(2) For burdens. Abraham probably loaded his ass with wood (Gn 22*) ; the sons of Jacob loaded their asses with com (Gn 42*- ") ; Joseph sent twenty asses bearing the good things of E<'ypt to his father (Gn 45^) ; Jesse sent an assload of provisions by David to Saul (1 S 16*) ; Abigail loaded her present to David on asses (1 S 25"), as also Ziba (2 S 16') ; the provisions for the feast at David's coronation at Hebron were brought on a-sses (1 Ch 12"); asses were used in harvesting (Neh 13'°). The ass is still the most universal of all beasts of burden in Bible lands. Small ones can be bought for a pound or two. There is a great variety in the breeds of pack-asses. Some are no larger than a Shetland pony, while others are as large as a small mule, and carry very lieaN-y loads. They are very economical to keej), living on straw, thistles, stubble, and a very small quantity of grain, and standing any amount of exposure and harsh treatment.
(3) Vox pluughing. The expression ear (Is 30") means io plough (comp. 32*). It was not allowi'd to plough with an ox and an ass together (Dt 'i'J'"). The writer has seen a camel and an ass yoked together to a ploiigli. The equation of force was made by tethering the ass at the long end of a cross- bar, which was fastened to the front of the plough. Doubtless the reason of this prohibition was the principle of the Mosaic law, ifiat there should be no intermixtures. Thus I)rie8t8 could not have patched or particoloured garments. I'iebiild cattle could not be offered in sacrifice. Cattle could not gender with a diverse kind. A field miglit not be sown with mingled seed. A garment could not be ninile of two different sorts of stuffs, as linen and woollen. A person with patches of leprosy, mixed with patches of clean skin, was unclean, while one
174
ASSAMIAS
ASSEMBLY
covered all over with leprosy was clean. This principle enters into the whole symbolic economy. It is intended to illustrate simplicity and purity. Asses' milk is used as food by the Arabs, and is recommended for persons of scrofulous and tubercular tendencies. The flesh of the ass was not allowed to the Hebrews as food, because the animal does not divide the hoof and chew the cud. In the famine at the siege of Samaria, however, ' an ass's head was sold for eighty pieces of silver ' (2 K 0"). In Jg 15" Samson says, 'with the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps.' In the Heb. there is a fine alliteration, a•trp^ nioq itonn 'n^3 ' with the jawbone of an ass a heap, two heaps,' the word for cas and heap being the same.
2. The she-ass (l^ns MhAn ; i) 6voi, ivot 8-^tia ; asina, Arab. 'atHn) was Balaam's mount (Nu 22'""''). Saul went to search for the stray she- asses of his father Kish (1 S 9^). The Shunammite rode one (2 K 4"- "). It has always been custom- ary to separate the females of the flocks and herds at times. David had an officer charged with the care of the she-asses at such times (1 Ch 27*"). It is said that the vigour of the stock of the Egyp. ass is maintained by tying the she-aases at the border of the deserts on either side of the Nile Valley, so that they may receive the visits of the Asinua Onager, Pali., the original of the domestic ass of the East.
3. The Heb. term TB, 'ayir ; iruXo? ; pullxts asince ; Arab, jahsh, corresponds to four Eng. equivalents in the AV.— (1) Foal (Gn 32"> 49") ; (2) ass colt (Gn 49", Jg 10* 12"); (3) young ass (Is SO'-"); (4) colt (Job 11", Zee 9"). The Arab, equivalent of the Heb. 'ayir is, as before sa\A, jahsh, i.e. young ass, and not 'ayir, which means tlie ass in general. The stupidity of the ass is proverbial in the East as well as in the West. The allusions to this quality in the Bible are not, however, unequivocal (Is 1', Pr 26»).
i. Two words are used in the Heb. for the unld <M»— (1) KID, pere' (Gn 16", where Ishmael is called a unld ass man. Job 6» 11" 24» 39», Is 32'*, Jer 2", Hos 8») ; (2) niij, 'ArGdh (Job 39», Dn 5»', Chald. KTV)- We have no philological grounds for determining the species referred to, nor any certainty that the terms are more specific than their Eng. equivalents. The parallelism in Job 39* does not necessarily imply two species. The Arabs have a large number of names for the lion, the camel, the horse, the ass, and other familiar animals. Tris- tram gives two species of wild asses as found in the deserts contiguous to Palestine, Asinii^ Onaijer, Pall., which he considers to be 'ArOdh, and Asinus hemippus, St. HU., which he regards as pere'. For neither of these specifications does he give any philological authority. It is safe to believe that the scriptural writers had no particular species in view, but the general characteristics of all known wild asses. G. E. Post.
ASSAMIAS(B'Acr<roM'at,A'A(ro/i/«, AVAssanlas). — One of twelve priests entrusted with the holy ressels on the return to Jerua., 1 Ea 8"*.