The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous ... - Cd3wd.com

224 SHEEP BREEDING AND
and enteiprize were directed into other channels, and they sup-
plied themselves from foreign countries with wool for their cele-
brated manufactures.
On the other hand, the Hebrews, who were the immediate
neighbors of the Phoenicians, were altogether an agricultural and
pastoral people. The history of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, presents to us beaujtiful images of the kind of hfe,
which still continues with little variation among the Bedouins,
or wandering Nomads of Arabia. Not only was David a
shepherd hoy ; but, when he had ascended the throne, he had
numerous herds and flocks superintended by distinct officers.
" And over the herds that fed in Sharon was Shitrai the Sha-
ronite : and over the herds that were in the valleys was Sha-
phat the son of Adlai. Over the camels also was Obil the Ish-
maelite : and over the asses was Jehdeiah the Meronothite :
and over the flocks was Jaziz the Hagarite. All these were
the rulers of the substance which was king David's." (I.
Chron. xxvii. 29-31. The reader cannot fail to call to mind
David's frequent allusions in the Psalms to those employments,
which were no less familiar to his own mind than to the rest
of his countrymen, and which supplied to them the most touch-
ing comparisons for the expression of their deepest religious
convictions. The passage " The Lord is my shepherd : I shall
not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures : he
leadeth me beside the still waters. Yea though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil ; for thou
art with me ; thy rod (or crook) and thy staff", they comfort
me" (Psalm xxiii. 1, 2, 4.). " He shall feed (i. e. tend) his
flock like a shepherd ; he shall gather the lambs with his arm,
and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that
are with young" (Is. xl. ii.). " The pastures are clothed with
flocks," an expression denoting the vast multitudes of sheep,
which overspread the mountains and plains (Ps. Ixv. 13.).
" Be thou diUgcjit," says Solomon, " to know the state of thy
flocks, and look well to thy herds. The lambs are for thy
clothing, and the goats are the price of thy field ; and thou
shalt have goat's milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy
household, and for the maintenance of thy maidens" (Prov.