Manners & Customs

Pool of the Sultan

The Pool of the Sultan lies just outside the Southwestern comer of the wall in this same valley. [Manners And Customs of Bible Lands]...

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Blood Avenging

BLOOD AVENGING Ancient character of this custom. The shedding of blood during a raid starts a blood feud which may continue for many years. The basis for this feud is a custom or law that is common among many Semitic people. The unit of society among these peoples is the tribe or clan. The members of any one tribe have a responsibility to punish a...

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Slaves to the Philistines

The Philistines captured them and then delivered them up to Edom (Amos 1:6). [Manners And Customs of Bible Lands]...

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Cows

Milk-giving cows, sometimes called "milch kine," were in common use (I Samuel 6:7; Deuteronomy 32:14). [Manners And Customs of Bible Lands]...

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Traveling with Food

Food taken by travelers. Travelers going a distance will carry food with them, which will include bread, parched grain, dried olives, dried figs, and dates. Most travelers in the East now, as in the days of JESUS, will not go any distance from home without taking barley bread or meal or parched grain sufficient to last for one or two days. When JES...

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Bull Calves

Bull calves were often used in Bible times for meat. [Manners And Customs of Bible Lands]...

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Travel Distances

How distances are often measured in the Orient. In traveling in Bible lands, it is often customary to measure distances in units of time rather than in terms of space. One village is said to be three hours distant from another village, because it takes that long to travel from one to the other. In Old Testament days distance in traveling was simila...

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Inns in Old Testament Times

NATURE OF EASTERN INNS Old Testament Inns. The inns of Old Testament days were merely stopping places for travelers overnight. The word refers only to a resting-place for the night, and a tent or perhaps a cave would most likely serve the purpose. [Manners And Customs of Bible Lands]...

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Turning Cattle Loose

During part of the year, the cattle in Israel are allowed to graze. In the thickly populated sections, a boy will act as herdsman to see that they do no harm. But in the thinly populated districts, the farmers will sometimes turn their herds loose and let the cattle forage, hunting their own pasturage. [Manners And Customs of Bible Lands]...

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Oxen

But the chief use of oxen was by the farmer in his various activities. The Jews used the oxen where the modern farmer has used the horse. Oxen were put under the yoke and made to pull the plow. Cows as well as bulls were utilized, the latter having been castrated. "Elisha was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen" (I Kings 19:19). Oxen were used in thre...

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