In Jer 20" we find the subst. ' familiars ' (Lat. familiares), ' All my familiars watched for my halt- ing,' for which RV gives 'familiar friends' as the same Heb. is tr. in Ps 41» AV and RV.
The Heb. U lit, * m&D (or men) of my peace.' It occure also Jer 3822, Ob '. The moat instructive occurrence is no doubt Ps 41^, and the meaning is there at least not simply * acquaintances, those to whom I should ^ve the ordinary- salutation, Peace be with you ' (Streane) ; but rather, as Cheyne, tboM who are epecially attached to me by a covenant.
Illustrations of the subst. ' familiars ' are Knox, ffist. 38, ' they would chop their familiars on the cheeke with it [the New Testament] ' ; and Hos 10'* Cov. ' All thy stronge cities shalbe layed waist, euen as Salmana was destroyed with his famUiers.' J. Hastings.
FAMILY.— 1. Scope, Terms, and Data.— The term family is used in many different senses : (a) For larger or smaller groups of persons con- nected by blood or marriage, from the family in the narrowest sense — a man with his wives and children, and sometimes his mother — to the widest I
aggregate of kinsfolk between whcra relationship is traced — the clan, tribe, nation, or even the human race, (b) In a looser sense for communities living in close and permanent intercourse, from the household — Including dependants as well as kins- folk— to the clan, etc., including persons not of the main stock, (c) In various fig. senses with which we are not concerned here. UT recognizes and connects the groups denoted hy family in (a) and (6), but has no single term for them ; still less ha« it any term corresponding to the Eng. family. n:3 house, approaches most closely to the range of meaning oi family in (a) and (4); in Gn 7' Noai witli his wife and sons and daughters-in-law are called his house ; we have also the house of David 2 S 3', of Levi {i.e. tribe) Nu 17*, of Israel (i.e. the nation) Ex 16^'. In P and Ch 3x n'3, RV father^ house, is a technical term for a subdivision of ■ tribe. The origin of these terms in the concrete dwelling connects them with (J), cf. similar use of 'J.ix tent, in Ps 18^ 83'. So also nn^fc, EV family, is explained (Ges., Fuerst) as etymologic- ally a union, obsolete V '^-^ to join, but Buhl connects with Arab, sajtaha, topour out, and with .inca. 'c is strictly a clan, and is used in P and late writings (Nu 2, etc.) for the largest division of a tribe ; but its meanings also range from the clan to the tribe (Jg 13-) and the nation (Jer 33^^). Other terms are derived from the physical tie between kinsfolk, and connect with (a), jnj seed (Gn 12'), csi; bone (Gn 29'*), if? flesh (Gn 29'*), HNf flesli (Lv 18'2), with its derivative .tikp (Lv IS''), in the sense of blood-relation ; the com- pounds of i"?' bear, beget, mJ'D offspring (Gn 48'), kinsfolk (Gn 3P), nn^in clans (Nu 1*). Also, young children collectively are is, V IBO take qui<:/c short steps. njN3 (Ezk 11") La a misreading (CornUl, etc. «'./.).
This brief statement as to terms shows how the family was bound up with all the social and political arrangements of Israel. Hence it is difficult to draw any natural line of division between the family and other social and political groups, whose insti- tutions are expressed in terms of the family, and derived in fact or theory from it. Moreover, it is often maintained that the idea of the family originated in a social group larger than and different from that consisting of a single man with his dependent women and children. If this is in any measure true, the relations between the family (in the narrower modem sense) and the larger social groups will be still more complicated. This article will oe confined, as far as possible, to the family proper, and the larger social groujis will be dealt with in the art. Tribe ; but it will be necessary to make some allusion to the relations of the family to the clan, etc.
The data for our subject are the narratives of the family life, esp. of the patriarchs, of Ruth, of David, and of Tobit ; the laws dealing vrith the family ; and the various allusions to the subject. OT narratives are, of course, valid authorities for the manners of the times in which they originated, whatever view may be held as to their historicity. Unfortunately, however, both narratives and — m a less degree — laws mostly treat of royal, noble, or wealthy families and their slaves, and we have little direct information as to the poorer free Israelites. Doubtless, the same general principles governed family life amongst all classes, and the wealthy families and their dependants constituted a large proportion of the population ; but we have always to bear in mind tliat the familiar OT pictures are concerned chiefly >vith certain classes, and that for other cases we must allow for tha effect of inferior rank and smaller means.
ii. Members. — The members of a Heb. family or household included some or all of the following: