Selected quad for the lemma: hand_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
hand_n	david_n	king_n	saul_n	6,232	5	10.0779	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39821	The manners of the Israelites in three parts. I Of the patriarchs. 2. Of the Israelites after their coming out of Egypt until the captivity of Babylon. 3 Of the Jews after their return from the captivity until the preaching of the Gospel. Shewing their customs secular and religious, their generous contempt of earthly grandeur. And the great benefit and advantage of a plain laborious, frugal, and contented life.; Moeurs des Israélites. English	Fleury, Claude, 1640-1723.	1683 (1683)	Wing F1364A; ESTC R218945	81,805	250

upon their Thighs They likewise made use of Slings witness the Inhabitants of Gibeah in Benjamin who could even hit an Hair and those same Gibeonites would have equally fought with both Hands Saul held usually a Javelin in his hand as Homer makes his Heroes do and as the Romans dealt with Quirinus and the other Gods Besides they did not wear Arms but upon occasion no not so much as a Sword When Da-vid commanded his men to March against Nabal he bid them first to take their Swords tho they were in a State of continual Alarums The custome of wearing always a Sword by one's side was peculiar to the Gauls and Germans As for Defensive Arms they wore the Shield Buckler Headpiece and Cuirasses We view the Example of a compleat armour in that of Goliah But those Arms it seems were rare among the Israelites at that time in regard King Saul would have lent his to David They afterwards became very common and Vzziah had sufficient wherewith to arm all his forces that were above three hundred thousand men The same King set Engines on the Towers and Bulwarks of Jerusalem to shoot Arrows and great Stones withal and several Cities were fortifyed by him as well as most of the other Kings Thus War was made then much after the same manner as it was made until the latter times ere Fire-arms were found out The Israelites had none but Infantry as mostly the Inhabitants of hot Country have where they always March on dry foot Horses are of no use there particularly in Mountainous Countries They are rather necessary in cold ones to pass through bad ways and to make great Marches in barren and almost desolated Lands as in Poland and T●rtary 'T is manifest the Israelites had no horses in David's time since Absolom having lost the battle wherein he perished mounted on a Mule to make his escape And indeed the Country did not produce them But Solomon who could furnish himself at great expence had 'em from Egypt and kept above fourty thousand with twelve thousand Chariots Those Chariots of War apparently resembled those of the Grecians that is they were small with two Wheels carrying a man or two standing or leaning forwards The subsequent Kings could not keep up to that high expence of Solomon but from time to time sent for Succours from Egypt And upon those occasions mention is evermore made of Horses The Scripture teaches us nothing particular touching the Evolutions and the form of Batalions and the general order of Battles But for the Art of encamping and Marching in due order the Journey through the Desert under the Conduct of Moses is a most glorious Example By exact rules they knew the number of that prodigious Army Each one was ranged in his Tribe in it's Quarter under one of the four Principals according to the Brithright of the Patriarchs and the Quality of their Mothers They Marched at the sound of Trumpets always following the same order and they had their Standerds in the same Situation round the Tabernacle of the Congregation which was the Center of the camp They provided for the neatness of their Tents which was so necessary in so hot a Country and so difficult in so great a Multitude In fine we see that the order of the Greeks and Romans Encampings was taken as well as all the rest from these ancient Models of the Orientals The Hebrews set a great value upon Spoils and Booty with the other Ancients they being marks of Honour From the time of Joshua unto the Kings the command of the Armies belonged to those whom the People elected or whom God raised up in an extraordinary way as Othoniel Barak Gideon But they were only obeyed by that part of the People who had chosen them or to whom God had given 'em for Deliverance The rest of the People abusing their Liberty were frequently expos'd to the Insults of their Enemies This made them desire a King not only to administer Justice but also to have the general conduct of their Armies and to wage War for them And truly from that time they were in greater security The King assembled the People when he judg'd fit and kept always on foot a certain number of troops 'T is set down in the beginning of Sauls reign he kept three thousand men David had twelve bodies consisting of four and twenty thousand who by months served all in their turns Jehosophat had but the third part of Davids kingdom and yet he had eleven hundred and sixty thousand mighty men of valour under his hand without reckoning his Garrisons CAP. XXVI Of Kings and their Power THe King had power of Life and Death and might put Criminals to Death without the formality of Justice David made use of that Right against the Person who had killed Saul and against them who had assassinated Ishbosbeth The Roman Emperours had also that power The power of the Israelitish Kings was in other cases very much limited They were oblig'd to observe the Law as much as Private Persons they could neither derogate from nor add to it And there is no example specifyed of any one of them that made a new Law Their Domestick life was very plain as we see in the Description that Samuel makes in the Manners of Kings lest they should disgust the People He allows them only Women to serve them and when Ishbosheth was Murdered there was none but a Maid to guard his Gate who was fallen asleep as she was winnowing Corn. Those Kings lived on Husbandry as well as private Persons All the difference is they had more Lands and more Herds In the account of David's Riches there are indeed reckoned Treasures of Gold and Silver but there are likewise reckon'd Tilled Lands and Vine-yards Magazines of Wine and Oyl Plats of Olive and Fig-trees Herds Oxen Camels Asses and Sheep 'T is in this way that Homer Characterizes the Wealth of Vlysses He gives on the Continent twelve great Droves of each kind of Cattle besides what he had in his Islands From this great Husbandry they had all that was necessary for House-keeping In the days of Solomon twelve Intendants were distributed into all the Coasts of Israel who sent by turns each during his Month Provision for th● Kings House-hold amounting 〈◊〉 one day to thirty three Measure of ●ine Flower thirty Beefs and an hundred sheep which is sufficient to feed at least five thousand men As this Maintenance was made in the kinds which the same Country afforded nothing needed to be bought and there was no occasion either for Purveyours or Treasurers or Comptrollers and that vast number of Officers which consume great Lord-ships Insomuch as Gold and Silver were kept in reserve or served to their most natural use either for Plate or Ornament From hence came the great Riches of David and Solomon

among all the Descendants of Abraham as the Ishmaelites the Medianites and the Idumeans As to the uncircumcised who worshipped the true God they suffer'd them to live in the Holy Land with this Proviso that they observ'd the Law of Nature and Abstinence from Blood But if they Circumcised themselves they were reputed the Children of Abraham and consequently obliged to keep all the Law of Moses These last the Rabies called the Proselytes of Righteousness And the uncircumcised Faithful they call'd the Proselytes of Habitation whom they otherwise termed Noachidians as being only obliged by the Precepts which God deliver'd to Noah at his coming out of the Ark. CAP. XIII Marriages Women AFter that way the Israelites liv'd Marriage was no great trouble to 'em it was rather an ease according to it's Institution Laborious were the Women as well as the men and work't within Doors while their Husbands were imployed in the Field The Women dress'd the meat and served it up to the Table which is seen in Homer and several parts of Scripture When Samuel represented the manners of Kings to the people The Kings said he will take your daughters and make them Confectionaries Cooks and Bakers The Pretext which Amnon the son of David us'd to get his Sister Tamor to his House when he would viciate her was to take broths from her hands which she indeed had prepared her self tho she was the Daughter of a King It was the Women that made cloaths And their ordinary occupation was to weave Stuffs as they work now adays in Linnen and Tapestry In Homer we see the Examples of Penelope Calypso Circe we see the same in Theocritus Terence and in all Authors And what seems to me the more remarkable is that this Custome did still continue at Rome among the greatest Ladies in a very corrupt age Augustus usually wearing Cloaths made by his Sister and his Daughters If we would have proofs hereof out of Scripture 't is said the Mother of Samuel made him a little coat which she brought him on solemn days and we see the virtuous wife of Solomon industriously aplying her Linnen and woollen a turning the wheel and spinning and giving two Suits of Cloaths to all her Domesticks All these works are done privately in the house and do not require any great strength of body Wherefore the Ancients did not fancy them worthy to employ men and very kindly left 'em to women naturally more neat more sedentary and more addicted to Little businesses They lived apart from the men and much retired principally the Widows Judith remained thus shut up with her Women in an high apartment like the Penelope of Homer The Marriages of the Israelites were not accompanied with any Ceremony of Religion that I know of unless it were the Prayers of the Father of the Family and of the assistance for drawing the blessing of God upon the Bride We have examples hereof in the marriages of Rebecca with Isaac of Ruth with Boaz of Sarah with Tobias I do not see they offer'd Sacrifices upon this occasion or went to the Temple or sent for Priests All passed amidst their Friends or Relations nor was it other than a civil contract As for the Circumcision of Children that was in truth an Act of Religion and very necessary when any one was to enter into the allyance of Abraham But it was likewise performed within doors by Relations without the ministry of any publick person In all these Ceremonies take care we must not to let our selves be deceiv'd by modern Pictures as I have already said of Apparel Far from fearing the Multitude of Children the Israelites did hugely desire it Besides their natural Inclination the Law gives great motives to it They knew that God in creating the World and in repairing it after the Deluge had said to mankind Encrease and Multiply and fill the earth They knew that to Abraham he had Promised an innumerable posterity and finally that amidst them was to be born the SAVIOUR of the World And by those sordid Interests they were not press'd which in this age make people look upon the blessing of Marriage as a great misfortune Their frugal way of living was the occasion that as long as their Children were little they cost 'em little to feed and yet less to cloath for in hot Countries they often let 'em go naked And when they were bigger they helped them in their Labour and spared them Slaves and hired Servants Wherefore they had few slaves in proportion Ziba the Servant of Saul cultivated the Patrimony of Mephibosheth with his Fifteen Sons and twenty slaves They were not in pain to provide for their Children since there was no Fortune to be made amongst them and all their ambition was to leave to their Sons the Inheritance they had received from their Progenitors better cultivated if possible and with some Herds more And their Daughters as they did not succeed in defect of Males were accordingly marryed rather for allyance than for estate Thus it was a Conveniency to have many Children as it was an honour too They deem'd that man happy who saw himself Father of a large Family and environed with a great number of Children and Grand-children always ready to receive his Instructions and to execute his orders and they did not fear his name would be Forgotten as long as his Posterity subsisted Thus when the Scripture sets down the number of Children 't is usually for to commend the Fathers as those two Judges of Israel of whom one had thirty sons the other forty with thirty Grand-sons as David of whom it reckons nineteen sons bating those by Concubines as Rehoboham who had twenty eight sons and sixty Daughters and Abijah who had two and twenty Sons and sixteen Daughters Thus did the Poets crack of the fifty Children of Priam for the Greeks had ●ecundity in no less esteem As Virginity was not yet known for a virtue in this State they only considered the mischief of Barrenness and they thought those maids unhappy who dyed without being marryed Electra complains expresly hereof in Sophocles and it was the subject of the Regrets of Jephtha's Daughter Wherefore it was a shame for a marry'd woman to be barren as we see in the mother of Samuel and many others and this misfortune they looked upon as a curse of God This care of Posterity and preserving the memory of the Dead was the foundation of that Law which commands the Brother to marry his Brother's widow in case he dyed without Children This right was established in the time of the Patriarchs as appears by the History of Thamar and they look'd upon it as a pious duty that the name of the deceased might not fall into oblivion So the Children were attributed to him by a kind of adoption From thence come the two Genealogies of JESUS CHRIST according to St. Matthew and

any large conflux of waters The Inner part of the Country is diversifyed with Mountains and Hills advantageous for Vines Fruit-trees and small Cattle And the frequent Valleys gave way to a number of Torrents very necessary to water the Country which had no other River besides Jordan The Rains there fall very seldom but are very Regular coming in the Spring and Autumn which the Scripture calls the Rain of the Morning and the Evening considering the year as a Day In Summer the abundant dews supply the rarity of the Showers There are Plains proper for Husbandry and Pasture and that variety of the Earth in a little space does form Landskips very agreeable to the View especially when a Country is well inhabited and well cultivated For we must not judge of the Holy Land by the State we see it in at this Day Since the time o● the Croisadoes it was ravaged by continual Wars untill it fell under the Dominion of the Turks Thus it is almost desert nothing to be seen but baleful Villages ruines unmanur'd and abandon'd Lands The Turks neglect it a● they neglect all their Provinces and several families of Arabia Bedovins may encamp and pillag● there with impunity Wherefor● to know what it was formerly 't is necessary to consult ancient Authors as Strabo Pliny Josephus and above all the Holy Scripture See but the relation th● Spyes of Moses gave thereof and the prodigious cluster of Grapes which they brought Which tha● you may not wonder at compa●● the Grapes of France with those o● Italy which is a cold Country i● proportion to Palestine 'T is th● same thing with most of our European Fruits The greatest part o● their Names still shew that they cam● to us from Asia and Africa but wit● their names they have not conserved their bigness and natural savour The Israelites gathered a great quantity of Wheat and Barly and the pure Bread-corn is counted for the chief Merchandise which they carried to Tyre Oyl they had and honey in abundance The Mountains of Juda and of Ephraim were places of great Vineyards Round about Jericho there were Palme-trees of vast Revenue through their suddain springing up after they were lopp'd or fell'd and it was the only part of the World where true Balm was to be found This Fruitfulness of the Country and the care which they took to cultivate it may make us conceive how that being so little it could nourish so great a number of men For it will at first require Faith to believe all that the Scripture says in this case When the People entred first into that Country there were above six hundred thousand men bearing arms from twenty years old to Sixty In the War of Gibeah the only Tribe of Benjamin the least of all had an Army of twenty six thousand men And that of the rest of the People mounted to four hundred thousand Saul had two hundred and ten thousand men against the Amalekites when he extirpated them David kept continually on foot twelve Bodies of twenty four thousand apiece who served by months which was in all two hundred and Fourscore thousand men And in the Numbring of the People which brought the anger of God upon him there were found thirteen hundred thousand able men Jehoshaphat went much farther in proportion for albeit he had but little more than the third part of David's Kingdome he had several Bodies of very good Troops which altogether made up Eleven hundred and Sixty thousand men effectively all under his hand without reckoning the Garrisons of his Holds In all this there is nothing incredible We see the like examples in Profane Histories The great Thebes of Egypt furnished Seven hundred thousand brave Soldiers of it 's own Inhabitants alone At Rome in the first year of Servins Tullus being the hundred and eighty eight of it's Foundation there were counted Fourscore thousand Citizens capable of bearing Arms. Yet they could only subsist by the lands in the Vicinage of Rome and whereof the most part is now barren and uninhabited For their Domination extended no farther than eight or ten Leagues Herein the Ancients lay'd the principal foundation of their Policy They relyed much less upon Cunning than upon downright force Instead of applying themselves to maintain correspondence among their Neighbours Instead of fomenting Divisions amongst them and Procuring to ' emselves a Reputation by false reports they endeavoured to people and manure their Country and to improve it as much as they could whether it was little or great They studyed to render Marriages happy and life easy to procure Health and Abundance and to draw from their Land all that it could produce They exercised their Citizens by labour inspired them with a love of their Country of union between themselves and submission to the Laws This is what they called Policy These Maxims perchance some one will say are very pretty But let us come to particulars and shew how 't is possible so small a Country as Palestin should nourish so great a number of men Which to make appear we must have the Patience to calculate and undertake the work by Retail Tho it may seem a low thing and be offensive to nice Readers An Acre of good Land brings●forth un muid de bled mesure d● Paris which would easily nourish four men For a man consume but un minot a month giving him two pound and six ounces o● Bread every Day This is the but three Septiers a year But a● our Israelites were great Eaters will allow them double the nourishment that is to say four poun● twelve ounces of Bread a day Thus an Acre will be sufficient 〈◊〉 feed two men and by this account● we shall have land still remaining For a League square makes fi● thousand six hundred and twenty five Acres by reckoning 3000 Geometrical Paces in a League five Foot in a Pace twenty Feet in a Rod and a hundred Roods in an Acre The Kingdome of Judea was at least thirty Leagues in length above twenty in breadth counting the length from East to West which was six hundred Leagues and by consequence three Millions three hundred and sixty five thousand Acres which according to my Calculation might nourish twice as many men that is six millions Seven hundred and Fifty thousand But half of the Lands I deduct for those that may prove barren for the Rocks Sands and little Deserts here and there intermingled for Yineyards and Pastures and for the repose which the Land requires at least every Seventh year There remains enough to nourish a number of men equal to the Sum total of the Acres that is to say three millions three hundred threescore five thousand So it was easy to Appoint twelve hundred thousand Sword-men in a Country Country where all people bore arms and still to have Corn to sell to Strangers towards the purchase of Cattle For we may doubt if the