LIST OF BOOKS SPECIALLY HELPFUL TO SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHERS. Analogy of Religion, and Sermons, Butler's, (Angus,) cloth, Vols. I., II., foolscap 8vo, each, ... ... Bible, A New Companion to the, with Maps, cloth, ... ... ... Do. Bible, New Introduction to the Study of the, (Barrow,) 8vo, cloth, Do. do., do., Vol. II., Bible Text Cyclopædia, a Classification of Texts, (Inglis,) cloth, Biblical Encyclopædia, (Eadie,) Maps and Illustrations, 8vo, cloth, Vol. II., 2 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 6 6 03 3 0 0 1 030063oamoo000000 Chain of Life in Geological Times, (Dawson,) cloth, Christian Manliness, for Young Men, crown 8vo, cloth, Commentary on the Scriptures, from Henry, Scott, &c. Without Commentary, bound up with 12mo Paragraph Bible. In 6 vols. Daniel-Statesman and Prophet; a Study for Young Men, cloth, Evidence of Prophecy, (Keith,) New and Revised Edition, foolscap Evidences of Christianity, Paley, (Birk's,) 12mo, cloth, 030 006 0 1 6 Exodus of Israel, The; Its Difliculties Examined and its Truth Con firmed, (Birk's,) cloth, 070 036 Exodus and the Wanderings in the Wilderness, The, (Edersheim,) crown 8vo, cloth, God's Word Written; or, The Doctrine of the Inspiration of the Greek Testament Handbook to the Grammar of, with Vocabulary, &c., 8vo, cloth, Golden Sayings for the Young, Illustrated, gilt edges, cloth, History of Judah and Israel, from the Birth of Solomon to the Reign of Ahab, (Edersheim,) crown 8vo, cloth, THE Sabbath School Magazine. NO. II.] FEBRUARY 1, 1882. [VOL. XXXIV. The Social and Religious Condition of Palestine in the Time of Christ. By the REV. MARCUS DODS, D.D., Glasgow.* In attempting to estimate the social condition of an Eastern people, we must not use a merely Western and European standard of civilization. We must be prepared to see that there may be all the essentials of civilization apart from many of those adjuncts which we sometimes confound with the essentials. And without affecting to be absolutely accurate, it may be said that in order to achieve and enjoy a social condition which deserves to be called civilized, life must not be too difficult, so that the whole vitality of the race is used up in maintaining itself in physical existence; encouragement must be given to individual effort by the sense of security which good government affords; there must also exist certain external appliances, although these need not perhaps be more than such as are needful to promote literature and intercourse with other nations. In considering the social condition of the Jews, therefore, it may be well to keep in view chiefly those points in which civilized races excel the uncivilized and differ from one another. I.—The first requisite of a good social condition is, that life be not too difficult. Some tribes are so situated, physically, that their whole time and strength are spent in procuring even the scanty nourishment which keeps them alive. The wretched inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego, who are dependent on the shell fish they can find at each ebb tide, are at the greatest possible disadvantage in all social matters. A happy social condition, it is true, does not vary absolutely with the climate and physical surroundings. The races who inhabit tropical regions, where one week's labour will provide a man with nourishment for a year, are, through the absence of all stimulus to exertion, almost equally at a disadvantage with those to whom progress is hopeless. The lands which seem best to *The second of a series of Lectures on "The Times of Christ," delivered under the auspices of the North-Western District Sabbath School Union. B favour human development are those which abundantly repay hard labour bestowed on them. Among these, Palestine, and especially Galilee, takes its place. Josephus tells us with pride that every square yard had its owner, and he dilates with affectionate ardour on the wealth and beauty of the country. His statement that the soil of Galilee sustained a population of 30,000 to the square mile, is of course exaggerated; but there is no doubt that the soil yielded abundant crops of maize and wheat; that vines and olives, and even palms, balsams, figs and almond trees, were commonly cultivated; and that indigo and other rare plants were reared both for export and home consumption. Traces may still be seen of the diligence with which the country was cultivated in the terraces which mark the hills, and which are so familiar as characterizing many of the vine-growing districts of Europe. During the exile few of the Jews could pursue agriculture, but on their return, as the population was necessarily thin, there was every inducement to return to their old pursuits, and to realize the original Jewish idea of social happiness, sitting at peace under one's own fig tree or vine, in a land flowing with milk and honey. And, as the English yeoman, cultivating the 50 or 100 acres which had belonged to his family for many generations, was counted the very backbone of the country, and certainly considered himself most happily circumstanced, and as independent as any man need be; so the Jew, whose land was secured to him and to his heirs in perpetuity by the unchangeable laws of Moses, was a man who had certainly no reason to grumble, and in whom independence and patriotism were sure to be developed.* These prosperous agriculturists necessarily stimulated the whole circle of ordinary trades; implement makers, masons, weavers, fullers and dyers, potters, workers in the finer metals, and so forth. The tradesman was held in high esteem among the Jews, many of the Rabbis working, like Paul, at some manual craft. "In point of dignity and rank," says the Talmud, "there is a difference between trade and trade, but to the lowest attaches no disgrace if it supplies a real human want; and any calling is better than none." To the modern mind this recognition of trade may not appear worth noting; but, in point of fact, the Jews in this respect offered a very striking contrast to the Romans, and, indeed, to all states employing slave-labour. For, where slaves were largely employed, all the manual labour, except fighting, was done by them; and it was considered beneath a freeman's dignity to engage in trade or in any handicraft. The burgesses of Rome, who did not think it a condescension to accept "We Jews," says Josephus, "neither inhabit a maritime country, nor do we delight in merchandise, nor in such a mixture with other men as arises from it; but the cities we dwell in are remote from the sea; and having a fruitful country for our habitation, we take pains in cultivating that only. Our principal care of all is to educate our children well; and we think it the most necessary business of our whole life to observe the laws that have been given us, and to follow those rules of piety which have been handed down to us. Nor can any one perceive amongst us any difference in the conduct of our lives; but all our works are common to us all. We have one sort of discourse concerning God which is conformable to our law, and affirms that He sees all our doings; that all things ought to have piety for their end, anybody may hear from our women and servants themselves. Hence hath arisen that accusation which some make against us, that we have not produced men that have been the inventors of new operations or of new ways of thinking: for others think it a fine thing to persevere in nothing that has been handed down from their forefathers, and reckon it proof of the acutest intelligence when they transgress these traditions; where as we, on the contrary, suppose it to be wisdom and virtue to admit no actions or suggestions which are contrary to our original laws.”—C, Apion i. 12 and ii. 20. from the state their daily dole of corn, and who were, to a very considerable extent, paupers, would have considered themselves degraded by learning to hold the plough, or use the hammer and chisel. In the time of our Lord, those trades only were despised among the Jews which brought the craftsman into contact with things unclean, such as tanning and mining; and it was considered at the least undesirable that any lad should be brought up to a calling which required much dealing with women, such as perfumery and hair-dressing. There were also callings then, as now, which seemed to exert a deteriorating influence on those who engaged in them, and these were necessarily looked down upon. But, in the main, the artisan and the tradesman were more esteemed than among ourselves. There was no gulf fixed between landowners and tradesmen; and if we smile at their division of trades into clean and unclean, they might more reasonably smile at some of our equally fictitious distinctions. "One must come to the East," it has been said, "to understand absolute social equality," (Lady Duff Gordon, Letters, 89.) The patriarchal family feeling seems to be continued when the family has grown to be a tribe; and while the chiefs are deferred to, they are felt to be of the same blood and of one kindred with the poorest of the people. And as the necessary accompaniment of this family feeling, all foreigners are despised. "Not one of those brown men," says a friend of the Arabs, "who did not own a second shirt would give his brown daughter to the greatest Turkish pasha." Yet it seems impossible, in any society, to avoid the formation of an aristocracy of one kind or other; and in Palestine there were two competing aristocracies,-an aristocracy of rank or civil power, and an aristocracy of learning. But the former aristocracy was small in numbers, and almost powerless among the people; while the latter the aristocracy of learning-was more a sentiment than a substantial force, and was always resisted and held in check by the moderate within its own pale. There were Pharisees whose very motto was→→→ "This people that knoweth not the law are cursed;" and who prayed like Ben-Hakana-"I thank Thee, O Lord my God, that thou hast cast my lot among those who frequent the schools, and not amongst those who gather at the corners of the streets; for I rise early, and they rise early; I turn early to the words of the law, and they to vain things; I work, and they work; I work and receive reward, they work and receive none; I run, and they run; I run to everlasting life, they run to the pit." But there were also learned men who joined with the scholars of Jabne in their morning utterance-"I am God's creature and the equal of my fellowman; I have my calling in the town, and he his in the field; I go early to my work, and he to his. Even as he does not vaunt his work, so neither should I mine; and sayest thou to thyself, I produce great things, and he small; yet have we learnt, though one produce great things and another small, yet shall the like reward be to each, so far as his heart is, while working, lifted up to God."" The advance of a nation may be estimated not only by the number of trades it fosters, nor by the esteem in which they are held, but by the balance maintained between each trade and the public. As a nation grows there arise a number of artificial methods of protecting tradesmen and their rights. In our own day trades-unions are formed to promote the interests of each industry. In our Lord's day these were not fully developed, but the germ was already in existence. The ass-drivers and boatmen had a kind of union for insurance purposes; and in Egypt, where the caste-system had given a great impulse to the formation of trade guilds, each craft was a separate corporation, recognisable by a badge and enjoying certain rights. Thus, in the great synagogue of Alexandria, which was built on such a scale that the signal for the congregation to say amen had to be given by waving a flag, each trade had a part of the building set apart for it; and if a poor craftsman came in he seated himself among his fellow-workmen, who maintained him until he found employment. We learn from the Gospels that the day's wage of a labourer was a denarius, that is, 84d. How much this could buy we cannot exactly say, but we know that Julius Cæsar raised the pay of the Roman soldier to 6 d., and that during the later years of his life, (say half-a-century before our Lord's time,) 74d. was the common day's wage of a labouring man at Rome. It must, however, be also borne in mind that a land, no matter how fertile it is, can maintain only a certain number of people. In our own time the emigration consequent on excessive population has been enormous; but at certain periods of the history of the ancient world, it was, if not greater in extent, certainly more abrupt and obvious. Colonies were continually sent forth by conquering races, and the conquered races continually moved away from the great centres of power. And to an individual who thought his prospects would be improved by emigrating, there was no barrier which ordinary energy could not remove. No doubt, the actual means of locomotion are improved in our day, and a man can get more rapidly round the world; but in certain important respects it was easier for a Jew in the time of Christ to move about. For the circumstance that all the countries available for commerce were under the government of Rome, had brought distant provinces into connection with one another. Admirable post-roads made journeying easy and expeditious; and one language served, so far as the common purposes of life were concerned, for the whole world. But owing to the relation in which the Jew stood to his land, and the peculiar hopes that bound him to it, he could not colonize in our sense of the term; he could not deliberately fix his permanent residence in an alien land, meaning to live and die there. His was not the colonization of the Greek or Roman, who were cosmopolitan; but it was liker the migration of the Chinaman, who will follow remunerative labour all round the world, but means always to return to the celestial land, and find there his final resting-place. It is true that the Jewish settlement in Alexandria did not materially differ from a colony, but certainly the Jews did not monopolize any country as we have monopolized Australia, or as the Greeks monopolized the western coast of Asia Minor, or as the Angles and Saxons once monopolized England. They were to be found everywhere-there was almost no considerable town in the Roman world where Jews were not learning to amass wealth, and to hoard it in that greedy manner which is almost inevitable to an alien who feels no sympathy with those about him, and who has none of the interests of the citizen. In every civilized country so large a part of the population is engaged |