CARVED WORK, properly speaking, differs from sculpture and chasing; it embraces simply works in ivory and wood ' • while sculpture operates on marble or stone, and chasing on metals. This distinction, however, does not exist in the bibli cal terms, which refer to carved work ; these are (t) carved works,' Prov. vii. 16 ; (2) rpr) (in Pual Part), carved work,' 1 Kings vi. 35 ; (3) rg107, carving of timber,' Exod. xxxi. 5 ; carv ing of wood,' Exod. xxxv. 33 ; (4) carved image,' Judges xviii. 18, and 2 Chron. xxxiii. 7, with its plural n40n, 'carved images,' 2 Chron. • ; xxxiii. 22, and 3, 4 ; (5) carved figures,' i Kings vi. 29 ; carved work,' Ps. lxxiv. 6 ; (6) Ibp (in Kal part), he carved,' I Kings vi. 29, 32, 35 ; (6) lijhpp, `carved' (a carving), I Kings vi. 18 ; carved figures,' 1 Kings vi. 29. Comparing (I) with other passages in which the cognate verb occurs (such as Dcut. xix. 5 ; Josh. ix. 21 ; 2 Chron. ii. to ; Jerem. xlvi. 22), we find it refers to WOOD carving (2) in other passages (Ezek. viii. to ; xxiii. 14; and Job xiii. 27) seems to indicate sculpture and painting on walls. From other passages in which (3) is used (such as 1 Chron. xiv. I ; xxii. 25 ; xxiv. 12 ; Is. Xliv. 12, 13), it signifies working in stone and in iron, as well as in wood; (4) which is more frequently translated ' graven image,' is only a general expression, not indicating the material ; (5) generally translated `engraving,' is applied to seal cutting, in Exod. xxxix. 6, 14, 3o ; (6), like (4), is too general to indicate the material carved.' There has been a good deal of discussion as to the extent of the pro hibition contained in the second commandment ; some (including early Jewish commentators) have contended that all imitative art was forbidden— against this extreme view Michaelis protests (Laws of Moses, Art. 250) on the reasonable ground, that certain figures were in fact made by God's own command. Both in the Tabernacle and the Temple many objects were provided, which would put under contribution largely the arts of carving and engraving, e. g., the two cherubim in the holy of holies (Exod. xxv. 18, 2o) ; the floral ornaments of the golden candlestick, xxv. 34 ; the various embroidered hangings of the sanctuary, xxvi. ; and the brazen serpent, Num. xxi. 8, 9. So again in the temple, besides the cherubim, there were on the walls various figures of all kinds, as well as the brazen sea, as it was called, which rested on twelve brazen oxen. Ezekiel's temple, in like manner, has cherubim with the heads of men and lions. Even after the return from Babylon, when men severely interpreted the prohibition of the command ment, there were figures of animals on the golden candlestick (Reland de Spolit's Templi Hier, in Arcu Tiliano), and vines with pendent clusters on the roof of the second temple, and the golden symbolic vine over the large gate. Not the makingof images
as works of art, but the worship of them was ex cluded by the decalogue. Among the Mohamme dans, the more liberal Persians (followers of Ali) allow themselves the fullest latitude, and paint and mould the human figure, while their stricter rivals confine their art to representations of arees and fruits, or inanimate objects ; but all alike abhor all attempts to represent God, or even their saints (Kitto, Pictorial Bible, Deut. v. 8, 9). There were however, from whatever cause, limitations in fact, which the artizans who ornamented the Tabernacle and the Temple observed. In the former, nothing is mentioned as fabricated of iron ; nor is skill in manipulating this metal included among the quali fications of the artificer Bezaleel. While in the temple there is no mention made of sculptured stones in any part of the building. All the decorations were either carved in wood and then overlaid with metal, or wholly cast in metal. Even the famous pillars of Jachin and Boaz were entirely of brass' (Kitto on 2 Chron. iii. 6). The qualifications of the accomplished men who built the Tabernacle (Bezaleel and Aholiab) and the Temple (Hiram) are carefully indicated ; to the former, especially Bezaleel, is attributed skill in 'carving' and `sculp ture' (Exod. xxxi. 5), whereas the latter seems to have rather executed his decorative works by fusile processes (comp. t Kings vii. 14, 15 with 46 ; Miiller's Ancient Art, by Leitch, p. 216 ; and De Wette's Archa'ol, sec. 106). Working in ivory, which culminated in the Olympian Zeus of Pheidias and the Athene at Athens (Grote's Greece, vol. vi. pp. 3o-32), appears to have been carried to great perfection by Hebrew artists ; see i Kings xxii. 39 on Ahab's ivory house (compared with Amos iii. 15) ; also i Kings x. 18-20 on Solomon's S-pbvos xpuo-eXeclAvrmos, with lions at both arms, and on the sides of the six steps. Ezekiel says of Tyre, accord ing to the LXX. (xxvii. 6), re& lepd crou cE iXickaprog (Muller ut supra, p. 215). Artificers among the Hebrews were not (as among the Greeks and Romans) servants and slaves—but men of rank, who do not seem to have disdained the pursuit of the plastic and decorative arts as a profession ; e.g., the nephew of the first judge Othnie] (of the illus trious and wealthy family of Caleb) was at the head of apparently a guild of craftsmen, who inhabited the valley of Charashim ' (nnvin see our (3) above), near Jerusalem, 1 Chron. iv. 14; comp. Neh. xi. 35. See also the remarkable statement of 2 Kings xxiv. 14, where the craftsmen and smiths' are reckoned among princes,' and con trasted with the poorest sort of people.' Compare with Jer. xxiv. 1 and xxix. 2. (Jahn's Archeco logia Biblica, v. sec. 83). Taking this fact into consideration, we need not regard the occupation of Joseph, the husband of the blessed Virgin, as de grading.—P. H.