(Isa. 55:1; refer in this text to 2 Ne. 9:50–51.)
A beautiful illustration of the customary mode of addressing purchasers in the East is given by Miss Rogers, who thus describes her walk through one of the streets of Jerusalem: “The shopkeepers were crying to the passers-by, ‘Ho, every one that hath money, let him come and buy! Ho, such a one, come and buy!’ But some of them seemed to be more disinterested, and one of the fruiterers, offering me preserves and fruit, said; ‘O lady, take of our fruit without money and without price; it is yours, take all that you will,’ and he would gladly have laden our kawas with the good things of his store and then have claimed double their value.”—Domestic Life in Palestine, 49. There is more sincerity in the Gospel invitations than in those of the traders.
(James M. Freeman, Manners and Customs of the Bible [Plainfield, New Jersey: Logos International, 1972], 275.)