not build up his brother's house."

And his name

was called in Israel, "The house of him that hath his shoe loosed."

Notwithstanding the effort to keep the blood of the nation, and even of individual families, unmixed from generation to generation, the rule was sometimes broken through. Thus Moses married an Ethiopian woman; the wife of Joseph was daughter of the priest of On; and Solomon married the daughter of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

It is generally supposed that formal ceremonies at a wedding were first prescribed by Moses. According to the rabbies, the appointed days were Friday for a bride who had never been married, and Thursday for a widow. The contract was read and signed by ten witnesses, who were free and of age. The bride was veiled and given to the bridegroom by her parents. Her father said, "Take her according to the law of Moses ;" and the husband answered, "I take her according to that law." Benedictions were then pronounced both by the parents and the guests. The maidens sang a marriage song, and the men danced around the bridegroom, while the women danced around the bride. The feasting continued seven days, unless the bride were a widow, in which case they continued but three days. If a man married a number of wives in quick succession, he was bound to allow a feast of seven days to each. later period the form was somewhat changed.

At a

In

the presence of ten witnesses, the bridegroom said to the bride, "Be thou a wife to me according to the

law of Moses, and I will worship and honor thee, according to the word of God, and will feed and govern thee, according to the custom of those who worship, honor, and govern their wives faithfully. I give thee fifty shekels for thy dowry."

The story of Samson and Delilah seems to imply that custom did not allow a young man to seek a girl in marriage without the intervention of his parents. He said to his father and mother, "I have seen a woman of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore get her for me to wife ;" and when his parents started objections, he still pleaded, "Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well." The idea of applying to the beautiful Delilah in person does not seem to have occurred to his mind.

During the magnificent prosperity of Israel, marriage ceremonies were conducted with more pomp than they had been in the days of the patriarchs. Instead of the bridegroom's paying a certain sum of money, or performing a certain period of service for his bride, it became customary for wealthy parents to give a handsome dowry with their daughters. This is the natural tendency of society; because with the progress of wealth and refinement women become expensive, rather than profitable, in a pecuniary point of view.

On the day of the nuptials, the bride was conducted by her female relations to the bath, where she was anointed with the choicest perfumes, her hair perfumed and braided, her eyebrows deepened with black powder, and the tips of her fingers tinged with

rents.

rose-color. Her companions then arrayed her in a marriage robe of brilliant color, which fell in ample folds to her feet. The girdle and bracelets were more or less costly, according to the wealth of her paA flame-colored veil was surmounted by a crown, usually of gold; for this reason, a bride among the Hebrews was called the crowned. Before she left the bath, her friends from all quarters sent in their wedding gifts. The bridegroom was anointed and crowned in a similar manner, by the young men of his family.

The bride, accompanied by her nurse, was conveyed in a litter from her father's house, followed by all her female friends and relations closely veiled. The procession was headed by seventy young priests bearing flambeaux of oil and pitch, and by a multitude of persons carrying the clothes, jewels, and furniture, which had been presented to the bride; each person carried but one thing. Next came the bridegroom and his friends, in their richest apparel. Then came the bride in her palanquin: and servants and children closed the train.

When they arrived at the bridegroom's house, the bride anointed the door-posts with oil, and adorned them with woollen fillets. Then the maidens lifted her over the threshold, which formed the boundary between her single and married life. The nuptial train entered the courts, and the bride solemnly took possession of her apartments in the armon, where a feast was prepared for her and her female friends. When all had partaken plentifully, both men and

women assembled in the inner court. The maidens led the bride, and the young men the bridegroom, to the parents, who placed the right hand of the wife within the right hand of her husband, and pronounced upon them the paternal blessing. "Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, who didst create Adam and Eve! Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, who causeth Zion to rejoice in her children! Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, who makest the bride and the bridegroom to be glad together! The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, be with you, and help you together, and give his blessing richly upon you! Jehovah make the wife that comes into thy house like Rachel, and like Leah, who built up the house of Israel!"

The marriage festivities continued seven days, during which time numerous gifts were exchanged between the newly married and their guests.

When a man believed he had reason to be jealous of his wife, he could at any time compel her to submit to the public ordeal of drinking the water of jealousy. On such occasions, the wife was brought before the priests and elders, in the midst of a crowd of men, women, and children, who collected from curiosity. When the culprit stood in the presence of her judges, she was left alone, and if neither persuasion or sternness could extort from her a confession of guilt, they decreed that she should drink the water of jealousy, and take the oath of purgation. Being then led forth from the sanctuary, the priest, who was appointed for the purpose, threw her jewels,

veil, and turban on the ground, dishevelled her braided hair, rent her garments from the top of the neck to the breast, and bound a strip of bark about her, in place of a girdle, saying, "Thou hast forsaken the manner of the daughters of Israel, who cover their heads, and hast followed the manners of the heathen, who go with their heads uncovered."

Then the men spat on the ground, and the women uttered cries of abhorrence. The husband gave the priest the "offering of jealousy, the tenth part of an ephah of barley-meal, with no oil or frankincense poured thereon." Then the priest filled an earthen vessel with holy water from the laver beside the altar, and put into it dust from the floor of the tabernacle. With an elevated and solemn voice he said, “If thou art innocent, be thou free from the curse of this bitter water; but if thou art guilty, may Jehovah make thee a curse among thy people, and bring on thee all the curses written in his law." If the woman answered, expressing her willingness to submit to the ordeal, the priest waved the " offering of jealousy" before Jehovah, and mixing the meal with salt, he burned it in the fire. Then the curses of the law were written on a roll, and washed off in the vessel of water wherein dust had been mingled. The woman drank the water of cursing, with her eyes lifted toward the holy of holies.

If, after a long pause, she was perceived to be unharmed, a shout of joy burst from the multitude, and hallelujah resounded from the temple through the streets of the city. Her parents and husband