During the encampment of the Israelites in the wilderness, Moses made various salutary enactments, which are recorded in Deut. xxiii. 10-15. Antiently, the Hebrews received no pay for their military service: the Cherethites and Pelethites appear to have been the first stipendiary soldiers. During the monarchy, however, both officers and privates were paid by the sovereign, who rewarded them for distinguished achievements. (See 2 Sam. xviii. 11. Jos. xv. 17. 1 Sam. xviii. 25. 1 Chron. xi. 6.) In the age of the Maccabees, the patriot Simon both armed and paid his brave companions in arms at his own expense. (1 Mac. xiv. 32.) Afterwards, it became an established custom, that all soldiers should receive pay. (Luke iii. 14. 1 Cor. ix. 7.) From various passages of Scripture, and especially from Isa. ii. 4. and Mic. iv. 3., it appears that there were military schools, in which the Hebrew soldiers learned war, or, in modern language, were trained by proper officers in those exercises which were in use among the other nations of antiquity. Swiftness of foot was an accomplishment highly valued both for attacking and pursuing an enemy. The Hebrews do not appear to have had any peculiar military habit: as the flowing dress, which they ordinarily wore, would have impeded their movements, they girt it closely around them when preparing for battle, and loosened it on their return. They used the same arms as the neighbouring nations, both defensive and offensive: and these were made either of iron or of brass, but principally of the latter metal.

At first every man provided his own arms; but, after the establishment of regal government, the sovereigns formed depôts, whence they supplied their troops. (2 Chron. xi. 12. xxvi. 14, 15.) The defensive arms consisted of a helmet, breast-plate, shield, military girdle, and greaves or boots to protect the feet and legs from stakes which were stuck into the ground to impede the

march of a hostile force. Their offensive arms were, the sword, spear, or javelin, bows and arrows.

The onset of battle was very violent, and was made with a great shout. (Numb. xxiii. 24. Exod. xxxii. 17. 1 Sam. xvii. 20. 52., &c.) When the victory was decided, the bodies of the slain were interred (1 Kings xi. 15. 2 Sam. ii. 32. 2 Mac. 12. 39.), but sometimes the remains of the slain were treated with every possible mark of indignity (1 Sam. xxxi. 9-12.); and various cruelties were inflicted upon the unhappy captives, from which not even women and children were exempted. (2 Sam. iv. 12. Judg.i. 7. Isai.iii. 17. 2 Kings viii. 12. Psal. cxxxvii. 9.)

On their return home, the victors were received with every demonstration of joy. (Exod. xv. 1-21. Judg. xi. 34. 1 Sam. xviii. 7, 8. 2 Chron. xx. 27, 28.) Besides a share of the spoil and the honours of a triumph, various rewards were bestowed on those warriors who had preeminently distinguished themselves: allusions to them occur in 1 Sam. xvii. 25. 2 Sam. v. 8. and xviii. 11. 1 Chron. xi. 6.

II. At the time the apostles and evangelists wrote, Jndaa was subject to the dominion of the Romans, whose troops were stationed in different parts of the country. Hence numerous allusions are made to the MILITARY DISCIPLINE OF THE ROMANS, in the New Testament, particularly in the writings of St. Paul. See especially Eph. vi. 11-17., in which the various parts of the armour of their heavy troops are distinctly enumerated and beautifully applied to those moral and spiritual weapons with which the true Christian ought to be fortified.

The strictest subordination and obedience were exacted of every Roman soldier, who was also inured to great hardships, and was not allowed to marry. To these circumstances there are allusions in Matt. viii. 8, 9. and 2 Tim. ii. 3, 4.; and Rev. iii. 5. probably refers to the practice of expunging from the muster-roll the names of

those who died or were cashiered for misconduct. Upon those who pre-eminently distinguished themselves were conferred rich and splendid crowns, frequently of gold, to which there are allusions in Rev. ii. 10.

James i. 12. 1 Pet. v. 4. and 2 Tim. iv. 8. But the highest military honour which any one could receive, was a Triumph; in which, besides great numbers of waggons full of the arms and the richest spoils which had been taken from the vanquished foe, the most illustrious captives-sovereigns not excepted. were led in fetters before the victorious general's chariot, through the streets of Rome, amidst the applause of the assembled multitudes. After the triumphal procession was terminated, the unhappy captives were generally imprisoned, and, if not put to death, were sold for slaves. The knowledge of these circumstances beautifully illustrates the allusions in 1 Cor. ii. 14-16. and Col.ii. 15.

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BOOK III.-SACRED ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, AND OF OTHER NATIONS MENTIONED IN THE SCRIPTURES.

CHAPTER I.

OF SACRED PLACES.

THE Patriarchs, both before and after the flood, were accustomed to worship Almighty God before altars, and also upon mountains and in groves. (Gen. viii. 20. xii. 8. xxi. 33. and xxii. 2.) In the wilderness, where the Israelites themselves had no settled habitations, they had by God's command a moving tabernacle; and as soon as they were fixed in the land of promise, God appointed a temple to be built at Jerusalem, which David intended, and his son Solomon erected. After the first temple was destroyed, another was built in the room of it (Ezra iii. 8.), which Christ himself owned for his house of prayer. (Matt. xxi. 13.) There were also places of worship, called in Scripture High Places, used promiscuously during the times of both the tabernacle and temple until the captivity; and, lastly, there were Synagogues among the Jews, and other places, used only for prayer, called Proseucha or oratories, which chiefly obtained after the captivity; of these various structures some account will be found in the following sections.

SECTION I. Of the Tabernacle.

Mention is made in the Old Testament of three different tabernacles previously to the erection of Solomon's temple. The first, which Moses erected for himself, is called the tabernacle of the congregation (Exod.

xxxiii. 7.): here he gave audience, heard causes, and inquired of Jehovah; and here also at first, perhaps, the public offices of religion were solemnised. The second tabernacle was that erected by Moses for Jehovah, and at his express command, partly to be a palace of his presence as the king of Israel (Exod. xl. 34, 35.), and partly to be the medium of the most solemn public worship, which the people were to pay to him. (26-29.) This tabernacle was erected on the first day of the first month in the second year after the departure of the Israelites from Egypt. The third public tabernacle was that erected by David in his own city, for the reception of the ark, when he received it from the house of Obededom. (2 Sam. vi. 7. 1 Chron. xvi. 1.) Of the second of these tabernacles we are now to treat; it was called THE TABERNACLE by way of distinction, and was a moveable chapel, so contrived as to be taken to pieces and put together again at pleasure for the convenience of carrying it from place to place. The materials of this tabernacle were provided by the people, who contributed each according to his ability, as related in Exodus, ch. xxxv. and xxxvi.

The tabernacle consisted, first, of a house or tent, the form of which appears to have resembled that of our modern tents, but much larger; and, secondly, of an open court that surrounded it. Its constituent parts are minutely described in Exod. xxv.—xxx. and xxxv.—xl., from which the following particulars have been selected :

1. The tent itself was an oblong square, thirty cubits in length and ten in height and breadth; and the body of it was composed of forty-eight boards or planks, each of which was a cubit and a half wide and ten cubits high, and its roof was a square frame of planks. The inside of it was divided by a veil or hanging, made of rich embroidered linen, which separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. In the former stood the altar of incense overlaid with gold, the table of