The Jews endeavored, both by law and custom, to keep their nation unmixed by foreign intermarriages; and it was a favorite plan with them to unite different branches of the same family. Thus the wife of Abraham was his sister, by the father’s side; and Isaac and Jacob both sought wives among their kinsmen. When a man died without heirs, the nearest relation was bound to marry the widow; and if he refused to do so, she publicly accused him before the elders, loosed the shoe from his foot, spat in his face, and said, “So shall it be done unto the man that will not build up his brother’s house.” And his name was called in Israel, “The house of him that hath his shoe loosed.” Notwithstanding the effort to keep the blood of the nation, and even of individual families, unmixed from generation to generation, the rule was sometimes broken through. Thus Moses married an Ethiopian woman; the wife of Joseph was daughter of the priest of On; and Solomon married the daughter of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. It is generally supposed that formal ceremonies at a wedding were first prescribed by Moses. According to the rabbies, the appointed days were Friday for a bride who had never been married, and Thursday for a widow. The contract was read and signed by ten witnesses, who were free and of age. The bride was veiled and given to the bridegroom by her parents. Her father said, “Take her according to the law of Moses;” and the husband answered, “I take her according to that law.” Benedictions were then pronounced both by the parents and the guests. The maidens sang a marriage song, and the men danced around the bridegroom, while the women danced around the bride. The feasting continued seven days, unless the bride were a widow, in which case they continued but three days. If a man married a number of wives in quick succession, he was bound to allow a feast of seven days to each. At a later period the form was somewhat changed. In the presence of ten witnesses, the bridegroom said to the bride, “Be thou a wife to me according to the law of Moses, and I will worship and honor thee, according to the word of God, and will feed and govern thee, according to the custom of those who worship, honor, and govern their wives faithfully. I give thee fifty shekels for thy dowry.” The story of Samson and Delilah seems to imply that custom did not allow a young man to seek a girl in marriage without the intervention of his parents. He said to his father and mother, “I have seen a woman of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore get her for me to wife;” and when his parents started objections, he still pleaded, “Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.” The idea of applying to the beautiful Delilah in person does not seem to have occurred to his mind.