Men endowed with Prophetic Spirits--The Jews forbidden
to consult the Oracles of the Heathen--Succession and
Schools of Prophets--Burial of Prophets--Influence of
Music--The Prophetic Mantle--Way through which
Revelations were made--Bath Kol--Urim and
Thummim--False Prophets Strangled or Stoned--How False
Prophets were discovered--Recourse to Diabolical
Art--Moloch--Seething a Kid in its Mother's Milk--The
Smooth Stones mentioned by Isaiah--Oil and Candles
supposed to possess peculiar Virtues--The Saint
entombed near the Barbary shore--Sheep-head and
Sheep-head Broth--Casting Sins into the Sea--Custom of
Fasting among the Pharisees--Dust of Heathen
Countries--The number 10--Angels that had the care of
Men--Souls of Dead Persons whispered with a feeble
Voice--Hebrew Women who predicted when one would
die--Punishment in the Grave by the Devil.
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 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 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 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 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.