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NETHINIM

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Originally appearing in Volume V19, Page 421 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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NETHINIM , the name given to the See also:

Temple assistants in See also:ancient See also:Jerusalem. They are mentioned at the return from the See also:Exile and particularly enumerated in See also:Ezra ii. and Neh. vii. The See also:original See also:form of the name was Nethunim, as in the Khetib (consonantal See also:reading) of Ezra viii. 17 (cf. See also:Numbers iii. 9), and means " given " or " dedicated," i.e. to the temple. The See also:Talmud has also the singular form—Nathin. In all, 612 Nethinim came back from the Exile and were lodged near the " See also:House of the Nethinim " at Ophel, towards the See also:east See also:wall of Jerusalem so as to, be near the Temple, where they served under the See also:Levites and were See also:free of all tolls, from which they must have been supported. It is mentioned that they had been ordered by See also:David and the princes to serve the Levites (Ezra viii. 20). Notwithstanding their sacred service, the Nethinim were regarded by later Jewish tradition as especially degraded, being placed in tables of See also:precedence below bastards (Talm. Jer.

See also:

Hor. iii. 5, Jeb. vii. 5) and in the Mishna (Jeb. viii. 3) it is stated that the See also:prohibition against intermarriage with the Moabites, See also:Ammonites, Egyptians and Edomites, though given in the See also:Bible, only applied for a certain number of generations and did not apply at all to their daughters, but, it is added, " Bastards and See also:Net hinim are prohibited (to marry Israelites), and this prohibition is perpetual and applies both to See also:males and See also:females." To explain this See also:combination of sacred service and exceptional degradation, it has been suggested by See also:Joseph See also:Jacobs that the Nethinim were the descendants of the Kedishoth, i.e. See also:women dedicated to the See also:worship of See also:Astarte and attached to the Temple before the Exile. There is See also:evidence of these practices from the See also:time of See also:Solomon (1 See also:Kings'xi. 5) down to See also:Josiah (2 Kings xiii. 4-6), and even as See also:late as See also:Ezekiel (Ezek. See also:xxiii. 36-48), giving rise to the command of See also:Deuteronomy xxiii. 17. An examination of the name lists given in duplicate in Ezra H. 43-58, Neh. vii. 46-59, together with the additional names in the See also:Greek Esdras (v.

29-35), shows that the Nethinim were in See also:

charge of the rings and hooks connected with the temple service; they sheared the See also:sheep offered for See also:sacrifice in the temple and poured the libations. Some of them were derived from the See also:wars with the Meunim; others from the See also:campaign with Rezin of See also:Damascus. One of the names given in 1 Esdras v. 34, See also:viol Eov/3iz, ed. Fritzsche, lov(3as, ed. Swete, would seem to throw See also:light on the puzzling reading o'H»o (A.V. " Sabeans," R.V. " Drunkards ") of Ezek. xxiii. 42, and if so would directly connect the See also:list of the Nethinim with the degraded worship of Astarte in the Temple. A large See also:majority of the names of the parents mentioned seem to be feminine in form or meaning, and suggest that the Nethinim could not trace back to any definite paternity; and this is See also:con-firmed by the fact that the lists are followed by the enumerationof those who could not " show their See also:father's house " (Ezra ii. 6o; Neh. vii. 62).

The Greek versions, as well as See also:

Josephus, refer to them as iepb3ovXot, which can mean one thing only. The Talmudic authorities have an abstract See also:term, Nethinuth, indicating the status of a Nathin (Tos. See also:Kidd, v. 1) ed. Zucker mandel, p. 341), and corresponding to the abstract Mamziruth, " bastardy." The existence of this degraded class up to the Exile throws considerable light upon the phraseology of the prophets in referring to See also:idolatry as See also:adultery and the scenes connected with it as See also:prostitution. Their continued existence as a See also:pariah class after the Exile would be a perpetual reminder of the dangers and degradation of the most popular Syrian creed. These unfortunate creatures had no alternative but to accept the provisions made for them out of the Temple See also:treasury, but after the fall of the 'Temple they would naturally disappear by intermarriage with similar degraded classes (Mishna Kidd. viii. 3). In the See also:Code of Khammurabi §§ 191, 192, they could be adopted by outsiders. The above explanation of the See also:special degradation of the Nethinim, though they were connected with the Temple service, seems to be the only way of explaining the Talmudic reference to their tabooed position, and is an interesting example of the light that can be reflected on Biblical See also:research by the Talmud. See Joseph Jacobs, Studies in Biblical See also:Archaeology (1894), io4-122 ; W.

Baudissin, Geschichte See also:

des Alttestamentlichen Priestert hums, 142 seq. This view, however, is not accepted by See also:Cheyne, See also:Encyclopaedia Biblica, s.v. (J.

End of Article: NETHINIM

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