i. The Home.— Boys, until their fifth year, were under the charge of the women, afterwards they passed under the father's control. We therefore treat the period of boyhood as commencing at the age of, live. Although no doubt many mothers retained their influence after the boy's childhood, it is surely a mistake to quote Pr 31' in this con- nexion, as Phillott does (Smith's DB^ i. 305").
The special influence implied here is surely that of the queen- mother over an adult reigning king, which, according to Eastern custom, exceeds that of a wife. For there may be many wives, but only one mother of the sovereign. The queen-mother (Oeblrah) is mentioned 1 K IS'S, 2 K 10'^, Jer 1318, and the name of the king's mother is given with emphasis in the account of his accession (1 K 1421 152 etc.). So, in David's lifetime, Bathsheba shows him great outward respect (1 K II6), but is seated at Solomon's right hand (1 K 219) when the latter is king. Phillott also refers to Herod, i. 136 ; Strabo, xv. 733 ; Niebuhr, Descript. p. 24.
More to the point is St. Paul's reference (2 Ti P 314. 15J jq j]jg example and teaching of Lois and Eunice, which no doubt was only one instance out of many of good maternal influence. And the Mosaic law placed the mother on an equality with the father in her claim on the obedience and love of her son (Ex 21", Lv 20* etc. ). The house-mother of such a family as our Lord's was neither so ignorant, so secluded, nor so debased as the woman sometimes described by travellers in the East. Judaism was not in this respect the same as Mohammedanism. Even now we are told that the home of the Syrian Christian is superior to that of his Mohammedan neighbours. And even anion" the latter the seclusion of the harem belongs chiefly to the life of the rich. In working and middle-class homes the wife and mother takes her part, as in the West, in the training of the children, and in necessary outdoor business. The OT and the Gospels show this. For instance, ' women's apart- ments' are never referred to in the latter. And Christ apparently met the wife of Jairus, the wife of Chuza, Susanna, Martha and Mary, Peter's wife's mother, and others, without the obstructive conditions of zenana life. We lay stress on this, because we believe that views of one side of Eastern life are often applied too widely, and because from this freer, higher status of woman in Israel there followed her greater fitness for wifehood and motherhood. We believe that in Galilee, at least, an almost Western freedom of intercourse between the sexes must be considered in estimating the influences affecting Jewish lioyliood.
The period of boyhood, as we understand it for
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BOYHOOD
the purpose of this article, was from the 5th to the 13th year. The legal 'coming of age' was at 13 for Ixjys, but 12 or even earlier for girls. But Schiire'r (HJP u. ii. 51 f.) thinks that the definite age was fixed in post-Talnmdic times, and that nothing hut ' the signs of approaching puberty ' settled in earlier times whether a child was Iwund or not bound to the observance of the Law. "We shall consider the ceremonies of this ' coming of age' later on. One thing connected vnth this date was the power of giving evidence. Schtirer quotes the Mishna (Nidda v. 6) : ' AVhen a child is twelve years and one day old, his oaths are tested ; when he is thirteen years and a day, they are valid with- out further ceremony.' Here, for our period, we may compare the commentators on Jn 9-' ' He is of
children's games do not allude specially to those of
boys. Zee 8^ ' The streets of the city s
of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof,' is
! city shall be full
quite general, and is 500 years too early. The use vi yeled ('boy') and yalddh ('girl') even leaves a vagueness as to the ages of the children. But the prophet no doubt based his words on the customs and sights of his day, and thus a fairly early period of life is meant. It is not said that the sexes were playing together, they might be in different groups. Nature, even in England, soon leads to this, and the early ripening of the East must be remembered. Therefore, soon after the period of infantile games, comes that of sports practised bj- each sex alone, and in the case of boys ' manly ' exercises soon follow, if practised at all. In many
parts of the East the climate is often quite un- suited for the 'school-boy' games of Northern lands. The absence of these is noticed by the
teachers of many Mission schools. But in this respect there must be great differences. That lassitude which is true of children in Bombay, for instance, cannot at all seasons apply to those of Nazareth, which is about 1500 feet above sea-level. A caution is necessary when such excellent books as Lane's Modern Egyptians, dealing chiefly with Cairo, or even works on Persia or India, are used not merely to illustrate the Bible, but to add to the descriptions in it.