How far the civil officials—the military do not come into consideration for reasons indicated above —received payment cannot be made out with cer- tainty. In many cases their office may be assumed to have been an honorary one. This would be the case, for instance, with the elders of the community, the judges, the members of the Sanhedrin, ete. But, upon the generally accepted principle that the labourer is worthy of his hire,* it may probably be inferred that, if not the rulers of the synagogue and the collectors of alms (prs °N33), yet at least the synagogue attendants (no127 °31n) had a salary. The same would probably hold good of the numer- ous officials attached to the court, who would be paid by the king. When we pass to the case of the priests and temple officials, we have precise information to go upon. The incomes of these were very considerable, and they increased with the increasing population and the growing wealth. The Levites were entitled to a tenth of the whole produce of the land, and had then to hand over a tenth of this to the priests (Nu 18%). Other dues besides, of all kinds and in some instances very considerable in amount, fell to the priests. In peaceful times all this was exactly regulated ; for what Josephus (Ant. XX. viii. 8) relates of the high priests, that they sent their servants to the threshing-floors to seize the portion of the grain due to the priests, belongs to the latest peried in the history of the Jewish State, when all legal relations were dissolved. Admittance to the priesthood or to the Levitical body was open to none but those who belonged to the tribe of Levi, and the members of the privileged caste watched over their prerogative with the utmost vigilance. Not only the priests in Palestine, but even the members of priestly families who lived in foreign lands, drew up exact genealogies whose correctness was examined at Jerusalem (Jos. Vita, 1; c. Apion. i. 77. In the matter of the revenues, however,
account had to be taken mérely of the priests who * Mt 1010, 1 Co 97f, A man engaged to accompany one on a
journey received, according to To 51%, not only travelling ex-
penses but wages, and a present after the journey was ended.
NEW TESTAMENT TIMES
NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 51
lived in the Holy Land, who were divided into twenty-four classes, of which each had to officiate for a single week, but as a rule only twice a year. Quite-a number of priests lived constantly in J erusalem, but there were also some who had their home in other towns of J udeea, or even in Galilee. According to the calculations, somewhat doubtful, indeed, of Biichler (Die Priester und der Kultus im letzten Jahrzehnte des Jerus. Tenypels, 48 ff.), the total number of priests in the last days of Jewish history amounted to about 20,000, of whom some 5000 lived in Jerusalem.
Of payment of teachers there is no mention. According to Shabbath i. 3, it was the synagogue attendants that gave elementary instruction to children on the Sabbath. These would receive at most a salary for attending to their duties in general. In any case, the teachers of the Law and the scribes did not live by their work of teach- ing; on the contrary, if they were without means, they pursued some handicraft, or even engaged in trade, in order to gain a livelihood.—That physi- cvans received a fee when their services were over is. 1S pap from such passages as Sir 38?, and Midrash ’"Ekhé on La 1%.
The class of free citizens included also the day- labourers, who owned no land, and had no fixed employment, but hired out their labour daily (cf. the picturesque description in the parable of Mt 20'*:). When, not long before the outbreak of the war for freedom, the temple was at last finished, Josephus (Ané. Xx. ix. 7) tells us that more than 18,000 labourers were thrown out. of work, that it was resolved to utilize the treasure of the temple in order to procure employment for them, and that they received their wages even if they had wrought only a single hour. See also art. WaAGEs, below, p. 358.
Quite different was the standing of the slaves proper, who enjoyed no personal freedom. Even Jews might fall into this condition, if, for instance, they could not pay their debts (cf. Mt 18”), or had been guilty of theft. The Law, however, contained a series of enactments (see full discussion of these in Driver, Dewt. 181 ff.) by which the slavery of a Jew had a time limit imposed upon it.’ By means of the combining method of exegesis, this period was shortened still more, namely when the year of Jubilee happened to fall within the six years’ period of service.* But, as the year of Jubilee was not really observed, this enactment could have no practical consequence. On the other hand, the later teachers of the Law laid it down that a Jewish girl was to serve as a slave only till she reached the age of puberty.+ It may further be assumed that, as the prosperity of the people increased, such cases would always be more rare, and that poor Jews would be saved from this fate by the ready benevolence of the people, coupled with the organized methods for the relief of the poor (the third tenth every three years, and the collecting of alms in the synagogues). The majority of slaves were, accordingly, without doubt, foreigners acquired by purchase.t See, further, art. SERVANT in vol. iv.