Jericho itself.

I. "They ingrafted, or folded, together, palm-trees every day." Here is need of a long commentary, and they produce one, but very obscure. The business of the men of Jericho was about palm-trees; which they either joined together, and mingled males with females, or they ingrafted, or (as they commonly say) inoculated the more tender sprouts of the branches into those, that were older. So much indulgence was granted them by the wise men concerning the time, wherein these things are done, which elsewhere, would scarcely have been suffered; unless, as it seems, the nature of the place, and of the groves of palms, required it.

II. "They folded up the recitations of their phylacteries": that is, either not speaking them out distinctly; or omitting some doxologies or prayers; or pronouncing them with too shrill a voice. See the Gemara and the Gloss.

III. "They reaped, and gathered-in their sheaves, before the sheaf [of first-fruits] was offered": and this, partly, because of the too early ripeness of their corn in that place; and, partly, because their corn grew in a very low valley, and therefore it was not accounted fit to be offered unto the Mincha, or daily sacrifice. See the Gloss.

The three things, concerning which the wise men consented not to them, were these:--

I. Such fruits and branches, also certain fruits of the sycamine-trees, which their fathers had devoted to sacred uses,--they alienated into common.

II. "They ate, on the sabbath-day, under the tree, such fruits, as fell from the tree," although they were uncertain whether they had fallen on the sabbath-day or the eve of the sabbath: for such as fell on the sabbath were forbidden.

III. They granted a corner of the garden for herbs, in the same manner as a corner of the field was granted for corn.

Let the description of this city and place be concluded with those words of the Talmud, in the place noted in the margin: "Do they use a certain form of prayer upon balsam? Blessed be he, who hath created the ointment of our land." The Gloss is, "The ointment of our land: for it grows at Jericho; and, for its smell, it is called Jericho: and it is that Pannag of which mention is made in the Book of Ezekiel. 'Judah and the land of Israel were thy merchants in wheat of Minnith and Pannag.' This I have seen in the book of Josephus Ben Gorion." Judge, reader.