Chains of gold appear to have been as much used among the Hebrews, for ornament or official distinction, as they are among ourselves at the present day. The earliest mention of them occurs in , where we are told that a chain of gold formed a part of the investiture of Joseph in the high office to which he was raised in Egypt; a later instance occurs in , from which we learn that a golden chain was part of a dress of honor at Babylon. In Egypt the judges wore chains of gold, to which was attached a jeweled figure of Thmei, or Truth; and in that country similar chains were also worn as ornaments by the women. It is not, however, necessary to suppose that the Hebrews derived this custom from the Egyptians; for the fact that chains are mentioned among the spoil of the Midianites shows that they were in use among people whose condition of life more nearly resembled that of the Israelites before they obtained possession of Canaan. It would seem that chains were worn both by men and women (; ), and we find them enumerated among the ornaments of brides (; ).
It was a custom among the Romans to fasten a prisoner with a light chain to the soldier who was appointed to guard him. One end of it was attached to the right hand of the prisoner, and the other to the left hand of the soldier. This is the chain by which Paul was so often bound, and to which he repeatedly alludes (; ; ). When the utmost security was desired, the prisoner was attached by two chains to two soldiers, as was the case with Peter ().
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John Kitto was an English biblical scholar of Cornish descent.Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of his family meant that much of his childhood was spent in the workhouse. He had no more than three years of erratic and interrupted education. At the age of twelve John Kitto fell on his head from a rooftop, and became totally and permanently deaf. As a young man he suffered further tragedies, disappointments and much loneliness. His height was 4 ft 8 in, and his accident left him with an impaired sense of balance. He found consolation in browsing at bookstalls and reading any books that came his way.
From these hardships he was rescued by friends who became aware of his mental abilities and encouraged him to write topical articles for local newspapers, arranging eventually for him to work as an assistant in a local library. Here he continued to educate himself.
One of his benefactors was the Exeter dentist Anthony Norris Groves, who in 1824 offered him employment as a dental assistant. Living with the Groves family, Kitto was profoundly influenced by the practical Christian faith of his employer. In 1829 he accompanied Groves on his pioneering mission to Baghdad and served as tutor to Groves's two sons. In 1833 Kitto returned to England via Constantinople, accompanied by another member of the Groves mission, Francis William Newman. Shortly afterwards he married, and in due course had several children.
A London publisher asked Kitto to write up his travel journals for a series of articles in the Penny Magazine, a publication read at that time by a million people in Britain, reprinted in America and translated into French, German and Dutch. Other writing projects followed as readers enquired about his experiences in the East amidst people living in circumstances closely resembling those of Bible times.
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