men, at least as early as the time of Moses. Bezaleel and Aholiab, who made the tabernacle and every thing that was necessary for the service of God, are an instance that puts this past dispute.* It is surprising how they came to be so well skilled in arts that were not only very difficult, but very different from one another. They understood melting of metals, cutting and engraving precious stones : they were joiners, makers of tapestry, embroiderers, and perfumers. There are two of these arts that I most of all admire, the cutting of jewels, and the casting of figures; such as the cherubim of the ark, and the golden calf which was made at that time. They who understand the arts ever so little, know how much ingenuity and what a number of tools those works require. If they were invented before, it is a sign that even the arts which serve only for ornament were then brought to great perfection: and if they had any secret, to do the same thing with more ease and a less apparatus, it was still a higher degree of improvement. But this only by the by, to show that people were not so dull and ignorant in these ancient times as many imagine, the world being two thousand five hundred years old in the days of Moses. But whether these two famous workmen had learnt from the Egyptians, or their skill was miraculous and inspired by God, as the Scriptures seem to say, it does not appear that they had any to succeed them, nor that any of the Israelites were artificers by profession, and worked for the public till the time of the kings. When Saul began to reign, it is taken notice of, that there was no workman that understood forging iron in all the land of Israel:+ and that they were forced to go to the Philistines to sharpen even the instruments which they used in husbandry. It is true, this was owing to the op*Exod. xxxi, 2, 6. xxxvi, xxxvii, &c. †Exod. xxxi, 5. †1 Sam. xiii, 19 pression of the Philistines, to hinder them from making arms. But several years after, David was obliged, when he fled, to take the sword of Goliah, which must have been rather too heavy for him, and take it too out of God's tabernacle,* where it was hung up for a lasting monument of his victory. This makes me think there were no arms to be bought. It seems likewise as if there was no bread sold; since, upon the same occasion, Abimelech the priest was obliged to give David the show-bread; which intimates moreover, that people kept but little bread in their houses, it may be, upon account of the country's being so hot. So the witch to whom Saul went, made him bread on purpose when she entertained him, that he might recover his strength.† Every one had an oven in his own house, since the law threatens them, as with a great misfortune, that ten women should bake their bread at one oven. ‡ At Rome there were no bakers till the time of the Persian war, more than five hundred and eighty years after the foundation of the city.§ Were we to reckon up all trades particularly, it would appear that many would have been of no use to them. Their plain way of living, and the mildness of the climate, made that long train of conveniences unnecessary, which we think it hard to be without; though vanity and effeminacy, more than real want, have introduced them. And as to things that were absolutely necessary, there were few of them that they did not know how to make themselves. All sorts of food were cooked within doors. The women made bread and prepared the victuals, they spun wool, made stuffs and wearing apparel: the men took care of the rest. Homer describes old Eumæus making his own shoes, and says, that he had built fine stalls for the * 1 Sam. xxi, 9. †1 Sam. xxviii, 24. Lev. xxvi, 26. § Pistores, Romæ non fuerunt ad Persicum usque bellum, annis ab urbe condita super 580. Ipsi panem faciebant Quirites, mulierum id opus erat. Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. xviii, c. 11. cattle he bred.* Ulysses himself built his own house, and set up his bed with great art, the structure of which served to make him known to Penelope again. When he left Calypso, it was he alone that built and rigged the ship; from all which we see the spirit of these ancient times. It was esteemed an honour for each person to understand the making of every thing necessary for life, without any dependance upon others, and it is that which Homer most commonly calls wisdom and knowledge. Now, I must say, the authority of Homer appears to me very great in this case. As he lived about the time of the prophet Elijah, and in Asia Minor, all the accounts that he gives of the Greek and Trojan customs, have a wonderful resemblance with what the Scripture informs us of concerning the manners of the Hebrews and other eastern people:§ only the Greeks, not being so ancient, were not so polite. But however it might be in former times, we are sure that David left a great number of artificers in his kingdom of all sorts; masons, carpenters, blacksmiths, goldsmiths, and indeed all such as work in stone, wood, and metals. And that we may not think they were strangers, it is said that Solomon chose out of Israel thirty thousand workmen, and that he had 70,000 that bare burdens, and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains.** It is true, he borrowed workmen of the king of Tyre,†† and owned that his subjects did not understand cutting wood so well as the Sidonians, and that he sent for Hiram, an excellent founder, to make the sacred vessels. But luxury increasing after the division of the two kingdoms, there is reason to believe they had always plenty of workmen. In the genealogy of the tribe Odyss lib. xiv, v. 23. * Αυτος δ' αμφι ποδεσσιν ἕοις αραρισκε πεδιλα, Ταμνων δερμα βοειον, ευχροες. Here sat Eumæus, and his care apply'd To form strong buskins of well season'd hide. POPE. Odyss. lib. xxiii, v. 183–204. Odyss. lib. v. 243-257. § Marm. Arundel. ||1 Chron. xxii, 15, 16. ** 1 Kings v, 13, 15. 1 Kings v, 1-12. vii, 13, &c. of Judah, we may observe, there is a place called the valley of craftsmen,* because, says the Scripture, they dwelt there. There is likewise mention made in the same place, of people that wrought fine linen and of potters, who worked for the king, and dwelt in his gardens. All this shows the respect that was paid to famous mechanics, and the care that was taken to preserve their memory. The prophet Isaiah, amongst his menaces against Jerusalem, foretells, that God will take away from her the cunning artificers and when it was taken, it is often said, that they carried away the very workmen.‡ But we have a proof from Ezekiel, that they never had any considerable manufactures, when the prophet, describing the abundance of their merchandize which came to Tyre, mentions nothing brought from the land of Judah and Israel, but wheat, oil, resin, and balm ;§ all of them commodities that the earth itself produced. These were the employments of the Israelites, and their manner of subsisting. Let us now come to something more particular, and describe their apparel, their houses, furniture, food, and whole manner of living, as exactly as we can. They rose early, as the Scripture observes in a great number of places, that is, as often as it mentions any action, though never so inconsiderable. Hence it comes, that in their style, to rise early signifies, in general to do a thing sedulously, and with a good will: thus it is frequently said, that God rose up early to send the prophets to his people, and exhort them to repentance. It is a consequence of country labour. The Greeks and Romans followed the same custom : they rose very early, and worked till night they bathed, supped, and went to bed in good time. * 1 Chron. iv, 14. The valley of craftsmen p' ' già charashim, translated vallis artificum, by the Vulgate, vn charash, signifies to work in iron, wood, stone, pottery, &c. and Joab, the person mentioned in the text, is styled by Rabbi Joseph's Targum, the chief or superintendant of the craftsmen or artificers. Isaiah iii, 3. 2 Kings xxiv, 14. § Ezek. xxvii, 17. || 2 Chron xxxvii, 15. Jerem. vii, 13. xi, 7. xxxv, 14. CHAPTER VI. Their Wearing Apparel.* As to the clothes of the Israelites, we cannot know exactly the shape of them. They had no pictures or statues, and there is no coming at a right notion of these things without seeing them. But one may give a guess at them, from the statues which remain of the Greeks and other nations: for as to modern pictures, most of them serve only to give us false ideas. I do not speak only of those Gothic paintings, in which every person, let him have lived where and when he would, is dressed like those the painter was used to see; that is, as the French or Germans were some hundred years ago; I mean the works of the greatest painters, except Raphael, Poussin, and some few others that have thoroughly studied the manner or costume of each age, as they call it. All the rest have had no more sense than to paint the people of the east such as they saw at Venice, or other parts of Italy: and for the stories of the New Testament, they painted the Jews like those of their own country. However, as most Scripture painting is copied from these originals, we have taken the impression of it from our infancy, and are used to form to ourselves an idea of the patriarchs with turbans, and beards down to their waist; and *There is every reason to believe that the dress of the Jews was similar to that of the ancient Egyptians: and, as many statues and monuments of Egyptian antiquity still remain, we may see by them what the ancient Jewish habits were. A tunic was the principal part of their dress: this was made nearly in the form of our present shirt. A round hole was cut at the top merely to permit the head to pass through. Sometimes it had long sleeves which reached down to the wrists at other times short sleeves which reached to the elbow, and some had very very short sleeves which reached only to the middle of the upper arm; and some had no sleeves at all. The tunic was nearly the same with the Roman stola, and was in general girded round the waist or under the breasts with the zona or girdle. Besides the tunic, they wore the pallium which covered the shoulders and back, and was the same with the chlamys of the Greeks. Indeed all these ancient nations seem to have had nearly the same dress, |