recognised in the law, and the price is technically called a ransom.* The amount of the fine was in most cases fixed by the injured party, or, rather, was such as the offender could induce him to take. All fines or indemnification went to the injured party, never to the state.† None of the capital punishments of the law are cruel, as attended with protracted pains. There were other forms of death in the end; but the most common, and the only ones sanctioned by the law, were stoning and slaying with the sword. This last has been interpreted to mean beheading-a punishment known to the Egyptians, but not necessarily implied in the Hebrew expression, which appears to have left it to the discretion of the executioner to use his weapon as he saw fit, and which, it seems, he generally did use, by running the criminal through with his sword.§ Some traces of decapitation may, however, be found in the texts cited below.|| Torture, imprisonment, and banishment, are not known to the law. Imprisonment was not known as a punishment, and it was not otherwise necessary, as trial followed apprehension, and execution followed trial, without delay. Banishment from the land of Israel would have been contrary to the very spirit of the Mosaical law, as it would have sent a son of Abraham into a region of idolaters, and have exposed him to behold the honour rendered to false gods, into whose worship he might himself be gradually drawn. The only secondary punishments were fines, excommunications of various kinds, and the one corporal punishment of scourging. This last punishment was anciently, and is still, common all over the East. It neither was among the Hebrews, nor is now, anywhere in the East, considered more ignominious than we consider imprisonment, if as much so; and hence it was, and is, inflicted without distinction, on the highest, as well as the lowest persons in the state. Moses, however, in the usual humane spirit of his legislation, decreed that the number of stripes should in no case exceed forty.¶ ** We shall conclude these remarks, which have borne chiefly on the spirit of the Mosaical law, with some observations on a subject which many writers have rather overlooked: namely,― The Moral tendencies of the law.-Knowing that Moses introduced his laws and ritual by the promulgation of the book of Genesis, which abounds with inculcations of morality, we are led to conclude that the Mosaic religion must, in all its parts, have had a moral, as well as a religious tendency. The considerations and relations in which God presented himself to the Hebrews as entitled to their love, their gratitude, and their obedience, are eminently moral in their nature, but have already been too largely expressed to be in this place repeated. The Hebrews were admonished by the law, not only to abstain from such kinds of food as were reckoned unclean, but also to keep themselves free from moral defilements, and to be pure and holy, even as God is holy.†† They were taught to love their neighbour as themselves, not only the Hebrew, but the stranger also.§§ Hatred and revenge are prohibited. Cruelty and inhumanity to servants are guarded against ;¶¶-kindness to the poor, to widows, and to orphans, is inculcated.*** As an incitement to deeds of kindness of this nature, the people are reminded that they them כפר and פדיון * + Exod. xxi. 30. This is, perhaps, shown by Gen. xl. 17-19; but with more certainty on the Egyptian monuments, where persons are represented kneeling and bent forward, with their hands tied behind them, while their heads are smote off. § 1 Sam. xxii. 18; 2 Sam. i. 15; 1 Kings ii. 25, 29, 31, 34. Lev. xix. 20; Deut xxii. 18, xxv. 2, 3. || 2 Sam. iv. 8, xx. 21, 22; 2 Kings, x. 6-8. ** Copied, with some slight alteration, from Jahn. Some of the instances have already been adduced for other purposes, but will well bear to be repeated here. ++ Lev. xi. 45, xix. 2, xx. 7, 8, 26; Deut. xiv. 1, 2, 21. Lev. xix. 18. §§ Exod. xxii. 21, xxiii. 9, 12; Lev. xix 33, 34; Num. xv. 14; Deut. x. 18, 19, xxiv. 17, xxvii. 19. Exod. xxiii. 4, 5; Lev. xix. 16–18; Deut. xxiii. 7, 8; compare Job xxxi. 29–31. ¶¶ Exod. xx. 10, 11, xxi. 2-11, 20-26; Lev. xxv. 39-53; Deut. v. 14, 15, xii. 18, xv. 12—15, xvi. 11-14, xxiii. 15, 16; comp. Job xxxi. 13, 15. *** Exod. xxii. 25, 26; Lev. xix. 9—13, xxiii. 22, xxv. 5, 6; Deut. xii. 5–7, xiv. 22-24, xv. 7—15, xvi. 10-12, xxvi. 11-15, xxvii. 19. selves were, of old, strangers and servants to the Egyptians-an exhortation, which implies the knowledge and admission of the duty of doing to others what they wished done to themselves, and of not inflicting on others what they were themselves unwilling to suffer. It may be remarked, furthermore, that the Israelites were forbidden to exercise cruelty to their animals.* They are forbidden to utter falsehoods; and are admonished not to go up and down as talebearers among the people; but rather to do their duty, by informing the guilty persons of their faults in private, and not render themselves partakers of their guilt, by giving an unnecessary publicity to their faults. They are commanded not to curse the rulers of the people, nor the magistrates, because their decisions may have been unfavourable to them.§ When they They are enjoined to avoid all fraud, as an abomination in the sight of God. found any property, they were carefully to inquire for the owner, and restore it. to keep themselves guiltless, not only from fornication and adultery, incest and bestiality, but of all impure concupiscence, which were declared to be great crimes in the sight of JEHOVAH.** The obedience which was due to the civil laws, was urged on the ground that they originated from a merciful and holy Being, the Creator and Governor of all things. Moses, accordingly, in reference to this subject, namely, obedience to the civil laws, never fails to remind the people of their divine origin, and teaches them that unless those laws are observed as religious as well as civil institutions, it will be of no avail. Consult particularly the passages referred to below, and which are well worthy of repeated perusal.‡‡ Numerous sacrifices were insisted on, not indeed for any supposed worthiness in the sacrifices themselves, but because they were an indication of a grateful mind; because they presented a symbolic representation of the punishment due to transgressors, and uttered, as it were, an impressive admonition, that all sins were to be avoided. Sacrifices and mere ceremonial observances, were not, in themselves, considered as meritorious. On the contrary, it is expressly said, that God does not have respect to gifts and offerings, and that vows are not necessary.§§ A person who had made a vow could free himself from the performance of it by paying a certain amount, to be estimated by the priest; and, furthermore, the power was lodged in the master of a family of making void the vows of his wives and daughters.|||| Promises of temporal good and threats of temporal evil were necessary in an age in which the knowledge of a future life was limited and obscure. But they are no more obstacles to moral discipline and instruction than threats and promises are, at the present day, to the moral instruction of our offspring. Moreover, the threats and promises of which we speak, may be considered as addressed to the Hebrews as a people rather than as individuals; thus making a part of the civil polity: indeed, they may be considered as an evidence that God approves what is moral and condemns what is immoral and corrupt; and it is in this way that He governs the universe. The religion of Moses, therefore, had an excellent moral tendency; it disciplined many men whose characters, for their moral elevation and worth, are fit subjects of admiration. If it had defects, let us have the candour to acknowledge that they are to be attributed, in a great measure, to the circumstances of the times, and the gratitude to confess that its deficiencies have been amply supplied by the gospel of JESUS CHRIST. • Exod. x. 10, 11, xxiii. 11, 12, xxxiv. 26; Lev. xxii. 28, xxv. 7; Deut. xiv. 21, xxii. 6, 7, 10, xxv. 4. † Exod. xxiii. 1--7. Deut. xxii. 1, 2, 3. Lev. xix. 6. § Exod. xxii. 28. Deut. xxv. 13-16. ** Lev. xvi. 1-30; Deut. xxiii. 17-19. ++ Lev. xi. 44, xviii. 3-5, xix. 10, 12, 14, 18, 25, 28, 30-32, 34, 37, xxii. 3, 8, 30-33, xxiii. 22, 43, xxv. 17, &c. Deut. iv. 1-40, v. 1-6, 25, viii. 1-19, x. 12, xi. 1, xxix. 1, xxx. 20. §§ Deut. x. 17, xxiii. 22, 23. Lev. xxvii. 1-33; Num. xxx. 2—15. SUPPLEMENTARY 5. The cool of the day, literally "the wind of the day;" so called from the wind beginning to blow a few hours before sunset, and continuing until evening. 6. The evening.-This was divided into two parts, the first of which began, according to the Karaites and the Samaritans, at sunset; the second when it began to grow dark; but according to the Rabbins, the first commenced a little before sunset; the second precisely at sunset. The Arabian practice agrees with the first account; and in this way the Hebrews appear to have computed previously to the captivity. Hours.-These are first mentioned in Dan. iii. 6, 15, v. 5, and do not appear to have been known by the Hebrews till they learnt thus to divide the day by them from the Babylonians during their captivity. The day was divided into twelve hours, which varied in length, being shorter in the winter and longer in the summer.§ The hours were numbered from the rising of the sun; so that at the season of the equinox, the third corresponded to the ninth of our reckoning, the sixth to our twelfth, and the ninth to our three o'clock in the afternoon. At other seasons of the year it is necessary to observe the time when the sun rises, and reduce the hours to our time accordingly. The sun in Palestine, at the summer solstice, rises at five of our time and sets about seven. NOTE. At the winter solstice it rises about seven and sets about five. The hours of principal note among the Jews were the third, the sixth, and the ninth. They were consecrated by Daniel to prayer.* Before the captivity the NIGHT was divided into three watches. The first continued till midnight; the second was denominated the middle-watch, and continued from midnight till the crowing of the cock; the third, called the morning watch, extended from the second to the rising of the sun. These divisions and names appear to have derived their origin from the watching of the Levites in the tabernacle and temple. In the time of Christ, however, the night, in imitation of the Romans, was divided into four watches. According to our mode of reckoning these were as follow: 1. '04, the evening, from twilight to nine o'clock. 2. MirovÚTION, the midnight, from nine to twelve. 3. 'AλsxTopopwvía, the cock-crowing, from twelve to three. 4. Пp, from three o'clock to daybreak. The assertions of the Talmudists in opposition to this statement are not to be regarded. II. WEEKS.-A period of seven days, under the usual name of a week, is mentioned as far back as the time of the deluge,|| also in Gen. xxix. 27, 28. It must, therefore, be considered as a very ancient division of time, especially as the various nations among whom it has been noticed appear to have received it from the sons of Noah. The enumeration of the days of the week commenced with Sunday. Saturday was the last, or seventh, and was the Hebrew Sabbath, or day of rest. The Egyptians gave to the days of the week the same names that they assigned to the planets. From the circumstance that the sabbath was the principal day of the week, the whole period of seven days was also called a Sabbath.¶ The Jews, accordingly, in designating the successive days of the week, were accustomed to say, the first day of the sabbath, that is, of the week, the second day of the sabbath, namely, Sunday, Dan. vi. 10; comp. Acts ii. 15, iii. 1, x. 9. 4 99, in the New Testament σάββατον and σάββατα. Monday, &c.* In addition to the week of days, the Jews had three other seasons denominated weeks.+ 1. The week of weeks.-This was a period of seven weeks or forty-nine days, which was succeeded on the fiftieth day by the feast of Pentecost. 2. The week of years, which was the period of seven years, during the last of which the land remained untilled, and the people enjoyed a sabbath, or season of rest. 3. The week of seven sabbatical years, being the period of forty-nine years, which was succeeded by the year of jubilee.§ III. MONTHS AND YEARS. The lunar changes were doubtless first employed in the measurement of time. Weeks, however, were not, as some suppose, suggested by these changes, since four weeks make only twentyeight days, while the lunar period is twentynine days and a half. Nor is it rational to suppose that the changes of the moon first suggested the method of computation by years. Years were regulated at first by the return of summer and winter. But when, in the progress of time, it was discovered that the ripe fruits, by which the year had previously been limited, regularly returned after about twelve lunar months, or 354 days, the year was regulated by those months, and restricted to that number of days. In the course of seventeen years, however, it was seen that, on the return of the same month, all the appearances of nature were reversed. Hence, as is evident from the history of the deluge, an attempt was made to regulate the months by the motions of the sun, and to assign to each of them thirty days. And such was the fixed length of the month among the Babylonians, Egyptians, Persians, and Grecians; but it was, nevertheless, observed, after ten or twenty years, that there was still a defect of five days. Moses did not make any new arrangement in regard to the lunar months of the Hebrews, nor the year, which was solar; but in order to secure a proper reduction of the lunar to the solar year, he ordered the priests to present at the altar, on the second day of the passover, or the sixteenth day after the first new moon in April, a sheaf of ripe corn. For if they saw on the last month of the year that the grain would not be ripe, as expected, they were compelled to make an intercalation, which commonly happened on the third year. Mark xvi. 2, 9; Luke xxiv. 1; John xx. 1, 19. † Gr. πεντηκοστή, fity. § Lev. xxv. 1-22, xxvi. 34. After the departure from Egypt, there existed among the Hebrews two modes of reckoning the months of the year; the one civil, the other sacred. The beginning of the civil year was reckoned from the seventh month, or Tishri, that is, the first moon in October. The commencement of the sacred year was reckoned from the month Nisan, or the first new moon in April, because the Hebrews departed from Egypt on the fifteenth day of that month.* The prophets made use of this reckoning. The civil year, which was the more ancient, was used only in civil and agricultural concerns. The Jewish Rabbins say that March and September, instead of April and October, were the initial months of the two years. That they were so at a late period is admitted; but the change was probably owing to the example of the Romans, who begun their year with the month of March. The Jews being pleased with their example in this respect, or overruled by their authority, adopted the same practice. That this is the most probable statement, is evident also from the fact that the statement of the Rabbins is opposed, not only by Josephus, but by the usage of the Syriac and Arabic languages; from the fact also that the prescribed observance of the three great festival days will not agree with the months of March and September. The months originally had no appropriate names, but were distinguished by their order of succession,-the first month, the second month, &c., a custom which is still preserved among the Chinese and Japanese. But in process of time, the months came to be designated by the names of tutelar gods, heroes, characters of the seasons, or other local circumstances of different countries, to the great confusion and embarrassment of ancient calendars when compared together. The Hebrew months were, in like manner, originally distinguished by their numeral order: thus the Deluge is described as beginning on the second month, and reaching its height in the seventh month, at the end of 150 days, and decreased until the tenth month, when the tops of the mountains were seen.+ Afterwards the months acquired distinct names. Thus Moses gave to the first month of the sacred year the name of Abib, signifying "green," from the green ears of corn at that season, for it begun about the vernal equinox. The second month was named Zif, signifying, in Chaldee, "glory," or "splendour," in which the foundation of Solomon's Temple was laid.§ The seventh month was called Ethanim, which is interpreted "harvests" in the Syriac version.* The eighth month was named Bul, from "the fall" of the leaf. Besides these names, given before the Babylonish captivity, there were others after. The first month was also called Nisan, signifying "flight," because in that month the Israelites fled from Egypt. The third month, Sivan, signifying "a bramble."§ The sixth month, Elul, signifying "mourning," probably because it was the time of preparation for the great day of atonement on the tenth day of the seventh month. The ninth month was called Chisleu, signifying "chilled," when the cold Sacred. Civil. The intercalary month, when employed, received the name of the month after which it came, and from which it was distinguished as the second Adar. As the Egyptians and the Hebrews were the only nations who began their [civil] year at the autumnal equinox, it would seem that the latter had borrowed this custom from the former during their abode in Egypt; and that Moses, in directing the [sacred] year to commence at the vernal equinox, did no more than restore the older and more general practice. It is well, in conclusion, to remark that the Jews and other Orientals reckoned any part of a period of time for the whole. Thus a part of a day is used for an entire day, or a part of a year for an entire year. Or, to adapt an illustration to our own computation, if a king came to the throne in December, 1830, and died in January, 1832, the Jews would say popularly that he reigned three years; although, in fact, his reign may only have lasted one year and a few days; while it is true that he reigned in three years, namely, 1830, 1831, 1832. In like manner, Jesus Christ is said to have lain three days in the grave, though he was entombed only about a day and a half, being from late on Friday afternoon to very early on Sunday morning. Attention to this circumstance will explain several apparent contradictions in the sacred writings. Note. The following is a list of authorities on the subjects embraced by this chapter. It may prove useful to those whose attention is directed to the study of Biblical antiquities. We must again acknowledge that our obligations to Jahn, in this chapter, exceed those under which we lie to all the others put together. The works we have found most serviceable have their titles printed in italics. As no works are named but such as we possess, or have had the means of consulting, it may possibly want some of value; but, on the other hand, we know that it includes many of great merit, of which the public has but little knowledge: Ancient Universal History, vol. iii. Betz, De Legum Hebræorum Forensium contra Idololatria, 1693. Braschius, De Velis Tabernaculi. atque Templi. 1718. Calmet, Préface sur la Pentateuque: P. sur l'Exode: P. sur le Cunæus, De Republica Hebræorum 1717. |