24, 25. In the two following verses, he alludes to the practice of those who engaged in boxing, as well as to the previous discipline to which all candidates were subjected.

CHAPTER IX.

JEWISH MODE OF TREATING THE DEAD. FUNERAL RITES.

By the law of Moses a dead body conveyed a legal pollution to every thing that touched it,—even to the very house and furniture, which continued seven days. (Numb. xix. 14, 15, 16.) And this was the reason why the priests, on account of their daily minis. trations in holy things, were forbidden to assist at any funerals but those of their nearest relatives; nay, the very dead bones, though they had lain ever so long in the grave, if digged up, conveyed a pollution to any who touched them; and this was the reason why Josiah caused the bones of the false priests to be burnt upon the altar at Bethel (2 Chron. xxxiv. 5.), to the intent that these altars, being thus polluted, might be had in the greater detestation.

When the principle of life was extinguished, the first funeral office among the Jews was to close the eyes of the deceased. This was done by the nearest of kin. Thus, it was promised to Jacob, when he took his journey into Egypt, that Joseph should put his hands upon his eyes. (Gen xlvi. 4.) The next office was the ablution of the corpse. Thus, when Tabitha died, it is said, that they washed her body, and laid it in an upper chamber. (Acts ix. 37.) This rite was common both to the Greeks and Romans. In Egypt, it is still the custom to wash the dead body several times.

Loud lamentations attended the decease of persons, especially those who were greatly beloved, not only as soon as they had expired (Gen. 1. 1. Matt. ix. 23. Mark v. 38.); but especially at the time of interment. (Gen 1. 10, 11.) In later times, the Jews hired persons, whose profession it was to superintend and conduct these funeral lamentations. (Jer. ix. 17. xvi. 6, 7. Jer. xlviii. 36, 37. Ezek. xxiv. 16-18. Amos v. 16.): and in the time of Christ, minstrels and mourners were hired for this purpose. (Matt. ix. 23. Mark v. 38.)

After the corpse had been washed it was embalmed in costly spices and aromatic drugs, after which it was closely swathed in linen rollers, probably resembling those of the Egyptian mummies now to be seen in the British Museum. So Nicodemus made preparation for the embalming of Jesus Christ (John xix. 39, 40.); and Lazarus appears to have been swathed in a similar way, when raised to life again by the omnipotent voice of Jesus Christ. (John xi. 44.) At the funerals of some Jewish monarchs, great piles of aromatics were set on fire, in which were consumed their bowels, armour, and other things. (2 Chron. xvi, 14. Jer xxxiv. 5.)

The Jews shewed great regard for the burial of their dead. To be deprived of interment, was deemed one of the greatest dishonours and calamities that could befall any person. (Psal. lxxix. 2. Jer. xxii. 19. xxxvi. 30.) Their burial-places were in gardens, fields, and the sides of mountains: and over the rich and great were erected splendid monuments. To this practice Jesus Christ alludes in Matt. xxiii. 7. From Isa. lxv. 4. and Mark v. 5. it should seem that some tombs had cupolas over them which afforded shelter, similar to those which

modern travellers in the East have seen and described. Family-sepulchres were in gardens. (John xix. 41.)

A funeral feast commonly succeeded the Jewish burials. Thus, after Abner's funeral was solemnised, the people came to David to eat meat with him, though they could not persuade him to do so. (2 Sam. iii. 35.) He was the chief mourner, and probably had invited them to this banquet. Of this Jeremiah speaks (xvi. 7.), where he calls it the cup of consolation, which they drank for their father or their mother; and accordingly the place where this funeral entertainment was made is called in the next verse the house of feasting. Hosea calls it the bread of mourners. (Hos. ix. 4.)

The usual tokens of mourning, by which the Jews expressed their grief and concern for the death of their friends and relations, were, the rending of their garments, putting on sack-cloth, sprinkling dust upon their heads, wearing mourning apparel, and covering the face and head. (Gen. xxxvii. 34. 2 Sam. xiv. 2. xix. 4.

Antiently, there was a peculiar space of time allotted for lamenting the deceased, which they called the days of mourning. (Gen. xxvii. 41. and 1.4.) Thus, the Egyptians, who had a great regard for the patriarch Jacob, lamented his death threescore and ten days. (Gen. 1. 3.) The Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. (Deut. xxxiv. 8.) Afterwards among the Jews the funeral mourning was generally confined to seven days. Thus, besides the mourning for Jacob in Egypt, Joseph and his company set apart seven days to mourn for his father, when they approached the Jordan with his corpse. (Gen. 1. 10.) No particular period has been recorded, during which widows mourned for their husbands. Bathsheba is said, generally, to have mourned for Uriah (2 Sam. xi. 26.); but her mourning could neither

be long nor very sincere. The Jews paid a greater or less degree of honour to their kings after their death, according to the merits of their actions when they were alive. On the death of any prince, who had in any way distinguished himself, they used to make lamentations or mournful songs for them. From an expression in 2 Chron. xxxv. 25. Behold, they are written in the Lamentations, we may infer that they had certain collections of this kind of composition. The author of the book of Samuel has preserved those which David composed on occasion of the death of Saul and Jonathan, of Abner and Absalom; but we have no remains of the mournful elegy composed by Jeremiah upon the immature death of Josiah, the exemplary king of Judah.

THE Pentateuch, by which title the five first books of Moses are distinguished, is a word of Greek original, Πεντάτευχος (Pentateuchos) from πεντε (pente) five, and TEUXOS (teuchos) a book or volume, which literally signifies the five instruments or books; by the Jews it is termed Chometz, a word synonymous with Pentateuch, and also, more generally, the Law, or the LAW OF MOSES, because it contains the ecclesiastical and political ordinances issued by God to the Israelites. The pentateuch forms to this day, but one roll or volume in the Jewish manuscripts, being divided only into larger and smaller sections. This collective designation of the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, is of very considerable antiquity, though we have no certain information when it was first introduced. As, however, the names of these books are evidently derived from the Greek, and as the five books of Moses are expressly mentioned by Josephus, who wrote only a few years after our Sa