44 HEBREW LIFE AND CUSTOM
events those who had come from a journey, had their feet
washed.1 The use of unguents, at least among those who
could afford them, was common2 and these would naturally
be provided for guests. In pre-exilic times, when every
great feast was a sacrifice held in the vicinity of an altar,
it seems naturally essential that all the guests should be
consecrated.3 At such a feast grace was said before meat.4
The portion of each guest was separately served,5 and the
amount of food sent to each was in proportion to the
honour it was desired to pay him.6
In the Greek period the Wealthydelightedinthatwhich
was rare. It is not impossible that the ‘ snow in the time
of harvest5,7 mentioned as something rare and acceptable,
was fetched from the top of Hermon and took the place of
ices with us. At any rate many centuries later snow, in
summer time, was a special feature in the sumptuous
banquet when the physician Bochtyeshua entertained the
Chalif Mutawakkil.8
Feasts, which were often held in the open air,’ were
frequently enlivened with music,10 but it is not clear whether
this was during the actual progress of the meal.
In the later period good manners at meals are insisted
upon.11 In earlier times it would seem that women took
their meals apart from the men. Sarah does not eat with
Abraham and his guests 12 and it is implied that Elkanah
takes his meal apart from Peninnah and her children and
from Hannah.13 Esther can scarcely be quoted as an ex-
’ Gen. xviii. 4, xix. 2, xxiv. 32, xliii. 24.
, Amos vi. 6; Mic. vi. 15 ; 2 Sam. xii. 20; Deut. xxviii. 40; Ps.
xxiii. 5 ; Dan. x. 3.
3 ɪ Sam. xvi. 3, 6 ; Isa. xiii. 3.
4 I Sam. ix. 13. 5 Gen. xliii. 34.
6 Gen. xliii. 34 ; cf. ɪ Sam. i. 4 f. (LXX) ; ɪ Sam. ix. 24.
, Prov. xxv. 13.
8 See Barhebraeus, Chronicum Syriacum, Paris ed., pp. 157 f.
» Gen. xviii. 8; Zech. iii. ɪo. ‘° Isa. v. 12 ; Amos vi. 5.
n Prov. xxiii. i f. ; cf. xix. 24.
” Gen. xviii. 8, 9 ; Dan. v. ɪo. υ ɪ Sam. i. 4, 5.
BANQUETS, CLOTHING 45
ample of Hebrew usage. Such Conventionswould not be ob-
served by the poorer classes, and we find Ruth eating with
the reapers.1
CLOTHING
In clothing, as might be expected, there is evidence of
as much diversity between poor and rich as in our own
country in the Middle Ages between the peasant and the
prince. The story of Adam and Eve’s girdles of fig-leaves 2
is due perhaps to the knowledge that somewhat similar
girdles were worn by various tribes in Africa, as at the
present day.3
The simplest clothing appears to have been the girdle
(Heb. Jfgora), which, strictly speaking, was something tied
round the waist and seems to have developed in different
ways, till the word covered not only the simple loin-cover-
ing,* but also the elaborate broad sash worn by wealthy
ladies. Isaiah s contrasts the hagora of such with the rope
or leash with which the ladies captured by the enemy will
be tied together and carried into slavery.
Some sort of Jfgôrâ was also worn by warriors.6 It was,
apparently, more than a mere belt and rather of the nature
of an apron hung from the waist and reaching to the thigh.
It is nowhere stated that the sword was directly attached
to it. If made of leather, it would afford some protection
to the lower part of the body.7
On the other hand, the êzor, which in form is identical
with the Arabic izdr, unlike the latter appears to have been
a fairly tight belt or sash,8 worn round the waist to gather
in the coat or mantle. Elijah’s ëzôr is of skin or leather,
but he is described as a t hairy man ’ (Heb. ba,al së'âr),9
* Ruth ii. 14. 1 Gen. iii. 7.
3 See Meek, Northern Nigeria, vol. i, pp. 41 f.
4 Gen. iii. 7. 5 Isa. iii. 24.
6 ɪ Kings ii. 5; 2 Kings iii. 21 ; cf. 2 Sam. xviii. ɪɪ, and x Kings
XX. ɪɪ.
7 Cf. Meek, Northern Nigeria, loc. cit. , Jer. xiii. ɪ ɪ.
9 2 Kings i. 8.