The name is absent

HEBREW LIFE AND CUSTOM

Moreover, even after the incorporation in Israel of various
ethnic elements, the Palestinian population was subjected
to a number of external influences which must have affected
to some extent social life and custom. It was the policy
of the Assyrian and Babylonian kings to prevent revolt in
the districts which they had conquered by breaking down
nationality. In accordance with this policy the Assyrian
government during the seventh century b.c. introduced
into Northern and Central Palestine, from which the leading
and influential inhabitants had previously been transported,
groups of settlers from other conquered regions ; ɪ in addition
to which the successive political changes in Western Asia
can scarcely have been without effect on the population of
Palestine, particularly after the conquest of Palestine by
Alexander the Great in 332 B.c. Although we may well
believe that the life of the peasantry remained compara-
tively little changed, the contact with Hellenism undoubtedly
exercised no small influence on city life and also directed
Hebrew thought into fresh channels. We cannot assume that
customs, of the existence of which there is evidence in the
Greek period, had come down from more ancient days, nor
that what may have been prevalent in the early days of the
Israelite conquest of Palestine, especially on the edge of the
desert, still survived in the Hellenistic period. On the whole,
however, due allowance being made for such a far-reaching
reform in the religious cult as the Iimitationofsacrifice to one
altar, and for the political changes before mentioned, the
Hebrew Scriptures present to us a fairly persistent culture.

With this proviso, it is proposed in this course of lectures,
solely on the evidence of the Hebrew Scriptures, to sketch
the life of Hebrew men and women from birth to the grave,
and to give an account of the various activities in which
they might engage. It is not intended to consider modem
customs or even the discoveries of archaeological excavation,
except in so far as they make clear what might otherwise
be deemed uncertain.

^, 2 Kings xvii. 24-41 ; cf. Ezra iv. 2, 9 f.

NAMING AND CIRCUMCISION

BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS

At the birth of a child, the mother was delivered either,
as among the modem Bakitara,¹ standing in a crouching
posture,² or supported on a small stool resembling a potter’s
revolving wheel.³ We read of professional midwives/ but
in many cases the attendants were probably merely some
experienced married women.⁵

After the cutting of the umbilical cord, the omission of
which is mentioned by Ezekiel in the case of an infant
neglected from birth,⁶ the infant was washed and rubbed
with salt,’ and then wrapped in swaddling bands.⁸ There
is no mention of a cradle, and if not carried at the breast,⁹
the infant was presumably laid on the floor or on a bed.

Ordinarily the child seems to have received a name at
birth, sometimes from the mother,¹⁰ sometimes from the
father,¹ ɪ and sometimes from those who officiated at the
birth or to whom the child was first presented.¹²

The circumcision of male infants on the eighth day
appears to have been a comparatively late development,¹³
only becoming general when the sacrifice of the firstborn
on the eighth day was entirely prohibited, ɪ⁴ The story of
the vicarious circumcision of Moses¹⁵ was perhaps told as
a precedent for such a practice. At any rate, when the
book of Joshua took shape it was believed that those who
had grown up under Moses’ leadership were uncircum-
cised.¹⁶

The purification ceremonies prescribed for the mother

ɪ J. Roscoe, The Bakitara, pp. 157, 242.         * ɪ Sam. iv. 19.

³ Exod. i. ι6.       ⁴ Exod. ɪ. 15 ; cf. Gen. xxxviii. 28.

⁵ i Sam. iv. 20 ; cf. Gen. xxiv. 59.

⁶ Ezek. xvi. 4.        ⁷ Ibid. ⁸ Ibid. ; cf. Job xxxviii. 9.

^, Ruth iv. 16.

ɪ* Gen. iv. i, 25, xxxv. ι8 ; ɪ Sam. i. 20, iv. 21.

“ Gen. iv. 26, v. 29, XXXV. 18 ; Hos. i. 4, 6,9 ; Isa. viii. 3.

ⁿ Ruth iv. 17. ŋ Gen. xvii. 12 (P).

⁴ Exod. xxxiv. 20; contrast xxii. 29, 30 (Heb. 28, 29).

ɪ⁵ Exod. ɪv. 24, 26.                     ^x6 Joshua v. 5-7.

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