case of the “fourth watch,” (Matthew 14:25) or by the terms “even,” “midnight,” “cock-crowing”
and “morning.” (Mark 13:35) These terminated respectively at 9 P.M., midnight, 3 A.M. and 6
A.M.
Water Of Jealousy
(Numbers 5:11-31) The ritual prescribed consisted in the husband’s bringing before the priest
the woman suspected of infidelity, and the essential part of it is unquestionably the oath to which
the “water” was subsidiary, symbolical and ministerial. With her he was to bring an offering of
barley meal. As she stood holding the offering, so the priest stood holding till earthen vessel of
holy water mixed with the dust from the floor of the sanctuary, and, declaring her free from all evil
consequences if innocent, solemnly devoted her in the name of Jehovah to be “a curse and an oath
among her people” if guilty. He then “wrote these curses in a book and blotted them out with the
bitter water.” and having thrown the handful of meal on the altar, “caused the woman to drink” the
potion thus drugged, she moreover answering to the words of his imprecation, “Amen, amen.”
Josephus adds, if the suspicion was unfounded, she obtained conception; if true, she died infamously,
(This was entirely different from most trials of this kind, for the bitter water the woman must drink
was harmless in itself, and only by a direct act of God could it injure her it guilty while in most
heathen trials the suspected party must take poison, or suffer that which only a miracle would save
them from if they were innocent.—ED.)
Water Of Separation
[Purification]
Wave Offering
This rite, together with that of “heaving” or “raising” the offering was an inseparable
accompaniment of peace offerings. In such the right shoulder, considered the choicest part of the
victim, was to be (“heaved,” and viewed as holy to the Lord, only eaten therefore by the priest: the
breast was to be “waved,” and eaten by the worshipper. The scriptural notices of these rites are to
be found in (Exodus 29:24,28; Leviticus 7:30,34; 8:27; 9:21; 10:14,15; 23:10,15,20; Numbers 6:20;
18:11,18,26-29) etc. In conjecturing the meaning of this rite, regard must be had that it was the
accompaniment of peace offerings, which were witnesses to a ratified covenant—an established
communion between God and man.
Weapons
[Arms, Armor]
Weasel
(choled) occurs only in (Leviticus 11:29) in the list of unclean animals; but the Hebrew word
ought more probably to be translated “mole.” Moles are common in Palestine.
Weaving
The art of weaving appears to be coeval with the first dawning of civilization. We find it practiced
with great skill by the Egyptians at a very early period; The vestures of fine linen” such as Joseph
wore, (Genesis 41:42) were the product of Egyptian looms. The Israelites were probably acquainted
with the process before their sojourn in Egypt; but it was undoubtedly there that they attained the
proficiency which enabled them to execute the hangings of the tabernacle, (Exodus 35:35; 1
Chronicles 4:21) and other artistic textures. The Egyptian loom was usually upright, and the weaver
stood at his work. The cloth was fixed sometimes at the top, sometimes at the bottom. The modern
Arabs use a procumbent loom, raised above the ground by short legs. The textures produced by the
Jewish weavers were very various. The coarser kinds, such tent-cloth, sack-cloth and the “hairy
frankie
(Frankie)
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