make one chamber of it. A circumstance of the like nature may probably be collected from the Arabic version of uperōon, Acts ix. 39. where it is not rendered aulich, as in ver. 37. but girfat; intimating perhaps that particular chamber of the aulich where the damsel was laid. The falling likewise of Eutychus from the third loft (as the context seems to imply) of the uperōon, there being no mention made of a house, may likewise be received as a further proof of what I have been endeavouring to explain. For it has been already observed, that these oliahs are built in the same manner and with the like conveniences as the house itself; consequently what position soever the uperoon may be supposed to have from the seeming etymology of the name, will be applicable to the oliah as well as to the house. This method of building may further assist us in accounting for the particular structure of the temple or house of Dagon (Judg. xvi.), and the great number of people that were buried in the ruins of it, by pulling down the two principal pillars that supported it. We read, (ver 27.) that about" threethousand persons were upon the roof, to behold while Sampson made sport," viz. to the scoffing and deriding Philistines. Sampson therefore must have been in a court or area below; and consequently the temple will be of the same kind with the antient temenē or sacred inclosures, which were only surrounded either in part or on all sides with some plain or cloistered buildings. Several palaces and dou-wânas, as the courts of justice are called in these countries, are built in this fashion, where, upon their public festivals and rejoicings, a great quantity of sand is strewed upon the area for the pellowans or wrestlers to fall upon; whilst the roofs of these cloisters are crowded with spectators, to admire their strength and activity. I have often seen numbers of people diverted in this manner, upon the roof of the Dey's palace at Algiers; which, like many more of the same quality and denomination, has an advanced cloister, over against the gate of the palace (Esth. v. 1), made in the fashion of a large pent-house, supported only by one or two contiguous pillars in the front, or else in the centre. In such open structures as these, the bashaws, kadees, and other great officers, distribute justice, and transact the public affairs of their provinces. Here likewise they have their public entertainments, as the lords and others of the Philistines had in the house of Dagon. Upon a supposition therefore that in the house of Dagon there was a cloistered building of this kind, the pulling down the front or centre pillars which supported it, would be attended with the like catastrophe that happened to the Philistines.* 4. Of the furniture of Eastern houses we shall only notice the duan, or sofa; which, indeed, formed the principal part thereof. This we do the rather, because our translators have frequently spoken of "beds," in such a connexion as is very likely to perplex the reader. It will be recollected what Dr. Shaw has just said about these indispensable requisites in an Eastern house; to which we add, that the narrow mattresses of which he speaks, serve the double purpose of a seat by day, and a bed by night. The place of honour, on these seats, is the corner, and this will explain Amos iii. 12-" The children of Israel shall be taken out that dwell in Samaria, in the corner of a bed:" in the place of honour-the most easy, voluptuous, indulging station of the duan. The Orientals frequently lay their beds on the floor, as we learn from Sir J. Chardin, Mr. Hanway, Dr. Russell, and other travellers. Mr. Hanway describes the beds of Persia as consisting "only of two cotton quilts, one of which is folded double and serves as a mattress, the other as a covering, with a large flat pillow for the head.” Was it on such a bed as this that Saul slept, 1 Sam. xxvi. 7? And was not the bed of the paralytic of this description? (Luke v. 19; Mark ii. 4, 11.)—“ Arise, take up thy bed,” that is, thy mattress the quilt spread under thee.† SECTION V. COSTUME OF THE JEWS. 1. Permanency of Eastern customs 2. Oriental dress-3. Painting of the eyes-4. Illustrations of Scripture-5. Treatment of the beard-6. Sandals-7. Phylacteries-8. Personal ornaments. 1. We have already had occasion to notice the permanency of Eastern customs; and hence the assistance which be may derived from an acquaintance with the various manners and characters of the Orientals as they at present exist, in the illustration of the Sacred Scriptures. This has been noticed by many writers, and happily it has recently engaged the attention of some of our most intelligent travellers in that * Shaw's Travels, vol. i. pp. 373-392. part of the world, in no ordinary degree. "The manners of the East," says Mr. Morier," amidst all the changes of government and religion, are still the same: they are living impressions from an original mould; and at every step some object, some idiom, some dress, or some custom of common life, reminds the traveller of ancient times, and confirms above all, the beauty, the accuracy, and the propriety of the language and the history of the Bible." In the last section the reader has seen the utility of this kind of information, relative to eastern buildings, for the purpose of explaining various expressions and allusions in Scripture: in this section he will perceive its importance to a still greater extent. 2. The following description of the Eastern dress is furnished by Dr. Shaw, and will admirably answer our present purpose. The chief branch of the manufactories of Barbary, is described by this intelligent and accurate writer, to consist in the making of hykes, or blankets, as we should call them, of which he gives the following account. They are of different sizes, and of different qualities and degrees of fineness. The usual size of them is six yards long, and five or six feet broad, serving the Kabyle and Arab for a complete dress in the day, and, as " they sleep in their raiment,' as the Israelites did of old (Deut. xxiv. 13), it serves likewise for his bed and covering by night. It is a loose, but troublesome garment, being frequently disconcerted and falling upon the ground; so that the person who wears it, is every moment obliged to tuck it up, and fold it anew about his body. This shews the great use there is of a girdle, whenever they are concerned in any active employment; and in consequence thereof, the force of the Scripture injunction, alluding thereunto," of having our loins girded," in order to set about it. See Luke xvii. 8; Acts xii. 8; Eph. vi. 14; Rev. i. 13, and xv. 6. The method of wearing these garments, with the use they are at other times put to, in serving for coverlids to their beds, should induce us to take the finer sorts of them at least, such as are worn by the ladies and persons of distinction, to be the peplus of the ancients. Ruth's veil, which held six measures of barley (Ruth iii. 15), might be of the like fashion, and have served extraordinarily for the same use; as were also the clothes (the upper garments) of the Israelites (Exod. xii. 34), wherein they folded up their kneading-troughs; as the Moors, Arabs, and Kabyles do to this day things of the like burden and incumbrance in * Preface to Second Journey, &c. Lond. 1818. their hykes. Their burnooses also are often used upon these occasions. It is very probable likewise, that the loose folding garment, the toga of the Romans, was of this kind. For if the drapery of their statues is to instruct us, this is actually no other than the dress of the Arabs, when they appear in their hykes. The plaid of the Highlanders in Scotvery same. land is the Instead of the fibula, that was used by the Romans, the Arabs join together with thread or with a wooden bodkin, the two upper corners of this garment; and after having placed them first over one of their shoulders, they then fold the rest of it about their bodies. The outer fold serves them frequently instead of an apron; wherein they carry herbs, loaves, corn, &c. and may illustrate several allusions made thereto in Scripture; as, gathering the lap full of wild gourds (2 Kings iv. 39); rendering seven fold; giving good measure into the bosom (Psal. Ixxix. 12; Luke vi. 38); shaking the lap, Neh. v. 13, &c. The burnoose, which answers to our cloak, is often, for warmth, worn over these hykes. It is woven in one piece, and shaped exactly like the garment of the little god Telesphorus; viz. strait about the neck, with a cape or Hippocrates' sleeve, for a cover to the head, and wide below like a cloak. Some of them likewise are fringed round the bottom, like Parthenaspa's and Trajan's garment upon basso relievos of Constantine's arch. The burnoose, without the cape, seems to answer to the Roman pallium; and with it, to the bardocucullus. the If we except the cape of the burnoose, which is only occasionally used during a shower of rain, or in very cold weather, several Arabs and Kabyles go bare-headed all the year long, as Massinissa did of old, binding their temples only with a narrow fillet, to prevent their locks from being troublesome. As the ancient diadema might originally serve for this purpose, so it appears, from busts and medals, to have been of no other fashion. But the Moors and Turks, with some of the principal Arabs, wear upon the crown of the head, a small hemispherical cap of scarlet cloth, another great branch of their woollen manufactory. The turbant, as they call a long narrow web of linen, silk, or muslin, is folded round the bottom of these caps, and very properly distinguishes, by the number and fashion of the folds, the several orders and degrees of soldiers, and sometimes of citizens, one from another. We find the same dress and ornament of the head, the tiara as it was called, upon a number of medals, statutes, and basso relievos of the ancients. Under the hyke, some wear a close-bodied frock or tunic (a jillebba they call it), with or without sleeves, which differs little from the Roman tunica, or habit in which the constellation Bootes is usually painted. The coat of our Saviour, which "was woven without seam from top throughout" (John xix. 23), might be of the like fashion. This too, no less than the hyke, is to be girded about their bodies, especially when they are engaged in any labour, exercise, or employment; at which times, they usually throw off their burnooses and hykes, and remain only in these tunics. And of this kind probably was the habit wherewith our Saviour might still be clothed, when he is said to lay aside his garments (imatia, burnoose and hyke, John xiii. 4), and to take a towel and gird himself; as was likewise the fisher's coat (John xxi. 7.) which St. Peter girded about him, when he is said to be naked; or what the same person, at the command of the angel (Acts xii. 8), might have girded upon him, before he is enjoined to cast his garment about him. Now, the hyke, or burnoose, or both, being probably at that time the proper dress, clothing, or habit of the eastern nations, as they still continue to be of the Kabyles and Arabs, when they laid them aside, or appeared without one or the other, they might very properly be said to be undressed, or naked,* according to the Eastern manner of expression. This same convenient and uniform shape of the garments, that are made to fit all persons, may well illustrate a variety of expressions and occurrences in Scripture, which, to ignorant persons, too much misled by our own fashions, may seem difficult to account for. Thus, among many other instances, we read that the goodly raiment of Esau was put upon Jacob; that Jonathan stripped himself of his garments; and the best robe was brought out, and put upon the prodigal son; and that raiment, and changes of raiment, are often given, and immediately put on (as they still continue to be in these Eastern nations), without such previous and occasional alterations, as would be required amongst us in the like distribution or exchange of garments. The girdles, which have been occasionally mentioned before, are usually of worsted, very artfully woven into a variety of figures, such as the rich girdles of the virtuous virgins may be supposed to have been, Prov. xxxi. 24. They are made to fold several times about the body; one end of which being doubled back, and sewn along the edges, serves them for a purse, agreeably to the acceptation of the *To be naked, is the same as to be ill-clothed, according to Seneca. |