LOAF
472
LOAX
Tnomj of the Gospels, etc., etc. See Allibone, Diet, of Brit, and Am. A uthors, vol. ii, s. v. ; Stoughton, Eccles. II 1st. {Restoi-ation), i, 500; ii, 5, 28, 141 sq., 14G; Strick- lainl. Lives of the Seven Bishojis.
Loaf (properly ^35, Mkkar', a circle, in the phrase Cn5 "133, (I 1-ound of bread, i. e. circular cake, being the form of Oriental bread, or rather biscuit, Exod. XXIX, 23 , Judg. viii, 5 , 1 Sam. x, 3 ; 1 Chron. xvi, 3 ; rendered " piece" or " morsel" of bread in Prov. vi, 26 ; Jer. xxxvii, 21 ^ 1 Sam. ii, 2G; sometimes simply CH^, le'chem, bread, Lev. xxiii, 17 ; 1 Sam. xvii, 17 ; xxv, 18 ; 1 Kings xiv, 3; 2 Kings iv, 42; and so likewise the (ireek uoroc, bread, espec, in the plural, Matt, xiv, 17, I'J, XV, 34, 36; xvi, 9, 10; Mark vi, 38, 41, 44, 52; viii, 5.6,14,19; Lukeix, 13, 16; xi, 5; John vi, 9, 11, 13, 26), a round cake, the usual form of bread among the an- cients. See Shew-bkead. The bread of the Jews was either in small loaves, or else in broad and thick cakes, as is the present custom in the East. Bread was al- ways broken into such portions as were required, and distributed by the master of the family. See Bread.
Ancient Roman Bread (from a painting on the walls of the Parthe- non).
The two wave loaves mentioned in Lev. xxiii, 17 are called in Hebrew tlE^iri CHt:, le'chem tenuphah', sig- nifying the act of waving or moving to and fVo before Jehovah, a ceremony observed in the consecration of offerings ; hence applied as a name to anything conse- crated in this manner. See Offering.
Lo-am'nii {Wch. Lo- A mmi', '^TZV N?, not my peo- ple, as it is explained in the context, Hos. i, 9 ; Sept, Ou Xaiig pov,\u]g. Non populus meus ; in the parallel passage, Hos. ii, 23, ''IZ'^'t^, Sept. ov \a<f /joii,Vulg. mm jKipulo meo, Auth. Vers. " not my people"), a sym- bolical name given by the prophet Hosea at the divine instance to his second son, in tolien of Jehovah's rejec- tion and suVisequent restoration of his people, alluding to the Babylonian captivity (Hos. i, 9 ; ii, 23 ; comp. ii, 1). B.C. cir. 725. See Hosea.
XiOan (n5X'J, sheelah'; 1 Sam. ii, 20, a petition or request, as elsewhere rendered). The law of jMoses did not contemplate any raising of loans for the purpose of obtaining capital, a condition perhaps alluded to in the parables of the '•' pearl" and " hidden treasure" (Matt. xiii, 44, 45 ; Michaelis, Comm. on Latcs of Mo- ses, art. 147, ii, 297, edit. Smith). See Com- merce. Such persons as bankers and sure- ties, in the commercial sense (Prov. xxii, 26 ; Neh. V, 3), were unknown to the earlier ages (if the Hebrew commonwealth. The INIosaic Laws which relate to the subject of borrowing, h'nding, and repaying are in substance as fol- lows : If an Israelite became poor, what he de- sired to borrow was to be freely lent to him, and no interest, either of money or produce, could be exacted from him ; interest might be taken of a foreigner, but not of an Israelite by another Israelite (Exod. xxii, 25; Dent, xxiii, 19, 20 ; Lev. xxv, 35-38). At the end of ev- er}' seven years a remission of debts was or- dained ; everj' creditor was to remit what he had lent : of a foreigner the loan might be ex- acted, but not of a brother. If an Israelite wislied to borrow, he was not to be refused because the year of remission was at hand (Dent, xv, 1-11). Pledges might be taken, but not as such the mill or the upper millstone, for that would be to take a man's life in pledge. If the pledge was raiment, it was to be given back before sunset, as being needful for a covering at night. The widow's garment could not be taken in pledge (Exod. xxii, 26, 27 ; Deut. xxiv, 6, 17). The law thus strictly forbade any interest to be taken for a loan to any poor person, either in the shape of money or of produce, and at tirst, as it seems, even in the case of a i'oreigner ; but this prohibition was afterwards limited to Hebrews only, from whom, of whatever rank, not only was no usury on any pretence to be exacted, but relief to the poor by way of loan was enjoined, and excuses for evading this duty were forbidden (Exod. xxii, 25 ; Lev. xxv, 35, 37 ; Dent, XV, 3, 7-10; xxiii, 19, 20). The instances of ex- tortionate conduct mentioned with disapprobation in the book of Job probably represent a state of tilings pre- vious to the law, and such as the law was intended to remedy (Job xxii, 6; xxiv, 3, 7). As commerce in- creased, the practice of usury, and so also of suretyship, grew uj), but tlie exaction of it from a Hebrew appears to have been regarded to a late period as <liscrr(litable (Prov. vi, 1, 4; xi,15; xvii, 18; xx, 16; xxii, 26; Psa, XV, 6; xxvii, 13; Jer. XV, 10; Ezek. xviii, 13; xxii, 12). Systematic breach of the law in this respect was cor- rected by Xeliemiah after the return from captivity (Neh. V, 1, 13; see jMichaelis, ibid. arts. 148, 151). In later times tlie practice of borrowing money appears to have prevailed without limitation of race, and to have been carried on upon systematic principles, though