same as keren, which is the Hebrew word for a horn, and is often alluded to in Scripture. Thus in Ps. lxxv. 4, 5, "I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly; and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn lift not up your horn on high; speak not with a stiff neck." Ps. xcii. 10, "But my horn shalt thou exalt, like the horn of the unicorn." And in Ps. cxii. 9, "His horn shall be exalted with honour." Perhaps a remnant of this ancient practice is to be found still in the neighbourhood of Lebanon; for Captain Light, anno 1814, saw the females of the Maronites and Druzes "wearing on their heads a tin or silver conical tube, about twelve inches long, and twice the size of a common post horn, over which was thrown a white piece of linen that completely enveloped the body." The horn of the emir's wife was of gold, enriched with precious stones, and in the vignette prefixed to part ii. ch. 3, he gives us a drawing of a Druze female, in the costume of the country.

Let me add, before concluding these marks of honour, that, as in despotic countries there are sudden elevations to rank, and depressions to poverty, bondage, or death, according to the character and caprice of the tyrant; so it was customary, when a worthy person was restored to liberty, to declare his restoration by some appropriate action. Thus when Josephus was taken by the Romans, after the storming of Jotapata in Galilee, he was bound, like Paul, with a chain; but having prophesied that Vespasian would become emperor, at a time when there was no appearance of his prophecy being fulfilled, the emperor's son, Titus, after the event had justified the prediction, besought his father, on Josephus's falling into their hands, not only to loose, but cut in pieces his chain, as the completest evidence

a Travels in Palestine, p. 220.

b Page 222.

that he had been unworthily treated. Accordingly the historian tells us that a person was introduced who cut his chain in pieces, as was the usual method with those who had been bound without cause, and thereby restored him to liberty and honour."

с

d

e

But after having spoken of their marks of honour, we may also notice their marks of disgrace. These were many, but the chief of them were the following: sometimes they condemned men to the employments of women, like the Jewish youth to grind corn in Babylon; cutting off the beard was accounted a great insult, and plucking off the hair was adding cruelty to insult. To spit in the face of a person was also accounted disgraceful, and it is still practised in the East; for Hanway tells us, that in the year 1744, when a rebel prisoner was brought before Nadir Shah's general, "the soldiers were ordered to spit in his face, an indignity,' adds the historian, "of great' antiquity in the East." Clapping the hands, making a wide mouth, pushing out the tongue, and hissing, were likewise the marks of malignant joy and contempt. Accordingly Job says," "Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place." And Jeremiahi mentions clapping their hands, hissing, wagging their heads, and gnashing their teeth, as the tokens whereby the inhabitants of Jerusalem showed their hatred. Whilst Isaiahk says of Israel," Against whom make ye a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue ?"-We formerly noticed the conduct of Shimei to David, in throwing dust in the air, and may now add, that the Jews insulted Paul, many centuries after, in a similar manner: for it is said of

1

a War, iv. 10. b Lam. v. 13. e Is. 1. 6. Mark xiv. 65. xv. 19. f Travels, vol. i. p. 298.

Lam. ii. 15. * Ch. lvii. 4.

c 2 Sam. x. 5.
Luke xxviii. 31, 32.

8 Ezek. xxv. 6.
Acts xxii. 22.

d Is. 1. 6.

h Ch. xxvii. 23.

them that they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices and said, "Away with such a fellow from the earth-and they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air." On which conduct of theirs, the following extract from Captain Light's Travels forms an excellent commentary :

They, (viz. the inhabitants of Galabshee, a village on the Nile,) seemed more jealous of my appearance among them than any I had seen. I was surrounded by them, and a 'present, a present,' echoed from all quarters, before they would allow me to look at their temple. One more violent than the rest threw dust in the air, the signal both of rage and defiance, ran for his shield, and came towards me dancing, howling, and striking the shield with the head of his javelin to intimidate me. A promise of a present, however, pacified him."a

But, perhaps, the greatest insult that could be given, apart from bodily injury, was the contempt that was cast on their mother. Hence the cutting reproach of Saul to his son Jonathan, for the friendship he had shown to David. "Thou son of the perverse, rebellious woman, do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thy own confusion, and unto the confusion of thy mother's nakedness ?" David, likewise, when reproving Joab, his nephew, uses similar language."These men, the sons of Zeruiah, be too hard for me." And when Abishai, the brother of Joab, wished to kill Shimei for cursing David, the king replied, "What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah ?”a which Zeruiah was David's full sister; but it is not difficult to explain the origin of this tenderness for a mother's character, and desire to resent any affront

a Travels into Egypt, &c. p. 64.

2 Sam. xvi. 10. xix. 22. VOL. II.

b 1 Sam. xx. 30.

c2 Sam. iii. 39.

• 1 Chron. ii. 15, 16.

Kk

b

that is cast upon her. It is owing to polygamy, where the children of the same family become naturally more attached to her, and to each other; and it is to the same source that we have the names of the mothers of the kings of Israel so frequently mentioned. It distinguished them from the other children of the kings by their other wives, and served to ascertain their descent and propinquity.-But marks of disgrace were not confined to the living; they often extended even to the dead, by refusing them the rites of sepulture, or raising them after they had been interred; or forbidding them to be publicly lamented; or allowing them to become. the prey of ravenous animals; or casting them, like Urijah's, into the graves of the common people; or burning their bones into lime, as Moab did the king of Edom's."

Josephus, when deserted by his soldiers through the intrigues of John of Gischala, while governor of Galilee, showed his sense of the disgrace they had put upon him as their general, in the following striking manner: "He leaped out of his house to them, while they were going to set it on fire, with his clothes rent, and ashes sprinkled on his head, with his hands behind him, and his sword hanging at his neck." At this humbling sight, they pitied his situation, repented of their fault, and returned to their duty. This suspending the sword from the neck is several times mentioned in Sir John Malcolm's history of Persia, as the mark either of degradation or deep supplication; and the same thing may be said of those who, with sackcloth on their loins, and ropes on their necks, supplicated the conquerors for mercy.i

a Parke's Travels in Africa, ch. iv. Rev. xi, 1-12.

1 Kings xiv. 31. xv. 2. 10, &c.

d Jer. viii. 1.

f Jer. xxvi. 23. i 1 Kings xx. S1, 32.

Jer. xvi. 5-7. xix. 7. xxii. 18, 19. 2 Maccab. v. 10.

SECT. IX.

Jewish Measures.

1. Of length. A finger; a handbreadth; a span; a foot; a cubit; a fathom; a reed; the measuring line; a furlong; a sabbath day's journey; a mile; a Berè; a Parsar; a common day's journey; an Egyptian aroura; the Levitical cities. 2. Liquid measure. Their quadrans; log or sextarius; firkin; hin; measure; bath; cor. 3. Dry measure. Their cab; omer, or tenth deal; seah; ephah; lethec; humer. 4. Weights. The shekel; manè, or minah; talent. 5. Money. The shekel; bekah; diner, or denarius; meah, gerah, or zuz; pondion; assar; semissis, or mesimes; farthing; mite.-Maneh or mina; talent; shekel of gold; talent of gold; drachma; didrachma; stater; Daric, Suidas's table of Jewish money. Relative value of gold and silver; their original form in commerce; usury between Jews prohibited; allowed with strangers. Money changers, their origin, utility, abuse. The custom of transacting money in sealed purses common in the East.

I. Measures of Length.

A finger, y Atzebo, was the breadth of the thumb, or of six barley corns laid beside each other, where they are thickest. Bishop Cumberland makes it the twenty-fourth part of a cubit, and equal to 912 parts of an inch," adopting the finger in place of the thumb, which the Jews used.

A hand-breadth, no Tepeh, was equal to four fingers' breadth, or 18 barley corns, because the width of the four fingers was reckoned equal only to three thumbs. It was the sixth part of a cubit, and equal to three inches and 648 parts of an inch, according to Bishop Cumberland.

a Godwin.

b To prevent the frequent quoting of authorities, it may be proper to add, that the following account of Jewish measures is drawn up from a careful examination of the meaning of the words as used in Scripture: Lightfoot's Harmony of the Four Evangelists, on John ii. 6; his Hebrew and Talmudical Exercitations on Matt. v. 26: his Prospect of the Templè, ch. x: Godwin's Moses and Aaron, book vi. ch. 9: Bernardus Lamy, Lib. i. cap. 8, 9: and Bishop Cumberland's Essay on Jewish Measures and Weights.