850
FAMILY
rAi\[INE
tended to make the whole personal and family life a conticuous series of religious observances. The later system, however, diflered from the former in that in primitive times each family had rites peculiar to itself, in later times all families practised the same rites.
V. Early History of the Family.— Under the monarchy, the family was constituted under the headship of the father, who was supreme over wives and ehUdreu, and primogeniture was recog- nized in the transmission of authority (royal, priestly, etc.) and property. The Hex. traces these institutions back to the origin of the human race in Adam and Eve ; at the same time it pre- serves many incidents which have been held to point to an altogether different state of affairs in early times. It is maintained by W. R. Smith and others that the head of the family was origin- ally the mother (mother-right, matriarchate), and that descent was traced only through the mother. Marriage was then polyaiidrous (of which the levirate marriage is supposed to be a relic), and be'ena marriage, in which the man becomes one of the wife's family, and goes into her tent (cf. § 7 and Gn 2^), as opposed to ba'al marriage, where the wife enters her husband's luuiilj'. This view is based partly on parallels amongst other primitive peoples, and esp. amongst the Arabs ; and partly on various traces in OT, some of which have been already mentioned. In con- nexion with this theory, it has also been main- tained that exogamous totem - clans existed in ancient Israel. Such clans are united by the use of a common badge, connected with some animal or plant after which the clan was named ; inter- marriage between members of the clan is regarded as incest, and the totem may not be eaten. One example cited is the clan Caleb (dog), the dog being unclean (Dt 14*- '), and its flesh forbidden food. Even if it should ultimately be proved that such theories are partly true, it is clear that be'ena marriages and totemism were obsolete and for- gotten in historic Israel, and that they can be traced only in customs whose original significance was no longer understood.
vi. The Family in Apocr. and NT. — Throughout the Bible, but esp. in the later books of OT, in Apocr., and in NT, the sacred history refers incidentaJly to the family institutions of numerous Gentile nations; but any general treatment of these would be beyond the scope of biblical archse- ology. Various subjects raise special questions of this nature, and these are dealt with in the articles on those subjects.
Our data do not point to any re|;\ilar develop- ment in the later history of the Jewish family. Its character and principles were as permanent as social institutions mostly are in the East. I'^eatures of OT family life reappear in Apocr., NT, and Talm., and still persist amongst modern Arabs and Syrians. The family history of the Herods is very smiilar to that of David.
The Pent. — some of whose laws embody the most primitive customs of Israel — remained to the last the authoritative code of Judaism. Probably, however, much of the Pent, legislation was always a mere counsel of perfection, and other portions were obsolete in NT times. Often discussions in the Talm. are purely academic arguments on regulations which had no bearing on actual life. Hut if there was no continuous development of Jewish life, it would still vary with varying :!ircum3tances. For instance, under a strong, well- organized government, like that of some of the Jewish kings, of the Herods and the Komans, the jurisdiction of the head of the family and private blood-revenge would be controlled and limited. The eettleroent of a large Gentile population in Pal.,
and the dispersion of the Jews throughout the ancient world, would sometimes modify, sometimes also accentuate, the observance of Jewish customs. Probably, Western influences reinforced the tend- ency to monogamy, which we have already noticed in OT. It is doubtful whether 1 Ti 3- ", Tit 1« inculcate monogamy, cf. 1 Ti 5'. Our Lord's limitation of divorce (Mt 5'^- ^) followed the teach- ing of Shammai.
Literatcrh.— For the early history of the family, W. R. Smith,
Eijuhip and Marria'je in Larly Arabia, and 'Animal Worship and Animal Tribes among the Arabs and in OT ' in Joum. of Philology, vol. ix.; J. F. M'Lennan, Primitive Marriage, and the essay on 'Totem-Clans in OT ' in Joseph Jacobs' Studie* in Bibl. Archaeology ; Bertholet, IKc Steltung d. Isr. u. Jud. z. d. Fremden, esp. pp. 1-80. For the Bible history, the sectioon on the Family, and the laws of Marriage, Divorce, Parents and Children, etc., in Ewald, Atterthiimer^ (Eng. tr. The AtU. o/ Isr. from Ist ed. 1844) ; Keil, Uaiidb. der Bibl. Arch.^ 1876 ,• Benzinger, Heb. Arch. 1894 ; Nowack, Lehrb. dtr Eeb. Arch. 1894 ; J. F. McCurdy, Hint. Proph. and the MonumenU, ii. 86-77 ; Dillmann and Driver on the passages from Pent., for OT ; Schurer, HJP. for NT ; also art. in Herzog's RE ; Schenkel'l Bibetlex. ; Riehm's HWB. W. H. BENNETT.
FAMINE (3!n, X(/t4s) in Syria and Egypt in past times may be attributed to four causes —
i. Want of water, i.e. rainfall or inundations, in due season.
ii. Destruction of corn and fruit by hail and rain out of season. iii. „ of all growing crops by locusts and caterpillars.