Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/374

 344 A History of Art in Sardinia and Jud.ea. to which should be added the Tyrian purple, or "murex," as the Bible has it, from the shell which produced it. We have stated that when the compiler of Exodus wished to convey the idea of a rich deep blue tint, he named the gem known to all his readers for its charming hue : " It formed a paved work of sapphire stones under the feet of the God of Israel, like the body of heaven in his clearness " {Exod. xxiv. 10). § 7. — Industrial Arts. The fulminating- utterances of the prophet, the prohibitory rules of the Mosaic law, arrested the march of the major arts of painting and sculpture, and were no less unfavourable to the minor or art industries. Because these, as they do not create, have naturally naught to draw from, but as soon as they emerge from the lowest grade take their inspirations from models yielded and sanctioned by statuary, and expand under the refining influence and asthetic feeling called forth by the cunning art of the sculptor, when the latter has imbued the living form with truth and originality. The rural populations of Palestine were prone to yearn after and wish back the days of their nomadic existence. In this mood their industry remained pretty much what it had been in the wilderness ; and was not to be named alongside of that of their neighbours the Philistines and the Phoenicians, who at a very early period had been schooled in the workshops of Egypt. Nowhere was Hebrew deficiency more conspicuous than in the art of working metals. Lack of this industry, we may be sure, was no small factor in the long series of defeats which seemed at one time to condemn the Israelites to become the bondsmen of the Philistines, until David appeared on the stage and retrieved their fortunes. We read that Goliath, inhis struggle against David, wore brass leggingsanswering to the Homeric /«^/uSeç ; this would imply that the Philistine champion was armed cap-a-pied, as afterwards the Greek hoplite (1 Sam. xvii. 5-7). We may infer from the texts that seem to have preserved more faithfully the memory of olden times, that for generations after they had been in the enjoyment of a settled life, the Hebrews were still strangers to methods and usages which presuppose long acquaintance with them. In an exaggerated form, perhaps, albeit with a large grain of truth, this is formally stated in Samuel : " And there was no smith found throughout the land