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UNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE
THROUGH UNDERSTANDING THE CUSTOMS AND CULTURE OF BIBLE TIMES Class #5 Family Life By Don LaRose Copyright (C) 2011 All Rights Reserved As we begin this fifth session of our class, we are going to discuss three aspects of family life. They will be: the birth and care of children; education of children and religion in the home. THE BIRTH AND CARE OF CHILDREN Every Middle Eastern woman had an overwhelming desire for children. In Genesis 30:1, Rachel, who had been childless up to this time, tells her husband Jacob, "Give me children, or else I die." The requested angered Jacob who defended himself by saying it was not his fault she was childless. In Deuteronomy 28, the Law said children were a sign of God's blessing. In Psalm 128, the Psalmist is describing "the blessed man." Among the things he uses to describe the "blessed man" is that "Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house" (Psalm 128:3). Hanna was barren, the Bible says, "because the Lord had shut up her womb" (I Samuel 1:6). And the fact that Elizabeth (John the Baptist's mother) had a child in her old age, meant that the Lord had taken away her reproach (Luke 1:25). There was also a preference for boy babies - so much so that when the family line is listed in the Bible, all of the male descendents are listed. The girls are lumped together as a nameless group. Why were boys so important? They were more desired for two reasons. First, boys were preferred because they would increase the size of the family and bring more wealth to the family. A son would marry, have sons and increase the size of the family. That was very important. He would also increase the wealth because he and his family could work for the benefit of the family. Girls would work while they were growing up, but then they would marry and leave home, leaving a vacuum at the jobs they had performed. Second, boys were hoped and payed for, because each Hebrew mother hoped that her son might be the promised Messiah. Perhaps this blessing used among Arabs over the centuries when they parted from the company of a friend will illustrate the desire for boys. The one leavng would say to the host, "May the blessings of God be upon thee... May your shadow never grow less... May all your children be boys and no girls." The following paragraph may seem to you to be one of the most absurd things you have ever read. It has to do with the care of the infant child in the Middle Eastern culture. You can be sure that this is exactly the way the Lord Jesus was taken care of when he was born into the household of Joseph and Mary. An infant in Jesus' time had no free use of his or her hands or feet. They were bound in "swaddling" bands. They were a helpless bundle much like a mummy. Remember in the Christmas story it refers to Jesus being "wrapped" in swaddling clothes?" At birth, the infant would be washed, then rubbed with salt. The legs would be bound together with linen or cotton bandages four to five inches wide. The entire body would be wrapped, finishing with a band under the chin and over the forehead. This practice was in use long before the time of Jesus. Back in the Prophet Ezekiel's day, God gave a message to Ezekiel, illustrating it with this very practice. God said, "In the day thou wast born...thou wast not washed in water to cleanse thee, thou was not salted at all, nor swaddled at all" (Ezekiel 16:4). God is speaking of His people who had left Him and served the gods of their neighbors. He speaks of it as harlotry, which resulted in an "unnatural childbirth," i.e.: not washed, not salted, and not swaddled. God was talking about Jerusalem during its "abomination" saying that in His mercy he brought them back to Himself. It was the use of the well-known practice of childbirth that the prophet uses to illustrate the truth God was trying to make. Next, there were some Jewish rites and offerings that had to take place after birth. Eight days after birth the boys were circumcised. This is the time the child was named. The family met for a feast, and the child was officially brought into the Abrahamic Covenant. Then there were some things the mother had to do. She had to go through her "days of purification." That was seven days for a boy - fourteen days for a girl. She had to remain in her house 33 days for a boy - 66 days for a girl. Then she had to go to the Temple and make her childbirth offerings. If she was part of a well-to-do family, she offered a lamb. If she was from a poor family, she would offer two pigeons. We will conclude our discussion of childbirth with how names were chosen for their children. Arabs frequently use the name of God (Allah) in the names of their children. Hebrews used a name for God in their children's names as well. Look at some of these names and their meanings: * Abijah - Whose father God is * Ahaziah - Held by Jehovah * Azariah - Helped by Jehovah * Obadiah - Servant of Jehovah * Daniel - God is my Judge * Elkanah - Whom God created * Ezekiel - God will strengthen I am sure you have noticed that people in Bible times had no last names. Well, that's not exactly true. Remember, there was Abraham, the son of Terah. There was Isaac, the son of Abraham. In Matthew 16 it refers to Simon Bar-jona - "bar" or "ben" meaning "son of." The largest airport in Israel today is named for a former Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion (David, son or Gurion). Some time back I was listening to a medical show from New York City. The guest on the show was Levi Ben Joseph (Levi, son of Joseph). Sons were named after their father's first name. Daughters were named after their mother's first name. It is still done that way in Iceland today, and to a lesser degree in the Middle East. A man might have the name John Albertsson. That means he was John, the son of Albert. If he were to name his son Daniel, the boy's name would be Daniel Johnsson (because the father's first name is John). On the other hand, if his wife's name was Rose Marysdaughter (her mother's name was Mary), she might name her daughter Rachel, with her last name Rosesdaughter. Under that system it was not unusual to have four last names in the same family, and even more in the Middle East where a man might have more than one wife. In the New Tetament we find some people with two names: a Hebrew name and a Greek name. The Bible refers to "Thomas, called Didymous." Thomas was his Hebrew name. Didymous was his Greek name. Both meant, "twin." Thomas was a twin. Jews who traveled frequently translated their Hebrew names into Greek, the trade language of the world in the time of Jesus. Girls were often named for the beauty in nature, or graces of character. Here are a few translations of Bible names: * Jemima - Dove * Tabitha or Dorcus - Gazelle * Rhoda - Rose * Rachel - Lamb * Salome - Peace * Deborah - Bee * Esther - Star Naomi had been through much in her life. A famine had forced she, her husband and two sons to flee to the Land of Moab. There her husband and both of her sons died. When she returned to Bethlehem she asked the women of the village not to call her by her name "Naomi," which means "pleasant." She asked them to call her "Marah," which means, "bitter," for, she said, "the Lord hath dealt bitterly with me" (Ruth 1:20). Entire studies have been made from names in the Bible, for they are filled with meaning. Incidentally, the names of God also are filled with meaning, and open large picture windows into the being and character of God Himself. EDUCATION OF CHILDREN Schools are not a modern invention. There are records of schools as far back as Ur of the Chaldees, prior to the time of Abraham. Abraham grew up in Ur, and likely received the education of the day. Archeologists in the 1920's first discovered the existence of schools in what today we know as the Persian Gulf area. Clay tablets were found with school studies on them, including vocabulary, grammar and arithmetic. The math tablets contained such things as multiplication, division, square root, cube root and geometry. It was obvious that there was a very high level of civilization and knowledge in that area. The Law of Hammerabi came out of this area. It is this law upon which the Islamic faith is built. It is Hammerabi's law that allowed Sarah to give her handmaiden Hagar to Abraham. Jacob's wives did the same thing. But after the Law of Moses came (a higher law - God's Law), such practices began to disappear, at least among the Hebrews. There were also schools in Egypt. Moses, who was adopted by Pharaoh's daughter, received the very best education the country had to offer. Moses, the Bible says, was "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians" (Acts 7:22). At the Temple of the Sun in Heliopolis, archeologists dicovered reading and writing tablets; architecture; arithmetic, including dicodecimal and decimal scales, geometry, trigonometry. There was also an understanding of medicine and dentistry, anatomy, chemistry and metals. And there were courses in music. It is likely this was the school to which Moses was sent as a child. Education under the Law of Moses took a decidedly different turn. Under the "Theocracy" (government by God Himself), the responsibility for children's education was delegated to the parents. "And these words, which I command thee this day, shall in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates" (Deuteronomy 6:6-9). The feasts, the sacrifices, all the ritual of the Tabernacle and later the Temple, were designed to make the young people ask questions. God said, when they see all this going on, they will ask, "What mean ye by this service" (Exodus 12:26). The Tabernacle, the Temple, the feasts were all designed as an object lesson of Divine truth. The priests and the Levites were also teachers. Later, after the Children of Israel had entered the Promised Land, we begin to read of Schools of the Prophets. Samuel founded the first such school at Ramah. David fled there when Saul tried to kill him. Later we read that there was "a company of prophets" at Gibeah. Likely this was another School of the Prophets. Elijah and Elisha both speak of the "Sons of the Prophets" at Gilgal, Bethel and Jericho. The Prophet Elisha ate with 100 prophets at Gilgal. This is recorded in II Kings 4. In II Kings 2, we read of 50 men, Sons of the Prophets," who went out to look for Elijah's body, after God had taken him up into Heaven. In Jesus' day there were synagogue schools. Children, mainly boys, began school when they were five or six years old. They sat on the floor in a circle around their teacher. The Bible was their only textbook up to the age of 10. Then from 10 to 15 they learned mainly the Law (the first five books of the Bible - the Books of Moses). From 15 and up, they were schooled in what was called "The Oral Law" (something the Pharisees referred to, which they claimed God gave orally to Moses, which was later written down in the Talmud). Through intimation from the New Testament, and from Jewish history, we know that in the time of the Apostle Paul, and for some time before that there was what were called Rabbinical Schools. These would be on the level of what we think of as college, or even graduate studies. Paul attended the School of Hillel in Jerusalem. Graduates came out as leaders of the Pharisee movement in Jerusalem. Paul says he graduated as a typical Pharisee, "I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers" (Acts 22:3). The other school was the School of Shammai, which is probably the movement within Judaism to which Jesus might be most closely related. The Pharisees were very legalistic. The Shammais wanted an experience with God. Most practicing Jews today would fall on the side of legalism and ritualism. Most Jews do not believe in a personal God who can be experienced in daily life. While Paul was educated in the "do's and don'ts" of Judaism, Jesus said, "Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition" (Matthew 15:3 & 6). Before we leave this subject, we must look at schools in the first century under the Romans. There were 20 grammar schools in Rome alone, and both boys and girls went to school. That was a new concept. In must cultures, only boys went to school. There is a much misunderstood passage in Galatians 3 that makes reference to a "schoolmaster." If we understand the culture of the day, this is not difficult to understand. Rome as a city of wealth. Slaves from all over the known world had been brought to Rome, and most families had slaves. It was one of the slaves's responsibilities to conduct the children to school each day, so they could be taught by the teacher and be brought to knowledge. This word, mistranslated "schoolmaster," actually refers to that slave, who conducted the children to school so they could learn the truth. Paul is saying in verse 24, that the Law is like that slave entrusted to bring us to the knowledge of Christ so that we might be justified by faith. In recent years archeologists uncovered the School of Tyranus in the city of Ephesus. We read in the Scriptures that Paul rented this school so he could preach to the people. It is obvious from excavations that many early Christian churches had schools in them during the week. Education of children was obviously important to early believers, and they did not want their children to receive an education based on the philosophy prevalent at that time. RELIGION IN THE HOME Before the time God established worship through the Tabernacle in the wilderness, the father of the family acted as the priest. Now, remember our definition of "father." We are speaking not just of the immediate family, but several generations of the family which continued to live together as a community; and also add to that all of the servants and slaves. When God instituted corporate worship in the Tabernacle, which was at the center of the Israelite encampment, He chose the Tribe of Levi to be the priests for the nation. Prior to the establishment of Tabernacle worship, each family had its own altar. When Abraham moved to Bethel, we are told he "Builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord" (Genesis 12:8). Later it is recorded in Genesis 13 that he built another altar when he moved to Hebron. Genesis 33 tells us that Jacob built his altar at Shechem. The altar, and family worship, had been established as a way to take care of sin from the time of Adam, and was carried down through godly families to the time of the Exodus. What did having an altar accomplish? It helped the people understand something of, or have a sense of, sin. It gave them something of a realization of the holiness of God. It gave them a knowledge of how to approach God through sacrifices. The altar was really a forerunner to a family based prayer life that was based on forgiveness of sin through the sacrificed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Today we call the time of Scripture reading and prayer that believers in Jesus Christ do on a daily basis, our "Family Altar." It refers back to the time in the Old Testament when families came to an altar of sacrifice to learn of God and to present the blood of a sacrifice as a temporary covering for their sin until the final sacrifice would be made by the coming, promised Messiah. Unfortunately, not all worship was true worship, just as all worship today is not necessarily true worship. As time passed, worship became corrupted in some families, and that corrupted worship was passed down. Many houses in Abraham's day had what were called "Teraphim." Each of these families had a family worship center, where clay figurines of gods, guardian angels, and even departed ancestors were kept and worshiped. This worship center, complete with its idols, was passed down to the eldest son, and indicated that he was the new "father" of the clan, when the previous "father" passed on. Remember in Genesis 31, when Jacob left Laben at Haran to return to the Promised Land? Rachel stole the family's "Teraphim." Laben got a raiding party together and pursued them. Why were a bunch of "clay statues" so important to him? Well, listen to what he says to Jacob when he caught up with him. He said, "Why have you stolen our gods" (Genesis 31:30)? Rachel hid the idols, and Laben never found them. Sir Charles Leonard Woolley, involved in the excavations at Ur of the Chaldees (Abraham's brthplace), says that Rachel had atually stolen her brother's birthright. Because that birthright now was in the hands of Jacob's family, Jacob became the legal heir of all of Laben's wealth. It wasn't until some years later when Jacob moved from Shechem to Bethel, after the death of his father, that he ordered, "Put away foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves" (Genesis 35:2). It was at this point that Rachel brought out her family's "Teraphim," and the idols were destroyed. After the Tabernacle was completed in the wilderness, and then through the time of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, the entire Israelite nation came to the Tabernacle, and then to the Temple, to worship. As a matter of fact, God ordered that they make three pilgrmages to the "Sanctuary" each year. In the Law we read, "Thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel" (Exodus 34:23). The entire family could go, but all the male members were required to go. Even today, Jews scattered all over the world, long for the time when the Temple will be rebuilt and they can celebrate the biblical feasts in Jerusalem. In the countries in which they live, they conclude their celebrations each year with this four word prayer: "Next year in Jerusalem. It would seem to be very risky, leaving home and the women and children behind to go to Jerusalem to worship, when raiding parties were poised to strike unprotected communities. But God had promised in Exodus 34 that He would protect their houses, their lands and their families while they were away worshiping. And He did! Notice that every time you read of people going to Jerusalem, it always says, "they went 'up' to Jerusalem." Jerusalem sits high atop the mountains some 2,300 feet above sea level. When Jesus traveled to Jereusalem from the area around the Sea of Galilee, He woud go south along the Jordan River to Jericho. Then He and His disciples would take the Roman Road, "up to Jerusalem." It was just 13 miles from Jericho to Jerusalem. But Jericho is 800 feet below sea level. Jericho has a tropical climate, and is called, in the Old Testament, "the City of Palms." It is still a city of palm trees today. In Jerusalem, it is cold enough to snow in the wintertime. That was a climb of 3,100 feet in just 13 miles through some of the most rugged country in Israel infested with gangs of robbers But God had promised protection. Let's look at some of the biblical examples of these pilgrimages. The family of Elkanah went up to the Temple each feast time. Elkanah's wife Hanna was well known to Eli the Priest. She had no children. But each trip, she prayed for a son. Her prayer became so intense on one of these pilgrimages, that Eli thought she was drunk. She promised God, that if He would give her a son, she would give that son back to God. God did give her a son, who became one of the prominent figures of the Old Testament - the Prophet and Priest, Samuel. We have the story of Joseph, Mary and Jesus going up to Jerusalem when Jesus was 12 years old. It says His parents went up every year. They were observant Jews; and they raised Jesus in that tradition. On this particular occasion, Joseph and Mary found Jesus in the Temple answering questions put to him by the religious leaders of the day, and it says He "confounded the teachers." Jesus would have said the "Shema" daily as an observant Jew. It is found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9; 11:13-21 and Numbers 15:37-41. This was recited as a prayer. The Pharisees of Jesus' day would pray the "Shema" on the streets, in public, so everyone could see how religious they were. Jesus called that "vain repetiton" (Matthew 6:7), no different than the heathen chanting to their idols. Jesus did not say it was wrong to pray Scripture as Jews do in the "Shema." He said that if you are sincere about repeating this Scripture to God, then go home and do it in the privacy of your own home, not for show to prove how religious you are. Christians in the first century were so concerned about their children that they refused to send them to secular schools of the day. They did not want them to learn the culture of the sociey around them. They taught them in their homes and in churches. They referred to the Roman schools as "pagan schools." Most churches were in homes. And frequently the home, in which the church met, also was the home where the children studied during the day. The earliest church buildings, which have been excavated by archeologists, are from the third century. Some years ago I had the privilege to visit the excavation of the ancient Roman city of Jeresh east of the Jordan River, in what today is the country of Jordan. Secular history tells us that when the Romans came to destroy Jerusalem in 70 AD, that as many as one-third of the Jews in the city had become believers in Jesus as the Messiah. They remembered His prediction about a coming devastation, and most of them fled the city before the Romans arrived. They crossed the Jordan River and settled in three Roman cities on the other side. Here they established churches. In Jeresh, right next to the Temple of Diana, are the remains of three Christian chuches. Archeologists also found that a school was held in at least one of those churches. That concludes this session. In our next session we will continue with this subject of daily life in Bible times. _____________________________ New Study Manual Now Available... Understanding the Bible By Understanding THE CULTURE & CUSTOMS OF BIBLE TIMES * Over 200 pages * 27 chapters * Illustrative drawings * Photos from the Holy Land * And much more Great for Bible Study groups, Sunday School classes, etc. Each chapter ends with "Review Questions," "Things to Remember" and "What Does This Mean to Me?" Send $12.95 plus $4.00 shipping and handling to: Don LaRose P. O. Box 95 Centerton, AR 72719 Order 7 or more books (one, or mixted titles from any page on this website) and take a 10% discount. One $4.00 S & H covers al books ordered at the same time. It is our purpose to get these books into the hands of as many people as well benefit from them. If you are unable to afford the cost of these books, please let us know. We trust the Lord to make up the cost of your books through gifts from God's people. _____________________________ Click here to return to the Home Page Click here to continue on to Class #6 _________________________________________________________________ |
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