^ i: John iv, 7). They spent their time in learning
<^M« doBwstIc and other arts, which are befitting a n't ritnation and character, until they arrived at
that period in life when they were to be sold, or, by a better fortune, given away in marriage (Prov. xxxi, 13 ; 2 Sam. xiii, 7). The daughters of such as possess- ed rank and wealth spent the greater part of their time within the walls of their palaces, and, in imitation of their mothers, amused themselves with dressing, sing- ing, and dancing. Sometimes their apartments were the scenes of vice (Ezek. xxiii, 18). They went abroad very rarely, but they received with cordiality female visitants. The sports of children were doubtless such as have always prevailed among youth, especially in the East. Hackett (///ztf^roftofw o^i^cnjp^. p. 120) men- tions having seen Oriental boys even amusing them- selves with flying a kite, and playing at leap-frog and ball.
The more children — espedally of male children — a person had among the Hebrews, the more was he honored, it being considered a mark of divine favor, while sterile people were, on the contrary, held in con- tempt (comp. Gen. xi, 80 ;. xxx, 1 ; 1 Sam. ii, 5 ; 2 Sam. vi, 23 ; Psa. cxxvii, 3 sq. ; cxxviii, 8 ; Luke i, 7 ; ii, 5). That children were often taken as bondsmen by a creditor for debts contracted by the father, 19 evident from 2 Kings iv, 1 ; Isa. 1, 1 ; Neh. v, 5. Among the Hebrews a fiather had almost unlimited power over his children, nor do we find any law in the Pentateuch re- stricting that power to a certain age ; it wa9, indeed, the parents who even selected wives for their sons (Gen. xxi, 21 ; Exod. xxi, 9, 10, 11 ; Judg. xiv, 2, 6). It might of course be expected, while they lived in their father's house, and were in a manner pensioners on his bounty, that he would exercise his authority over the children of his sons, as well as over the sons themselves. In this case the power of the father had no narrow limits, and whenever he found it necessary to resort to measures of severity, he was at liberty to inflict the extremity of punbhment (Gen. xxxviii, 24). This power was so restricted by Moses that the fiather, if he judged the son worthy of death, was boiind to bring the cause before a judge. But he enacted, at the same time, that the judge should pronounce sentence of death upon the son if, on inquiry, it could be proved that he had maltreated his father or mother, or that he was a spendthrift, oncontumacious, and could not be reformed (Exod. xxi, 15, 17 ; Lev. xx, 9 ; Dent. xxi, 18, 21). It would appear, however, that a fa- ther's power over his daughters was still greater than that over his sons, since he might even annul a sacred vow made by a daughter, but not one made by a son (Num. xxx, 4, 16). Children cursing or assaulting their parents were punished by the Mosiucal law wi^ death (Exod. xxi, 15, 17 ; Lev. xx, 9), a remarkable instance of which is quoted by Christ (Matt, xv, 4, 6 ; Mark vii, 9, 13). The authority of the parents, and the service and love due to them, are recognised in the most prominent of the moral laws of the Jewish polity, the Ten Commandments (Exod. xx, 12); but the Phi^ isees devised a mode of evasion which our Lord strong- ly reprobates (Matt xv, 6, 6 ; Mark vii, 11-18). The prophetic curse or blessing of the father also possessed no littie efficacy (Gen. xlix, 2, 28). (On punishing children for their parents' faults, Ezek. xviii, see Mu- Sfleus, De jure punimdi Uberoe propter pecc, parent. Lips. 1714.) Children who were slaves by birth are mentioned in the Scriptures as those bom in the houses the children of maid-servants, the sons or children of the house (Gen. xiv, 14 ; xv, 8 ; xvii, 28 ; Psa. Ixxxvi, 16 ; cxvi, 16). Few things appear more shocking to hmnanity than the custom, of which frequent mention is made in Scripture, of making children pass through fire in honor of Moloch, a custom the antiquity of which is proved by its having been repeatedly forbid- den by Moses (Lev. xviii, 21 ; xx, 1, 5 ; 2 Kings xvi, 8). See Moloch.
There are some allusions in Scripture to the modes in which children were carried. These appear to be adequately represented by the existing usages, as
CHILD
244
CHILDS
shown in the foUowing cot, in which fig. 1 represents a Nestorian woman bearing her child bandied at her bAck, and fig. 2, an Egyptian female bearing her child
Oriental Mothers carrying their Children.
on her shoulder. The former mode appears to be al- luded to in several places, and the latter in Isa. zliz, 22. (See Hackett's Ilkutrations of Script, p. 67.)
In Scripture the word "child," or "children," has considerable latitude ; disciples are often called chil- dren or sons. Solomon, in his Proverbs, says to his dis- ciple, *• Hear, my son ;'* so also our Saviour (John xxi, 5). The desoendants of a man, how remote soever, are denominated his sons or children, as " the children of Edom," "the children of Moab," "the children of Israel" Such expressions as " the children of light," " the children of darkness," '* the children of the king- dom," signify those who follow truth, those who re- main in error, and those who belong to the Church. Persons arrived almost at the age of maturity are sometimes called children. Thus Joseph is termed "the child," though he was at least sixteen years old (Gren. xxxvii, 80), aftd Benjamin, even when above thirty, was so denominated (Gen. xliv, 20). Solomon called himself a little child when he came lo the king- dom of his father (1 Kings iii, 7). See Adoption; BiBTH ; Son ; Inhbbitance ; Education, etc ; and comp. Offspbino.