Literature. — Herzfeld, Handelsgesch. der Juden des Alter- thums ; art. ' Trade and Commerce ' in Hastings' DB and in EBi ; on the general subject of the relation between commerce and religion see G. A. Smith's Isaiah, vol. i. ch. 18.
J. Ross Murray. TRADES. — It had long been a custom, which almost had the force of law, among the Jews, that every youth, of whatever station, must have a trade. The Rabbis insisted upon it. Of the dis- tinguished teachers in the days of Herod the Great, Hillel and Shammai learned and wrought the trade of mechanics. So with Gamaliel, a contemporary of our Lord. It was quite usual, though by no means universal, for a son to follow the trade of his father, as Jesus did that of Joseph, who was a carpenter (Mt 13^^, Mk 6^). Tradition says Jesus made ploughs, ox-yokes, chairs, and the like. The most common trades of Christ's day were those of the smith, the cai'penter, the stone-mason, the baker, the tanner, the sandal-maker, the weaver, the spinner, the wool-comber, the tailor, the tent- maker, the potter, the perfumer, the jeweller, the fuller. These occupations are seldom directly men- tioned in the Gospels, but the implements or wares connected with many of them are referred to, or are used as illustrations in parables of our Lord : ploughs and yokes, work of the carpenter, Lk 9®^, Mt 1129; of the mason, Lk 23^^ Mt 21*^; of the
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weaver, Mt 3^ Jn 19^3 ; of the tailor, Mk 2-^ ; the fuller, Mk 9^ ; of digging, Lk 16^ ; of spinning, Mt 6^.
While mechanical labour was regarded with honour among the Jews, all the trades were not looked upon with equal respect. The tanner, pro- bably because of the unclean nature of his work, the donkey-driver, the butcher, and the followers of a few other occupations, were more or less discredited. Sewing, weaving (Jn 19^^^), spinning (Lk 122''), grinding (Mt 24«), baking (Mt W^), and the like, were largely occupations of women. The industry of catching and curing fish (see art. Fish) was a most important one, more particularly about the Sea of Galilee ; Jesus called several of His disciples from this occupation, Mt 4^^, Mk'*. See separate articles on several of the trades above mentioned. E. B. Pollard.
TRADITION. — In its simplest and most primitive form, the conception of tradition involves what is contained in the English word delivery. Tradition is the act of transmitting the story of an event or the teaching of a master. From being thus first of all the .act of transmission, it becomes in the next place the thing transmitted, and finally a whole body of narratives or teachings passed from genera- tion to generation. In the history of all religions, traditions play a very important part. The times of Jesus and the Gospels were not exceptional in this regard. Explicit mention of tradition is made in Mt 152- 3- 6^ Mk V- »• «• »• '=*. Both of these passages refer to the same transaction, and therefore repre- sent the same condition of affairs in the environ- ment and the same attitude on the part of Jesus towards the subject.
The environment was as thoroughly pervaded by the recognition of the authority of tradition as any other that we know of, either in ancient or in modern times. In fact, it stands pre-eminent in this particular (Mt 15^, Mk 7^). The Sadducees took ex- ception to the prevalent state of mind (Jos. Ant. XIII. X. 6) ; but the attitude of the Pharisees was the very opposite, and exerted a dominant influence in the matter. In the Talmud it was written that ' Moses received the oral Law from Sinai and de- livered it to Joshua, and Joshua delivered it to the elders, and the elders to the prophets, and the prophets to the men of the Great Synagogue. They said three things : Be deliberate in judgment, raise up many disciples, and make a fence for the Law ' {Aboth i.). The Rabbis interpreted Ex 20' as in- volving the idea that all that was to guide the Israelite into the knowledge of the nature and the law of God had been given to Moses on Mount Sinai. More expressly, they found the ditlerent parts of the complex rule of faith advocated in the phraseology of Ex 24'^. The expression used in this passage is, ' 1 will give thee the tables of stone, and the law, and tlie commandments, which I liave written, tliat thou mayest keep them.' The ' tables of stone' were understood to mean the Ten Com- mandments ; ' tlie law,' the Avritten prescriptions of the Pentateucli ; ' the commancfments,' the Mishna ; ' which I have written,' the i)ronhets and Hagiographa ; ' that thou mayest teach tliem,' the Talmud (Bemkh. bn, lines 11-16). A place was thus made for a large body of j)recepts Avhich do not appear in tlie OT Scriptures ; and all this was of at least equal aiitiiority with tiie written Law, because given at the same time and through the same person, Moses. To the question why it was not written down at the same time as the written Law, the answer was that Moses did indeed desire to reduce it to writing, but was forbidden by God, because in the days to come Israel would be scattered svinong the Gentiles, and the written Law wouk \be taken from them ; the oral Law