Art in Israel

Art in Israel.

Israel's growth as a nation was accompanied by a corresponding cultivation of the arts. The first notable exhibition is that seen in the elaborate architecture of the Solomonic era. Whether it was borrowed wholly from one nation or jointly from the leading nations of that day is immaterial. Israel adopted and executed some of the choicest specimens of ancient architecture. The pillars and their ornamentation, though executed by Phenicians, were according to the tastes and desires of Israel's king. Plastic art likewise received attention from the leaders in Israel, as is seen in the numerous fragments exhumed from Palestinian soil. Sculpture and fine stone-cutting added their part to the beautifying of the great Temple of the Lord. Painting is scarcely mentioned in the Torah (Ezek. viii. 10, xxiii. 14), in strange contrast with the evidence seen in Egyptian tombs. Music, on the contrary, received much attention from the leaders, and even from the common people. The shepherds in the mountains, the prophets on the hills, the singers in the Temple, made frequent and extensive use of many kinds of musical instruments. See Music, Temple.

Writing is almost as old as the race. Every nation around Israel had its method. The people of Israel, kin of these people by blood and language, had their own particular system of writing. The letters of the Hebrew alphabet had each a significance that helped to hold it in mind. The Israelites wrote on skins and clay, and carefully preserved their records for later generations. This work was done, however, by a particular class of men, who were later on designated as scribes. The different kinds of writing materials, and the tools wherewith this art was executed, were not unlike those of the great contemporaneous nations. See Alphabet; Manuscripts; Scribes.


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