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been pretty fully preserved, deserve further study. This people has occupied a unique position in the world's history. To it was assigned a peculiar mission; and over its development there watched a special Providence granted to no other nation. It was the divinelyappointed office of the Jews to preserve, in the midst of idolatrous nations, a knowledge of the true God, and to furnish at last, in the fullness of time, the great Teacher of our race. For a long period, God condescended to be the ruler and lawgiver of this people. And even after a formal kingdom had been established under Saul, the rulers were so controlled by the law previously given to Moses and by the prophets who were raised up at particular junctures, that the theocratic principle continued dominant for many centuries.

The history of this strange people extends through nearly four thousand years. It has experienced alike the joys of prosperity and the pains of adversity. But whatever the character of its outward circumstances, whether exercising a wide dominion from a splendid capital, or wandering among all nations as a by-word and reproach, it has clung with the utmost tenacity to its national character and customs. And the influence which it has exerted upon the world is incalculable. It has supplied the basis of all true theology; it has given a system of faultless morality; and, in Christianity, it has provided the most perfect form of religion. The civilization of Europe and America can be directly traced to the Jews.

The educational history of this people has varied with its political and social condition. In this study, attention is directed to the most important and typical

period. The Jewish nation reached its highest point of development—its golden age—under the reigns of David and Solomon.

Among the Jews the theocracy controlled both the theory and practice of education. If it gave education a very one-sided tendency, it yet laid stress upon an important and hitherto neglected principle. The end of education among the Jews was to make faithful and obedient servants of the living God. It aimed at preparing each succeeding generation to fulfill faithfully its part in the grand work assigned to that people. The divine Lawgiver himself prescribed the principal subjects and methods of instruction. The law, whether moral, ceremonial, or judicial, was to be carefully studied. "Therefore shall ye lay up these my words," are the Lawgiver's instructions, "in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thine house, and upon thy gates.

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An analysis of this passage reveals several important particulars. It shows that the Hebrew parent was not only to impart oral instruction to his children, but to teach them also reading and writing. As he was required to inscribe the words of the Lord upon his doorposts and gates, he must himself have learned to write; and, as he wrote them for his children, they must have been taught to read. Hence, it appears that the ability

* Deut. xi, 18-20.

to read and write was general among the ancient Jews; and, in this particular, they surpassed every other nation of antiquity.

Education was restricted to the family, in which the father was the principal teacher. There were no popular schools nor professional teachers. Yet the instruction of the Jew, as is evident from the Pentateuch, embraced a vast number of particulars. His whole life was hemmed in with minute regulations; and ignorance was not accepted as a valid excuse for transgression. The various kinds of food were prescribed; the principles that were to govern their relations to one another were specifically given; directions for the treatment of strangers and servants were minutely laid down; the facts of their wonderful history and the precepts of the moral law had to be carefully studied; and the burdensome ritual of the tabernacle and temple had to become thoroughly familiar.

Among the potent educational agencies of the Jews, that of the annual national festivals merits consideration. These festivals, three in number, required every adult male to present himself annually before the tabernacle or temple at Jerusalem. Commemorating important national events, they kept the people acquainted with their past history. The passover recalled the delivery from Egyptian bondage; the pentecost, the terrific splendors that attended the giving of the law; the feast of tabernacles, the hardships and miraculous preservation in the wilderness. These frequent reunions not only contributed to national and religious unity, but they exerted a strong educating influence upon the people.

The higher education was not wholly neglected, though no institutions of purely secular learning were established. The priests, whose studies embraced a wide range of subjects, constituted the learned class. "In order to answer their destination," says Jahn, in his "Hebrew Commonwealth," "the Levites more than other Hebrews were to study the book of the law; to preserve and disseminate it in exact copies; to perform the duties of judges and genealogists, and consequently to be theologians, jurists, and historians. . . . As the priests and Levites were to test the accuracy of weights and measures, of which there were several models preserved in the sanctuary, it was necessary that they should understand something of mathematics; and as they were to determine and announce the movable feasts, new moons, years, and intercalary years, they had occasion for the study of astronomy. The priests were to instruct the people in religion and law, and to solve questions which might arise upon these subjects. According to the spirit of the institution, the Levites were also instructors of the people, which office they in reality executed when they publicly sang psalms according to the arrangement of David, and to which they were expressly appointed by Jehoshaphat."

The schools of the prophets, of which there are only scanty notices in the sacred books, appear to have been private institutions for the study of poetry, medicine, and, in particular, the law. They were presided over by men venerable for their age and ability, and patronized by youths and adults. They corresponded, in some degree, to the modern university, the law, however, overshadowing all other studies. The influence of these

schools can not have been otherwise than favorable to Jewish culture. They were in a flourishing condition under the reign of David; and it is not improbable that the "sweet singer of Israel" himself had profited by their instruction. It was at this time that religious poetry reached its zenith. The. Psalms of David, as portraying the deepest and most varied religious experience, have never been superseded. After a lapse of nearly three thousand years, they are regarded as an invaluable poetic and literary treasury; and some of its precious gems are set in the memory of each passing generation.

"From a survey of the whole matter," says Wines, "the conclusion seems warranted that the education of the Hebrew people, conducted mainly, though not wholly, under the domestic roof, was nevertheless a national education, and worthy of the imitation of other nations. Especially does it deserve to be studied and copied so far as that branch of education is concerned which consists in development as distinguished from instruction. The Hebrew law required an early, constant, vigorous, and efficient training of the disposition, judgment, manners, and habits, both of thought and feeling. The sentiments held to be proper to man in society, were imbibed with the milk of infancy. The manners considered becoming in adults were sedulously imparted in childhood. The habits regarded as conducive to individual advancement, social happiness, and national repose and prosperity, were cultivated with the utmost diligence. The greatest pains were taken to acquaint the Hebrew youth with their duties, as well as their rights, both personal and political. In a word, the

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