of ashes; to which the straw, the stubble, the later period wicker-drags came into use, which Pliny mentions. The modern Orientals, except in India, are unacquainted with the cart ; but formerly not only wagons (Gen. xlv. 19, 27; Numb. vii. 3, 6, 7; 1 Sam. ix. 7, 8, 10, 11, 14; Amos ii. 13; Isai. v. 18, xxviii. 28), and warlike chariots, but also pleasure carriages, were used, Gen. xli. 43, xlv. 19, 21; 2 Kings v. 9; 2 Sam. xv. 1; Acts viii. 28. All the ancient vehicles were moved upon two wheels only. Covered coaches are known to have been used by ladies of distinction; though this circumstance is not mentioned in the Bible. 7. The beasts of burden that endured the toils of agriculture, were bulls and cows, he-asses and she-asses, Job i. 14; 1 Sam. vi. 7; Isai. xxx. 24, xxxii. 20. But it was forbidden to yoke an ass with an ox, Deut. xxii. 10. Those animals, which in the Scriptures are called oxen, were bulls, for the Hebrews were prohibited from castrating, although the law was sometimes violated, Mal i. 14. Bulls in the warmer climates, especially if they are not greatly pampered, are not so ungovernable, but that they may be harnessed to the plough. If, indeed, any became obstinate by rich pasturage, their nostrils were perforated, and a ring, made of iron or twisted corn, was thrust through, to which was fastened a rope, which impeded his respiration to such a degree, that the most turbulent one might easily be managed, 2 Kings xix. 28; Isai. xxxvii. 29; Ezek. xix. 4; Job xl. 24. By this ring also camels, elephants, and lions, taken alive, were rendered manageable. When bulls became old, their flesh was unsuitable for aliment; for which reason they were left to die a natural death; for the old age of these animals, which had been their companions in labour, was treated by the Hebrews with kindness. Whence it is said, that, in the golden age, the slaughter of an ox will be equally criminal with the slaughter of a man, Isai. lxvi. 3. || Hence, too, among the Hebrews, bulls possessed their appro 6. The culture of the soil was at first very simple, being performed by no other instruments than sharp sticks. By these the ground was loosened, until spades and shovels, and not long after ploughs, were invented. All these implements were well known in the time of Moses, Deut. xxiii. 13; Gen. xlv. 6; Job i. 14. The first plough was doubtless nothing more than a stout limb of a tree, from which projected another shortened and pointed limb. This being turned into the ground made the furrows; while at the further end of the longer branch was fastened a transverse yoke, to which the oxen were harnessed. At last a handle was added, by which the plough might be guided. So that the plough was composed of four parts; the beam, the yoke which was attached to the beam, the handle, and what we should call the coulter, 1 Sam. xiii. 20, 21; Micah iv. 3.* It was necessary for the ploughman constantly and firmly to hold the handle of the plough, which had no wheels; and, that no spot might remain untouched, to lean forward and fix his eyes steadily upon it, Luke ix. 62.† The staff by which the coulter was cleared, served for an ox-goad. In the east, at the present day, they use a pole about eight feet in length; at the largest end of which is fixed a flat piece of iron for clearing the plough, and at the other end a spike (1377, zavrgov) for spurring the oxen. Hence appears that a goad might answer the purpose of a spear, which indeed had the same name 777, 1 Sam. xiii. 21; Judg. iii. 31. Sometimes a scourge was applied to the oxen, Isai. x. 26; Nah.priate dignity, so that tropes were drawn from iii. 2. There seems to have been no other harrow than a thick clump of wood, borne down by a weight, or a man sitting upon it, and drawn over 8. Sowing commenced in the latter part of the ploughed field by oxen; the same which the October; at which time, as well as in the months Egyptians use at the present time. In this way of November and December following, the wheat the turfs were broken in pieces, and the field was committed to the earth. Barley was sown in levelled; an operation which the word 7 seems January and February. The land was ploughed, properly to signify, viz., to level, since, in Isai. and the quantity which was ploughed by a yoke xxviii. 24, 25, it is interchanged with . At a of oxen, in one day, was called a yoke, or an acre, 1 Sam. xiv. 14. The yoke, was laid upon the it * Pliny, N. H., xviii. 47, speaks of ploughs constructed with wheels, which in his day were of recent invention. Ibid., xviii. 49, No. 2. them, by no means destitute of elegance, Numb. xxii. 4; Deut. xxiii. 17. Ibid., xviii. 43. || Ibid., vii. 45, 56. necks and shoulders of the labouring animals, and with ropes, was made fast to the beam of the plough. The ox beneath the yoke afforded metaphors expressive of subjugation, Hos. x. 11; Isai. ix. 4, x. 27; Jer. v. 5, xxvii. 2, 8—12, xxx. 8; Nah. i. 13; Ps. cxxix. 3, 4; Matt. xi. 29, 30. The Syrians, according to Pliny, xviii. 3, ploughed shallow. The furrows, and the ridges between them, were harrowed and levelled, Job xxxix. 10; Isai. xxviii. 24, 25; Hos. x. 11. The seed was most probably committed to the soil in the harrowing, as Pliny relates. Yet it seems to have been customary in some cases, formerly, as it is at present, to scatter the seed upon the field once ploughed, and cover it by a cross furrow. When it was prohibited by law to sow, either in field or vineyard, seed of a mixed kind, and crops of this nature became sacred, i. e., were given to the priests, without doubt the seed-grain was carefully cleansed from all mixture of tares so often spoken of, and which we find denominated in the New Testament Cávov, and in Hebrew and w. This law by no means referred to a poorer sort of grain, as the Talmudic writers suppose, but what may be called the intoxicating tare, from which the bread and the water in which it was boiled received an inebriating quality, and became very 'injurious to soundness of mind. The beverage formed by boiling tares and water, was called water of tares, also poison-water, Deut. xxix. 18, 19; Ps. lxix. 21; Jer. viii. 14, xxiii. 15; Hos. x. 4. The tares, then, such were their injurious qualities, are very properly said to have been sown by an enemy, while the labourers were indulging sleep at noon, Matt. xiii. 25-40. Consult, in reference to the law here mentioned, Lev. xix. 19; and Deut. xxii. 9. they do not become ripe, till three weeks after, or even later. The cultivated fields are guarded by watchmen, who sit upon a seat hung in a tree, or on a 'watch-tower made of planks, and keep off birds, quadrupeds, and thieves, Jer. iv. 16, 17; Isai. xxiv. 20. It was lawful for travellers, Deut. xxiii. 25, to strip ears from anothers field, and to eat; but they were not to use a sickle. The second day of the passover, i. e., the sixteenth from the first new moon of April, the first handful of ripe barley was carried to the altar, and then the harvest commenced, comp. Jon. iv. 35. The barley was first gathered; then the wheat, spelt, millet, &c., Exod. ix. 31, 32; Ruth i. 22, ii. 23. The time of harvest was a festival, which continued from the passover until Pentecost, seven weeks; Deut. xvi. 9-12; Jer. v. 24. The reapers were masters, children, men-servants, maidens and mercenaries, Ruth ii. 4, 8, 21, 23; John iv. 36; James v. 4. Merry and cheerful, they were intent upon their labour, and the song of joy might be heard on every side, Isai. ix. 3, lxi. 7; Ps. cxxvi. 6. Travellers congratulated them on the rich harvest; which was attributed to the beneficence of the Deity, and considered a great honour; while, on the other hand, sterility of the soil was supposed to be a divine punishment, and a disgrace, Lev. xxvi. 4; Deut. xi. 14, xxviii. 12—24; Isai. iv. 2; Hag. i. 5-11; Mal. iii. 10, 11. Anciently the ears were plucked off, or the stalks pulled up by the roots, which is still the custom in some eastern countries. It was esteemed servile labour by the Pharisees, and a profanation of the sabbath, when done on that day, Matt. xii. 1-5. The Hebrews used the sickle (Deut. xvi. 9; Joel iii. 13; Jer. 1. 16); so that the stubble remained in the earth. The crops when reaped 9. In Palestine, the crops are as far advanced in were gathered up by the arms, and bound in bunthe month of February, as they are in this country dles, Gen. xxxvii. 7; Lev. xxiii. 10-15; Job in the month of May. At that time, when the xxiv. 10; Ruth ii. 7, 15, 16; Amos ii. 13; Mic. grain has reached about a cubit in height, it is iv. 12; Jer. ix. 21, 22. At length the bundles frequently so injured by cold winds and frost, that were collected into a heap, or conveyed away on a it does not ear. The effect thus produced upon wagon, Amos ii. 13; Ps. cxxvi. 6. But the corthe grain is called blasting, Gen. xli. 6; Deut.ners of the field, and the gleanings, were required xxviii. 22; 2 Kings xix. 26. Sometimes, even to be left for the poor, Lev. xix. 9; Deut. xxiv. in November, the crops are so annoyed by easterly 19; Ruth ii. 2, 23. The land in the East genewinds, as to turn yellow, and never to come to rally yields ten-fold; rarely, twenty or thirty; but maturity. This calamity is denominated mildew Matt. xiii. 8 says, the land yielded thirty, sixty, (Deut. xxviii. 22; Amos iv. 9; Hag. ii. 17; and an hundred-fold, and Gen. xxvi. 12 says, an 1 Kings viii. 37; 2 Chron. vi. 28); but whether hundred-fold. Herodotus, Strabo, and Pliny menthe opinion of the Orientals, that these effects are tioned the increase of crops at the rate of one occasioned by the winds, is founded in truth, can- | hundred and fifty, two hundred, and even three not, as it seems, be determined. The crops, in hundred-fold. This great increase is owing to the southern parts of Palestine and in the plains, the circumstance of the kernels being put into the come to maturity about the middle of April; but soil at a distance from each other, so as to send in the northern and the mountainous sections, out several stalks (Gen. xli. 5, 47). some of which, according to Pliny,* have from three to four hun- | supported by trees, grow to a great height and dred ears; and in Africa, at the present time, they bear at least ten and fifteen. 10. The bundles were transported into the threshing-floor either by hand, or by beasts of burden, or in wagons, Amos ii. 13; and piled in a heap, Exod. xxii, 6; Judg. xv. 5. A bundle left in the field, even though discovered, was not to be taken up, but left to the poor, Deut. xxiv. 19. The threshing-floor was in the field, in some elevated part of it; it was destitute of walls and covering; and, indeed, was nothing more than a circular space thirty or forty paces in diameter, where the ground had been levelled and beaten down, Gen. 1. 10; 2 Sam. xxiv. 16, 24; Judg. vi. 37, &c. The assemblage of bundles in the floor for threshing, was used figuratively to denote reservation for future destruction, Mic. iv. 13; Isai. xxi. 10; Jer. li. 33. We have already spoken of the mode of threshing out the corn, and also of its preparation for food. t 12. Among other objects of agriculture, the vine may justly be considered worthy of particular attention. In some parts of the East, for instance, on the southern shore of the Caspian Sea, these trees grow spontaneously, producing grapes of a pleasant taste, which, in the very first ages of the world, could not but have invited the attention of men to their cultivation. Hence mention is made of wine at an early period, Gen. ix. 21; xiv. 18; xix. 32–35; xxvii. 25; xlix. 11, 12. The Hebrews were no less diligent in the culture of vineyards, than of fields for grain; and the soil of Palestine yielded in great quantities the best of wine. The mountains of Engedi in particular, the valley of salt-pits, and the valleys of Eshcol and Sorek, were celebrated for their grapes. Sorek, indeed, was not only the proper name of a valley, but also of a very fruitful vine, which bore small but uncommonly sweet and pleasant grapes. In the kingdom of Morocco, at the present time, the same vine is called Serki, the name being slightly altered. In a few instances, the wine of Mount Libanus and Helbon is extolled in the Scriptures, Hos. xiv. 7; Ezek. xxvii. 18. In Palestine, even at the present day, the clusters of the vine grow to the weight of twelve pounds; they have large grapes, and cannot be carried far by one man without being injured, Numb. xiii. 24, 25. The grapes of Palestine are mostly red or whence originated the phrase, “blood of grapes," 010, Gen. xlix. 11; Deut. xxxii. 14; Isa. xxvii. 2. Some vines in eastern countries, when *N. H. xviii. 21, 55, See page 536, ante. black; magnitude; of such are made the staves and sceptres of kings. The vine growing spontaneously, of which we have spoken, is not that which in 2 Kings iv. 39 is called the "wild vine," for that (as the Vulgate rightly translates) is the colocyntis, or wild gourd, which in Jer. ii. 21 is called the degenerate or strange vine. The vine of Sodom is the solanum melangeno, the fruit of which, as was said above, is called the poisonous clusters. 13. Vineyards were generally planted on the declivity of hills and mountains, sometimes in places where the soil had been heaped by art upon the naked rocks, being supported there merely by a wall, Isa. v. 1; Jer. xxxi. 5; Joel iii. 18; Amos ix. 13; Micah i. 6. According to Strabo and Pliny, there were also very fine vineyards in moors and wet lands, in which the vines grew to a very great height. Of the vines that grew upon such a kind of soil were fabricated the sceptre, &c., spoken of above; whilst the branches of other vines were destined to be fuel for the flames, Ezek. xvii. 1–8; xix. 10, 11, 12; xг. 1-5. Vines were commonly propagated by means of suckers. Pliny|| says, vines were of four kinds, viz., those that ran on the ground; those that grew upright of themselves; those that adhered to a single prop; and those that covered a square frame. It is not our design to treat of all these: it may suffice merely to mention, that Pliny is by no means correct, when he says, the custom prevailed in Syria and all Asia, of letting the vines run on the ground. This, indeed, accords with Ezekiel xvii. 6, 7; but that vines frequently grew to a great height, being supported by trees and props, or standing upright of themselves, the proverbial phrase, which so often occurs, of sitting under one's own vine and fig-tree, i. e., enjoying a prosperous and happy life, is sufficient proof, Jer. v. 17, viii. 13; Hos. ii. 12; Micah iv. 4; Zech. iii. 10. The prohibition (Deut. xxii. 9) to sow vineyards with divers seeds, and the command, that what was thus sown should be given to the priests, are not to be understood of the vines, but of herbs, which were sown in the intervals between them. Vineyards were defended by a hedge or wall (Numb. xxii. 24; Ps. lxxxviii. 12; Prov. xxiv. 31; Isa. v. 5; xxvii. 2, 3; Jer. xlix. 3; Neh. iv. 3; Matt. xxi. 33), and in them were erected towers (Isa. v. 2; Matt. xxi. 33), which, at the present time in eastern countries, are thirty feet square, and eighty feet high. These towers were for keepers, who defended the vineyards from thieves, and from animals, especially N. H. xvii. 35, No. 6. dogs and foxes, Cant. i. 6; ii. 15. By the law in Deut. xxiii. 25, the keeper was commanded not to prohibit the passing traveller from plucking the grapes, which he wished to eat on his way, provided he did not carry them off in a vessel. juice flows out into the lower receptacle, called p ikeb, through a grated aperture, which is made in the side near the bottom of the upper one. The treading of the wine-press was laborious, and not very favourable to cleanliness; the garments of the persons thus employed were stained with red juice, and yet the employment was a joyful one. It was performed with singing, accompanied with musical instruments; and the treaders, as they jumped, exclaimed, 1797 (ho up), Isa. xvi. 9, 10; Jer. xxv. 30; xlviii. 32, 33. Figuratively, vintage, gleaning, and treading the wine-press, signified battles and great slaughters, Isa. xvii. 6; lxiii. 1-3; Jer. xlix. 9; Lam. i. 15. 14. The manner of trimming the vine, and also the singular instrument of the vine-dresser, were well known even in the time of Moses, Lev. xxv. 3, 4; compare Isa. ii. 4, v. 6, xviii. 5; Micah iv. 3; Joel iii. 10. A vintage from new vineyards was forbidden for the first three years (Exod. xxxiv. 26, and Numb. xviii. 11), and the grapes also of the fourth year were consecrated to sacred purposes; the vines, therefore, without doubt, during these first years, were so pruned as that few sprouts remained. On the fifth year, when they were first profaned, i. e., put to common use, they had become sturdy and exuberant. Pruning at three several times, viz., in March, April, and May, is mentioned not only by Bochart, but by Pliny; and Homer speaks of it as a thing well known.* The Hebrews dug their vineyards, and gathered out the stones. The young vines, unless trees were at hand, were wound around stakes; and around those vines which ran on the ground were dug narrow trenches in a circular form, to prevent the wandering shoots from mingling with each other. These practices in the cultivation of the vine are to be duly considered in those allegories which are drawn from vineyards, Isa. v. 1-7; xxvii. 2—6; Ps. lxxx. 9-13; Matt. xxi. 33-46. 15. The vintage in Syria commences about the middle of September, and continues till the middle of November. But grapes, we are informed, were ripe sometimes even in June and July; which arose, perhaps, from a triple pruning; in which case there was also a third vintage. The first vintage was in August, the second in September, and the third in October. The grapes, when not gathered, were sometimes found on the vines until November and December. The Hebrews were required to leave gleanings for the poor, Lev. xix. 10. The season of vintage was a joyfuling, and the air is cooled by the waters, of which one, Judges ix. 27; Isa. xvi. 10; Jer. xxv. 30; xlviii. 33. With shoutings on all sides, the grapes were plucked off, and carried to the wine-press, which was in the vineyard, Isa. v. 2; Zech. xiv. 10; Hag. ii. 16; Matt. xxi. 33; Rev. xiv. 19, 20. The presses consisted of two receptacles, which were either built of stones and covered with plaster, or hewn out of a large rock. The upper receptacle, called na geth, as it is constructed at the present time in Persia, is nearly eight feet square and four feet high. Into this the grapes are thrown, and trodden out by five men. The 16. Culinary plants and fruit-trees were among the first objects of agriculture. Gardens, accordingly, were very ancient, and have always been numerous. By the Hebrews they were called 13 71, 71, D; afterwards, the Persian name 05, zagáde1005, paradise, was introduced. The later Hebrews were invited the more to the cultivation of gardens by the example of the Syrians, whom Pliny extols for this species of agriculture, above all other nations. Trees were multiplied by seeds and shoots; they were transplanted, dug around, manured, and pruned, Job viii. 16; Isai. xvii. 10. Grafting occurs figuratively in Rom. xi. 17, 24. The gardens in Persia, at the present day, are disposed in good order; those in the Ottoman empire are very rude, displaying hardly any indications of art, except a fountain or receptacle of waters, which is never wanting. In the Scriptures, gardens are denominated from the prevalence of certain trees; as the garden of nuts, 18, and the garden of Carthaginian apples or pomegranates, 75, Cant. vi. 11. The forest of palms, also, in the plain of Jericho, was only a large garden, in which other trees were interspersed among the palms. The modern Orientals are no less fond of gardens than were the ancient Hebrews; not only because they yield the richest fruits, but because the shade is very refresh their gardens are never allowed to be destitute, 1 Kings xxi. 2; 2 Kings xxv. 4; Hos. ix. 13; Cant. iv. 13, vi. 11; Eccles. ii. 5; John xviii. 1, xix. 41, xx. 15. The Hebrews had an attachment to gardens as a place of burial; hence they frequently built sepulchres in them, 2 Kings ix. 27, xxi. 11; Mark xv. 46; Matt. xxvi. 36; John xviii. 1, 2. A pleasant region is called "a garden of God," i. e., a region extremely pleasant. The trees which the gardens constantly displayed are often used figuratively for men. Those which are flourishing and fruitful denote good men; the Strabo, p. 768. unfruitful and barren, wicked men, and lofty cedars | the vines and the olives were not pruned; there in particular are the emblems of kings, Job xxix. 19; Ps. i. 3, xcii. 12–14; Hos. xiv. 6, 7; Jer. xvii. 8; Dan iv. 10-16; Luke xxiii. 31; Matt. iii. 10, vii. 17—20, xii. 33; Ezek. xvii. 3, 4, xxxi. 3, 13. Indeed, an assembly of men is compared to a forest, and a multitude of wicked men to briars, Isai. ix. 10, x. 19, 33, 34, xi. 1. Several trees, which are often mentioned in the Scriptures, but not very well known, we shall now describe in a few words. 17. Agriculture on every seventh year came to an end. Nothing was sown, and nothing reaped; was no vintage, and no gathering of fruits, even of what grew wild; but whatever spontaneous productions there were, were left to the poor, the traveller, and the wild beast, Lev. xxv. 1–7; Deut. xv. 1-10. The object of this regulation seems to have been, to secure the preservation of wild beasts, to let the ground recover its strength, and to teach the Hebrews to be provident of their income, and to look out for the future. It is true, that extraordinary fruitfulness was promised on the sixth year, but in such a way as not to exclude care and foresight, Lev. xxv. 20-24. CHAPTER II. PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICAL SCIENCE. Errors relative to the learning of the Hebrews-Teachers of 1. Different writers have been guilty of great exaggeration, in opposite ways, in their estimates of the state of science amongst the ancient Hebrews. While some, in the spirit of Apollonarius, have pronounced them to be "the most stupid barbarians, and the only people who never produced a single invention," others have exhibited them as profoundly learned in all philosophy, and as equal in the extent and diversity of their knowledge to the wise men of Greece and Rome. A better or more certain judgment concerning the wisdom of the ancient Hebrews cannot be formed, as Dr. Enfield suggests,* than from the monuments which they themselves, or their descendants, have left in the sacred Scriptures. Much greater credit, particularly in this instance, is due to domestic than to foreign testimony. For the Jewish historians had their information concerning the ancient state of their nation, from records preserved with the utmost care by their ancestors; whereas other writers, in speaking of a people who had little intercourse with their neighbours, for want of a better guide than vague report, must necessarily have given a precipitate, and often an erroneous, judgment. 2. We learn from the Scriptures, that amongst the ancient Hebrews there were many eminent men, who made use of the clear light of divine truth as their guide in the conduct of life. In practical and moral wisdom, it cannot be doubted that they held a place of high distinction. Their wisdom, however, must not be confounded with philosophy, in the strict acceptation of the term. Blessed with a divine revelation, they have transmitted to posterity rays of sacred truth, which have been spread through the world; and they have hence obtained an immortal name in an order of higher dignity than that of philosophers. Under the direction of genuine principles of religion, they pursued the plain path of simple virtue, without being led astray by vain curiosity into fruitless speculations. Among the Hebrews, we are therefore to look for prudent statesmen, upright judges, and priests learned in the law; but not for philosophers, in the limited sense in which we understand that term.t 3. Traces of philosophy, strictly so called, i. e, the system of prevailing moral opinions, may be found in the book of Job, in the 37th, 39th, and 73rd Psalms; also in the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes; but chiefly in the Apocryphal book of Wisdom, and the writings of the Son of Sirach. During the captivity, the Jews acquired many new notions, particularly from the Mehestani, and appropriated them, as occasion offered, to their own purposes. They at length became acquainted with the philosophy of the Greeks, which makes its appearance abundantly in the book of Wisdom. After the captivity, the lan Hist. of Philosophy, vol. i., chap. 2. Enfield, vol. i., p. 38. |