SCHOOLS, HEBREW
430
SCHOOLS, HEBREW
cilitate the education of those committed to their care (Exod. xii. 26, 27 ; xiii, 8, 14, 15 ; Deut. vi, 8, 9, 20, etc.). This work of education was not to be put off for certain occasions, but was to be prosecuted at all times; no op- portunity was to be lost. The father was enjoined, in sitting down with his family at the table, at home,' abroad, before retiring in the evening, and after getting up in the morning, to train his children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (ver. 7). The law of (Jod powerfully supported the authority of parents in this task by the injunction of filial oljcdience contained in the decalogue, as well as by the heavy punishment in- flicted upon refractory children (Exod. xx, 12; xxi, 15; Lev. XX, 9; Deut. xxi, 18-21). Still the rigor of pa- rental authority was not to be the sole operative power in the education of children. Parents are reminded that their example may lead their children to happiness or misery (Exod. xx, 5, 6 ; Deut. iv, 10 ; v, 9 ; xxx, 19 ; xxxii, 46, 47). The force of example in the education of children is most beautifully described in the praise of a royal mother who, with " the law of love upon her tongue," instilled noble sentiments into the heart of her children (I'rov. xxxi, 1-9, 25); and such loving words are represented as producing an indelible impression in the picture of a son who, with pious gratitude, dwells upon the wholesome lessons which his father imparted to him in early youth (iv, 3, etc.). Parents are, more- over, advised not to adopt the same indiscriminate proc- ess of teaching with all children, but to adapt their in- struction to every youth (T311 "'S 51") according to his age and inclination, so that he may abide thereby (xxii, 6).
That reading and writing must have formed part of education from the very settlement in Palestine is evi- dent from the fact that the Israelites were commanded to write the precepts of the law upon the door-posts and gates of their respective houses [see Mkzuzaii], in order to be contiiuially reminded of their obligations to their Creator (Deut. vi, 9; xx, 20). They were, moreover, enjoined to write the injunctions upon great stones (3-ri "is;;) very j)luinly, immediately upon their cross- ing the Jordan (xxvii. 2-8), so that they might easily be read by every Israelite. Now these admonitions un- questionably presuppose that the people at large could read plain writing; that the deciphering of these me- morials was a religious duty; and that it must, there- fore, have formed an essential part in the strictly relig- ious education of children. Besides, the manner in which some parts of the sacred oracles were written clearly indicates that the inspired writers reckoned upon the ability of the people to read. Thus the frequent play upon words, as, for instance, in Gen. vi, 8, where "Noah found favor," is obtained by a transposition of the let- ters in the name TM into '71; Gen. xxxviii, 7, where " Er . . . was wicked" is obtained by a transposition of the letters in the name "i" into "~i; the alphabetical por- tions of the Old Test. (Psa. ix, x, xxv, xxxiv, xxxviii, cxi, cxii, cxix, cxlv; Prov. xxxi, 10, etc.; the Lam.), which were intended to assist the memory and mark the gradation of ideas; the substitution of ~wC for bnn (.Jer. xxv, 26; li, 4), "^^p ^h for DiT^JD (li, 1), In- taking the letters of the alphabet in their reverse order, would have been utterly useless and most unintelligible had not the people for whom they were intended been able to read. If we bear in mind that the understand- ing of the sacred oracles was not the peculiar preroga- tive of the priestly caste, but was enjoined upon every Israelite, it becomes self-evident that the knowledge of reading and writing, which, as we have seen, is so insep- arable from the understanding of the Scriptures, must have formed a prominent part in the cducatinn of chil- dren whose sole training was the undcrsianding of the Scriptures. For the same reason arithmetic must have been taught; as the days of the week, the months, the festivals, etc., were not designated by [jroper names, but
by numerals. The numbers occurring in the Old Tpst. reach to hundreds of thousands; and we have, moreover, instances of addition (Numb, i, 22, etc.; xxvi, 7, etc.), subtraction (Lev. xxv, 27; xxviii, 18; Numb, iii, 19, 43, 46), multiplication (Lev. v, 8; xxvii, 16-18; Numb, iii, 46-50), and division (Lev. xxv, 27-50). In fact, every art or science w*liich occurs or is alluded to in the Old Test., and upon the understanding of which depended the understanding of the Scriptures, must to some ex- tent have formed a part of the strictly religious Jewish education.
We have already seen that the education of the chil- dren devolved upon the parents. They were the teach- ers in ordinary cases. This natural duty must have been a pleasant task, a welcome occupation, and a pas- time to a people who led a rural life, and whose Sabbaths and festivals freed them from labor a sixth part of the year. See Fkstival. In these leisure hours the par- ents, who were strictly forbidden to engage in any secu- lar work, were in constant contact with their children ; and the manj- symbols, rites, and ceremonies on those occasions were used bj' them as so many illustrated nar- ratives of the dealings of God. We need, therefore, not wonder that the name school does not occur in the Bi- ble previous to the Babylonian captivity; before the Jews were entangled in foreign affairs; before commer- cial transactions with other nations and other matters had taken so many of the people away from I heir homes and deprived their children of their natural teachers. The traditional opinion that by ^ITSiriP r~Tr (2 Sam. xxxiii, 8) is meant a sort of academy (the IMidrash, the Chaldee Paraphrase, Kimchi, etc.), or that ^rr^T (Prov. viii, 34) denotes i:3~"l'^n r^S (see Eashi, ad loc), is purely gratuitous.