IX. In considering the social and domestic conditions of married life among the Hebrews, we must, in the tirst place, take into account the position assigned to Avomen generally in their social scale. The seclusion of the ha- 7-em, and the habits consequent upon it, were utterly un- known in early times, and the condition of the Oriental woman, as pictured to us in the Bible, contrasts most favorably with that of her modern representative. There is abundant evidence that women, whether married or unmarried, went about with their faces unveiled (Gen. xii, 14; xxiv, 16, (35; xxix, 11 ; 1 Sam. i, 13). An un- married woman might meet and converse with men, even strangers, in a public place (Gen. xxiv, 24, 45-7 ; xxix, 9-12; 1 Sam. ix, 11) ; she might be found alone in the country without any reflection on her character (Deut. xxii, 25-27; ; or she might appear in a court of justice (Numb, xxvii, 2). Women not unfrequently held important offices : some were prophetesses, as Mir- iam, Deborah, Iluldah, Noadiah, and Anna ; of others ad- vice was sought in emergencies (2 Sam. xiv, 2 ; xx, 16- 22). They took their part in matters of public interest (Exod. XV, 20 ; 1 Sam. xviii, 6, 7) ; in short, they enjoy- ed as much freedom in ordinary life as the women of our own country.
If such was her general position, it is certain that the wife must have exercised an important influence in her own home. She appears to have taken her part in family affairs, and even to have enjoyed a considerable amount of independence. For instance, she entertains guests at her own desire (2 Kings iv, 8) in the absence of her husband (Judg. iv, 18), and sometimes even in defiance of his wishes (1 Sam. xxv, 14, etc.) ; she dis- poses of her child by a vow without any reference to her husband (1 Sam. i, 24) ; she consults with him as to the marriage of her children (Gen. xxvii, 46) ; her sug-
gestions as to any domestic arrangements meet with due attention (2 Kings iv, 9) ; and occasionally she criticises the conduct of her husband in terms of great severity (1 Sam. xxv, 25 ; 2 Sam. vi, 20).
The relations of husband and wife appear to have been characterized by affection and tenderness. He is occasionallj' described as the " friend" of his wife (Jer. iii, 20 ; Hos. iii, 1), and his love for her is frequently no- ticed (Gen. xxiv, 67; xxix, 18). On the other hand, the wife was the consolation of the husband in time of trouble (Gen. xxiv, 67), and her grief at his loss pre- sented a picture of the most abject woe (Joel i, S), No stronger testimony, however, can be afforded as to the ardent affection of husband and wife than tliat which we derive from the general tenor of the book of Canti- cles. At the same time we cannot but think that the exceptions to this state of affairs were more numerous than is consistent with our ideas of matrimonial happi- ness. One of the evils inseparable from polygamy is the discomfort arising from the jealousies and quarrels of the several wives, as instanced in the households of Abraham and Elkanah (Gen. xxi, 11 ; lSam.),6). The purchase of wives, and the small amount of liberty al- lowed to daughters in the choice of husbands, must in- evitably have led to unhappy unions. The allusions to the miserj' of a contentious and brawling wife in the Proverbs (xix, 13 ; xxi, 9, 19 ; xxvii, 15) convej- the im- pression that the infliction was of frequent occurrence in Hebrew households, and in the Mishna (Ketuh. vii, 6) the fact of a woman being noisy is laid down as an ade- quate grqtmd for divorce. In the N. T. the mutual re- lations of husband and wife are a subject of frequent exhortation (Eph. v, 22-33 ; Col. iii, 18, 19 ; Tit. ii, 4, 5 ; 1 Pet. iii, 1-7) : it is certainly a noticeable coincidence that these exhortations should be found exclusively in the epistles addressed to Asiatics, nor is it improbable that the}' were more particularly needed for them than for Europeans.
The duties of the wife in the Hebrew honschi h\ were mixltifarious. In addition to the general superintendence of the domestic arrangements, such as cooking, from which even women of rank were not exempted (Gen. xviii, 6; 2 Sam. xiii, 8), and the distribution of food at meal-times (Prov. xxxi, 15), the manufacture of the clothing and the various textures required in an East- ern establishment devolved upon her (Prov. xxxi, 13, 21,22); and if she were a modelof activity and skill, she produced a surplus of fine linen shirts and girdles, which she sold, and so, like a well-freighted merchant-ship, brought in wealth to her husband from afar (Prov, xxxi, 14, 24). The poetical description of a good housewife drawn in the last chapter of the Proverbs is both filled up and in some measure illustrated by the following mi- nute description of a wife's duties towards her husband, as laid down in the Jlishna: "She must grind corn, and bake, and wash, and cook, and suckle his child, make his bed, and work in wool. If she brought her husband one bondwoman, she need not grind, bake, or wash ; if two, she need not cook nor suckle his chOd ; if three, she need not make his bed nor work in wool ; if four, she may sit in her chair of state" {Ketuh. v, 5). What- ever money she earned by her labor belonged to her husband (vi, 1). The qualification not only of working, but of working at home (Tit. ii, 5, where oiKovpyov^ is preferable to oiKovpoig), was insisted on in the wife, and to spin in the street was regarded as a violation of Jew- ish customs {Ketub. xii, G).