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partook of the simplicity of their occupations; of this there is sufficient proof in the story of Jacob's courtship and marriage.

In those times, when the earth was thinly peopled, an increase of laborers was an increase of wealth; hence, physical strength, being the quality most needed, was most esteemed. To be the mother of a numerous family was the most honorable distinction of women; and the birth of a son was regarded as a far more fortunate event than the birth of a daughter. Under such circumstances, women were naturally considered in the light of property; and whoever wished for a wife must pay the parents for her, or perform a stipulated period of service, as Jacob did for Rachel. Sometimes, when parents were desirous to unite their families, the parties were solemnly betrothed in childhood, and the price of the bride stipulated. Marriage in those primitive times consisted merely in a formal bargain between the bridegroom and the father of the maiden, solemnized by a feast.

We are not told how far the affections of women were consulted in these arrangements, but there is every reason to suppose that they were passively guided by others.

Among the Israelites, as well as among the nations with whom they sojourned, innocencé was by no means universal. The world seems very

soon to have grown old in sin. Even in the remotest times, there are allusions to a class of women openly and shamelessly vicious; and it is

hardly possible for the imagination to conceive of a crime that is not mentioned in the laws of Moses. The deception practised by Abraham and his son Isaac, lest the beauty of their wives should be the occasion of their own death, betrays habits and manners sufficiently violent and profligate. That the husbands of Sarah and Rebecca should have been willing thus to consult their own safety, at the risk of exposing them to insult, is by no means extraordinary among a people where polygamy prevailed; for in all such countries the value placed upon women has an origin essentially low and depraved. We are told that Sarah herself consented to pass for the sister of her husband; and both in Egypt and in Gerar the handsome stranger was ordered into the household of the king. That marriage was acknowledged as a protection, and that the concealment of it left her defenceless, is shown by Pharaoh's earnest expostulation with Abraham: "What hast thou done unto me? Why saidst thou, She is my sister? Why didst thou not tell me she was thy wife?" The same is likewise implied by the reproof which Abimelech, king of the Philistines, gave to Abraham, and afterwards to his son Isaac, under similar circumstances.

The occupations of the ancient Jewish women were laborious. They spent their time in spinning and weaving cloth for garments, and for the covering of the tents; in cooking the food, tending the flocks, grinding the corn, and drawing water from the wells. When Abraham entertained the three strangers under

the tree before his dwelling, "He hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth." Jacob found Rachel tending the flocks of her wealthy father; and when Abraham's servant sought the beautiful Rebecca as a wife for Isaac, the damsel not only drew water for him, but for his camels also.

The performance of these tasks does not necessarily imply a deficiency of respect for women, for at that period kings and princes were in the habit of reaping their own grain, and slaying their own cattle. The condition of women then bore a general correspondence to that of the men, as it ever since has done.

The manners were generally rude, and females of course were not treated with the politeness which has prevailed in modern times. Thus when the daughters of Jethro came to draw water for their flocks, the shepherds of Midian drove them away, notwithstanding their father was high priest of the country.

Jewish husbands seem to have had a discretionary power of divorcing their wives; and no bargain or vow made by a woman was binding, unless made in the presence of her father or husband, and with theii sanction.

Before the time of Moses, women appear to have been incapable of inheriting the estates of their fathers, even when he died without other heirs. daughters of Zelophead brought before Moses, the

The

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