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| [Illustration:  Modern Arab woman spinning]                        |
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| [Illustration:  Ancient Hebrew door key]                           |
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| [Illustration:  Hebrew needles of bone]                            |
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| [Illustration:  Smaller key]                                       |
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| Cuts on this page used by permission of the Palestine Exploration |
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How quickly a modern boy would have contrived a different arrangement, with a belt and foot-tread like the one on our mother’s sewing machine!  But for those days the ancient wheel was ingenious.  Many different kinds of Hebrew pottery are found in the excavations:  large jars, small cups, lamps of all sizes and shapes and even babies’ rattles.

=How Hebrew boys learned a trade.=—­The youngsters from the desert had never seen any of these interesting crafts, except perhaps now and then when their fathers had brought them with the wool to market.  But now, on a rainy day when there was no work to be done in the field or at home, the boys would go down the street to the blacksmith shop, or to the shed where the old Canaanite potter worked his clay.  One of the older boys would say, “Let me see if I can make something,” and if the old man was good-natured he would let him try and perhaps would teach him some of the tricks of the trade.  By and by the boy would hire out as a potter’s helper and in a year or two would set up a little pottery of his own.

So there came to be Hebrew as well as Canaanite potters and blacksmiths.  They were proud of their skill in these arts, and as a nation they never were foolish enough to look down on them or to despise those who practiced them.  All work was looked on as honorable.  The apostle Paul was a tent-maker.  Jesus was a carpenter.  And in this respect for honest and useful work we may see another reason why the people of Israel have played so remarkable a part in the life of humanity.

STUDY TOPICS

1.  Explain the following Scripture passage in the light of the customs described in this chapter.  Isaiah 22. 22; Deuteronomy 22. 8.

2.  In earlier chapters we have seen how the Hebrew leaders drew lessons about God from shepherd life (Psalm 23), and from farm life (Isaiah 5. 1-7).  What lesson did a great prophet learn in regard to God from the experiences of an artisan? (Jeremiah 18. 1-6.)