Part 21

The _third_ ceremony used by the _Jews_ towards the dead party, was the _embalming_ of the corps, which for the main thereof, it is probable they learned from the _Egyptians_, for we find _Joseph_ to be the first that practised it, _Gen. 50. 2._ The _Egyptian_ manner of _embalming_ was thus:[700] _they took out the bowels of the dead, they cleansed them and washed them with the wine of Dates, and after that again with odors: then filled they the bowels with pure Myrrh beaten, and Cassia, and other Odors (except Frankincense) and sewed them up. After this they seasoned the corps hidden in Nitre seventy days, not longer: after seventy days they washed the corps, and wrapped it in fine linnen cloth gummed, which gum the Egyptians often used instead of glew._ The _Greeks_ termed this ταριχεύειν. And the use thereof was for the _preservation_ of the body, that it might not putrifie; and therefore when the Funeral Obsequies were not long delayed, they used another kind of _embalming_, namely, an external and outward application of Spices and Odours, without the unbowelling of the corps. This the _Greeks_ termed ἐνταφιάζειν.[701] This was used toward our _Saviour Christ_, _John 19. 40._

[700] _Herodot. Euterp._

[701] _Usurpatur tamen τὸ ἐνταφιάζειν in scripturis, lata significatione, ad denotandum utramque condituram. Imo ἔθαψαν. occurrit. Gen. 50. 26. pro eo, quod in Hebr. ‎‏ויחנטו‏‎ Et aromatibus condiverunt._

Sometimes they did use to _burn the corps_, preserving onely the bones in some urn or pitcher, _Amos 6. 10._ But commonly they interred the whole body, and buried it in the earth. The ancient _Jews_ if they received not from their Ancestors, then would they purchase a _burial place_ themselves, for the burial of them and their family. The form of that place was thus: It was a _vault_ hewed out in a rock,[702] six cubits long, and four broad, in which eight other cells or lesser holes (or as some say, thirteen) were made, as so many distinct receptacles, or _tombs_ for the dead bodies to be laid in: as often as they buried any, they were wont to _roll a great stone to the mouth of the cave_. The _cave_ or _vault_ it self they termed from the act of burial, _Keber_,[703] which signifieth a place of burial, or from its form, _Magnara_,[704] _a den or cave_. These several cells or receptacles in which the body was laid, they called _cucim_,[705] _graves, tombs_: and the _stone_ they named _Golel_,[706] _a rolling stone_. This giveth great light to that in the _Gospel_. _Joseph_ took the body of _Christ_, and wrapped it in a clean linnen cloth, and put it in his _new tomb_, which he had hewen out in a rock, and _rolled a great stone to the door of the Sepulchre_, _Mat. 27. 59, 60._ These _caves_ or _vaults_ the wealthier sort would _paint_, _garnish_, and _beautifie_ at the mouth or enterance of them: hence cometh that phrase, _Sepulchra dealbata_, _painted tombs_. As often as they had an occasion to mention or speak of any friend deceased, they used that in the _Proverbs_, _The memory of the just is blessed_, _Prov. 10. 7._ Hence the _Rabbies_,[707] in their quotations of any worthy Author deceased, usually subjoyn this honourable commemoration, _N. Benedictæ memoriæ_, _N. such or such a one of blessed memory_.

[702] _‎‏ד אמות על שש‏‎ Talmud Seder. Nez. in Bavabathra. cap. 6._

[703] _‎‏קבר‏‎_

[704] _‎‏מערה‏‎_

[705] _‎‏כוכים‏‎_

[706] _‎‏גלל‏‎_

[707] _‎‏זכר צדיק לברכה‏‎ Memoria ejus sit in benedictione._

But their usual Epitaph or inscription upon their Sepulchers, was,[708] _Let this soul be bound up in the Garden of Eden, or in the bundle of the living, Amen, Amen, Amen, Selati_.

[708] _‎‏נשמתה תהא צרורה בגן עדן א א א סלת‏‎ Sheindler in ‎‏נדר‏‎_

The latter _Jews_ have been strangely conceited concerning the place of burials, and are perswaded that if an _Israelite_ be buried in any strange country, out of the promised Land, he shall not be partaker so much as of Resurrection, except the Lord vouchsafe to make him _hollow passages_, under the earth, thorow which his body by a continual volutation and rolling, may be brought into the land of _Canaan_. The ground hereof is taken from the charge of _Jacob_ unto his son _Joseph_, that he should not bury him in the land of _Egypt_, but in _Canaan_. For which charge they assign three reasons.[709] _First_, because he foresaw by the spirit of Prophecy, that the dust of that land should afterward be turned into lice. _Secondly_, because those who died out of the holy Land should not rise again without a painful rolling and tumbling of their bodies thorow those hollow passages. _Thirdly_, that the _Egyptians_ might not idolatrously worship him.

[709] _Solom. Jarchi. Gen. 47. 29._

They made a feast at their burials, which is stiled _The bread of men_, _Ezek. 14. 17._ And a _cup of consolation_, _Jer. 16. 7._ because it was administred to comfort those that were sad of heart. It much resembled the _Roman Silicernium_.

From those two places last quoted, we may observe, that at the burial of their friends, they used these ceremonies which follow; some to _testifie_, some to _augment_ their grief. 1. _Cutting themselves_, that is, wounding or cutting any part of their body, with any kind of Instrument. This practice was learned from the _Heathens_,[710] who were wont not only to scratch their face, but to punch and prick certain parts of their body with a needle, and then cover it over with ink, which they used as a special ceremony in their superstitious worship, and therefore it is forbid, _Deut. 14. 1._ _Secondly, making themselves bald_,[711] which was done divers manner of ways; either by _shaving their hair_, or _plucking it off_ with their hands, or by _impoisoned plaister to make it fall off_. Other Nations were wont to shave off the hair of their head, and to offer it in the behalf of the dead: they did sometimes shave their cheeks, sometimes their eye-lids: and this also, being an _Heathenish_ custome, was likewise forbidden in _Israel_, _Deut. 14. 1._ _Thirdly, going bare headed_, that they might cast dust or ashes upon their heads, signifying thereby that they _were unworthy the ground on which they went. Fourthly, going barefooted_ for their greater humiliation. _Fifthly, the covering of their lips_, for that was a special sign of sorrow and shame, _The Seers shall be ashamed_, &c. they shall all cover their lips, for they have no answer of God, _Mich. 3. 7._ If it be demanded, how they covered their lips? It is thought[712] they did it _by casting the skirt of their cloak, or garment over them. Sixthly,[713] renting their cloaths. Seventhly, putting sackcloth about their loyns_, _Gen. 37. 34._ These were general tokens of grief, used upon all extroardinary occasions of sorrow. Two other there were, more proper to burials, to augment their grief. _First, Minstrels_, who with their sad tunes inclined the affections of the people to mourning.[714] Of these there were _two sorts_: Some playing on _pipes_, others sounding _trumpets_. At the funeral of Noblemen, or old men, they used a _trumpet_: at the funeral of the common people, or children, they used a _pipe_.[715] In this respect it is said; _That Jesus, when he raised_ Jairus _his daughter, cast out the Minstrels_, Mat. 9. 23. _Secondly_, women hired to sing at burials for the same purpose, and likewise by outward significations of sorrow, to move the company, and more strongly to affect them, _Call for the mourning women_, &c. _and send for skilful women_, _Jer. 9. 17._ These the _Romans_ called, _Præficas, quasi in hoc ipsum præfectas_, _Chief or skilful mourners_.

[710] _Gentes, quasdam corporis partes acu vulnerabant, vel alias incidebant atramentumque superponebant, quod in cultum dæmonum suorum fiebat, præcipietur ergo ne ullo pacto sicut gentes ferirent carnes suas; quemadmodum sacerdotes Cybeles & deæ Sororum, ut refert Lucianus. P. Fag. Deut. 14. 1. Unguibus ora soror fædans & pectora pugnis. Virg. lib. 4. Æneid._

[711] _Sectis fratri imposuere capillos. Ovid. Met. 3._

[712] _D. Kimchi & Aben. Esra P. Fag. Lev. 14. 45._

[713] _Scissâque Polyxena pallâ. Juvenal. Satyr. 10._

[714] _Majoris ætatis funera ad tubam proferre solebant: minoris vero ætatis ad tibias. Servius. Æneid. lib. 5._

[715] _Tibia cui teneros suetum deducere manes Lege Phrygum mesta. Statius. Theb. lib. 6, ver. 121._

CHAP. VI.

_Of their Oaths._

The manner of _swearing_ was sometimes by _lifting up their hands towards heaven_; _Abraham_ said to the _King of Sodom_, _I have lifted up my hand unto the Lord_; that is, I have _sworn_, that I will not take from a thred, even to a shoe-latchet, _Gen. 14. 22._ Unto which custome the Psalmist seemeth to allude, _Psal. 106. 26._ _He lifted up his hand_, that is, _he swore_. Sometimes he that took the Oath _did put his hand under the others thigh_, which administred the Oath. We read this manner of administration to have been used by _Abraham_, _Gen. 24. 2._ and _Jacob_, _Gen. 47. 29._ Which ceremony some[716] interpret to be as a _token of subjection_; others[717] as a _mystery of circumcision_; the sign wherof they bore about that place of their body: Others[718] more probably think it to be a _mysterious signification of Christ the promised seed_, who was to come out of _Abrahams loyns_, or _thigh_; as the like phrase is used, _Gen. 46. 26._ the souls that came out of _Jacobs thigh_. Sometimes also the manner of deposing, was to _stand before the Altar_, _1 Kings 8. 31._ Which was also the custome of the _Athenians_,[719] the _Carthaginians_,[720] and the _Romans_.[721]

[716] _Aben Esra. Gen. 24. 2._

[717] _Solomon Jarchi, ibid._

[718] _August. quæst. super Gen. 62._

[719] _Alex. ab. Alex. lib. 5. cap. 10._

[720] _Livius dec. 3. lib. 1. It. Valer. Max. l. 9. c. 3._

[721] _Jures licet & Samothracum, & nostrorum aras. Juvenal. Satyr. 3._

The object of a lawful Oath was, and is, _onely the Lord_: whence he that took the Oath was said to _confess unto God_, compare _Isa. 45. 23._ with _Rom. 14. 11._ And the ancient form of imposing an Oath was this, _Give glory to God_, _Josh. 7. 19._ _John. 9. 24._ Now God was glorified by an Oath, because thereby there was a solemn confession and acknowledgement of _Gods Omni-presence_, that he is present in every place: of his _Omniscience_, that he knoweth all secrets: of his _truth_, that he is _a maintainer of truth_, and _an avenger of falshood_: of his _justice_, that he is willing; and his _omnipotency_, that he is able to punish those that by swearing shall dishonour him, And as the _object of a lawful oath_ was onely _God_: so it is implied, that it was not rashly or unadvisedly to be undertaken, but by a kind of necessity _imposed_; for the _Hebrew_ word ‎‏נשבע‏‎ is a Passive, and signifieth _to be sworn_, rather than to _swear_.

In corrupter times they were wont to swear by the _creatures_,[722] but the _Jews_ chiefly by _Jerusalem, by the Temple, by the gold of the Temple, by the Altar, and the gift on the Altar_. This _gift_ in _Hebrew_ was termed _Corban_,[723] and it was one of those oaths which in our _Saviour Christs_ time the _Scribes_ and _Pharisees_ accounted principally obligatory. If any swore _by the Altar_, it was nothing: but if any swore by the _oblation of the Altar_, he was bound to perform it, _Matth. 23. 18._ Yea, although _Gods law_ enjoyned honour, and relief toward parents; yet if they had bound themselves by this oath _Corban_, that they would not help or relieve their parents, they taught they were discharged. Whence, saith their _Talmud_,[724] _Every one ought to honour his father and mother, except he hath vowed the contrary_. And it is evident[725] that the _Jews_ did often by solemn vows and _oaths bind themselves, that they would never do good to such, or such a man_. We must furthermore know that usually to their oaths there was an _execration_, or _conditional curse_ annexed, which sometimes was expressed, as, _if I do not do thus and thus, then the Lord do so to me, and more also_, _1 Sam. 14. 44._ Also _1 Kin. 20. 10._ Sometimes it is _understood_, as, _I have sworn, if I take from a thred to a shoo-latchet_, _Gen. 14. 22._ _then let the Lord do so to me, and more also_; this, or the like, is _understood_ and maketh the former part of the oath to sound negatively; as if _Abraham_ had said, _I have sworn, I will not take from a thread to a shoo-latchet_. In like manner, _Psal. 95._ I have sworn, _if they shall enter into my rest_; that is, _They shall not enter into my rest_, _Heb. 3. 18._ This helpeth the exposition of that difficult place, _Mat. 15. 5._ which we read,[726] _By the gift that is offered by me thou maist have profit_: but if we conceive it thus, according to the form of the oath _Corban_, _By Corban if thou receive any profit by me_, and understand the execration implyed: _Then let God do thus, and much more to me_; the sense will be thus; _By Corban thou shalt receive no profit by me_. This exposition is as agreeable to the scope of the place, as it is to their form of swearing, and plainly sheweth how the _Pharisees_ by their traditions transgressed the Commandment of God. For God commanded, saying, _Honour thy father and Mother._ But the _Scribes_ and _Pharisees_ said; Whosoever should say to father or mother seeking relief, _By Corban thou shalt receive no profit from me_, he was discharged.

[722] _Allium, porrum & cepas inter deos jure jurando habuerunt Egyptii, Plin. lib. 19. c. 6. Item. Juvenal. Sat. 15._

[723] _ἐν οἷς μετά τινων ἄλλων καὶ τὸν καλούμενον ὅρκον Κορβάν καταριθμεῖ. Inter quæ sacramenta, cum quibusdam aliis etiam jusjurandum quod Corban appellatur, enumerat Joseph. contra Appion. l. 1. p. 147._

[724] _Talmud. Hierosolymit. tract. de votis cap. 10._

[725] _Ὅρκῳ πιστοῦνται, τῷ δεῖνι μὴ παρέξειν ὠφέλειαν τινα. Jurejurando se obstringunt huic vel illi homini nihil se commodi præstituros! Philo Jud. de specialibus legib. p. 595._

[726] _Δῶρον, ὃ ἐὰν ἐξ ἐμοῦ ὠφεληθῇς, Per Corbam, si quicquam tibi prodero: interpretor ὃ ἐὰν, Si quicquam quemadmodum ὃς ἐὰν. Si quisquam, Mat. 10. 14. & Mat. 23. 18. Et execratione subaudita sensus emergat, Per Corbam nihil tibi prodero, Cæterum, si quis urgeat, quod in fonte sit κορβᾶν, non per Corban, vel ἐν κορβὰν, sciendum quod similis ellipsis in jurandi formulis non est inusitata, hinc ‎‏המעון הזה‏‎ valet ‎‏במעון הזה‏‎ ~per domicilium hoc~. Vide Drusium de tribus sectis l. 2. cap. 17._

CHAP. VII.

_Of their Writing, Masorites, and their Work._

_Writing_ in no Nation came to its perfection on a sudden, but by degrees: The Opinions of the Ancients concerning the Authors and Inventers of letters are different. Some say[727] _Cadmus_ brought the use of letters into _Greece_: others say,[728] _Palamedes_: some say,[729] _Radamanthus_ brought them into _Assyria_: _Memnon_ into _Egypt_: _Hercules_ into _Phrygia_: and _Carmenta_ into _Latium_. Likewise some say the _Phœnicians_ had first the knowledge and use of letters.

_Phœnices primi (famæ si credimus) ausi_ _Mansuram rudibus vocem signare figuris._

_Lucan._

[727] _Plin. l. 7. c. 56. Diodor. Sicul. l. 6. c. 5._

[728] _Servius. lib. 2. Æneid._

[729] _Alex. Genial. l. 1. c. 30._

Others say the _Ethiopians_:[730] others the _Assyrians_.[731] But upon better grounds it is thought,[732] that _Moses first taught the use of letters to the Jews_, and that the _Phœnicians_ learned them from the _Jews_, and the _Grecians_ from the _Phœnicians_.

[730] _Diodor. Sicul. l. 4._

[731] _Plin. l. 7. c. 56._

[732] _Euseb. præpar. Evang. lib. 18._

In like manner, the matter upon which men wrote, in ruder times was different. Some wrote on _rinds of trees_, whence _Liber_, signifying originally a _rinde of a tree_, is now used for _a book_:[733] some wrote on _tile-stone_ with a _bone_ instead of a _pen_; some on _Tables_; this last was chiefly in use among the _Jews_, the _Decalogue_ was was written in two _tables_. Again, write these things upon a _table_, _Esay. 30. 8._ ἐπὶ πυξίου, saith the _Septuagint_, as if the writing-tables at that time were made of _Box-trees_. They used not then _pens_ or _quills_, but a certain instrument or _punch_, made of Iron or Steel, called _Stylus_, it was sharp at one end, for the more convenient indenting or carving of the characters, and broad at the other, for the scraping or blotting out what had been written: whence sprang that Proverbial speech:[734] _Invertere stylum_, _to unsay what he had said_, or _to blot out what he hath written_: _Scribe stilo hominis_: _write with the pen of man_, _Esay. 8. 1._ Afterward before they came to bind up books in manner as now we have them, they wrote in a roll of _Paper_ or _Parchment_, which sometimes was _ten cubits_ broad, and _twenty_ long, _Zac. 5. 2._ This they called ‎‏מגלה‏‎ _Megilla_, in _Hebrew_, from _Galal_, _to roll_, _Volumen_ _in Latine_, in _English a volumn_, from _volvo_, _to roll_. In the _volumn of the book_ it is written, _Psal. 40. 7._ And _Christ closing_ the Book, gave it to the Minister, _Luk. 4. 20._ the word is πτύξας, _complicans_ _folding_, or rolling it up: and _vers. 17._ ἀναπτύξας, _explicans_, _unfolding_, or opening it.[735] These _volumns_ were written not with one entire continued writing, but the writing was distinguished into many _spaces_, _columns_ or _platforms_, like unto so many _Areæ_: these _platforms_, filled with writing, were instead of so many _pages_ in a book: and thus we are to understand that _Jer. 36. 23._ When _Jehudi_ had read three or four _leaves_, he cut it with a pen-knife, _&c._ These _leaves_ were nothing else but such _spaces_, and platforms in the _roll_. After this manner the _Jews_ reserve the Law written in such _rolls_, and with such _spaces_, in their _Synagogues_ at this day.

[733] _Diogen. Laert. in vitæ Cleanthis._

[734] _Erasm. in Adag._

[735] _Buxtorf. institut. epist. p. 4._

It is much controversed, whether the _Jews_ did from the beginning write with _vowels_ and _accents_, or whether they were added by the _Masorites_; for the understanding of which, it will be needful, _First_, to enquire who the _Masorites_ were: _Secondly_, what their work was; and then to deliver in a proposition what may be probably thought in this point.

First, concerning the _Masorites_, we are to know that ‎‏מסר‏‎ _Masar_ signifieth _tradere_, _to deliver_, and _Masor_ _a tradition_, delivered from hand to hand to posterity without writing, as the _Pythagoreans_ and _Druides_ were wont to do; but by the figure _Synecdoche_, it signifieth those _critical notes_ or _Scholion_, written in the margine of the Bible, and those that were the Authors of those _critical observations_ were termed _Masoritæ_, _Masorites_. Concerning these Authors, who they were there are two opinions. Some[736] think that they were certain learned _Jews_ living in the City _Tiberias_, they termed them _Sapientes Tiberiadis_, _the wise men of Tiberias_. These _wise men_ are thought to have added these _marginal notes_ unto the _Hebrew Bibles_[737] some time after the finishing of the _Babylon Talmud_, which was about the year of our _Lord_, 506. This opinion is unlikely for these two reasons. 1.[738] Because we cannot find in Histories, the continuance of any Colledg or School in _Tiberias_ so long, but rather that _degrees in learning_ ceased there within four hundred years after our _Saviour his birth_. 2.[739] In both _Talmuds_ mention is made of the _Masora_, and the things contained therein. Others therefore more probably say,[740] that the _Masorites_ were that _Ecclesiastical Senate_ or _Council_ held by _Esra, Haggai, Zachary, Malachi_, and divers others assembled for the reformation of the Church after their return from _Babylon_; they are called _Viri Synagogæ magnæ_. This _Council_ continued at least forty years: for _Simeon the just_, who went out in his _Priestly robes_, to meet and pacifie _Alexander the Great_, coming in hostile manner against _Jerusalem_,[741] was the last of that _Council_, and that was above three hundred years before the birth of our _Saviour_. _Esra_ was the _President_ or Chief of this _Council_; he was of such repute among the _Jews_, that they parallel’d him with _Moses_, saying,[742] _Dignus erat_ Esra, _quod data fuisset lex per manus ejus_ Israeli, _si non præcessisset eum_ Moses.

[736] _Aben Esra vid. Buxt. commen. Masor. c. 3._

[737] _Elias Levita in præfat. tertia l. Masoreth hammasoreth._

[738] _Buxtorf. in comment. Masor. c. 7._

[739] _Buxtorf. in comment. Masor. c. 8._

[740] _R. Asarias. R. Gedalia. Buxtor. in comment. Masor. c. 11._

[741] _Pirke Aboth. c. 1._

[742] _Talmud. Sanhedrim. c. 2. fol. 21._

In the second place we are to consider the _work_, what the men of this great _Synagogue_, being the true _Masorites_, did: their work may be reduced to these particulars. 1. When this great _Council_ was assembled, they, among whom _Ezra_ was chief (who was assisted with the inspiration of _Gods Spirit_)[743] determined what _Books_ were _Canonical_, what _spurious_ and _Apocryphal_. _Secondly_,[744] the _authentick_ and _Canonical Books_, were purged by them, of all errors crept into the Text in time of their captivity. _Thirdly_,[745] they digested the _Old Testament_ into _twenty two books_, according to the number of the _Hebrew letters_. _Fourthly_, they distinguisht it into great _Sections_ and _Verses_; for though the Law was not so confusedly written, without any space or note of distinction between word and word that it seemed all one _continued verse_, or as the _Kabbalists_ speak, ‎‏תיבה אחת‏‎ _Theba achath_, _one word_, until the time of the _Masorites_; yet it was not so distinguisht into _Sections_ and _Verses_, as now we have it. _Fifthly_, they added their censures and _critical observations_, concerning the irregularity of many words, in respect of the _vowels_ and _accents_. _Sixthly_, they numbered the _verses_, _words_, and _letters_ of every Book, to prevent all possibility of corrupting the Text in future times; for now they say, the gift of Prophesie should cease. _Lastly_, they noted the _different writing_, and _different reading_, for the understanding of which we must know, that in the _Hebrew_ Text many words are written with more, many with _fewer letters_, than they are pronounced; many words _written_ in the Text which are not _pronounced, &c._[746] In the margin the difference is expressed: whence the difference in the Text they term ‎‏כתב‏‎ _Cethib_, _Scriptionem_, the writing; the difference in the margin they term ‎‏קרי‏‎ _Keri_, _Lectionem_, the Reading: because they do read according to that in the margin. This difference is thought by some[747] to be a correction of the Bible, according to several copies after their return from _Babylon_: but, that it is of _Divine Authority_, containing many mysteries known to _Moses_, and the _Prophets_ successively (though many of them unknown to our Age) and that it was not any correction, but the difference it self primarily and purposely was intended by the _Prophets_, and holy Penmen of the Scripture, evidently appeareth by the diversity of readings in those books which were written by _Haggai_, _Zachary_, _Malachi_, _Daniel_, and _Esra_: They being the Authors of their own books, needed no _correction_ at that time, themselves being present, yet in them this _different reading_ is used.

[743] _Buxtorf. in comment. Masor. c. 11._

[744] _Tertull. l. de habit. muliebr. Chrysost. hom. 8. ad Hebræos. Irenæus adver. hæres. lib. 3. c. 25. August. de mirab. sacræ, script. l. 2. circa finem._

[745] _Genebrard. l. 2. Chronolog._

[746] _Sunt octo voces quæ scriptæ sunt in textu, sed non leguntur quas adducit. Masora, Ruth. 3. 12._

[747] _Contra hos disputat Elias Levita in præfat. 3. l. masoreth hammasoreth._