Manners and Customs of Bible Lands was written by Fred H. Wight in 1953. Many passages of Scripture that are hard for the Westerner to understand, are readily explained by a knowledge of the customs and manners of Bible lands. On the other hand, to ignore this subject is to deprive one's self of a thorough mastery of the Bible, both Old and New Testaments.

IN THE SPRING of 1951, the author Fred H. Wight completed a thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree, Master of Arts in Religion, at Pasadena College, California, under the title, "A Study of Manners and Customs of Domestic Life in Palestine as Related to the Scriptures." Desire was expressed by certain members of the faculty that additional material be added to the thesis, and that a general textbook be written on Oriental manners and customs bearing on the Scriptures. As a result of this, the manuscript for this book was completed. Chapters 1 through 11 and 13 through 17, plus a small portion of Chapter 26, are substantially the original thesis, the other chapters having been added.

The author is indebted to Dr. G. Frederick Owen, Professor of Archaeology and Biblical Literature at Pasadena College, for his assistance in the project. Dr. Owen has spent several seasons in Palestine doing research work, and his suggestions and criticisms have been a help to the author in writing. With Dr. Owen's permission, some material derived from class notes in a course taught by him in the summer of 1950 on the subject "Manners and Customs of Bible Lands," was included in the thesis and appears in the present work.

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