Samaritan temple
destroyed, 177.
Samaritans, their origin, 250 ; monstrous idolatry, 251 ; build a
temple on mount Gerizim, A. M. 3595, and never afterwards
280 INDEX.
addicted to idolatry, 252 ; modern in Judea and Egypt, 253 ; theii
highpriest's confession of fatth, 254 ; deceived by Mr. Huntington,
257 ; their letter to their supposed brethren in England, 257 ;
deliver their pentateuch to Mr. Huntington, 261, 262 ; this copy
described, 262.
Sanhedrim, or council of seventy-two, 180; name explained, 180.
See Council
Sceptre not departing from Judah, what meant by it, 143 , see Note.
Schools for study little in use among the Hebrews, 94 ; whence the-
name, 94.
Scriptures, why read to so little purpose, 18 ; in their style resemble
the ancient Greek writers, 98 ; the Greek of them not elegant, 1S7. .
Septuagint, account of, 171.
Sense and sound, curious combinations of, iu^the Hebrew poetry,
Seers, who, 243.
Shemmieh Esreh, or eighteen prayers of the ancient Jews, 265.
Sheminith, what, 101.
Shields, Solomon's three hundred, value of, 249.
Shiggaion, what, 101.
Shoshanim, what, 102.
Silk, not known to the ancients, nor till late on this side the Indies, 61 .
Sin-offering, 224.
Swim, what, 154.
Sitting at meals used by the ancient Israelites and Greeks, 66 ;
changed to lying from the reign of the Persians, 67.
Staves anciently lived happier than our country people, 40 ; few among
the Israelites, 52, 82 ; in what cases they became so to their
brethren, 144; recovered their freedom in the sabbatical and
jubilee years, 144 ; the greatest princes reduced to slavery by
conquest, 165.
Solomon, his immense riches, 161 ; revenues, 161, 249 ; what his
example teaches, 162, 163.
Swigs more ancient than letters, 91.
Sopherim, the learned men or scribes so called, 88.
Sophetim, judges, 149, 154.
Soterim, inferior officers of justice, 149, 154.
Spain had once the same customs with Africa, now more resemble?
Germany, 20.
Stipulation, what meant by it, 152.
Stola, what, 58.
Stones of the temple remarkable ones, 66 ; burthensome, what, 86.
Strange women, who meant by them in Scripture, 141.
Strangers, why avoided by the Israelites, and by other nations, 73.
Surnames of Roman families, 67 ; Grecian explained, 33.
Swine's flesh abstained from by Egyptians as well as Jews, 69.
Synagogues in each city, who appointed to speak in them, 96.
T
ToJent, value of, 248 ; how to reduce it into English money, 247,
Tapestry rarely used in the east, 64.
Targets, Solomon's two hundred, value of, 248.
Targ-umista, who, 240.
INDEX. 281
Temple, why only one, 119 ; no trees about it, 120 ; entered into by
the priests alone, 120 ; the riches prepared for it by David, 160 ;
when rebuilt, 168 ; admired by foreigners for its magnificence, 172 ;
dues for tenths and firstfruits sent from distant parts in money, 179.
Temple, its magnificence described by Maimonides, 232, 233.
Tents, the most ancient habitations, 25.
Tenths, 228.
TephUlin, what, 184.
Thee and Thou the language of antiquity, 110.
\, what meant by it in Scripture, 111.
Time, how measured among the Hebrews, 205.
Titles, 32.
Totaphot, what, 184.
Trades and Arts, 53 57.
Traditions, Jewish, very frivolous, 186.
Tribes, into how many the Israelites, and other nations, were divided,
31 ; tribe of Levi, what their inheritance, 34 ; of Judah and
Ephraim, how distinguished, 34, 35 ; what tribes included in the
kingdom of Judah, 164; preserved distinct during their captivity
and afterwards, 167 ; Roman and Athenian tribes, 32.
Tribute, how much paid by Palestine, and how much by Babylon to
Darius, 163 ; how much extorted from the Jews by the Romans, 178.
Tsitsith, what, 184.
Tunic, what, 58.
Twelve tribes divided into their families, 189, 190.
U
Urim and Thummim, what, 239.
V
Virginity anciently not reckoned a virtue, 83. """"
Vows, 127; in what they chiefly consisted, 127; of the Nazarites,
what, 128 ; see 226.
W
Wars, 155.
Week, 207. Week of Days, 207.
Women, their employment among the ancients, 79 ; often doorkeepers
among the Israelites, 79 ; inherited only in default of male issue, 82.
Worship among the Jews attended with sensible mirth mixed with
spiritual, 126.
Writing probably invented before the deluge, 22; not mentioned
before the time of Moses, 22 ; contracts in writing not mentioned
till a little before the destruction of Jerusalem, 151 , obtained late
among the Romans, 152.
Y
Year, Jewish, of how many days, 125; how computed, 210, 211;
civil, 211 ; ecclesiastical, 211 ; exact regulation of, 214.
Fears, fouutsorts among the Jews, 215.
Z
Zakonim, who, 153.
Zebachim, who, 221.
Zereth, what, 238.
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