ble, in which a great king is represented as making | Keturah and Hagar, † Gen. xxv. 5, 6. The same a most magnificent entertainment at the marriage distinction prevails to this day in the East.

comany

were appa

of his son, we learn (observes the same author), 9. Upon the same ground that polygamy was that all the guests who were invited to the enter- tolerated by the Mosaic law, divorce was also tainment were expected to be dressed in a manner allowed (Deut. xxiv. 1-4; Matt. xix. 8), but was to be effected in such a manner as gave an suitable to the splendour of such an occasion, and as a token of just respect to the newly-married couple; opportunity for the reform of many of those evils and that, after the procession in the evening from that were its necessary attendants where these the bride's house was concluded, the guests, before provisions were not known. It will be seen, upon they were admitted into the hall, where the enter-reference to the law above cited, that the husband tainment was served up, were taken into an apart- had the power of dissolving the marriage without and viewed, that it might be known if any stranger any legal aid or recognition—“If a man have had intruded, or if any of the taken a woman to wife, and she please him not, relled in raiment unsuitable to the genial solemnity because he findeth a defect in her, he shall write they were going to celebrate; and such, if found, her a bill of divorce," &c. It is easy to conceive were expelled the house with every mark of igno- what abuses and disputes might ensue from such miny and disgrace. From the knowledge of this a dissolution of marriages; and to prevent these custom, the following passage receives great light to the utmost extent, Moses ordained—(1) That and lustre :- "When the king came in to see the there should be some written evidence of the transguests, he discovered among them a person who action, actually delivered to the wife, by which had not on a wedding garment. He called him, she might be able to certify, on all occasions, the and said, Friend, how came you to intrude into truth of her riddance from her first marriage, tomy palace in a dress so unsuitable to this occa-gether with her right to enter into a second. This sion?' The man was struck dumb-he had no apology to offer for the disrespectful neglect. The king then called to his servants, and bade them bind him hand and foot-to drag him out of the room—and thrust him out into midnight dark

ness.

8. In consequence of the universal prevalence of polygamy in the East, we find the practice, from prudential motives, tolerated, under certain restrictions, by the Mosaic code of laws. See Deut. xxi. 15-17; Exod. xxi. 9, 10, &c. The secondary wives of a man were termed concubines, and they differed from the first wife, who was the principal, in two things (1) Where they had been bondslaves, they still continued under subjection, and were at the disposal of their proprietors so long as the husband continued to pay their matrimonial duty. If deprived of this, they obtained their free dom, Exod. xxi. 7—11. (2) Their children did not inherit, if we may judge from the cases of

and were unprepared, but it was then too late to seek them, and the cavalcade moved forward to the house of the bride, at which

place the company entered a large and splendidly illuminated area, before the house, covered with an awning, where a great

multitude of friends, dressed in their best apparel, were seated upon mats. The bridegroom was carried in the arms of a friend, and placed in a superb seat in the midst of the company, where be sat a short time, and then went into the house, the door of which was immediately shut, and guarded by sepoys. I and others expostulated with the door-keeper, but in vain. Never was I so struck with our Lord's beautiful parable as at this moment-and the door was shut !"-View of the History, &c., of the Hindoos, vol. iii., pp. 171, 172.

process, no doubt, caused many hinderances, as but few Israelites understood the art of writing; so that it became necessary to resort to some judge, or literary person, in order to have the bill of divorce written: but this delay was probably intended by the legislator. For in this way a marriage could never be dissolved in the first heat of passion, and the husband might perhaps change his mind; and the person employed to write the divorce, probably a priest or a Levite, was perhaps a man of principle, and would previously admonish the husband on the subject. A copy of the bill of divorce may be seen in Lightfoot. (2) But even the delivery of the bill of divorce did not render the dissolution of the marriage altogether complete. Thereto, by the Mosaic statute, this further circumstance was requisite, that the wife had actually left the husband's house; which, if we may judge from the nature of the case, and the manners of the Arabs, must have occasioned a delay of several months; and that man must know nothing of the human mind, nor think how often the quarrels of married persons are made up on cool reflection, who can entertain a doubt, whether, by means of these delays, a multitude of intended divorces must not have been prevented. (3) Even after the dissolution of the marriage was complete, if both parties were satisfied to renew the connexion, Moses put no obstacle in the way,

For an elaborate disquisition on the marriage laws of the Hebrews, see Michaelis on the laws of Moses, vol. ii., pp.

* Harwood's Introd., vol. ii., p. 122. See also Macknight's | 1–122. Harmony, p. 481, 2nd edition.

Hor. Heb., Matt. v. 31.

• See Michaëlis on the Laws of Moses, vol. ii., pp. 127-154. operation, blessed the child, and gave him the

SECTION III.

MODES OF TRAVELLING.

1. Travelling Provisions, &c.-2. Hospitality shown to Travellers-3. Eastern Caravans-4. Illustration of the Exodus -5. Preparations for the Journeyings of Eastern Monarchs. 1. When any of the Jews were going to travel to a distance, they carried their provisions with them, in a scrip slung over the shoulder; and also provided themselves with a change of raiment, and sometimes with a bottle of water. Thus provided, they commenced their journey, taking a staff in their hand. It was not customary to travel in the heat of the day, unless in cases of urgent necessity; neither did they, when in haste, salute any one by the way, 2 Kings iv. 29. The first thing to which they attended, after reaching their place of rest, was the washing of the feet, which in eastern countries is a very great refreshment. In the houses of the superior classes this is always performed by a servant, and is considered as a mark of honour and respect. The beasts upon which the Jews generally rode were asses, of which white ones were in the greatest request, and were used by the more honourable ranks of society, Judg. v. 10.

saith the Lord, and strengthen him with thy | 4. A caravan is an assemblage of travellers, partly girdle, and I will commit thy government into his pilgrims, partly merchants, who collect together hand," Isai. xxii. 21. Paul, in several parts of in order to consolidate a sufficient force to protect his writings, exhorts Christians to put on the Lord them, in travelling through the hideous wilds Jesus, and to put on the new man, to denote their and burning deserts over which they are conadoption as sons of God.* strained to pass, for commercial and other purposes; those wilds being infested with Arabs, who make a profession of pillage, and rob in most formidable bodies, some almost as large as small armies. As the collection of such a number (i. e., to form the caravan) requires time, and the embodying of them is a serious concern, it is concerted with great care and preparation, and is never attempted without the permission of the prince in whose dominions it is formed, and of those also, whose dominions it is to pass, expressed in writing. The exact number of men and carriages, mules, horses, and other beasts of burden, is specified in the license; and the merchants to whom the caravan belongs regulate and direct every thing pertaining to its government and police, during the journey, and appoint the various officers necessary for conducting it. Each caravan has four principal officers: the first, the caravan bachi, or head of the caravan; the second, the captain of the march; the third, the captain of the stop, or rest; and the fourth, the captain of the distribution. The first has the UNCONTROLLABLE AUTHORITY and command over all the others, and gives them his orders; the second is ABSOLUTE during the march, but his authority immediately ceases on the stopping or encamping of the caravan, when the third assumes his share of the authority, and exerts it during the time of its remaining at rest; the fourth orders the disposition of every part of the caravan, in case of an attack or battle. This last officer has, also, during the march, the inspection and direction of the distribution of provisions, which is conducted, under his management, by several inferior officers, who are obliged to give security to the master of the caravan; each of them having the care of a certain number of men, elephants, dromedaries, camels, &c., which they undertake to conduct, and to furnish with provisions, at their own risk, according to an agreement stipulated between them. A fifth officer of the caravan is, the PAYMASTER OF TREASURER, who has under him a great many clerks and interpreters, appointed to keep accurate journals of all the material incidents which may occur on the journey; it is by these journals, signed by the superior officers, that the owners of the caravan judge whether they have been well or ill served or conducted. Another kind of officers are mathematicians, without whom no caravan will presume to set out. There are commonly three of them attached to a caravan of a large

2. We must not omit to notice here, the hospitality usually shown to travellers in eastern countries, and to which there are so many scriptural allusions. When a traveller had no friend to resort to on his arrival at a town or village, he took his station at the city gate, or in the street, whence he was soon invited to enter some tent or house, and partake of the provisions of the table and the comforts of the bedchamber, Gen. xix. 2; Judg. xix. 15-21.

3. In Gen. xxv. 2, there is mention of one of those commercial caravans, by which so much of the traffic of the East is still carried on. The following description of one of these large companies, from Colonel Campbell's Travels to India, has furnished the late ingenious editor of Calmet with the materials for illustrating some circumstances in the history of the exodus, which have been a source of much embarrassment to commentators, both ancient and modern.

Calmet's Bib. Ency. art. "

Adoption."

size; and they perform the offices both of quarter- | Other Versions have the same difference. Mr. master and aid-de-camp, leading the troops when Harmer has some very ingenious thoughts on it; the caravan is attacked, and assigning the quarters and Mr. Taylor said he had once acquiesced so far where the caravan is appointed to encamp. There in the idea, as to think they might be illustrated are no less than five distinct kinds of caravans: by a print in Niebuhr, where four camels follow First, the heavy caravans, which are composed of in a train led by one man, apparently as the comelephants, dromedaries, camels, and horses; se- mon mode of conducting them. If Moses had condly, the light caravans, which have but few ordered that each man, instead of conducting four, elephants; thirdly, the common caravans, which should conduct five, or that the usual number of have none of those animals; fourthly, the horse drivers necessary to conduct the cattle of four caravans, where are neither dromedaries nor camels; families should conduct those of fire, it might have and, lastly, sea caravans, consisting of vessels; afforded a sense, notwithstanding Mr. Harmer from whence we may observe, that the word cara- abandons the passage as much too difficult. But tan is not confined to the land, but extends to the the Hebrew word (chemooshim) occurs where that water also. sense is inapplicable, as Josh. i. 14, "Pass over before your brethren armed;" chap. iv. 12, “passed over armed ;” Judg. vii. 11, “Gideon went down to the outside of the armed men." It should appear that the margin, which in all these places reads, five in a rank, errs; because we have no account of such a formation of any military body; and, in the case of Gideon, five in a rank can never describe an advanced guard, or a corps-de-garde, or any other; but if we accept the idea of embodied under the FIVE, i. e., the officers established by the ordinary laws and usages of encampments, of military service, and of caravans, as conducted by five chiefs, then every place where the word occurs agrees to this sense of it. That the Israelites were armed generally, is incredible; because (1) It would have been absolute folly in Pharaoh to trust them with arms, while under servitude; (2) nor could they generally have procured them subsequently; (3) nor could Pharaoh, with his forces, expect to subdue so great a multitude, just escaped into liberty, had they been armed to the extent some have supposed. But the sense of the passage in Exodus, according to Mr. Taylor, is, that Moses arranged the Israelites while in Egypt, and conducted them out of it in the most orderly, regular, and even military manner; appointing proper officers over the caravan generally, and over every division or party, even to the least numerous party, composing it.

5. The proportion observed in the heavy caravan is as follows: When there are 500 elephants, they add 1000 dromedaries, and 2000 horses, at the least; and the escort is composed of 4000 men on horseback. Two men are required for leading one elephant; five, for three dromedaries; and seven, for eleven camels. This multitude of servants, together with the officers and passengers, whose number is uncertain, serve to support the escort in case of a fight; and render the caravan more formidable and secure. The passengers are not absolutely obliged to fight; but, according to the laws and usages of the caravan, if they refuse to do so, they are not entitled to any provisions whatever from the caravan, even though they should agree to pay an extravant price for them. The day of the caravan setting out, being once fixed, is never altered or postponed; so that no disappointment can possibly ensue to any one. Even these powerful and well-armed bodies are way-laid and robbed by the Arabian princes, who keep spies in all parts to give notice when a caravan sets out: sometimes they plunder them, sometimes they make slaves of the whole convoy.*

6. This account will greatly assist in illustrating the history of the exodus. In order to apply it to that event, we must premise, that the manners of the East, because resulting from the nature and the peculiarities of the countries, have ever been so permanent, that what was anciently adopted into a custom, as appears by the earliest relations which have reached us, is still conformed to, with scarcely any variation.

(1) The officers of a caravan appear to be FIVE. This may explain the nature and use of the word, which signifies fire in Exod. xiii. 18, and which has embarrassed commentators, ancient and modern. Our translation renders it harnessed, i. e., in arms; but puts in the margin, fire in a rank.

* Campbell's Travels, p. ii., p. 40.

(2) A caravan is too serious a concern to be attempted without the permission of the king in whose dominions it is formed; and of those powers, also, through whose dominions it is to pass. This explains the urgency of Moses to obtain permission from Pharaoh, and the power of Pharaoh to prevent the assemblage necessary for the purpose of Israel's deliverance; it accounts, also, for the attack made by Amalek (Exod. xvii.); which tribe, not having granted a free passage, intended revenge and plunder for this omission, in a "formidable body, as large as an army;" but Moses could not have previously negociated for