2. Origin and Duties oftlie Nethinim. — It is the unan- imous voice both of Jewish tradition (comp. Jebamoth, 78 b; Midrash Jalkut on Josh, ix, 27) and tlie best Jewish commentators (comp. Rashi and Aben-Ezra on Ezra ii, 43; Kimchi on Josh, ix, 20) that the Gibeon- ites whom Joshua consigned forever to be the hewers of wood and the drawers of water, i. e. the perpetual menial servants (^n"?X n*i2b) of the sanctuary (Josh. ix, 21-27), are the original caste denominated Nethinim in the post-exilian period ; and there is no valid reason for rejecting this ancient tradition. As these Gibeon- ites or sanctuary slaves were greatly diminished by the bloody persecutions of Saul, and in the massacre at Nob (2 Sam. xxii, 1-19), and moreover, as the reorganization and extension of the sanctuary service effected bj' the royal Psalmist both rendered the work of the Levites
KETHIXDI
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very laborious and demanded an increase of the exist- ing staff of menial servants, '• David and the princes [after him ] gave ("(r3) the Xethinim (or these given ones, Cl^njri) for the service of the Levites" (Ezra viii, 20). From the ancient practice of consigning aliens and cap- tives of war to do both the menial work of the people at large and of the priests and Levites (Numb, xxxi, 25- 47; Deut. xxix, 10), which also obtained among the Syrians, Phccnicians, the Greeks, and other nations of antiquity, and which still obtains among the Arabs, who devote slaves to the service of tlie Kaaba at Mecca and to the sepulchre of the Prophet at Medina (Uurckhardt, Travels in Arabia, i, 288, etc.; ii, 1G6, etc., 174, 181), there can be little doubt that the thinned ranks were re- cruited by David and the other princes from the cap- tives taken in battle. Indeed, their foreign names given in the catalogue of those who returned from Babylon (Ezra ii,*43-.58) fully conlirm this view. As this newly- increased and reorganized staff, founded upon the rem- nant of the aboriginal (JibcDuites, was now formally and exclusively fjiren by David to tlie Levites (Ezra viii, 20), just as the Levites themselves, by the command of God, were given to the priests (Xumb. viii, 19; xviii, 2-C), their primitive name was no more applicable to them, because the new accession, constituting the majority, were no Gibeonites, and because they were no more the servants of the sanctuary at large, but were a gift to the Levites. It was for this reason that they were hence- forth called Nethinim (C^ITD), the given ones, i. c. to the Levites, the very expression used with regard to the Levites when they in their turn were given to the priests. See Levite. Being thus given to them, the Nethinim had to relieve the Levites of every menial and laborious work connecteil with the sanctuary. Tliey had to draw and carry tiie water, hew and fetch the wood, and at- tend to everything which the Levites ordered them to do ; and because they were so entirely at the disposal of the Levites, therefore the Bible prescribes no special duties for the Nethinim.
3. Number of the Nethinim, their Locality, lievenues, and Social Position.— We must not forget that the Le- vites were given to Aaron and his sons, i. e. to the priests' as an order, and were accordingly the first Nethinim (-r1~P. Numb, iii, 9; viii, 19). At first they were the only attendants, and their work must have been labori- ous enough. The first conquests, however, brought them their share of the captive slaves of the :Midianites, and 320 were given to them as having charge of the Tabernacle (Numb, xxxi, 47), while 32 only were as- signed specially to the priests. This disposition to de- volve the more laborious offices of their ritual upon slaves of another race showed itself again in the treatment of tlie (iibeonites. They, too, were given (A. V. " made") to be '• hewers of wood and drawers of water" for the house of God (Jo.sli. ix, 27), and the addition of so large a number (the populition of tive cities) must have re- lieved tlie Levites from mucli that had before been bur- densome. We know little or nothing as to their treat- ment. It was a matter of necessity that they should be circumcised (Exod. xii, 48) ami conform to the re- ligion of tlicir comiuerors, and this might at first seem Jiardenougli. (Jii the other iiand, it must bo remembered tliat they presented themselves as recognising the su- premacy of .Jehovah (Josh, ix, 9), and that for many generations the remem!)rance of the solemn covenant entered into with them made men look with horror on tlie shedding of Gibeonitish blood (2 Sam. xxi.9), and protected tliem from mticli outrage. No addition to the immber thus employed appears to have been made during the [)eriod of tlie Judges, and they continued to be known Ijy their old name as tlie Gibeonites. The want of a further supply was, however, felt when the reorganization of worship commenced under David. Either the massacre at Nob liad involved the Gibeonites as well as the priests (1 Sam. xxii, 19), or else they had