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Manners & Customs

The Father as Priest of the Household

THE FATHER AS PRIEST IN PATRIARCHAL TIMES IN THE DAYS of the early patriarchs, the father was the priest for the whole family, and this honor and responsibility of exercising the priesthood usually was bestowed upon the first-born son upon the death of the father. This practice continued until the law of Moses transferred this right to the tribe o...

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Polygamy in the Ancient World

POLYGAMY IN OLD TESTAMENT TIMES THE MOSAIC LAW allowed polygamy among the Hebrew people. Wives were given certain protections against abuses and there were various regulations regarding such marriages. There was, however, among the Israelites, a marked tendency toward monogamy. No doubt the main reason for this was that the custom of more than one...

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Coming for the Bride

GOING OF THE GROOM TO GET THE BRIDE Sometimes the bride's relations would conduct her from her father's house to the house of her fiancée, where her new home was to be. But more often, as was the case of the Ten Virgins in CHRIST's parable, the bridegroom himself went in person to bring her to his home for the wedding festivities to take place the...

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Health Promised for Obedience

PROMISES OF HEALTH through obedience to the law. Through their wilderness experiences and after they were in the Land of Promise, the Hebrew families could look to the promise GOD originally gave to them about health for their bodies: If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, an...

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Headgear of Women

The headgear of Bethlehem women is of interest in throwing light on Biblical customs. It was of two parts. First, there was what might be called a high cap on the front of which have been sewn rows of gold and silver coins. It would have to be a dire circumstance that would ever cause her to part with any of these coins. If she lost one of these, a...

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The Father's Successor

Succession of authority. In a majority of cases, the great authority which the father had, was handed down to his eldest son, who took over the position of leadership upon the death of the father. Thus Isaac became the new "sheik" over his father's household upon the death of Abraham. He and Rebekah had been living in that household under his fathe...

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Having Children

DESIRE OF JEWISH WOMEN FOR CHILDREN THERE WAS AMONG the Jewish wives a universal longing for, and joy in, the giving birth to children. That longing was well expressed in the words of Rachel to Jacob, "Give me children, or else I die" (Genesis 30:1). the LORD had originally said to Adam and Eve, "Be fruitful and multiply" (Genesis 1:28). And the p...

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Education at Ancient Ur

SCHOOLS AT UR WHEN ABRAHAM WAS A BOY The archaeological expedition conducted by Sir Charles Leonard Woolley at Ur of the Chaldees, from 1922 to 1934, has proven that there were schools in the city of Abraham's youth. Clay tablets were uncovered that indicate some of the subjects taught in these schools. The pupils had writing lessons on tablets, a...

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Altars in Homes

The altar. The religion in the homes of those early days largely centered about an altar upon which animal sacrifices were offered up to GOD. Thus when Abraham came into the land and had pitched his tent in the vicinity of Bethel, the Scriptural record says of him, "And there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord" ...

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Divorce in the Ancient World

DIVORCE IN OLD TESTAMENT TIMES For centuries it has been possible for a husband in Arab lands, to divorce his wife by a spoken word. The wife thus divorced is entitled to all her wearing apparel, and the husband cannot take from her anything she has upon her own person. For this reason, coins on the headgear, and rings and necklaces, become import...

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