By the time the Greek period was reached, the restoration of the temple, tlie reforms of Neliemiah, and the natural growth of the community must have led to some development of trade, which would be further stimulated by the Greek coloniza- tion of Western Asia. Some token of a growing interest in commerce may be seen in the Bk. of Sirach, which refers to the subject more frequently and precisely than does Proverbs. Many of the references, indeed, are quite general, to the dangers of suretiship (Sir 8" 29"-*', as in Pr ll" 17'" 20'") ; or to the obligation to deal fairly (Sir 5" 2'J*-' 41'", as in Pr IG" 20"'- *") ; or to other general topics (Sir 37", as in Pr 11="). But Sir 42'-» implies a more intimate acquaintance with commerce, e.g. ▼.' —
' Whatsoever thou bandejit over, let it t>e by number and
w^•i^;ht ; And in giving and receiving let all be in writing.*
In Other [lassages we discern the protest of tradi- tional sentiment against a growing predilection fur business life. Thus —
' Hate not laltorioua work ; Neither huabandr}', which the Mort High hath ordained'
(Sir 7"). *A merchant shall hardly keep himaeU from wrong-doing' (8ir26»).
• RVm rendeni, • As for Cnnaan . . .' ; but even so the foUow- tng verse implies thai Kphraiui had imitated Canaan.
On the ol her hand, the silence of Ecclesiastes as to trade still illustrates the comparative indillerence of the Palestinian Jew to commerce. Ec 3 does not state that 'there is a time to buy and a time to sell.' This silence is the more signilicant in a book written in the name of Solomon, the merchant- king.
The restoration of Jewish autonomy, ind the extension of their territory by the Maccabees, must have further promoted trade, more especially the acquisition of Jojjpa by Simon as a Jewish port (1 Mac 14'). Thioughout the Persian and Greek periods the growing commerce of the Jewish Dis- ^lersion (see below) must have done something to loster trade in Palestine ; which would be further encouraged by the frequent resort of the Jews of the IJispersion to Jerusalem, especially for the Passover.
During the Roman or Hcrodian period tlie same causes were at work, aide<i by tlie security and facility of communication due to the imperial government. Uerzleld (pp. 06-130) shows that the Mishna and Jerusalem Talmud make frequent references to the trade of Palestine, and enumer- ates, mainly from these souices, 135 foreign articles imported into Palestine. On the other hand, Josephus (c. Apion. i. 12) denies that the Jews occupied any territory on the coast, or cared to engage in commerce : 'H/ifis toiVi/k oCre Xihpav oUoO^ev irapdXiov, out' ifnropiais x^^P'^f^^''* '^^^^ Tats Tpbs dWovs oia tovtuv iinp-i^lais. He makes this statement to explain why the ancient Greeks never heard of the Jews, and doubtless handles his facts with the rhetorical licence of an advocate, more suo. Yet his words probably represent the attitude of old-fashioned Palestinian Jews.
The Dispersion of the Jews which began with the fall of Samaria had, before the beginning of the Christian era, scattered Jewish communities over all the Mediterranean lands, together with Arabia and the ancient Assyria and Babylonia. These communities are found in all the great commercial cities — Rome, Ant loch, Thessalonica, Corinth, Alexandria, etc. Their circumstances militated against their holding land, even when it was nut legally forbidden to tliem ; on the other hand, their relations with felluw-countrj'meu all over the known world gave them then, as now, exceptional facilities for commerce ; so that we may conclude that the Jews of the Dispersion were largely occupied with commerce. This con- clusion i.s supported by references to Jewish mer- chants and trade in various countries. ios.(A)it. XX. ii. 3, 4) mentions a Jewish merchant at the court of Adiabene ; Philo (in Flaccum, 8) mentions Jewish shipmasters and merchants at Alexandria ; and Herzfeld (p. 219) quotes Talmudic references to Jewish traders in Mesopotamia.
V. TuAUE Routes, Maj;kets, Harbours, etc. — 1. Transport uf Commuditics. In times of peace, in the more settled countries, merchants (cf. above, 'Terms'), travelling singly or in small companies, carried their wares to their customers, or to mar- kets (Neh 13""), and visited the scattered farm- steads to purchase farm proiluce, or clothing made by the housewife or her maids (Pr 31-'^). The more iiiijiortant international traffic was carried on by caravans of camels (Gn 37-°), asses ((in 42'-'' 43'" 4.5-=', Ezr '2'"), mules (2 K 5", 1 Ch 12'"'), oxen (1 Ch 12''"), and slaves (2 K b'"). Horses were not used OS bea-sts of burden or for draught, only for riding and chariots. In Gn 45"' -'■'■" 40' waggons {'dgCduth) are sent to fetch the a<'ed Jacoli and the women and children (cf. the Egyp. 'acjvU, a liaggago-waggon drawn by oxen, Erman, Egypt, Eng. tr. p. 491). In Nu 7', 1 SO' waggons drawn by oxen are used to carry the tabernacle furni- ture and the ark. In the pictures of convoys of
806 TRADE AND COMMERCE
TRADE AND COMMERCE
prisoners taken by tl.e Assyrians, the baf^sase and the sick are sometimes carried in waggons (MisDcro Anc. Egypt and As.iyna, i-ng. tr. S But thereTno mention of . waggons in tlie description of the great canuan m t-zr . , and they cannot have been largely used. Ihe caravans\vere usually accompanied by an arnied escort (Ezr 8-^^).-2. Trade Eoutes. Caravan routes ?ed from S W. Arabia along the Red Sea from Elat • and also from the Persian Gulf across AK.bii to Petra. From Petra there 7>:e/2}'te^ to E"VPt, to Gaza, and along the east of the Dead Sea an^d the Jordan to Damascus. The gjeat rou e from the East le.l from Babylon, across the Euph- n.tes and the desert, by the oasis of 1 almyra, o the Plain of Jezr'ee/and the Med terranean. Another route, partly coinciding ^nth this, started from Gilead, passe/ over the P «;'" "4 f^'^'^^''^' and went on by Gaza to Egypt (Gn 3,-=). An- other route went from Damascus by Scytliopo lis and the Plain of Jezreel to Accho. I'roni bcjtho- polls routes led to Samaria, Shechem, and Jeru- salem Also from Jerusalem a route by Jericho (Lk 10»») crossed the Jordan, and joined the route last of the river; other routes led to Joppa (Ezr 3'), and, in NT times at any rate, to Gaza Ac 8 ) and, by Antipatris, to Cssarea (Ac ^f "■'-)■ l.'f combination of these routes connected Baby on a, etc., Damascus, Samana, Phcenicia, Pbilistia, Gilead, Jerusalem, Arabia, and Egypt- ^"^ Roman roads in Palestine are mostly later than the Bible period. There ^'^^-e """^e^'^^"'""/ routes (Herzfeld, pp. 22, 46 141 ;G A- Smith /TGi/X 149-154, 388 ff., 423-430, 59/ tt., 626). An important Egyptian caravan route led fron, Coptos on the Nile to Sauu ( U'ddy Gasus) on the Red Sea (Erman, p. 505). In NT times a great system ot Roman roads connected the East with Rome ; the most important route was Rome to Brun.lusium (Via Appia), and from Dyrrachium by Thessalomca to UyzsLntinm (Via Egnatia). -,1, fi.a