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According to Herodotus (518 ; cp 91x0) it was the 4. micpahath, nngpn, Ruth 3 15 AV (rrepi{wpa [BAL], ow-
custom of the Persians to have their wives and con- 86v~ov[Sym.]; AVmg.’ ‘apron,’ ‘sheet,’ RV ‘mantle ’) were all
cubines present at great feasts. This, however, hardly ample wraps ; cp Is. 3 22 and see MANTLE, 0 2 [3].
illustrates the story of Vashti, for it was evidently by an 5. mass*kah, n?pg, EV Is. 25 7 (perhaps the reading should
arbitrary command of the king, whose heart was ‘ merry be 7POD. a covering. as in Ezek. 28 14:
I, -. . most moderns render
with wine,’ that Vashti was summoned to the banquet. ‘ co&g ’ (cp Is. 28 20, EV).
Indeed, Vashti had made a feast of her own for the 6. The term Z@, &,1 in Is. 257 (EV ‘covering’) is usually
explained as a veil. The figure in this passage is derived from the
women of the palace (v. 9). custom of covering the face as a token of grief (see MOURNING).
Vashti’s name used to be connected with the Persian 7. re?&i/), &F,Is. 3 19t, is either a soft shawl (EV ‘muffler,’
vahista, ‘optimus,’ but, according to a very clever AVmg. ‘spangled ornaments’), or a fine veil (so Che.). The
hypothesis of Jensen, Vashti, Haman, and Zeresh are root $pi is cognate to i p i (tremble) and the form of veil was so
pale reflections of Elamite divinities, named respectively called from its loose, clinging mater‘h.
Mashti (or Vashti?), Huniman, and KEriSa (see E STHER, 8. mp~p6harov,I Cor. 11I j AVmR., EV preferably ‘covering’;
cp MANTLE, 8 2 1191.
5 7 ; Jensen, W Z K M 670 ; Wildeboer, ‘ Esther ’ in The face of the king or other chief was sometimes
KHC 17 173). This view, however, is not very probable. covered to hide the divine halo; thus Moses wore a
Ahasuerus (?) and Vashti (?)are as much a couple as Haman
and Zeresh, and both ought to he explained on the same prin- masweh, nip,, Ex. 3 4 3 3 8 (KdXupFa [BAFL], cp a Cor.
ciples. Moreover the text of Esther ought to be not less care- 313), with which Dillmann compares stZth, nm, Gen.
fully criticised thln that of Samuel before any hypothesis as to
the origin of the story is formed. There is no issue out of the 4911.2 It will, however, be noted that, according to
perplexities caused by the book as i t has come down to us. MT, Moses seems to have worn his veil only in private,
But revising the text on the same principles as we revise the and to have removed it not only when seeking an oracle
text of Samuel we see that (as in parts of Samuel) a story under- but also when addressing the people. I. A.
lies the present story of Esther and Mordecai which has a
different geographicalknd historical setting. The Jewish people
douhly represented by Esther (=Israehth) and by Mordecai
VEIL (OF THE TEMPLE). See TABERNACLE, 5
’
(Carmeli=the Jerahmeelite Jews), are in captivity in the land 5 , and TEMPLE, 5 33.
of the hostile Jerahmeelites (see OBADIAH, # 7 ; LAMENTATIONS,
BOOKOF 8 7 3 . PSALMS $0 zS#)-i.c. the Edomites and
n>?s,
The words are piriketh. . _ Ex. 2631 etc. ; Kuru-
other Aribians, &hose kink is described Ls ‘Ashbur, king of ?rhaupa, Mt. 2751 Lk. 2345. Jerome (in Mt. 27 j x ;
Jerahmeel and Cush’ (for wn-ipi rim ?inn ‘nN ~ l wn i i i w n x also Epist. 189 ; and again Epist. 1208) affirms that in
read ’zk~! h p n : qk ring?). Vashti, therefore, ought to Matthew’s Hebrew Gospel he read, not ‘veil,’ but
‘ lintel ’ -superliminare templi ingnita magnitadinis
be a representative of the Asshurite, Jerahmeelite, and Cushite
people, that the nation of the oppressors may, like the uation- fractum esse a t p e divisum (also corruisse, also su6Zatum).
of the oJgressed have double and therefore complete representa- Nestle infers that Jerome found, not ngi?, ‘ veil,’ but
tion. at the’name Vashti is corrupt is plain; cp VANIAH,,
VOPHSI. Most probably it comes from Asshurith, ‘Asshur i+ ‘capital’
, (of the column supporting the roof; see
being often w d as a synonym for ‘Jerahmeel Cp MORDECAI, C HAPITER , 4), though Jerome less accurately gives
PURIM. T. K. C.
superliminal-e (Expos. 18956, 3 1 0 8 ) . Cp TEXT,
VAULT ( T W ) , Is. 654 RVmg. ; see TOMB. 65 n. 7.
VAULTED CHAMBER ( 1 8 ; O I K H M ~ITOPNIKON; VENISON (Fr. venaison, Lat. venatio, ‘ a hunting ’ ;
Zupmar), Ezek. 1624. etc., RVW. ; see H IGH PLACE, Heb. Ty, zayid, JVU, ‘ to hunt,’ cp .Ar.
5 6. A mound or shrine for illicit worship is -obviously Syr. Taida). The Hebrews, as described by the OT
intended ; but the rendering of 6 and Vg. (after analogy writers, had already reached the stage of pastoral nomads
of fornix) is ‘ without sufficient proof, and needless ’ when ‘ the hunting which is the subsistence of the ruder
(BDB). wanderer, has come to be only a n extra means of life’
(to quote Tylor, Anfhropolofl, 2.0). ESALJ (4.v.) is
VEDAN (171). Ezek. 2719 RV. See J AVAN . 5 Ig. probably meant to represent nothing more than this ( ‘ a
VEIL (VAIL). It is not easy to distinguish between man acquainted with hunting,’ 1:s yl; d’u, Gen. 2527 ;
the veil and the mantle in the OT. As in the East at cp 2528 273). since later he seems to be himself
the present day, the Hebrew veils were mostly ample possessed of flocks and herds (Gen. 339 ; for Nimrod
wraps which protected the head and shoulders against see the special article).
exposure, and sometimes reached the feet. Though As weapons used for this purpose or for driving off wild
veils were part of the ordinary attire of Hebrew women, animals, mention is made of the how and arrow (Gen. 27 3 Is.
unmarried girls did not muffle their faces, nor did 7 24; see WEAPONS, 8 z ) and the SLING (q.v., I S. 17 40). Dt.
145enumeratesamongstthe animals that might be eaten several
married Jewesses usually wear veils even out of doors belonging to the venison class. These are some species of
( I Cor. 115 f.). I n the Talmud we find that only fallow deer (‘ayydZ s&, ya&mW; see HART, ROEBUCK),two
Jewesses of Arabia wore veils (.!?abddth, 65 a ) to cover kinds o f wild goat &;e GOAT 2 CHAMOIS), the P Y G A R G k 7 . v . )
their whole face, the eyes excepted. The bride, how- the Addax?), and the ANTELhPE’(q.v. ; so RV).
One of the Hebrew terms for ‘ provision ’ is actually
ever, veiled herself (cp nudere v i r o ) in presence of the
reminiscent of the hunting stage ( n r , TFdEh, Gen. 4225
bridegroom, both before marriage and at the wedding
ceremony (Gen. 2925) ; see M ARRIAGE , 5 3.’ T h e 4521 Ps. 13215 []I D!>], Josh. 9 5 [’rani] ; cp the use of
modern Oriental yashmak, which hangs in a narrow strip the verb in Josh. 9 12, ‘ this our bread we provisioned
from below the eyes to the feet, was not used by the ourselves [an;~:;l] with it hot from our houses’).S But,
Hebrews. although both as a necessity and as a pastime the
The terms rendered ‘ veil ’ are :- pursuit has in general played an important part in the
I. :cZ‘ip/), l’p,Gen. 2465 38 14 rgt, which, as Lagarde (Sem. education and evolution of mankind,4 the Hebrews,
24) has shown was not a veil (EV), hut an ample wrap square hampered 5 again (see C OLOLJRS, 1 I) perhaps by certain
in shape. DEL) renders 8ipiu.rpov, a light summer garment ; peculiarities in their religion. after they had passed
cp MANTLE, 0 z [n].
through the stage were not often induced ‘ to revert for
P. $amm&, n?!, Is.472 RV (~a7axdhvppa[BNAQI; AV
amusement to what their ancestors had been compelled
‘locks ’) Cant. 4 T 3 6 7 t RV ( . m 6 m ) U b S [BKA] ; AV, RVw.
‘locks ‘$2 1 The expression ~ 1 5 shows
~ that the outside of the veil
3. rZdZd, Vll, Bipprurpov [BnAQr], EV Is. 3 23 ; AV, R V w differed from the inside. Cp 1p>l$m, Job 41 5 [IS].
.Cant. 5 7 t (RV mantle) ; and 2 In the Talmud Nion, nKiDT) is both ‘ covering ’ and ‘ veil.
5247 5248
VENUS, TEMPLE OF VINE
to practise from necessity’ (to quote M. G. Watkins, the Arabic kefr, the word enters into compound place-
Gleanings from the iVaturol Histoiy of the A’ncients. names--e.g., Chephar-ha-arnmonai ; cp Capernaum.
chap. 10). Assyrian,’ Egyptian,% C h a l d ~ a n , and ~ 2. a,?:?, h & i ~ i n z , is the name given to villages which
Persian monarchs, on the other hand, boasted of their grew out of the early settlements of nomads, Gen. 25 16
exploits in hunting; the Assyrians and Persians even (11 nliw. ?CY&; cp CASTLE, 4),Lev. 2531 (‘villages
maintained private hunting-grounds, called T R ~ ~ & L U O L . [enclosures] which have no yall around then] ’), Josh.
The Greeks and Roinarispursued the pastimevigorously.5 198 (‘ villages which lay around their cities’ ; see
Their writers describe it frequently (Homer, Horace, CITY), Neh. 12281: See HAZOR,,HEZRON.HAZERIM.
Czesar), and in some cases whole treatises were written HAZEROTH.
on the subject (Xenophon, Appian). 3. In AV ‘villages’ is now and then given for n)Jj,
Solomon’s table, it is true, was, we are told, su plied with 6En6th, ‘ daughters ’ - i e . , the dependent t o m s of a
species of fallow-deer (‘ajydl, sPbZ, yahnr?iy: see $ART, ROE-
BUCK ); but there is nothing to’indicate that they were taken in city; N u . 2 1 ~ 5 3(RV ~ ‘towns’), I Ch.223 (so too
the hunt. We know t h a t in other cases traps were used for the RV). C p D AUGHTER.
purpose (see NET, S NARE). In I S. 2620, too, according to 4. On nix!, &aww6fh,a less distinctly Hebrew term
EV we have a figure of hunting a partridge, hut the Hebrew
term is nidaph, ‘pursue,’and in any case the meaning of the than 2 , and properly synonymous with it, see HAVOTH-
context is not clear (see P ARTRIDGE ; and for the methods of JAIR, H IVITES.
capturing birds see FOWLING). M. A. C. 5. niT:?, p&izith, properly ’ level country.’ RV
VENUS, TEMPLE OF (TO aTspraTioN [AVI), renders ’ villages ’ (AV ‘ towns ’) ‘ without walls ’ in
2 Macc. 1226, AVmg. S e e ATARGATIS. Zech. 24 [8], and in Ezek. 381r Esth. 919 EV gives
VERMILION (V&j), Jer. 2214 Ezek. 2314f. See ’ unrvalled villages,’ ‘ unwalled towns.’ nil!? should
C OLOURS, 9 14. possibly be restored for D’vin in 2 Ch. 274 (see FOREST),
unless we hold that it was in conquered portions of the
VERSIONS. See TEXT AND VERSIONS. Negeb (read *@Q. ‘ in the Ashhurite’.) that Jotham,
VESTMENTS ( ~ $ J , etc.), 2 K. 1 0 2 2 . etc. See like REHOBOAM’(~.Z.).), built ‘castles and towers.’ I n
DRESS. Esth. ( Z.C. ) the noun pnizizim is rendered in EV ’ of
VESTRY (n&F ; TW em TOY o i ~ o yM E C e A A h the villages ’ : cp EV of Dt. 35 I S. 6 18. Some connect
PERIZZITES (q.w.) with this word.
[BL,]. T O l C €IT1 T O Y M l C e b A h [AI; . . . TOY CTO-
6. jk??, pzrc;risUn, too, is conjecturally rendered
AICMOY [Aq. Sym.]). in the phrase ’him that was over
the vestry’ ( 2 K. lo&), is generally supposed to mean ‘ villages,’ * villagers ’ by AV and some recent scholars
the place where the holy vestments supplied to the (cp Moore and Budde) in Judg. 57 11, but by RV, not
worshippers of Baal were kept ; see DRESS, 5 8 ; J EHU , less conjecturally, ‘ mlers,’ ‘ rule.’ For Jndg. 5 XI
col. 2356. The ancient versions differ ; there was no Robertson Smith in 1892 suggested ’ in the redemption
fixed traditional interpretation. The moderns have of Israel’ (see Black, Judges, 42); but more probably
defended ‘ vestry ’ or ‘ wardrobe ’ by a far-fetched com- the true reading in Judg. 57 11, and Hab. 314 is o.~ri
parison of Ethiopic e’ltdh, ‘tunic, coat.’ T h e text ( ~ $ 1 ) ; cp 63 Buvarof [B], @ppa~wv [AL], ilvvaa&
must be corrupt. (but in Judg. 511 a f i & p ~ v[B], MUXUURY [AL]). So
Read probably n ? ~ ~ ” . l ~t cp, ‘him that was over the hall’ Cheyne. and (in Hab. Z.C.) Vollers.
( E x j . T , Nos. 1899). That there were several ‘halls’ or 7. , p n Hah.‘314
~ AV, ‘the‘head of his villages’(RV ‘of his
‘ chambers’(ni3$h) attached to the Jerusalem temple we know warriors’ ; mg. hordes : or, villages’). But see 6.
8. rhpq in NT is uniformly rendered village in RV (Mk.
(Jer.3524 Ezra106 Neh.135,etc.); and from1 S.Yzz(cplr? 8 z7-the villages of Cresarea Philippi ; Jn. 7 42-the village of
@) we gather that close tO the altar on a b&mih, or‘ high place
there was a Zislrkrih, or ‘hall,’ in which those who partook df Bethlehem). In @ it sometimes represents not only n?, ,??,
the sacrificial meal assembled. It was in such a Zishhih that l y , ”?a, lDD, 1’5?,and 153, hut also even 1‘Y and y p .
the Baal-worshi pers assembled in expectation of a sacrificial
feasts (v. 19). 6 p TEMPLE, $) 24, 32. It is given as a Rabbinical view that a city, as distinguished
This view does justice t o the context, and accounts for @‘s 4 from a village, was a communitywith ten learned men in it-ir.,
6rri roS o L o v (fieuOaah=,usAOoa is a correction from the later [f] a sufficient number to entitle it to have asynagoqne. According
Hehrew text); that $‘5 did not fully understand n j & is plain to Furrer (Schenkel, BL 2 12) the modern criterion in Palestine
from I S. (see above). wand 3 are liable to be confounded with
is the possession of a separate market. In Esth. 9 19 oi K ~ T O C .
KOGVTCS ;v raic p y r p o r 6 h w r v (om. B*), and ot Grrmrapfiivor ZY
n and n ; n may come from n, repeated in error. To correct whur, xhpp constitute the two categories to one or other of which
”“l?,‘the composition of the (sacred) perfumes,’ or &n, eve& Jew is assumed t o belong.
‘ the ceremonial ’ (cp Klo.), gives a less suitable sense. On the VINDICATOR (s&j), Job1925 RVmg. See GOEL,
guesses of the other versions see commentators. T. K. c.
and JOB ii. col. 2474.
VESTURE (IMATION). Rev.191316 AV, RV ‘gar-
ment.’ See MANTLE. § 2 [17]. VINE (IF$, more fully ?!I Nu. 64 Judg. 1314).
VETCHES, WILD
N ETTLES (4.v.).
(h),
Job 307 Rl’W., EV .. -
Like the name of the grape ( x y ) , the word is common
1. Hebrew to Heb. Aram. Arab. and Ass.-from which
Guidi infers (Deb Sede p r i m i t i v n , etc. 40
VIAL. I . BQ, p o k , I S . 1 0 1 ; also 2 K . 9 ~ 3RV
f.) that the vine was known to the people
(where AV has Box Iq.v.1; +d*6c). Cp also CRUSE. who formed the original Semitic stock. But from the
2. + i d h i , Kev. 5 8 15 7, etc., where RV always BOWL(q.v., 9).
names for pruning, vintage, winepress, and wine being
VILLAGE. I . A ‘village’ as distinguished from a
( t o w n ’ or ’ city’ (l’u, ‘ir) is properly >e?,
KEphdr
distinct in the different languages he concludes that the
primitive Semites were unacquainted with the making of
(Cant. 711 [I.] I Ch. 2 7 z s ) , or l@, k$her ( I S.618 in wine, their original ‘ strong drink’ (~JE;,a word common
combination with ’????, happlrdzi, ‘ village of the to the four languages and Ethiopic) being probably
peasantry,’ E V ‘ country village),’ or 1’33 k&hfr (Neh. made from barley.
62, plur., if L I T is correct ; see C HEPHIRAH). Like GJphen (19:) denotes the grape-vine everywhere but in
2 K. 439, where g & z n SEdeh (nib 153)is used of some
...T
1See Ball, Lighffioi-onrthe East, 1 6 1 3 plant resembling the vine in form, hut bearing poisonous
a See Maspero, The Dawn of Civilisation, 6 1 8 or bitter gourds: see W ILD GOURDS. Another word
3 16id 7 6 6 8
‘ 4 See ‘Warre-Cornish, Dirt. +f Gk. and Rom. Antig. S.D.
icrik (?lb, Is. 5 2 Jer. 221T) or sirZkZh (qp, Gen.
napo‘ds‘.YOs. 4 9 1 r t ) seems to denote a superior sort of vine.
16id S.V. ‘Venatio.‘
5 Probably it derives its name from the rich dark hue
6 Moo;euwa‘ges 61) suspects that the ‘house’ which Samson
pulled down by l e d n g against its two pillars was the banquet. of the grapes (cp Ar. Iakira or fakura; Lag. Uebers.
ing hall of the temple of Dagon. 31 f: explains differently). Its grapes were called
5249 5250
VINE VOWS, VOTIVE OFFERINGS
i e ~ z i k i m(o*p$i@,Is. 168, though RV's ' choice plants ' is VINEGAR (YP'n J be sour,' ' leavened,' Nu. 63 ;
a possible rendering). According to Jewish tradition, ofoc,Jn. 1929). CP cok. 959 n. 3, 2752, 5309.
they were very sweet, with almost invisible kernels
kursannim ( o * m p ; see G RAPE, 7). The vine branch
VINEYARDS, PLAIN OF THE (D9n7? SJ!),
(9.v.).
Judg. 1133 AV, RV AWL-CHERAMIM
or shoot is called elrn8vZh ( n ? ~ ? ) from
, int to a prune ;
VIOL (Sqa), IS. 5 1 2 AV. See M USIC, 5 2 , 6-9.
or idrig (IS-,,, Gen. 4010 12 j o e l I 7 t ) , from n b to
'interweave.' ZuZzaZZim (D,$!$!,~ Is. 185) seems to VIOLET (n)??), Esth. 1 6 AVmg.; E V 'blue.' See
denote low branches or clusters that lie on the ground. PURPLE and COLOURS, $ 13.
'The gathering of grapes is expressed by the verb 1x1 VIPER (?lq&4, Is. 306 ; E X I A N ~ , Acts283). See
(Lev. 255, etc.), the vintage or vintage-season being SERPENT, $ I [I].
hisir (i? Lev.
!?265,, Judg. 8 z t ) ; to prune the vine is
VIRGIN (nAp&NOC). There is no clear trace of a n
my (Lev. 253f: Is. 5 6 t ) ; the pruning-hook is m a e m ~ n i h Order of Virgins in the Apostolic Church. T h e four
(mnIg). T h e 'pruning of vines' (Budde, Siegfried) is daughters of Philip the Evangelist [cp PHILIP], who
a more likely interpretation of zZmier (1.1~4) in Cant. exercised the gift of prophecy, were virgins (Acts21g).
212 than the 'singing of birds' (Del., Konig). T h e In I Cor. 725-38 Paul declares that he has ' n o comniand-
obscure word eimvuth (nm!) in Gen. 4311 is by Frd. ment of the Lord ' respecting virgins : they may marry,
Delitzsch connected with this root, and interpreted as or not marry, without sin. On the whole he is inclined
'fruits cut (from the plants that bear them) ' ; but to recommend for them and for all the unmarried state,
Dillmann rightly objects that inr is used only of pruning ' o n account of the present necessity,' which should
away that which is useless : probably the word must be make all Christians sit loosely to the world.
A later age, which valued virginity as a superior virtue,
traced to some other source; Q 3 renders TGY KapaGv. peopled the A ostolic age with virgins living in community and
In Talm. s h e e r (im) = dessert-fruit (grapes, etc.). presided over t y the Virgin Mary : see, for example Domtitio
T h e Israelites traced the planting of the vine to Noah M a r k (Tischendorf, Apocal. Apocr. 1861) pp. 96f.; Coptic
Apocr. Gospels, F. Robinson, 1896. But this picture has n o
(Gen. 910;see Budde, Bib(. Uvgesch. 3 0 6 8 , 407, and cp histprical authorisation, and is simply the reflex of a subsequent
a. Biblical N OAH ) : and Biidde thinks that the 'com- institution. O n the difficultpassage in Ignatius, Smyr? 13,
references. fort' spoken of in Gen. 529 refers to the ' I salute . . . the Virgins, who are called Widow5, see
Lightfoot's note ad Zoc. : he is probably right in interpreting it
invention of wine. Noah was not a as ' I salute the Widows, whom I prefer to call Virgins, for such
dweller in Palestine ; thus the Israelites preserved the in God's sight they are by their purity and devotion. [Cp
tradition of the introduction of the vine from another MINISTKY, 0 41 end.] J. A. R.
land. Palestine, as described in the OT, was a great
wine-producing country. Joseph (Ephraim) in Gen. 49 22
VISION (nT.Qo etc. ), Gen. 15 I, etc. See PROPHECY.
and Israel in Ps. 808 [g] (cp Is. 5 2 Hos. 101,etc.) are VISION, VALLEY OF (?$? ' i or "3, THC
compared to a vine. Delitzsch, in his charming essay c j u p a r r o c , CWN KX in v. 51 E N a a p a r r i C[EIIWN),
' T h e Bibleand Wine' (Zviz, 1888,essay 9), sees in the a place called Valley of Hizzaion, from which the
fact that Jesus compares himself to a vine (Jn. 151), Assyrians were expected to make a n assault on the
an allusion to his being the Messiah, the Second David fortifications of Jerusalem, Is. 22 I (late heading), 5+.
-which illustrates a passage in the early Christian That Hizzaion is a proper name, and that the phrase
Diduch2. T h e phrase to 'sit under one's own vine and does not mean valley of vision ' (or, prophetic revela-
one's own fig-tree ' occurs constantly in descriptions of tion) is generally admitted. According to Dillmann.
a time of peace ( I K. 425 [55] Mic. 44 Zech. 310). some part of Jerusalem is referred to, perhaps the
Passages like Judg. 913 Ps. 10415 show with what Tyropoeon, where the fortification may have been
simplicity men thanked God for the gift of wine. But specially weak. This implies the Massoretic division
the vine supplied another figure. There were wild vines of the verse, which, however, must surely be wrong
-not of a ' genuine' stock (Jer. 221). Israel, when nn- (see Duhm; Marti; SBOT). N o such name a s
faithful, is compared to these (Jer. Xc. cp Is. 5 z ) , and Hizzaion being known, it has been proposed to read
the enemies of Israel are even likened (Dt. 3232) to a -nil? 3; ' the valley of Hinnom,' comparing Zech. 145,
' vine of Sodom '-i. e . , one whose juices and fruit were where ~ 9 3( ' valley of my mountains ') and p i n N'J
tainted by the corruption typified by Sodom (Driver). ( ' valley of mountains ' ) may be niiswritten for o!~? N*?
C p SODOM,3, n. 2.
'valley of Hinnom' (see ' Isaiah,' SBOT [Heb.], 112;
T h e vine ( Vitis vinifera, L. ) ' grows spontaneously '
Marti).
(according to de Candolle, L'Originc, 151 8 ) in W. It is, however, by no means improbable that Is. 22 1-14, in its
3. Natural temperate Asia, S . Europe, Algeria, and original form, referred t o an expected blockade of Jerusalem by
Morocco ; but its spontaneous growth is the Jerahrneelites (cp S ENNACHERIB, 5 5). and that ivy" 3 1 1
history. most marked in the region S. of the should be lv$> '38 'the sons of Cushan.' The next metrical
I T
Caspian, and between that and the Black Sea. Its line begins with
original home was most probably in Transcaucasia, 11II 21 a Jer. 25
though traces of it have been found in deposits of tio? of $Nnm: (Jerahmeel). Such is the position of the un-
decided question res ecting the reference of Is. 22, and t h e
prehistoric and probably prehuman age in other quarters meaning of Valley oP~izzaion.*
6 T. K. C.
-as in N. Italy, Switzerland, and S. France. It has
been cultivated from the most ancient times in W. Asia VOPHSI ('p?.!; IAB[E]I [BAFL]; Va@Si[Vg.]), father
and in Egypt ; in the latter country there is evidence of Nahbi (Nu. 1314t).
reaching back five or six thousand years. The 'soma '
of the Vedas appears to have denoted primarily a beer VOWS, VOTIVE OFFERINGS. A vow is a
made from grain, but subsequently w i n e : and it is voluntary obligation solemnly assumed toward God to
probable that wine was one of the earliest discoveries of Definition, do something not otherwise required,
the Aryan race and that they carried the vine with them but believed to be acceptable or influ-
as they migrated westward. Of the condition of vine- ential with him. The promise may be
growing in modem Syria a n account is given by Ander- either simple or conditional. In the former case it is
lind in ZDPV 11160 8 C p also Tristram. NHB 407 usually a pledge to perform at a future date-for ex-
5 ,and see W I N E . N. M.-W. T. T.-D. ample, a t the next recurrence of a feast-an act of
worship which is less convenient or suitable a t the
1 Possibly ni+ in Jer. 6gt has a similar meaning. time the vow is made: and the motive may be any
2 This phrase does not necessarily imply that it is a native of which would prompt man to the act itself, such a s
these districts. gratitude to God, the desire to secure his favour, etc.
5251 5252
VOWS, VOTIVE OFFERINGS VOWS, VOTIVE OFFERINGS
A conditional vow is commonly made in circumstances her. If a woman marries while under a vow made in
in wrhich the urgent need of God's protectioll or help her father's house, the subsequent consent of her
is felt, as in illness, an attack by the enemy, or for the husband is necessary; if he annuls it she is free. If
obtaining of a greatly desired end, such as the birth of the husband lets the vow pass in silence when he first
a child, the increase of flocks and herds, victory in learns of it, but afterwards prevents its fnlfitment, he
battle, and the like. In such a case a man solemnly makes himself guilty of the breach of obligation. T h e
binds himself, if God does for hini what he wishes, to law does not say how it is with the vow of a minor son
do such and such a specified thing for God. in his father's house, or with that of an Israelite slave.
Vows of the latter kind were in ancient religions the Lev. 27 treats of the conditions under which persons
conimon accompaniment of prayer, and were believed or property that have been given to God in fulfilment
to contribute greatly to its efficacy. T h e transaction of a vow may be redeemed. An animal of the kinds
seems to us commercial in even a higher degree than from which sacrifices are made to Yahwe is made ' holy '
the familiar motive of sacrifice, Do ut des; this may be by the vow ; no redemption, substitution, or exchange
formulated, Dado si deden's. W e have to remember, is allowed; if such a thing is attempted both animals
however, that man's gift was not conceived as an become ' holy ' (a.gf. ). On an unclean animal a value
equivalent by which the service of God was purchased, is set by the priest, and it may be redeemed by the
but as a present, just as in similar transactions among payment of this sum with one-fifth added (vu. 11-13).
men when an inferior sought the aid of a great man. Human beings are redeemed at a price fixed by the law
The thing vowed might be anything with which it was in accordance with their age and sex (cp Jos. Ant. iv. 4 4 ) ;
conceived that God would be pleased-a sacrifice, a a boy between one month and five years old, five shekels,
service, a dotation of gold and silver, houses and lands, a girl, three ; from five years to twenty, twenty shekels
cattle, or persons to God, that is, to the temple. It and ten respectively ; from twenty to sixty a man is
might also be an interdict imposed by the maker upon valued at fifty shekels, a woman at thirty; after sixty
himself for a time or for life in the use of things other- this value fell to fifteen and ten. If a man was too
wise lawful ; thus fasting, abstinence from particular poor to pay the price on this scale, the priest fixed a
kinds of food-as the grape and its products in the sum within his means. If a man consecrates a house
Nazirite's vow-from the wearing of ornaments, sexual to Yahwk by a vow, the priest estimates its value, and
intercourse, etc., w'se often vowed. Such arbitrary the owner niay redeem it on payment of six-fifths of the
self-denial was thought, like the scrupulous observance sum. In the case of hereditary lands which revert to
of the similar restrictions imposed by religion itself, to the family in the Jubilee year, the value depends on
be a proof of devotion. how far off this term is. T h e basis is, on an acreage
The general word for vow is lyz, nPder, @ Ad. For a vow seeded with one homer of barley, fifty shekels for the
of abstinence specifically, Nu. 30 employs l!K, l e
!
, issdr, L d r whole period, that is. one shekel for each year the
(@ b p r g p i ~ ) )from
, lp$, 'bind.' The meaning of this word is tenure has to run. The surtax for redemption is, as
especially, clear in Dan. 6 7 r z f : I j, where RV well renders in all other cases, one-fifth. If not redeemed, or if
' interdict ; cp also the rabbinical use of the verb in the sense sold to another man, the reversion is cut off, and the
of prohibit, and hft. 16 19 I S 18. land ceded to the priests.' Purchased land, in which
The vow, being a solemn promise freely made, was the buyer has really only a leasehold till the next Jubilee
a most binding obligation ; it had the force of an oath, year, is estimated by the priest.
with which, indeed, it was frequently associated (see Some things cannot be consecrated to God by a vow.
Nu. 302 Acts23x). Even a rash vow or one which either because they already belong to him, like the
entailed unforeseen and terrible consequences, like firstlings of animals fit for sacrifice (Lev.2726), or
Jephthahs (Judg. 11 ), must be fulfilled to the letter. because they are abominable to him, as the hire of a
T o break faith with God in such a matter was to invite religious prostitute of either sex (Dt. 2318)--a kind of
destruction. Men, nevertheless, often tried to slip out votive-offering frequent in that world.
of their obligation by subterfuges, or practised deceit in A vow of abstinence of a peculiar kind is that of the NAZIRITE
paying their vows. Malachi (1 14) pronounces accursed (q.u.), for which there are special laws in Nu. 6 1-21.
the fraudulent nian who had vowed a male victim and A man might not only vow to ' hallow ' some object
had one in his flock, but sacrificed a blemished beast.' to God (@?e?, hikdfq,he might devote it (oqni?, he&'rim)
The Deuteronomic law enjoins the prompt payment of by his vow.so that it became +trerem (see B AN . and cp
vows according to their tenor, for God will strictly Nu. 21 2 ) . What was so devoted became intensely 'holy,'
exact it ; it is no sin not to make a vow, but being that is, God guarded his rights in it most jealously ; it
voluntarily made it must be fulfilled (Dt. 2321-23 [22-24]; could neither be sold nor redeemed. Lands or animals
cp I'rov.2025 Eccles. 5 4 J [3J] Ecclus. 1822). so dedicated belonged irrevocably to the sanctuary, that
Examples of vows in the OT history are those of Jacob at is to the priests (Nu. 1 8 14 Ezek. 44 2 9 ) ; men thus devoted
Bethel (Gen. 28 20-22 cp 31 13, 35 2-7), Jephthah (Judg. 11 30j: must be put to death (LEV. 2728J ). T h e last provision
34-39), Hannah ( I S. 1'11,f 24-28), Absalom(2 S. 157J). Frequent
references in other connections show how important a place can hardly be an actual provision for a private ban.
vows had in all periods of religion : see Dt. 12 6 I I ' 7 26 Ps. 22 25 Vows, like oaths, were frequently made rashly and about trivial
50 14 56 12 61 5 8 65 I 66 13 76 I I 11G 14 18 Prov. 7 14 Is. 1921 matters; indeed, they often became a mere form of speech to
Nah. 1 I j Jon. 1 16 2 g Judith 4 14 I Esd. 2 7 2 hlacc. 3 35 9 1 3 3 fortify an asseveration or a declaration of purpose, as ' I vow, if
~ c t s 2 1 2 3% 2 r . I didn't see a snake RS big as the beam of a wine-press (JT.
The only laws in the Pentateuch on the subject of Niddrim, 32). With a lurking scruple such as among us gives
rise t o minced oaths, men in N T times said &inrim Randh, or
vows in generaL2 Lev. 271-29 and Nu. 3 0 , are both the like, instead of +-6dn The rabbis discouraged h , practice
Nu. 30 determines who can make by requiring the fulfilment of unadvised vows, and declaring the
2' Laws: Z i n d i n g vow, with especial reference clipped formula equivalent in force to the proper word. They
to the vows of women (see M. N8dErim). If a had to distinguish, however, between vows the fulfilment of
which, though inconvenient, was a proper punishment for the
nian makes a vow or imposes upon himself by an oath rash undertaking, and such as ought not to be kept, and to pro-
some abstinence, he must not 'profane his word,' but vide some way of absolution for the latter (M. N2ddnm, 3 I
strictly fulfil his obligation. The vow of a widow or a 9 1 3 ) . In this endeavour they were led into a casuistry not
always accordant with sound ethics. The example given by
divorced woman is similarly binding (a. IO) ; but the Jesus in Mk. 71oJ Mt. 154,f of the way in which they nullified
vow of an unmarried woman in her father's house, or the law of God by their traditions has been discussed under
of a married woman in her husbands, is null without C ORBAN (q.v.).
his consent, which, however, is assumed to be tacitly The commonest vow in all ages was doubtless a sacrifice, and
votive offerings were probahly the commonest of private sacri-
given, if, being cognisant of the vow, he did not oppose ~~~
1 Cp the Arab substitution of gazelles for sheep in payment 1 The rovisions of the law are not clear. see the commen-
of a vow, S ACRIFICE , 8 8. taries, $or fhe rabbinical elaboration & these rules see
2 On the Nazirite's vow. see NAZIRITE. M .dv,i&..
VULGATE] WAJSJDERINGS, WILDERNESS O F
fices. The votive sacrifice might, according to the terms of the described by Tristram from Palestine, three ( G y p
vow be a burnt-offering or a peace-offering or both combined fulvus, Neophron percnopferus, and Gypaetus barbutus)
and’consist of any kind or number of sachicable animals, 0;
simply of an oblation. The rites were those appropriate to the are treated under the herdings ( I ) E AGLE [RVmS
species of sacrifice and the victim (see S ACRIFICE ). a votive ‘ Great Vulture ‘I, ( 2 ) G IER -E AGLE and ( 3 ) O SSIFRAGE.
peace-offering was subject to the ordinary rule tha; the flesh T h e fourth species is the black vulture, VuZtur monachus.
’ should be eaten on the day of the offering or the next not to the
narrower restriction of the thank-offering (fJdrih) ind to the the only livrng representative of its genus. This bird
general requirement of ceremonial purity in those k h o partook inhabits the countries surrounding the Mediterranean
of the feast (Lev. 7 168). Nu. 15 3 8 prescribes an oblatlon with and extends eastward to China. It is not common in
every victim in the case of votive as a i other sacrifices. Offer- Palestine, and does not seem to be mentioned in
ings of wine and oil were also made in the fulfilment of vows (see
SACRIFICE. # 31 a). O T or NT.
iM. N&f&im, ‘Arrikin, cp also .?Fkrilzm, 46-8;the works on 4. The ‘vulture’ (”E,dri’dh)in AV of Lev. 11 14t is in RV
biblical archaeoloev.
I_.esoeciallv Saalschiitz. Mosaisches Recht.
1358 Nowack, Arch: Ben: rendered ‘kite.’ Its identification can only be conjectural ; but
.
3. Bibliography. zinger hebr. Arch. articles ‘ Gehibde
in PR)EPl, Riehm, &BA, Schenkel, BL,
see K ITE.
5. The ‘vulture’ (7;: dayyrih, ?I)’:, dayyath, another form of
‘Vow,’ Hastings, DB. G. F. M. n ~ ?above) of Dt. 1413 (om. Di. after Sam. e), Is. 34 1st
(2A+r) is also rendered K ITE in RV. See above.
VULGATE. See TEXT AND VERSIONS, 5s 21, 59. 6. We ’uyydh, Job287, AV (RV ‘falcon), but elsewhere
VULTURE. Of the four species of Vulturida3 KITE (q.v.). A. E. S.
WAFERS. I. p’lz,
r@ik, Ex. 292, EV, etc., I Ch. in I K. 6 5 J , etc., of a roomwall in I 5.1811 2025, etc., cp
Housr, # I.
23 29 RV. See BREAD, 8 2 (c).
5. 799, Jar; Gen. 49 zz Ps. 18 30 [zglt, I S. 22 30 ; in Jer. 5 10 for
83
2. nn‘??, !a#p&zih, Ex.1631t + p i s ; see BAKEMEATS,
n’Ii$, niYd is suggested-i.e., rows of vine-plants ; see Ges.-Bu.
(3), where, however, nn.33 is to be read for ‘ Fp! ...
B~AD.’
E.v., naw, and cp Duhm, ad Zoc.
WAGES. See, generally, T RADE AN D C OMMERCE, 6. !7@, KdtheZ, Cant. 2 gt of a house-wall.
5 83 ( e )4. T h e words are :- 7. N;?t@y, ’uffamd’,Ezra 5 3 9t. Word ofuncertain meaning;
I . l??, SEkdr, piuO6s, merces, of the hire of a servant (Gen.
YO 32 Ex. 2 9 Dt.24 15 I K. 520 [6] [@a om. p~u86vl etc.), the
see Ges.-Bu. who suggest ‘GebZlk’-i.e., ‘timberwork.’ @ B A L
reward ’ of priests (Nu. 1831), passage-money (Jon. 1 6 vaCAov), has xopqyt’av ; ll I Esd. 6 4 has i v urdflv rahvv. See Marti,
etc. KHC, ad loc.
2. l:?, iPker, Prov. 1118 Is. 19 I O ; on the latter passage see WALLET ( I T H ~ A ) , Mt. 1010RV, AV SCRIP (4.v.).
S LUICES.
WANDERINGS, WILDERNESS OF. I T h e Wilder-
3. n;gwD, mkkireth, pm96s, merces, Gen.2915 Slg 41
Ruth2;;1 .
ness’ (ham-midbdr, 123?33)was, in all periods, the
4. n>~s,#Z‘uZZrih, pro&, opm, Lev. 19 13, etc.
standing phrase among the Hebrews
1.
,wilderness., for the scene of that epoch in their
5. p ~ d 6 s merces,
, Jn. 4 36, etc. See above I.
6. 6+6vcov, sl@endium, stigendia, I Esd.’456 I Macc. 32:
14 32 Lk. 3 14 Rom. 6 23 I Cor. 9 7 2 Cor. 11 8 (cp &+ov ‘meat
historv %-hich immediatelv meceded
~.~~ 2 ~~~~
"LIT.
to the only natural interpretation of Dt.214. Kadesh, passage in question ha; ceased to be
once left, was never revisited ; there is no suggestion intelligible (cp Dr. ad Zoc.). D chiefly differs from J E
here (nor anywhere else) of a second visit to Kadesh in making the scene of the wanderings for the greater
after absence. part of the period (thirty-eight years) distant from
Thus in J E Kadesh is the (apparently) permanent Kadesh, but immediately bordering on Edom. T h e
centre, in D the starting-$oint, and in P the$nnZ stage command in Dt. 23 appears to be referred to the close
of the nomadic wanderings which intervened between of the period, and to have immediate reference to the
the defeat of the Hebrews on their first attempt to final attack on Canaan ; consequently, although the
conquer Canaan from the S. and the commencement of punitive wanderings extended up to the brook Zered
1 Nu. 20 22 has been genera1:y assigned to P in its entirety. (Dt.2146) on the E. of Edom, we mnst conceive the
Carpenter, in the Oxfwd Hexateuch, assigns clause a to E. If greater part of the period to have been spent on the W.
this were certain which it is not (see Gray in Zntemut. Crit. borders of Edom. Removing from Kadesh at the
Cam.), it would shll be clear that 20 226-29 in P, as in the present beginning, the people are found at the close of the
compilation, was preceded by P's story of the sin of Moses and
Aaron at Kadesh ; cp 20 24 with v. 23. period at the SE. end of the Arabah ( D t . 2 3 ) . ( I n
I t must suffice merely to draw attention to the theory attempting to arrive at D's view, Dt. 106f. must be
recently advanced by Steuernagel (Die EinwandPnrng der disregarded ; the verses form an isolated fragment
GvucZ<titiscken Stiimmcn, 1901) that in J one section of the
people (the 'Leah' trihes, according t o his denomination) actu- out of relation to D's other statements ; cp Dr. ad Zoc. )
ally made their way into Canaan from Kadesh whereas in E
the 'Jacob' trihes, leaving Kadesh at the b&inning of the 1 Thus much it seems safato affirmof JE. It is unnecessary
nomadic period s ent their years of wandering in the deserts here to discuss at length the analysis of the several sources as
Eurt of the Jbrfan and the Arabah. [Cp EXODUS i., 8 6, between E and editors, for which the Commentaries must be
T RIBES , 5 13$] consulted'
5257 5258
WANDERINGS, WILDERNESS O F
When we turn to P we have to distinguish between the fragment Dt. lO6f: ; Ezion-geber from D, and
the general narrative and the summarising chapter, thirteen places mentioned only in this list from some
Nu.33. sources unknown to us. Granted this single assump-
I n the narrative, the Hebrews journeyed from Sinai tion, the view of the compiler is found to be in com-
to the wilderness of Paran. Here they encamped, plete accord with P-thus m.3-15 contain the stages in
ll. p,s n ~ a hence- the spies were despatched, and the straightforward march from Egypt to Sinai ; vv.
hither they returned; and ' i n this 16-36 give the names of the camping-grounds during
wilderness ' (Nu. 14 35) the punitive the forty years of punishment, the names of the
wanderings took place. On the boundaries of the individual places being substituted for that of the
wilderness of Paran, see GEOGRAPHY, 7. The re- general district-Paran ; zm. 37-49 describe the march
maining places in p's narrative appear to be referred to from Kadesh to the plains of Moab, and this, as in the
the final year. These occur in this order : wilderness main narrative of P, is apparently across the N. end of
of Zin (Nu. 201), Kadesh, Mt. Hor (2022), Oboth, Iye- Edom, not round Ezion-geber on the S. border. With
abarim (2110), plains of Moab (221), pointing to a a recognition of a double tradition as to the route of the
northward movement (Paran to Kadesh) followed by an final march, the old difficulty occasioned by a com-
eastward (to the plains of Moab); and the latter move- parison of Dt. 28 1 0 6 8 with Nu. 333037, which was
ment was in all probabilityregarded as being direct across met by various unsatisfactory hypotheses (such as that
the N. territory of Edom (cp We. C H 110. Buhl, Gesch. there was a second Ezion-geber near Kadesh, or a
23, Gray on Nu. 21rr), not, as in J E (e.g., Nu. 214), or backward and forward movement from Ezion-geber to
D (Dt. 23 S), by means of a march round the S. end of Kadesh, or that Nu. 3336b-41a originally followed
Edom ; for although the site of Oboth is uncertain, and immediately on 30a) falls to the ground. Ezion-geber
Iye-abarim unidentified, yet the latter certainly lay, as was considered by the compiler of the itinerary to have
its name indicates, on the E. of the Arabah (cp A BAKIM). been merely a camping-ground during the nomadic
Thus, the main narrative of P, like J E and D, contains period, not a stage in the final march from Kadesh to
no topographical details of the scene of the wanderings the E. of Canaan.
proper. The district suggested by P is more southerly The question whence the compiler of this chapter
than in J E , less easterly-i.e., less definitely associated derived the otherwise unknown names can only be met
with the borders of Edom-than in D. 14. Its origin, by conjecture. Possibly it was from a
I n Nu. 33 the point of view is different. W e have now lost written source; but it is, per-
here a succession of forty places a t which the children haps, more probable that they are names of places known
of Israel encamped, between the time in his own day as belonging to that region. That the
Is* list' when they left Rameses and the time names (or at least the great majority of them) are genuine
when they arrived at the Fields of Moab. Probably names of places, there seems'no reason to question ; and
the number has been fixed at forty by artificial selection, if, as is far from unlikely, they are names of caravan
to equal the number of the years of wandering ; although stations (Masp. Hist. Ancienne, 2475, n. I ) given by
the compiler clearly does not intend us to suppose that the travellers, but never used by the inhabitants of the dis-
people tarried at each place just a year, for seven of the trict, the failure to identify the sites would be accounted
stages clearly belong to the fortieth year (cp v. 38). for (cp Doughty, A r a b i a Deserta, 149). It is, further,
T h e interpretation of the chapter must, to some extent, quite possible that Alush and Dophkah (a. 13), stages
vary with our estimate of its historical value, and that, in the movement from Egypt to Sinai, and Zalmonah
in turn, will depend on our general view of the antiquity and Punon (a. 421, stages in the movement from
of the priestly strata of the Hexateuch. One at any Kadesh to the E. of Canaan, are only accidentally
rate-and the chief-of Dillmann's arguments in favour absent from some of our present sources in which
of the antiquity of the itinerary is quite inconclusive (see they originally stood. That the eastern traditions had
below). Starting from the view that the chapter is a late little or nothing to say of the places connected with
compilation, the following points must be noted : ( I ) the wanderings, is merely one side of the more general
It is compiled from more than one of the literary strata silence as to the period. In Nu. between the incident
of the Hexateuch ; for it contains some names (e.g., of the spies (13f.) at the beginning and the events at
Pi-hahiroth, wilderness of Zin) peculiar to P, others Kadesh (201-21) at the end of the period, but five
unknown to him, but occurring elsewhere-e.g., Kibroth- chapters intervene. Two of these (15 19) contain miscel-
hattaavah ( J E , D), Ezion-geber ( D ) ; ( 2 ) it also draws laneoiis laws wholly unrelated to the period, and the
on an otherwise unknown source, for seventeen of the remaining three (16-18)relate the revolt of Korah
places are mentioned nowhere else ; ( 3 ) it is dominated (Dathan, and Abiram) and the laws which were the
in its representation by P, for, like the main narrative outcome of it. But whether even this incident was re-
of E', it makes Mt. Hor the death-place of Aaron (con- ferred to this period in the sources, or only by the
trast Dt. 106J) and places the wilderness of Zin= editor, it is impossible to decide.
Kadesh immediately before Mt. Hor ; on the other In conclusion, some of the general features of the
hand, between Hazeroth and Kadesh, which are im- country may be mentioned. I n JE, as we have seen,
mediately connected in J E , this list inserts eighteen Kadesh is the permanent centre. This
stages.
16' harmonises with J E s view of the punish-
This being the case, the one striking divergence from ment as a postponement of the possession
P (claimed by Dillmann in favour of the high antiquity of the richer country of Canaan rather than the infliction
of the list) is all the more remarkable, of positive hardship. The people, for thek unbelief,
13. Its rela- and probably contains the true clue to are to remain as they had been-nomads ( o y i ) . That is
tion to his the view of the period underlying the all ; the punishment is not aggravated by their being
narrative. chapter. The wiZderness of P a r a n , so condemned to a peculiarly barren tract of country.
prominent in P , is not mentioned i n the list. This will For Kadesh ('Ain Kadis) is a singularly fertile and
be entirely accounted for, in complete accordance with attractive oasis ; cereal crops even, in small quantities,
the evident purpose of the list, which is to name, not can be raised in the neighbourhood. T h e Wady 'Ain
large districts, but definite camping-grounds, if we assume el-Kudeirat, to the W., with its important well, is also
that the stations mentioned between Sinai and Kadesh fertile; less valuable, but also worthy of mention, are
are conceived to have lain in the wilderness of Paran. the themd'il or shallow pits of water in the WHdy
Thus, the compiler derives from the other sources such Kasaimeh, situated still farther W. Southwards and
places as are there naturally referred to the forty years westwards, whither according to JE the Hebrews must
between Sinai and Kadesh-viz., from J E Hazeroth, have wandered, stretches the desert of et-Tih; this,
Kibroth-hattaavah, and the four places mentioned in according to the description of Palmer (Desert of Exodur,
5259 5260
WAR WAR
186-2288), is an ‘arid featureless waste’ marked by and the Hittite states or Syria (e.g., in the 9th cent.),
scanty lines of vegetation along the shallow wadies, but or Israel itself, may come into temporary prominence,
for the most part waterless. T h e ground is hard and but this is only a passing phase. T h e more permanent
unyielding and covered with small flints, and only in and dominating factor, to which we have referred, is
spring, after the rains, becomes covered with grass ; cp nevertheless ever present and reasserts itself.
also Seetzen, Reisen. 8 4 8 8 No land therefore felt the pulses and tremors of war more
acutely thin the plaik and mountains inhabited by Israel. Of
Thus, the discovery of the true site of Kadesh and this the prophetic oracles bear abundant witness. The prophet
the literarv analvsis of the Hexateuch have brought - of Israel-which geographically stood so central to westem-
light a very noticeable difference Asiatic movements-could not but be deeply interested in foreign
16. Conclusion. of to general remesentation. politics. Hence the earliest prophet of Judah whose oracles
,. In the have come down to us in separate collections (Amos), as well as
earlier traditions embodied in J E , the Hebrew nomads the latest of the closing years of the monarchy (Jeremiah), uttered
had as their common centre a large and fertile oasis in his Maiiid on foreign peoples. No other land was better situated
the neighbourhood of two other fertile valleys and a as a watch-tower for the inspiredseer. Probably no other country
vast roaming ground southwards and westwards, barren .
on the earth‘s surface has heen more freauentlv traversed bv ,
arniics or hac ofre1lr.r rewundcd IO the shock of battle ur sutlcred
for most of the year, but, as is usual in these deserts, greziirr hardhlripi (rum the rawgei of war. Bclgium ha\ Lccn
abounding with grass in spring. On the other hand, called the ‘cock-pitof E u r o p c ’ f r ~ m t l i r d n y ~ o f L o u i ~ X I ~ . ; i n d
the greater part of the time in D, the whole of it in P, Marlborough to those of Napoleon and Wellington. But in a
far truer sense during the millenniums that separate Thotmes
is spent away from this fertile centre on the arid and 111. from the ake of the Saracens, Palestine has been the cock-pit
barren plateau described above. of Western Asia.
Guthe in ZDPV,188 j, pp. 1 8 2 8 ; Lagrange, ‘L‘itin6raire des It was at Eltekeh (AltakE), not far from Ekron, that
Israelites du pays de Gessen aux bords du Jourdain,’Rm. the power of S E N N A C HERIB (p.3.) recoiled from the onset
bibZ.;pue 9 (19m) 273-287. On the literary
17. Literature. analysis: the relevant works of Dillmann, of his southern enemies, and it was on the fatal field
Wellhausen, Kuenen, and Driver, should he of Megiddo that Pharaoh Necho slew JOSIAH(g.n. ) who
consulted ; Bacon’s Tnj% Tyadifion of the E<odus is especially resisted the endeavours of the Egyptian monarch to
worthy of attention for his careful attempt to discriminate J and
E : the frequent uncertainty in the analysis of these two sources capture the spoils of the defunct Assyrian empire. The
may be seen by consulting the analytical tables in Holzinger’s Palestinian towns, Samaria, Jerusalem, Ekron, Ashdod,
E i d . in den Hex. On the site of ‘Ain Kadis (Kadesh) and on and Lachish, were regarded by the Assyrian kings as
the character of this and the neighbouring valleys, see Clay outposts on the path of the invader of Egypt, whilst the
Trumhuil, Kadesh Barma (which also contains a very full
index of the literature), Seetztn, Reisen durch Syrien, 343-48, empire on the Kile, on the other hand, would naturally
and on the character of the desert of et-Tih, E. H. Palmer, regard with apprehension their possession by a foreign
Desert of fhe Exodus, pt. ii. chaps. 1-5. foe. It is difficult to over-estimate the strategic im-
[Cp among other illustrative articles, KADESH I : MAKHE- portance of Palestine.
LOTH hl<lSES I 4 ; hfOSERAH ; NAHALIEL ; NEBO[MOUNT],
s 2 ; PARAN; kEPlllDIM; RIMMON-PAREZ
; SIN; SINAI ; ZIN.] The close vital bond that existed between the clan
5267 5268
WAR WARS OF THE LORD
in MUSIC. The burial of dead warriors was a sacred 43 IS:^^), ‘the image of Joel 310 reversed ’ (Cheyne),
duty ( I K. 11 15). and lamentations were composed and sustained also by the utterances of Is. 9 5 and 111-9;
sung, z S. 117-27 331-36 (Ezek. 3218-32). cp Zech. 910. These are the ideals which Christianity
(d) T h e darker reverse is presented when we deal seeks to realise.
with the treatment of the conquered. This was In the moral world there is a constant opposition
characterised by theutmost cruelty. The wars with the between the powers of good and evil, both in the
Canaanites are full of examples (Josh. 10 26 f.,and Metaphori- individual mental life and in the life of
passim). Also we have instances of mutilation of the Both the Old and the New
calreferencea. Testament,
society.
therefore, inevitably em-
captives (Judg. 1 6 f.; cp I S . 11 2 and 2 S . 12 31).
Captured kings or generals were frequently slain (Judg. ploy the material terms of earthly warfare as metaphors.
7 z j ) . Too often we read of wholesale slaughter (Judg. God is repeatedly called a ’ shield ’ in this world of
87 z S. Sz) indicated by the phrase m y T?) a?? (EV strife (Gen.151 Dt.3329 Ps.512 5911 84911), or his
‘ smote with the edge of the sword ’). The feet were truth (or faithfulness) is so called (91 4 ) . These terms
placed (in token o f conquest) upon the neck or abound in the N T passages which deal with spiritual
head of the conquered (Josh. 1024). The dead were warfare. The apostle Paul is especially prone to their
decapitated ( I S. 1754 319 2 Macc. 153: Jos. B/ i. 17 2 ) . use ( I Cor.926 zCor.75 1Tim.612 z T i m . 4 7 and in
The dead were often rifled of their property, and Eph.6 I I ~ [see
. BHEASTPLATE]). In the Book of Revela-
prisoners plundered ( I S . 31 8 z Macc. 9 27). T h e horses tion, which moves in the language and ideas of Jewish
of the enemy had their sinews severed (‘ houghed ’ ) that apocalyptic and Messianic eschatology, we have a ’ war
they might be rendered useless (Josh. 11 6 9). W e also in heaven ’ (r6Xepos 6u ohpavd) in which Satan and the
read of pregnant women ripped up, and infants dashed to Beast are finally quelled by God and his heavenly host,
pieces ( 2 K . 1516 Is. 1316 Am. 113 Hos. 1 0 1 4 Nah. 310 Megiddo being employed as the type of the great
Ps. 1378 z Macc. 5 13). T h e land of the enemy was heavenly Armageddon (see Beyschlag, N T Theol. 11.
desolated, the trees cut down, and the wells stopped up PP. 399-4081.
(Judg. 6 4 I Ch. 201 Dt. 201gJ). Towns and villages War in IsIRm, on the other hand, is chiefly regulated
were burnt to the ground (Judg. 945 I Macc. 528 1084). by Kuriin, Sur. 47, and is nothing but old Semitic
T h e payment of large sums of money was imposed on ll. war in warfare carried out beyond the distinc-
the conquered, or a yearly tribute ( 2 K. 1 8 1 4 Is. 33 18), Islam. tions of nationalism into that of believers
and non-believers in the prophet. Allah
a custom which was universal and is constantly referred
to in the Assyrian inscriptions. is the Lord-protector of the faithful but not of un-
A severe judgment, however, cannot be passed on the believers (Sur.4712). The Jihad should even be
treatment by the Hebrews of their conquered. The carried on against unbelievers during the four sacred
universal custom of antiquity must be taken into con- months, while for all believers those months are exempt
sideration as well as the all-prevailing conception of (Sur. 936J). Those who are slain in a Jihad hav-
war as a religious act in which the deity of the nation paradise as their reward (Sur.475-7). See further Sell,
was deeply involved. The old Semitic conception of Faith of Zslanm(2),360J
the @rem explains much of the practice. In comparison The most important recent contribution is Schwally’sSemi-
with Assyrian usage the Hebrews must be called fische KriqsaZtmf~mer, of which his first Heft, dealing with
the religious side has appeared. Especially
humane. By far the larger proportion of the captured 12. Literature. important is his’account of the taboos im-
were made into slaves. T h e women became concu- posed during war, as well as of the apparatus
bines, and were treated with consideration. of religious cultus in war. The writer however is somewhat
in danger of finding religious motives connected dith war where
The Egyptians also, xcording to Wilkinson’s judgment, were none such existed. See criticism by Volz (in TLZ, 13th S; t
humane as compared with the Assyrians in their treatment
of captives (Anc. Egyjt.1 264). ‘ The cruel custom of flay-
tgoz). Next in im ortance are the arts. ‘Kriegswesen etc.
Beiizinger in PRE(6,and S 72 in Nowack‘s He.3.Arch. (1 37zJ).
g;
in: alive and the tortures represented on the sculptures of Respecting war among the Assyrians the materials are fdund in
Nineveh show that the .Assyrians were guilty of barbarities at a the royal annalistic inscc. in Schrader’s H-IB i. and ii. For
period long after the Egyptians had heen accustomed to the Egypt consult especially Erman’s Lye in Ancient E ~ y j t20 ,
refinements of civilisation.’ Just as the followers of David
reckoned up the foreskins of the Philistines whom they had ,5208). 0.c. w.
slain, so the ancient Egyptians reckoned up the severed hands WARD. See PRISON. The words are :-
which were placed in heaps before the king and counted by his
secretary (Wilkinson, idid. lzas). I. V W p , mifmar, Gen. 40 3J, nlnwp, m i b d r e f h(II).
The attitude of the Hebrew prophets towards the 2. 1!3D, s e ~ a rEzek.
, 19 gt (5 2 2).
wars of their people
. . against
- a foreign
- foe was at first 3. nys,pr&-dcfh,Jer. 37 13t ( $ 2 IO).
9, Attitude one of unquestioning sympathy. This 4. n i P V 1 ) . (%2 14).
of Prophets. was inevitable in consequence of the 5. + u A u 7 (8 2 15).
religious aspect of war above indicated.
Elisha advises the-allied monarchs of Israel and Judah WARDROBE, KEEPER OF THE (D’l2q;l lpv ;
to adopt a skilful ruse in their war against Moab ( z K. K. 2214, T O Y I M A T I O @ Y ~ A K O C [BAL], 2 Ch. 3422,
4 15f. ), and on his deathbed he is greeted by Joash, king ~ ~ A A C C O Y C A N T A C ~ N T O A A C [BAL]), see DRESS
of Israel, with the same words ‘ The chariots of Yahw8 I 6 , HULDAH:
and the horsemen thereof,’ with which the prophet him- On ‘vestry’( ? p h p )in a K. 1022, see DRESS, § 8, VESTRV.
self had greeted El:jah in the latter’s closing hours
( 2 K. 2 12 12 14): and Elisha’s last address to the king
of Israel is one of passionate insistence on the need of
WARP (‘ng),Lev. 1 3 4 8 8 See W EAVING.
persistent energy in prosecuting the war with Syria. WARS OF’ THE LORD [BOOK OF THE] (l&
More than a century later. Isaiah’s powerful personality
is Judahs strongest stay in the kingdom’s darkest hour 118’ nbn$2), a book cited in Nu. 21 1 4 3 ( E ) , accord-
of conflict with Assyria. Towards the close of the eighth ng to RV, in the following terms. ( W e remove KV’s
century, however, prophecy scanned more closely the ioetical arrangement, however, and assume provision-
religious and ethical aspects of national policy, and in Ily that the text of the formula of citation is correct ;
the days of Jeremiah the divorce between nationalism hat the text of the passage quoted is not by any means
and religion in its purest sense was complete, and the orrect, is maintained under VAHEB.) ‘Wherefore it
prophet saw nothing before the disordered and corrupt i said in the book of the Wars of the L ORD , Vaheb
state but irrevocable doom. There gleamed also upon I Suphah, and the valleys of Arnon, and the slope
the distant horizon the vision of a pure, holy, and f the valleys that inclineth toward the dwelling of
righteous rule, when men would ‘ beat their swoi-ds ir, and leaneth upon the border of Moab.’
into coulters and their spears into pruning-knives’ (Mic. Kuerien gives the following brief stitement of what is
168 5269 5270
WASHINGS, CEREMONIAL WASHINGS, CEREMONIAL
supposed to be known respecting the ' book' referred or to cover oneself with a divine and mysterious power.
'' A
song-book? :by &CY
'Evidence of the date of the
Mil+amofh. YahwP is supplied
Bathing was a religious act. Water therefore was
holy. Further evidence for the idea that a more than
the title itself: the ' ' wars ofYahw8" natural power was inherent in water would be seen in
a r e the wars of Israel against his neighbours in the the refreshing, and sometimes healing, effect of this
period of the Judges, under David ( I S. 1817 2528). and act. Water vas refreshing and healing because it was
later on. The collector of the songs referring to these holy. When a reason was sought for the fact that
wars presumably lived after their close, when Israel's water cleansed, the explanation would again be the
heroic age was long gone by' (Hex. ET, p. 35, n. 5). same : it cleansed because it was ho1y.l Then, water
According to Stade (GVZlso), the fragments of song is looked upon as purifying, as washing away impurities
in vv. 176 18 and (probably) VZI. 276-30 come from the or cleansing from a taboo ; and finally the frequent use
same source as vv. 146 x j . Dillmann, too, thinks it of water becomes a social and sanitary, as well as a
plausible to derive from this source vv. 176 18 and religious act. The order of ideas can hardly have been
perhaps also Ex. 15 1-19. The ' book ' referred to was otherwise. Primitive man fears water, therefore makes
therefore, these scholars think, a collection of songs, a god of it, worships it (cp religio) ; this fear must have
similar to the Book of J ASHER (q.v.),and its date is been overcome before he could make frequent use of
variously placed, in the time of Omri, about 900 B.C. it for other than strictly religious purposes.
(Stade), the latter half of the ninth century (E. Meyer, Benzinger tells us (Heb. Arch. 108) that in the
Z A T W 1881, p. 131), and the times of David and ablutions of the Hebrews it is often difficult to distin-
Solomon (Reuss, Gesch. der izeil. Schr. ATP), 172 ; a. Among the guish between the washings performed
Dillm. ). for the sake of the body, and
There is, however, only one express quotation from the 'book Hebrews. purelysuch as were purely religious. That is
and it is not certain that it is poetical orevenmetrica1.l Lookink no doubt because originally no distinction was made.
a
a. gee- at the contents of the quotation, moreover, one T h e Hebrews, however, when we make their acquaint-
would not judge it to come either from a history
graphical or from a collection of historical songs or ballads. ance, had already forgotten the true origin of ablutions ;
survey? Was thetitleofthe 'hook'really'WarsofYahw&?' it is the second idea that now prevails : cleansing or
e at any rate did not so understand it, for it washing is a holy act, and water is holy because it
renders thus 6rh 6 7 0 Akywar ;v f3iSAioz [ ] n6Arpos 705
K V ~ ~ O+vV <do@ ZgA6yroev. ' Another ' veriion 'in the Hexapla cleanses.* I n this sense for the most part ablutions
agrees; it gives 6th 70Cm&pvrac i v KaTaAdyy, 7Ljv aohepo6vnov play an important part in the religious and social life of
nInI [=n17*] rrpbr ~ i au<a@. v Nor is the title 'Book of the the Hebrews, as in that of their neighbours (Egyptians,
Warspf Yahwi.' a probable one. It says either too much or too Arabians, etc. ).s
little. The phrase 'wars of YahwS' occurs elsewhere (I S. 18 17)
of the wars of Saul and (t S. 25 28) of David in his earlief The next step is for ceremonial washings to become
period. But can a distorical work, such as a 'book of wars symbolical. ' Water and fire,' says Jastrow, ' are the
must be supposed to be, have excluded the unsuccessful cam- two great sources of symbolical purification that we
paigns of the champions of Israel? 'Book of the Wars of
srael' is possible, hut surely not the title which now stands in meet with in both primitive and advanced rituals of the
Nu. 21 14. What then is a possible title? The quotation sug- past' ( K e l . of Ba6ylonia and Assyria, 276). Thus
gests that it had reference to geogra hy Elsewhere (see amongst the Jewish ESSENES(p.v. 4 ; cp De Quincey,
VAHEB)it is maintained that the Jerafm&te Negeh is the
region spoken of, and we have reason to think that David, after Works, vol. v i ) , as already amongst the Babylonians
conquering a large part of the Negeb, took a military census of (Jastrow, 276 ; see also R ITUAL , 5 I O ) and Persians
its inhabitants (see TAHTIM-HOYSHI). Both [nib& and nin* (see ZOROASTRIANISM, § 16), washing as a religious
have sometimes arisen out of i ~ c n q . . The oue word represents act received quite a special importance.'
5[~]nn,the other ny,. Most probably the book quot:d from by The ablutions of the Jews may be divided as far as it i s
E in Nu. 21 r q was called sCj& Yerahme'el-i.e., the book, possible now to distinguish them as follows &I) The purely
01 list, of Jerahmeel. I t was a geographical survey. religious (mag)cal)a (2 K. 5 IO cp Jn. 2 97).
T. K. C. 3. occasions I n these we can still detect the primitive
WASHINQS, CEREMONIAL. On the subject idea. (2) The purely ritual which were
generally see C LE AN ($5 15 and 17) and SACRIFICE ; suggested by the first. I n these the idea is now khat of pnrifi-
cation. Under this heading come (a) wishings of initiation and
Cp also B APTISM, J OHN THE BAPTIST. consecration (Lev. 86). With this is connected the washing or
The words for 'washing,' whether ceremonial or not, are : baptism of the Jewish PROSELYTE (4.v. $ 5). (6) Washings
I. p !, r&&, Ass. ra@u ; A O ~ C L(Ex. V 29 4, etc.), nA6verv with a view to the performance of a sacred function (Ex. SO 17-2t).
(of the feet, Lev. 19 etc.), virrnrv (of feet Gen. 19 2 etc. ; of The Egyptian priests, too, were required to bathe frequently in
hands, Ex. 3021 etc. ; of face, Gen. 43 p),'&rrovimerv (Prov. .
cold water(cp Herod. 2 37 also the Mohammedan Wadu).6 (3).
The semi-ritualistic washiLgs for the purpose of cleansing from
SO 12). Mainly in P uncleanness. Examples are : Lev. 136 34 54-58 (leprous gar-
2. Dp?, ki66ZsS, nhv'vsrv (of garments, Ex. 19 14 Lev. 13 6 etc), ments), 1447 (clothes after contact with leprous house), 1452
IrrorrAliverv (of garments, 2 S. 19 24) ; Ass. ka6lisu, to tread. See (house-with running water) 156-8101: 13 16s(clothes and
FULLER. person), 15 IZ (earthen vessel wwden vessel) 15 18 (person), 15
3. $?,! f&6aZ, @ & m e w , ' to dip ' (in blood, Lev. 9 9 14 51 ; in 22 27 (menstruouscontact ; cp Doughty, A r . Des. 1572); in D,
Dt. 21 1-9 23 9-11 ; in JE, Ex. 19 10-15. Resides these, there
water, Nu. 19 18[hysso 1, 2 K.8 15 [coverlet] ; in oil, Dt.33 24 arose (4) the purely social usage common to all eastern peoples.
[the feet], etc.). Cp &LS, 5 5. The hot climate and the wearing of sandals7 made the practice
4. m7, d+z (in Hiph.), LrrorAd<erv (of washing in the lavers,
1 The writer in Schenkel (BL, S.V. 'Waschen') reverses the
2 Ch. 46), rrhdvfrv (burnt offering, Ezek. 40 38). order of ideas. As a preparation for contact with holy things,
5. @anTt<6p€VOS, Eccl. 3430 II Nu. 191rJ, vip p - & 213 3 ~ . the body must be cleansed. Because water was used for the
6. A O V T ~ ~ Ecclus.
V, 3430 [zj], 'washing.' purpose streams etc. were worshipped and men bathed in
7. Ao6ew, Jn. 13 I O ( b AfAoup6vos. RV 'he that is bathed '). them a i a religidus ah.
8. vimerv, M t 15 2 Mk. 7 3 (hands) Jn. 13 5 etc. (feet) Jn. 9 7 a At a much later date, however, to perform ablutions was not
(in healing). always considered a virtue. Cp Stanley, Christian Institu-
9. ,'3arrscup6r, Mk. 74(cups). tions 6 1:: 'C!eanliness is a duty which some of the
It is well known that man in a primitive state, but monakc communities of Christendom have despised, and some
at the stage at which he has become a religious being .
have even treated as a crime ' also Socrates HE 4 23.
3 For the Egyptians, cp Wilkinson, A d . Egyjtiam, 248.
1. Original and some degree of reason has succeeded For the modern Arabians, see Doughty, AY. Des. 1250;
to what was littlemore than instinct, looks where water is lacking or scarce they use sand (cp Doughty,
ideas. upon rivers. springs, and wells as the 1 5 3 6 ; Benzinger, H A , 108 note), but the act is here no doubt
symbolical.
abodes of gods or as being themselves deities (cp 4 For the Greek practice see Hesiod Op. cf Dies, 722.
SPRINGS).~ T o drink the water, to bathe in it, 6 See Th. Frede, Wundergiau6e i d Heidenhrm und in d e r
or merely to sprinkle the person with it, was to imbibe aZtcn Kfrchr, 591:
6 For Mohammedan usage, see, further, ,Koran Sura,5 8, and
1 The arrangement in RV is misleading. Hughes, Dicf. of Islam, under 'Ablution.
a so B F ' AL ~%@AQ. 7 The writer in Schenkel adds other reasons for washings of
3 See F;azer 'Goldes Bouxh and Pausanins: Grant Allen the clothing, of the whole body, or of paiticular atts of It in
Enol. of fhe idfa of God, i88 (cgp 405); Clodd, Primitiv; the East-viz., on account of the desert sand, a n t particularly
Man, 1 8 2 8 Cp WRS, ReZ. Sem.( I, 135. as a protection against cutaneous diseases.
5271 5272
WASHPOT WAX
of feet-washing important and the offering of water for the 1089 [IO]. T h e commentators refer to the story told
yurpose a common mark ’of hospitality (Gen. 18 4 19 2 24 32). of Amasls (Herod. 2 ~ ~ or ) ,to the custom of Persian
o the same category probably belong t h e washings before
(hlt. 15 a) and after meals (Berachoth 84), on which see MEALS, kings of having a footpan carried in their train when
Is.’ in the field. T h e latter illustration is preferred by
T o the first of the social usages ( 5 3 [4]) Jesus no Delitzsch.
doubt conformed. ‘The fourth gospel, which has .to be This base image, however, is surely due to corruption of the
used with the greatest caution, even text. Both Tn and ’XI1 are corruptions of 1WQ MigSur, or of
*. p:yge tells us that he himself washed his
disciples’ feet (Jn. 132). T o the second
Ashhur. See Che. Ps.PI, ad loc., and cp MOAB,% 14
(‘ Moah’ and ‘ Missur ’ liable to confusion).
social usage, however, he seems to have attached little WASP ( c c $ H ~ ) , Wisd. 128 AV, also RVmg., RV
importance (Lk. 1138). W e are also told that he sub- H ORNET (P.v.).
mitted to a ritual washing or baptism, and further
showed his approval of such an act by making it a WATCH (7v@f2),Neh.73. See G UARD , 3.
Christian institution. As, however, such a rite would WATCHER (Y’Z), ‘ir [Aram.] : arrshoc C6S71E I P
be contrary to the general tenor of his teaching, so far [Theod.] ; f r P H r o p o C [Aq. Sym.] ; vigiL, in the Gk.
as we can gather it from our imperfect sources (cp Enoch ~rpH,-opoc) ; Dan. 4 IO 14 [om. 61 20 [I3 17 131.
Tolstoy, The Kingdom of God, chap. 3), and cannot The term reminds us of the o p , ii.mlorim (Is. 626)
be certainly inferred from the passages in the Gospels
which are generally adduced a s evidence (see 0. whom Yahwb charges to watch over the ruined walls of
Holtzmann, Leben Jesu, p. 411 ; cp, on the other hand, Jerusalem, and to remind him of their sad condition.
B APTISM ), its adopt.on by Jesus himself must be con- W e find it again in Enoch and in Jubilees. In Enoch
sidered extremely doubtful. Moreover, Paul, or the it is used in a double sense. In 1 5 109 15 122 4 1310
Pauline school, does not mention it as an institution of 14 I 3 1 5 a 16 I 2 91 15 it designates the fallen angels ; in
Jesus. I Cor. 117 even makes Paul say ‘ Christ sent 20 I 39 12 13 402 61 12 71 7 it belongs to the archangels.
me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel ’ (cp Ernst In Jubilees 415 (cp 83 l O 5 ) , in the explanation of the
von Dobschutz, Die Urchrisflichen Gemeinden, 22f: ). name Jared (which agrees with that given in Enoch 66,
Feine, indeed, thinks that Paul implies it, while not except that Mt. Hermon is not mentioned as the place
actually mentioning it because it was not a matter of on which they descended) it is said, ‘ i n his days the
controversy in the apostolic church (Jesus Chn>tus und angels of the Lord descended on the earth, those who
Paulus, 243). And Dreschen (Dar L d e n Jesu bez are named the Watchhers, that they should instruct the
Paulus) takes a very similar view. But almost any- children of men, and that they should do judgment and
thing might be implied (or read into) the N T , and the uprightness on the earth.’ A myth of the watchers
simplest conclusion is that it had not yet become a which differs somewhat from that in the Ethiopic Enoch
Christian institution. It has been contended that the is given in the Slavonic Enoch (183 cp 6 3 ; see Charles’s
rite was a natural development of the Jewish practice of notes in Secrets of Enoch) ; they are there called the
baptizing the proselyte (see Stanley, Chn‘stian Znsfitu- Grigori (Byp?)yopot). In the Book of Adam and Eve
fions, 5 ; cp Tylor, Primitive CuUure, 2 4 4 0 8 ) br of (6th cent. A . D .) the watchers are also represented as
the ceremonial washings of the Essenes (see E. Plauta the fallen angels, who, as long as they preserved their
Nesbit. Christ, Christians. and Christianity ; De virginity, were called the ‘ sons of Seth.’ See Charles’s
Quincey, Woorks, vol. vii. ). T h e second suggestion is very full note on Jubilees 4 15,
unnecessary (see von Dobschiitz, p. 105). As to the WATCHES OF THE NIGHT. See D AY, 5 4.
first, it is much more probable that the rite, as in WATCHTOWER (il$yp, mi5peh ; Is. 21 8). Cp
the case of the Eucharist,3 was taken over from the
MIZPAH, MIZPEH. For bd&an(Is. 32 14t)and S?p,m&dEZ,
Pagans.
see T OWER. In Is. 2 16 RVmg. has ‘pleasant watch-towers’for
This, with other rites, was adopted at a time when
the new sect was trying to win over converts among the
??p?s ni’??, i?k+yafh ha&emdZh (AV ‘pleasant pictures,’
RV ‘pleasant imagery’); but see ‘Isa.’SBOT (Heb.), note ad
Gentiles, and when the gap between Judaism and Zoc., and Crit. Bib.
Christianity had widened. With that wonderful power
of adapting itself which it once had, the new religion WATER (DlD). On the ‘ holy’ or ‘ bitter’ water,
admitted the pagan ceremony of i n i t i a t i ~ n . ~Cp ROME. called also the ‘ water of purifying’ (AV) or ‘of ex-
M. A. C. piation’ (RV) of Nu. 8 7 8 see J EALOUSY [TRIAL OF] ;
WASHPOT, a term of abuse applied to Moab in.the on the water of ‘ separation ’ or ‘ of impurity ‘ (RVmP.)
expression ‘ hloab is my washpot’ (’y?? 7’0 2yV2 ; in Nu. 199, See CLEAN A N D UNCLEAX, 5 17
M W ~ B A E B H C T H C ahrrihoc MOY ; similarly. Vg. : WATERCOURSE. t ~ a n h ,njyn, see CON-
Yn? in Tg. =Heb. np? ‘ t o trust ’) ; Ps. 608 [IO] 5 2.
DUITS,
2. jdZeg-, p?/acrah, 299, ;n$~,
see R ~ V E R , 5.
1 Cp, further, Kohler‘s art. ‘ Ablution ’ in the Jewish Encyclo- 3. m8@ rnrtyim, 0%) Ngn, 2 Ch. 32 30 AV. See SPRINGS, % D
pcrdia. [6],and cp GIHON.
a Colenso (Natal Sennotas 1866 No. IO) thought that ‘the 4. ;inn&, +y, 2 S. 5 8 RV, AV ‘gutter ’ ; meaning doubtful.
command in Mt. 28-19, “Go e; therefore, and teach all
nations, haptising them in the name of the Father and of the WATERPOT ( y h p i b ) ,Jn. 27. Cp P OTTERY, § 3 ( 1 ) .
Son and of the Holy Ghxt ” would be conclusive as to the fact WATERS OF MEROM ( D i l p g ) , Josh. 115 7. See
of his having directly en.ioiAed the practice, were it not that this
formula with its full expression of the name of the Trinity M EROM [WATERS OF].
betrays’the later age in which the passage in which it occur;
was most probably written.’ Conybeare has recently shown WATERSPOUT. (I) YiQ, :inn&-, Ps. 427 (RVma.
( Z N T W , 2 2 7 5 8 [1901]: cp ffib6. J o z r m . 11 0 2 8 ) very stro?g ‘cataract ’). Cp WATERCOURSE, 4. (2) p ~fannin, , Ps.148 7
reasons for believing that the mention of the three Persons m
the Trinity is not original (cp col. 3270 [top]). The passage as RVw. See S ERPENT, 5 3f: n. 2 ; WHALE.
it stands, therefore, seems to have been edited for liturgical
purposes, and it is likely that in the first instance there was no
WAVE LOAVES ( n p n pi+), ~ e v 2317. . See
reference whatever to baptism. Apart from this we have no SACRIFICE, s 346. WAVE OFFERING (npm), E ~ .
evidence, as Colenso again says (i6id. No. g), that any of Jesus’ 2924. See S ACRIFICE, 5 14.and cp C LEAN AND U N -
disciples were baptised. CLEAN, 5 3.
3 This again has been looked upon as a development of a
Jewish practice. See, especially G. H. Box in the J o u r n a l o f WAX (qh,d6nag; K H P O C )Ps. , 2214 [IS] 682 [3]
Theological S t d i e s , 3 357-369,$ha thinks that the Last Sup r
was not a Passover as is commonly supposed, but the weegy 975 Mic. 1 4 ; also Judith1615 Ecclus. 2420; also Ps.
Kid&&%,a service)in the house. 588 [g] 6 (see S NAIL , z),Is. 64I [z] B B N A Q : and possibly
4 Cp Grant Allen, EvoZ. of the Idea of God, 388 405;
Clodd, Primitive Man, 1 8 2 8 : J. M. Robertson, Shmt Hist. Ezek. 2717 (emended text : so Co. ; but see PANNAG),
of Chrisfranify (see Indsx). and Ps. 11812[see 61. Beeswax, which is secreted by
5273 5274
WAY WEAVING
all honey-bees and formed into the cell walls of their WEASEL (+n ;1 r&AH ; mustela), the name of an
comh is intended. It melts at 144’ F. See BEE. unclean animal, Lev. 1129f (EV, 6, Targ. Jon. ; Pesh..
WAY. On ‘ t h e way‘ (H oAoc), Actsgz, etc., see Vg., and most Rabbins). There is some little doubt,
HERESY, 5 I. however, whether the weasel is really referred to, and
WAYMARK (It’?),
Jer. 3121 [zo]. See MASSEBAH. various interpreters (Saadia, Bochart, Lag. N B 144)
have preferred on philological grounds the rendering
5 I e , col. 2978 ; also Crit. Bib. ‘mole’ (but see below). T h e weasel is an anima1
WEAPONS. Cp W AR . Hebrew uses the general hardly ever eaten, and its long body and short legs
term k3lim (Gen. 273), which means simply instruments or
implements. :1 1 S. 2040 AV renders by the more ambitious might be urged as justifying its position ‘among the
word ‘artillery. In the N T (Jn. 183 Rom. 613 z Cor. 104) creeping things that creep upon the earth.’
the common Greek term G d a is employed. Zoologically weasels are placed with the pole-cats, martens,
Naturally at first any implement or instrument would and others in the family Mustelidae of the order Carnivora.
be used as a weapon, a club or a S TAFF ( [ g . ~ . ]; cp One species of each of the above-mentioned animals is. recorded
by Canon Tristram from the Holy Land. The southern weasel
Darwin, Descent of iMan, 81 E18gol). Musfela boccamefa, is found about Mount Tabor and probabl;
1. In But the natural weapons of the lower in other wooded districts ; the pole-cat, M. jut on.^, lives under
animals (horns, etc. ; see Darwin, 500s) would soon Hermon and Lebanon, and the white-breasted or beech marten
M. foina in the neighbourhood of Beyrout. It is unlikely !ha;
suggest to man the use of something more effective. the HehrLws distinguished between these species, though from
Later, it is possible that one at least of the agricultural its habits and habitat they may have separated off the otter,
implements, the sickle (see A GRICULTURE , 5 7, with Lutra vulgnnk, which is common on the shores of the sea of
Galilee. A. E. S.-S. A. C.
figs.), gave rise to the scimitar or S W O I ~(9.v.). D This
would add force to the words in Is. 24. I n no art, WEAVING
perhaps, has more ingenuity or more rapid progress
been shown than in that of the manufacture of weapons Raw products and their pre- Warping (I 5).
paar;ttion(8 I). Shedding (g 6).
(see Herbert Spencer, PrincQZes of Sociblogy, lI3)59). Spinning (8 2). Passing and beating up of weft
As the Hebrews had no doubt to wage war continually, The horizontal loom (8 3). (8 7).
it would be no matter for surprise if they had displayed Two types of upright loom Direction of web (S E).
(B 4). Final processes (I 9).
some skill in this art at quite an early date. Later, Technigue and terminology of Pattern and figure weaving
they would also be quick to note and to copy the equip- weaving ($30 5-8). (5 14.
ment of more advanced neighbours (e.g. Canaanites, In the present study of the art of weaving as
Egyptians, Assyrians, etc. ), who realised more fully practised by the Hebrews from the earliest times to
the value of well-equipped, organised, and disciplined the opening centuries of our era it is proposed ( I ) to
armies. See A R M Y and cp WAR. The more primitive glance briefly at the raw materials and the manner
weapons of offence, however, such as the C LUB (see of their preparation for the loom, which will include the
S TAFF) and SLING (4.v.) were perhaps never entirely process of spinning ; ( 2 )to explain the construction and
displaced by the S WORD and D AGGER (see SWORD), modus oprundz’ of the loom itself ; and ( 3 ) to close with
J AVELIN (q.v.),BOW (see below, z), and S PEAR (9.v.); brief references to the further processes through which
and instruments with Hint edges or points, as has fre- the web had to pass after leaving the loom, and to the
quently happened, no doubt continued to be used side more obscure subject of pattern and figure weaving.
by side with those of metal. Of defensive weapons, a Throughout the whole period of their national exist-
SHIELD ( 4 . v . ) of some kind was probably in use at a ence, the needs of the Hebrew households in the matter
very early date ; but we also hear in the OT of B REAST- of textiles were supplied for the most
PLATE, GREAVES,and H ELMET (9q.v.) . 1. The and part by W OOL and FLAX (9q.v.)-
products ~~~
On Egyptian and Assyrian monuments one of the frequently mentioned together in OT,
2. The bow. weapons most commonly represented is preparation.s
their Hos. 2 5 Prov. 31 13, etc. -with the
the Bow (see C HARIOT , S IEGE , W AR ). addition, for coarser textures, of the
The Hebrew term is n$g, &!Seth. With this are of course H AIR ( 9 . v . ) of goats and camels, and, in the latest
connected the ARROW, YE, @s, and the case for carrying it, periods of their history, of COTTON and S ILK (q9.v.) .
*!R, tZZi (Gen. 273), or ‘a$Zh-i.e., the QUIVER (q.v. : In an interesting passage of the Mishna treatise Sirabdlith
cp also CHARIOT). This seems to have heen one of the earliest ( 7 z ) , among the various categories of work forbidden
of the more elaborate weapons. The throwing of a small SPEAR on the Sabbath-‘ forty save one’ in number (cp z Cor.
( p a ) or DART, n i t , S t Z d ( 2 Ch. 32 5 AV, RV ‘weapons’; cp 11 24)-we find an enumeration of the chief processes in
Joel 2s) 1 with the hand would soon give rise to a mechanical the manufacture of woollen cloth, including ‘ shearing,
instrum;nt (cp SLING)to which the dart would be suitably scouring, teazing, dyeing, spinning, warping, attaching
adapted feathers bein; added to increase its flight (cp Tylor, the leashes to the leash-rods (for these technical terms,
Anfhro&logy chap. S).s In this way we get the ARROW. The
bow wascomAonly made of reed, wood, or horn. The Israelites see below, 5 sz), weaving,’ etc.
used it both in war (Gen. 48 zz), and in the chase (21 m); and The fleece (lW7 n?!, Judg. 6 37). according to the statement
seem to have bent it with the foot (for the Egyptian practice,
in the Mishna, w a s first scoured(p>) to remove impurities and
see Wilkinson, A m . Eg. 1203). Thestrings, P’!?’D, mithdrim
(Ps. 21 12) were probably made of gut or hide. Here we seem restore the original white colour (hence &heterm), after which
to have case in which an implement of war suggested an it was thoroughly teazed (Y?!) and carded (339 with a carding
instrument of music (see MUSIC,$ 2 ; cp Tylor, Anthropology, comb. The latter operation is done at the present day in the
chap. 12). According to the AV of 2 S. 118 David ‘bade them wool bazaars of the Levant (cp Jos. B/ v. 8 I [%3311 for an
teach the children of Judah [the use ofl the bow’ apparently an ;pcorr&A~av in Jerusalem, the n y $W p9W of Ertlb.109) by
irrelevant notice where it stands in 2 S. ; hence RV substitutes
‘song’ for ‘use.’ The remedy, however, seems inadequate, and means of a bow and its string. At this stage the wool might
it is open to methodical textual critics to dense something more
radical and effective. See H. P. Smith, ad Zoc. and cp Cn’t. 1 For proper names poscibly derived from the name of this
Bi6. The bowmen of Elam (Is. 226 Jer. 49 35,’ if the text is animal see HELED,HELDAI, HULDAH.
correct), of Kedar (Is. 21 17), and of an unnamed people from 2 Cp Ar. &uZd, Syr. &zZfdZ, ‘mole,’ and ?lg\?n, an animal
the land of ])gs (Jer. 6 23) are specially mentioned in the OT. often mentioned in the Talm. (see Di. ad Zoc. Aconnection with
75” which means ‘penetrate deeply’ 9 ni in Talm., ‘to
1 Other words rendered DART are : B : ~ , %e!, z S. 18 14 EV, plunse in the sacrificial knife ’I, is prob%?e7;5Lewysohn, Zool.
RVmg. ‘staves,’ see STAFF ; K$F$ tatha&, Job 41 29 [ZI] AV, Talm. 101, and Hommel, Siiugethiere, 337. It h, however to
RV ‘clubs,’ hut see JAVELIN, 3 ; yep, massd‘, Job 41 26 [IS] be observed that, now, at any rate, no true mole occu,‘ in
Palestine. See MOLE. On a later Heb. word for weasel, see
E V ; f‘n,e?, Pr. 723 AV, RV ‘arrow’ (see above); ~k P J h , col. 1210 n. I.
Eph. 6 16 ; and PoAb, Heb. 12 20 (but the clause should probably 3 The standard work on this subject is still Tertnkum Anti-
be omitted ; see Ti.). quonrrw, an A c c o r d of f k e Art of Weaving among the
2 In other respects the construction was no doubt similar to AncGnts :Part I [all published] : On the raw materials used for
that of the SPEAR (q.v.). weaving,’ by James Yates, 1843.
5275 5276
WEAVING WEAVING
be dyed or this process .night be deferred till after the spinning which also the spindle is kept rotating. The spindle
or even ’until it could be dyed ‘in the piece ’ after leavlng the consisted of three parts (see Maimon. on PEyii 12 8 ap.
loom. Surenh. iWishnu): a hook by which the thread from
In the case of flax, we can follow the similar pro- the distaff was fastened, the wooden shank, 9-12 inches
cesses by the help both of literary references (Mishna, in length, and the circular or spherical whorl of clay,
passim ;Pliny, H N 19 3 etc. ), and of the graphic repre- stone, or other heavy material which served to steady
sentations on Egyptian tombs (see Yates, op. cit. [n. 3. the rotatory motion of the spind1e.l (For illustration
above], pl. 7 ; Wilkinson, Anc. Eg.2 173). Here we see of early Palestinian spindle-whorls see Bliss, A Mounu
the stalks being pulled up by the roots, laid in order and ofMuny Cities. 82, cp 80.)
rippled with a rippling-comb, or beaten over a stick to The word ‘yarn,’ in Heb. n l ~ p(Ex. 3525, lit. that which is
free them from the seed capsules. After being exposed on
spun [ 3 9 ,cp L B vcvvupiva), occurs in AV only I K. 10 28 2 Ch.
the flat roof (see Josh. 2 6 ) or elsewhere until thoroughly
1 16 as a curious rendering of nrpn, in which recent editors are
dry, they were steeped in a trough to separate the inner
unanimous in finding the name of the district of KuT: in Asia
fibres from the woody portions of the stalk, a process Minor (see MIZRAIM $5 2 a ; and Benzinger and Kittel nd lor.
technically known as ‘retting.’ The stalks thus h u t cp C HARIOT $ ’5 col. 726 n. I , and C r i t . Bi6.). It is
macerated were again dried in the sun or in an oven introduced by thk revilsers in Piov. 7 16 as the rendering of the
(Shabd. 1 6 ) , and then beaten with a wooden mallet obscure jWtj (for which see L INEN , I), and Ezek. 27 19 where
(Pliny’s ‘ stupparius malleus ’) to complete the separation most scholars would read as in RVw. ‘ from UZAL’ ( p . ~ . ) .
of the inner fibres. In the earliest period these fibres The art of spinning was carried to perfection in Egypt
were sorted by the hand (Erman, Egypt, 450); later even under the earlier dynasties. Much of the linen
they were ‘heckled’ or combed by means of a used as wrappings for the royal mummies is composed
comb (pf? hj plop, illustr. Wilkinson, 2174), bywhich of threads of almost incredible fineness. Thus it has
the longer and finer fibres were separated from those of been calculated that the bandages in which the hands
inferior quality. Women as well as men were engaged of Thotmes 111. were enveloped, and which shows
in this process of heckling the flax, as appears from Is. about 150 threads of warp and 75 of weft to the square
inch, was woven from yarn so fine that 60 miles of it
1 9 9 , where the njpqp of ,MT (AV ‘fine flax,’ RV ‘coinbed
would only weigh one pound avoirdupois (reduced to
flax’ ; cp Symm. K T E ~ U L U T ~should
V) be read niplib, the English measures from Braulik. AZtuDpt. GeweBe, 6 ; c p
flax-combers (Vg. pcctentes).l Linen was preferably Birch’s note, ap. Wilk. op. cit. 2162). Such gossamer
worn in its native whiteness ; but, if required, the flax threads, however, cannot be identified with those of the
might be dyed before being spun, as in the case of the ‘ fine twined linen ’ (12; moiza‘r, e i ~ of
) Ex. 26-28
Tabernacle curtains (Ex. 35 2 5 ) , or the dyeing might be 36-39, as a fabric of this sort would be entirely out of
postponed to a later stage as explained above for wool. place as curtains for the court of the tabernacle (for the
To judge from an incidental remark in BEbE Kumma most probable explanation of the term, see L INEN , 7).
1 0 9 , woollen garments were more favoured in J u d z a , Probably no department of the technology of an-
whilst Galilee preferred linen. tiquity is so beset with difficulties
Goats’ hair was employed for textures of the coarser sort The as that which deals with the art of
especially for the garb of mourning (see SACKCLOTH),^ and l i d
camels’ hair was often nixed with sheep’s wool (Ktlnim 9 I ). loom. wenvinrr.
.. -.. -----
In later times COTTON and S ILK 6 q . v . ) (Rev. 18 12 but not Afterall that has been done by Bliimner (Technol. u. Tetnzinol.
Ecclus. 45 IO [AV], see RV, nor Am. 3 12 [RV])were introduced : der Gwerbe, etc 1875)and Marquardt (Privatle6en der Rdimer,
the hidemin ( ,1733, Y&na,3 7) or Indian fabrics worn by the 187g)for the Gre;k and Roman looms, by Hraulik (Alteyjtische
high priest were undoubtedly of cotton. To these the Mishna Gwebe-, 1900)for those of Egypt, and by Rieger (Versuch eincr
adds hemp (D‘?;?, KdvvaStr-but the ‘hempen frock ‘of Ecclus. Temrinol. u. Technol. der Handwerke in der Mishna : I Th.,
Spinnen, Weben, etc., 1894) and others, there remains much
4 0 4 RV is a n incorrect rendering of &pihrvav for which see that is uncertain, not only as regards the terminology and modus
below, $ 9) and the fibres of a species of mussel, for which see operandi,but even as regards the details of construction. Were
Yates, 03.rit. 152& the ancients, for example, familiar with the mechanism of the
Whilst among the Hebrews, as among the Egyptians, treadles? Was the horizontal or low loom in use among the
both men (Ex.3535 I S . 177 [and [Is], I Ch.421) and Romans of the republic and early empire? To the latter
question Blumner and Marquardt reply in the affirmative, whilst
women (Judg. 16 13 f. 2 K. 297 Prov. Ahrens (Ffiilologus,35) Rich (in his excellent Dict. of Gk.and
a* spinning* 3 1 z + I Esd. 4 1 7 : cp Jos. BY i. 243 tipa Rorn. Ant.), Yates and Marindin (in Smith’sDict. of Gk. and
rais GoiiXarr) plied the loom, the art of spinning was Rom. A d , ( $ )S.V. ‘tela’) present a good case for the exclusive
peculiarly a feminine accomplishment (Ex. 3525f: Prov. use of the upright loom. Certainly no monumental representa-
tions of the horizontal loom, or for that matter few of the up-
31 19 Tob. 2 11). The apparatus for spinning : 3
( ; v./18w right loom, have come down to us from classical antiquity.
Mt. 628 Lk. 1227) both wool and flax consisted of the Treating the question from the point of view of the
distaff (hi&?, iiei.? [see B D B s.v.1 Prov. 3 1 19 RV ; AV history of man’s progress in the arts of civilisation, we
spindle-in the Mishna a??, ?jha~d-, coZus) and the find that weaving is merely a development of the art of
plaiting, and has been correctly defined by Plato as
spindle ( p d e k , $59,
. . Prov. 2.c. R V ; AV ‘distaff,’
~ h e ~ r i ~K Pt i~ )K ~ J Kai
S u r ~ p o v o s( #a plaiting of weft and
~ T ~ U K T O fusus
S, ; Mishna, rdis). In 2 S. 3 29 we should warp,’ cited by Marq. op. cit. 504). More precisely,
render ’ that holdeth the spindle’ (Vg. tenens fusum) the art of weaving, in its simplest form, consists in
for ‘that leaneth on a staff’ (EV) [though here-see intersecting a series of parallel threads, called the warp,
STAFF-the suitableness of the reading has been dis- a t right angles by another set of threads called the weft
p ~ t e d ] . ~The distaff generally consisted of a piece or woof, in such a way that each weft thread shall pass
of cane round the open head of which the wool or flax alternately over and under each of the warp threads.
was wound. It is held in the left hand or fixed in the In plaiting, this interlacing is done by hand, and even
girdle, while the spinner draws out and twists the yarn at the present day in some parts of Arabia and N. Africa
between the finger and thumb of the right hand,4 with -no doubt also among many other half-civilised tribes
-the art of w-eaving has not advanced beyond this
1 So modern edd. For the technical process disguised under
the following ;mindsee helow $ 5. stage. The late E. H. Palmer thus describes the very
a For the variety of haircloih named by the Romans cilicium, primitive work of an old Bedouin woman in the neigh-
and its interesting association with Paul, see CILICIA,# 3. bourhood of Jebel MCisa. ‘ On one of these occasions
3 From the original sipnificance of the root 759 in Semitic I noticed an old woman weaving at the tent-door. Her
vin. ‘to be rmnd glohula; ’p&k must originally have signified
the round or spherical khorl with which the spindle was looni u-as a primitive one, consisting only of a few
weighted, ac the cognate fem. form still does in Arabic then by upright sticks upon which the threads were stretched ;
metonymy the whole spindle (see Driver, TBS 19z
DISTRICT I.
3). Cp
1 For illustration of Egyptian distaffs and spindles see Wilk.
4 Cp Jeome, E#. 150.15 ‘habeto h a m semper in manibun, o#. rit. 2 172 ; Gk. and Roman ap. Bliimner, Technolo@, etc.
vel staminis pollice fila deducito,’ etc. 1 ~rs$,and the Dicts. of Class. Antiq. S.ZIZI. ‘colns~and‘fusus.’
5277 5278
WEAVING WEAVING
the transverse threads were inserted laboriously by the ground into the warp could be much more easily and
fingers, without the assistance of a shuttle, and the naturally done on a horizontal loom such as that shown
whole fabric was pressed close together with a piece of above.'
wood. Beside her stood a younger female spinning Of the upright loom, which consists essentially of two
goats' hair to supply the old lady with the materials - - posts
upright - joined at the top by a cross-beam, the
necessary for her task ' (The Desert of fhe Exodus, 1125). jugum of the R o k i d loom (for this view
Between this incident and the first representations of the 4. The two of thejugurn see Smith's Dict. of Gk. and
horizontal loom by Egyptian artists, there stretches a types of up- Rom. Ant.(3)2765), there are two main
period of nearly 5000 years. Even at that early period, right loom. types, regarding which it is difficult to
however, and, as the textile remains abundantly prove, say which is the older. (r)-There is first the type
for at least a millennium previously, the inventive genius familiar to classical students from the representation of
of Egypt, which, according to Pliny, taught the ancient Penelope's'loom on a Greek vase of the fifth century
world the art of weaving, had furnished the loom with B.C. (see ill. EB(Q) 23x6 ; Blumner, 09.cit. 1357, and
the apparatus necessary for more expeditious work. often elsewhere), the distinguishing feature of which is
Putting aside the case illustrated by Wilkinson ( A n c . the absence of a cross-beam below, the warp threads
Eg.2170), which furnishes no indication of any appar- being kept taut by a series of small stone weights
attached either to the individual threads, as in the case
just cited, or to bundles of threads, as in the compara-
tively modern Icelandic loom (ill. Smith, 09.cit. 2766,
less complete in Rich, S.V. ' tela'). The Roman looms
were also of this type, as were those of the lake dwellers
of Switzerland in the neolithic age (Buschan, ' Die
Anfange u. Entwickelung der Weberei in der Vorzeit '
in VerhandZg. d. Berlin. Ges. f. Anfhropologie, etc.,
1889, pp. 2 2 7 8 ) ) . In one of the strata of the mound
of Tel-el-Hesy ( c i ~ c a500-400 B.C.), Dr. Bliss found a
large number of objects, some round, some pear-shaped,
of unbiirnt brick, which he considers to have served a s
weaver's weights ( A Moundof Many CitieJ, 113). On
this view we must admit the existence of this type of
loom in Palestine, although it has not yet been found
in Egypt.
( 2 ) The other type of upright loom is characterised
FIG. 1.-Women weaving by the presence of a second cross-beam below. Where,
as usually in Egypt according to Herodotus (235), the
atus beyond a simple frame, and is therefore, in all
web was commenced at the bottom of the loom, such a
probability, a case of mat-plaiting, we may take the
beam was indispensable and served as a cloth-beam ;
familiar representation from the tombs at Beni Hasan
where, as was presumably the case in Palestine, the
of the two women squatting on the ground and engaged web was 'woven from the top' (Jn.1923), the lower
in the process of weaving (Wilk. op. cit. 1317. Erman. beam served a s the yarn-beam. I n either type of
Anc. Bg. 448, after Lepsius ; Moore's 'Judges,' SBOT upright loom, however, an additional cross-beam might
Eng., 86 ; Braulik, of. cit. Figs. 89-91, pp. 5 9 8 ) . be provided-usually constructed so as to revolve, thus
Till recently, it was assumed that this picture, which
rendering it possible to weave a length of web greater
dates from the middle empire, represented an upright
loom. It is evident, however, that this is a mistake
due to the absence of perspective in Egyptian drawing.
T h e loom is horizontal with a yarn-beam a, and a
cloth-beam 6, each fixed to the ground by a couple of
wooden pegs. Between the beams the warp is stretched,
and, if we can trust the artist in this detail, the cloth-
beam is capable of revolving and winding up the finished
web. T h e remaining parts of this instructive represen-
tation will require a more detailed examination in a
subsequent section ( 5 6 ) .
Now, when we consider the antiquity and prevalence
of the horizontal loom in Egypt,l and its prevalence in
a variety of forms throughout the E., from Africa to
India, at the present day,* it would be strange if the
Hebrews were unacquainted with it. W e have, how-
ever, no explicit testimony to the form and construction
of the early Hebrew loom. Still, a study of the well-
known passage which will engage our attention when
we come to deal with the terminology of weaving ( 5 7)
-shows that +e probabilities of the case are in favour
of Delilahs loom being of the horizontal type. T h e
operation of weaving the hair of a person asleep on the
L
FIG. 2.-Upright loom. From Wilkinson, Anc. Er. 2 171.
1 In the vocalisation of the many terns in the sequel found 1 The introduction of' knitting' here is a curious anachronism
in Talmudic literature, the pointing adopted by Dalman in his this art, according to Beckmann's History qflnwntipns, havini
Aramaisch-Neu~brriisch~s if'brterbuch has been generally wobably been invented in Scotland not long before the year
followed. r5oo A.D. (Yates, op. C i t . 6f3.
2 Rieger's suggestion that ''7 may be the shuttle (0). cif. 32) 2 For what we believe to he the true explanation of this
is inadmissible. :ethnical term, see below, col. 5285f:
5281 5282
WEAVING WEAVING
and the weft passed through by means of a pointed Fig. 3 shows the formation of the first or natural shed at r
stick with which (or with the lathe) it was then beat up. through the raising of the odd warp threads by the rod d,fig. 4
the formation of the second or artificial shed at s through the
This stage is represented by the Arab horizontal loom raising of the even threads by the rod e.
described by Burckhardt (h'utes on the Bedouin and The final stage, we are convinced, in the evolution of
Wahaby, 67 f:) : ' to keep the upper and under woof the shedding apparatus for plain weaving on the looms
(read ' w a r p ' ) at a proper distance from each other a of antiquity was reached, when in the case of the upnght
flat stick is placed between them. A piece of wood
serves as the weaver's shuttle, and a short gazelle's horn
is used in beating back the thread of the shuttle.'
IVith a single dividing rod, however, it must still have
been necessary to insert every alternate weft thread by
means of this primitive shuttle over the odd threads (in
the case supposed) and under the even threads, since the
formation of a second shed requires a second rod. This,
however, was the next stage of the evolutionary process
now being traced, and is already represented in the
early Egyptian loom reproduced above (fig. I). Here 2 d X
we note the presence of two rods in close connection 0 X
w Y 0
with the warp ; the one, d , a plain rod inserted between FIG. 4.
the two halves of the warp-let us say, as before, that the
odd threads, I, 3, 5, etc., pass over the rod,' the even loom it was found expedient to attach both sets of the
threads, 2, 4: 6, etc., under it-the other rod, e, which warp, the odd and the even threads alike, by loops or
must lie outside and above the warp, crossed by a series leashes to a couple of rods, which we shall henceforth
of threads which are represented in the picture by short call leash-rods, both being suspended in front of the
diagonal lines. The invention of this simple device for warp from the jugum or upper crossbeam of the loom, or
expediting the operation of shedding deserves to rank from the second of the top beams if there were two, as
with that of the 'flying shuttle,'2 for by this means in the case of the Theban loom in fig. 2. Here, so far
almost twice as much work could be done in a given as the imperfect condition of the picture enables us to
time. A single rod, such as d, as we have seen, is infer, we have a rod g near the top of the loom, doubt-
capable of forming but one shed, which allows the weft less dividing the warp into two sets ( ' stamen secernit
to be passed under the odd and oner the even threads of arundo,' Ovid, Met. 655) to facilitate the attachment of
the warp only. Now in order that warp and weft shall the leashes to the leash-rods h,i, all three suspended
be properly interlaced to form the web, it is necessary from the yarn-beam 6. By pulling forward h and i
that in returning the weft shall pass under the even and alternately, are formed the alternate sheds through
over the odd warp threads. T o effect this each of the which the weft-thread R is passed.
even threads passing under the rod d is attached by a We come now to the perplexing question of the
loop to the rod e. Therefore by simply raising this rod Hebrew terminology of the apparatus just described.
-in the upright loom by its being drawn towards the T h e single reed of the more primitive loom was termed
operator standing in front of the loom-all the even by the Greeks Kavhv, by the Romans arundo; in the more
threads are pulled upwards (or forwards) so as to be elaborate looms, such as fig 2, we find not only ~ a v b v e s
above (or in front of) the odd threads and thus a second and KdXapoc but also in d dvrlov (see below), in Latin
shed is formed through which the weft is passed. Rod Ziciafon'a, as the names of the leash-rods to which the
d is again raised, then e , and so on alternately. But warp-strings were attached by means of loops or leashes
this cannot be done with the rods in the relative of thread (hence called p i ~ o c ,Zicia), corresponding to
positions which they occupy in fig. I, for if the reader the healds or heddles of the modern loom. Now the
will make the experiment on a model with twenty or Ziciaforiuin or leash-rod of the classical loom was named
twenty-four warp threads, he will find that the shed by the Jews of N T times not only kdneh m~ (OhoL 84,
formed by raising the rod e with its attachment of loops here mentioned along with the spatha [see infra], Jer.
will not reach to the edge of the web owing to the Shadb. 105),but also as Jastrow (Dict.,S.Z.) and Rieger
obstruction caused by the rod d. Braulik, who alone, (09.cit. 29) have rightly perceived, n i r (-I*! pZ. nirfna
apparently, of previous writers has attempted to describe and 4%).Etymologically identical with the Assyrian
the exact modus operandi of the Egyptian loom, has over- nivu, a yoke, this term might be applied to any trans-
looked this defect in the artist's picture and has even verse rod or beam, hence to the leash-rods or shafts
gone so far as to assume, contrary to his own descrip- of a loom. This meaning alone suits the (textually
tion of the drawing, that both rods were worked in the corrupt) description of the veil of the temple in ShPkdlim
same manner as rod e (see Braulik, 09.cit. fig. 92, p. 62).
T h e true explanation is that the artist-if we assume
8 5 , of which many wonderful renderings have been
given by lexicographers and commentators.
the correctness of the reproduction in fig. I-being un- This veil, we read, 'was a handbreadth thick and was woven
skilled in the technique of weaving, has reversed the upon 7 2 rods (I,??), and over each rod (N1.11 Nl.3 h-5yl-so we
trne position of the rods, since it will be found by experi- must read for nimin and ninza of the ordinary text) were 24
ment that with two such rods, the one separating the two leashes (7.~3n lit. ' threads,' cp Gk. piroc).' 2 These two ni~z9z
leaves of the warp, the other attached to the lower leaf of the ordinary loom might be suspendedbycords passing over the
by a series of looped threads, the latter rod must always cross beam as in fig. a, or from a peg (1:) projecting from either
be placed nearer to the edge of the web. This holds end of the beam in question, ' two rods on one peg, and two pegs
good of both types of loom and of both methods of
1 The conjecture may be hazarded that the hvriov was at first
weaving on the upright loom, namely from above or therod which lay or hung outside, as if opposite to(bvn? the warp
from below (see below, 5 8 ) . (see e of fig. I), as distinguished from the r a v h , d,which latter
The principle here enunciated for the first time will he im- again may be the psodvrcov of certain MSS. of C6 (I S. 17 7-for
mediately recognised as indispensable from the following the strange variety of readings in d see Moore, Proc. ofAm. Or.
diagrams in which the letters correspond to those of fig. I , with Sac. 1889, p. clxxvii).
the addition of x to denote the odd, y the even threads of the 2 The arrangement is not essentially different if we take p 1 n
warp, and z the web. ~.here of the threads of the war , in which case each nir would
-~ ..
1 The prepositions 'over' and 'under' are here used with resemble not e but d of fig. I . %or the modus operandi of such
special reference to the horizontal loom, fig. I ;but the principle complex looms, hut of the horizontal type, with as many as 8 0
of the upright loom in fig. 2 ;is essentially the same; only in this to go shafts see EBP) 24 465. Moore's rendering of the above
case the prepositions ' hefore ' an? 'behind ' must of course he passage (Z.c ) 'and on every thread (nima of text? receptus),
substituted for 'over and ' under. namely of th; warp were 24 strings (connecting it with as many
2 By John Kay of Bury in 1733. is
different heddles)' unintelligible to the present writer.
5283 5284
WEUVING WEaVING
for one rod ’ (Jer. Shu66.72, so Rieger ; cp illustr. o j . cif.). This etc., lit. ‘houses for the staves’), and n*& *g? (Ex.
identification of the ninn with the liciufmia of the contem-
r y Roman looms must be maintained against that of 2629 etc., lit. ’ houses for the bars ‘), explained in each
aimonides and other commentators who identify the ntrZn case by n i y p , rings. T h e 6dt2 nirin, therefore, are the
with ‘the threads wound round the rods (O’JG, sav6uer, loops or rings of thread through which the nirin or
urwndines), by which the warp-threads are raised etc.’ (see leash-rods are passed. T h e identification here proposed
a#. Surenh. Mishna, K d i m 21r), in other word; with the suits admirably the passage Shabb. 7 z where the opera-
leashes ( p i r o ~iiciu) to which we come presently. Equally im-
possible is Moore’s identificationo f n i r (PAOS, 1889, p. clxxix) tion of ‘ making two bite‘ nin-n ’ intervenes between the
with the ‘gear ’ of thedevelopedhorizontal loom-which certainly warping ( $ g m ) and the weaving; so also in Sha66. 132
bears this name (nir) in modern Arabic-consisting of two
heddle-leaves, connected by spring-staves or otherwise with a ’ h e that fastens two leashes (baU nircn) to the leash-
pair of treadles. For not only have we no evidence, as has heen rods ( n i r i n ) ’ before beginning to weave. Bit2 n i r i n ,
already maintained; of the presence of treadles in the ancient in short, is the idiomatic equivalent of the loan-word
looms, but it is difficult I:O see how they could be conveniently ps Iicia ( Tus. Neg. 5 IO).
adjusted in the upright loom of the Mishna.’
The identification of the n i r with the shaft or leash- T h e shed having been formed as explained in detail
rod (Ziciciatorium) of the ancient loom, here maintained, above, the weaver proceeded to pass the weft ( m y ;
gives us a clue to the mysterious mln5r ’firt’gim,iiJp
7.
and K p b K q , ; subternen ; c p Lev. 1348 8 ,
o*iiiC of I S. 1 7 7 2 S. 2119 I Ch. 1123 205 to which the beating up my? >H * n f l i N d 4 6v d p o v i 4 &
shAft of a giant’s spear might be compared,2 for i i i g K ~ P ~ K Y , AV ‘ i n the warp or woof’).
This was done bv means of a flat stick
cannot be separated etymologically from i ’ (see ~ BDB,
or lathe somewhat longer than <he width of the web,
r.v.). Now the shaft of a good-sized loom with a carrying sufficient weft by a hook at the end, which
heavy warp must have been considerably thicker than also served, as in many places a t the present day, for
the ordinary light spear-shaft (see the actual dvsiov or a batten to beat u p the w-eft (so, most probably, in fig. I
Ziciaforiurn of a modern Lycian loom, apparently a the curved stick e serves both purposes). Later the
branch of a tree, reproduced from Benndorf in S m i t h s functions of shuttle and batten were differentiated ; the
Did. Ant.(3)2769). and seems to satisfy all the con- rod which the Egyptian weaver holds in his right hand in
ditions. In support of this view we have (I) the ex- fig. z serves to all appearance as a shuttle, and suggests
pression itself, ‘ like the weavers’ shaft,’ which suggests the corresponding radius of the Romans (cp Ovid’s ’ in-
something usually in the weaver’s hand, rather than a seritur medium radiis subtemen acntis’), the KEPKIS of the
fixture of the loom such as the cloth or yarn-beam (see Greeks. Even so early as Homer’s time, this shuttle-
below) ; (a) the testimony of the oldest versions. 6 in rod appears to have been fitted with a revolving spool
three places has dvsiov, a synonym of K U U (see ~ the ( r q v l o v ) , on which the weft was wound, and from which
authorities in Bliimner, op. cit. 1132) ; so also Aquila it unwound itself in passing through the shed.
and Theodotion in I S.1 7 7 where the MSS. of @ have Rieger (op. cif. 31 34) has attempted, with doubtful success, to
a set of curious variants (see ref. to Moore above), all, discover the various parts of the classical shuttle, regarding
however, identified by the later Greek lexicographers which there is still much uncertainty, in the Talmudic writings.
with the leash-rod, the Iiciaton‘um tezentium of Jerome It is scarcely safe to go beyond the conjecture that the Beg, or
in all the passages cited. weaver’s needle, and the pointed l?lp ( K C ~ K ~Sku66.8 , 6) may
The less probable rendering of EV ‘a weaver’s beam,’ has the be the native and the imported names of the combined shuttle
sanction of the Targum and of Jewish commentators of note. and batten. The herkid was certainly used to beat up (UT<
Thus Rashi (on I S . 17 j ) quotes with evident approval the Tg.
IC olicrv) the weft. For this purpose the Greeks used a seord-
rendering ~ ‘ ~ i i 1i i l~ (i.e.,
1 b~ b v yepSiov, the weavers’ roller)
sRaped lathe; resembling a modern paper-cutter on a large scale,
adding <inthe vernacular [French] it is emudle.’ The latter at the or&&, adopted both by the Koiiians (spatha) and the
once suggests the i m z 6 d i of the Roman loom, rightly explained Jews (‘n?DN Ohol. 8 4). When the older type of upright loom,
by Yates and Marindin (Smith, Dict.@J,2765 6) as the yarn and
cloth beams of the upright loom (6 and d of fig. 2, above) an in which the warp was stretched by means ofweights, was super-
identification of which Kashi’s comments, both here and’ on seded by the Egyptian type with the yarn and cloth beams,
Judg. 16 13&,3 supply a hitherto unnoticed corroboration. the Egyptian comb (XT& jec+z, Martial’s fiiliacutfr
T h e leash-rod, as .we have seen, was passed through fiecfen, illust. from Wilkinso; in Rich, s.v., with which cp the
a series of loops or leashes of thread, each loop also modern comb from Asia Minor, Smith, Dic!.Csl 2 768 a ) was
introduced, and the weft driven home by inserting the teeth of
passing behind every alternate warp-thread. These the comb between the warp threads. The obscure Oil’z (raipos)
leashes, the pisor and Gcia of the classical looms, must of Sku66.13 z Kei. 21 I is identified by Maimonides(see on latter
be identified with the *!I (sing. ~ 1 -3
T. .. domus
~ 1 Zicia- passage a Surenh.) and others with this comb, a very doubtful
ton‘i) of the Mishna (Shad6. 72 13z), of which also equati0n.t To judge from its original sense (for which see
Bliimner, op. cit. 1126)~the &xis was rather some arrangement
many curious explanations have been offered, the latest of loops and cords stretched across the loom to ensure that the
being none the less objectionable that it is given without web was kept of :uniform width.
any qualification. ‘ T h e raising of the shafts,’ says One interesting reference to the beating up of the
Rieger (op. cit. 30), ‘was usually effected by a n arrange- weft has been preserved in the O T , the recovery of
ment of treadles (KTJ *>), the shafts being joined t o which in modern times is due t o G. F. Moore in the
pedals by cords,’ a statement absolutely unsupported by paper to which reference has frequently been made
the accompanying references. T h e key to this enig- (Proc. Am. Or. Suc., 1889). In Judg.l613f.-a
matical expression will be found in the idiomatic use of passage which has suffered considerable curtailment in
62th in compounds familar to every Semitic scholar. I n M T (see Moore’s Comm. and his editions [Heb. and
the O T we have an exact parallel in OT?! ’?I (Ex. 2527 Eng.] of Judges in SBOT, also Bu. and Now. in Juc.)
-Delilah is told t o weave the seven braids of Samson’s
1 This is the least satisfactory part of Rieger’s attempted re- hair with the warp and to beat them u p (y??) with the
construction nf the Jewish loom in his monograph, Versuch, etc. pin (in;, the batten or spatha).2 T h e inadmissible
2 Ahrens in Philologogus (vol. 35 pof.), gives an extract from
an old Nor;e saga, in which also the shafts of the loom are com- rendering of EV, ‘ to fasten with the pin,’ is due to the
pared with the warrior’s spear.
3 Rashi, however, on this passage wrongly defines n?Jp, 1 Still more doubtful is Rieger’s identificationof the k2n% with
which he takes as a nomen insfnrmenti from 9D*?to ‘ warp’ a fully developed modern ‘reed,’an apparatus found bnly with
(see 0 s), as ‘the wooden beam on which the weaver mounts the horizontal loom ( o j . cif. 34).
the warp, in the vernacular easudle’ which may apply to a With this sense of ill; as a flat instrument with a thin edge
either cloth or yarn-beam This codment has been entirely like a papasutter, cp Dt. 23 14(131, also Sha66. 174, where, it
misunderstood by Moore (2.c. clxxvii), who strangely supposes denotes the flat point of the ploughshare (illust. Vogelstem,
Rashi to refer to the ‘heddles’of the developed horizontal loom, Die Landwirfhchajt in Palasfine, 79). The ungrammatical
and takes the 1iiQto be the cross-beam-the jUgt,m of Mar- form in which it occurs in Judg. 16 r 4 (I!!? ’1 shows it to
l?:,-)
quardt and Bliimner’suntenable theory-from which the heddles be an intruder here (Moore), so that we may dispense with the
are suspended. inquiry as to what is intended by ‘the pin of the beam’ (EV).
5285 5286
WEAVING WJ3AVING
influence of the early translators, who had formed a which is probably what is signified by the obscure term
quite erroneous, though intelligible and consistent, con- I;?@ (Lev. 1 9 1 9 Dt. 2211). T h e reason for this taboo
ception of the details of the incident.l was certainly not that given by Josephus ( A n t . iv. 811
In the case of the older classical loom, the tela [I ZO~]),that garments of this sort were priestly wear,
$enduZa, open below, the operator had no alternative but must probably be sought in connection with illicit
Direction but to commence his web at the top of the magical practices (see Goldziher, Z A T W , 1902, pp.
of web. loom ; he had also to weave standing. 3 6 3 for an Arab parallel, and cp the similar prohibition
With the looms figured above, on the against seething a kid in its mother’s milk : see COOK-
contrary, the web might be begun at either end of the ING. § 8 end). T h e simplest variation from the plain
low loom (fig. I), and at either top or bottom of the web hitherto discussed, was obtained by using alternately
high loom (fig. 2). According to Herodotus (235) different coloured wefts, say white and black, or by
‘ other nations push the weft upwards,’ i e . , commence mounting the warp in alternate bands of white and
at the top of the loom, ‘ the Egyptians, on the other black yarn, by which striped fabrics were produced,
hand, push it downwards,’ L e . , commence a t the similar to those so much in favour among the Syrian
bottom. T h e position of the leash-rods in fig. 2, peasantry at the present day. It is very doubtful, how-
~elativeto the weft at I , shows that Herodotus is right ever, whether the obscure and textually suspicious
as regards the usual Egyptian practice, although ~ D nN i y of Prov. 716 (see L INEN, I) means striped
absolute uniformity is scarcely probable. The operator,
cloth of the yarn of Egypt’ (so RV). T h e coloured
as we further see, was able to remain in a sitting posture representations of Syrians on Egyptian monuments
while the lower half of the web, at least, was being
show that they ‘ wore narrow close-fitting, plain clothes,
woven, and if, as we have inferred is the case in Fig. 2,
in which dark blue threads alternated with dark red,
the loom was provided with a cloth-beam, he might at
and these were generally adorned with embroidery ’
the expense of a yard of warp remain seated throughout.
(Erman, Eg. 216f., where also illustration of Syrian
That the Jews in N T times wove from the top down-
anibasador with dress as just described, the embroidery
wards is a probable, though by no means conclusive,
being in the form of stars, a form of ornamentation
inference from the description of the tunic of Jesus
called oculi by the Romans, Marq. ROm. Privatleben,
which was woven PK rDv &vwOev at’ Cihou (Jn. 1923, for
which see also below), a phrase which strictly means- 526J). By having the warp all of one colour and the
weft all of another, what is known as a ‘ shot’ fabric
as paraphrased by Delitzsch in his Hebrew rendering- was the result. Thus we read of garments ‘of which
‘ from collar to selvage.’ That the inference is a COT- the warp is dyed and the weft white, or the weft dyed
rect one, however, is attested by Theophylact, archbishop
and the warp white ‘ (fleg.114). By alternating different
of Bnlgaria, about 1070, who, with reference to the coloured bands, both in warp and woof, further, a ‘check’
passage just cited, comments thus : ‘Others say that
or chequered pattern is obtained. Such ‘ chequer work ’
i n Palestine they work their looms not as with us was in great favour in antiquity, as may be seen from
(among whom) the leashes and the warp are at the top,
the extant coloured representations, not only for every-
the web being woven at the bottom and thence upwards,
day clothes (see e.g., in the procession of Semitic immi-
but on the contrary, the leashes (pluiroc=dZtZ nirin) are
grants, part of which is reproduced in colours in Riehm,
a t the bottom and the web i s woven from the top’ ( A d
IYWB(~), opposite p. 54). but as a pattern for the sails of
loann. 18825 ; cp the similar though less explicit testi-
vessels (see Wilk. op. c i f . , frontispiece to vol. ii.).
mony for Galilee, quoted from Isidorus Pelusiota by
Among the Jews we find mention of ‘ a summer garment
Ahrens : Philol. 35390). of white and coloured checks’ ( o * D p ? [$+$os]; so
T h e web having reached the desired length, it was
read for D’DBDB, Neg. 117). Joseph’s ‘coat of many
severed from the remaining~. - -. Is. 3812,
warp threads (ytm,
*’ IKT+WY, Tob. 212 e), and rolled round
the cloth-beam (hence the figure in Is. ibid.:
colours’ (D*!? ninp), it need hardly be said, belongs,
according to one line of tradition (6,Vg., see Comm.
on Gen. 3 7 3 ) , to one or other of the categories just
processes’~ .R :-..
T S ~ JRV
, ’ I have rolled up like a weaver
enumerated.
m y life’), for removal from the loom. Linen in this
What precise style of weaving is denoted by Siah?! ( ZW, Ex.
undressed (&yva@os,Mt. 916 Mk. 221 RV-AV ‘new
2839 AV ‘embroider,’ RV ‘weave in chequer work’) applied to
cloth ’) condition was termed Lj~bXtvov(Ecclus. 4 0 4 , RV
wrongly ‘hempen frock’), and was exposed to less the high priest’s tunic-hence its description as rs$c nlne
danger from shrinking, if exposed to wet, than cloth (ib. 4 AV ‘ a broidered coat,’ RV ‘a coat of chequer work’) is
quite uncertain. The revisers, as we see, indicate their prefer-
made from wool. The task of milling or felting the ence for some kind of check. Braun (de vesiifu sacerdof.[168o],
cloth (to use the modern terms) fell to the F ULLER 367-384) argues at great length in favour of Maimonides’view
( q . ~ ) by
, whom it was steeped in water mixed with that a species of honeycomb pattern is intended, resembling the
lining of the second stomach (reticulr~nr)of ruminants.
various alkaline ingredients, stamped and beaten to From the earliest times in the E. we find evidence of
complete the felting process, then bleached nith fumes the use of gold, and t o a less extent of silver, to enhance
of sulphur, carded to raise the nap, and finally pressed the richness and value of textile fabrics. Thus, gold
in the fuller’s press. T o enter into these processes in thread, prepared by cutting finely beat plates of gold
detail would extend this article unduly (see for full into narrow strips (Ex. 3 9 3 ) , was directed to be employed
references Rieger, op. cit. 39-45, and cp Blumner, op. in the Anufacture of the robes of the high priest (Ex.
Lit. 1157-177). 2 8 5 J 3 9 2 8 : ) . It was chiefly used as weft (cp Vergil’s
I n the breceding sections regard has been had only ’ picturatas auri subtemine vestes,’ E n . 34833, fabrics
to the most ordinary sort of weaving, where the warp wholly of gold thread being of late and rare occurrence
lo. Pattern and weft are of the same material, the (Marq. op. cit. 519). The ghostly horsemen of 2 Macc.
and figure weft passing over and under each alter- 5 2 were arrayed in ’cloth of gold’ (AV, G t a ~ p d u o u r
weaving. nate thread of the warp. It remains uroXds), so, too, according to the Greek interpretation,
now to refer briefly to a few of the more was the royal bride of Ps. 459 [IO] ( i v LparrupG
complex varieties of the textile art. T h e Hebrews were BlaxpdUy z l*?\K on!:). Holofernes’ mosquito curtain
forbidden to follow a custom in vogue among all
nations of combining a warp of flax with a weft of wool, was of ‘ purple and gold ’ (Judith 10 21). Agrippa’s
royal robe (cp Acts 1221). on the other hand, is described
1 The technical terms employed in the divergent renderina by Josephus (Ant.xix. 82) as woven throughout of silver
of @ show that the Greek translators thought of Samson‘s hair thread.
as sfrefclred 7uifh f7ze warp of the horizontal loom the end of The rectangular plaid-like upper garment or jimhih
which was fastened by a pin into the opposite wall’(see above-, of the Hebrews (M ANTLE , § 2 [I]) was, of course, woven
0 3). while in MT the braids are clearly intended to be used as
weft. in one piece ; the undergarment, hZthfh&eflr(TUNIC), on
5287 5288
WEAVING WEEX
the other hand, which had to be more in accordance 1613 2716), because as explained by I'liny (HN81961
with the stature of the wearer, was apparently made by he wove ' plurimis liciis,' that is, with weft threads
sewing together two lengths of cloth cut more or less to of various colours (cp Isidorus, Omg. xix. 2221 : po?y-
measure. This we infer from Josephus' description of mitus enim textus multorum colorum est '). In kV
the high priest's tunic ( x ~ T ~ vwhich ), was ' not made of a tapestry ' is twice introduced (Prov. 7 16 3.1 zz) ; but
two pieces, so as to be sewed together upon the shoulders the sense and even the text of the original are doubtful
and down the sides but was woven in one long piece, (see the Comm. ).
etc.' ( A n t . iii. 7 4 [J 1611). T h e tunic worn by Jesus a t It only rcmains to add that the weavers as a class
the close of his ministry was also of this sort ; +ju 6P 6 enjoyed a bad reputation among their countrymen, many
XiT& dpa$os (without seam) C!K TGV dvweev 3$avTbs 61' curious illustrations of which have been collected by
(IXou (Jn. 1923). For the manufacture of such seamless Delitzsch (Jiid. Handwerkerleben, 458 ). Like other
fabrics it was necessary to mount a double warp which craftsmen, however, in NT times, those of Jerusalem
was woven with a continuous weft. The warp threads, formed a strong guild, the beginning of which may be
that is, were so arranged as to lie on both sides of the traced back to at least the days of the Chronicler ( I Ch.
upper beam, each face of the warp being provided with 421).
its own set of leash-rods. The operator, if there was The literature of the subject has been referred to with some
but one, had to pass the weft across first one face, and detail in the course of the article. A. R . S. K.
then the other in succession by going round and round WEDGE. I. OW>, I@&, Josh. 721 24.
the loom. a procedure which, of course, could be 2. On?, K&hem, Is. 13 12 RV ' pure gold ' ; see GOLD, 0 I e.
obviated by having two operators for the same loom.
In this way a cylindrical web was produced. Whether WEEDS (VlD), Jon. 25. See FLAG.
the sleeves were worked a t the same time, as Braun in WEEK. T h e subdivisioq. of the month into weeks,
his classical treatment of this style of weaving maintains as also into decades CEiCr, l W ~ ) - t h e week represent-
( o f . cit. with illustration of specially constructed loom
1. origin, ing approximately a fourth, the decade a
opposite p. 360) is less certain. It may also be noted
third, of 29-30 days-is of great antiquity.
t h a t Braulik (09. cil. with technical diagrams, z 8 $ , The old Hebrew for the weekof seven days is &?12W,Sibzia"
7 7 J , 8 9 J ) has discovered that the Egyptians from, at
the latest, the time of the twenty-second dynasty, were --i.e.. a seven,a heptad 2 ( = G k . 6p6oCL(I.sI Lat. septi-
familiar with a similar style of seamless fabrics, as manu); c p Gen.2927 (d ~b hp6opa). I n later times
I@,Sub&ith, also was currently employed, although only
indeed might have been inferred from the extremely
tight-fitting garments represented on some of the four instances of its use for ' w e e k ' are met with in
Egyptian statues. OT-viz., Lev. 23 15 [cp Dt. 1 6 91 Lev. 25 6 Nu. 28 I O and
The finest products of the textile art known to the Is. 66 23-and in Aramaic it became the ordinary word
Hebrews are evidently intended to be represented as (tic?@or N@ ; cp also Arab. sunbu and sanbata = ' a
the work of the craftsman designated by the authors of short space of time'). Similarly in N T the week is
the priestly code the +CGb ( 3 g h Ex.261 31, and often), never called bpGopds, but invariably only U ~ ~ ~ U TorO V'
literally, the designer, inventor, artist. Three grades U ~ ~ ~ ~ ~(pl.)
C L T C CMk. 169 Lk. 1812 Mt. 281.
; cp
of craftsmanship, i t will be remembered, are mentioned This quadripartite division of the month into weeks
together in the directions for the construction of the was naturally suggested by the phases of the moon and
tabernacle and the priestly robes : the ordinary weaver was far from being peculiar to the Hebrews. In par-
(n,k), the rCk& (~$1, Ex.2636. and often), and the ticular it has been shown to have been a n ancient
+ G b . The nature of the work (a???) produced by the institution with the Babylonians, and even in their case
it had nothing to do with the number of the seven
second of these has been the subject of much discussion. planets, after which at a later date the days of the week
German scholars, as a rule, understand merely colour- came to be named. Whether the Israelites used the
weaving (Buntweberei), such as we have discussed week as a division of time even in their nomadic stage
-above; but various considerations which cannot be remains obscure. It is not inipossible that they may
detailed here (see E MBROIDERY, and the writer's forth- have derived it from the Babylonians even before
coming commentary on Exodus in the Intern. Crit. their settlement in Canaan, as the Canaanites also had
Series) lead to the belief that embroidery, the opus done. However that may be, the developmetit of the
plumarium of the ancients, is intended. There is a seventh day into a day of rest must certainly be
greater consensus of opinion in favour of identifying referred to the time when the Israelites had already
the len q@p ! (Ex.261. etc. EV ' work of the cunning become an agricultural people (see S ABBATH).
workman ') with tapestry. This differs from ordinary The mode of reckoning among the Israelites was
weaving in respect that the weft is not thrown across originally doubtless the same as that of the Babylonians
the warp by a shuttle, but the design is traced by 2. Mode of -viz., by dividing the first 28 days
inserting short coloured threads by the fingers, or by reckoning. of each month into four weeks terminat-
a ' broach' or needle, behind as many warp threads ing respectively on the 7th, Iqth, ~ 1 s t .
only as may be required. T h e high loom in use in the and 28th day, and by making the first week of the new
celebrated Gobelins factory is almost an exact repro- month always begin with the new moon. This intimate
duction of the E,gyptian loom of fig. z above (E. connection, however, between the week and the month
Muntz, A Short History of Tapestry, 5 [where, however, was soon dissolved (cp the expression ' feast of weeks '
the reference is t'3 our fig. I], and especially 3 5 6 8 in Ex. 3422 [J]). Whether the preponderance which
with illustrations). Indeed, it is by no means improb- the Sabbath day, as marking the close of the week,
able that the picture in question is that of a tapestry acquired over the day of new moon, was a cause or
rather than of an ordinary weaver. T h e curtains of a consequence of the loosening of the connection it is
the tabernacle are clearly intended to be of tapestry impossible to determine ; we are not precluded from
with cherubim figures; so too, the veil both of the supposing that quite other reasons may have contri-
tabernacle (Ex.2631) and of Solomon's temple ( 2 Ch.
314; cp Heb. 'yi - ~.with d K C L ~i;$rrvcv K . T . X . ) . Jewish 1 Licium(=pims), has this meaning here, not the special and
technical sense which it had above.
tapestry was celebrated at a later period, and noted for 2 In view of this original meaning of the word it becomes
the unnatural figures of animals designed by the Jewish possible for p@ in Dan.924-27 to mean a week of years
artists (Claudian in Eutrop. 1 3 5 0 8 , cited by Marquardt). :annonrm Rebdonzas). Cp the corresponding use of n?w
The tapestry worker was known to the classical world
as po&mifan'us (Jerome's rendering of + C M ) , and his with the explanatory addition of @a$(Lev. 2 5 8 : ring@ p?$
work po@ymita (roXbpiros, used by Symmachus Ezek. Y??,' seven weeks of years 7.
5289 5290