Manners & Customs

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...

Read More

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...

Read More

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...

Read More

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...

Read More

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...

Read More

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...

Read More

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" ...

Read More

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...

Read More

Wedding Procession

THE WEDDING PROCESSION The bridegroom set out with the bride from the house of her parents, and there followed a grand procession all the way to his house. The streets of Asiatic cities were dark, and it was necessary that anybody venturing forth at night should carry a lamp or torch (cf. Psalm 119:105). Those invited guests, who did not go to the...

Read More

Disobedience Brought Sickness

Sickness as punishment for disobedience. The law also taught Israel that sickness could be expected when GOD's law was disobeyed. The twenty-eighth chapter of the Book of Deuteronomy lists many curses that would come upon the people of Israel because of disobedience. Among them are these: "He will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which t...

Read More