Booty
Captives or cattle or objects of value taken in war. In Canaan all that breathed were to be destroyed (Deut. 20: 16). The "pictures and images" of the Canaanites were to be destroyed also (Num. 33:52). The law of booty as to its division is laid down in Num. 31:26-47. David afterwards introduced a regulation that the baggage-guard should share the booty equally with the soldiers engaged in battle. He also devoted of the spoils of war for the temple (1 Sam. 30:24-26; 2 Sam. 8:11; 1 Chr. 26:27).
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Dictionary
Cattle
Abounded in the Holy Land. To the rearing and management of them the inhabitants chiefly devoted themselves (Deut. 8:13; 12:21; 1 Sam. 11:5; 12:3; Ps. 144:14; Jer. 3:24). They may be classified as, (1.) Neat cattle. Many hundreds of these were yearly consumed in sacrifices or used for food. The finest herds were found in Bashan, beyond Jordan (Num. 32:4). Large herds also pastured on the wide fertile plains of Sharon. They were yoked to the plough (1 Kings 19:19), and were employed for carrying burdens (1 Chr. 12:40). They were driven with a pointed rod (Judg. 3:31) or goad (q.v.). According to the Mosaic law, the mouths of cattle employed for the threshing-floor were not to be muzzled, so as to prevent them from eating of the provender over which they trampled (Deut. 25:4). Whosoever stole and sold or slaughtered an ox must give five in satisfaction (Ex. 22:1); but if it was found alive in the possession of him who stole it, he was required to make double restitution only (22:4). If an ox went astray, whoever found it was required to bring it back to its owner (23:4; Deut. 22:1, 4). An ox and an ass could not be yoked together in the plough (Deut. 22:10). (2.) Small cattle. Next to herds of neat cattle, sheep formed the most important of the possessions of the inhabitants of Palestine (Gen. 12:16; 13:5; 26:14; 21:27; 29:2, 3). They are frequently mentioned among the booty taken in war (Num. 31:32; Josh. 6:21; 1 Sam. 14:32; 15:3). There were many who were owners of large flocks (1 Sam. 25:2; 2 Sam. 12:2, comp. Job 1:3). Kings also had shepherds "over their flocks" (1 Chr. 27:31), from which they derived a large portion of their revenue (2 Sam. 17:29; 1 Chr. 12:40). The districts most famous for their flocks of sheep were the plain of Sharon (Isa. 65: 10), Mount Carmel (Micah 7:14), Bashan and Gilead (Micah 7:14). In patriarchal times the flocks of sheep were sometimes tended by the daughters of the owners. Thus Rachel, the daughter of Laban, kept her father's sheep (Gen. 29:9); as also Zipporah and her six sisters had charge of their father Jethro's flocks (Ex. 2:16). Sometimes they were kept by hired shepherds (John 10:12), and sometimes by the sons of the family (1 Sam. 16:11; 17:15). The keepers so familiarized their sheep with their voices that they knew them, and followed them at their call. Sheep, but more especially rams and lambs, were frequently offered in sacrifice. The shearing of sheep was a great festive occasion (1 Sam. 25:4; 2 Sam. 13:23). They were folded at night, and guarded by their keepers against the attacks of the lion (Micah 5:8), the bear (1 Sam. 17:34), and the wolf (Matt. 10:16; John 10:12). They were liable to wander over the wide pastures and go astray (Ps. 119:176; Isa. 53:6; Hos. 4:16; Matt. 18:12). Goats also formed a part of the pastoral wealth of Palestine (Gen. 15:9; 32:14; 37:31). They were used both for sacrifice and for food (Deut. 14:4), especially the young males (Gen. 27:9, 14, 17; Judg. 6:19; 13:15; 1 Sam. 16:20). Goat's hair was used for making tent cloth (Ex. 26:7; 36:14), and for mattresses and bedding (1 Sam. 19:13, 16). (See [104]GOAT.)
Dictionary
League
A treaty or confederacy. The Jews were forbidden to enter into an alliance of any kind (1) with the Canaanites (Ex. 23:32, 33; 34:12-16); (2) with the Amalekites (Ex. 17:8, 14; Deut. 25:17-19); (3) with the Moabites and Ammonites (Deut. 2:9, 19). Treaties were permitted to be entered into with all other nations. Thus David maintained friendly intercourse with the kings of Tyre and Hamath, and Solomon with the kings of Tyre and Egypt.
Dictionary
Loan
The Mosaic law required that when an Israelite needed to borrow, what he asked was to be freely lent to him, and no interest was to be charged, although interest might be taken of a foreigner (Ex. 22:25; Deut. 23:19, 20; Lev. 25:35-38). At the end of seven years all debts were remitted. Of a foreigner the loan might, however, be exacted. At a later period of the Hebrew commonwealth, when commerce increased, the practice of exacting usury or interest on loans, and of suretiship in the commercial sense, grew up. Yet the exaction of it from a Hebrew was regarded as discreditable (Ps. 15:5; Prov. 6:1, 4; 11:15; 17:18; 20:16; 27:13; Jer. 15:10). Limitations are prescribed by the law to the taking of a pledge from the borrower. The outer garment in which a man slept at night, if taken in pledge, was to be returned before sunset (Ex. 22:26, 27; Deut. 24:12, 13). A widow's garment (Deut. 24:17) and a millstone (6) could not be taken. A creditor could not enter the house to reclaim a pledge, but must remain outside till the borrower brought it (10, 11). The Hebrew debtor could not be retained in bondage longer than the seventh year, or at farthest the year of jubilee (Ex. 21:2; Lev. 25:39, 42), but foreign sojourners were to be "bondmen for ever" (Lev. 25:44-54).
Dictionary
Anakim
The descendants of Anak (Josh. 11:21; Num. 13:33; Deut. 9:2). They dwelt in the south of Palestine, in the neighbourhood of Hebron (Gen. 23:2; Josh. 15:13). In the days of Abraham (Gen. 14:5, 6) they inhabited the region afterwards known as Edom and Moab, east of the Jordan. They were probably a remnant of the original inhabitants of Palestine before the Canaanites, a Cushite tribe from Babel, and of the same race as the Phoenicians and the Egyptian shepherd kings. Their formidable warlike appearance, as described by the spies sent to search the land, filled the Israelites with terror. They seem to have identified them with the Nephilim, the "giants" (Gen. 6:4; Num. 13:33) of the antediluvian age. There were various tribes of Anakim (Josh. 15:14). Joshua finally expelled them from the land, except a remnant that found a refuge in the cities of Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod (Josh. 11:22). The Philistine giants whom David encountered (2 Sam. 21:15-22) were descendants of the Anakim. (See [21]GIANTS.)
Dictionary
Beg
That the poor existed among the Hebrews we have abundant evidence (Ex. 23:11; Deut. 15:11), but there is no mention of beggars properly so called in the Old Testament. The poor were provided for by the law of Moses (Lev. 19:10; Deut. 12:12; 14:29). It is predicted of the seed of the wicked that they shall be beggars (Ps. 37:25; 109:10). In the New Testament we find not seldom mention made of beggars (Mark 10:46; Luke 16:20, 21; Acts 3:2), yet there is no mention of such a class as vagrant beggars, so numerous in the East. "Beggarly," in Gal. 4:9, means worthless.
Dictionary
Bird
Birds are divided in the Mosaic law into two classes, (1) the clean (Lev. 1:14-17; 5:7-10; 14:4-7), which were offered in sacrifice; and (2) the unclean (Lev. 11:13-20). When offered in sacrifice, they were not divided as other victims were (Gen. 15:10). They are mentioned also as an article of food (Deut. 14:11). The art of snaring wild birds is referred to (Ps. 124:7; Prov. 1:17; 7:23; Jer. 5:27). Singing birds are mentioned in Ps. 104:12; Eccl. 12:4. Their timidity is alluded to (Hos. 11:11). The reference in Ps. 84:3 to the swallow and the sparrow may be only a comparison equivalent to, "What her house is to the sparrow, and her nest to the swallow, that thine altars are to my soul."