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A Handbook of Hebrew Antiquities [ed. by T.k. Arnold].
A Handbook of Hebrew Antiquities - ed. by T.k. Arnold Author:Henry Browne General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1852 Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million book... more »s for free. Excerpt: § 18. Drink, and Utensils. Water was the common beverage. Wine, perhaps, was 45 usually drunk mixed with water: sometimes, also, with A spices or aromatic herbs (Psa. Ixxv. 8; Isa. v. 22); myrrh, especially, was thus used. " Strong drink," sikera, denotes, according to St. Jerome, who lived in Palestine, all inebriating beverage, whether prepared from grain, like the barley-wine of the Egyptians, or from the juice of apples, or from dates, or from a decoction of herbs, or from the honeycomb. What is called "vinegar" in our English version (Ruth ii. 14; Mark xv. 36), seems to have been a sour kind of wine, like the Roman posea, used by the common people. The drinking vessels named are chargers, B bowls, and cups. § 19. Meals. The principal meal (not as among the ancient Greeks 46 and Romans, and the modern Orientals) seems to have been taken at noon (Gen. xliii. 16. 25; 1 Kings xx. 16), but convivialities were postponed till evening, and kept up to a late hour. The meal was preceded and followed c by washing of hands (the mode of eating, by dipping the hand in the dish, rendered this necessary, Luke xi. 38 ; Mark vii. 2), and by the prayer of invocation or thanksgiving (evxapwTia, tvoyla, 1 Saml ix. 13 ; Luke ix. 16 ; John vi. 11). The short prayer, as given in the Talmud, is as follows: -- " Blessed be Thou, O Lord our God, King of the world, who hast produced this food (or this drink) from the earth (or the vine)." The Hebrews (like the Egyptians and the earlier Greeks 47 and Romans) took their meals sitting (Gen. xxvii. 19 ; D Judg. xix. 6 ; 1 Sam. xx. 24), but in later times in a reclining postu...« less