86
HEBREW LIFE AND CUSTOM
frequent.1 Gold is said to come from Havilah 2 and from
Ophir,3 but the situation of these districts is much disputed.
There is no mention of gold being found in Palestine, and
it seems almost certain that it was all imported. There is
no clear indication of what the Palestinians gave in ex-
change for it. Solomon, apparently, though he could pay
for Hiram’s work by the agricultural produce of Palestine,4
found himself quite unable to pay Hiram’s bill, which in-
cluded the cost of much gold work, and was compelled to
cede to Hiram a portion of his kingdom.5
It may perhaps be inferred from Job xxviii. ɪ that the
poet was acquainted with mining for silver. Silver beaten
out into thin plates is mentioned in Jer. x. 9 as coming from
Tarshish. Silver, uncoined, was the ordinary medium of
exchange ; hence the price had to be weighed out to the
vendor. It was used for articles of choice manufacture,
but we do not hear, as we should expect, that articles
of common personal adornment were constructed of it.
This may have been because of its use in exchange. Jewels
appear to have been mainly of gold.
The craft of the goldsmith was an ancient one in Pales-
tine.6 In the time of Nehemiah they seem to have formed a
guild,7 and not improbably, like the bakers, they carried
on their business in some particular street.
MECHANICS
Of an inferior status evidently, but supplying a universal
need, were the potters (yôfrîm). The potter’s clay was
first worked with the feet to make it equally plastic,8 and
then for circular vessels was worked on a revolving disk
fixed to an upright piece of wood which turned on a pivot :
1 Jer. vi. 29; Zech, xiii. 9; Isa. i. 25; Ps. Ixvi. ɪo.
’ Gen. ii. ɪɪ. 3I Kings ix. 28, x. ɪɪ, xxii. 48.
4 ɪ Kings v. 9, ɪ ɪ IHeb. 23, 25) ; cf. Gen. xlix. 20.
5 i Kings ix. ɪ ɪ ff.
4 Judges xvii. 4; Jer. x. 4; cf. also Isa. xl. 19, xli. 7> χlvi∙ 6.
, Neh. iii. 32. 8 Isa. xxix. 16, xli. 25 ; Jer. xviii. 4, 6.
TRADES AND PROFESSIONS 87
below this disk was another somewhat smaller, which
the potter turned with his feet.1 Earthen vessels were
cheap,2 and from their brittle nature broken earthenware
was used as a figure of irreparable damage. We have no
account in the canonical Scriptures of the firing of earthen-
ware, but some sort of glazing with silver dross is men-
tioned,3 and in the Apocrypha both the glazing and the
furnace.4
The mention of the ζ Earthenware Gate ’ (Jer. xix. 2)
implies a locality given up to the pottery industry, and
the potters apparently formed guilds or communities.
Naturally the articles made of earthenware were of
many different forms and designs for different uses. Various
sorts of bottle are mentioned,5 also jars of various shapes
for holding water, &c.,6 cups,7 besides various sorts of
bowls and boiling utensils, which may have been of earthen-
ware. Earthenware jars were also used for preserving
documents.8
BARBERS
The shaving of the head in mourning, which as savour-
ing of heathenism is forbidden by the Deuteronomic law,’
was in pre-exilic times general ;10 hence a barber must
have been needed whenever there was a death. They are,
however, only mentioned incidentally to describe a particu-
lar sort of razor.11 It is indeed just possible that the lacera-
tion in mourning, equally forbidden by the Deuteronomic
law,12 was performed by barbers.
* Jer. xviii. 3 ; cf. Ecclus. xxxviii. 29 f. * Lam. iv. 2.
3 Prov. xxvi. 23. 4 Ecclus. xxxviii. 30.
s Isa. xxx. 14; Jer. xix. ɪ.
6 Kad, Gen. xxiv. 14; Judges vii. ι6 ; ɪ Kingsxviii. 33 {Heb. 34) ;
Eccles, xii. 6 ; sappdhath, ɪ Kings xix. 6 ; both together, ɪ Kings xvii. 12 ff.
7 2 Sam. xii. 3. The poor man’s cup could scarcely be of more
costly material. 8 Jer. xxxii. 14.
’ Deut. xiv. ɪ ; cf. Lev. xχi. 5.
“ Jer. xvι. 6 ; Mie. i. ι6 ; Amos viii. 10 ; Isa. xv. 2.
” Ezek. v. ɪ. n Deut. xiv. ɪ ; cf. Lev. xxi. 5.