In ancient Egypt, as in Persia, the tables were ranged along the sides of the room, and the guests were placed with their faces toward the walls. Per- sons of high official station were honored with a table apart for themselves at the head of the room; and in these particulars we trace an exact correspondence to the arrangements of Joseph's entertainment to his brethren. According to Lightfoot (Exercit. on John xiii, 23), the tables of the Jews were either wholly un- covered, or two thirds were spread with a cloth, while the remaining third was left bare for the dishes and vegetables. In the days of our Lord the prevailing form was the triclinium, the mode of reclining at which is described elsewhere. See Acciuatiox. This ef- feminate practice was not introduced until near the close of the Old Testament history, for among all its writers prior to the age of Amos, 2'J1"1, to sit, is the word invariably used to describe the posture at table (1 Sam. xvi, margin, and Psa. exxviii, 3, implying that the an- cient Israelites sat round a low table, cross-legged, like the Orientals of the present day), whereas dvaKkivio, signifying a recumbent posture, is the word employed in the Gospels. And whenever the word " sit" occurs in the New Testament, it ought to lie translated "lie," or n dine, according to the universal practice of that age.
The convenience of spoons, knives, and forks being unknown in the East, or, where known, being a modern innovation, the hand is the only instrument used in conveying food to the mouth ; and the common practice, their fond being chiefly prepared in a liquid form, is to dip their thin, wafer-like bread in the dish, and, folding it between their thumb and two fingers, enclose a por- tion of the contents. It is not uncommon to see sev- eral hands plunged into one dish at the same time. But where the party is numerous, the two persons near or opposite are commonly joined in one dish ; and ac- cordingly, at the last Passover, Judas, being close to his master, was pointed out as the traitor by being de- signated as the person "dipping his hand with Jesus in the dish." The Apostle John, whose advantageous situation enabled him to hear the minutest parts of the conversation, has recorded the fact of our Lord, in re-
ply to the question, "Who is it?" answering it by "giving a sop to Judas when he had dipped" (John xiii, 27.) It is not the least among the peculiarities of Oriental manners that a host often dips his hand into a dish, and, lifting a handful of what he considers a dainty, offers the Tpuj/.tiov or sop to one of his friends, and to decline it would be a violation of propriety and good manners (see Jowett's Christian Researches). In earlier ages, a double or a more liberal portion, or a choice piece of cookery, was the form in which a land- lord showed his respect for the individual he delighted to honor (Gen. xliii, 34 ; 1 Sam. i, 4; ix, 23 ; Prov. xxxi, 15; seeVoller's Grec.Ant. ii, 387; Forbes, Orient. Mem. iii, 187.)
While the guests reclined in the manner described above, their feet, of course, being stretched out behind, were the most accessible parts of their person, and ac- cordingly the woman with the alabaster box of oint- ment could pay her grateful and reverential attentions to Jesus without disturbing him in the business of the table. Nor can the presence of this woman, uninvited and unknown even as she was to the master of the house, appear at all an incredible or strange circum- stance, when we consider that entertainments are often given in gardens, or in the outer courts, where strangers are freely admitted, and that Simon's table was in all likelihood accessible to the same promiscuous visitors as are found hovering about at the banquets and en- tering into the houses of the most respectable Orientals of the present da)' (Forbes, Orient. Mem.). In the course of the entertainment servants are frequently employed in sprinkling the head and person of the guests with odoriferous perfumes, which, probabty to counteract the scent of too copious perspiration, they use in great profusion, and the fragrance of which, though generally too strong for Europeans, is deemed an agreeable refreshment (see Psa. xlv, 8 ; xxiii, 5 ; exxxiii, 2).
The various items of which an Oriental entert iin- ment consists, bread, flesh, fish, fowls, melted butter, honey, and fruits, are in many places set on the table at once, in defiance of all taste. They are brought in upon trays — one, containing several dishes, being as- signed to a group of two, or at most three persons, and the number and quality of the dishes being regulated according to the rank and consideration of the party seated before it. In ordinary cases four or five dishes constitute the portion allotted to a guest ; but if he be a person of consequence, or one to whom the host is desirous of showing more than ordinary marks of at- tention, other viands are successively brought in, un- til, if every vacant corner of the tray is occupied, the bowls are piled one above another. The object of this rude but liberal hospitality is, not that the individual thus honored is expected to surfeit himself by an ex- cess of indulgence in order to testify his sense of the entertainer's kindness, but that he may enjoy the means of gratifying his palate with greater variety; and hence we read of Joseph's displaying his partiality for Benjamin by making his " mess five times so much as any of theirs" (Gen. xliii, 34). The shoulder of a lamb, roasted, and plentifully besmeared with butter and milk, is regarded as a great delicacy still (Buck- ingham's Travels, ii, 136), as it was also in the days of Samuel. But according to the favorite cookery of the Orientals, their animal food is for the most part cut into small pieces, stewed, or prepared in a liquid state, such as seems to have been the "broth" presented by Gideon to the angel (Judg. vi, 10). The made-up dishes are "savory meat," being highly seasoned, and bring to remembrance the marrow and fatness which were esteemed as the most choice morsels in ancient times. As to drink, when particular attention was in- tended to be shown to a guest, his cup was filled with wine till it ran over (Psa. xxiii, 5), and it is said that the ancient Persians began their feafts with wine, whence it was called "a banquet of wine" (^Esther