Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 1.pdf/254

208 Adoption Adoration t«ll

tbw

tbat

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA Aaron

liOKnt theni.

and Mnsra taugbl Ibem beoce

tbey an? set d^iwn under Moses' name."

By a similar cxejictiral process Moses is called the son of Bithiali. tlic ilaiit'lilir of Plianioh (I C'luon. iv. IH), whom IcjrciKl idcniiliis wiih tlic E{: i)lian prinAs a cess who saved and reared Moses (lleg. Viti)matter of fact the Scriptures sliow how Pliaraoh's daiitrhter broufrlit uji Closes, as if slie were liis mother: and liow Mordceai. after llie death of Adoptionin Esthers father and mother. "toolclur Female unto liimself for a daufrliter" (Estli. Iiine. ii. 7) and Esther treated liim with the implicit obedience due to a father. But it is not likely lliat, in case of his death, she would ,

liave inlierited liis estate in jucferenee to nearer hlood relations; neither does it ap])ear that a inetliod for creatinjTsuch a relation hclueeu lliemas would make lier his lieiress was ever known to I lie laws of Israel. There is, however, one ))a^<sa.i;e in 8erijiture (Gen. xlviii. 5), "Epliraim and Manasseh arc mine; as Hevdjcn and Simeon, they shall bo mine," which indicates that the writer was probably acquainted Willi Adoption in the lejral sense, such as wodil fi'we to the chosen children the riirht of inheriting' from the person adopting them; for the obvious intent of the passajje is to account for the establishment of two tribes. Ephraim and Mauasseh. with distinct territories, on an equality with the tribes claiming descent from Jacob's sons. L. X. D. Adojition in a les^al sense is practically unUiiowu in lands and conditions in which in case of childlessness a man may marry another wife in order to beu'ct a son for his heir (sec Koran, sura xxxiii. 3. and Ilufihes, "Dictionary of Islam." .v./'. "Adoption''). In fact, the iMosaie institution of the Levir.vte, liy which the survivini; brother is enjoined to marry his deceased brother's wife in order to ,cive him a male heir, shows that Adoption in the Koinan sense did not exist among the ancient Hebrews (see Dent. xxv. .5-6; compare, however, Sifre. ii. 280; Yer. Yeb. ii. lOf); Bab. Yeb. 24('. where this primitive view is no longer accepteil). The Adojition of the slave as .son and heir, as indicated in the Bible in the words of Abraham, "One born in my house is mine heir" (Gen. XV. 3). was pnjbably practised frequently in the manner described in I Chrou. ii. 34 et neq.. where Sheshan is mentioned as having given his daughter as wife to his servant and adopted their sons as.

.

.

own. Yet some form of Adoption was in use in Biblical times. At first, barren wives are found giving to their husbands their female slaves with the view of adopting any children borne by the latter (Gen. xvi. 2, x.x. 3), the mode of Adoption being that the handmaid brought forth her child upon the knees of the adoptive mother (Gen. xxx. 3; compare Gen. 1. 1). Abra28). According to Joseplius(" Ant." i. 7, liam, being at first childless, adopted Lot as his son. According to Philo (" Vita Mosis." i. 5) and Josephus ("Ant." ii. 9, § 7), the daughter of Pharaoh formally adopted Moses as her son (Ex. ii. 10). So Kuth, iv. 1<> and E.sth. ii. 7 are understood by many (see Vulgate to Esther) as referring to Adoption the placing of the child upon the knee or bosom (Ruth. iv. K!) his

i;



resembling the old Teutonic mode of Adojition (Grimm, " Deutsche Rechts-Alterthiimer," <. 4(i4). According to Ewald (" Alterthumer." p. 101 the mode ).

of Adoption was the casting of a garment ujion the person to be adopted: the term "Mantelkind." in German, points to the same origin. Elijah cast his mantle upon Elisha to indicate that he had adopted him as his sjuritual heir (I Kings, xix. 19-21): and so. Ewald thinks, should the words be exjilained which Ruth uses to Boaz: "Spread thy skirt over

208

thy handnuiid. for thou art the redeemer" {r/nel) (Ruth, iii. 9). When the I/ord linds Israil as a waif in the wilderness. He is described as iierforming the
 * . S7). it is probable ilial this was the original mode of recognizing paternal relations to a child with the duty of luotcelion implied thereby. It is possible that spreading of the garment over a woman was a more primitive form of marriage; while the spreading of the mantle as in the ease of Elisha was a mode of installation or investiture as prophet. Accordingly, the stranger who enters into new religious relation with the Deity of his adopted land is .said to come under the wings of the Deity whose protection lie seeks. Thus Boaz sjiys to Ruth: "A full reward be given thee of the Lord, God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to seek refuge" (Ruth, ii. 12). This became the standing expression for conversion to the .Jewish religion in rabbinical limes; for example. Abraham

brought many Gentiles under the wings of the Sliekinaii (Ab. R. N. ed. Sliechter. text J}, xxvi.. and elsewhere).

God

is in this

manner

reiu'esentetance as God's children]: Gal. iv. Eph. i. 5. Comjiare " A post. Const." ii. 26 and 32, "The bishop, your father, leads you to a new birth for adojition." .").

Hini.KKiRAi'iiv: Bill rhiitiaiijii, 1S.W. 1. 391 <( sci;.; Fa.s.sel. Dii» M'miixch-ltalili. I'iril-Iiccht.iUi^: Ma.ver. Die Hcchte dif I^raiJliUn, .-tf/icat'i*. uiitl i^n»uT. U. i^ft s€(j.

K.

ADORAIM: in

.Iiiilali;

now

ADORAM.

F<irtified city built

called

Dura

by Rehoboam

(II C'hron. xi. 'j/taet/.).

G. B. L.

See Adoniram.

ADORATION, FORMS OF

The various gestures and postures exjiressive of homage. Ill religious adorations these gestures and jiostures were originally innate and natural expressions of religious feeling, but in the course of religious development they became merely external, without conscious regard to what they were suiijxised to express. From the time that man conceived his god in accordance with the aualo.sies of the jihys:

world around him

(see ANTHUoroMoni'iiisM), to God expressed itself also in accordance with the cliaracteristics of the two factors man and God. Thus, with the' ancient Hebrews, kissin.s and stroking the idol was one of the oldest characteristics of worshi]); so. too, their ical

the relationship of

man

—

kinsmen, the Arabs, manifested reverence toward their stone images mainly by these two methods of caress (Welllmuscn, "Reste d. Arabischen Ileidcntliums." p. 109). The Jews, in prophetic times, jiractised the kissing of Baal (I Kings. .ix. 18) and also of the golden calves (Hosea. xiii. 2). Where the idol was inaccessible, it was considered sufficient to throw a kiss with the hand a form of adoration widely prevalent among the Greeks and Romans of antiquity (sec Job. xxxi. 27). The Latin nditrnt ii> ni the Greek -imaKviuv, which are the terms generally used for adoration, .signified, originally, this kiss from the hand. The sisuificauce of stroking the idol in

—