family accounted a blessing; sterility, a curse. Concubinage not reckoned

disgraceful: difference between a concubine and a wife; Solomon's concu-

bines much exceeded by some eastern monarchs. Polygamy, its effects on

population and domestic happiness. Divorce; copy of a bill of divorce; for-

malities used on delivery. Copy of a divorce at the wife's instance. The jus

leviratus, or law concerning the brother's widow; its existence before the

giving of the law; ceremonies anciently observed; ceremonies observed in

case of refusal. The Athenian law similar to the Jewish; also the Circas-

sians, Druses, and Mahomedans. The frequent allusions in Scripture to the

marriages of the Jews

137

SECT. III. Children of the Jews.-Reasons why so much desired: ceremonies

at the birth: circumcision; the persons present; their different offices;

prayers on the occasion. Circumcision of sick children deferred for a time.

Children dying before the eighth day, how disposed of; a feast commonly

after circumcision. The case of bastards and daughters; origin and uses of

circumcision. Probable reasons for fixing on the eighth day. Why it was

omitted in the wilderness. Treatment of children while minors as to food,

clothing, &c.; children much attached to their mother; and why; singular

manner of carrying them. The nature of their education. The degree

they acquired at the age of thirteen; could choose their tutors at fourteen;

the solemn ceremony then used; different ages at which they could marry,

and attend the passover. The birthright of the eldest; in what it consisted.

Parkhurst's reflection on it
159

SECT. IV. The Dress of the Jews.-1st. Of the Men. Hair black, worn short,

except when in mourning. The weight of Absalom's hair considered. The

beard worn long; razors; anointing with oil. The bonnet or covering for

the head. The cethneth or tunic. The telith or coat; shelmè or hyke; girdle

with its purse; cloak or mantle; shoes and sandals; phylacteries; scrip;

staff-2nd. Of the Women. Lower ranks very simple; higher very expensive.

Plaiting the hair, elegant head-dresses, painting the eyes with alkahol; nose

jewels; ear-rings; veil; necklaces and chains of gold; bracelets; nails

stained with alhennah; shifts; zone round the breast; linen vests; gown,

or upper robe; girdle about the middle; drawers; tinkling ornaments on the

legs; sandals; travelling veils ; cloaks or burnooses; perfume boxes; hand-

kerchiefs; hand-mirrors; large wardrobes in families; fashionable colours ;

remarks

169

SECT. V. Entertainments of the Jews.-Furniture of an eastern kitchen.

Fire-places; fuel, either wood, grass, or dried cow-dung. Bread, how baked,

leavened, toasted. Testimony of travellers. Public ovens, their way of send-

ing bread to them. Eastern bread not good above a day. Their better kind

of cakes; their cracknels. Bread their principal food, eaten with oil, &c.;

wheat, parched corn, barley, beans, summer fruits, roots; milk. Butter,

how made by them; butter-milk a luxury; leban, how prepared; cheeses of

the East, how made, not good. The general diet at Aleppo, and of the

Arabs. An eastern breakfast, dinner, and supper. They use no spoons; are

careful how they drink water; have wine at table; their wine often muddy;

the cup-bearer's office; banqueting cups. Manner of sitting at meat. Public

feasts: portions sent to those who could not attend; men and women sat often

at different tables: the fragments given to the poor. People in the East visit

after supper, as well as through the day. The earliest accounts of a grace

at meat. Modern Jews very particular as to their food; have butchers with

eertificates that they kill according to law; two kinds of dishes; their way of

eating; their bread, and manner of baking
197

SECT. VI. Rank and Employments of the Jewish Women.-The state of women

before christianity very degrading. Condition of Jewish women in pastoral,

agricultural, and commercial situations. Grinding corn every morning;

managing the concerns of the family; feeding cattle; carrying water; work-

ing with the needle; spinning; weaving; tapestry

219

SECT. VII, Jewish Manner of Travelling.—Disposition of their dress: never

travelled in the heat of the day but from necessity; saluted no person when

in haste; feet washed when they entered a house. Rode on asses, horses,

mules, camels, and dromedaries; had no stirrips; used hirans and counes;

provender for their animals; provisions for themselves; articles of conve-

nience and commerce. Skins for water; every article carried in skins. Dis-

tance measured by hours; wells the common resting-places; these often

infested by robbers; no inns; khanes, or caravansarais. Caravans; manner of

travelling; sometimes very numerous. Kings travelled in state; had the

dust allayed with water; harbingers sent before them, and pioneers to level

the roads. Customs observed by the modern Jews on a journey - 227

SECT. VIII. Jewish Marks of Honour and Disgrace.-1. Marks of honour

which servants paid to their masters. Slaves, their price; their submis-

sive attitude; washed the hands of their masters; served him before

they ate themselves; servants of different ranks; eunuchs; singing men

and singing women. 2. Marks of respect paid by inferiors in general to

superiors. Bowing the head; bowing the knee; bowing to the ground;

kissing the hand, or what came from it; gave them the chief seat; made

yearly presents; allayed the dust before them when travelling: spreading

their garments. A spear, or lamps, indicated the tent of a chief. 3. Marks

of respect among equals. The salam, or salutation; eastern salutations took

up much time; their way of saluting when at a distance, and when at hand;

kissing; falling on the neck; taking hold of the beard. Manner of conduct-

ing visits; these held in the court in summer, and house in winter. The en-

tertainment at an eastern visit; sprinkling with rose-water; perfuming the

guests; their signs of mirth. 4. Marks of honour paid to inferiors; those to

principal officers; Joseph; Mordecai; changes of raiment; purple robe;

gold buckle and clasp ; a key on the shoulder a mark of office; explanation

of a horn as an emblem of dignity and power; breaking a chain a mark of

freedom. 5. Marks of disgrace. Cutting off the beard; plucking off the hair;

spitting in the face; clapping the hands, hissing, and wagging the head;

gnashing the teeth; speaking evil of one's mother

238

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 Egyp-

tian 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; di-

drachma; stater; Daric, Suidas's table of Jewish money. Relative value of

gold and silver; their original form in commerce; usury between Jews pro-

hibited; allowed with strangers. Money changers, their origin, utility, abuse.

The custom of transacting money in sealed purses common in the East 259

SECT. X. Division of Time among the Jews.-1. Days; their length; why

the evening put before the morning; not peculiar to the Jews. Division

of the day into morning, noon, and night; then into 12 hours and 12 hours.

Origin of dials; that of Ahaz considered. The clepsydra, or water-clock;

Jews had three kinds of days; natural, artificial, prophetical. 2. Weeks;

their origin; the seven Hebrew numerals descriptive of the seven days'

work of creation; computation by weeks very general. 3. Months, four

kinds of; the Jewish feasts and fasts, depended on their months. 4. Years;

lunar; solar; periodical; siderial. Jewish division into civil and ecclesias-

tical: these described. The Hebrew and Syro-Macedonian names of the

months. The intercalation of years explained; the translation of feasts

depended on this intercalation; their lunary, political, and mixed transla-

273

tions

SECT. XI. Commerce of Judea.-Internal; external with Arabia, Egypt, and

Tyre; remarks on the nations that have distinguished themselves by trade.

The fleets of Solomon to Tarshish and Ophir particularly considered. The

situation of these two places

292

SECT. XII. The Jewish Mode of Warfare.-Causes of the Jewish wars;

number of their armies; degree of efficiency; arms a helmet, breastplate,

habergeon, girdle, greaves, sword, shield, battle-ax, sling, bow, quiver,

poisoned arrows. The Jewish cavalry: their accoutrements; chariots of

war; camels of the kings of Midian; qualifications of an ancient warrior;

time of going to war; methods taken to distress an invading enemy; order

of encampment among the Jews; camps on hills; religious ceremony before

fighting; method of fighting; their cruelty afterwards. The transplanting

of nations; making of treaties; return of the victor with triumphal songs;

armies disbanded after their return; public armour lodged in public reposi-

tories; war destructive to the male population; connexion of the sword with

famine and pestilence. The improvement which christianity has made in

302

war

SECT. XIII. Diseases in Judea.-History of Jewish medicine. Leprosy; its

symptoms in Leviticus, by Dr. Cullen, Wallis, and Maundrell: elephantiasis,

the disease with which Job is thought to have been afflicted: consumption,

and burning ague: fever; the botch of Egypt; emerods; scab; itch; madness

and blindness. Bowel complaints; menorrhagia; the plague; Hezekiah's

boil; stroke of the sun; lunacy; anointing with oil; James v. 14 explained.

A catalogue of diseases given by Josephus, the Talmud, and Buxtorff. De-

moniacal possession; reason of its frequency in our Saviour's days; advantage

of christianity to surgery and physic

323

SECT. XIV. Treatment of the Dying and Dead.-The hours for visiting

the sick; conduct of visitors. Dying persons addressed their children and

relations; made their latter will. A strange custom of changing the name

of the dying person. After death the nearest relation kissed the deceased,

and closed his eyes; the other relations tore their upper garment; specta-

tors tore theirs only a hand-breadth; women hired to cry; minstrels;

Sir John Chardin's account of their lamentations. The dead body washed;

wrapt in spices; bound in grave-cloths; laid in an upperchamber. The

Egyptian method of embalming. The persons employed about a dead

body accounted unclean. Funerals, either public or private; insignia

suited to the person's character laid on the coffin; hired mourners; Dr.

Shaw's account of them; minstrels at the funeral; ceremonies at the grave;

the sittings and standings in their return to the house; seven of these ;

mourning for the dead either extraordinary by lamentations, tearing the hair,

cutting their bodies, &c. or ordinary, by tears, tearing the upper garment,

covering the lip. Entertainment after the funeral. The ordinary mourning

before the funeral; for the first three days after; for the next four; for the

remaining twenty-three. Funerals of children; cemeteries always without

cities; potter's field; public burying places; regulations concerning them.

Private burying-places; Rachel's sepulchre: Joseph's soros, or mound;

Isaiah's and David's tombs; Absalom's pillar; Esther's and Daniel's tombs ;

tombs of Jonah, Zecharias, and Lazarus. Sepulchres of families commonly

in caves; these described; tomb of Lazarus; tombs of the Judges; sepul-

chral monument over the Maccabean family; sepulchres of the kings of

Syria and Israel; money said to have been in David's sepulchre examined;

all the sepulchres white-washed on the 15th of the 12th month; garnishing

sepulchres accounted meritorious. The written mountains in the wilder-

ness of Sinai. Two Hebrew epitaphs; the bodies of criminals left without

burial
341

PART XII.

JUDEA, ITS LIMITS, CAPITAL, CLIMATE, AND

AGRICULTURE.

SECT. I. Limits of Judea.-As mentioned in Gen. x. 19; as promised to Abra-

ham in Gen. xv. 18-21; as described to Moses in Deut. xxxiv. 1, 3, and

commented upon by Josephus; as existing in the days of our Saviour. Jose-

phus's description of Judea; Samaria; Galilee; wherein the speech of the

Galileans differed from that of the other Jews: the country beyond Jordan;

the present state of the country, by Dr. Clarke-and a particular account of

the river Jordan
372

SECT. II. The Jewish Capital.—Jerusalem, when founded; in what tribes

situated; the different gates in the city wall, viz. the sheep-gate, fish-gate,

old-gate, valley-gate, dung-gate, gate of the fountain, gate of Ephraim, gate

of Benjamin, prison-gate, water-gate, horse-gate, gate Miphkad. Moun-

tains within the city wall: Mount Zion, Moriah, Acra, Bezetha. Some of

the public buildings and streets. Present state of Jerusalem . 391

SECT. III. Jewish Atmosphere and its Phenomena.-Day and night antipodes ;

dews abundant; rain; snow; frost; hail; land and sea breezes; tornadoes;

water-spouts; hurricanes; sand wind; hot wind of the desert; Samoom or

Samiel; coup du soleil; the Serab, or visionary lake of the desert; thunder;

lightning; aurora borealis, the reason why never mentioned by the ancients.

The winds in Judea: east wind; the Euroclydon; the west wind; the north

and south winds
401

SECT. IV. The Seasons in Judea.-Jewish divisions of the year; the same

as mentioned in Gen, viii. 22.-1st, Seed time; former rains described;

activity of the former in sowing after them.-2d, The winter; its duration;

the season for thunder and lightning; an eastern winter mild.-3d, The

cold.-4th, The harvest; the latter rains described.-5th, The summer; its

duration, and effects on vegetation-6th, The heat; its duration. Jews sel-

dom went abroad at this season between eleven o'clock and three; retired

to rest. Some general signs as to the weather in Judea
423

SECT. V. Agriculture of Judea.-Time of ploughing; form of their plough;

the ox goad; their manner of sowing; diseases of grain; blasting or blight;

mildew; hoar frost; thunder showers; caterpillar; locusts; harvest in Judea.

The barley harvest; wheat harvest; manner of reaping by pulling up; cut-

ting with a sickle; harvest a season of joy; sheaves, but no shocks in Judea ;

threshing the grain by a staff; flail; feet of cattle; the drag; the wain with

iron wheels or teeth: winnowing by the shovel and fan; threshing floors in

airy situations; straw used as fodder; grain preserved in earthen jars, or