progress of time rams' horns were used for the same purpose. It was chiefly used in war.

(6.) The form of the straight Trumpet is well known it was used by the priests (Numb. x. 8. 1 Chron. xv. 24.) both on extraordinary occasions (Numb. x. 10.), and also in the daily service of the temple. (2 Chron. vii. 6. xxix. 26.) In time of peace, when the people or the rulers were to be convened together, this trumpet was blown softly but when the camps were to move forward, or the people were to march to war, it was sounded with a deeper note.

3. Stringed Instruments.—These were the harp and the psal

tery.

(1.) The Harp

(KINOUR) seems to have resembled that in

modern use it was the most antient of all musical instruments. (Gen. iv. 21.) It had ten strings, and was played by David with the hand (1 Sam. xvi. 23.); but Josephus says, that it was played upon or struck with a plectrum.

(2.) The Psaltery (NEBEL) obtained its name from its resemblance to a bottle or flaggon: it is first mentioned in the Psalms of David, and the invention of it is ascribed to the Phoenicians. In Psal. xxxiii. 2. and exliv. 9. it is called a ten-stringed instrument, but in Psal. xcii. 3. it is distinguished from the latter. Josephus says, that it had twelve sounds (or strings), and was struck or played upon by the fingers.3

Effects the most astonishing are attributed in the Scriptures to the Hebrew music, of the nature of which we know but very little. Several examples are recorded, in the sacred history, of the power and charms of music to sweeten the temper, to compose and allay the passions of the mind, to revive the drooping spirits, and to dissipate melancholy. It had this effect on Saul, when David played to him on his harp. (1 Sam. xvi. 16. 23.) And when Elisha was desired by Jehoshaphat to tell him what his success against the king of Moab would be, the prophet required a minstrel to be brought unto him; and when he played it is said that the hand of the Lord came upon him (2 Kings iii. 15.), not that the gift of prophecy was the natural effect of music, but the meaning is, that music disposed the organs, the humours, and in short the whole mind and spirit of the prophet, to receive these supernatural impressions.

VII. Dancing was an ordinary concomitant of music among the Jews. Sometimes it was used on a religious account: thus Miriam with her women glorified God (after the deliverance from the Egyptians), in dances as well as songs (Exod. xv. 20.), and David danced after the ark. (2 Sam. ii. 16.) It was a thing common at the Jewish feasts (Judg. xxi. 19. 21.), and in public triumphs (Judg. xi. 34.), and at all seasons of mirth and rejoicing. (Psal. xxx. 11. Jer. xxxi. 4. 13. Luke xv. 25.) The idolatrous Jews made it a part of their

2 Ibid.

1 Ant. Jud. lib. vii. c. 12. 3 Calmet, Dissertation sur les Instrumens de Musique des Hebreux, prefixed to his Commentary on the Psalms. Jahn, Archeologia Biblica, pp. 145–152 Brown's Antiquities of the Jews, vol. i. pp. 315-321.

worship which they paid to the golden calf. (Exod. xxxi. 19.) The Amalekites danced after their victory at Ziklag (1 Sam. xxx. 16.), and Job makes it part of the character of the prosperous wicked (that is, of those who, placing all their happiness in the enjoyments of sense, forget God and religion), that their children dance. (Job xxi. 11.) The dancing of the profligate Herodias's daughter pleased Herod so highly, that he promised to give her whatever she asked, and accordingly, at her desire, and in compliment to her, he commanded John the Baptist to be beheaded in prison. (Matt. xiv. 6—8.)

SECTION III.

ON THE SCIENCES OF THE HEBREWS.1

I. Origin of the Sciences.-II. History, Genealogy, and Chronology. -III. Arithmetic, Mathematics, Astronomy, and Astrology.-IV. Surveying.-V. Mechanic Arts.-VI. Geography.-VII, Physics, Natural History, and Philosophy.-VIII. Medicine.-IX. Notice of some particular Diseases mentioned in the Scriptures, viz. 1. Disease of the Philistines; -2. Of King Saul;-3. Of King Jehoram;-4. Of King Hezekiah;-5. Of Nebuchadnezzar; 6. Palsy ;-7. The Disease of Job;-8. Issue of Blood;-9. Blindness;-10. Demoniacal Possessions.

I. WHEN the arts had been reduced by long practice and meditation to fixed and definite rules, they were succeeded by the sciences; which in fact are nothing more than the reduction, into a more regular and philosophic form, of those rules and theories, which have been ascertained and approved by inquiry and practice. We are able to discover the beginnings, the indistinct vestiges of the sciences in very remote periods; and in some nations more strikingly than in others. The Egyptians, and Babylonians excelled in scientific knowledge all others. The Arabians also are favourably mentioned in this respect. (1 Kings iv. 30.; also the Edomites, Jer. xlix. 7.) The Hebrews became renowned for their intellectual culture in the time of David, and especially, of Solomon, who is said to have surpassed all others in wisdom; a circumstance, which was the ground of the many visits, which were paid to him by distinguished foreigners. (1 Kings v. 9-14.) His example, which was truly an illustrious one, was beyond question imitated by other kings. The literature of the Hebrews was limited chiefly to ethics, religion, the history of their nation, and natural history; on which last subject, Solomon wrote many treatises, no longer extant. The Hebrews

1 This section is taken principally from Mr. Upham's Translation of Jahn's Archæologia Biblica, Andover, Massachussetts, (1823) part i. chapters 6 and 12. In the accounts of diseases, Dr. Mead's Medica Sacra has chiefly been followed.

made but little progress in science and literature after the time of Solomon. During their captivity, it is true, they acquired many foreign notions, with which they had not been previously acquainted: and they, subsequently, borrowed much both of truth and of falsehood from the philosophy of the Greeks. The author of the book of Wisdom, with some others of the Jewish writers, has made pretty good use of the Greek philosophy. It is clear, notwithstanding this, that the Jews after the captivity fell below their ancestors in respect to History; as the published annals of that period are not of a kindred character with those of the primitive ages of their country.

II. That the art of Historical Writing was antiently much cultivated in the East, the Bible itself is an ample testimony; for it not only relates the prominent events, from the creation down to the fifth century before Christ, but speaks of many historical books, which have now perished; and also of many monuments erected in commemoration of remarkable achievements and furnished with appropriate inscriptions. These monuments are denominated by various names, as 37. The Babylonians also, the Assyrians, the Persians, and Tyrians, had their Historical Annals. Among the Egyptians, there was a separate order, viz. the priests, one part of whose duty it was, to write the history of their country. In the primitive ages the task of composing annals fell in most nations upon the priests, but at a later period, the king had his own secretaries, whose special business it was to record the royal sayings and achievements. The Prophets among the Hebrews recorded the events of their own times, and, in the earliest periods, the Genealogists interwove many historical events with their accounts of the succession of families. Indeed, it should not be forgotten, that antient history generally partakes more of a genealogical, than a chronological character. Hence the Hebrew phrase for genealogies,

750, is used also for history (Gen. vi. 9. x. 1.); and hence no epoch, more antient than that of Nabonassar, is any where found. In the Bible, however, this defect, in regard to a regular chronological system, is in a manner compensated by the insertion in various places of definite periods of time, and by chronological genealogies. In giving a concise account of the genealogy of a person, the Hebrews, as well as the Arabs, took the liberty to omit, according to their own pleasure, one or more generations. (Ruth iv. 1822. Ezra vii. 1-5. Matt. i. 8.) It was considered so much of an honour, to have a name and a place in these family annals, that the Hebrews, from their first existence as a nation, had public genealo

שוטר,שוטרים gists, denominated

Not only the Hebrews, but, if we may credit Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus, the Egyptians also, assigned a certain period to a generation. According to their estimation, three generations made an hundred years. In the time of Abraham, however, when men lived to a greater age, an hundred years made a generation. This is clear from Gen. xv. 13. 16. and from the circumstance, that Abraham,

Isaac, and Jacob dwelt two hundred and fifteen years in the land of Canaan, and yet there were only two generations.

III. ARITHMETIC, MATHEMATICS, ASTRONOMY, AND ASTROLOGY. 1. Arithmetic. The more simple methods of arithmetical calculation are spoken of in the Pentateuch, as if they were well known. The merchants of that early period, must, for their own convenience, have been possessed of some method of operating by numbers. And that they were able to do it, to some considerable extent, may be argued from the fact, that they had separate words, viz. and

, for so large a number as 10,000.

2. Mathematics.-By this we understand Geometry, Mensurations, Navigation, &c. As far as a knowledge of them was absolutely required by the condition and employments of the people, we may well suppose, that knowledge actually existed; although no express mention is made of them.

3. Astronomy.-The interests of agriculture and navigation required some knowledge of astronomy. An evidence, that an attempt was made at a very early period, to regulate the year by the annual revolution of the sun, may be found in the fact, that the Jewish months were divided into thirty days each. (See Gen. vii. 11. viii. 4.) In astronomy, the Egyptians, Babylonians, and Phoenicians exibited great superiority. We are informed, there were magicians or enchanters in Egypt (Exod. vii. 11. Lev. xx. 27. xix. 31. Deut. xviii. 20.), denominated in Hebrew , because they computed eclipses of the sun and moon, and pretended to the people, that they produced them by the efficacy of their own enchantments. Some of the constellations are mentioned by name in Job ix. 9. xxxviii. 31, 32. Isa. xiii. 10. Amos v. 8. 2 Kings xxiii. 5.

4. Astrology. It is by no means a matter of wonder, that the Hebrews did not devote greater attention to astronomy, since the study of astrology, which was intimately connected with that of astronomy, and was very highly estimated among the neighbouring nations (Isa. xlvii. 9. Jer. xxvii. 9. 1. 35. Dan. ii. 13. 48.), was interdicted to the Hebrews. (Deut. xviii. 10. Lev. xx. 27.) Daniel, indeed, studied the art of astrology at Babylon, but he did not practise it. (Dan. i. 20. ii. 2.) The astrologers (and those wise men mentioned in Matt. ii. 1. et seq. appear to have been such) divided the heavens into apartments or habitations, to each one of which apartments they assigned a ruler or president. This fact developes the origin of the word, Beλou, by, or the Lord of the (celestial) dwelling. (Matt. x. 25. xii. 24.27. Mark iii. 22. Luke xi. 15-19.)

IV. Measures of Length are mentioned in Gen. vi. 15, 16. A knowledge of the method of measuring lands is implied in the account given Gen. xlvii. 20-27. Mention is made, in the books of Job and Joshua, of a line or rope for the purpose of taking measurements,,. It was brought by the Hebrews out of Egypt, where, according to the unanimous testimony of antiquity, Surveying

first had its origin, and in consequence of the inundations of the Nile, was carried to the greatest height. It was here, as we may well conclude, that the Hebrews acquired so much knowledge of the principles of that science, as to enable them, with the aid of the measuring line above mentioned, to partition and set off geographically the whole land of Canaan. The weights used in weighing solid bodies, (Gen. xxiii. 15, 16.) provided they were similar to each other in form, imply a knowledge of the rudiments of stereometry.

V. The Mechanic Arts.-No express mention is made of the mechanic arts; but that a knowledge of them, notwithstanding, existed, may be inferred from the erection of Noah's ark, and the tower of Babel; also from what is said of the Egyptian chariots, in Gen. xli. 43. xlv. 19. 1. 9. and Exod. xiv. 6, 7.; and from the instruments used by the Egyptians in irrigating their lands. (Deut. xi. 10.) It is implied in the mention of these, and subsequently of many other instruments, that other instruments still, not expressly named, but which were of course necessary for the formation of those which are named, were in existence.

VI. Geography.-Geographical notices occur so frequently in the Bible, that it is not necessary to say much on this point; but see Gen. x. 1-30. xii. 4-15. xiv. 1-16. xxviii. 2-9. xlix. 13., &c. Perhaps, however, it deserves to be repeated, that, in the time of Joshua, the whole of Palestine was subjected to a geographical division. (Josh. xviii. 9.) It is evident then, from their geographical knowledge, as well as from other circumstances already mentioned, that there must have existed among the Hebrews, the rudiments, if nothing more, of mathematical science.

VII. Physics, or Natural Philosophy, has secured but little attention in the East. A knowledge of the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, or the science of Natural History, was always much more an object of interest. Solomon was an illustrious pattern of knowledge and wisdom; and his skill in this science is sufficiently indicated, when we are told that he spake of trees, from the cedartree that is in Lebanon, even to the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowls, and of creeping things, and of fishes. (1 Kings iv. 33.)

Traces of Philosophy strictly so called, that is, the system of prevailing moral opinions, may be found in the book of Job, in the 37th, 39th, and 73d Psalms, also in the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, but chiefly in the apocryphal book of Wisdom, and the writings of the son of Sirach. During the Captivity, the Jews acquired many new notions, particularly from the Mehestani, and appropriated them, as occasion offered, to their own purposes. They at length became acquainted with the philosophy of the Greeks, which makes its appearance abundantly in the book of Wisdom. After the captivity, the language in which the sacred books were written, was no longer vernacular. Hence arose the need of an interpreter on the sabbatic year, a time when the whole law was read; and also on the sabbath in the synagogues, which had been recently erected, in order