(f) Symbolical actions affecting certain classes of socety.—(a) If a Hebrew slave declined to avail himself of the liberty that was open to him after seven years’ service, one of his ears—probably the right one—was bored through with an awl against the door and thus pinned to it (Ex 21%, Dt 1527), This was meant to indicate that the service of his ears—i.¢. his obedience—must henceforth be in- dissolubly devoted to this house. The pierced ear is found also amongst other nations as the mark of the slave (Nowack, Heb. Arch. i. 177).
(8) The office of house steward was conveyed to one by laying the key of the house upon his shoulder (Is 22”, cf, Rev 37). The investiture with the prophetic office is once, too, symbolized by the giving of a book to eat (Ezk 3),
(y) We find quite a number of symbolical actions intended to indicate a man’s rank as ruler. First of all there is anointing (Je 98, 1 S 96 101 15! IR 28 2% 3% 5%, 1 K 1 191, 2 K 1112 2330, Pg 458 8921, 1 Ch 29”, 2 Ch 227 231, but not Ps 2°). Although this practice of anointing princes is witnessed to even in the Tel el-Amarna letters (KIB, Ba. Vey Brief 27° 37°"), it acquired a peculiar meaning in Israel. For the oil which fed the lamps of the sanctuary readily became a symbol of Divine illumination, and so a vehicle of the Holy Ghost. —In the second place, the elevation of a man to
be ruler was expressed by putting on his head a diadem (28 1°, 2 K 11, Ps 132'8, 1 Mac 11%, Rev 191”) or a crown (28 12°, Ezk 1612 21°6 23%, Zec 612, Ps 214, Est 8%, 1 Ch 20°).—Thirdly, a ruler was acknowledged by the act of kissing. Thus Samuel kissed Saul after he had anointed him king over Israel (18 10'). The kiss, as an act of homage, is found, not indeed in Gn 414, but in Ps 24,1 K 1918, Hos 187, Job 31°’, and the same custom pre- vailed among the Assyrians (Schrader, AAT? 455) and other peoples.—A gain, a person may be recog- nized as a sharer in rule by being caused to sit at one’s right hand (1 Kk 2", Ps 45° 110!, Job 30”, 1 Mac 10®-6, Mt 19° 20%, Ac 755, Ro 84, He 8! 12?, Jos. Ant. VI. xi. 9: mapaxabecbévTwr atr@, Tod ev matdos "lwvdov [1S 20%] éx deéGv). Thus Nero made Tiridates, king of Armenia, sit on his right (Sueton. Nero, ¢. xili.: ‘Juxta se latere dextro collocavit’), and Sallust (de Bello Jugurth. xi. 3) tells us: ‘Hiempsal . . . dextra Adherbalem adsedit . . . quod apud Numidas honori ducitur.’ Moreover, when a person is spoken of who stands in need of protection, the man who stands at his right hand is his patron (Ps 16% 121°),—Finally, the act of intercourse with the concubines of a ruler was meant to indicate seizure of his sovereignty. This was a natural interpretation of the act in question, and is sufficiently authenticated by 2S 37 and 1K 24, But it was not necessarily its mean- ing, as von Bohlen (Com. on Genesis, 1835) main- tains with reference to Gn 35” and 494, and as has been held since by a number of scholars, as, ¢.g., Guthe, GVJ (1899) § 1.4. In these two passages the act in question may denote merely a gross violation of filial duty, and the same interpreta- tion is put upon it in 28 167”, whereas the struggle for the kingly sway was indicated by other acts (15). It is not to Judah, whose tribe actually strove for the hegemony in Israel, that intercourse with one of his father’s concubines is attributed. (g) Another group of symbolical actions ex-
presses thoughts, feelings, and aspirations.—(a) Lhe consciousness or the assertion of innocence was symbolized by the washing of the hands (Dt 218, Mt 274, Herod. i. 35: xaOapds xetpas édv, ef, Verg. Aen. li. 719 f.).—(8) A feeling of aversion to a person is proclaimed by spitting in his face (Nu 124 a352 py, Dt 25%).—(y) Bitterness and anger show themselves by gnashing of the teeth (Ps 35'® 37 112”, Job 16°, La 2'5, Mt 8! 13” ete.). Hostile desires express themselves in a similar way: one gapes with the mouth as if he would swallow a person (Ps 3571, Job 16”, La 216).—(5) Clapping the hands is a gesture expressive sometimes of ill- feeling (Ezk 64 2117 22 2218), sometimes of joy (2 K 11”, Is 55%, Nah 3%, Ps 47? 988).—(e) Scoffing wonder is expressed by shaking of the head or the hands (2 K 19”, Is 37", Jer 188 48°”, Zeph 2'5, Ps 228 441 109%, Job 164, La 2%, Sir 137, Mt 2739), silent astonishment by laying the hand upon the mouth (Jg 18%, Mic 7°, Job 21° 29° 404) or pressing the lips closely together (Is 52%, Ps 107%, Job 5'5), —(§) The fear of profaning a place consecrated to the Deity is expressed by putting off the shoes, these being not only a product of man’s work, but also dirty (Ex 3° ‘x by, Jos 5, Ex 29, Ly 8%, cf, the covering of the feet in Is 6).—(y) The dread of looking upon the holy God found expression in the covering of the face (Ex 3% 'n apn, 1 K 1918 ‘n nbn, Is 6? ’n npn), and Verg. Aen. iii. 405 ff, describes the offering of a sacrifice thus—