Every person who has read the Old Testament, knows that the
Hebrews had among them extraordinary men really endowed with
prophetic spirits. The Jews were forbidden to consult the oracles
of the heathen nations round about them, but they were permitted
to consult their own true prophets concerning that which was
concealed from ordinary persons. There was a constant succession
of prophets, and there were schools where young persons aspiring
to the office of a seer were instructed. Over each of these
institutions a venerable prophet presided. At first the scholars
were not inspired, but received prophecies from the mouth of
their master or president. At Jerusalem there was one of these
schools within the second wall of the city. So great respect was
paid to the prophetic character, that none were suffered to be
buried in Jerusalem but kings, descendants of David, and
prophets. Though old prophets could not inspire their young
students, they improved their natural faculties, and taught them
how to subdue irregular emotions that hindered inspiration. That
the minds of the prophets might be the better disposed to receive
the proper impulses, instrumental music was used in their
devotions; and it is reported that at certain of[Pg 11] their
musical meetings the young men became so elated, that they
manifested poetical genius as well as a prophetic spirit. When a
young prophet gave unequivocal evidence of being inspired, he was
installed into office by having the prophetic mantle (made of
lamb's skin) thrown over his shoulders. Subsequent to
inauguration, a prophet wore hair-cloth next his skin, and had a
leather girdle round his loins.
The general way through which revelations were made to them
was in dreams and visions, or by immediate inspiration. Their
dreams were sometimes, indeed generally, sent for instruction or
admonition; and in the prophetic dreams a clear and distinct
impression was left through a real or imaginary communication
with an apparition. At times the prophets had overpowering
visions when awake, during which mighty revelations were made to
them. When prophetic revelations ceased, the Jews had recourse to
Bath Kol, that is, the Daughter of Voice, or the Daughter of a
Voice, because it succeeded, they say, the Oracular Voice
delivered from the Mercy Seat when Urim and Thummim was
consulted.
The prophetic spirit being so common among the Hebrews, it
became necessary to adopt a method to prevent false prophets from
deceiving the people. To deter men from pretending they possessed
a prophetic spirit, a severe punishment for every such pretence
was appointed,—strangling or stoning to death. The manner
of trying a false prophet was this: the judgments threatened by a
prophet, and the good things predicted by him, were observed. If
the judgments declared were not fulfilled, it was not regarded as
conclusive evidence against him, because it might be that the
punishments were for some wise reason averted; but if the
promised good did not come to pass, the predictor was condemned
as a deceiver and false prophet. If the words of a prophet were
fulfilled in one or more particulars, but not in all, he was not
deemed[Pg
12] worthy of credence. When once one was condemned as
a false prophet, no interest was powerful enough to save him from
death.
The trial of prophets prescribed by the Mosaic law was
intended to prevent impostors pretending to be prophets, and to
save the people from being enticed by wicked deceivers into
idolatry. In the time of Moses there were many who had recourse
to diabolical arts. The oblation of children to Moloch being
frequently mentioned, together with other diabolical and
divinatory arts, reasons appear for supposing there was something
magical in such superstitious rites, and that thereby people
consulted demons about things future or secret. Moloch was the
principal idol of the Ammonites, but other nations took the same
idol for their chief god; for it appears from Pagan records, that
the different nations were so very accommodating with their gods
that they lent them to one another. Moloch seems to have been the
same as Baal, both names signifying dominion, or more
particularly the sun, the prince of the heavenly bodies.
There can be no doubt but the passage in the Old Testament,
"Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk," was a warning
to the Hebrews not to follow the example of the heathen in
connection with the payment by the latter of their first fruits.
Dr. Cudworth, writing on this subject, says that he learned from
the comments of an ancient Karaite upon the Pentateuch, that a
superstitious rite prevailed among the ancient idolators, of
seething a kid in his mother's milk when they had gathered in all
their first fruits, and sprinkling the trees and fields with the
broth, after a magical manner, to make them more fruitful in the
following year. Spencer also observes that the Zabii used this
kind of magical broth to sprinkle their trees and gardens, in
hope of obtaining a plentiful crop.
The smooth stones mentioned by Isaiah, to which
meat[Pg
13] offerings were offered and drink offerings poured
out, were anointed stones in the streets, on which passengers
poured on them oil from phials; but what advantages were to
result from the custom we are not fully informed. Oil and candles
were believed by the ancients to possess peculiar virtues. Oil
was often burned in honour of the dead; and the Algerines, when
on the water, tied bundles of wax candles together, and, with a
pot of oil, threw them overboard as a present to the saint,
entombed near the Barbary shore, whom they regarded as their
protector. We believe few who partake of sheep-head or sheep-head
broth know that it is, or was, a custom with the Jews to serve up
sheep-head on New Year's Day at their chief entertainment, as a
mystical representation of the ram offered in sacrifice instead
of Isaac. When a family or company sat down to this repast, each
person took a piece of bread, and, dipping it in honey, said,
"May this year be sweet and fruitful." The Jews, to cast their
sins into the depth of the sea, sometimes went after dinner to
the brink of a pond, if not near the sea, and threw into the
water a live fish, in the hope that it would carry away all their
iniquities, never more to be found.
It was customary among the Pharisees not only to fast twice a
week (on Monday and Thursday), but at periods of perplexity to
fast thirteen days consecutively. Sometimes, on account of such
small trifles as dreams, they would abstain from food; but severe
drought, pestilence, famine, war, and inundations were sure to
make them fast until nature was nearly exhausted. The Hebrews
held certain views and followed particular customs with respect
to the dust of heathen countries. Dust that came from Gentile
lands was reckoned so defiling, that the Jewish rulers would not
permit vegetables to be brought from heathen countries into the
land of Israel, lest the detested particles should be brought
along with them. The number 10 was much noticed and used by the
Jews. The blessing[Pg 14] of the bridegroom, which consisted
of seven blessings, was of no avail unless delivered in the
presence of ten persons. Angels, which were believed to have the
care of men, were supposed to ride unseen, on white horses,
beside the objects of their attention.
Among the Jews there was a popular notion that the spirits of
dead persons whispered in a feeble and peculiar way out of the
dust; and it was a common belief that the soul had no rest unless
the body was interred. There were women among the Hebrews who
predicted how long one would live, and pretended to know when he
was to die. One of a Jew's solemn prayers on the day of expiation
was that he might be delivered from the punishment of the devil
in his grave,—a punishment supposed to be inflicted by
causing the soul to return to the body, breaking the deceased's
bones, and tormenting both soul and body for a season. A similar
form of prayer was used by the Mohammedans.
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