Sublime Porte. The last word means gate, the gate of the sultan's palace being referred to, where justice is supposed to be administered. The streets were rarely paved in an eastern town, and almost as rarely cleaned; their mud and filth being proverbial.' In the streets of Pompeii the high stepping-stones used for crossing show what the ordinary condition of the streets must have been there. The only mention made of pavement in the Old Testament is in connection with buildings like the temple and others. If we may trust Josephus, this king also laid “a causeway of black stone along the road that led to Jerusalem." The work of cleaning and paving public streets seems to have been first seriously undertaken by the Herods, those of Jerusalem being laid with white stones by Agrippa II. In view of this state of things the imagery in the book of Revelation respecting the new Jerusalem is all the more striking by contrast, its streets being represented as paved with "pure gold, as it were transparent glass." 6 44. THE BAZAAR.-A peculiar kind of street in the Orient is the bazaar. It consists of a covered arcade with a row of narrow shops on either side. (See cut, p. 10.) It is also found to some extent in the cities of Europe. In many cases persons of a like trade congregate together in the same neighborhood. This appears to have been equally true in biblical times. We read, for example, of the prophet Jeremiah in his imprisonment that he was to receive daily "a loaf of bread out of the baker's street." After the Babylonian captivity a quarter of Jerusalem seems to have been frequented particularly by goldsmiths and another by merchants.' There is also evidence that when one people became tributary to another, a privilege sometimes granted to the ruling powers was that they might lay out streets for the purposes of trade in the cities of their tributaries. Benhadad I. of Damascus enjoyed the privilege of such streets in Samaria; and Benhadad II. made to Ahab the same concession concerning Damascus. As already intimated, the street where a certain kind of wares was sold received a corresponding name. Others were named from important points which they passed or to which they led. One street in Damascus, it will be recalled, has in the New Testament the name "Straight." It runs from east to west and is about half a mile in length. It was here that Paul received his sight after the miraculous vision of Jesus." 1 Ps. 18:42; Isa. 10:6; Micah 7:10; but cf. 1 Kings 14: 10. 1:6; Ezek. 17:18; 42:3. 3 Antiq. 8, 7: 4. 4 Antiq. 20, 9:7, 7 Neh. 3:31. 81 Kings 20:34. 9 Acts 9:11. 22 Kings 16:17; Esther 5 Rev. 21:21. 6 Jer. 37:21. 1 45. THE WATER SUPPLY.-For a supply of water in villages and large towns in the East dependence has always been largely placed on private wells and cisterns. While the soil of Palestine is well adapted to both, the long dry season makes cisterns the more practicable and unfailing. We read in the Bible of the private ownership of cisterns as early as the time of David, and of their use in the age of the patriarchs; and the Moabite Stone informs us that the king of Moab had ordered that every resident of a certain city should provide a cistern in connection with his house. The cistern, if not hewn out of the solid rock, was generally built up with stone, a small round opening being left at the top. They were sometimes of immense capacity. Water was conducted to them during the rainy season by means of troughs leading from the roofs of the houses. Various devices were used for drawing the water, the more common being that of a rope running over a wheel, to which a bucket of skin was attached, the so-called "shadoof," answering to the modern well-sweep. Natural wells were of course of rarer occurrence and much more prized. In Numbers 21: 17 there is recorded a song that was composed over a well and was sung by the Israelites in the wilderness at a place called "Beer," that is, "well." At an early period water was conveyed into Jerusalem by means of pipes. Somewhat later Solomon's Pool, lying south of Bethlehem, was the source of water supply for the city. According to Josephus, it was the work of Pilate, the Roman governor. The ruins still existing point to a much earlier date, and Jewish tradition affirms that it was the work of Solomon. It is likely that Pilate only repaired what had been built long anterior to his time. The use of cisterns as places of imprisonment is marked by no less conspicuous examples than those of Joseph and the prophet Jeremiah. The cistern was also a favorite subject for rhetorical figures among biblical writers. No one of them is more striking and forcible perhaps than that of the "weeping prophet," who represents the God of Israel as saying," "For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." The population of most biblical cities was comparatively small. The tribe of Levi, made up of about twenty-two thousand males in 8 3 Isa. 7:3; 22:9, 11; 2 Chron. 2:6; Judith 7:6, 7. 6 Gen. 37:22; Jer. 38:6 the time of Moses, was put in possession of forty-eight cities, including some of the importance of Sychem, Hebron, Heshbon and Ramoth. We find also that an army of three thousand men considered itself strong enough to capture the walled town of Ai;1 while in the kingdom of Bashan alone there were sixty fortified cities which fell into the hands of the children of Israel.2 One of the Seven Wells at Beer-sheba, with Watering-troughs for CHAPTER II. THE FAMILY. 1. WE have already seen that the Hebrew conception of the house embraced that of the household. One word was employed to designate both the dwelling and its inmates. Originally it meant something built up or built together. Each member of the household was an integral part of the structure. "It may be," said Sarah of her handmaid, Hagar, "that I shall be builded [that is, my family ⚫ be enlarged and strengthened] by her."" The psalmist likewise beautifully compares a daughter to a corner-stone" worthy to be set in the walls of a palace. Another expression and one still more widely used in the Bible for the household literally signifies what is joined together; in fact, the idea could scarcely be set forth more emphatically than it is by this term. Here then, imbedded in their very forms of speech, we discover how compact and indestructible an institution the family was regarded by the ancient Hebrews. 3 2. CHILDREN. In harmony with this underlying idea children were looked upon as one of the greatest blessings of life, a "heritage" from the Lord and his peculiar "reward."5 They were earnestly prayed for when not given, and their advent was marked by the heartiest congratulations of friends and neighbors. No doubt the great hope of Israel that through the "Seed of the woman the evils of the world would some day be overcome had much to do with this sentiment. 6 The employment of midwives at the time of birth is well-nigh universal in the East; and the process described in Exodus 1: : 16, where a chair of peculiar construction is referred to as in use in Egypt on such occasions, is still common throughout western Asia. The majority of women, especially those of the working classes, suffer but little during parturition, ordinary duties being resumed after three or four days.' As soon as a child is born it is washed in salted water and closely bound, or swaddled, up in a piece of cloth a few inches broad and several feet long. This is wound tightly around 8 1 Gen. 46: 31. 2 Gen. 16:2 (margin of Revision); cf. 30:3; Deut. 25:9. + Ex. 6:17. 5 Ps. 113:9; 127:3-5. 1:19. 8 Ezek. 16:4; Luke 2:7. 3 Ps. 144: 12. 7 Cf. Ex. the entire body. Even the arms are pinioned to the side and the whole frame held as motionless as possible, under the impression that there is danger to the child if it move about too much while the bones are soft. This practice is common also in many parts of Europe. An Oriental cradle differs but little from some in use among ourselves. "The little one lies tightly bound up in its cradle day and night, being taken up once or twice in twenty-four hours. Its mother leans over the cradle to nurse it, and hushes its cries by incessant rocking: all night long lying in her bed, spread upon the floor close by, she never lets go the cradle string." A Hebrew children were uniformly nursed by their mothers. son was circumcised on the eighth day after his birth and at the same time received his name. If he were a first-born son, redemption money was paid for him to the amount of five shekels. This was in memory of the fact that the first-born of Israel were passed by when those of Egypt were miraculously slain. Originally, it would seem, they had been intended for service in the sanctuary. After the defection of Israel in the matter of the golden calf the tribe of Levi was set apart for this purpose, and the first-born of the other tribes became exempt by the payment of a tax. On the fortieth day after the birth of a son, and the eightieth after that of a daughter, the mother presented herself at the sanctuary for ceremonial purification, bringing an offering according to her ability.5 Nothing could be more marked or delightful than the respect which the Bible everywhere shows for children and childhood. Tacitus, the Latin historian, thinks it worthy of mention that the Jews regarded it as a crime to kill their offspring. Not only were their rights protected by statute, but the spirit of the Mosaic institutions encouraged the utmost tenderness and affection towards them. It is significant that there are no less than nine special terms in the Hebrew language used to designate different periods or characteristics of the child's life, besides the more general ones of son and daughter. What a revelation of paternal love appears in the form of the command to Abraham to offer up Isaac as a burnt-offering;' in the words of Jacob when he received the news of Joseph's death; and in the despairing cries of David over the lost Absalom! No more powerful image of the love of God for his people could be found than this 1 Van Lennep, Bible Lands, p. 570. 21 Sam. 1:23; 1 Kings 3:21. 3 Luke 1:59. 4 Ex. 13: 12-15; 22: 29; Lev. 27:6; Num. 8:17. 5 Lev. 12:2-7; Luke 2: 22-24. 7 Gen. 22: 2. 8 Gen. 37:35. 92 Sam. 19: 4. 6 Hist. 5:5 |