f the day was cloudy, the new moon was not reckoned to commence till the following day. + Geographical knowledge was enlarged by the Sets of Jewish merchants, but yet was in general superficial and vague.§
Medicine was upon a primitive basis. The mild and sensible Ben Sira exhorts his-readers not to despise the physician’s help, since the Lord has created medicines out of the earth, which the apothecary knows how to mix and the physician how to apply (Sir 38). The healing powers of the various hot springs of Palestine had been dis- covered, and they were largely taken advantage of (Jos. Vita, 16; Ant. XVII. vi. 5). But the con- ception of diseases was still essentially a purely religious, or, in most instances, a superstitious one, so that in the treatment of them all kinds of magical methods took a prominent place. In general, the belief in magic played no mean réle amongst the Jews, although it was forbidden in the Law. ‘This was a sphere in which the Law was powerless to control the notions of men.|| See art. MAGIC in vol. iii. hg
It was only in the sphere of religion that the standard of popular education was high, and it was regarded as extremely important to see that this should be so. While the cultus was essentially the concern of the priests, there had been for long established all over the land synagogues, where religious instruction was attended to and the people acquired an acquaintance with the holy Scriptures (Ac 157), The synagogue building (m3 NDIDN, cuvarywyh OL mpocevx’)) contained a press where the sacred writings were kept, and an elevated place where the reader stood. The service was introduced by repeating the passages Dt.6#-? 1 18-21, Nu 15°71; then came a prayer spoken by a mem- ber of the congregation, to the accompaniment of the ‘Amen’ and other responses by the people. This was followed by the lesson from the Law, which was read by several members, preferably priests or Levites, and translated into Aramaic, verse by verse, by an interpreter (jp37n2). Next
* How inconsiderable were the historical recollections in the Rabbinical literature is shown in Dérenbourg’s Essai sur Uhis-
toire, etc. de la Palestine, 1867. ’ + To be found in Dalman’s Avamdische Dialektproben, 1896,
Pet was not until about 200 years after the destruction of Jerusalem that the Jews began to fix the new moon on astro- nomical grounds. See Riehm, H WB ii. 1094, and cf, art. New Moon in vol. iii. p. 522, and Tm in vol, iv. p. 764% § Cf. Neubauer, Géographie du Talmud, 289 ft. || To 117; Jos. Ant. vi. ii. 5; L. Blau, Das Zauberwesen, 1898; Schiirer, GJV ® iii. 294 ff.
altjtidische
NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 55
came the reading of a section from the Prophets which was translated in the same way (Lk 47, Ac 13). To this reading there was attached a sermon, during the delivery of which the speaker was accustomed to sit, whereas the readers stood (Lk 47°), The service closed with the benediction (Nu 6”#-), which was pronounced by a priest. The principal service was that of Sabbath forenoon, but there were less elaborate services also on Sabbath afternoon and on some week days. Lastly, Divine service was celebrated on all feast days. In this way those of the people who felt that they formed a community had abundant oppor- tunity given them of making acquaintance with the Scriptures and of receiving instruction and edi- fication. It is worthy of note how in this matter there is a retrocession of any privileged class, the service being of quite a democratical character. Even if a preference was given to priests in the reading of the Scriptures, this function could be discharged by others as well, while the delivery of the address was open to any member of the congregation, or any qualified visitor who happened to be present (see art. SYNAGOGUE, vol. iv. p. 641).
The above account of things applies, properly speaking, only to the men. But if we would have a complete picture of the stage of culture among the Jews, we must face the question of how it stood with the women. There is a want of his- torical data here, but certain characteristic features come out. For instance, we learn from Josephus (Ant. XVII. ii, 4) that the Pharisees exercised great influence over women, a circumstance which proves that the latter felt an interest in party questions and themselves took sides. Thus even queen Alexandra allowed herself, contrary to all the traditions of the Hasmonzans, to be guided by the Pharisees. The Gospels show us how deep was the religious interest on the part of women, and how receptive they were to the teaching of Jesus. On the other hand, evidence of the slender culture of women is afforded by the circumstance that it was they especially that devoted them- selves to magical arts, so that even women of noble birth were at times accused of sorcery.*
vii. ART AND LITERATURE.— With the Jews the first place among the fine arts is held by music, because this had entered into the service of religion. The temple musicians formed a guild, in which the technique and the understanding of the numerous technical expressions were heredi- tary, not being communicated to outsiders—a cir- cumstance which explains why these expressions, when they occur in the Psalms, especially in their titles, were unintelligible to the Greek translators of the LXX.}+ The members of this guild, who were not at first (Ezr 10°", Neh 7!-7) reckoned among the Levites, had been by the time of the Chronicler (1 Ch 6*-47) included in this class of temple officials, and shortly before the destruc- tion of the State they obtained, by the aid of Agrippa IL, the right of wearing the same linen garments as the priests—an innovation which, ac- cording to Josephus (Ant. XX. ix. 6), contributed to bring about the punishment of the people. The pieces that were sung were the Psalms of the Old ‘Testament. The whole of these were not, indeed, adapted to this purpose (¢.g. Ps 119), but in the case of a large proportion of them there is ancient testimony to their liturgical use. The Psalms were sung by the official singers, the people struck in only with certain responses. The singing was accompanied by harps, zithers, flutes, and cymbals, although, unfortunately, we are not informed as to the exact form of procedure either with the singing or the instrumental accompaniment.