IV. The Jews rose early, about the dawn of day, when I ment in the house.10 The lightest read, which was made of they breakfasted. They dined about eleven in the forenoon, the finest flour, and was made quickly upon the hearth, they and supped at five in the afternoon. From this circum- called cakes (Gen. xviii. 6.); the larger and coarser sort were stance of their breakfasting so early, Dr. Lightfoot endeavours called loaves. (1 Sam. xxi. 3.) The cakes were anciently to account for the language of the evangelists John (xix. 14.) | baked upon the hearth (Gen. xviii. 6.): afterwards, this was and Mark (xv. 25.) concerning our Lord's crucifixion. The done upon the coals, being probably laid upon some grate. former notices the time from the preparation of the passover; (1 Kings xix. 6.) But the Holy Bread was baked in an oven. and the latter, the time of the day. The preparation began at (Lev. ii. 4.) The fuel, used for this and other culinary purthe dawn or cock-crowing. From this custom, too, the term poses, consisted of thorns, wood of all kinds, and in general, to rise early denotes diligence, either in doing good or evil. as their sure supply, the dung of cows, asses, or camels,1í Supper appears to have been the principal meal among the dried and collected into heaps (Lam. iv. 5.): grass, also, was Jews, as it was among the Greeks and Romans.1 employed for the same purpose. (Matt. vi. 30.) The knowledge of this circumstance illustrates Eccles. vii. 6. Psal. lviii. 9. Amos iv. 11. Zech. iii. 2. Isa. vii. 4. and especially Ezek. iv. 12. In order to show the extremity of distress, to which the Jews would be reduced in the captivity, the prophet was to prepare the most common provisions and to bake the bread with human dung. Nothing could paint more strongly a case of extreme necessity than this; and the Jews would so understand this sign.12 From the whole of the sacred history, it is evident that the food of the Jews was of the simplest nature, consisting principally of milk, honey, rice, vegetables, and sometimes of locusts, except at the appointed festivals, or when they offered their feast-offerings; at these times they ate animal food, of which they appear to have been very fond (Num. xi. 4.), when (as is done at this day throughout the East) the guests dipped their hands in the dish. (Ruth ii. 14. Matt. xxvi. 23. John xiii. 26.) The pottage of lentiles and bread, which Jacob had prepared, and which was so tempting to the impatient Esau as to make him sell his birthright, shows the simplicity of the ordinary diet of the patriarchs. (Gen. xxv. 34.) The same diet is in use among the modern Arabs, and in the Levant. Isaac in his old age longed for savoury meat, which was accordingly prepared for him (Gen. xxvii. 4. 17.); but this was an unusual thing. The feast with which Abraham entertained the three angels was a calf, new cakes baked on the hearth, together with butter (ghee) and milk. (Gen. xviii. 6, 7.) We may form a correct idea of their ordinary articles of food by those which were presented to David on various occasions by Abigail (1 Sam. xxv. 18.), by Ziba (2 Sam. xvi. 1.), and by Barzillai. (2 Sam. xvii. 28, 29.) The most useful and strengthening, as well as the most common, article of food, was, doubtless, bread. Frequent mention is made of this simple diet in the Holy Scriptures, which do not often mention the flesh of animals: though this is sometimes included in the eating of bread, or making a meal, as in Matt. xv. 2. Mark iii. 20. vii. 2. Luke xiv. 1. and John vi. 23. Sometimes the ears were gathered and the grain eaten, before the corn was reaped; in the earliest times, after it had been threshed and dried, it was eaten without any further preparation. This was called parched corn. Subsequently, the grain was pounded in a mortar, to which practice Solomon alludes. (Prov. xxvii. 22.) In later times, however, it was in general ground into flour, fermented with leaven, and made into bread; though on certain occasions, as at the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, they baked unleavened bread. (Exod. xii. 34-39.) In the East the grinding of corn was, and still is, the work of female slaves: it is extremely laborious, and is esteemed the lowest employ Roman Antiquities, p. 433. it much. Compare Mark vi. 21. Luke xiv. 16. and John xii. 2.; and see Abp. Potter's Antiquities of Greece, vol. ii. p. 353. and Dr. Adam's Summary of The ancients used honey instead of sugar, and seem to have relished Hence it is figuratively used as an image of pleasure and happiness in Psal. cxix. 103. Prov. xxiv. 13, 14. and Sol. Song iv. 11. When taken in great quantities it causes vomiting, and is consequently used by a figure (Prov. xxv. 16.) to express fastidiousness, or any nauseating sensation. Jalin's Biblical Archaology, § 77.) In consequence of the too liberal use of honey, as a substitute for sugar, by the modern inhabitants of the Cy. clades Islands in the Levant, many of them are affected with scrofulous diseases. May not this effect be alluded to in Prov. xxv. 27.3 (Emerson's Letters from the Egean, vol. ii. p. 233.) In later times, when the Jews were dispersed among the heathen nations, they often abstained from eating flesh, as it might have been offered to idols and sold in shambles; they therefore subsisted entirely on vegetables. To this circumstance Saint Paul alludes in Rom. xiv. 2. See examples in Shaw's Travels, vol. i. p. 418. and Jowett's Christian Researches in Syria, p. 281. Irby's and Mangles' Travels, p. 275. In the island of Santorin, Mr. Emerson speaks of soup made of lentils; which, when stewed, are of a reddish tinge, and so far agree with the red pottage of Jacob, mentioned in Gen. xxv. 30. 34. (Letters from the Egean, vol. ii. p. 127.) A young kid seethed in milk is to this day a delicacy set before strangers by the Bedouin Arabs. Buckingham's Travels among the Arab Tribes, p. 7. Milk and honey were the chief dainties of the ancients, as they still are among the Arabs, and especially the Bedouins. Hence the land of Canaan is described as a land flowing with milk and honey. (Exod. iii. 8.) Butter is also an article much in use, as is attested by all modern travellers. See particularly Burckhardt's Travels in Syria, p. 385. Irby's and Mangles' Travels in Egypt, &c. pp. 263. 481, 482. Thus, in Gen. xviii. 5. and 1 Sam. xxviii. 22. we read, I will fetch a morsel of BREAD-Gen. xxi. 14. Abraham took BREAD, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar.-Gen. xxxvii. 25. They sat down to EAT BREAD. -Gen. xliii. 31. Joseph said, Set on BREAD.-Exod. ii. 20. Call him that he may EAT BREAD.-Exod. xvi. 3. We did EAT BREAD to the full.-Deut. ix. 9. I neither did EAT BREAD, nor drink water.-1 Sam. xxviii. 20. Saul had GATEN 710 BREAD all the day, &c. The Hebrews were forbidden to eat many things which were, and are, eaten by other nations; some animals being unclean according to the Mosaic Law (those, for instance, which were either actually impure and abominable, or were esteemed so); others being set apart for the altar, certain parts of which it was, consequently, not lawful to eat. The regulations concerning clean and unclean animals are principally recorded in Lev. xi. and Deut. xiv.; and according to them, the following articles are reckoned unclean, and, consequently, are interdicted to the Hebrews; viz. 1. Quadrupeds, which do not ruminate, or which have cloven feet;2. Serpents and creeping insects; also certain insects which sometimes fly, and sometimes advance upon their feet; but locusts, in all their four stages of existence, are accounted clean;-3. Certain species of birds, many of the names of which are obscure;-4. Fishes without scales, and also those without fins;-5. All food, all liquids, standing in a vessel, and all wet seed into which the dead body of any unclean beast had fallen;-6. All food and liquids, which stood in the tent or chamber of a dying or dead man, remaining meanwhile in an uncovered vessel (Num. xix. 15);— 7. Every thing which was consecrated by any one to idols (Exod. xxxiv. 15.): it was this prohibition, that in the primitive church occasioned certain dissensions, upon which Paul frequently remarks, especially in 1 Cor. viii. 10.;8. A kid boiled in the milk of its mother. (Exod. xxiii. 19 xxxiv. 26. Deut. xiv. 21.) This was prohibited either to enforce the duty of humanity to animals, or to guard the Hebrews against some idolatrous or superstitious practice of the heathen nations. The consecrated animal substances interdicted to the Hebrews were, 1. Blood (Lev. xvii. 10. xix. 26. Deut. xii, 16-23, 24. xv. 23.) ;—2. Animals which had either died of disease or had been torn by wild beasts, though strangers might eat them if they chose (Exod. xxii. 31. Deut. xiv. 26.);-3. The fat covering the intestines, termed the net or caul;4. The fat upon the intestines, called the mesentery, &c. ;-5 The fat of the kidneys ;-6. The fat tail or rump of certain sheep. (Exod. xxix. 13-22. Lev. iii. 4-9, 10. ix. 19.)13 Many ingenious conjectures have been assigned for these prohibitions; but the Scriptures, which are our safest guide in inquiries of this kind, expressly inform us, that the design Lev. xx. 24-26. I am the Lord your God, who have sepaof them was both moral and political. This is declared in rated you from other people; ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean; and ye shall not make yourselves abominable by beast or by fowl, or by any living thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean: and ye shall be holy unto me, for I the Lord am holy and have severed you from other people that ye should be mine. As if the Almighty had said, "I have selected you from, and have exalted you far above, the heathen and idolatrous world. Let it be your care to conduct yourselves worthy of this distinction. Let the quality of your food, as well as the rites of 10 Bp. Lowth's Isaiah, vol. ii. p. 294. 11 "Mahomet, our camel-driver, made bread: he kneaded the dough in a leathern napkin; and, mixing a good deal of salt with it, made a flat round cake, about half an inch thick, and baked it on dried camels' dung." Irby's and Mangles' Travels, p. 172. A similar mode of preparing cakes is described by Mr. Rae Wilson. Travels in the Holy Land, &c. vol. ii. p. 156. 3d edition. 12 Boothroyd's translation of the Bible, vol. i. p. 60. 13 Jahn, Archæol. Bibl. § 143. The Mosaic ordinances respecting clear. and unclean beasts are fully considered by Michaelis, Commentaries vol. ii. pp. 219-254. which, though it has the same general meaning as the He brew word, especially signifies palm wine. your worship, display your peculiar and holy character. Let even your manner of eating be so appropriate, so pure, so nicely adjusted by my law, as to convince yourselves and all The patriarchs, like the modern inhabitants of the East, the world, that you are indeed separated from idolaters, and were accustomed to take their meals under the shade of trees. devoted to me alone." Agreeably to this declaration Moses Thus Abraham stood by the angels under the tree, and they tells the Israelites (Deut. xiv. 2, 3. 31.), The LORD hath did eat. (Gen. xviii. 8.) The ancient Hebrews did not eat chosen you to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the indifferently with all persons; they would have been polluted nations that are upon the earth. Thou shalt not eat any abomi- and dishonoured in their own opinion, by eating with people nable thing. Ye shall not eat any thing that dieth of itself; ye of another religion, or of an odious profession. In Joseph's shall give it to a stranger or sell it to an alien, for ye are a holy time, they neither ate with the Egyptians nor the Egyptians people. In other words, " Since God has invested you with with them (Gen. xliii. 32.); nor in our Saviour's time with singular honour and favour, you ought to reverence your- the Samaritans (John iv. 9.); and the Jews were scandalized selves: you ought to disdain the vile food of heathen idola- at Jesus Christ's eating with publicans and sinners. (Matt. ters. Such food you may lawfully give or sell to foreigners, ix. 11.) As there were several sorts of meats, whose use but a due self-respect forbids you to eat it." The immediate was prohibited, they could not conveniently eat with those and primary intention of these and other similar regulations who partook of them, fearing some pollution by touching was to break the Israelites of the ill habits to which they had them, or if by accident any part of them should fall upon been accustomed in Egypt, or which they had indulged while them. The ancient Hebrews at their meals had each his in that country; and to keep them for ever distinct from that separate table. When Joseph entertained his brethren in corrupt people, both in principles and practices, and by parity Egypt, he seated each of them at his particular table, and he of reason from all other idolatrous nations. Another reason himself sat down separately from the Egyptians who ate for the distinction was, that, as the Jews were peculiarly with him: but he sent to his brethren, out of the provisions devoted to God, they should be reminded of that relation by which were before him. (Gen. xliii. 31. et seq.) Elkanah, a particularity of diet, which should serve emblematically as Samuel's father, who had two wives, distributed their por a sign of their obligation to study moral purity. Further, tions to them separately. (1 Sam. i. 4, 5.) In Homer, each it has been suggested, as a reason for the distinctions be- of the guests has his little table apart; and the master of the tween clean and unclean food, not only that the quality feast distributes meat to each. We are sure that this is still of the food itself is an important consideration (clean animals practised in China; and many in India never eat out of the affording a copious and wholesome nutriment, while unclean | same dish, nor on the same table, and they believe they can animals yield a gross nutriment, which is often the occasion not do so without sin; and this, not only in their own country, of scrofulous and scorbutic disorders); but also, that to the but when travelling, and in foreign lands. The antique eating of certain animals may be ascribed a specific influence manners which we observe in Homer we likewise perceive on the moral temperament.1 in Scripture, with regard to eating, drinking, and entertainments. We find great plenty, but little delicacy; great respect and honour paid to the guests by serving them plen tifully: thus Joseph sent his brother Benjamin a portion five times larger than his other brethren; and Samuel set a whole quarter of a calf before Saul. From Neh. viii. 10. 12. and Esth. ix. 19. 22. it appears to have been customary to send a portion of what remained from their public feasts to those for whom nothing was prepared, or who were by any circumstances prevented from being present at them. The women did not appear at table in entertainments with the men. This would have been then, as it is at this day throughout the East, an indecency. Thus Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house, which belonged to Ahasuerus (Esth. i. 9.), while the Persian monarch was feasting his nobles. Their ordinary beverage was water, which was drawn from the public wells and fountains (John iv. 6, 7.), and which was to be refused to no one. (Matt. xxv. 35.) The water of the Nile, in Egypt, after it has been deposited in jars to settle, all modern travellers attest,2 is singularly delicious as well as extraordinarily wholesome, and is drunk in very large quantities; while that of the few wells, which are found in that country, is not potable, being both unpleasant and insalubrious. When the modern inhabitants depart thence for any time, they speak of nothing but the pleasure they shall find on their return, in drinking the water of the Nile. The knowledge of this circumstance gives a peculiar energy to those words of Moses, when he denounced to Pharaoh, that the waters of the Nile should be turned into blood, even in the very filtering vessels; and that the Egyptians should loathe to drink of the water of the river. (Exod. vii. 17-19.) That is, they should loathe to drink of that water which they used to prefer to all the waters of the universe, and so eagerly to long for, and should prefer to drink of well-water, which in their country is so detestable.3 After the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan, they drank wine of different sorts, which was preserved in skins. Red wine seems to have been the most esteemed. (Prov. xxiii. 31. Rev. xiv. 20.) In the time of Solomon, spiced wines were used, mingled with the juice of the pomegranate. (Song viii. 2.) When Judea was under the dominion of the Romans, medicated wines (as we have seen) were given to those who were to be crucified, in order to blunt the edge of pain, and stun the acuteness of sensibility. The strong drink (SHECER), mentioned in Lev. x. 9., and many other passages of Holy Writ, means any kind of fermented liquors, whether prepared from corn, dates, apples, or any other kind of fruits. One of the four prohibited drinks among the Mohammedans is called sakar, (Works, vol. iii. pp. 1–116.) Tappan's Lectures on Heb. Antiq. pp. 260-264. Dr. Harris's Nat. Hist. of the Bible, pp. xxxi.-xxxvii. (American edit.) or pp. xxiv.-xxx. of the London edition. See also the Rev. W. Jones's Zoologia Ethica. See particularly Belzoni's Researches in Egypt, p. 325. 4to. edit. Turner's Tour in the Levant, vol. ii. p. 511. and Dr. Richardson's Travels along the Shores of the Mediterranean, vol. i. p. 33. Harmer's Observations, vol. iii. pp. 564-566. See also a Narrative of the Pacha of Egypt's Expedition to Dongola and Sennaar, by an American, pp. 150, 151. (London, 1822. 8vo.) Spiced wines were not peculiar to the Jews. The celebrated Persian In India, feasts are given in the open halls and gardens, where a variety of strangers are admitted, and much fami liarity is allowed. This easily accounts for a circumstance in the history of Christ which is attended with considerable difficulty;-the penitent Mary coming into the apartment where he was, and anointing his feet with the ointment, and wiping them with the hairs of her head. (Luke vii. 44.) This familiarity is not only common, but is far from being deemed either disrespectful or displeasing. From the parables of the nuptial feast (Matt. xxii. 2-4.) and of the great supper (Luke xiv. 16, 17.) it appears anciently to have been the custom for the parties invited not to go to the entertainment until it was announced to be ready. A similar usage obtains in modern Persia; when Sir Harford Jones, during his political mission thither in 1808-9, dined with the Khan of Bushire, the envoy and his suite did not go to the khan's residence, until the fatter had sent a messenger to say that the entertainment was ready for his reception. From 1 Sam. xvi. 11. (marginal rendering) and Psal. cxxviii. 3. it should seem that the ancient Hebrews sat down round about a mat or low table, cross-legged, in the same manner as is still practised in the East: afterwards, however, they imitated the Persians and Chaldæans, who reclined on table-beds while eating; some traces of which are observable in the Book of Proverbs (xxiii. 1.), in Amos (vi. 4. 7.), Ezekiel (xxiii. 41.), and Tobit (ii. 4.); but this practice was not general. We see expressions in the sacred authors of those times, which prove that they also sat at table. At Ahasuerus's banquet C. B. Michaelis, Dissertatio Philologica naturalia quædam et artificilia codicis sacri ex Alcorano illustrans, § 12. In Pott's and Ruperti's Sylloge Commentationem Theologicarum, tom. ii. pp. 43, 50. poet, Hafiz, speaks of wine "richly bitter, richly sweet." The Romans See examples in Ward's View of the History, &c. of the Hindoos, vol p. 315. Renaudot, Notes sur le Voyage des deux Arabes à la Chine, pp. 123, 124. Forbes's Oriental Memoirs, vol. iii. pp. 183. 190. Morier's Journey through Persia in the Years 1808 9, p. 73. London 1812. 4to. Esth. i. 6.) the company lay on beds, and also at that which Esther gave the king and Haman. (Esth. vii. 8.) Our Saviour in like manner reclined at table (as already described in p. 154.), when Mary Magdalene anointed his feet with perfume (Matt. xxvi. 7.), and when John, at the last supper, rested his head on his bosom. (John xiii. 25.) Previously to taking food, it was usual to implore the divine blessing, as we see by the example of Samuel, which is alluded to in 1 Sam. ix. 13.; and it should seem from 1 Tim. iv. 4. that the same laudable practice obtained in the time of the apostle Paul. The modern Jews, before they sit down to table, after the example of their ancestors, carefully wash their hands. They speak of this ceremony as being essential and obligatory. After meals they wash them again. When they sit down to table, the master of the house, or chief person in the company, taking bread, breaks it, but does not divide it; then putting his hand on it, he recites this blessing: Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, the king of the world, who producest the bread of the earth. Those present answer, Amen. Having distributed the bread among the guests, he takes the vessel of the wine in his right hand, saying, Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, king of the world, who hast produced the fruit of the vine. They then repeat the 23d Psalm. They take care, that after meals there shall be a piece of bread remaining on the table: the master of the house orders a glass to be washed, fills it with wine, and elevating it, says, Let us bless him of whose benefits we have been partaking; the rest answer, Blessed be he, who has heaped his favours on us, and by his goodness has now fed us. Then he recites a pretty long prayer, wherein he thanks God for his many benefits vouchsafed to Israel beseeches him to pity Jerusalem and his temple, to restore the throne of David, to send Elias and the Messiah, to deliver them out of their long captivity. All present answer, Amen. They recite Psal. xxxiv. 9, 10.; and then, after passing the glass with a little wine in it round to those present, he drinks what is left, and the table is cleared.2 V. When persons journeyed, they provided themselves with every necessary, as there were no inns for the reception of travellers. Women and rich men frequently travelled on asses or camels, which carried not only their merchandise, but also their household goods and chattels, and queens were carried in palanquins (Cant. iii. 7.) ;3 and it appears that the Jews often travelled in caravans or companies (as the inhabitants of the East do to this day), especially when they went up to Jerusalem at the three great annual festivals. The Psalms of Ascensions, or of Degrees, as they are commonly entitled (cxx.-cxxxiv.), are supposed to have received this appellation from the circumstance of their being sung by the more devout Jews, when they were ascending or travelling up to the Holy City on these occasions. The company, among which Joseph and Mary supposed Jesus to have been on their return from the passover, when he was twelve years old (Luke ii. 42-44.), was one of these caravans. The Ceylonese travel in a similar way at festivals to particular places of worship." every one. VI. In the East, anciently, as well as in modern times, there were no inns, in which the traveller could meet with refreshment. Shade from the sun, and protection from the plunderers of the night, is all that the caravansaries afford. Hence hospitality was deemed a sacred duty incumbent upon The Sacred Writings exhibit several instances of hospitality exercised by the patriarchs, and the writings of modern travellers show that similar hospitality still exists in the East. Abraham received three angels, invited them, served them himself, and stood in their presence; Sarah his wife took care of the kitchen, and baked bread for his guests. (Gen. xviii. 2, 3, &c.) Lot waited at the city-gates to 1 See Buxtorf's Synag. and Leo of Modena, part ii. c. 10. 2 Calmet's Dissertations, tom. i. pp. 342-350. In our common version D (Mатaн) is rendered bed. Mr. Harmer first suggested that a palanquin was intended; and he has been followed by Dr. Good in his version of Solomon's Song. The mode of travelling or taking the air in a couch, litter, or vehicle of this name, supported on the shoulders of slaves or servants, is extremely common all over the East at the present day, and is unquestionably of immemorial date. These palan quins are often of most elegant and superb manufacture, as well as most voluptuously soft and easy. Of this description was the couch or palanquin of Solomon. Good's translation of the Song of Solomon, p. 103. See the various passages of Harmer's Observations, referred to in his Index, article Caravans. Ward's History of the Hindoos, vol. ii. p. 338. Fragments supplementary to Calmet, No. I. Callaway's Oriental Observations, p. 74. See Light's Travels in Egypt, &c. p. 82. Mr. Belzoni's Researches in Egypt, p. 61. Burckhardt's Travels in Syria, pp. 24. 295. Mr. Buckingham has described an interesting trait of oriental hospitality in an Arab sheik of Barak, the chief of a Turcoman tribe dwelling in the vicinity of Aleppo, on the plain of Barak, which is very similar to receive guests. (Gen. xix. 1.) When the inhabitants of Sodom meant to insult his guests he went out, he spoke to them, he exposed himself to their fury, and offered rather to give up his own daughters to their brutality than his guests. Gen. xix. 5-9.) The same is observable in the old man of Gibeah, who had received the young Levite and his wife. (Judg. xix. 16, 17.) St. Paul (Heb. xiii. 2.) uses Abraham's and Lot's example to encourage the faithful to the exercise of hospitality, saying, that they who have practised it have merited the honour of receiving angels under the form of men. In the East, on account of the intense heat of the weather during summer, they were accustomed to travel by night. The circumstance will explain the parable of the importunate guest who arrived at midnight (Luke xi. 5—8.); in which the rites of hospitality, common among the Orien tals, are generally recognised and supposed to be acted upon, though not in so prompt a manner as was usual. ..... The primitive Christians made one principal part of their duty to consist in the exercise of hospitality. Our Saviour tells his apostles, that whoever received them received him self; and that whosoever should give them even a glass of water, should not lose his reward. (Matt. xxv. 41. 45.) At the day of judgment, he will say to the wicked, Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire: I was a stranger, and ye received me not; inasmuch as ye have not done it unto the least of these, ye have not done it unto me. St. Peter (1 Eph. iv. 9.) requires the faithful to use hospitality to their brethren without murmuring and complaint. St. Paul in several of his Epistles recommends hospitality, and especially to bishops. (1 Tim. iii. 2. Tit. i. 8.) The primitive Christians were so ready in the discharge of this duty that the very heathens admired them for it. They were hospitable to all strangers, but especially to those of the same faith and communion. Believers scarcely ever travelled without letters of recommendation, which testified the purity of their faith; and this procured them a hospitable reception wherever the name of Jesus Christ was known. Calmet is of opinion, that the two last Epistles of St. John may be such kind of letters of communion and recommendation as were given to Christians who travelled. Instances of hospitality among the early Greeks abound in the writings of Homer, whose delineations of manners and customs reflect so much light on the Old Testament, especially on the Pentateuch; and that ancient hospitality, which the Greeks considered as so sacred and inviolable, is still partially preserved. When the traveller makes a second tour through the country, he can hardly do any thing more offensive to the person by whom he was entertained in his first journey, than by not again having recourse to the kindness of his former host. Travelling would, indeed, be impracticable in Greece, if it were not facilitated by this noble sentiment; for the Protogerio are not found in all parts of the country, and the miserable khans or caravansaries are gene rally constructed only in towns or on highways. Travelling, in the greater part of Greece, seems to have been, anciently at least, as difficult as it is at the present day; and that circumstance gave rise to the laws of hospitality. This reciprocal hospitality became hereditary in families even of different nations; and the friendship which was thus contracted was not less binding than the ties of affinity, or of blood. Those between whom a regard had been cemented by the intercourse of hospitality were provided with some particular mark, which, being handed down from father to son, established a friendship and alliance between the families for several generations; and the engagement thus entered into could not be dispensed with, unless publicly disavowed in a judicial manner, nothing being considered so base as a the hospitable conduct of Abraham, related in Gen. xviii. "When we alighted at his tent-door, our horses were taken from us by his son, a young man well dressed in a scarlet cloth benish and a shawl of silk for a turban. The sheik, his father, was sitting beneath the awning in front of the tent itself; and, when we entered, rose up to receive us, exchanging the salute of welcome, and not seating himself until all his guests were accommodated." "Soon afterwards, warm cakes prepared on the hearth, cream, honey, dried raisins, butter, lebben, and wheat boiled in milk, were served to the company. Neither the sheik himself nor any of his family partook with us, but stood around to wait upon their guests." Buckingham's Travels in Mesopotamia, vol. i. pp. 30. 32. (8vo. edit.) Captains Irby and Mangles on two occasions partook of Arab hospitality, in a manner which strikingly illustrates the parable above cited. "We arrived at a camp late at night; and, halting before a tent, found the owner, with his wife and children, had just retired to rest: when it was astonishing to see the good humour with which they all arose again, and kindled a fire, the wife commencing to knead the dough and prepare our supper, our Arabs making no apology, but taking all as a matter of course, though the nights were bitterly cold." Travels in Egypt, Nubia, Syria, &c. p. 278 violation of it. This mark was the cave of the Greeks, and the tessera hospitalis of the Latins. The vux was sometimes an astragal, probably of lead, which being cut in halves, one half was kept by the host, and the other by the person whom he had entertained. On subsequent occasions they or their descendants, by whom the symbol was recognised, gave or received hospitality on comparing the two tallies. Mr. Dodwell found some half astragals of lead in Greece, which had probably served for this purpose.3 The ancient Romans divided a tessera lengthwise, into two equal parts, as signs of hospitality, upon each of which one of the parties wrote his name, and interchanged it with the other. The production of this, when they travelled, gave a mutual claim to the contracting parties and their descendants, for reception and kind treatment at each other's houses, as occasion offered. These tessera were sometimes of stone, shaped in the form of an oblong square; and as they were carefully and privately kept, so that no one might claim the privileges of them, besides the person for whom they we intended, this circumstance gives a beautiful and natural explanation of the following passage in Rev. ii. 17. where it is said, To him that overcometh, will I give a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it. In this passage the venerable translator of our authorized version, by rendering it a white stone, seen to have confounded it with the calculus or small globular stone. which was commonly used for balloting, and on some other occasions. The original words are for, which do not specify either the matter or the form, but only the use of it. By this allusion, therefore, the promise made to the church at Pergamos seems to be to this purpose: To him that overcometh, will I give a pledge of my affection, which shal constitute him my friend, and entitle him to privileges and honours, of which none else can know the value or extent." And to this sense the following words very well agree, which describe this stone or tessera, as having in it a new nom written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it.1 CHAPTER VII. ON THE OCCUPATIONS, LITERATURE, STUDIES, AND SCIENCES OF THE HEBREWS. SECTION I. RURAL AND DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE JEWS. I. MANAGEMENT OF CATTLE by the Jews. Various Animals reared by them.—II. Laws of Moses respecting AGRICULTURE.— III. Manures known and used by the Jews.-IV. Their Mode of ploughing, sowing, and reaping.-V. Different Ways of threshing out Corn.-VI. Vineyards, and the Culture of the Vine and Olive.-Gardens.—VII. Allusions in the Scripture to the rural and domestic Economy of the Jews. JUDEA was eminently an agricultural country; and all the Mosaic statutes were admirably calculated to encourage agriculture as the chief foundation of national prosperity, and also to preserve the Jews detached from the surrounding idolatrous nations. I. After they had acquired possession of the promised land, the Jews applied themselves wholly to agriculture and the tending of cattle, following the example of their ancestors, the patriarchs, who (like the Arabs, Bedouins, Turcomans, and numerous tribes of eastern Asia) were generally husbandmen and shepherds, and whose chief riches consisted in cattle, slaves, and the fruits of the earth. Adam brought up his two sons to husbandry, Cain to the tilling of the ground, and Abel to the feeding of sheep. (Gen. iv. 2.) Jabal was a grazier of cattle, of whom it is said, that he was the father of such as dwell in tents (ver. 20.), that is, he travelled with his cattle from place to place, and for that end invented the use of tents, which he carried with him for shelter. After the Deluge, Noah resumed his agricultural labours, which had been interrupted by that catastrophe. (Gen. ix. 20.) The chief wealth of the patriarchs consisted in cattle. (Gen. xiii. 2. compared with Job i. 3.) Abraham and Lot must have had vast herds of cattle, when they were obliged to separate because the land could not contain them (Gen. The astragal was a bone of the hinder feet of cloven-footed animals. Plin. Nat. Hist. b. xi. cc. 45, 46. Jacobi Nicholai Loensis Miscell. Epiphill. p. 4. c. 19. Samuelis Petiti Miscel. b. 2. c. i. Note on v. 613. Euripid. Medea, Eavos TO TIMELY συμβολή, οι δράσουσι σ' ευ, Mr. Dodwell's Classical Tour in Greece, vol. i. p. 519. Plautus, in his play called Panulus (act 5. sc. 2.), represents Hanno, the Carthaginian, as retaining a symbol of hospitality reciprocally with Antidamas of Calydon; but Antidamas being dead, he addresses himself to his son Agorastocles, and says, -"Si ita est, tesseram Conferre, si vis, hospitalem-eccam attuli." Agorastocles answers: "Agedum hoc estende, est par probe, nam habeo domum." To which Hanno: "O mi hospes, salve multum, nam mihi tuus pater Agorastocles proceeds: "Ergo hic apud me hospitium tibi præbebitur." "If this be the case, here is the tally of hospitality, which I have brought; compare it if you please.--Show it me; it is indeed the tally to that which I have at home;-My dear host, you are heartily welcome: for your father Antidamas was my host: this was the token of hospitality beween him and me; and you shall, therefore, be kindly received in my house." Ibid. p. 520. xiii. 6.); and strifes between the different villagers and herdsmen of Syria still exist, as well as in the days of those pr triarchs. Jacob, also, must have had a great number, since he could afford a present to his brother Esau of five hundred and eighty head of cattle. (Gen. xxxii. 13-17.) It was Ward's Dissertations upon several passages of the Sacred Scriptures, pp. 229–232. London, 1759. Svo. Dr. T. M. Harris's Dissertation on the Tessera Hospitalis of the Ancient Romans, annexed to his Discourses in the Principles, Tendency, and Design of Free-Masonry. Charlestown (Massachusetts), Anno Lucis 5801. This writer has also given severa proofs of the prevalence of a similar practice among the ancient Chris tians, who carried the tessera with them in their travels as an introduction wards, heretics, to enjoy those privileges, counterfeited the tessera. The to the friendship and brotherly kindness of their fellow-Christians. After Christians then altered the inscription. This was frequently done til de Nicene Council gave their sanction to those marked with the initials of the words arp, Yos, Ayios Ilvaux; which B. Hildebrand calls Tessera Canonica. The impostor Peregrinus, as we learn from Lucian (Op. tom. iii. p. 325. Amst. 1743), feigned himself a Christian, that he might not only be clothed and fed by the Christians, but also be assisted on his traves, and enriched by their generosity; but his artifice was detected and ex posed. The procuring of a tessera (Dr. Harris remarks), as a mark of evangelization, answered all the purposes, and saved all the trouble, of formal written certificates, and introductory letters of recommendation. The danger of its being used by impostors, as in the case of Peregrinus rendered it necessary to preserve the token with great care, and never to produce it but upon special occasions. Notwithstanding the simplicity of this method, it continued in use until the time of Burchardis, archbishop of Worms, who flourished A. D. 1100, and who mentions it in a visitation charge. (Harris's Sermons, &c. pp. 319, 320.) Richardson's Travels along the Mediterranean, vol. ii. p. 196. The following description of the removal of an Arab horde will afford the reader a lively idea of the primitive manners of the patriarchs:-"It was entertaining enough to see the horde of Arabs decamp, as nothing could be more regular. First went the sheep and goat-herds, each with their flocks in divisions, according as the chief of each family directed; then followed the camels and asses, loaded with the tents, furniture, and kitchen utensils; these were followed by the old men, women, boys, and girls, on foot. The children that cannot walk are carried on the backs of the young women, or the boys and girls; and the smallest of the lambs and kids are carried under the arms of the children. To each tent belong many dogs, among which are some greyhounds; some tents have from ten to fourteen dogs, and from twenty to thirty men, women, and children, belonging to them. The procession is closed by the chief of the tribe, whom they called Emir and Father (emir means prince), mounted on the very best horse, and surrounded by the heads of each family, all on horses, with many servants on foot. Between each family is a division or space of one hundred yards, or more, when they inigrate; and such great regularity is observed, that neither camels, asses, sheep, nor dogs, mix, but each keeps to the division to which it belongs without the least trouble. They had been here eight days, and were going four hours' journey to the north. west, to another spring of water. This tribe consisted of about eight hundred and fifty men, women, and children. Their flocks of sheep and goats were about five thousand, besides a great number of camels, horses, and asses. Horses and greyhounds they breed and train up for sale: they neither kill nor sell their ewe lambs. At set times a chapter in the Koran is read by the chief of each family, either in or near each tent, the whole family being gathered round and very attentive." Parson's Travels from Aleppo to Bagdad, pp. 109, 110. London, 1808. 4to. in sacrifices. The fatted calf (1 Sam. xxviii. 24. Luke xv. 23.) was stall-fed, with a special reference to a particular festival or extraordinary sacrifice. their great flocks of cattle which made them in those primi- | mentioned in Scripture, because they were commonly used tive times put such a price upon wells. These were possessions of inestimable value in a country where it seldom rained, and where there were but few rivers or brooks, and, therefore, it is no wonder that we read of so many contests about them. In succeeding ages, we find, that the greatest and wealthiest men did not disdain to follow husbandry, however mean that occupation is now accounted.1 Moses, the great lawgiver of the Israelites, was a shepherd. Shamgar was taken from the herd to be a judge in Israel, and Gideon from his threshing-floor (Judg. vi. 11.), as were Jair and Jephthah from the keeping of sheep. When Saul received the news of the danger to which the city of Jabesh-gilead was exposed, he was coming after the herd out of the field, notwithstanding he was a king. (1 Sam. xi. 5.) And king David, from feeding the ewes great with young, was brought to feed Jacob his people and Israel his inheritance (Psal. Ixxviii. 71.); and it should seem, from 2 Sam. xiii. 23., that Absalom was a large sheep-owner. King Uzziah is said to be a lover of husbandry (2 Chron. xxvi. 10.); and some of the prophets were called from that employment to the prophetic dignity, as Elisha was from the plough (1 Kings xix. 19.), and Amos from being a herdsman. But the tending of the flocks was not confined to the men in the primitive ages, rich and noble women were accustomed to keep sheep, and to draw water as well as those of inferior quality. Thus, Rebecca, the daughter of Bethuel, Abraham's brother, carried a pitcher, and drew water (Gen. xxiv. 15. 19.), as the women of Palestine still generally do: Rachel, the daughter of Laban, kept her father's sheep (Gen. xxix. 9.); and Zipporah, with her six sisters, had the care of their father Jethro's flocks, who was a prince, or (which in those times was an honour scarcely inferior) a priest of Midian. (Exod. ii. 16.) Repeated instances occur in Homer of the daughters of princes tending flocks, and performing other menial services.3 1. Among the larger animals kept by the Hebrews or Jews, NEAT CATTLE claim first to be noticed, on account of their great utility. They are termed collectively 2 (BAKⱭR), and though they are of so small stature in the East, yet they attain to considerable strength. (Prov. xiv. 4.) The bulls of Bashan were celebrated for their strength. (Psal. xxii. 12.) The castration of bulls, or the males of the ox-tribe, as well as of other male animals, which was common among other nations, was prohibited to the Hebrews. (Lev. xxii. 24, 25.) Oxen were used both for draught and for tillage, as is still the case in the East: they were also employed in treading out the corn, during which they were not to be muzzled (Deut. xxv. 4.); and were driven by means of ox-goads (Judg. iii. 31.), which, if they resembled those used in more recent times in the East, must have been of considerable size. Calves, or the young of the ox-kind, are frequently 1 Honourable as the occupation of a shepherd was among the Hebrews, it was an abomination to the Egyptians (Gen. xlvi. 34.) at the time when Jacob and his children went down into Egypt.-Froin the fragments of the ancient historian Manetho, preserved in Josephus and Africanus, it appears that that country had been invaded by a colony of Nomades or Shepherds, descended from Cush, who established themselves there, and had a suc. cession of kings. After many wars between them and the Egyptians, in which some of their principal cities were burnt, and great cruelties were committed, they were compelled to evacuate the country; but not till they had been in possession of it for a period of nine hundred years. This alone was sufficient to render shepherds odious to the Egyptians; but they were still more obnoxious, because they killed and ate those animals, particularly the sheep and the ox, which were accounted most sacred among thein. See Bryant's Analysis of Ancient Mythology, vol. vi. pp. 193-211. Svo. edit. From Hector's address to his horses, it appears that his wife, Andro mache, though a princess, did not think it beneath her dignity to feed those animals herself. Iliad. viii. 185-189. 2. So useful to the Hebrews were ASSES, that the coveting of them is prohibited in the decalogue, equally with oxen: in the East they attain to a considerable size and beauty. Princes and people of distinction did not think it beneath their dignity to ride on asses (Num. xxii. 21. Judg. i. 4. v. 10. x. 4. 2 Sam. xvi. 2.); when, therefore, Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem on an ass, he was received like a prince or sovereign. (Matt. xxi. 1-9.) The Hebrews were forbidden to draw with an ox and an ass together (Deut. xxii. 10.), probably because one was a clean animal, and, conse quently, edible, while the other was declared to be unclean, and, consequently, unfit for food. The habits and speed of wild asses, which anciently were numerous in Arabia Deserta and the neighbouring countries, are described with great force and poetical beauty in Job xxxix. 5—8. MULES, which animals partake of the horse and ass, were probably unknown in the earlier ages. It is very certain that the Jews did not breed them, because they were forbidden to couple together two creatures of different species. (Lev. xix. 19.) They seem to have been brought to the Jews from other nations; and the use of them was become very common in the time of David, and they formed a con siderable part of the royal equipage. (2 Sam. xiii. 29. xviii. 9. 1 Kings i. 33. 38. 44. x. 25. 2 Chron. ix. 24.) 3. HORSES were not used by the Jews for cultivating the soil: indeed, though they abounded in Egypt in the time of Moses (as may be inferred from Exod. ix. 3. xiv. 6, 7. 9. 23-28. xv. 4.), yet we do not find any mention of their being used before the time of David, who reserved only a hundred horses for his mounted life-guard, or perhaps for his chariots, out of one thousand which he captured (2 Sam. viii. 4.), the remainder being houghed, according to the Mosaic injunction. Solomon carried on a trade in Egyptian norses for the benefit of the crown.s 4. CAMELS are frequently mentioned in the Scriptures anciently, they were very numerous in Judea, and throughou the East, where they were reckoned among the most valua ble live stock. The patriarch Job had at first three thousand (Job i. 3.), and, after his restoration to prosperity, six thousand. (xlii. 12.) The camels of the Midianites and Amalekites were without number, as the sand by the sea-side for multitude. (Judg. vii. 12.) So great was the importance attached to the propagation and management of camels, that a particu lar officer was appointed in the reign of David to superintene. their keepers; and as the sacred historian particularly mentions that he was an Ishmaelite, we may presume that he was selected for his office on account of his superior skill in the treatment of these animals. (1 Chron. xxvii. 30.) Two species of camels are mentioned in the Scripture, viz. 1. the Sea (GamaL) or commor camel, which has two bunches on its back, that distinguish it from, 2. the 3 (BaKOR), or dromedary, which has only one bunch. The dromedary is remarkable for its fleetness. Both species are now, as well as anciently, much used for travelling long journeys. The camels' furniture, mentioned in Gen. xxxi. 34., is most probably the large seat or pack-saddle, invariably observed in the East upon the back of camels. When taken off, at the close of a journey, it would equally afford a place of concealment for the images, and a convenient seat for Rachel." The Arabs eat both the flesh and milk of camels, which, however, (Lev. xi. 4. Deut. xiv. 7.) A coarse cloth is manufactured were forbidden to the Israelites, as being unclean animals. See particularly Iliad, lib. vi. 59. 78. Odyss. lib. vi. 57. xii. 131. of camels' hair in the East, which is used for making the The intelligent traveller, Maundrell, in his journey from Jerusalem to Aleppo, relates, that when he was near Jerusalem, he came to a certain coats of shepherds and camel drivers, and also for the coverplace, where (says he) "the country people were every where at ploughing of tents. It was, doubtless, this coarse kind which was in the fields, in order to sow cotton: it was observable, that in ploughing, worn by John the Baptist, and which distinguished him from they used goads of an extraordinary size; upon measuring of several, I found them to be about eight feet long, and, at the bigger end, six inches those residents in royal palaces, who wore soft raiment. in circumference. They were armed at the lesser end with a sharp (Matt. iii. 4. xi. 8.) prickle, for driving of the oxen, and at the other end with a small spade, or 5. Among the smaller cattle, GOATS and SHEEP were the paddle of iron, strong and massy, for cleansing the plough from the clay most valuable, and were reared in great numbers on account that encumbers it in working. May we not from hence conjecture, that it was with such a goad as one of these, that Shamgar made that prodigious of their flesh and milk; the latter animals were also of great slaughter related of him? I am confident that whoever should see one of value on account of their wool, which was shorn twice in the these instruments, would judge it to be a weapon, not less fit, perhaps fita season of great festivity. ter, than a sword for such an execution: goads of this sort 1 saw always year. Sheep-shearing was used hereabouts, and also in Syria; and the reason is, because the same (2 Sam. xiii. 23-27. 1 Sam. xxv. 2, &c.) Jahn enumerates single person both drives the oxen, and also holds and manages the plough three varieties of sheep, but Dr. Harris specifies only two which makes it necessary to use such a goad as is above described, to avoid breeds as being found in Syria; viz. 1. The Bedouin sheep, the encumbrance of two instruments."" Maundrell's Travels, p. 110. In January, 1816, Mr. Buckingham observed similar goads in use, at Ras-elHin, in the vicinity of the modern town of Sour, which stands on the site of ancient Tyre (Travels in Palestine, p. 57.); and the Rev. Mr. Hartley, in March, 1323, met with the same kind of goads in Greece. (Missionary Register, May, 1830, p. 223.) Michaelis's Commentaries, vol. ii. pp. 394, 395. In pp. 431-514. there is an elaborate dissertation on the ancient history and uses of horses. For the reason why the Israelitish sovereigns were prohibited from multiplying horses, see p. 43. of the present volume. Hartley's Researches in Greece, p. 232. |