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Manners & Customs

Men's Ornamentation

ORNAMENTATION As a rule, Jewish men did not indulge in extravagances of dress, and there was little ornamentation among them. They often carried a cane or staff, which would be ornamented at the top, but it served the useful purpose of protecting them from half-wild dogs that abounded in the country, and was not much of an ornament. Certain men wo...

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Children's Reverence for Their Father

Reverence of the children for the father. Reverence of children for their parents, and especially the father, is well-nigh universal in the East down to modern times. Among the Arabs, it is very seldom that a son is heard of as being undutiful. It is quite customary for the child to greet the father in the morning by the kissing of his hand, and fo...

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Prefering a Baby Boy

PREFERENCE FOR BOY BABIES Among the Israel Arabs there is always a desire on the part of the mothers and fathers that the baby shall be a boy rather than a girl. A parting blessing often used by the Arabs is: May the blessings of Allah be upon thee, May your shadow never grow less, May all your children be boys and no girls.2 Boys are wanted bec...

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Education in Ancient Egypt

SCHOOLS IN EGYPT WHEN MOSES WAS A YOUNG MAN Stephen has given us the statement that Moses was "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians" (Acts 7:22). A wealth of information has come to us from the land of the Nile to let us know how valuable was the law-giver's education at the expense of Egypt. Tradition has it that Moses went to school at th...

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Teraphim

The teraphim. In the land of Babylonia, from which Abraham had originally come, there was family worship of household gods, and the home had its altar along with clay figurines of these gods, which were called "teraphim." These family gods served as guardian angels of the home. At the death of a father, these household gods, or teraphim, would ofte...

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Parents Select the Bride

CHOICE OF A WIFE THE PARENTS' PREROGATIVE It is well known that in the East the parents of a young man select a bride for him. This custom goes back to early Old Testament times. When Esau married against the wishes of his parents, he caused ill-favor (Genesis 26:34, 35). Reason for this parental privilege. Why did parents usually insist on their...

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Arriving at the Bridegroom's House

ARRIVAL AT THE HOUSE OF THE BRIDEGROOM The most important moment of the entire marriage festivity was that in which the bride entered her new home.23 And as both groom and bride usually wore crowns, the Psalmist must have pictured this important moment in the marriage of the king: "She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework: the...

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Physicians and Healing

WHAT OLD TESTAMENT JEWS DID IN TIME OF SICKNESS Ordinarily, the ancient Hebrews did not go to physicians when they were sick. There are surprisingly few references to physicians in Old Testament days. Job mentions the existence of such when he says, "Ye are all physicians of no value" (Job 13:4). King Asa was criticized by the sacred writer who sa...

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Mantles

THE OUTER GARMENT, OR MANTLE The outer garment which the Palestinian villager wears, is a large cloak which would serve the purpose of a Westerner's overcoat. It is made of wool or goat's hair and sometimes of cotton. It is dark brown and different shades with whitish perpendicular stripes. It serves as a shelter from the wind and rain, and as a b...

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Women's Ornamentation

Among the women there was more apt to be ornamentation than among the men. Peter and Paul condemned an elaborate braiding of women's hair (I Peter 3:3; 1 Timothy 2:9), and the use of ornaments may possibly have been involved in the custom. Earrings were at one time worn by the women of Jacob's family (Genesis 35:4). And the golden earrings of the I...

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