1. 3^n, chatsnb', althougli once in the A. V. (Job xix, 24) translated "graven" (witli an undoubted ref- erence to the ancient art of engraving), is general!}' used to indicate the rougher work of heicing stone or wood, in quarrj' or forest. In Prov. ix, 1, indeed, it is applied to the finer art of hewing or fasliioning;)«7tor5 ; but its usual objectives of 1X3 (cistet-n, Jer. ii, 13), "n^j? (sepulchre, Isa. xxii, IG), 2p|^ (jiine-press, Isa. v, 2), prove that ":in has to do witli rougher operations than those which fall under our idea of "engraving."
Exod. xxviii, 11, it maj' well refer to the fine work of the engraver in stone, yet in the phrase "|3X "^w^n 1"^p, literally, heuer of the stone of the wall, 2 Sam. v, 11; or more simply Tp '^llJ'^n [tcoi-hers ofwaW], 1 Chron. xiv, 1, it can hardly describe a liigher art than what is attributed to it in A. V. — that of tlie ordi- nary "mason;" similarlj'' with C'^Jij-', timber, it points to the work of the " carpenter," 1 Chron. xiv, 1, etc. ; and with ^^"12, i7-on, to that of the " smith" or iron- founder.) The prevalent idea, however, of tilH is the subtle work of the finer arts ; and with this well agree such passages as Prov. vi, 18, where the woi'd describes the "heart that deviseth wicked imaginations," and 1 Sam. xxiii, 9, where it is predicated of Saul, '■'■ sccret- lij jvactising mischief" (Hiph. part. ■C"'~t7:'? -'"X^ n""in). Gesenius (Thes. Ileb. p. 529) has collected instances of the like meaning of the word in the other Shemitic languages, and compares it with the " doli fobricator" of Virgil, ^Eneid, ii, 2G4 ; and the cognate phrases, " fabricare quidvis," Plautus, Asin. i, 1, 89; and CuXov Ttvxav, tcaKU Ttixuv, of Hesiod and Homer, and TtKraivia^ai f.u]riv, Iliad, x, 19. In connection with the word U"in, we have in 1 Chron. xiv, 14, an indication that, even in early times, encouragement was given to associations of art among the ancient Jews, by providing for their members a local habita- tion in which to pursue their calling, which is proved to have been an honorable one from the illustrious names that are associated with its pursuit (ver. 13, 14). From this passage (of ver. 14, compared with ver. 21 and 23), we further learn that the various arts were hereditaryin certain families. (Tlie word " stone- squarers," in 1 Kings v, 18, is a different term. See
GiBLITE.)
3. ppn, chttTcaV, describes a branch of art which more literalh' coincides with onr idea of engraving. In Ezek. iv, 1 the word is used of engraving a plan or rnaj) ; in Job xix, 23, of inscribing upon tablets (of stone or metal), a very early instance of the art; similarly in Isa. xxx, 8 ; while in Ezek. xxiii, 14 (nprrs "^wSS) the word seems to indicate painting, portrayhtg in colors ("I w"i^"2. D'^JSpri) ; and tlie addi- tion of T^prfb", upon the icall, raises the suspicion i\\Ai fresco art, whicli was known to very ancient na- tions, including the Egyptians, was practiced by the Babylonians, and admired, if not imitiited liy the Jews ; comp. ver. 14, 15, IG. (On the art of coloring as known to the Assyrians, Egyptians, Greeks, etc., see Sir G. Wilkinson,' (9» Color' and Taste, \>. 1b^.) The Sept. renders the rcmarkalile phrase before lis, t'Coiyapj/^tt- voi iv ypa<pih, without specifj'ing color; but Sym- machus, the Vulgate, the Peshito, and the Clialdee paraphrase all include in their versions the express ideaof rofo?-. IhQuleiioi careful and accurate art -which is implied in the term under consideration imparts
GRAVING
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GRAY
much beautj' to the passage in Isa. xl, 16, " Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands," where the same word is used. (There is here an allusion to the Eastern custom of tracing out on the hands the sketches of eminent cities or places, and then rubbing them with the powder of the hennah or cypress, and so making the marks perpetual. IMaunclrell (Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 100 [London, 1810]) de- scribes the process of " pilgrims having their arms and hands marked with the usual ensigns of Jerusalem.'" See also Kosenmiiller, ad loc, and J. D. Michaelis, Not(e in Loidh'ii Pnelect. [Oxford, 1821], p. yOl, 502; and liiirder's Oriental Customs [Loud. 18-40], p. 149.) The second clause of this passage, " Thy walls are continual!}^ before me," may be compared with Isa. xxii, 16, where our verb ppH is also employed to de- scribe the engraved plan or sketch of a house for ar- chitectural purposes. Among other applications of the art indicated by this word may be mentioned mon- umental stones, such as the "TI^'il '|SX of 1 Sam. vii, 12, with suitable inscriptions ; see especially Deut. xxvii, 2-8.
4. In bo's, pasal' , and its noun 7^^,pe'sel (always rendered in A. V. ^^ graven image"), we have the opera- tion rather of the sculptor's or the carver's art than the engraver's. In several passages of Isaiah (xxx, 22; xl,19 ; xli, 7 ; xliv, 12-15) curious details are given of the fabrication of idols, which afforded much emploj'- ment to the various artificers engaged in the compli- cated labor of image-manufacture (see also .Jer. x, 3-9, from which it would seem that the wrought and pre- pared metal for covering the idol was imported, and put ou by Jewish artisans). Working in ivorg was common to the ancient Egj'ptians (Wilkinson's Anc. Eggpiians, iii, 169), the Ass3Tians (Layard's Nineveh, ii, 420), the ancient Greeks (Grote's Greece, vi, 30-32), and the artificers of Jerusalem (Solomon's ivory throne, 1 Kings x, 18 ; ivory palaces, Psa. xlv, 8 ; ivory beds, Amos vi, 4) and of Samaria (Ahab's ivory house, 1 Kings xxii, 39; which was not an uncommon luxury, Amos iii, 15). No doubt the alliance of the royal houses of Israel and (indirectly) of Judah with the Phoenician monarch (1 Kings xvi, 31) was the means of attracting many of the artificers of Tyre, and Sidon, and Gebal to the metropolis of each of the Jewish king- doms ; both in Solomon's time and in Ahab's, ivory- sculpture was probably a Phanician art. The neigli- boring idolatorSj whose example was so disastrous to Israel, were skilled in image-manufacture. From Deut. vii, 25 it appears that the body of the idol was of sculp- tured wood, overlaid with one or other of the precious metals. The passage, 1 Sam. vi, 2-12, seems to prove tliat the Philistines had artificers in the precious met- als capable of forming the figures of small animals; and their idols that were taken from the spoils of the great battle of Baal-peraziui were probably graven of wood (1 Chron. xiv, 12).