Eastern Manners and Customs

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1870. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... rallying centres for hostile tribes from age to age. In other cases, however, wells have formed the places of friendly meetings, of Eastern kindness, and of hearty greetings. It was there that a cup of cold water could be given to a disciple; and there that a patriarchal simplicity of manners could be kept alive, while artifice and conventionality were overlaying all that was genuine in more refined society. To understand the Bible fully, we need to understand the customs of the East regarding its wells, and a few hints are here furnished to facilitate that end. xv. marriage ceremonies. Of all the customs and ceremonies of the East, few are more interesting than those which relate to marriage, and a mere catalogue of the chief of these would be instructive; but at present our object is different. In the Scriptures we find many allusions to marriage. The case of Isaac and Rebekah is described, Gen. xxiv., with primitive simplicity; and the same is true of the case of Jacob and Rachel, Gen. xxix. In Judges xiv. we read of Samson's marriage and the accompanying customs; and Psalm xlv. describes the Church in reference to the marriage procession of an Eastern princess. Isa. lxi. 10 refers to the jewels of an Eastern bride, and Jer. ii. 32 alludes to the same kind of decoration. The case of Joseph and Mary, Matt, i., shows how the betrothal preceded the espousals, and Matt. ix. 15 tells of the jubilee occasioned by an actual marriage. The parable of the man who had not on a wedding garment, Matt, xxii., further illustrates this subject. But of all the references in the Bible, none are so full or so explicit as the parable of the ten virgins (Matt. xxv. 1-13); and if this be understood, all other allusions will be easy. The ceremony of betrothing took place, we hav...