ORIENTAL CUSTOMS. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 Printed by A. Strahw, 
 Printers-Street, London.
 
 ORIENTAL CUSTOMS: 
 
 OR AN 
 
 ILLUSTRATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SACRED SCRIPTURES, 
 
 BY AN 
 
 EXPLANATORY APPLICATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CUSTOMS AND MANNERS OF THE EASTERN NATIONS, 
 
 AND ESPECIALLY 
 
 THE JEWS, THEREIN ALLUDED TO. 
 
 COLLECTED FROM THE MOST 
 
 CELEBRATED TRAVELLERS AND THE MOST EMINENT CRITICS. 
 
 By the Rev. SAMUEL BURDER, A. M. 
 
 LATE OF CLARE-HALL, CAMBRIDGE; LECTURER OF THE UNITED PARISHES OF CHRIST- 
 CHURCH, NEWGATE-STREET, AND ST. LEONARD, FOSTER-LANE, LONDON} 
 AND CHAF-LA1N TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUKE OF KENT. 
 
 An obsolete custom, or some forgotten circumstance opportunely adverted to. 
 will sometimes restore its true perspicuity and credit to a very intricate passage. 
 
 BISHOP LOWTH. 
 
 THE FIFTH EDITION, 
 CONSIDERABLY ENLARGED, 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN, 
 PATERNOSTER-ROW. 
 
 .1816.
 
 Wl 
 
 TO 
 
 THE HONOURABLE 
 AND RIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD, 
 
 SHUTE BARRINGTON, LL.D, 
 
 LORD BISHOP OF DURHAM. 
 
 MY LORD, 
 
 A CTUATED by a sincere desire to 
 promote that rational and important 
 method of interpreting the Sacred Scrip- 
 tures which pervades the following work, 
 and influenced by the hope that consider- 
 able light might thereby be thrown upon 
 many obscure and difficult >passages, I have 
 
 a 3 
 
 ■
 
 VI DEDICATION* 
 
 devoted several years of diligent attention 
 to the perusal of those writers who have 
 made Eastern Antiquities the object of 
 their researches. By a permission which 
 demands my warmest gratitude, I now 
 present to Your Lordship, a performance 
 in which I have brought together the fruits 
 of the learning and inquiries of many emi- 
 nent men. Scattered as were these efforts 
 of literary industry, many of them eluded 
 the notice of readers in general ; but col- 
 lected and arranged as they now appear, 
 a regular commentary is formed on a num- 
 ber of Texts which have commonly been 
 considered inexplicable, or at least to admit 
 of a very doubtful interpretation. 
 
 Theology is intimately allied to the study 
 of Eastern Antiquities. That which gives 
 credibility to any part of Scripture corro- 
 borates the general system of revealed Truth. 
 An immoveable basis is consequently form- 
 ed on which the most important doctrines
 
 DEDICATION. Vll 
 
 may be established. In devoting itself, 
 therefore, to the study of Oriental Litera- 
 ture, the mind is not diverted from those 
 momentous objects which religion places in 
 our view, but is more closely and effectually 
 engaged in their pursuit. 
 
 In traversing a difficult path it is a pe- 
 culiar happiness to have an intelligent and 
 entertaining guide ; one who can supply us 
 with necessary information in such a man- 
 ner as at once to interest, to amuse, and to 
 instruct. If I am not greatly mistaken in 
 the nature and object of my work, it may 
 humbly aspire to that character. Not con- 
 fined to verbal criticism, or restricted to 
 those speculations which regard only terms 
 and phrases, it introduces the reader to the 
 men of other times and places ; endea- 
 vours to make him familiar with usages 
 and customs foreign to his own, but not 
 less tenaciously adhered to ; and exhibits 
 the varieties of life, all verging towards and 
 
 a 4
 
 Vlll DEDICATION. 
 
 uniting in the same point, — the happiness 
 of individuals, of families, and of societies, 
 in their respective accommodations and 
 enjoyments. 
 
 Valuable as human learning is in all its 
 branches, it becomes inestimable when con- 
 secrated to and sanctified by its connection 
 with religion, and rendered subservient to 
 the glory of God and the salvation of man- 
 kind. In this sentiment no one more cor- 
 dially unites than Your Lordship, and I 
 may most truly add, no one has given more 
 substantial proofs of approbation. The 
 seed which has been sown under Your 
 Lordship's observation and patronage has 
 already become fruitful; but the full harvest 
 has not yet been reaped. It is progressively 
 advancing to maturity, and will, I trust, 
 yield a satisfaction and recompence far 
 exceeding what has yet been realized. 
 
 In expressing my sentiments of vener- 
 ation and respect for Your Lordship's cha-
 
 DEDICATION. IX 
 
 racter, I do but imperfectly discharge that 
 debt of gratitude which repeated and con- 
 tinued favours demand of me. I can never 
 cease to cherish an impression which is a 
 constant source of complacency and plea- 
 sure. To have secured and enjoyed the 
 approbation of one so qualified to judge 
 and decide on the subject as Your Lord- 
 ship, cannot fail to prove an honourable 
 and important reward of literary toil. 
 
 I remain, My Lord, 
 
 Your Lordship's obliged 
 and obedient Servant, 
 
 SAMUEL BURDER.
 
 PREFACE 
 
 ^\UR estimation of the holy scriptures should 
 ^^ be proportionable to their importance and 
 excellence. That ignorance of spiritual things, 
 which is so natural to all men, demonstrates 
 their necessity ; and the happy influence which 
 they have upon the mind in seasons of adversity 
 and distress, proves their value and utility. 
 They are admirably adapted to our circum- 
 stances, as they present us with a complete sys- 
 tem of truth and a perfect rule of conduct, and 
 thus make those who properly understand them 
 wise unto salvation. 
 
 But whatever relates either to faith or to prac- 
 tice, was delivered in ages very distant from the 
 present, in places very remote from the spot 
 which we inhabit, and by persons of habits and 
 manners materially different from those with 
 which we are familiar. General and perma- 
 nently established usages, to which persons con- 
 formed themselves from early infancy, must
 
 Xll PREFACE. 
 
 have had a strong hold of the mind, and would 
 greatly influence the turn of thought and the 
 mode of expression. By these circumstances 
 we must suppose the penmen of the scriptures 
 to have been affected ; nor can we expect that 
 a revelation coming from God, through the 
 medium of men of like passions with ourselves, 
 should be divested of such peculiarities. This 
 consideration, so far from disparaging divine re- 
 velation, on the principle that it is more local 
 than universal, in some measure serves to au- 
 thenticate it ; for though upon a superficial 
 view of the subject, this circumstance may ap- 
 pear to give it such an aspect, yet upon mature 
 examination it will be found that if it contain 
 those branches and articles of truth, which are 
 of general application, and which are productive 
 of similar effects in distant ages and places, 
 whatever local peculiarities it may possess, re- 
 main convincing and perpetual evidences of its 
 credibility, while those circumstances are known 
 to have existed, or are in any measure retained 
 by the eastern nations. 
 
 If the credibility of the Bible be in any de- 
 gree connected with the customs which are 
 therein recorded or alluded to, it is certainly 
 very material to observe, that in the East the 
 usages and habits of the people are invariable ; 
 many of those which are particularly observable 
 
 10
 
 PREFACE. Xlli 
 
 in the scriptures continue to this day unaltered ; 
 and doubtless, many things which are noticed 
 as singularities of more recent establishment, 
 may be traced back into ages now almost for- 
 gotten, the distance of time and the remoteness 
 of situation, being the only circumstances 
 which obscure the connection between the past 
 and the present state of things. Multa rena- 
 scentur quae jam cecidere, Horace, That the 
 eastern customs remain unchanged is a fact so 
 incontestible, that the Baron de Montesquieu, 
 in his Spirit of Laws, (b.xiv. c. 4.) has endea- 
 voured to assign a natural cause for it. Sir J. 
 Chardin, from whose travels and MS. papers 
 many articles have been selected for the fol- 
 lowing work, adverting to his collections for the 
 illustration of the Bible, says, " the language of 
 that divine book (especially of the Old Testa- 
 ment) being oriental, and very often figurative 
 and hyperbolical, those parts of scripture which 
 are written in verse, and in the prophecies, are 
 full of figures and hyperboles, which, as it is 
 manifest, cannot be well understood without a 
 knowledge of the things from whence such 
 figures are taken, which are natural properties 
 and particular manners of the countries to which 
 they refer : I discerned this in my first voyage 
 to the Indies ; for I gradually found a greater 
 sense and beauty in divers passages of scripture 
 than I had before, by having in my view the
 
 XIV PREFACE. 
 
 things, either natural or moral, which explained 
 them to me : and in perusing the different trans- 
 lations, which the greatest part of the translators 
 of the Bible had made, I observed that every- 
 one of them, (to render the expositions as they 
 thought more intelligible) used such expressions 
 as would accommodate the phrase to the places 
 where they wrote, which did not only many 
 times pervert the text, but often rendered the 
 sense obscure, and sometimes absurd also. In 
 fine, consulting the commentators upon such 
 kind of passages, I found very strange mistakes 
 in them ; and that they had all along guessed at 
 the sense, and did but grope (as in they dark) 
 in the search of it ; and from these reflections 
 I took a resolution to make my remarks upon 
 many passages of the scripture, persuading my- 
 self that they would be equally agreeable and 
 profitable for use. And the learned, to whom I 
 communicated my design, encouraged me very 
 much (by their commendations) to proceed in 
 it ; and more especially when I informed them, 
 that it is not in Asia as in our Europe, where 
 there are frequent changes, more or less, in the 
 form of things, as the habits, buildings, gar- 
 dens, and the like. In the East they are con- 
 stant in all things : the habits are at this day in 
 the same manner as in the precedent ages, so 
 that one may reasonably believe, that in that 
 part of the world the exterior forms of things.
 
 PREFACE. XV 
 
 (as their manners and customs) are the same now 
 as they were two thousand years since, except in 
 such changes as may have been introduced by 
 religion, which are nevertheless very inconsider- 
 able." {Preface to Travels in Persia, p. vi.) 
 
 The language of the scriptures is highly figu- 
 rative. It abounds with allusions and metaphors, 
 and from this source obtains many of its beau- 
 ties. The objects of nature, and the manners of 
 nations, are introduced to diversify and adorn 
 the sacred page; and many of the boldest and 
 finest images, which are there to be found, are 
 formed upon established customs. Such pas- 
 sages, when first delivered, were easily under- 
 stood and fully comprehended, and came to the 
 mind with an energy which gave them certain 
 effect. If a similar influence do not accompany 
 them to persons whose residence is in distant 
 climes and ages, it is because they are unac- 
 quainted with such circumstances as are therein 
 alluded to, or because they suffer their own 
 habits and manners to prepossess the mind with 
 disaffection, to every thing discordant from its 
 own particular and favourite modes. If we 
 desire to understand the word of God as it was 
 originally revealed, we must not fail to advert 
 to its peculiarities, and especially those of the 
 description in question. It will be found abso- 
 lutely impossible to develope the meaning of
 
 XVI PREFACE. 
 
 many passages, without recurring to the customs 
 with which they are connected ; and these, when 
 brought forward, will remove the abstruseness 
 which was supposed to attend the subject, and 
 give it a just and clear representation. 
 
 The accumulated labours of biblical critics 
 have succeeded in clearing up many difficulties; 
 but in some instances they have failed, and have 
 left the inquirer bewildered and perplexed. The 
 reason they have not done better has been the 
 want of a proper attention to oriental customs. 
 Commentators in general have not sufficiently 
 availed themselves of the assistance of travellers 
 into the East. It is but rarely that any mate- 
 rials are drawn from their journals to elucidate 
 the scriptures. The few instances which occur 
 of this sort, discover how happily they may be 
 explained by this method, and excite our sur- 
 prise and regret at the neglect of it. 
 
 A spirit of inquiry and research seems to have 
 animated those persons, who, during the two 
 last centuries, explored the regions of the East. 
 Many of them were men of considerable natural 
 talents, and acquired learning. While they in- 
 dulged a laudable curiosity in collecting inform- 
 ation on general subjects, they did not neglect 
 sacred literature. By their industry the geogra- 
 phy, natural history, religious ceremonies, and
 
 Preface. xvii 
 
 miscellaneous customs of the Bible and the 
 eastern nations have been compared and ex- 
 plained, and that essentially to the advantage 
 of the former. 
 
 But with regard to these writers it must be 
 observed, that many excellent things of the kind 
 here adverted to are only incidentally mentioned. 
 Some observations which they have made are 
 capable of an application which did not present 
 itself to their minds ; so that in addition to a 
 number of passages which they have professedly 
 explained, select portions of their works may be 
 brought into the same service. To collect these 
 scattered fragments, and make a proper use of 
 them, is certainly a laborious work : it has, 
 however, been ably executed by the late Mr. 
 Harmer; his Observations on divers Passages of 
 Scripture are well known and highly esteemed. 
 It must be acknowledged to his praise, that he 
 led the way in this department of literature, and 
 has contributed as much as any one man to dis- 
 seminate the true knowledge of many parts of 
 holy writ. But his work is too copious for 
 general utility : it will never fail to be read by 
 the scholar ; but it cannot be expected that the 
 generality of christians can derive much benefit 
 from that, which from its extent is almost inac- 
 cessible to many persons. It must also be ad- 
 mitted that some of the subjects which are there 
 
 vol. r. a
 
 XV111 PREFACE. 
 
 discussed may be dispensed with, as not being 
 of much importance. The style is sometimes* 
 prolix, and difficult of conception, and the ar- 
 rangement is certainly capable of improvement. 
 On the whole, the book would be more valuable 
 if it were more select in its subjects and com- 
 pressed in its language. This object long ap- 
 peared so important, that I determined to 
 execute an abridgment of these observations 
 for my own private use ; but upon further 
 reflection, I was induced to undertake the 
 compilation of a volume to include the sub- 
 stance of the best writers of this class. The 
 production now offered to the public is the fruit 
 of that resolution. 
 
 I have endeavoured to select from Mr. Har- 
 mer's Observations whatever appeared important 
 and interesting. This has not indeed been done 
 in the form of a regular abridgment ; but after 
 extracting such materials as appeared suitable, 
 I have inserted them in those places, where, 
 according to the passages prefixed to each of 
 the articles, they ought to stand. This method 
 I apprehend to be new, and not before at- 
 tempted, but I hope will prove both agreeable 
 and useful. As it is the avowed intention of 
 each article to explain some passage, it is proper 
 that it should be inserted at length, and in a 
 
 10
 
 PREFACE. XIX 
 
 manner so conspicuous as at once to attract the 
 attention of the reader. 
 
 To the materials collected from Mr. Harmer, 
 have been added some very important remarks 
 from Sh?w, Pococke, Russell, Bruce, and other 
 eminent writers. It is admitted that many of 
 these things have repeatedly passed through the 
 press ; but as the valuable observations which 
 have been made by travellers and critics lie 
 interspersed in separate and expensive pub- 
 lications, a compendious selection of them 
 appeared very desirable, and is here accom- 
 plished. 
 
 But many of the following observations are 
 original : they are not however particularly dis- 
 tinguished from the rest. I must here avail 
 myself of an opportunity to acknowledge my 
 obligations to the late Mr. Gillingwater, of 
 Harleston in Norfolk, for the very liberal 
 manner in which he favoured me with the use 
 of his manuscript papers. They consist of ad- 
 ditions to, and corrections of Mr. Harmer's 
 Observations, and were communicated to that 
 gentleman with a view to assist him in the 
 farther prosecution of his work ; but it was too 
 late, as the fourth and last volume was then 
 nearly completed at the press, and in a single 
 instance only towards the close of it was any 
 
 a 2
 
 XX PREFACE. 
 
 use made of these materials. From this collec- 
 tion I have made many extracts, and have en- 
 riched this volume with several new articles on 
 subjects which had not before been discussed. 
 In the progress of my work I have also derived 
 very considerable assistance from many valuable 
 books furnished by James Brown, Esq. F.A.S. 
 of St. Albans, for which I acknowledge myself 
 greatly obliged, and especially for his very care- 
 ful correction of the manuscript before it went 
 to the press. 
 
 That this work might be rendered acceptable 
 to the scholar,, and those who have inclination to 
 consult the sources from whence the information 
 it contains is drawn, the authorities in most in- 
 stances have been very particularly inserted. 
 It must however be observed, that one principal 
 object in view was the advantage of christians 
 in general. I have aimed to furnish the plain 
 reader with a book to which he may refer for 
 information, on such passages of scripture as 
 appear obscure and difficult, at least those which 
 are to be explained by the method here adopted. 
 Two indexes, one of scriptures incidentally il- 
 lustrated, and the other of subjects discussed, 
 are subjoined : an appendage, which I conceive 
 no book ought to be destitute of that is designed 
 to be useful.
 
 PREFACE. XXI 
 
 A very considerable ciaim to candour may be 
 advanced in favour of this work. The number 
 and difficulty of the subjects treated of — the 
 compass of reading necessary to obtain materials 
 to elucidate them — the singular felicity of 
 avoiding undue prolixity or unsatisfactory con- 
 ciseness — and the perplexity arising from trie 
 jarring opinions of learned men on many of 
 these subjects, render it an arduous task for an 
 individual to accomplish. Without presuming 
 to suppose that I have always succeeded in as- 
 certaining the true meaning of those difficult 
 texts which are brought forward, I have done 
 the best which I could to remove their obscu- 
 rity, and to give them a consistent and intelli- 
 gible meaning. Nee semper feriet quodcunque 
 minabitnr arcus. Many of the observations here 
 advanced are indeed rather proposed to consi- 
 deration, than offered to decide positively the 
 meaning of those passages to which they are 
 attached. The same diversity of sentiment 
 which has influenced commentators and pre- 
 vented an unanimity of judgment, may justly 
 be supposed to induce some readers to form their 
 opinion as variously. 
 
 SAMUEL BURDER. 
 Jan. 8. 1802.
 
 ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 TO THE 
 
 FIFTH EDITION. 
 
 TN presenting this new edition of his work to 
 the public, the author would be deficient in 
 gratitude, if he did not acknowledge the deep 
 sense of obligation he feels for the candid and 
 general favor which it has obtained. Stimulated 
 by expressions of approbation from those who 
 are well able to appreciate the mode of inter- 
 preting scripture which is here adopted, — 
 conscious that the study of the inspired volume 
 will thus be facilitated and rendered agreeable, 
 — and sensible that much was still wanting and 
 might be added to what he had before accom- 
 plished, he has given a thorough revision to his 
 volumes. Having been published at separate 
 and distant periods, each volume contained a 
 distinct series of references to the passages of 
 scripture attempted to be illustrated. But this 
 was obviously an imperfection, and it was highly 
 desirable to consolidate the whole in one ar- 
 rangement. This has accordingly been effected. 
 The indexes have likewise been incorporated and 
 considerably enlarged. An addition of nearly
 
 XXIV ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 an hundred pages, consisting of extracts from 
 important books of voyages and travels recently 
 published, will be found in the present edition. 
 
 It was the author's intention to have accom- 
 panied this edition of his work with a list of 
 books on Oriental Antiquities : but he has been 
 induced to omit it, because he found that to 
 restrict the catalogue to those learned writers 
 to whom he has referred, would have excluded 
 others of equal value and importance, — that to 
 have inserted them, would have enlarged the 
 number much beyond proper limits, and have 
 destroyed the only line of distinction appro- 
 priate to his own production. Under the 
 recommendation, therefore, of some learned 
 friends, he proposes, as soon as such a task can 
 be completed, to publish a separate work, com- 
 prising a dissertation on the utility of Eastern 
 literature in illustrating the scriptures, and a 
 copious list of the best writers of all nations on 
 antiquities, manners, and customs, pointing out 
 from the best authorities the nature of their 
 respective works. 
 
 London, Feb. 22, 1816.
 
 ORIENTAL CUSTOMS 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SACRED SCRIPTURES. 
 
 No. 1.— GENESIS, i. 5. 
 
 And the evening and the morning *were thejirst day, 
 
 T^HE Mosaical method of computing days from sun- 
 set to sun-set, and of reckoning by nights instead 
 of days, prevailed amongst the polished Athenians. 
 Eos (i. e. Athenienses) a sole occaso ad solem iterum Occi- 
 dent em omne id medium tempus unum diem esse dicer e. (A. 
 Gell. Noct. Att. lib. iii. c. 2. p. 208.) From a similar 
 custom of our Gothic ancestors, during their abode in 
 the forests of Germany, words expressive of such a mode 
 of calculation, (such as fortnight, se'n night,) have been 
 derived into our own language. The same custom, as 
 we are informed by Ccesar, prevailed among the Celtic 
 nations. " All the Gauls," says he, " measure time, 
 not by the number of days, but of nights. Accordingly 
 they observe their birth-days, and the beginning of 
 months and years, in such a manner, as to cause the 
 day to follow the night." See also Tacitus de Mor. 
 Germ. The Numidians computed their time in the same 
 manner by nights, which they probably learned from 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 2 GENESIS. 
 
 the Phoenicians. (Nic. Damascende Numidis.) Thales- 
 being asked which was first, night or day, answered? 
 " that night was before there was one day." 
 
 No. 2. — iii. 15. It shall bruise thy head, and thou 
 shall bruise his heel.~\ The following traditions of the 
 promised Messiah are remarkable for their coincidence 
 with the first promise, and must have had an higher 
 origin than unassisted human invention. In the Gothic 
 mythology, Thor is represented as the first-born of the 
 supreme God, and is styled in the Edda, the eldest of 
 sons ; he was esteemed a " middle divinity, a mediator 
 between God and man." With regard to his actions, 
 he is said to have wrestled with death, and, in the 
 struggle, to have been brought upon one knee , to have 
 bruised the head of the great serpent with his mace ; and 
 in his final engagement with that monster to have beat 
 him to the earth, and slain him. This victory, however, 
 is not obtained but at the expence of his own life: 
 " Recoiling back nine steps, he falls dead upon the spot, 
 suffocated with the floods of venom, which the serpent 
 vomits forth upon him." (Edda, Fab. 11. 25. 27. 32.) 
 Much the same notion, we are informed, is prevalent in 
 the mythology of the Hindoos. Two sculptured figures 
 are yet extant in one of their oldest pagodas, the former 
 of which represents Chreeshna, an incarnation of their 
 mediatorial God Vishnu, trampling on the crushed head 
 of the serpent : while in the latter it is seen encircling 
 the deity in its folds, and biting his heel. (Maurice's 
 Mist, of Hindosta?i, vol. ii. p. 290.) It is said that 
 Zeradusht, or Zoroaster, predicted in the Zendavesta, 
 that in the latter days would appear a man called 
 Oshanderbegha, who was destined to bless the earth by 
 the introduction of justice and religion ; that, in his 
 time, would likewise appear a malignant demon, who 
 would oppose his plans, and trouble his empire, for the
 
 GENESIS. 3 
 
 space of twenty years; that afterwards, Osiclerbegha 
 would revive the practice of justice, put an end to 
 injuries, and re-establish such customs as are immutable 
 in their nature : that kings should be obedient to him, 
 and advance his affairs ; that the cause of true religion 
 should flourish ; that peace and tranquillity should pre- 
 vail, and discord and trouble cease. (Hyde, de Relig. 
 vet, Pers. c. 31.) According to Abulpharagius, the 
 Persian legislator wrote of the advent of the Messiah in 
 terms even more express than those contained in the 
 foregoing prediction. " Zeradusht," says he, " the 
 preceptor of the magi, taught the Persians concerning 
 the manifestation of Christ, and ordered them to bring 
 gifts to him, in token of their reverence and submission. 
 He declared, that in the latter days a pure virgin would 
 conceive ; and that as soon as the child was born, a star 
 would appear, blazing even at noon day with undi- 
 minished lustre. " You, my sons," exclaims the venera- 
 ble seer, " will perceive its rising, before any other 
 nation. As soon, therefore, as you shall behold the star, 
 follow it whithersoever it shall lead you, and adore that 
 mysterious child, offering your gifts to him with the pro- 
 foundest humility. He is the almighty word, which 
 created the heavens." (Cited by Hyde, de Relig. vet. 
 Pers. c. 31.) 
 
 On the subject of the antipathy between serpents and 
 the human race, see Mede's Works, b. i. disc. 39. 
 p. 295. Franz. Hist. Animal, part. iv. c. 1. Topsel's 
 History of Serpents, p. 604. 
 
 No. 3. — iv. 3. Cain brought of the fruit of the ground 
 an offering unto the Lord.~] " To offer to the Deity 
 the first-fruits of the tender herbage, springing up' in 
 thevernal season, and of the different kinds of grain 
 and fruits matured by a warm sun, was the practice of 
 mankind in the infancy of the world. The earliest 
 
 B 2
 
 4 GENESIS. 
 
 instance of these oblations on record is that of Cain, 
 the eldest son of the first great husbandman, who, 
 doubtless following paternal precedent, brought of the 
 
 fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord ; and of 
 Abel, who also, to the sacred altar of God brought of the 
 
 firstlings of his fock. The Jews, whose religious customs 
 are, in many respects, similar to the Hindoos, in every 
 age and period of their empire, inviolably consecrated to 
 heaven, the first-fruits of their oil, their wine, and their 
 •wheat, and, by the divine institution, even whatsoever 
 opened the womb, whether of man or beast, was sacred to 
 the Lord. {Numb, xviii. 12.) 
 
 There was, according to Porphyry, ( De Abstinenlia, 
 p. 73.) a very curious and ancient festival, annually 
 celebrated at Athens, to the honour of the Sun and 
 Hours, which, in the simplicity of the offerings, re- 
 markably resembled the practice of the first ages. 
 During that festival, consecrated grass was carried 
 about, in which the kernels of olives were wrapped up, 
 together with figs, all kinds of pulse, oaken leaves, 
 with acorns, and cakes composed of the meal of wheat 
 and barley, heaped up in a pyramidal form, allusive to 
 the sun-beams that ripened the grain, as well as to the 
 fire in which they were finally consumed." Maurice's 
 Indian Antiquities^ vol. v. p. 132. See also Eusebius's 
 Preparation for spreading the Gospel, b. i. p. 29. Eng. 
 edit. 
 
 No. 4. — iv. 4. Abel brought of the firstlings of his 
 flodc.~\ The universality of sacrificial rites will natu- 
 rally produce an enquiry into the source, from which 
 such a custom so inexplicable upon any principles 
 of- mere natural reason, could have been derived. And 
 here we are involuntarily led to the first institution of 
 this ordinance, which is so particularly recorded in 
 Scripture. When it pleased God to reveal his gracious
 
 GENESIS. b 
 
 purpose of redeeming lost mankind by the blood of the 
 Messiah, it would doubtless be highly expedient to 
 institute some visible sign, some external representation, 
 by which the mysterious sacrifice of Mount Calvary 
 might be prophetically exhibited to all the posterity of 
 Adam. With this view, a pure and immaculate victim, 
 the firstling of the flock, was carefully selected; and, 
 after its blood had been shed, was solemnly appointed 
 to blaze upon the altar of Jehovah. When the first 
 typical sacrifice was offered up, fire miraculously de- 
 scended from heaven, and consumed it ; and when this 
 primitive ordinance was renewed under the levitical 
 priesthood, two circumstances are particularly worthy of 
 observation — that the victim should be a Jirstling — and 
 that the oblation should be made by the instrumentality of 
 fire. It is remarkable that both these primitive customs 
 have been faithfully preserved in the heathen world; — 
 The Canaanites caused their first-born to pass through the 
 fire, with a view of appeasing the anger of their false 
 deities ; and one of the kings of Moab is said to have 
 offered up his eldest son as a burnt offering, when in 
 danger from the superior prowess of the Edomites. 
 2 Kings, iii. 27. Nor was the belief, that the gods were 
 rendered propitious by this particular mode of sacrifice, 
 confined to the nations which were more immediately 
 contiguous to the territories of Israel. We learn from 
 Homer, that a whole hecatomb of firstling lambs was no 
 uncommon offering among his countrymen. (Iliad, iv. 
 ver. 202.) And the ancient Goths, having " laid it down 
 as a principle, that the effusion of the blood of animals 
 appeased the anger of the gods, and that their justice 
 turned aside upon the victims those strokes which were 
 destined for men," (Mallet's North. Antiq. vol. i. 
 chap. 7.) soon proceeded to greater lengths, and adopted 
 the horrid practice of devoting human victims. In 
 honour of the mystical number three, a number deemed 
 
 » 3
 
 6 GENESIS. 
 
 particularly dear to Heaven, every ninth month wit- 
 nessed the groans and dying struggles of nine unfortu- 
 nate victims. The fatal blow being struck, the lifeless 
 bodies were consumed in the sacred fire, which was kept 
 perpetually burning; while the blood, in singular con- 
 formity with the levitical ordinances, was sprinkled, 
 partly upon the surrounding multitude, partly upon the 
 trees of the hallowed grove, and partly upon the images 
 of their idols. (Mallet's North. Antiq. vol. i. chap. 7.) 
 Even the remote inhabitants of America have retained 
 similar customs, and for similar reasons. It is some- 
 where observed by Acosta, that in cases of sickness it is 
 usual for a Peruvian to sacrifice his son to Virachoca, 
 beseeching him to spare his life, and to be satisfied 
 with the blood of his child. Faber's Hot a Mosaics 
 vol. i. p. 88. 
 
 No. 5. — iv. 15. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain.~\ 
 Among the laws attributed to Menu, the following 
 appointment is a remarkable instance of coincidence 
 with, if it cannot be admitted to have been derived 
 from, the punishment of Cain. 
 
 The following marks were to be impressed on the 
 forehead with a hot iron for the various offences spe- 
 cified. 
 
 " For drinking spirits, a vintner's flag : 
 For stealing sacred gold, a dog's foot : 
 For murdering a priest, the figure of a headless 
 
 corpse : 
 With none to eat with them, 
 With none to sacrifice with them, 
 With none to be allied by marriage to them; 
 Abject, and excluded from all social duties, 
 Let them wander over the earth ; 
 Branded with indelible marks,
 
 GENESIS. 7 
 
 They shall be deserted by their paternal and ma- 
 ternal relations, 
 Treated by none with affection, 
 Received by none with respect, 
 Such is the ordinance of Menu." 
 " Criminals, of all the classes, having performed an 
 expiation, as ordained by law, shall not be marked on 
 the forehead, but be condemned to pay the highest 
 fine." 
 
 No. 6. — v. 24. God took him.'] The following sin- 
 gular tradition may possibly have some reference to 
 the translation of Enoch : " The Kalmucks, among 
 other idols, worship in a peculiar manner one, which 
 they call Xacamuni. They say, that four thousand 
 years ago, he was only a sovereign prince in India ; but, 
 on account of his unparalleled sanctity, God had taken 
 him up to heaven alive." Von Strahlenberg's Siberia, 
 p. 409. 
 
 No. 7. — viii. 11. And the dove came in to him in 
 the eveni?ig, and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf 
 plucked off.] The connection between Noah's dove 
 and an olive leaf will not appear at all unnatural, if we 
 consider what Dr. Chandler has related. He says, 
 [Trav. in Asia Minor, p. 84.) that the olive groves 
 are the principal places for shooting birds. And in the 
 account of his travels in Greece, (p. 127.) he observes, 
 that when the olive blackens, vast flights of doves, 
 pigeons, thrushes, and other birds repair to the olive 
 groves for food. See also Hasselouist, p. 212. 
 Harmer, vol. iv. p. 191. 
 
 No. 8. — ix. 4. But flesh with the life thereof, which 
 is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.] Mr. Bruce has 
 given a very extraordinary account of the practice of 
 
 b 4
 
 & GENESIS. 
 
 eating blood in Abyssinia. This custom, so prevalent 
 in several places, is forbidden in the Scriptures. A re- 
 cital of the narrative will probably suggest to the reader 
 the reasons of the prohibition. Mr. Briwe tells us, that 
 " not long after our losing sight of the ruins of this an- 
 cient capital of Abyssinia, we overtook three travellers 
 driving a cow before them : they had black goat skins 
 upon their shoulders, and lances and shields in their 
 hands ; in other respects they were but thinly clothed ; 
 they appeared to be soldiers. The cow did not seem to 
 be fatted for killing, and it occurred to us all, that it 
 had been stolen. This, however, was not our business, 
 nor was such an occurrence at all remarkable in a 
 country so long engaged in Mar. We saw that our at- 
 tendants attached themselves in a particular manner, to 
 the three soldiers that were driving the cow, and held a 
 short conversation with them. Soon after, we arrived at 
 the hithermost bank of the river, where I thought we 
 were to pitch our tent : the drivers suddenly tript up 
 the cow, and gave the poor animal a very rude fall upon 
 the ground, which was but the beginning of her suffer- 
 ings. One of them sat across her neck, holding down 
 her head by the horns, the other twisted the halter about 
 her fore feet, while the third, who had a knife in his 
 hand, to my very great surprise, in place of taking her 
 by the throat, got astride upon her belly, before her 
 hind legs, and gave her a very deep wound in the upper 
 part of the buttock. From the time I had seen them 
 throw the beast upon the ground, I had rejoiced, think- 
 ing that when three people were killing a cow, they 
 must have agreed to sell part of her to us ; and I was 
 much disappointed upon hearing the Abyssinians say, 
 that we were to pass the river to the other side, and not 
 encamp where I intended. Upon my proposing they 
 should bargain for part of the cow, my men answered, 
 what they had already learned in conversation, that they
 
 GENESIS. 9 
 
 were not then to kill her : that she was not wholly theirs, 
 and they could not sell her. This awakened my curio- 
 sity ; I let my people go forward, and staid myself, till 
 I saw, with the utmost astonishment, two pieces, thicker 
 and longer than our ordinary beef steaks, cut out of the 
 higher part of the buttock of the beast : how it was done 
 I cannot positively say, because, judging the cow was to 
 be killed from the moment I saw the knife drawn, I was 
 not anxious to view that catastrophe, which was by no 
 means an object of curiosity : whatever way it was done, 
 it surely was adroitly, and the two pieces were spread 
 upon the outside of one of their shields. One of them 
 still continued holding the head, while the other two 
 were busy in curing the wound. This, too, was done 
 not in an ordinary manner. The skin, which had co- 
 vered the flesh that was taken away, was left intire, and 
 flapped over the wound, and was fastened to the cor- 
 responding part by two or more small skewers or pins. 
 Whether they had put any thing under the skin, between 
 that and the wounded flesh, I know not ; but, at the ri- 
 ver side where they were, they had prepared a cata- 
 plasm of clay, with which they covered the wound ; 
 they then forced the animal to rise, and drove it on 
 before them, to furnish them with a fuller meal when 
 they should meet their companions in the evening." 
 {Travels, vol. iii. p. 14-2.) " We have an instance, in 
 the life of Saul, that shews the propensity of the 
 Israelites to this crime : Saul's army, after a battle, Jlew, 
 that is, fell voraciously upon the cattle they had taken, 
 and threw them upon the ground to cut off their flesh, 
 and eat them raw ; so that the army was defiled by eat- 
 ing blood, or living animals. 1 Sam. xiv. 33. To prevent 
 this, Saul caused to be rolled to him a great stone, and 
 ordered those that killed their oxen, to cut their throats 
 upon that stone. This was the only lawful way of killing 
 animals for food ; the tying of the ox, and throwing it
 
 10 GENESIS. 
 
 upon the ground was not permitted as equivalent. The 
 Israelites did probably, in that case, as the Abyssinians 
 do at this day ; they cut a part of its throat, so that 
 blood might be seen on the ground, but nothing mortal 
 to the animal followed from that wound ; but, after lay- 
 ing his head upon a large stone, and cutting his throat, 
 the blood fell from on high, or was poured on the 
 ground like water, and sufficient evidence appeared that 
 the creature was dead, before it was attempted to eat it. 
 We have seen that the Abyssinians came from Pales- 
 tine a very few years after this, and we are not to doubt, 
 that they then carried with them this, with many other 
 Jewish customs, which they have continued to this day." 
 (Bruce's Travels, vol. iii. p. 299.) To corroborate the 
 account given by Mr. Bruce, in these extracts, it may 
 be satisfactory to affix what Mr. Antes has said upon the 
 subject, in his Observations on the Manners and Cus- 
 toms of the Egyptians, p. 17. "When Mr. Bruce returned 
 from Abyssinia, I was at Grand Cairo. I had the plea- 
 sure of his company for three months almost every day ; 
 and having, at that time, myself an idea of penetrating 
 into Abyssinia, I was very inquisitive about that coun- 
 try, on hearing many things from him which seemed 
 almost incredible to me; I used to ask his Greek servant 
 Michael, (a simple fellow, incapable of any invention,) 
 about the same circumstance, and must say, that he 
 commonly agreed with his master, as to the chief points. 
 The description Mr. Bruce makes concerning the bloody 
 banquet of live oxen among the natives, he happened 
 never to mention to me, else I could have made the 
 same enquiry : but I heard not only this servant, but 
 many eye witnesses, often speak of the Abyssinians eating 
 raw meat." 
 
 " In the course of these desperate expeditions, scenes of 
 barbarity were occasionally said to have occurred, which 
 appear strongly to corroborate an account given by
 
 GENESIS. 11 
 
 Mr. Bruce respecting a circumstance that he had wit- 
 nessed in travelling from Axum to the Tacazzee, which, 
 from being too generally discredited, has drawn upon 
 him much unmerited ridicule and severity of criticism. 
 I shall proceed to relate one of these occurences which 
 Mr. Pearce himself witnessed. 
 
 On the 7th of February, while these transactions were 
 passing, he went out with a party of Lasta soldiers on 
 one of their marauding expeditions, and in the course of 
 the day they got possession of several head of cattle, with 
 which, towards evening, they made the best of their way 
 back to the camp. They had then fasted for many 
 hours, and still a considerable distance remained for 
 them to travel. Under these circumstances, a soldier 
 attached to the party, proposed " cutting out the shula- 
 da" from one of the cows they were driving before them, 
 to satisfy the cravings of their hunger. This " term" 
 Mr. Pearce did not at first understand, but he was not 
 long left in doubt upon the subject ; for, the others having 
 assented, they laid hold of the animal by the horns, threw 
 it down, and proceeded without farther ceremony to the 
 operation. This consisted in cutting out two pieces of 
 flesh from the buttock, near the tail, which together, 
 Mr. Pearce supposed, might weigh about a pound ; the 
 pieces so cut out being called " shulada," and compos- 
 ing, as far as I could ascertain, part of the two " glutei 
 maximi," or " larger muscles of the thigh." As soon 
 as they had taken these away, they sewed up the wounds, 
 plastered them over with cow-dung, and drove the animal 
 forwards, while they divided among their party the still 
 reeking steaks. 
 
 They wanted Mr. Pearce to partake of this meat, raw 
 as it came from the cow, but he was too much disgusted 
 with the scene to comply with their offer; though he 
 declared he was so hungry at the time, that he could 
 without remorse have eaten raw flesh, had the animal
 
 12 GENESIS. 
 
 been killed in the ordinary way ; a practice which, I may 
 here observe, he never could before be induced to adopt, 
 notwithstanding its being general throughout the country. 
 The animal, after this barbarous operation, walked some- 
 what lame, but nevertheless managed to reach the camp 
 without any apparent injury, and immediately after their 
 arrival, it was killed by the Worari and consumed for 
 their supper." Salt's Voyage to Abyssinia, p. 295. 
 
 The account which Mr. Bruce has given receives con- 
 firmation and establishment from the testimony of Sir 
 William Jones, who, in a letter to Dr. P. Russell, says, 
 " there is an Abyssinian here, who knew Mr. Bruce at 
 Gwender. I have examined him, and he confirms 
 Bruce' s account." [Works, vol. ii. p. 33.) 
 
 No. 9. — xii. 7. There builded he an altar unto the 
 Lord, who appeared unto him.~] The patriarchs took 
 care to preserve the memory of considerable events by 
 setting up altars and pillars, and other lasting monu- 
 ments. Thus Abraham erected monuments in divers 
 places where God had appeared to him. Gen. xiii. ib\ 
 Jacob consecrated the stone which served him for a 
 pillow while he had the mysterious dream of the ladder. 
 Gen. xxviii. 18. And the heap of stones which was 
 witness to his covenant with Laban he called Galeed. 
 Gen. xxxi. 48. Of this kind was the sepulchre of 
 Rachel, the well called Beer-sheba, Gen. xxvi. 33. and 
 all the other wells mentioned in the history of Isaac. 
 Sometimes they gave new names to places. The Greeks 
 and Romans relate the same of their heroes, the oldest 
 of whom lived near the time of the patriarchs. (Pausan. 
 Dion. Hal. lib. iii.) Greece was full of their monu- 
 ments. ^Eneas, to mention no others, left some in every- 
 place that he passed through in Greece, Sicily, and 
 Italy. (Virgil. JEn. passim.) Fleury's Hist, of 
 Israelites, p. 8.
 
 GENESIS. 13 
 
 No. 10. — xiv. 18. Melchizedec king of Salem.'] It 
 was customary among the ancients to unite the sove- 
 reignty and chief priesthood together. 
 
 Rex Anius, rex idem hominum Phoebique sacerdos. 
 
 JEn. m. 80. 
 
 King Anius, both Icing of men, and priest of Apollo. 
 
 The Lacedaemonian kings, at their coronation, were 
 consecrated priests of Jupiter Ovgav^, and executed the 
 office in their own persons. The Roman emperors were 
 stiled high-priests likewise, Pontifex summits Imperator. 
 Julius Casar was not only Pontifex Maximus, but par- 
 ticularly the priest of Vesta ; 
 
 Meus fuit ille Sacerdos : 
 
 Sacrilegae telis me petiere manus. Ovid. Fast, l.iii. v. 699. 
 
 Ccesar was mine, my sacred priest was he ; 
 Through him your imj)ious weapons wounded me. 
 
 ^T^aT>jyoj ^v act) Sixapjj 6 /3a<nAeu$ xai twv -crgoj tS$ §zS$ 
 xugi&. Kuptoi Se v\<iolv Trjf Tc xara 'DToAeju.ov »jy£jxov/a£, xai 
 twv $U(nwv, o<rcct py Ugarixu). Aristot. Polit. 3. c. 14. 
 
 Ipse plurima sacra obibat. Livius, 1. i. c. 20, 
 
 Mos apud Judaeos fuit, ut eosdem reges et sacerdotes 
 haberent, quorum justitia religione permixta, incredibile 
 quantum coaluere. Justin us, 1. xxxvi. c. 3. 
 
 Each patriarch sate, 
 
 King, priest, and parent of his growing state. 
 
 Pope, Essay on Man, Ep. iii. 3. 
 
 This custom continued a great while in some parts of 
 the world, especially in Asia Minor, (Strabo, 1. xii. 
 p. 851.) where even in the time of the Romans, the chief 
 priest was the prince of the province.
 
 14. GENESIS. 
 
 Pythodorus the high priest of Zela and Comana, in 
 Armenia, was the king of the country. (Strabo, 1. xii. 
 p. 838.) Vide also Livy, 1. i. c. 20. 
 
 No. 11. — xv. 10. Divided them in the midst. ~\ There 
 is no footstep of this rite any where in the Scripture, 
 except in Jer. xxxiv. 18, 19. But from this affair of 
 Abraham, it appears to have been very ancient. St. 
 Cyril, in his tenth book against Julian, derives this 
 custom from the ancient Chaldseans. Others derive the 
 word JT*Qj birith, which signifies a covenant, from 
 "irQj batar, which signifies to divide or cut asunder, 
 because covenants were made by dividing a beast, and 
 by the parties covenanting passing between the parts of 
 the beast so divided : intimating that so should they be 
 cut asunder who broke the covenant. We find in Ze- 
 nobius, that the people called Molotti retained some- 
 thing of this custom ; for they confirmed their oaths, 
 when they made their covenants, by cutting oxen into 
 little bits. Patrick, in loc. 
 
 Rabbi Solomon Jarchi says that " it was a custom with 
 those who entered into covenant with each other, to 
 take a heifer and cut it in two, and then, the contracting 
 parties passed between the pieces." For whatever pur- 
 pose a covenant was made, it was ever ratified by a 
 sacrifice offered to God : and the passing between the 
 divided pieces of the victim, appears to have signified, 
 that each agreed, if they broke their engagements, to 
 submit to the punishment of being cut asunder. Matt. 
 xxiv. 51. Luke, xii. 46. This is further confirmed by 
 Herodotus (lib. ii.) who says, that Sabacus, king of 
 Ethiopia, had a. vision, in which he was ordered ps<rov$ 
 footTsu.siv to cut in two, all the Egyptian priests. We 
 find also from the same author (lib. vii.) that Xerxes 
 ordered one of the sons of Py thius to be cut in two, and
 
 GENESIS. IB 
 
 one half to be placed on each side of the way, that his 
 army might pass between them. That covenant sacri- 
 fices were then divided, even from the remotest an- 
 tiquity, we learn from Homer : 
 
 At7TTti^a. TTOiricravTES, ett* kvtuv S' WjuoOeTHCav. //. A. V. 460. 
 
 They cut the quarters, and cover them with the fat : 
 dividing them into two, they place the raw flesh upon 
 them. 
 
 No. 12. — xvi. 12. His hand will be against every 
 man, and every ?nan's hand against him.'] " The one is 
 the natural, and almost necessary consequence of the 
 other. Ishmael lived by prey and rapine in the wilder- 
 ness : and his posterity have all along infested Arabia 
 and the neighbouring countries with their robberies and 
 incursions. They live in a state of continual war with 
 the rest of the world, and are both robbers by land, and 
 pirates by sea. As they have been such enemies to man- 
 kind, it is no wonder that mankind have been enemies 
 to them again ; that several attempts have been made to 
 extirpate them; and even now as well as formerly 
 travellers are forced to go with arms, and in caravans 
 or large companies, and to march and keep watch like 
 a little army, to defend themselves from the assaults of 
 these free-booters, who run about in troops, and rob 
 and plunder all whom they can by any means subdue. 
 These robberies they also justify, by alledging the hard 
 usage of their father Ishmael, who being turned out 
 of doors by Abraham, had the open plains and deserts 
 given him by God for his patrimony, with permission 
 to take whatever he could find there ; and on this account 
 they think they may, with a safe conscience, indemnify 
 themselves, as well as they can, not only on the posterity
 
 14 GENESIS. 
 
 Pythodorus the high priest of Zela and Comana, in 
 Armenia, was the king of the country. (Strabo, 1. xii. 
 p. 838.) Vide also Livy, 1. i. c. 20. 
 
 No. 11. — xv. 10. Divided them in the midst.'] There 
 is no footstep of this rite any where in the Scripture, 
 except in Jer. xxxiv. 18, 19. But from this affair of 
 Abraham, it appears to have been very ancient. St. 
 Cyril, in his tenth book against Julian, derives this 
 custom from the ancient Chaldaeans. Others derive the 
 word rP"Q5 birith, which signifies a covenant, from 
 "irOj batar, which signifies to divide or cut asunder, 
 because covenants were made by dividing a beast, and 
 by the parties covenanting passing between the parts of 
 the beast so divided : intimating that so should they be 
 cut asunder who broke the covenant. We find in Ze- 
 nobius, that the people called Molotti retained some- 
 thing of this custom; for they confirmed their oaths, 
 when they made their covenants, by cutting oxen into 
 little bits. Patrick, in loc. 
 
 Rabbi Solomon Jarchi says that " it was a custom with 
 those who entered into covenant with each other, to 
 take a heifer and cut it in two, and then, the contracting 
 parties passed between the pieces." For whatever pur- 
 pose a covenant was made, it was ever ratified by a 
 sacrifice offered to God : and the passing between the 
 divided pieces of the victim, appears to have signified, 
 that each agreed, if they broke their engagements, to 
 submit to the punishment of being cut asunder. Matt. 
 xxiv. 51. Luke, xii. 46. This is further confirmed by 
 Herodotus (lib. ii.) who says, that Sabacus, king of 
 Ethiopia, had a. vision, in which he was ordered p*<rov$ 
 SiaTSjxeiv to cut in two, all the Egyptian priests. We 
 find also from the same author (lib. vii.) that Xerxes 
 ordered one of the sons of Py thius to be cut in two, and
 
 GENESIS. J 5 
 
 one half to be placed on each side of the way, that his 
 army might pass between them. That covenant sacri- 
 fices were then divided, even from the remotest an- 
 tiquity, we learn from Homer : 
 
 Mspon? r' e|et«/xov, x.ut<x, te xncra-n sxaXi/ 1 ay, 
 
 Aitttvxoc, 'WOWG-a.Yriq, E7T* uvTM <? upoQzrricra.v, II. A. V. 460. 
 
 They cut the quarters, and cover them with the fat : 
 dividing them into two, they place the raw flesh upon 
 them. 
 
 No. 12. — xvi. 12. His hand iicitt be against every 
 man, and every man's hand against him.~\ " The one is 
 the natural, and almost necessary consequence of the 
 other. Ishmael lived by prey and rapine in the wilder- 
 ness : and his posterity have all along infested Arabia 
 and the neighbouring countries with their robberies and 
 incursions. They live in a state of continual war with 
 the rest of the world, and are both robbers by land, and 
 pirates by sea. As they have been such enemies to man- 
 kind, it is no wonder that mankind have been enemies 
 to them again ; that several attempts have been made to 
 extirpate them; and even now as well as formerly 
 travellers are forced to go with arms, and in caravans 
 or large companies, and to march and keep watch like 
 a little army, to defend themselves from the assaults of 
 these free-booters, who run about in troops, and rob 
 and plunder all whom they can by any means subdue. 
 These robberies they also justify, by alledging the hard 
 usage of their father Ishmael, who being turned out 
 of doors by Abraham, had the open plains and deserts 
 given him by God for his patrimony, with permission 
 to take whatever he could find there ; and on this account 
 they think they may, with a safe conscience, indemnify 
 themselves, as well as they can, not only on the posterity
 
 18 GENESIS. 
 
 altar, of the Virgin Mary and St. Ethelburgh. Lysons's 
 Environs of London, vol. iii. p. 60. 
 
 No. 15. — xviii. 1 — 8.] When a party belonging to 
 Capt. Cooke (in his last voyage) went ashore on an 
 island near that of Mangeea in the South Seas, they 
 were forcibly detained by the natives a considerable 
 time, which much alarmed them. But this detention 
 proceeded, as they afterwards found, from pure motives 
 of hospitality ; and continued only till such time as they 
 had roasted a hog, and provided other necessaries for 
 their refreshment. In reviewing this most curious trans- 
 action, says the writer of that voyage, we cannot help 
 calling to our memory the manners of the patriarchal 
 times. It does not appear to us, that these people had 
 any intention in detaining ours, different from those 
 which actuated the patriarch in a similar transaction. 
 
 No. 16. — xviii. 1. And he sat in the tent door in the 
 heat of the day.'] Those who lead a pastoral life in the 
 East, at this day, frequently place themselves in a similar 
 situation. " At ten minutes after ten we had in view 
 several fine bays, and a plain full of booths, with the 
 Turcomans sitting by the doors, under sheds resembling 
 porticoes ; or by shady trees, surrounded by flocks of 
 goats." Chandler's Travels in Asia Minor, p. 180. 
 
 No. 17. — xviii. 4. Let a little water, Lpray you, be 
 fetched, and wash your feet.] One of the first rites of 
 hospitality observed towards strangers amongst the an- 
 cients, was washing the feet : of this there are many 
 instances in Homer : 
 
 Toy yw ;cprj xo/aee*v* Trpo? yotf Aio? wcnv axavns, &C. 
 
 Od. vi. 207. 
 
 By Jove the stranger and the poor are sent, 
 And what to those we give to Jowe is lent.
 
 GENESIS. 19 
 
 Then food supply, and bathe his fainting limbs, 
 
 Where waving shades obscure the mazy streams. Pope. 
 
 Your other task, ye menial tribe, forbear ; 
 
 Now ivash the stranger, and the bed prepare. Pope. 
 
 See also 1 Sam. xxv. 41. 
 
 No. 18. — xviii. 6. And Abraham hastened into the 
 tent unto Sarah, and said, make ready quickly three mea- 
 sures of fine meal, knead it, and. make cakes upon the 
 hearth^ These instructions are quite similar to the 
 manners of the place, which even at present are little if 
 any thing altered from what they anciently were. Thus 
 Dr. Shaw relates [Trav. p. 296.) " that in cities and 
 villages, where there are public ovens, the bread is usu- 
 ally leavened : but among the Bedoweens, as soon as the 
 dough is kneaded, it is made into thin cakes, which are 
 either immediately baked upon the coals, or else in a ta- 
 jen, a shallow earthen vessel like a frying-pan." 2 Sam, 
 xiii. 8. 1 Chron, xxiii. 29. 
 
 No. 19. — xviii. 7. Abraham ran into the herd, and 
 fetched a calf tender and good.~\ Abraham appears to 
 have taken a very active part in preparing to entertain 
 the angels. But when it is said that he ran to the herd, 
 and fetched a calf, we must not understand him as de- 
 scending to an office either menial or unbecoming his 
 rank, since we are informed, that " the greatest prince of 
 these countries is not ashamed to fetch a lamb from his 
 herd, and kill it, whilst the princess is impatient till she 
 hath prepared her fire and kettle to dress it." Shaw's 
 Travels, p. 301. 
 
 " As the Panther was, at two o'clock, too far off to 
 give us any hope of dining on board, we applied to our 
 friendly Dola, who readily undertook to give us the best 
 the island could afford. A fine young kid was killed, 
 
 c 2
 
 20 GENESIS. 
 
 and delivered to his wife, who performed the office of 
 cook, in an inner room, where we were not permitted to 
 enter. In about two hours the whole was served up in 
 very clean bowls of wood : and instead of a table-cloth, 
 we had new mats. The good lady had also made us 
 some cakes with juwany and ghee : pepper and salt were 
 laid beside them. It was excellently roasted ; and I do 
 not know that I ever enjoyed a dinner more." Lord 
 Valentia's Travels, vol. ii. p. 323. 
 
 No. 20. — xix. 1, 2. And there came two angels to 
 Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom : and 
 Lot seeing them rose up to meet them ; and. he bowed him- 
 self with his face toward the ground. And he said, behold 
 now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servants 
 house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye 
 shall rise up early, and go on your ways.~] The Eastern 
 people have always distinguished themselves by their 
 great hospitality. Of very many instances the following 
 is a truly characteristic one. " We were not above a 
 musket-shot from Anna, when we met with a comely 
 old man, who came up to me, and taking my horse by 
 the bridle, ' Friend,' said he, ' come and wash thy 
 feet, and eat bread at my house. Thou art a stranger ; 
 and since I have met thee upon the road, never refuse 
 me the favour which I desire of thee/ We could not 
 choose but go along with him to his house, where he 
 feasted us in the best manner he could, giving us, over 
 and above, barley for our horses ; and for us he killed a 
 lamb and some hens." Tavernier's Travels, p. 111. 
 See also Gen. xviii. 6. Judges, xvii. 7. Rom. xii. 13. 
 1 Tim. iii. 2. 1 Pet. iv. 9. 
 
 No. 21. — xix. 24. The Lord rained upon Sodom and 
 upon Gomorrah, brimstone and fre.~] These cities are
 
 GENESIS. 21 
 
 said by Moses, on account of their abominable impuri- 
 ties, to have been overwhelmed with a torrent of liquid 
 fire, rained down upon them from heaven. His nar- 
 rative is equally confirmed by profane historians and by 
 modern travellers. Diodorus Siculus mentions the 
 peculiar nature of the lake, which covered the country, 
 where these towns were formerly situated. " The 
 water of it is bitter and fetid to the last degree, inso- 
 much that neither fish nor any other aquatic animals 
 are able to live in it." (Bib. Hist. lib. xix. p. 734.) 
 Tacitus relates, that a tradition still prevailed in his 
 days, of certain powerful cities having been destroyed by 
 thunder and lightning, and of the plain, in which they 
 were situated, having been burnt up. He adds, that 
 evident traces of such a catastrophe remained. The 
 earth was parched, and had lost all its natural powers of 
 vegetation : and whatever sprung up, either spontane- 
 ously, or in consequence of being planted, gradually 
 withered away, and crumbled into dust. (Tacit. Hist. 
 lib. v. c. 7.) Strabo, after describing the nature of the 
 lake Asphaltis, adds, that the whole of its appearance 
 gives an air of probability to the prevailing tradition, that 
 thirteen cities, the chief of which was Sodom, were once 
 destroyed and swallowed up by earthquakes, fire, and an 
 inundation of boiling sulphureous water. (Strab. Geog. 
 lib. xvi.) Maundrell visited the lake Asphaltis in the 
 year 1 697, and makes the following observations upon 
 it. " Being desirous to see the remains (if there were 
 any) of those cities anciently situated in this place, and 
 made so dreadful an example of the divine vengeance, 
 I diligently surveyed the waters, as far as my eye could 
 reach ; but neither could I discern any heaps of ruins, 
 nor any smoke ascending above the surface of the water, 
 as is usually described in the writings and maps of 
 geographers. But yet I must not omit, what was con- 
 
 c 3
 
 22 GENESIS. 
 
 fidently attested to me by the father guardian, and pro- 
 curator of Jerusalem, both men in years, and seemingly 
 not destitute either of sense or probity, that they had 
 once actually seen one of these ruins ; that it was so 
 near the shore, and the waters so shallow at that time, 
 that they went to it, and found there several pillars, and 
 other fragments of buildings. The cause of our being 
 deprived of this sight was, I suppose, the height of 
 the water." (Travels, p. 85.) The account which The- 
 venot gives is much to the same purpose. " There is 
 no sort of fish in this sea, by reason of the extraordinary 
 saltness of it ; which burns like fire, when one tastes of 
 it. And when the fish of the water Jordan come down 
 so low, they return back again against the stream ; and 
 such as are carried into it by the current of the water 
 immediately die. The land within three leagues round 
 it is not cultivated, but is white, and mingled with salt 
 and ashes. In short, we must think that there is a 
 heavy curse of God upon that place, seeing it was here- 
 tofore so pleasant a country." (Travels, vol. i. p. 194.) 
 Vide also Pococke's Travels, vol. ii. p. 1. ch. 9. and 
 Shaw's Travels, p. 346. 4to. 
 
 No. 22. — xix. 24. Then the Lord rained upon 
 Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimsto?ie and fire.'] The 
 curious Worm 1 us tells of the raining of brimstone, 
 May 16. 1646. " Here, at Copenhagen, when the 
 whole town was overflowed by a great fall of rain, so 
 that the streets became impassable, the air was infected 
 with a sulphureous smell ; and when the waters were a 
 little subsided, one might have collected in some places 
 a sulphureous powder, of which I have preserved a 
 part, and which in colour, smell, and every other qua- 
 lity, appeared to be real sulphur." Mus. Worm. 1. i. c. 11. 
 sec. 1.
 
 GENESIS. 23 
 
 No. 23. — xix. 26. A pillar of salt,'] Or, as some 
 understand it, an everlasting monument, whence, per- 
 haps, the Jews have given her the name of Adith {Pirke 
 Elieser, cap. 25.) because she remained a perpetual 
 testimony of God's just displeasure. For she standing 
 still too long, some of that dreadful shower of brimstone 
 and fire overtook her, and falling upon her, wrapped her 
 body in a sheet of nitro-sulphureous matter, which con- 
 gealed into a crust as hard as stone, and made her ap- 
 pear like a pillar of salt, her body being, as it were, 
 candied in it. Kimchi calls it a heap of salt : which the 
 Hebrews say continued for many ages. Their conjec- 
 ture is not improbable, who think the fable of Niobe was 
 derived hence : who, the poets feign, was turned into a 
 stone upon her excessive grief for the death of her 
 children. Patrick, in loc. 
 
 No. 24. — xx. 12. And yet indeed she is my sister ; 
 she is the daughter of my father ', but not the daughter of 
 my mother: and she became my wife,] This peculiar 
 mode of contracting marriage, appears in after ages to 
 have become a common practice. It prevailed at 
 Athens. It was lawful there to marry a sister by the 
 father's side, but it was not permitted to marry a sister 
 by the same mother. Montesquieu [Spirit of Laws, 
 vol. i. p. 54.) says, that this custom was originally owing 
 to republics, whose spirit would not permit that two 
 portions of land, and consequently two inheritances, 
 should devolve on the same person. A man that married 
 his sister only by his father's side, could inherit but one 
 estate, that of his father : but by marrying his sister by 
 the same mother, it might happen that this sister's father, 
 having no male issue, might leave her his estate, and 
 consequently the brother that married her might be 
 possessed of two. 
 
 Among the Egyptians it was lawful for the brother to 
 c 4
 
 24. GENESIS. 
 
 marry the sister either of the whole or the half, blood, 
 elder or younger ; for sometimes brother and sister are 
 born twins. And this licence in process of time de- 
 scended also to the Grecians. For the example drawn 
 from Isis, obtained among the Macedonians. To justify 
 this incestuous use by yet more illustrious examples, the 
 Grecians^ as well as the Latins^ say, The gods themselves 
 affected such marriages. 
 
 Iliad. 1. xvi. v. 432. 
 He thus bespoke his sister and his queen. — Pope. 
 
 'Esc Si/jU.5 rsgyoura nxctyvrirovrt leoaryrru 
 
 Theocrii'. Idyl. c. xvii. v. 131. 
 
 Dearly the husband and the brother loves. 
 
 Such are the nuptials in the blest abodes, 
 
 And such the union of immortal'gods. Fawkes. 
 
 Jovisque 
 
 Et soror, et conjux. Mneid. 1. i. v. 50. 
 
 — The sister-wife of Jove. Dryden. 
 
 Di nempe suas habuere sorores. 
 
 Sic Saturnus Opim, junctam sibi sanguine, duxit ; 
 Oceanus Tethyn; Junonem rector Olympi 
 
 Ovid. Met. 1. ix. v. 496, 
 
 Ducente victrices catervas 
 Conjuge me Jovis et sorore. Horat. 1. iii. Od. iii. 
 
 Fratris thalamos sortita tenet 
 
 Maxima Juno ; soror Augusti 
 
 Sociata toris, cur a patria 
 
 Pellitur aula ? Senec Oct. Act. i. v. 282. 
 
 From hence we learn that the deities of the West were 
 derived from Egypt. And hence we understand why
 
 GENESIS. 25 
 
 Philadelphia and Arsinoe, by a kind of second marriage 
 (diroQsooo-eoos) of deification, obtain the title ©ewv 'ASeAp&uv, 
 of brother and sister gods, in coins, &c. &c. But we 
 may likewise add, dotiwv oo3s Suf>jvoj Aoyo*. Eurip. i/<?rc. 
 /w. 1346. 
 
 No. 25. — xxi. 10. Wherefore she saidunto Abraham, 
 cast out this bond-woman and her son ; for the son of this 
 bond-woman shall not be heir with my son.~] The follow- 
 ing extract will exhibit to the reader a striking similarity 
 of practice with that to which the above cited passage 
 alludes : and that amongst a race of people very remote 
 both as to local situation and time. " The Alguoquins 
 make a great distinction between the wife to whom they 
 give the appellation of the entrance of the hut, and those 
 whom they term of the middle of the hut ; these last are 
 the servants of the other, and their children are con- 
 sidered as bastards, and of an inferior rank, to those 
 which are born of the first and legitimate wife. Among 
 the Caribs also one wife possesses rank and distinction 
 above the rest." Babie's Travels among Savage Na- 
 tions, in Universal Magazine for Feb. 1 802, p. 84. 
 
 No. 26. — xxi. 23. Swear unto me here by Gjod.~\ 
 This kind of oath appears not only to have been gene- 
 rally in use in the time of Abraham, but also to have 
 descended through many generations and ages in the 
 East. When Mr. Bruce was at Shekh Ammer, he en- 
 treated the protection of the governor in prosecuting 
 his journey. Speaking of the people who were assembled 
 together at this time in the house, he says, ( Travels, 
 vol. i. p. 148.) " The great people among them came, 
 and, after joining hands, repeated a kind of prayer, of 
 about two minutes long, by which they declared them- 
 selves and their children accursed, if ever they lifted up 
 their hands against me in the tell, or field in the desart ,
 
 26 GENESIS. 
 
 or in case that I, or mine, should fly to them for refuge, 
 if they did not protect us at the risk of their lives, their 
 families, and their fortunes, or, as they emphatically ex- 
 pressed it, to the death of the last male child among 
 them." See also Gen. xxvi. 28, 29. 
 
 No. 27. — xxii. 3. Saddled his ass.'] There is no 
 ground for supposing that the ancient eastern saddles 
 were like our modern ones. Such were not known to 
 the Greeks and Romans till many ages aftf r the Hebrew 
 judges. " No nation of antiquity knew the use of 
 either saddles or stirrups;" (Goguet, Origin of Laws, 
 vol. iii. p. 172. English edit.) and even in our own 
 times Hasselquist, when at Alexandria, says, " I pro- 
 cured an equipage v. hich I had never used before \ it 
 was an ass with an Arabian saddle, which consisted only 
 of a cushion, on which 1 could sit, and a handsome 
 bridle." [Travels, p. 52.) But even the cushion seems 
 an improvement upon the ancient eastern saddles, which 
 were probably nothing more than a kind of rug girded 
 to the beast. (Parkhurst's Heb. Lex. p. 213.) 
 
 Instead of saddles the ancients used a kind of housing 
 or horse-cloth which the Greeks called cray>j, and the 
 Latins sagum. This housing is to be seen upon the 
 horses represented on Trajan's pillar, and in many 
 other monuments of antiquity. The Romans also called 
 these housings strata, the invention of which, together 
 with that of bridles, Pliny ascribes to Pelethronius. 
 Fraenor et strata equorum Pelethronium. Vid. Beckman's 
 History of Lnventions and Discoveries, vol. ii. p. 247. 
 
 No. 28. — xxii. 9. And bound Isaac his son.~\ Both 
 his hands and his feet, as it is explained in Pirke Elieser, 
 cap. 31. When the Gentiles offered human sacrifices, 
 they tied both their hands behind their backs. Ovid. 
 1. 3. De Pont. Eleg. ii. Patrick, in loc.
 
 GENESIS. 27 
 
 No. 29. — xxiii. 11. In the presence of the sons of my 
 people."] Contracts, or grants, were usually made before 
 all the people, or their representatives, till writings were 
 invented. Patrick, in loc. 
 
 No. 30. — xxiii. 1 6. And Abraham weighed to Ephron 
 the silver.] Ancient nations have discovered a singular 
 coincidence in the management of their money. The 
 Jews appear to have used silver in lumps, perhaps of 
 various dimensions and weights ; and certainly, on some 
 occasions at least, impressed with a particular stamp. 
 The Chinese also do the same. For " there is no silver 
 coin in China, notwithstanding payments are made with 
 that metal, in masses of about ten ounces, having the 
 form of the crucibles they were refined in, with the 
 stamp of a single character upon them, denoting 
 their weight." Macartney, p. 290. vol. ii. p. 266. 
 8vo. edit. 
 
 No. 31. — xxiv. 2, 3. And Abraham said unto his eldest 
 servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, put, I 
 pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and I will make thee 
 swear by the Lord.] The present mode of swearing among 
 the Mohammedan Arabs, that live in tents as the patri- 
 archs did, according to de la Roque (Voy. dans la Pal. 
 p. 152.) is by laying their hands on the Koran. They 
 cause those who swear to wash their hands before they 
 give them the book; they put their left hand underneath, 
 and the right over it. Whether among the patriarchs 
 one hand was under, and the other upon the thio-h, is 
 not certain ; possibly Abraham's servant might swear 
 with one hand under his master's thigh, and the other 
 stretched out to Heaven. As the posterity of the 
 patriarchs are described as coming out of the thigh, it 
 has been supposed, this ceremony had some relation to 
 their believing the promise of God, to bless all the nations
 
 28 GENESIS. 
 
 of the earth, by means of one that was to descend from 
 Abraham. Harder, vol. iv. p. 477. 
 
 No. 32. — xxiv. 11. At the time of the evenings even 
 the time that women go out to draw water,'] Homer 
 menti Dns the same custom of women's being employed 
 in drawing water among the Phseacians and Laestry- 
 gonians. (Od. vii. 20. et x. 105. II. vi. 457.) Dr. Shaw, 
 speaking of the occupation of the Moorish women in 
 Barbary, says, " to finish the day, at the time of the 
 evening, even at the time that the women go out to draw 
 water, they are still to fit themselves with a pitcher or 
 goat -skin, and tying their sucking children behind them, 
 trudge it in this manner two or three miles to fetch 
 water." (Travels, p. 421.) Mr. Forbes (Oriental Me- 
 moirs, vol. i. p. 79.) likewise mentions the practice of 
 women drawing water, and tending cattle to the lakes 
 and rivers. 
 
 No. 33. — xxiv. 1 5. Bebekah came out — with her pitcher 
 upon her shoulder.^ The same custom prevailed in ancient 
 Greece. Homer represents Minerva meeting Ulysses 
 as the sun was going down, under the form of a Phaeacian 
 virgin carrying a pitcher of water, that being the time 
 when the maidens went out to draw water. 
 
 When near the f am' d Phceacian walls he drew, 
 The beauteous city ojfning to his view, 
 His step a virgin met, and stood before ; 
 A polished urn the seeming virgin bore. 
 
 Odyss. b. vii. 2.5. Pope. 
 
 See also Odyss. lib. x. 1 05. 
 
 A similar custom prevailed also in Armenia, as may 
 be seen in Xenophon's Anabasis, b. iv.
 
 GENESIS. 29 
 
 No. 34. — xxiv. 20. And. she hasted, and emptied her 
 •pitcher into the trough J\ In some places where there are 
 wells, there are no conveniences to draw water with. 
 But in other places the wells are furnished with troughs, 
 and suitable contrivances for watering cattle. The 
 M. S. Chardin tetls us, that " there are wells in Persia 
 and Arabia, in the driest places, and above all in the 
 Indies, with troughs and basons of stone by the side of 
 them." Gen. xvi. 14-. Exod. ii. 16. Harmer, vol. i. 
 p. 431. 
 
 No. 35. — xxiv. 22. And it came to pass as the camels 
 had done drinking, that the man took a golden ear-ring of 
 half a shekel weight, and. two bracelets for her hands of 
 ten shekels weight, of gold, ] The weight of the orna- 
 ments put upon Rebekah appears extraordinary. But 
 Chardin assures us, that even heavier were worn by the 
 women of the East when he was there. He says that 
 the women wear rings and bracelets of as great weight 
 as this, through all Asia, and even heavier. They are 
 rather manacles than bracelets. There are some as large 
 as the finger. The women wear several of them, one 
 above the other, in such a manner as sometimes to have 
 the arm covered with them from the wrist to the elbow. 
 Poor people wear as many of glass or horn. They 
 hardly ever take them off. They are their riches. 
 Harmer, vol. ii. p. 500. 
 
 No. 36. — xxiv. 53. Jewels of gold and raiment."] 
 Among the several female ornaments which Abraham 
 sent by his servant, whom he employed to search out a 
 wife for his son Isaac, were jewels of silver, and jewels of 
 gold, exclusive of raiment, which probably was very 
 rich and valuable for the age in which Abraham lived. 
 Rich and splendid apparel, especially such as was adorned
 
 30 GENESIS. 
 
 with gold, was very general in the eastern nations, from 
 the earliest ages : and as the fashions and customs of the 
 Orientals are not subject to much variation, so we find 
 that this propensity to golden ornaments prevails even 
 in the present age, among the females in the countries 
 bordering on Judea. Thus Mungo Park, in the account 
 of his travels in Africa, mentions the following singular 
 circumstance, respecting the ornamental part of the 
 dress of an African lady. " It is evident from the account 
 of the process by which negroes obtain gold in Man- 
 ding, that the country contains a considerable portion of 
 this precious metal. A great part is converted into 
 ornaments for the women : and, when a lady of con- 
 sequence is in full dress, the gold about her person 
 may be worth, altogether, from fifty to eighty pounds 
 sterling." 
 
 We find also that the same disposition for rich orna- 
 mental apparel prevailed in the times of the Apostles ; for 
 St. Peter cautioned the females of quality in the first 
 ages of Christianity, when they adorned themselves, not 
 to have it consist, in the outward adorning, of plaiting 
 the hair, and of wearing gold, or of putting on apparel. 
 I Pet. iii. 3. See also Psalm xlv. 9. 13. Upon thy right 
 hand did stand the queen in gold ofophir. — Her clothing 
 is of wrought gold. 
 
 No. 37. — xxiv. 59. And they sent away Rebekah 
 their sister, and her nurse.'] Nurses were formerly held 
 in very high esteem, and considered as being entitled to 
 constant and lasting regard. " The nurse in an eastern 
 family is always an important personage. Modern tra- 
 vellers inform us, that in Syria she is considered as a 
 sort of second parent, whether she has been foster-mother 
 or otherwise. She always accompanies the bride to her 
 husband's house, and ever remains there, an honoured
 
 GENESIS. 31 
 
 character. Thus it was in ancient Greece."- Siege of 
 Acre, b*ii. p. 35. note. 
 
 In Hindostan the nurse " is not looked upon as a 
 stranger, but becomes one of the family, and passes the 
 remainder of her life in the midst of the children she 
 has suckled, by whom she is honoured and cherished 
 as a second mother." Forbes's Oriental Memoirs, 
 vol. iii. p. 134-. 
 
 " In many parts of Hindostan are mosques and mau- 
 soleums, built by the Mahomedan princes, near the 
 sepulchres of their nurses. They are excited by a 
 grateful affection to erect these structures, in memory 
 of those who with maternal anxiety watched over their 
 helpless infancy ; thus it has been from time immemorial. 
 How interesting is the interview which Homer has 
 described between Ulysses and Euriclea." lb. iii. p. 141. 
 
 No. 38. — xxiv. 60. And they blessed Rebekah.~\ 
 Nuptial benedictions were used both by the Jews, 
 Greeks, and Romans. That of the Jews was in this 
 form. " Blessed be thou, O Lord, who hast created man 
 and woman, and ordained marriage," &c. This was 
 repeated every day during the wedding week, provided 
 there were new guests. The Grecian form of benediction 
 was, ajja&ij tvx*1 ; the Latin was, Quod faustum felixque 
 sit. The Jews constantly made use of the same form : 
 but the Greeks and Romans frequently varied theirs : a 
 benediction however in some form was always used. 
 See Selden de Jure N, et. G. 1. v. cap. 5. 
 
 No. 39. — > xxv. 30. Red pottage.] The inhabitants 
 of Barbary still make use of lentils boiled and stewed 
 with oil and garlick, a pottage of a chocolate colour ; 
 this was the red pottage for which Esau, from thence 
 called Edom, sold his birth-right. Shaw's Trav. p. 140. 
 2d edit.
 
 32 GENESIS. 
 
 No. 40. — xxvi. 12. Then Isaac sowed in that land, 
 and received in the same year a hundred fold.~] The 
 author of the history of the piratical states of Barbary 
 observes, that the Moors of that country are divided into 
 tribes like the Arabians, and like them dwell in tents, 
 formed into itinerant villages : that " these wanderers 
 farm lands of the inhabitants of the towns, sow and cul- 
 tivate them, paying their rent with the produce, such 
 as fruits, corn, wax, &c. They are very skilful in 
 chusing the most advantageous soils for every season, 
 and very careful to avoid the Turkish troops, the violence 
 of the one little suiting the simplicity of the other, p. 44. 
 It is natural to suppose that Isaac possessed the like 
 sagacity when he sowed in the land of Gerar, and re- 
 ceived that year a hundred fold. His lands appear to 
 have been hired of the fixed inhabitants of the country. 
 On this account the king of the country might, after the 
 reaping of the crop, refuse his permission a second time, 
 and desire him to depart. Harmer, vol. i. p. 85. 
 
 No. 41 . — xxvi. 1 5. For all the wells which his father' s 
 servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the 
 Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth.~\ 
 The same mode of taking vengeance which is here men- 
 tioned has been practised in ages subsequent to the time 
 here referred to. Niebuhr [Travels, p. 302.) tells us, 
 that the Turkish emperors pretend to a right to that part 
 of Arabia that lies between Mecca and the countries of 
 Syria and Egypt, but that their power amounts to very 
 little. That they have however garrisons in divers little 
 citadels built in that desert, near the wells that are made 
 on the road from Egypt and Syria to Mecca, which are 
 intended for the greater safety of their caravans. But 
 in a following page (p. 330.) he gives us to understand, 
 that these princes have made it a custom, to give annu- 
 ally to every Arab tribe which is near that road, a certain 
 13
 
 GENESIS. 33 
 
 sum of money and a certain number of vestments, to keep 
 them from destroying the wells that lie in that route, and 
 to escort the pilgrims cross their country. 
 
 We find in D'Herbelot (p. 396.) that Gianabi, a 
 famous rebel in the tenth century, gathered a number of 
 people together, seized on Bassora and Coufa, and after- 
 wards insulted the reigning Caliph by presenting himself 
 boldly before Bagdat his capital : after which he retired 
 by little and little, filling up all the pits with sand which 
 had been dug in the road to Mecca, for the benefit of the 
 pilgrims. Harmer, vol. iv. p. 247. 
 
 No. 42. — xxvii. 1 6. Put the skin of the kids of the 
 goatsJ] It is observed by Bochart (p. 1. Hierozoic. 1. iu 
 c. 51.) that in the eastern countries goats-hair was very 
 like to that of men : so that Isaac might very easily be 
 deceived, when his eyes were dim, and his feeling no less 
 decayed than his sight. 
 
 No. 43. — xxvii. 39. Dew of Heaven.'] Egypt, says 
 M. Savary, would be uninhabitable, did not the noc- 
 turnal dews restore life to vegetables. These dews are so 
 copious, especially in summer, that the earth is deeply 
 soaked with them, so that in the morning one would 
 imagine that rain had fallen during the night. This is 
 the reason why the scripture promises the Israelites, who 
 inhabited a climate pretty similar to that of Egypt, the 
 dew of heaven as a signal favour. 
 
 No. 44. — xxviii. 1 7. The gate of heavenJ] After 
 having described in what manner caverns were used as 
 sacred temples, and the allegorical design of some parts 
 of their furniture, Mr. Maurice says, " In these caverns 
 they erected a high ladder, which had seven gates, 
 answering to the number of the planets, through which, 
 according to their theology, the soul gradually ascends 
 
 VOL. I. d
 
 34 GENESIS, 
 
 to the supreme mansion of felicity. I must here ob- 
 serve that the word gate, which is a part of Asiatic 
 palaces by far the most conspicuous and magnificent, 
 and upon adorning of which immense sums are often ex- 
 pended, is an expression, that, throughout the East, is 
 figuratively used for the mansion itself. Indeed it seems 
 to be thus denominated with singular propriety, since it 
 is under those gates that conversations are holden, that 
 hospitality to the passing traveller is dispensed, and the 
 most important transactions in commerce are frequently 
 carried on." Captain Hamilton (Voyage, vol. i. p. 368.) 
 giving an account of Fort St. George, observes, u that 
 the gate of that town, called the sea-gate, being very 
 spacious, was formerly the common exchange, where 
 merchants of all nations resorted about eleven o'clock, to 
 treat of business or merchandize." Astronomy, deriv- 
 ing its birth in Asia, and exploring nature and language 
 for new symbols, soon seized upon this allegorical ex- 
 pression as highly descriptive of romantic ideas; and 
 the title was transferred from terrestrial houses to the 
 spheres. It may here be remarked, that the expression 
 occurs frequently in holy writ, often in the former sense, 
 and sometimes even in the astronomical allusion of the 
 word. In the former acceptation we read, Esther, ii. 19. 
 of the Jew, Mordecai, sitting in the king's gate; in 
 Lamentations v. 14. that the elders have ceased from the 
 gate; and, in Ruth, iii. 11. it is used in a sense re- 
 markably figurative, all the gate (that is house) of my 
 people know thou art virtuous. In the second acceptation, 
 the word as well as the attendant symbol itself, to our 
 astonishment occur in the account of Jacob's vision of 
 the ladder, whose top reached to heaven, and in 
 the exclamation, this is the gate or heaven. It is 
 hence manifested to have been an original patriarchal 
 symbol. A similar idea occurs in Isaiah, xxxviii. 10. / 
 shall go to the gates of the grave ; and in Matt xvi. 18.
 
 GENESIS. 35 
 
 The gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Nor is it 
 impossible but our blessed Lord himself might speak in 
 allusion to the popular notion of the two astronomical 
 gates, celestial and terrestrial, when in Matt. vii. 13. he 
 said, Enter ye in at the strait gate ; for wide is the gate, 
 and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many 
 there are which go in thereat; because strait is the gate, 
 and narrow is the way that leadeth to life, and few there 
 are that find it" Indian Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 24? 1. 
 
 No. 45. — xxviii. 18. And Jacob rose up early in the 
 morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillow, 
 and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of 
 it.'] One of the idols in the pagoda of Jaggernaut is 
 described by Captain Hamilton, as a huge black stone, of 
 a pyramidal form, and the sommona codom among the 
 Siamese is of the same complexion. The ayeen Akbeiy 
 mentions an octagonal pillar of black stone fifty cubits 
 high. Tavernier observed an idol of black stone in the 
 pagoda of Benares, and that the statue of Creeshna, in 
 his celebrated temple of Mathura, is of black marble. 
 It is very remarkable, that one of the principal cere- 
 monies incumbent upon the priests of these stone deities, 
 according to Tavernier, is to anoint them daily with 
 odoriferous oils: a circumstance which immediately 
 brings to our remembrance the similar practice of Jacob, 
 who, after the famous vision of the celestial ladder, took 
 the stone which he had put for his pillow, and set it up 
 for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. It is added, 
 that he called the name of that place Beth-el, that is 
 the house of God. This passage evinces of how great 
 antiquity is the custom of considering stones in a sacred 
 light, as well as the anointing them with consecrated oil. 
 From this conduct of Jacob, and this Hebrew appellative, 
 the learned Bochart, with great ingenuity and reason, 
 insists that the name and veneration of the sacred stones, 
 
 D 2
 
 26 GENESIS. 
 
 called baetyli, so celebrated in all pagan antiquity, were 
 derived. These baetyli were stones of a round form ; 
 they were supposed to be animated, by means of magical 
 incantations, with a portion of the deity : they were con- 
 sulted on occasions of great and pressing emergency, as a 
 kind of divine oracles, and were suspended either round 
 the neck, or some other part of the body. Thus the 
 setting up of a stone by this holy person, in grateful 
 memory of the celestial vision, probably became the 
 occasion of the idolatry in succeeding ages, to these 
 shapeless masses of unhewn stone, of which so many 
 astonishing remains are scattered up and down the 
 Asiatic and the European world. Maurice's Indian 
 Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 355. 
 
 " Modern travellers relate, that, in the festivals of 
 some Tartarian tribes, they pour a few drops of a con- 
 secrated liquor on the statues of their gods ; after which 
 an attendant sprinkles a little of what remains three 
 times toward the south in honor of fire, toward the west 
 and east in honor of water and air, and as often toward 
 the north in honor of the earth, which contained the 
 reliques of their deceased ancestors." Sir W. Jones's 
 Works, vol. iii. p. 89. See also Forbes's Oriental Me- 
 moirs, vol. iii. p. 1 5. 
 
 No. 46. — xxviii. 22. And this stone, ischich I have set 
 for a pillar shall be God's house.'] It appears strange to 
 us to hear a stone pillar called God's house, being accus- 
 tomed to give names of this kind to such buildings only 
 as are capable of containing their worshippers within 
 them. But this is not the case in every part of the 
 world, as we learn from Major Symes's narrative of his 
 Embassy to the Kingdom of Ava. The temples of that 
 people, vast as many of them are, are built without 
 cavity of any sort, and he only mentions some of the 
 most ancient of those at Pagahm as constructed other-
 
 GENESIS. 37 
 
 wise. The following extract will sufficiently illustrate 
 this matter. 
 
 " The object in Pegu that most attracts, and most 
 merits notice, is the noble edifice of Shoemadoo 9 or the 
 golden supreme. This is a pyramidical building, com- 
 posed of brick and mortar, without excavation or aper- 
 ture of any sort : octagonal at the base, and spiral at the 
 top. Each side of the base measures one hundred and 
 sixty-two feet. The extreme height of the edifice, from 
 the level of the country, is three hundred and sixty-one 
 feet, and above the interior terrace three hundred and 
 thirty- one feet. Along the whole extent of the northern 
 face of the upper terrace there is a wooden shed for the 
 convenience of devotees, who come from a distant part 
 of the country. There are several low benches near the 
 foot of the temple, on which the person who comes to 
 pray, places his offering, commonly consisting of boiled 
 rice, a plate of sweetmeats, or cocoa-nuts fried in oil; 
 when it is given, the devotee cares not what becomes of 
 it; the crows and wild dogs often devour it in the pre- 
 sence of the donor, who never attempts to disturb the 
 animals. I saw several plates of victuals disposed of in 
 this manner, and understood it was the case with all that 
 was brought." 
 
 " The temple of Shoedagan, about two miles and a 
 half north of Rangoon, is a very grand building, although 
 not so high, by twenty-five or thirty feet, as that of 
 Skoemadoo, at Pegu. The terrace on which it stands is 
 raised on a rocky eminence, considerably higher than 
 the circumjacent country, and is ascended by above a 
 hundred stone steps. The name of this temple, which 
 signifies Golden-Dagon, naturally recals to mind the 
 passage in the scriptures, where the house of Dagon is 
 mentioned, and the image of idolatry bows down before 
 the Holy Ark." 
 
 " Many of the most ancient temples at Pagahm are 
 d 3
 
 38 GENESIS. 
 
 not solid at the bottom : a well arched dome supports a 
 ponderous superstructure; and, within, an image of 
 Gaudona sits enshrined." 
 
 No. 47. — xxix. 2. A great stone *was upon the well's 
 mouth.'] In Arabia, and other places, they cover up 
 their wells of water, lest the sand, which is put into 
 motion by the winds, should fill, and quite stop them up. 
 (Chardin.) So great was their care not to leave the 
 well open any length of time, that they waited till the 
 flocks were all gathered together, before they began to 
 draw water: and when they had finished, the well was 
 immediately closed again. Harmer, vol. i. p. 113. 
 
 No. 48. — xxix. 6. Rachel his daughter.'] Her name 
 in Hebrew signifies a sheep. It was anciently the custom 
 to give names even to families from cattle, both great 
 and small. So Varro tells us (lib. ii. dere rustica, c. 1.) 
 Midta nomina habemus ab utroque pecore, Sfc. a minore, 
 Porcius, Ovilius, Caprilius; a majore, Equitius, 
 Taurus, &c. See Bochart, p. 1. Hieroz. lib. ii. cap. 43. 
 
 No. 49. — xxix. 24. And Laban gave unto his daughter 
 Leah, Zilpah his maid, for an handmaid.] Chardin ob- 
 serves that none but very poor people marry a daughter 
 in the East, without giving her a female slave for an 
 handmaid, there being no hired servants there as in 
 Europe. So Solomon supposes they were extremely 
 poor that had not a servant. Prov. xii. 9. Harmer, 
 vol. ii. p. 366. 
 
 No. 50. — xxix. 26. And Laban said, it must not be 
 so done in our country, to give the younger before the 
 first-born.'] Mr. Halhed observes in his preface to the 
 Gentoo Laws, (p. 69.) " We find Laban excusing him- 
 self for having substituted Leah in the place of Rachel
 
 GENESIS. 39 
 
 to Jacob, in these words, It must not be so done in our 
 country, to give the younger before the first-bom. This 
 was long before Moses. So in this compilation, it is 
 made criminal for a man to give his younger daughter in 
 marriage before the elder; or for a younger son to 
 marry while his elder brother remains unmarried." 
 
 No. 51. — xxix. 32. And she called his name Reuben, 
 for she said, Surely the Lord hath looked upon mine afflic- 
 tion.] Many names which occur in the scriptures were 
 taken from particular incidents and circumstances. 
 Other people besides the Jews have acted in this 
 manner. " The children of the Mandingoes are not 
 always named after their relations; but frequently in 
 consequence of some remarkable occurrence. Thus, 
 my landlord at Kamalia was called Karfa, a word signi- 
 fying to replace ; because he was born shortly after the 
 death of one of his brothers. Other names are descrip- 
 tive of good or bad qualities : as Modi, a good man : 
 Fadibba, father of the town. Indeed the very names of 
 their towns have something descriptive in them, as 
 Sibidooloo, the town of siboa trees. Kenneyetoo, victuals 
 here. Dorita, lift your spoon. Others appear to be 
 given by way of reproach, as Bammakoo, was a croco- 
 dile. Karankalla, no cup to drink from. Among the 
 negroes, every individual, besides his own proper name, 
 has likewise a kongtong or surname, to denote the 
 family or clan to which he belongs. Every negro plumes 
 himself on the importance or the antiquity of his clan, 
 and is much flattered when he is addressed by his 
 kongtong." Mungo Park's Travels in Africa, p. 269. 
 
 No. 52. — xxix. 32. And Leah conceived, and bare 
 a son, and she called his name Reuben."] It seems pro- 
 bable that in common the mother gave the name to a 
 child, and this both amongst the Jews and the Greeks I 
 
 D 4
 
 40 GENESIS. 
 
 though perhaps not without the concurrence of the 
 father. ■ In the age of Aristophanes the giving of a name 
 to the child seems to have been a divided prerogative 
 between the father and the mother. Homei* ascribes it 
 to the mother : 
 
 Him on his mother's knees, when babe he lay, 
 
 She nawtd Arrutui on his natal day. Odyss. xviii. 6. Pope. 
 
 No. 53. — xxx. 32. / will pass through ell thy flocks 
 to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted 
 cattle, ayid all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the 
 spotted and speckled among the goats ,« and of such shall be 
 my hire."] The following extract from the Gentoo laws, 
 p. 150, is remarkable for its coincidence with the situ- 
 ation and conduct of Jacob; and demonstrates that he 
 acted with propriety, if the regulations here mentioned 
 existed in his time; and of their very great antiquity 
 there is no doubt. " If a person without receiving 
 w r ages, or subsistence, or clothes, attends ten milch 
 cows, he shall select, for his own use, the milk of that 
 cow which ever produces most; if he attends more 
 cows, he shall take milk after the same rate, in lieu of 
 wages. If a person attends one hundred cows for the 
 space of one year, without any appointment of wages, 
 he shall take to himself one heifer of three years old ; 
 and also, of all those cows that produce milk, whatever 
 the quantity may be, after every eight days, he shall 
 take to himself the milk, the intire product of one day. 
 Cattle shall be delivered over to the cowherd in the 
 morning : the cowherd shall tend them the whole day 
 with grass and water, and in the evening shall re-deliver 
 them to the master, in the same manner as they were 
 intrusted to him; if, by the fault of the cowherd, any 
 of the cattle be lost, or stolen, that cowherd shall make 
 it good. When a cowherd hath led cattle to any dis- 
 tant place to feed, if any die of some distemper, not-
 
 GENESIS. 41 
 
 withstanding the cowherd applied the proper remedy, 
 the cowherd shall carry the head, the tail, the forefoot, 
 or some such convincing proof, taken from that animal's 
 body, to the owner of the cattle ; having done this, he 
 shall be no farther answerable; if he neglects to act 
 thus, he shall make good the loss." Probably this last 
 circumstance is alluded to in Amos, iii. 12. 
 
 No. 54. — xxxi. 27. Wherefore didst thou Jlee away 
 secretly, and steal away from me, and didst not tell me, 
 that I might have sent thee away with mirth and with 
 songs, with tabret and with harp P~\ The Easterns used 
 to set out, at least on their longer journeys, w r ith music. 
 When the prefetto of Egypt was preparing for his 
 journey, he complains of his being incommoded by the 
 songs of his friends, who in this manner took leave of 
 their relations and acquaintance. These valedictory 
 songs were often extemporary. If we consider them, 
 as they probably were used not on common but more 
 solemn occasions, there appears peculiar propriety in 
 the complaint of Laban. Harmer, vol. i. p. 435. 
 
 A striking similarity prevails between the modern dance 
 of the South Sea islands, as performed before Captain 
 Cook, and the ancient choral dance of Egypt and 
 Palestine. " A band or chorus of eighteen men seated 
 themselves before us ; they sung a slow and soft air ; 
 twenty women entered. Most of them had upon their 
 heads garlands, of the crimson flowers of the china rose, 
 or others. They made a circle round the chorus, and 
 began by singing a soft air, to which responses were 
 made by the chorus in the same tone : and these were 
 repeated alternately. All this while the women accom- 
 panied their song with several very graceful motions of 
 their hands towards their faces, and in other directions. 
 Their manner of dancing was now changed to a quicker 
 measure, in which they made a kind of half turn by
 
 42 GENESIS. 
 
 leaping, and clapped their hands, repeating some words 
 in conjunction with the chorus. Toward the end, as the 
 quickness of the music increased, their gestures and 
 attitudes were varied with wonderful vigour and dex- 
 terity." Last Voyage, vol. i. p. 250. 
 
 No. 55. — xxxi. 34. The cameVs furniture, ,] Pococke 
 informs us, that " one method of conveyance, still used 
 in the East, is by means of a sort of round basket, 
 slung on each side of a camel, (with a cover) which 
 holds all their necessaries, and on it (the camel) a person 
 sits crossed-legged." Mr. Moryson, whose travels 
 were printed in the year 1596, mentions (p. 247.) in his 
 journey from Aleppo to Constantinople, " two long 
 chairs, like cradles covered with red cloth, to hang on 
 the two sides of the camel, which chairs the Turks used 
 to ride in, and sleep upon camels backs," Mr. Hanway 
 likewise mentions ( Travels, vol. i. p. 1 90.) kedgavays, 
 " which are a kind of covered chairs, which the Persians 
 hang over camels in the manner of panniers, and are 
 big enough for one person to sit in." 
 
 The LXX render the Hebrew word by %xiafooov, q. d. 
 shaded vehicles, by which perhaps they meant baskets or 
 cradles of this kind : for Thevenot, who calls them 
 Coimes, says that over them they lay a cover, which keeps 
 them both from the rain and sun ; and Maillet describes 
 them as covered cages hanging on each side of a camel. 
 (Complete System of Geography, vol. ii. p. 435.) Harmer, 
 (i. 445.) speaking of the wandering Arabs in the kingdom 
 of Morocco, says, " when they remove to a new habita- 
 tion, they put their wives and children into large osier 
 baskets or panniers thrown over the backs of their 
 camels, and covered with a coarse cloth, by which 
 means they are kept from sight, sun, and dust, and yet 
 have air enough to breath in." Dr. T. Russell (Nat, 
 Hist, of Aleppo, p. 89.) mentions the women of inferior
 
 GENESIS. 43 
 
 condition about Aleppo, being in their journey commonly 
 stowed on each side a mule, in a sort of covered cradles. 
 
 No. 56. — xxxi. 40. In the day the drought consumed 
 me, and the frost by night.'] " In Europe the days 
 and nights resemble each other with respect to the 
 qualities of heat and cold ; but it is quite otherwise in 
 the East. In the Lower Asia in particular, the day is 
 always hot ; and as soon as the sun is fifteen degrees above 
 the horizon, no cold is felt in the depth of winter itself. 
 On the contrary, in the height of summer the nights are 
 as cold as at Paris in the month of March. It is for 
 this reason that in Persia and Turkey they always make 
 use of furred habits in the country, such only being 
 sufficient to resist the cold of the nights." (Chardin in 
 Harmer, vol. i. p. 74.) Campbell (Travels, partii. 
 p. 100,) says, sometimes we lay at night out in the open 
 air, rather than enter a town ; on which occasions I found 
 the weather as piercing cold as it was distressfully hot in 
 the day time." Hence we may clearly see the force and 
 propriety of Jacob's complaint. 
 
 No. 57. — xxxi. 46. And Jacob said unto his brethren, 
 gather stones, and they took stones and made an heap, and 
 they did eat there upon the heap.] Niebuhr, relating his 
 audience with the Iman of Yemen, says, M I had gone 
 from my lodgings indisposed, and by standing so long- 
 found myself so faint, that I was obliged to ask permission 
 to quit the room. I found near the door some of the 
 principal officers of the court, who were sitting, in a 
 scattered manner, in the shade, upon stones, by the side 
 of the wall. Among them was the nakib (the general, 
 or rather master of the horse), Cheir Allah, with whom 
 I had some acquaintance before. He immediately re- 
 signed his place to me, and applied himself to draw 
 together stones into a heap, in order to build himself a
 
 44 GENESIS. 
 
 new seat." This management might be owing. to various 
 causes. The extreme heat of the ground might render 
 sitting there disagreeable. The same inconvenience 
 might arise also from its wetness. It was certainly a 
 very common practice; and as it appears from the 
 instance of Jacob, a very ancient one. 
 
 It might also be thought to tend more strongly to 
 impress the mind, when this feast of reconciliation was 
 eaten upon that very heap' that was designed to be the 
 lasting memorial of this renewed friendship, ver. 48 — 52. 
 
 As for the making use of heaps of stones for a memorial, 
 many are found to this day in these countries, and not 
 merely by land, for they have been used for sea-marks 
 too : so Niebuhr, in the same volume, tells us of an heap 
 of stones placed upon a rock in the Red Sea, which was 
 designed to warn them that sailed there of the danger of 
 the place, that they might be upon their guard, p. 208. 
 
 No. 58. — xxxiii. 3. And he passed over before them.] 
 In travelling it was usual to place the women and children 
 in the rear of the company. This was evidently the 
 situation occupied by Leah and Rachel, in their journey 
 with Jacob. From other sources we derive the same 
 information. In the history of the caliph Vathek, it is 
 said, that the black eunuchs were the inseparable atten- 
 dants of the ladies, the rear was consequently their post. 
 In the argument to the poem of Amriolkais, it is related 
 that one day when her tribe had struck their tents, and 
 were changing their station, the women, as usual, came 
 behind the rest with the servants and baggage, in car- 
 riages fixed on the backs of camels. See also Gen, 
 xxiv. 6i. 
 
 No. 59. — xxxiii. 4. And Esau ran to meet him, and 
 embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.'] Such 
 persons as are intimately acquainted, or of equal age and
 
 GENESIS. 45 
 
 dignity, mutually kiss the hand, the head, or the 
 shoulder of each other. Shaw's Trav. p. 237. This 
 passage and Gen. xlv. 14. Luke xv. 20. Acts, xx. 37. 
 seem to have a reference to the eastern way of kissing 
 the shoulder in an embrace. Harmer, vol. ii. p. 53. 
 
 No. 60. — xxxiii. 1 3. And he said unto him, my lord 
 knoweth that the children are tender, and the Jlocks and 
 herds with young are with me : and if men should over- 
 drive them one day, all the Jlocks will die.'} Prepared 
 as the Arabs are for speedy flight, a quick motion is 
 very destructive to the young of their flocks. " Their 
 flocks," says Chardin, " feed down the places of their 
 encampment so quick, by the great numbers which they 
 have, that they are obliged to remove them too often, 
 which is very destructive to their flocks, on account of 
 the young ones, which have not strength enough \% 
 follow." This circumstance shews the energy of Jacob's 
 apology to Esau for not attending him. Harmer, vol. i. 
 p. 126. 
 
 No. 61. — xxxiii. 19. An hundred pieces of money.] 
 There is very great reason to believe that the earliest 
 coins struck were used both as weights and money : 
 and indeed, this circumstance is in part proved by the 
 very names of certain of the Greek and Roman coins. 
 Thus the Attic mina and the Roman libra equally signify 
 a pound ; and the crra'njp [stater) of the Greeks, so called 
 from weighing, is decisive as to this point. The Jewish 
 shekel, was also a weight as well as a coin : three thousand 
 shekels, according to Arbuthnot, being equal in weight 
 and value to one talent. This is the oldest coin of 
 which we any where read, for it occurs, Gen. xxiii. 16. 
 and exhibits direct evidence against those who date the 
 first coinage of money so low as the time of Croesus 
 -or Darius, it being there expressly said, that Abraham
 
 46 GENESIS. 
 
 weighed to Ephron four hundred shekels of silver, 
 cwi-ent money with the merchant. 
 
 Having considered the origin and high antiquity of 
 coined money, we proceed to consider the stamp or 
 impression which the first money bore. The primitive 
 race of men being shepherds, and their wealth consisting 
 in their cattle, in which Abraham is said to have been 
 rich, for greater convenience metals were substituted 
 for the commodity itself. It was natural for the repre- 
 sentative sign to bear impressed the object which it 
 represented; and thus accordingly the earliest coins 
 were stamped with the figure of an ox or a sheep : for 
 proof that they actually did thus impress them, we can 
 again appeal to the high authority of scripture ; for there 
 we are informed that Jacob bought a parcel of ajield for 
 an hundred pieces of money. The original Hebrew 
 v.anslated pieces of money, is kesitoth, which signifies 
 lambs, with the figure of which the metal was doubtless 
 stamped. Maurice's Indian Antiquities, vol. vii. p. 470. 
 
 " This practice of weighing money is customary and 
 general in Syria, in Egypt, and in all Turkey. No 
 piece, however light, is refused : the tradesman takes 
 out his money- weights, and values it. It is the same 
 as in the time of Abraham, when he bought his burying 
 ground." Volney's Voyage en Syrie, torn. ii. p. 280. 
 
 No. 62. — xxxiv. 1 2. Ask me never so much dowry. ~] 
 It was usual for the bridegroom to give to his bride, or 
 her father, a dowry or portion of money or goods, as a 
 kind of purchase of her person. It was the custom of 
 the Greeks and other ancient nations. Homer, //. ix. 
 lin. 146, and Dacier's and Pope's note; II. xi. lin. 243 — 
 5 ; xvi. lin. 178, 190 ; xxii. lin. 472 ; and Potter's Greek 
 Antiquities, bookiv. ch.il.; Goguet's Origin of Laws ', 
 vol. i, book i. art. i. p. 25 ; and vol. ii. book i. art. viii. 
 p. 62. edit. Edinburgh ; Tacitus De Mor. German. 
 
 12
 
 GENESIS. 47 
 
 cap. 18. And is to this day the practice in several 
 Eastern countries. Complete System of Geography, vol. ii. 
 p. 19, 305; Salmon on Marriages, p. 306; Mandesto's 
 Travels, p. 228 ; Modern Universal Hist. vol. viii. p. 257 ; 
 Harmer's Observations, vol. iv. p. 500. 
 
 The modern Arabs who live under tents purchase 
 their wives. De la Roque says, that " properly speak- 
 ing, a young man that would marry must purchase his 
 wife : and fathers among the Arabs are never more 
 happy than when they have many daughters. This is 
 the principal part of the riches of a house. Accordingly, 
 when a young man would treat with a person whose 
 daughter he is inclined to marry, he says to him, Will 
 you give me your daughter for fifty sheep ; for six 
 camels ; or for a dozen cows ? If he be not rich enough 
 to make such offers, he will propose the giving her to 
 him for a mare, or a young colt ; considering in the 
 offer the merit of the young woman, the rank of her 
 family, and the circumstances of him that desires to 
 marry her. When they are agreed on both sides, the 
 contract is drawn up by him that acts as cadi or judge 
 among these Arabs. (Voy. dans la Pal. p. 222.) 
 
 No. 63. — xxxiv. 27. The sons of Jacob came upon 
 the slain and spoiled the city, because they had defiled 
 their sister."] " In the east, as well as in Europe, the 
 relations of the principals in a quarrel, seem to have 
 been bound by honour and custom to espouse their 
 party, and to revenge their death ; one of the highest 
 reproaches with which one Arabian could upbraid an- 
 other, being an accusation of having left the blood of his 
 friend unrevenged." Richardson's Dissert, on Eastern 
 Nations, p. 214. It was on this principle that the sons 
 of Jacob acted towards Shechem, for his conduct to- 
 wards their sister.
 
 48 GENESIS. 
 
 No. 64. — xxxv. 4. Ear-rings.'] " Some of the 
 eastern ear-rings are small, and go so close to the ear as 
 that there is no vacuity between them : others are so 
 large that you may put the forefinger between, and 
 adorned with a ruby and a pearl on each side of them, 
 strung on the ring. The women wear ear-rings and 
 pendants of divers sorts : and I have seen some, the 
 diameter of whose round was four fingers, and almost 
 two fingers thick, made of several kinds of metals, wood, 
 and horn, according to the quality of people. There is 
 nothing more disagreeable to the eyes of those that are 
 unaccustomed to the sight ; for these pendants by their 
 weight widen so extremely the hole of the ear, that one 
 might put in two fingers, and stretch it more than 
 one that never saw it would imagine. I have seen some 
 of these ear-rings with figures upon them, and strange 
 characters, which I believe may be talismans or charms, 
 or perhaps nothing but the amusement of old women. 
 The Indians say they are preservatives against enchant- 
 ments. Perhaps the ear-rings of Jacob's family were of 
 this kind," Chardin M. S. Harmer, vol. ii. p. 393. 
 
 No. 65. — xxxvii. 34. Jacob rent his clothes.'] This 
 ceremony is very ancient, and is frequently mentioned 
 in scripture. Levi {Rites and Ceremonies of the Jews, 
 p. 174.) say£, it was performed in the following man- 
 ner : " they take a knife, and holding the blade down- 
 wards, do give the upper garment a cut on the right 
 side, and then rend it an hand's breadth. This is done 
 for the five following relations, brother, sister, son, or 
 daughter, or wife ; but for father or mother, the rent 
 is on the left side, and in all the garments, as coat, 
 waistcoat, &c." 
 
 No. 66. — xl. 13. Within three days shall Pharaoh 
 lift up thine head.] " The ancients, in keeping their
 
 GENESIS. 49 
 
 reckonings or accounts of time, or their list of domestic 
 officers or servants, made use of tables with holes bored 
 in them, in which they put a sort of pegs, or nails with 
 broad heads, exhibiting the particulars, either number 
 or name, or whatever it was. These nails or pegs the 
 Jews call heads, and the sockets of the heads they call 
 bases. The meaning therefore of Pharaoh's lifting up 
 his head is, that Pharaoh would take out the peg, which 
 had the cup-bearer's name on the top of it, to read it, 
 i.e. would sit in judgment, and make examination into 
 his accounts; for it seems very probable that both he 
 and the baker had been either suspected or accused of 
 having cheated the king, and that, when their accounts 
 were examined and cast up, the one was acquitted, while 
 the other was found guilty. And though Joseph uses 
 the same expression in both cases, yet we may observe 
 that, speaking to the baker, he adds, that Pharaoh shall 
 lift up thine head from off thee, i.e. shall order thy 
 name to be struck out of the list of his servants, by 
 taking thy peg out of the socket." Bibliotheca Bibl. in 
 locum, cited in Stackhouse's Hist, of the Bible, vol. i. 
 p. 331. 
 
 No. 67. — xli. 5, 47. And behold seven ears of corn 
 came up upon one stalk. — And in the seven plenteous 
 years the earth brought forth by hanofuls."] In Barbary, 
 one stalk of wheat, or barley, will sometimes bear two 
 ears : whilst each of these ears will as often shoot out 
 into a number of less ones : thereby affording a most 
 plentiful increase. May not these large prolific ears, 
 when seven are said to come up upon one stalk, explain 
 what is further mentioned of the seven fruitful years in 
 Egypt, that is, that the earth brought forth by handfuls ? 
 
 This latter passage may, indeed, mean, that the earth 
 brought forth handfuls of stalks from single grains, and 
 not handfuls of ears from single stalks, agreeably to the 
 
 VOL. I, E
 
 50 GENESIS. 
 
 following passage from Dr. Shaw. " In Barbary it is 
 common to see one grain produce ten or fifteen stalks. 
 Even some grains of the murwaany wheat, which I 
 brought with me to Oxford, and sowed in the physic 
 garden, threw out each of them fifty. But Muzeratty, 
 one of the late kaleefas, or viceroys, of the province of 
 Tiemsan, brought once with him to Algiers a root that 
 yielded fourscore : telling us, that the prince of the 
 western pilgrims sent once to the bashaw of Cairo, one 
 that yielded six score. Pliny mentions some that bore 
 three or four hundred." 
 
 No. 68. — xli. 40. Thou sh alt be over my house ', and 
 according to thy word shall all my people be rided.~\ The 
 Easterns kiss what comes from the hand of a superior. 
 The editor of the Ruins of Balbec observed, that the 
 Arab governor of that city respectfully applied the fir- 
 man of the grand seignior (which was presented to him) 
 to his forehead when he and his fellow travellers first 
 waited on him, and then kissed it, declaring himself the 
 sultan's slave's slave (p. 4.) Is not this what Pharaoh 
 refers to in these words : Thou shall be over my house, 
 and accenting unto thy word, or on account of thy word, 
 shall all my people kiss (for so it is In the original) only 
 in the throne will I be greater than thou ; that is, I imagine, 
 the orders of Joseph were to be received with the great- 
 est respect by all, and kissed by the most illustrious of 
 the princes of Egypt. Harmer, vol. ii. p. 48. 
 
 No. 69. — xli. 42. And arrayed him in vestures of 
 fine lineiu~\ To be arrayed in a rich dress, and to ride in 
 great pomp and ceremony, were the ancient modes of in- 
 vesting with the highest degree of subordinate power in 
 Egypt; and with a small variation still remains so. The 
 history of the revolt of Ali Bey (p. 43.) informs us, 
 that on the election of a new sheik bellet, the pasha who
 
 GENESIS. 51 
 
 approves of him invests him with a valuable fur, treats 
 him with sherbet, and when the sheik bellet departs, the 
 pasha presents him with a horse richly caparisoned. 
 Harmer, vol. hi. p. 308. 
 
 No. 70. — xlii. 15. By the life of Pharaoh."] Most 
 authors take this for an oath, the original of which is 
 well explained by Mr. Selden, (in his Titles of Honour, 
 p. 45.) where he observes, that the names of gods being 
 given to kings very early, from the excellence of their 
 heroic virtue, which made them anciently great bene- 
 factors to mankind ; thence arose the custom of swearing 
 by them : which Aben Ezra saith, continued in his 
 time, (about 1170) when Egypt was governed by 
 caliphs. If any man swore by the king's head, and were 
 found to have sworn falsely, he was punished capitally. 
 
 Extraordinary as the kind of oath which Joseph made 
 use of may appear to us, it still continues in the East. 
 Mr. Han way says, the most sacred oath among the 
 Persians is " by the king's head;" (Trav. vol. i. p. 313.) 
 and among other instances of it we read in the Travels 
 of the Ambassadors, p. 204. " There were but sixty 
 horses for ninety-four persons. The mehemander (or 
 conductor) swore by the head of the king (which is the 
 greatest oath amongst the Persians) that he could not 
 possibly find any more." And Thevenot says (Trav. 
 p. 97. part 2.) " His subjects never look upon him but 
 with fear and trembling ; and they have such respect 
 for him, and pay so blind an obedience to all his orders, 
 that how unjust soever his commands might be, they 
 perform them, though against the law both of God and 
 nature. Nay, if they swear by the kings head, their oath 
 is more authentic, and of greater credit, than if they 
 swore by all that is most sacred in heaven and upon 
 earth." Vid. Patrick in loc. and an Elegant Dis- 
 sertation of the Abbe Massieu on the Oaths of the An* 
 
 K 2
 
 52 GENESIS. 
 
 dents in the Mem. de VAcademie des Inscriptions, torn. i. 
 p. 208. 
 
 No. 71. — xliii. 29. God be gracious to thee, my son.] 
 " This would have been called through all Europe, and 
 in the living languages of this part of the world, the 
 giving a person one's benediction; but it is a simple 
 salutation in Asia, and it is there used instead of those 
 offers and assurances of service which it is the custom to 
 make use of in the West, in first addressing or taking 
 leave of an acquaintance. [Char din.) This account 
 explains the ground of the scripture's so often calling the 
 salutations and farewells of the East by the term blessing. 
 Harmer, vol. ii. p. 40. 
 
 No. 72. — xliii. 34. And they drank.'] After they 
 had dined, plenty of wine was brought in, for every one 
 to drink as much as they pleased. Such is the custom 
 of the Abyssinians to this day : they do not drink or 
 talk at dinner, but after the meat is taken away : as 
 Lndolphus assures us from Telezius. This he also sup- 
 poses to have been the ancient custom among other 
 nations, particularly the Romans : for which he alleges 
 the words of Virgil: 
 
 Postquam prima quies epulis, mensaeque remotae, 
 
 Crateras magnos statuunt, et vina coronant. Mn. i. 727. 
 
 A different custom however prevailed in Persia; where 
 the time for drinking wine was at the beginning, not at 
 the close of the entertainment. Sir J. Chardin says 
 " that the Eastern people drink and discourse before 
 eating, and after the rest is served up, the feast is quickly 
 over, they eating very fast, and every one presently with- 
 drawing. They conduct matters thus at the royal table, 
 and at those of their great men." Harmer, vol. ii. 
 p. 152,
 
 GENESIS. S3 
 
 No. 73. — xliii. 34. And he took and sent messes unto 
 them from before him, but Benjamin's mess was five times 
 as much as any qf theirs.] The manner of eating amongst 
 the ancients was not for all the company to eat out of 
 one and the same dish, but for every one to have one or 
 more dishes to himself. The whole of these dishes were 
 set before the master of the feast, and he distributed to 
 every one his portion. As Joseph, however, is here said 
 to have had a table to himself, we may suppose that he 
 had a great variety of little dishes or plates set before 
 him ; and as it was a custom for great men to honour 
 those, who were in their favour, by sending such dishes 
 to them as were first served up to themselves, Joseph 
 shewed that token of respect to his brethren ; but to ex- 
 press a particular value for Benjamin, he sent him five 
 dishes to their one, which disproportion could not but 
 be marvellous and astonishing to them, if what Herodotus 
 tells us, be true, that the distinction in this case, even to 
 Egyptian kings themselves, in all public feasts and ban- 
 quets, was no more than a double mess. Lib. vi. chap. 
 27." (Bibliotheca Bibl.) Stackhouse's Hist, of the 
 Bible, vol i. p. 338. 
 
 No. 74. — xliv. 1. Sacks."] There are two sorts of 
 sacks taken notice of in the history of Joseph, which 
 ought not to be confounded ; one for the corn, the other 
 for the baggage. There are no waggons almost through 
 all Asia, as far as to the Indies, every thing is carried 
 upon beasts of burthen, in sacks of wool, covered in the 
 middle with leather, the better to make resistance to 
 water. Sacks of this sort are called tambellit; they in- 
 close in them their things done up in large parcels. It 
 is of this kind of sacks we are to understand what is said 
 here and all through this history, and not of their sacks 
 in which they carry their corn. {Char din.) Harmer, 
 vol. i. p. 429. 
 
 e 3
 
 54 GENESIS. 
 
 No. 75. — xliv. 5. Is not this it in which my lord 
 drinketh, and wherein/ indeed he divineth?~\ When 
 Norden was at Berri in the farthest part of Egypt, in a 
 very dangerous situation, from which he and his company 
 endeavoured to extricate themselves by exerting great 
 spirit, a spiteful and powerful Arab in a threatening way 
 told one of their people, whom they had sent to him, 
 that he knew what sort of people they were, that he had 
 considted his cup, and had found by it that they were 
 those of whom one of their prophets had said, that Franks 
 would come in disguise, and passing every where, ex- 
 amine the state of the country, and afterwards bring 
 over a great number of other Franks, conquer the 
 country, and exterminate all. ( Trav. vol. ii. p. 150.) 
 It was precisely the same thing that Joseph meant when 
 he talked of draining by his cup. Harmer, vol. ii. 
 p. 475. 
 
 Julius Serenus tells us, that the method of divining by 
 the cup, among the Abyssinians, Chaldees, and Egyptians, 
 was to fill it first with water, then to throw into it their 
 plates of gold and silver, together with some precious 
 stones, whereon were engraven certain characters : and, 
 after that, the persons who came to consult the oracle 
 used certain forms of incantation, and so calling upon 
 the devil, received their answers several ways ; some- 
 times by articulate sounds, sometimes by the characters, 
 which were in the cup, rising upon the surface of the 
 water, and by this arrangement forming the answer; 
 and many times by the visible appearing of the persons 
 themselves about whom the oracle was consulted. Cor- 
 nelius Agrippa (de occult. Philos. 1. i. cap. 57.) tells us 
 likewise, that the manner of some was to pour melted 
 wax into the cup, wherein was water, which wax would 
 range itself into order, and so form answers, according 
 to the questions proposed. Saurin's Diss. 38. 
 
 There has been in the East a tradition, which is lost in
 
 GENESIS. 55 
 
 immemorial time, that there was a cuj), which had passed 
 successively into the hands of different potentates, which 
 possessed the strange property of representing in it the 
 whole world, and all the things which were then doing 
 in it. The cup is called Jami Jemsheed, the cup of 
 Jemsheed, a very ancient king of Persia. This cup, 
 filled with the elixir of immortality, they say was dis- 
 covered when digging to lay the foundations of Persepo- 
 lis. The Persian poets are full of allusions to this cup, 
 which from its property of representing the whole world 
 and its transactions, is stiled by them Jam jehan nirna, 
 the cup shelving the universe : and to the intelligence re- 
 ceived by means of it, they attribute the great prosperity 
 of their ancient monarchs, as by it they understood all 
 events, past, present, and to come. Many of the Mo- 
 hammedan princes and governors affect still to have in- 
 formation of futurity by means of a cup. 
 
 No. 76. — xlv. 22. To all of them he gave each man 
 changes of raiment.^ Presents of garments appear to 
 have been common amongst all ranks of people in the 
 East. The passage now cited is an instance in point. 
 See also 2 Chron. ix. 24. This custom is still preserved. 
 De la Motraye furnishes us with some particular infor- 
 mation on this subject. " The visier entered at another 
 door, and their excellencies rose to salute him after their 
 manner, which was returned by a little inclining of his 
 head : after which he sat down on the corner of his sofa, 
 which is the most honourable place : then his chancellor, 
 his kiahia, and the chiaouz bashaw came and stood be- 
 fore him, till coffee was brought in ; after which, M. de 
 Chateauneuf presented M. de Ferriol to him, as his suc- 
 cessor, who delivered him the king his master's letters, 
 complimenting him as from his majesty and himself, to 
 which the visier answered very obligingly : then after 
 some discourse, which turned upon the reciprocal readi- 
 
 E 4
 
 56 GENESIS. 
 
 ness of propension towards the continuance of a good 
 intelligence between the Porte and the court of France, 
 which M. de Ferriol assured that the king his master 
 was well disposed to cultivate sincerely, they gave two 
 dishes of coffee to their excellencies, with sweetmeats, 
 and after that perfumes and sherbet. Then they clothed 
 them with cqffetans of a silver brocade, with large silk 
 flowers; and to those that were admitted into the apart- 
 ments with them, they gave others of brocade, almost 
 all silk, except some slight gold or silver flowers, accord- 
 ing to the custom usually observed towards all foreign 
 ministers." Travels, p. 199. Caffetans are long vests 
 of gold or silver brocade, flowered with silk. See also 
 Ezra, ii. 69. Neh. vii. 70. 
 
 No. 77. — - xlvi. 4. Put his hand upon thine eyes,'] This 
 appears to have been a very ancient and general custom, 
 as there are evidences of its existence amongst the Jews, 
 Greeks, and Romans. Among the Jews, Tobias is said 
 to have shut the eyes of his wife's father and mother, 
 and to have buried them honourably. Tobit, xiv. 15. 
 Maimonides represents it as a customary rite. Homer 
 describes Ulysses thus expressing himself on the death 
 of Socus : 
 
 Ah, wretch ! no father shall thy corpse compose, 
 
 Thy dying eyes no tender mother close. 77. xi. 570. Pope. 
 
 See also the Odyss. xi. 424. and xxiv. 294. Eurip. 
 Hecub. 430. Virg. jEn. ix. 487. Ovid. Trist. iii. El. 
 iii. 43. and iv. El. iii. 43. 
 
 No. 78. — xlvii. 19. Buy us and our land for bread, 
 and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh,] From 
 the Gentoo laws it appears that such a purchase as that 
 made by Joseph was not an unusual thing. Particular 
 provision is made in these institutes for the release of
 
 GENESIS. 57 
 
 those who were thus brought into bondage. " Who- 
 ever having received his victuals from a person during 
 the time of a famine, hath become his slave, upon giving 
 to his provider whatever he received from him during 
 the time of the famine, and also two head of cattle, may 
 become free from his servitude, according to the ordina- 
 tion of Pacheshputtee Misr. — Approved." " Whoever 
 having been given up as a pledge for money lent, per- 
 forms service to the creditor, recovers his liberty when- 
 ever the debtor discharges the debt ; if the debtor neg- 
 lects to pay the creditor his money, and takes no thought 
 of the person whom he left as a pledge, that person be- 
 comes the purchased slave of the creditor." Gentoo 
 Laws, p. 140. 
 
 No. 79. — xlviii. 14. And Israel stretched out his 
 right hand, and laid it upon Ephr aim's head."] Imposi- 
 tion of hands was a Jewish ceremony, introduced, not 
 by any divine authority, but by custom : it being the 
 practice among those people whenever they prayed to 
 God for any person, to lay their hands on his head. 
 Our Saviour observed the same custom, both when he 
 conferred his blessing on children, and when he healed 
 the sick, adding prayer to the ceremony. The apostles 
 likewise laid hands on those upon whom they bestowed 
 the Holy Ghost. The priests observed the same custom 
 when any one was received into their body. And the 
 apostles themselves underwent the imposition of hands 
 afresh, every time they entered upon any new design. 
 In the ancient church imposition of hands was even 
 practised on persons when they married, which custom 
 the Abyssinians still observe. 
 
 The ceremony of the imposition of hands on the head 
 of the victim, has been usually considered, in the case of 
 piacular sacrifices, as a symbolical translation of the sins 
 of the offender upon the head of the sacrifice ; and as a
 
 58 GENESIS. 
 
 mode of deprecating the evil due to bis transgressions. 
 So we find it represented by Abarbinel, in the intro- 
 duction to his commentary on Leviticus, {De Viel, 
 p. 301.) and so the ceremony of the scape goat in 
 Levit. xvi. 21. seems directly to assert. And it is cer- 
 tain that the practice of imprecating on the head of the 
 victim, the evils which the sacrificer wished to avert 
 from himself, was usual amongst the heathen, as appears 
 particularly from Herodotus (lib. ii. cap. 39.) who relates 
 this of the Egyptians, and at the same time asserts that 
 no Egyptian would so much as taste the head of any 
 animal, but under the influence of this religious custom, 
 flung it into the river. Confession of sin was always con- 
 nected with piacular sacrifices. Levit. v. 5. xvi. 21. 
 Numb, v. 7. The particular forms of confession used in 
 the different kinds of piacular sacrifices are handed down 
 to us by the Jewish writers, and are given by Outram 
 De Sacr. lib. i. cap. 15. § 10, 11. The form prescribed 
 for the individual, persenting his own sacrifice, seems 
 particularly significant. " O God, 1 have sinned, I 
 have done perversely, I have trespassed before thee, and 
 have done so and so. Lo, now I repent, and am truly 
 sorry for my misdeeds. Let then this victim be my 
 expiation." These last words were accompanied by the 
 action of laying hands on the head of the victim ; and 
 were considered by the Jews as equivalent to this, " let 
 the evils, which in justice should have fallen on my 
 head, light upon the head of this victim." See Outram 
 De Sacr. lib. i. cap. 22. § 5, 6. 9. Magee on Atone- 
 ment and Sacrifice, vol. i. p. 341. 2nd edit. 
 
 No. 80. — xlviii. 20. And he set Ephraim before 
 Manasseh.~] The preference given in this instance to 
 the vounger brother has in many cases been paralleled. 
 Some nations have even gone so far as to form institu- 
 tions upon this very principle For the younger son to 
 
 12
 
 GENESIS. 59 
 
 succeed his father in preference to his elder brothers, 
 was a custom long prevalent in Tartary, and among 
 the northern nations : and it is to be found in our old 
 Saxon tenures, under the description of Borough- 
 English. Sir William Blackstone, after mentioning 
 the opinions of Littleton and other eminent lawyers in 
 regard to the origin of this strange custom, conjectures, 
 with great judgmant, that it might be deduced from 
 the Tartars. Amongst those people, the elder sons, as 
 they grew to man's estate, migrated from their father 
 with a certain portion of cattle ; and the youngest son 
 only remaining at home, became in consequence the 
 heir to his father's house and all his remaining pos- 
 sessions. Richardson's Dissert, on Eastern Nations, 
 p. 162. 
 
 No. 81. — xlix. 1. And Jacob called unto his sons, 
 and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell 
 you that which shall befal you in the last days.~\ " It is an 
 opinion of great antiquity, that the nearer men ap- 
 proach to their dissolution, their souls grow more divine, 
 and discern more of futurity. We find this opinion as 
 early as Homer, (//. xvi. 852. et xxii. 358.) for he re- 
 presents the dying Patroclus foretelling the fate of 
 Hector, and the dying Hector denouncing no less cer- 
 tainly the death of Achilles. Socrates, in his apology 
 to the Athenians a little before his death, asserts the 
 same opinion. " But now," saith he, " I am desirous 
 to prophesy to you, who have condemned me, what 
 will happen hereafter. For now I am arrived at that 
 state in which men prophecy most, when they are 
 about to die." (Platonis Apolog. Socr. Op. vol. i. p. 39. 
 edit. Serrani.) His scholar Xenophon (Cyrop. lib. viii. 
 prope finem, p. 140. Edit. Henr. Steph. 1581.) intro- 
 duces the dying Cyrus declaring in like manner " that 
 the soul of man at the hour of death appeals most
 
 60 GENESIS. 
 
 divine and then foresees something of future events." 
 Diodorus Siculus (in initio, lib. xviii. torn. 2. p. 586. 
 Edit. Rhodamani) allegeth great authorities upon the 
 subject. " Pythagorus the Samian, and some others 
 of the ancient naturalists, have demonstrated that the 
 souls of men are immortal, and in consequence of this 
 opinion, that they also foreknow future events at the time 
 that they are making their separation from the body in 
 death." Sextus Empiricus (adv. Mathem. p. 312.) con- 
 firms it likewise by the authority of Aristotle : " The 
 soul," saith Aristotle, " foresees and foretels future 
 events, when it is going to be separated from the 
 body by death." We might produce more testimonies 
 to this purpose from Cicero, and Eustathius upon 
 Homer, and from other authors, if there were occasion : 
 but these are sufficient to shew the great antiquity of 
 this opinion. And it is possible that old experience may 
 in some cases attain to something like prophecy and 
 divination. Hence those lines of Milton, 
 
 Till old experience do attain, 
 
 To something like prophetic strain. 
 
 In some instances also God may have been pleased to 
 comfort and enlighten departing souls with a prescience 
 of future events. But what I conceive might principally 
 give rise to this opinion was the tradition of some of 
 the patriarchs being divinely inspired in their last 
 moments, to foretel the state and condition of the people 
 descended from them : as Jacob upon his death-bed 
 summoned his sons together, that he might inform them 
 of what should befal them in the latter days." Newton 
 on the Prophecies, vol. i. p. 85. 2d edit. 
 
 No. 82. — xlix. 3, 4. Reuben, thou art my jirst-born ; 
 thou shall not excel, because thou we?itest up to thy father 's 
 bed.] In the following extract we find a similar punish-
 
 GENESIS. 61 
 
 ment ordered for an offence similar to that of Reuben. 
 " Notwithstanding that long continued custom there, 
 for the eldest son to succeed the father in that great 
 empire, (of the Mogul,) Achabar Shah, father of the 
 late king, upon high and just displeasure taken against 
 his son, for climbing up unto the bed of Anarkalee, his 
 father's most beloved wife, and for other base actions of 
 his, which stirred up his father's high displeasure against 
 him, resoived to break that ancient custom ; and there- 
 fore often in his life-time protested, that not he, but his 
 grand-child Sultan Coobsurroo, whom he kept in his 
 court, should succeed him in that empire." Sir Thomas 
 Roe's Embassy to the Great Mogul, p. 470. 
 
 No. 83. — xlix. 8. Thy hand shall be in the neck of 
 thine enemies.'] This expression denotes triumph over 
 an enemy, and that Judah should subdue his adversa- 
 ries. This was fulfilled in the person of David, and 
 acknowledged by him. Then hast also given me the 
 necks of mine enemies, that I might destroy them that 
 hate me. Psalm xviii. 40. Treading on the neck of a 
 vanquished foe has been a very common practice. 
 Amongst the Franks it was usual to put the arm round 
 the neck as a mark of superiority on the part of him 
 that did it. When Chrodin, declining the office of 
 mayor of the palace, chose a young nobleman, named 
 Gogen, to fill that place, he immediately took the arm 
 of that young man, and put it round his own neck, as 
 a mark of his dependance on him, and that he acknow- 
 ledged him for his general and chief. 
 
 " When a debtor became insolvent, he gave himself 
 up to his creditor as his slave, till he had paid all his 
 debt : and to confirm his engagement, he took the arm 
 of his patron, and put it round his own neck. This 
 ceremony invested, as it were, his creditor in his person." 
 Stockdale's Manners of the Ancient Nations, vol. i.
 
 62 GENESIS. 
 
 p. 356. See Gen. xxvii. 40. Deut. xxviii. 48. Isaiah, 
 x. 27. Jer. xxvii. 8. Joshua, x. 24. Lam. v. 5. 
 
 No. 84. — xlix. 10. The sceptre shall not depart front 
 Judah.~] Sceptres, or staves of some kind or other, have 
 been among almost all nations the ensigns of civil autho- 
 rity, as they are to this day, being in themselves very 
 proper emblems of power extended, or acting at a dis- 
 tance from the person. Achilles, who was the chief of 
 a Grecian tribe or clan, is described in Homer as holding 
 a sceptre or staff which 
 
 The delegates of Jove, dispensing laws, 
 
 Bear in their hands. II. i. 238. 
 
 No. 85. — xlix. 29. And he charged them, and said 
 unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people ; bury ?ne 
 with my fathers.'] Princes and persons of quality, who 
 died in foreign parts, were usually carried into their 
 own country, to be buried with their fathers. That 
 this was practised in the patriarchal times, appears from 
 the injunction which Jacob laid upon his children re- 
 specting his interment. It was also the custom of the 
 Greeks. Homer represents Juno as thus speaking con- 
 cerning Sarpedon. 
 
 Give the bold chief a glorious fate in fight ; 
 
 And when th? ascending soul has wing\l her flight, 
 
 Let Sleep and Death convey, by thy command, 
 
 The breathless body to his native land. II. iv. 247. 
 
 The epitaph of Leonidas the Tarentine runs thus : 
 (Anthol. Epigr. lib. 3. cap. 25. ep. 75.) 
 
 IlaT^nj, rSro c*e p.ot 7rtx.^oTi^ov SavaTS. 
 
 I from Tarentum far remote do lie, 
 
 My native soil, than death oh worse anxiety i
 
 GENESIS. 63 
 
 Thus also Electra in Sophocles, having preserved Orestes 
 from Clytemnestra, by sending him into a foreign coun- 
 try, and many years after hearing he had ended his days 
 there, wishes he had rather perished at first, than after 
 so many years continuance of life, have died from home, 
 and been destitute of the last offices of his friends. Her 
 words are these : 
 
 \lg u><Pt\ov irolgoiQtv IkXitthv (3iov f 
 TT^Jv U fsv*!V ere youav iKTrip-^ou ;£S£OiV 
 KxQ<x,<tcc rciTvdf, K<xv<x<ru<rac-Qoa Qova' 
 "Ontuq <?av«\» exwo tw" toS flW^a, 
 Tv^Qa Tar^s Jtoivov nXri^uq fj.tgoi' 
 Nvv $' Ixtoj oi'xwv, xaVi yr,q aXknq Qvyas 
 Kaxw; otvuXa crnq KounywTiris ^a, &c. ver. 1134. 
 
 Oh / could I wish thou hadst, unhappy youth, 
 
 Been slain before I sent thee thus away, 
 
 Then thou hadst ne'er these doleful miseries felt, 
 
 But dy'd in th' innocence of infancy ; 
 
 Then thou hadst had one common sepulture 
 
 With thy dear father, then thy sister's love 
 
 And pity ne'er woitd thus have heap'd up woe: 
 
 Now thou art in a foreign land, deprived 
 
 Of those blest rites thy friends could once bestow, 
 
 And as thy life unhappy ivas, so is alike thy death. 
 
 For this reason, such as died in foreign countries had 
 usually their ashes brought home and interred in the 
 sepulchres of their ancestors, or at least in some part of 
 their native country; it being thought that the same 
 mother which gave them life and birth, was only fit to 
 receive their remains, and afford them a peaceful habit- 
 ation after death. Whence ancient authors afford us 
 innumerable instances of bodies conveyed, sometimes by 
 the command of oracles, sometimes by the good will of 
 their friends, from foreign countries to the sepulchres 
 of their fathers, and with great solemnity deposited 
 there. Thus Theseus was removed from Scyrus to
 
 64 GENESIS. 
 
 Athens, Orestes from Tegea, and his son Tisamenes 
 from Helice to Sparta, and Aristomenes from Rhodes 
 to Messene. 
 
 No. 86. — 1. 1. Joseph fell upon his father's face, and 
 kissed him.'] It is probable that he first closed his eyes, 
 as God had promised he should do, (Gen. xlvi. 4.) and 
 then parted from his body with a kiss. Of this custom 
 many examples are to be found. Thus Ovid represents 
 Niobe as kissing her slain sons : and Meleager's sister 
 kissing him when he lay dead. Corippus represents 
 Justin the Younger falling upon Justinian, and weeping, 
 and kissing him. 
 
 Ut prius ingrediens corpus venerabile vidit, 
 Incubuit lachrymans, atque oscula frigida carpsit 
 Divini patris. 
 
 Their friends and relations perceiving them at the 
 point of resigning their lives, came close to the bed 
 where they lay, to bid them farewell, and catch their 
 dying words, which they never repeated without reve- 
 rence. The want of opportunity to pay this compli- 
 ment to Hector, furnishes Andromache with matter of 
 lamentation, which she thus expresses : 
 
 Ov yoig poi SvnaKwv Tup^a-v Ik "Xh^xc, o'^sfaj, 
 
 Oy^s -n /lco» utsc irvMyov sVo?, ov te xev alii 
 
 Ms/uytija*jv, vvxnx? te kou ^«t« 5ax^u^E«o-a. II. u. 743, 
 
 I saw him not when in the pangs of death. 
 
 Nor did my lips receive his latest breath. 
 
 Why held he not to me his dying hand? 
 
 And why received I not his last command? 
 
 Something he would have said had I been there, 
 
 Which Ishou'd still in sad remembrance bear; 
 
 For I could never, nevdr words forget, 
 
 Which night and day I would with tears repeat. Congreve. 
 
 They kissed and embraced the dying person, so taking 
 their last farewell ; which custom was very ancient,
 
 GENESIS. 65 
 
 being derived from the eastern nations. They endea- 
 voured likewise to receive in their mouth his last breath, 
 as fancying his soul to expire with it, and enter into 
 their bodies : and at the time of its departure it was 
 customary to beat brazen kettles, which was thought an 
 excellent method to drive away evil spirits and phan- 
 tasms, whose airy forms were not able to endure so 
 harsh a noise (Theocriti Scholiastes) : thus they ima- 
 gined the dead man's ghost secured from furies, and 
 quietly conveyed to a peaceful habitation in the Elysian 
 fields. 
 
 No. 87. — 1. 2. And Joseph commanded his servants 
 the physicians to embalm his father. ~\ Concerning the 
 practice of physic in Egypt, Herodotus says, that it was 
 divided amongst the faculty in this manner. " Every 
 distinct distemper hath its own physician, who confines 
 himself to the study and care of that alone, and meddles 
 with no other : so that all places are crouded with phy- 
 sicians; for one class hath the care of the eyes, another 
 of the head, another of the teeth, another of the region 
 of the belly, and another of occult distempers," lib. ii. 
 c. 84. After this we shall not think it strange that 
 Joseph's physicians are represented as a number. A 
 body of these domestics would now appear an extrava- 
 gant piece of state, even in a first minister. But then 
 it could not be otherwise, where each distemper had its 
 proper physician ; so that every great family, as well as 
 city, must needs, as Herodotus expresses it, swarm with 
 the faculty. There is a remarkable passage in Jeremiah 
 (chap.xlvi.il., where, foretelling the overthrow of 
 Pharaoh's army at the Euphrates, he describes Egypt 
 by this characteristic of her skill in medicine. Go up 
 into Gilead, and take balm, (or balsam) O virgin the 
 daughter of Egypt ; in vain shalt thou use many medi- 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 66 GENESIS. 
 
 cines,^;- thou shall not be cured, Warburton's Divine 
 Legation, b. iv. sec. 3. § 3. 
 
 No. 88. — 1. 3. And forty days were fulfilled for him, 
 (for so are fulfilled the days of those who are embalmed) 
 and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten 
 days.~\ We learn from two Greek historians (Herodotus, 
 lib. ii. cap. 85, 86. Diodorus, lib. i. Bibl. p. 58.) that 
 the time of mourning was while the body remained with 
 the embalmers, which Herodotus says was seventy days. 
 During this time the body lay in nitre, the use of which 
 was to dry up all its superfluous and noxious moisture : 
 and when, in the compass of thirty days, this was rea- 
 sonably well effected, the remaining forty (the time 
 mentioned by Diodorus) were employed in anointing it 
 with gums and spices to preserve it, which was the proper 
 embalming. The former circumstance explains the rea- 
 son why the Egyptians mourned for Israel three-score 
 and ten days. The latter explains the meaning of the 
 foity days which wtre fulfilled for Irsael, being the days of 
 those who are embalmed. Warburton's Divine Lega- 
 tion, b. iv. sec. 3. §4. 
 
 No. 8&. — L 10. They mourned with a great and very 
 sore la mentation, j This is exactly the genius of the peo- 
 ple of Asia, especially of the women. Their sentiments 
 of joy or grief are properly transports, and their trans- 
 ports are ungoverned, excessive, and outrageous. When 
 any one returns from a long journey, or dies, his family 
 burst into cries that may be heard twenty doors off; 
 and this is renewed at different times, and continues 
 many days, according to the vigour of the- passion. 
 Especially are these cries long in the case of death, and 
 frightful, for their mourning is right down despair, and 
 an image of hell. I was lodged, in the year 1676, at 
 Ispahan, near the royal square ; the mistress of the next
 
 GENESIS. 67 
 
 house to mine died at that time ; the moment she ex- 
 pired, all the family, to the number of twenty-five or 
 thirty people, set up such a furious cry, that I was quite 
 startled, and was above two hours before I could recover 
 myself. These cries continue a long time, then cease 
 all at once ; they begin again as suddenly, at day break, 
 and in concert. It is this suddenness which is so ter- 
 rifying, together with a greater shrillness and loudness 
 than one would easily imagine. This enraged kind of 
 mourning continued for forty days, not equally violent, 
 but with diminution from day to day. The longest and 
 most violent acts were when they washed the body, when 
 they perfumed it, when they carried it out to be inter- 
 red, at making the inventory, and when they divided 
 the effects. You are not to suppose that those, who were 
 ready to split their throats with crying out, wept as 
 much ; the greatest part of them did not shed a single 
 tear through the whole tragedy. Chardin in Harmer, 
 vol. ii. p. 136. 
 
 No. 90. — 1. 13. His sons carried him into the land of 
 Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Mach- 
 pelah.~] That Jacob after his decease should be carried 
 from Egypt into Canaan for interment, and Joseph also 
 when he died, is perfectly conformable to the practice of 
 the East. Homer represents the shade of Patroclus as 
 thus addressing Achilles. 
 
 Hear then ; and as in fate and love we join. 
 
 Oh suffer that my bones may rest with thine ! 
 
 Together have we liv'd, together bred, 
 
 One house received us, and one table fed; 
 
 That golden urn, thy goddess mother gave, 
 
 May mix our ashes in one common grave. Pope, //. xxiii. 105, 
 
 No. 91. — 1. 23. The children also of Machir were 
 brought up upon Joseph's 7cnees.~\ They were dandled or 
 treated as children upon Joseph's knees. This is a 
 
 f 2
 
 68 GENESIS. 
 
 pleasing picture of an old man's fondness for his descent 
 dants. So in Homer (Odyss. xix. 401.^ the nurse 
 places Ulysses, then lately born, upon his maternal 
 grandfather Autolychus's knees. 
 
 And on the other hand (//. ix. 1. 455.) Amyntor im- 
 precates it as a curse upon his son Phoenix, that he 
 might have no son to sit upon Amyntor's knees. 
 
 No. 92. — 1. 25. The children of Israel'] Though 
 the people were very numerous, they were still called 
 the children of Israel, as if they had been but one family; 
 in the same manner as they said, the children of Edom, 
 the children of Moab, &c. Indeed all these people were 
 still distinct : they knew their own origin, and took a 
 pride in preserving the name of their author. Thence 
 probably it comes that the name of children signified, 
 with the ancients, a nation, or certain sort of people. 
 Homer often says, the children of the Greeks, and the 
 children of the Trojans. The Greeks used to say, the 
 children of the physicians and grammarians. With the 
 Hebrews, the children of the East, are the eastern peo- 
 ple ; the children of Belial, the wicked ; the children of 
 man, or Adam, mankind. In the gospel we often see, 
 the children of this world ; of darkness ; and of light ; 
 and also, the children of the bridegroom, for those who 
 go along with him to the wedding, Fleury's Hist, of 
 Israelites, p. 18. 
 
 No. 93. — 1. 26. So Joseph died, being an hundred and 
 ten years old, and. they embalmed him, and he was put in a 
 coffin in Egypt.] When Joseph died he was not only 
 embalmed, but put into a coffin. This was an honour
 
 GENESIS. 69 
 
 appropriated to persons of distinction, coffins not being 
 universally used in Egypt. Maillet, speaking of the 
 Egyptian repositories of the dead, having given an ac- 
 count of several niches that are found there, says, " it 
 must not be imagined, that the bodies deposited in these 
 gloomy apartments were all enclosed in chests, and 
 placed in niches ; the greatest part were simply em- 
 balmed and swathed after that manner that every one 
 hath some notion of; after which they laid them one by 
 the side of another without any ceremony : some were 
 even put into these tombs without any embalming at all, 
 or such a slight one, that there remains nothing of them 
 in the linen in which they were wrapped but the bones, 
 and those half rotten." ( Letter vii. p. 281.) Antique 
 coffins of stone, and sycamore wood, are still to be seen 
 in Egypt. It is said that some were formerly made of a 
 kind of pasteboard, formed by folding and glewing 
 cloth together a great number of times; these were 
 curiously plaistered and painted with hieroglyphics. 
 Thevenot, part. i. p. 137. 
 
 Of the manner of embalming, see Herodotus, ii. and 
 Diodorus Sic. i. Dr. Hadley's Dissertation in the 
 Philosophical Transactions, vol. liv. p. 3, 14. and M. 
 Reuelle's Memoir in the Academy of Sciences, for 1750, 
 p. 150. 
 
 F 3
 
 C 70 ] 
 
 No. 94. — EXODUS, i. 16. 
 
 And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, —- 
 When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew wo- 
 men, and see them on the stools, if it be a son, then ye 
 shall kill him ; but if it be a daughter* then she shall 
 live. 
 
 '"TO understand the word stools as referring to" the 
 women to be delivered involves the passage in per- 
 plexity : but if it be interpreted of those troughs or 
 vessels of stone, in which new born children were placed 
 for the purpose of being washed, it is perfectly clear 
 and intelligible. This custom in relation to children is 
 justified by eastern usages ; and such a destruction of 
 boys is actually practised in the courts of eastern 
 monarchs. Thevenot (partii. p. 98.) hints at both these 
 principles. He says that " the kings of Persia are so 
 afraid of being deprived of that power which they abuse, 
 and are so apprehensive of being dethroned, that they 
 destroy the children of their female relations, when they 
 are brought to bed of boys, by putting them into an 
 earthen trough, where they suffer them to starve." 
 
 No. 95. — ii. 5. And the daughter of Pharaoh came 
 down to wash herself at the river. ,] The people of Egypt, 
 and particularly the females of that country, express 
 their veneration for the benefits received from the Nile, 
 by plunging into it at the time of its beginning to over- 
 flow the country. Is it not probable that when the 
 daughter of Pharaoh went into that river, it was in con- 
 formity with that idolatrous practice ? Irwin (Travels, 
 p. 229, 259.) relates, that looking out of his window in 
 the night, he saw a band of damsels proceeding to the
 
 EXODUS. 71 
 
 river side with singing and dancing, and that the object 
 of their going thither was to witness the first visible rise 
 of the Nile, and to bathe in it. Harmer, vol. iv. p. 279. 
 
 No. 96. — iii. 2. And the Angel of the Lord appeared 
 unto him in ajlame of fire. ~\ The traditionary notion of 
 a miraculous light or fire being the token of a divine 
 presence, prevailed among the Greeks in the time of 
 Homer : for, after relating that the goddess Minerva at- 
 tended on Ulysses with her golden lamp, or rather torch, 
 and afforded him a refulgent light, he makes Telemachus 
 cry out to his father in rapture. 
 ■ 
 
 ft TfliTfp, Yi jAzya. Qoiv^a, rod 1 otyQaXpouriv opw/xai, &c. Odyss. xix. 
 
 What miracle thus dazzles with surprise ? 
 
 Distinct in rows the radiant columns ?nse. 
 
 The walls, where'er my wondering sight I turn, 
 
 And roofs, amidst a blaze of glory burn : 
 
 Some visitant of pure ethereal race 
 
 With his bright presence deigns the dome to grace. Pope. 
 
 No. 97. — iv. 25. A bloody husband art thou to me.'] 
 The learned Joseph Mede (Diss. xiv. p. 52.) has given 
 to these words of Zipporah the following singular inter- 
 pretation. He says that it was a custom among the 
 Jews to Same the child that was circumcised by a Hebrew 
 word, signifying a husband. He builds his opinion 
 upon the testimony of some rabbins. He apprehends 
 that she applied to the child, and not to Moses, as most 
 interpreters think, the words above mentioned. Chaton, 
 which is the term in the original, is never used to denote 
 the relation between husband and wife, but that which 
 is between a man and the father or mother of the person 
 to whom he is married : it signifies a son in law, and not 
 a husband. A person thus related is a son initiated into 
 a family by alliance. It is in this view of initiated, that 
 Zipporah says to her son, a bloody husband art thou 
 
 F 4
 
 72 EXODUS. 
 
 to me ; that is to say, it is I who have initiated thee into 
 the church by the bloody sacrament of circumcision. 
 He endeavours to justify his criticism upon the word 
 Chaton by the idea which the Arabians affix to the verb, 
 from whence this noun is derived. The Chaldee Para- 
 phrast also annexes the same notion to the words of 
 Zipporah. Saurin (Diss, on O. T. vol. i. p. 371.) does 
 not seem altogether satisfied with this interpretation of 
 the passage : whether it be just or not must be left to the 
 decision of the learned reader. 
 
 No. 98. — v. 7. Straw to make brick.'] The use of 
 the chopt straw and stubble in making bricks, Exod. v. 
 was not as fuel to burn or bake them with, for which 
 purpose surely neither of these are proper ; but to mix 
 with the clay in order to make the bricks, which were 
 dried or baked in the sun, cohere. So Philo, who was 
 himself of Alexandria in Egypt, expressly informs us, in 
 Vit. Mosis. And from Dr. Shaw, (Travels, p. 136.) we 
 learn that " some of the Egyptian pyramids are made of 
 brick, the composition whereof is only a mixture of clay, 
 mud, and straw, slightly blended and kneaded together, 
 and afterwards baked in the sun. — The straw which keeps 
 these bricks together, and still preserves its original 
 colour, seems to be a proof that these bricks were never 
 burnt or made in kilns." And as to the Egyptian manner 
 of building in modern times, Mr. Baumgarten, in his 
 Travels, ch. 18. speaking of Cairo in Egypt, says, 
 " The houses for the most part are of brick that are 
 only hardened by the heat of the sun, and mixt with straw 
 to make themjirm." (In Collection of Voyages and Travels 
 4 vols, folio, vol. i. p. 443.) See also Complete System of 
 Geography, vol.ii. p. 177, col. 1. ; Hasselouist's Travels, 
 p. 100. 
 
 It is said that the unburnt bricks of Egypt formerly 
 were, and still are, made of clay mixed with straw. The
 
 EXODUS. 73 
 
 Egyptian pyramid of unburnt brick, Dr. Pococke (Ob- 
 servations on Egypt, p. 53.) says, seems to be made of 
 the earth brought by the Nile, being a sandy black earth, 
 with some pebbles and shells in it : it is mixed up with 
 chopped straw, in order to bind the clay together. The 
 Chinese have great occasion for straw in making bricks, 
 as they put thin layers of straw between them, without 
 which they would, as they dried, run or adhere together. 
 Macartney's Emb. p. 269. 
 
 i No. 99. — vii. 18. The Egyptians shall loath to drink 
 of the water of the river. ,] A peculiar energy will be 
 discovered in these words, if what the abbot Mascrier 
 has said (Lett. i. p. 15.) of the water of the Nile be 
 attended to. " The water of Egypt is so delicious that 
 one would not wish the heat should be less, nor to be 
 delivered from the sensation of thirst. The Turks find 
 it so exquisitely charming, that they excite themselves to 
 drink of it by eating salt. It is a common saying among 
 them, that if Mahomet had drank of it, he would have 
 begged of God not to have died, that he might always 
 have done it." Harmer, vol. ii. p. 295. 
 
 No. 100. — vii. 19. Vessels of stone. ~\ The water of 
 the Nile is very thick and muddy, and it is purified either 
 by a paste made of almonds, or by nitrating it through 
 pots of white earth ; the possession of one of these pots 
 is thought a great happiness. Thevenot, (part i. p. 245.) 
 May not the meaning of this passage be, that the water 
 of the Nile should not only look red and nauseous like 
 blood in the river, but in their vessels too when taken up 
 in small quantities, and that no method whatever of 
 purifying it should be effectual ? Harmer, vol.ii. p. 298. 
 
 No. 101. — ix. 8. And the Lord said unto Moses and 
 unto Aaron, take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace,
 
 74 EXODUS. 
 
 and let Moses sprinkle them towards the heaven in the sight 
 of Pharaoh.~] " It is said, that when this evil was to be 
 brought upon the Egyptians, Aaron and Moses were 
 ordered to take ashes of the furnace, and Moses was to 
 scatter them up towards heaven, that they might be 
 wafted over the face of the country. This mandate was 
 very determinate, and to the last degree significant. 
 The ashes were to be taken from that fiery furnace, 
 which in the scriptures was used as a type of the Israel- 
 ites slavery, and of all the cruelty which they experienced 
 in Egypt. The process has still a farther allusion to 
 an idolatrous and cruel rite, which was common among 
 the Egyptians, and to which it is opposed as a contrast. 
 They had several cities styled Typhonian, such as 
 Heliopolis, Idithyia, Abarei, and Busiris ; in these, at 
 particular seasons, they sacrificed men. The objects 
 thus destined were persons of bright hair and a particular 
 complexion, such as were seldom to be found amongst 
 the native Egyptians. Hence we may infer that they 
 were foreigners ; and it is probable, that while the 
 Israelites resided in Egypt, they were chosen from their 
 body. They were burnt alive upon an high altar, and 
 thus sacrificed for the good of the people. At the close 
 of the sacrifice the priests gathered together the ashes 
 of these victims, and scattered them upwards in the air ; 
 I presume with this view, that where any atom of this 
 dust was wafted, a blessing might be entailed. The like 
 was done by Moses with the ashes of the fiery furnace, 
 but with a different intention; they were scattered 
 abroad, that where any the smallest portion alighted, it 
 might prove a plague and a curse to this ungrateful, 
 cruel, and infatuated people. Thus there was a designed 
 contrast in these workings of providence, an apparent 
 opposition to the superstition of the times." Bryant 
 on the Plagues of Egypt, p. 116. Magee on Atonement 
 and Sacrifice, Diss. 5. Seldenus de Dis Syris addita-
 
 EXODUS. 75 
 
 mentis M. Beyer, cap. vi. p. 254. de Molech. Grotius 
 de Satisfac Christy cap. 10. Dr. Owen's Theologoumena, 
 cap. 8. § 33 — 41. Saubert de Sacrifices Veterum, cap. 21. 
 Clem. Alexandrinus, p. 27, Paris, 1629. Minutius 
 Felix, p. 312. Gronov. Lug. Bat. 1709. 
 
 No. 102. — x. 26. There shall not a hoof be left 
 behind."] Bp. Patrick observes, that this was a proverbial 
 speech in the eastern countries ; similar to a saying 
 amongst the Arabians, which was first used about horses, 
 and afterwards transferred to other things — present 
 money even to a hoof that is, they would not part with a 
 horse, or any other commodity, till the buyer had laid 
 down the price of it to a farthing. 
 
 No. 103. — xii. 3. hi the tenth day of this month they 
 shall take to themselves every man a lamb ; ver. 6. and ye 
 shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same 
 month.] From hence it appears that the lamb was to be 
 taken from the flock four days before it was killed. For 
 this the rabbies assign the following reasons : that the 
 providing of it might not, through a hurry of business, 
 especially at the time of their departure from Egypt, be 
 neglected till it was too late : that by having it so long 
 with them before it was killed, they might have the better 
 opportunity of observing whether there were any blemishes 
 in it ; and by having it before their eyes so considerable 
 a time, might be more effectually reminded of the mercy 
 of their deliverance out of Egypt ; and likewise to pre- 
 pare them for so great a solemnity as the approaching 
 feast. On these accounts some of the rabbies inform us 
 it was customary to have the lamb tied these four days to 
 their bed-posts : a rite which they make to be necessary 
 and essential to the passover in all ages. Jennings's 
 Jewish Ant. vol. ii. p. 187.
 
 76 EXODUS. 
 
 No. 104. — xii. 9. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden with 
 water, but roasted with fire.] The prohibition of eating 
 it raw, for which there might seem to be little occasion, 
 since mankind have generally abhorred such food, is 
 understood by some to have been given in opposition to 
 the barbarous customs of the heathens, who in their 
 feasts of Bacchus, which, according to Herodotus and 
 Plutarch, had their original in Egypt, used to tear the 
 members of living creatures to pieces, and eat them raw. 
 It is observable, that the Syriac version renders the clause, 
 " Eat not of it raw, eat not of it while it is alive" 
 Spencer de Leg. Heb. 1. ii. c. 4-. sect. 2. 
 
 No. 105. — xii. 10. That which remaineth till the 
 morning ye shall burn with fire.] We read in Macrobius 
 of such a custom amongst the ancient Romans in a feast 
 called Protervia, where the manner was, as Flavianus 
 saith, ut si quid ex epulis superfuisset, igne consumer etur * 
 that if any thing were left of the good cheer, it should 
 be consumed with fire. 1. ii. Saturnal. cap. 2. Patrick, 
 in loc. 
 
 No. 1 06. — xii. 1 5. Seven days shall ye eat unleavened 
 bread.] As by the law of Moses no leaven of any kind 
 was to be kept in the houses of the Israelites for seven 
 or eight days, it might have been productive of great in- 
 convenience, had they not been able by other means to 
 supply the want of it. The MS. Char din informs us, that 
 they use no kind of leaven whatever in the East, but 
 dough kept till it is grown sour, which they preserve 
 from one day to another. In wine countries they use 
 the lees of wine as we do yeast. If therefore there 
 should be no leaven in all the country for several days, 
 yet in twenty-four hours some would be produced, and 
 they would return to their preceding state. Harmer* 
 vol. i. p. 253.
 
 EXODUS. 11 
 
 No. 107. — xii. 15. The first day ye shall put away 
 ieaven out of your houses.'] Concerning this matter the 
 modern Jews are superstitiously exact and scrupulous. 
 The master of the family makes a diligent search into 
 every hole and crevice throughout the house, lest any 
 crumb of leavened bread should remain in it : and that 
 not by the light of the sun or moon, but of a candle. 
 And in order that this exactness may not appear alto- 
 gether superfluous and ridiculous, care is taken to con- 
 ceal some scraps of leavened bread in some corner or 
 other, the discovery of which occasions mighty joy. 
 This search, nevertheless, strict as it is, does not give 
 him entire satisfaction. After all he beseeches God that 
 all the leavened bread that is in the house, as well as 
 what he has found, may become like the dust of the 
 earth, and be reduced to nothing. They are also very 
 exact and scrupulous in making their bread for the feast, 
 lest there should be anything like leaven mixed with it. 
 The corn of which it is made, must not be carried to the 
 mill on the horse's bare back, lest the heat of the sun 
 should make it ferment. The sack in which it is put, 
 must be carefully examined, lest there should be any re- 
 mainder of old meal in it : the dough must be made in a 
 place not exposed to the sun, and must be put into the 
 oven immediately after it is made, lest it should ferment 
 itself. Jennings's Jewish Ant. vol. ii. p. 211. 
 
 No. 108. — xii. 26, 27. Your children shall say, what 
 mean ye by this service f] A custom obtained among the 
 Jews, that a child should ask the meaning of the passover, 
 and that the person who presided should then give an 
 account of its intent and origin, that so the remembrance 
 of God's mercy might be transmitted to their latest 
 posterity. This was called the Declaration, or shewing 
 forth.
 
 78 EXODUS. 
 
 No. 109. — xii. 34. And the people took their dough 
 before it was leavened, their kneading-troughs being bound 
 tip m their clothes ztpon their shoulders.'] The vessels 
 which the Arabs make use of for kneading the un- 
 leavened cakes which they prepare are only small wooden 
 bowls. (Shaw's Trav. p. 231.) In these they afterwards 
 serve up their provisions when cooked. It is not certain 
 that these wooden bowls were the kneading-troughs of 
 the Israelites : but it is incontestible that they must have 
 been comparatively small and light, to be so easily car- 
 ried away. The original word may denote a kind of 
 leathern utensil, such as the Arabs still use, when spread 
 out for a table cloth, and which, when contracted like a 
 bag, serves them to carry the remnants of their victuals, 
 and particularly sometimes their meal made into dough. 
 See Harmer's Observations, vol. h\ p. 447, &c. So 
 Nicbuhr, speaking of the manner in which the Bedoween 
 Arabs near mount Sinai live, says, " Un rond morceau 
 de cuir leur tient lieu de nappe, Sf Us y gardent les restes 
 du repas. A round piece of leather serves them for a 
 table cloth, and they keep in it the remains of their 
 victuals." 
 
 No. 1 10. — xiii. 4. The month Abib.~\ This answered 
 nearly to our March O. S. and had this name because 
 in Egypt and Palestine corn, particularly barley, (Shaw's 
 Trav. p. 406.) was in ear at that time. So April among 
 the Romans was called ab aperiendo terram, from opening 
 the earth. The author of the Ceremonies and Helimous 
 
 o 
 
 Customs of all Nations, observes (vol. iii. p. 108.) that 
 the year among the Hurons, and several other nations of 
 Canada and Mississippi, is composed of twelve synodical 
 lunar months, and that all the lunar months have names 
 suitable to them. They give the name of the worm- 
 moon to the month of March, because those reptiles 
 begin to discover themselves at that time ; that of the 
 12
 
 EXODUS. 79 
 
 moon of plants to the month of April ; and the moon of 
 swallows to that of May. The Flemings have the same 
 form of speech in their tongue. The month of February 
 is by them called the month in which they crop or prune 
 the trees ; the month of April that in which the meadows 
 are fit for mowing. The signs of the zodiac also receive 
 their names in much the same manner. See Pluche's 
 Hist, du Ciel, vol.i. p. 1 1 . Parkhurst's Heb. Lex. p. 2. 
 Our Saxon ancestors gave descriptive names to the 
 months. See Verstegan's Antiquities, p. 64. 
 
 No. 111. — xiii. 2 1 . The Lord went before them by 
 day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way ; and by 
 night in a pillar of jure, to give them light.~] Xenophon, 
 in his Lacedaemonian republic, describing the march of 
 a Spartan king when he goes out to war, mentions a 
 servant or officer under the name of fire-carrier, who 
 went before him with fire taken from the altar, at which 
 he had just been sacrificing, to the boundaries of the 
 Spartan territory, where, sacrificing again, and then 
 proceeding, a fire, kindled likewise from this latter 
 sacrifice, goes before him, without ever being extin- 
 guished. 
 
 No. 112. — xiv. 29. The waters were a wall unto 
 them on their right hand and on their left.'] Diodorus 
 Siculus relates that the Ichthyophagi, who lived near the 
 Red Sea, had a tradition handed down to them through a 
 long line of ancestors, that the whole bay was once laid 
 bare to the very bottom, the waters retiring to the oppo- 
 site shore, and that they afterwards returned to their 
 accustomed channel with a most tremendous revulsion. 
 {Bib. Hist. lib. iii. p. 174.) Even to this day the in- 
 habitants of the neighbourhood of Corondel preserve the 
 remembrance of a mighty army having been once 
 drowned in the bay, which Ptolemy calls Clysma.
 
 SO EXODUS. 
 
 (Shaw's Travels, p. 34-9.) The very country where the 
 event is said to have happened in some degree bears tes- 
 timony to the accuracy of the Mosaical narrative. The 
 scriptural Etham is still called Etti ; the wilderness of 
 Shir, the mountain of Sinai, and the country of Paran, 
 are still known by the same names. (Niebuhr's Travels, 
 vol. i. p. 189, 191.) Mar ah, Elath, and Midian are 
 still familiar to the ears of the Arabs. The grove of 
 Elim yet remains, and its twelve fountains have neither 
 increased nor diminished in number since the days of 
 Moses. Bryant on the Plagues of Egypt, p. 404, 410. 
 
 No. 113. — xv. 20. And Miriam the prophetess, the 
 sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the 
 women went out after her with timbrels and with dances."] 
 Lady M. W. Montague, speaking of the eastern dances, 
 says, " Their manner is certainly the same that Diana is 
 said to have danced on the banks of Eurotas, The great 
 lady still leads the dance, and is followed by a troop of 
 young girls, who imitate her steps, and, if she sings, 
 make up the chorus. The tunes are extremely gay and 
 lively, yet with something in them wonderfully soft. 
 Their steps are varied according to* the pleasure of her 
 that leads the dance, but always in exact time, and in- 
 finitely more agreeable than any of our dances." {Let- 
 ters, vol. ii. p. 45.) This gives us a different apprehen- 
 sion of the meaning of these words than we should 
 otherwise form. Miriam the prophetess, the sister of 
 Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went 
 out after her, with timbrels and dances. She led the 
 dance, and they imitated her steps, which were not con- 
 ducted by a set well known form, but extemporaneous. 
 Probably David did not dance alone before the Lord 
 when the ark was removed, but led the dance in the same 
 authoritative kind of way. (2 Sam. vi. 14. Judges, xi. 34, 
 1 Sam. xviii. 6.)
 
 EXODUS. 81 
 
 Representations similar to this are frequently to be met 
 with in the ancient writers. Hesiod describes the muses 
 as dancing round the altar of Jupiter. 
 
 Oppcfiwca x.cu €u[jlov Epw&vEoj Kpowwvo,-. Theog. v. 4. 
 
 Thus Theseus led the ring in the dance to the sound of 
 the harp. (Callim. Hy. in Del. 301.) Plato assures us 
 that the gods, and the children of the gods, were honoured 
 with dancing. {De Leg. b. vii. p. 815.) And he was for 
 consecrating songs and dances to them ; appointing feasts 
 at proper seasons of the year, and for ordering by au- 
 thority what songs were proper to be sung, and what dances 
 to be used, at the sacrifices which were offered to them. 
 Lucia n also informs us, that the Indians adored the sun 
 when they rose in the morning, not as the Greeks did, by 
 kissing their hand, but by turning to the east and dancing, 
 and thus appeased the deity morning and evening. 
 {De Saltat. §15, 16, 17.) Chandler's Life of David, 
 vol. ii. p. 116. 
 
 No. 114. — xv. 23. And 'when they came to Marah, 
 they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they 
 were bitter.] Dr. Shaw (Trav. p. 314.) thinks that these 
 waters may be properly fixed at Corondel, where there 
 is a small rill, which, unless it be diluted by the dews 
 and rain, is very brackish. Another traveller y Jov.v y 
 from Grand Cairo to Mount Sinai, A.D. 1722, p. 14, 15.) 
 tells us that, at the foot of the mountain of Hamam 
 el Faron, a small but most delightful valley, a place 
 called Garondu, is a rivulet that comes from the moun- 
 tain, the water of which is tolerably good and sufficiently 
 plentiful, but is bitter, though very clear. Pococke s^ys, 
 there is a mountain known to this day by the name 
 of Le Marah, and toward the sea is a salt well called 
 Birhammer, which is probably the same here called 
 Marah. 
 
 vol* L Cx
 
 82 EXODUS. 
 
 No. 115. — xvii. 1. RephidimJ] u After we had de- 
 scended, with no small difficulty, the western side of 
 Mount Sinai, we come into the other plain that is form- 
 ed by it, which is JRejphidim. Here we still see that 
 extraordinary antiquity, the rock of Meribah, which 
 hath continued down to this day, without the least 
 injury from time or accident. It is a block of granite 
 marble, about six yards square, lying tottering as it 
 were, and loose in the middle of the valley, and seems 
 to have formerly belonged to Mount Sinai, which hangs 
 in a variety of precipices all over this plain. The waters 
 which gushed out, and the stream which flowed, (Psalm 
 lxxviii. 20.) have hollowed, across one corner of this 
 rock, a channel about two inches deep and twenty 
 wide, appearing to be encrustated all over, like the 
 inside of a tea-kettle that had been long in use. Besides 
 several massy productions that are still preserved by the 
 dew, we see all over this channel a great number of 
 holes, some of them four or five inches deep, and one 
 or two in diameter, the lively and demonstrative tokens 
 of their having been formerly so many fountains. It 
 likewise may be further observed, that art or chance 
 could by no means be concerned in the contrivance, for 
 every circumstance points out to us a miracle, and, in 
 the same manner with the rent in the rock of Mount 
 Calvary, at Jerusalem, never fails to produce a religious 
 surprise in all who see it." Shaw's Travels, p. 352* 
 353. 
 
 No. 116. — xvii. 6. Thou shalt smite the rock, and 
 there shall come water out of it.~] This remarkable in- 
 terposition of God for the Israelites appears to have 
 been imperfectly known in other countries : and the re- 
 membrance of it is still retained in some of the heathen 
 fables. There is a manifest allusion to it in Euripides 
 {Bacchce, 703.) where he makes one smite the rock at
 
 EXODUS. 83 
 
 Cithaeron, and waters gush out of it. Huetius (Ahietancs 
 Qjicestiones, 1. ii. c. 12. n. 18.) gives many such instances; 
 and suggests that it is very probable, that the fable of 
 Janus was forged from hence : alleging that the image is 
 described as holding a rod in his left hand, with which 
 he smites a stone, and causes water to flow from it. 
 
 Smiting rocks and producing water is recorded among 
 the Fabulous Miracles of Heathen Mythology. 
 
 Hkn^vi opoj cncwrpw ra £e oip^a na\v &sr» 
 Ek &tx nv f* E y* X*vy.oi 
 
 Callimachus, Hymn i. v. 31. 
 
 Speaking of the Golden Rhea, " She smote the moun- 
 tain with her sceptre, which divided in two places, and 
 poured forth a copious flood." 
 
 No. 117. — xvii. 1 6. Because the Lord hath sworn.'] 
 Saurin {Dissertations, vol. i. p. 433.) says, that the 
 Hebrew of this text is equivocal : it signifies literally, 
 because the hand on the throne of God, war of God against 
 Amalekfrom generation to generation : and from Patrick 
 he observes that it is pretended, that to put the hand 
 upon the throne was in some countries a ceremony that 
 attended a solemn oath, as laying it on the altar was in 
 other places. This was as much as our laying the hand 
 on the Bible, a principal external character of an oath : 
 whence Juvenal (Sat. xiii. 89.) says, atheists do intrepidos 
 altaria tangere, touch the altars boldly without tremb- 
 ling ; that is, make no conscience of an oath. 
 
 No. 118. — xviii. 12. The elders of Israel.'] Not 
 only fathers, but all old men, had great authority among 
 the Israelites, and all the people of antiquity. They 
 every where, in the beginning, chose judges for private 
 affairs, and counsellors for the public, out of the oldest 
 
 g 2
 
 84 EXODUS. 
 
 men. Thence came the name of senate and fathers 
 at Rome, and that great respect for old age which they 
 borrowed from the Lacedaemonians. As soon as the 
 Hebrews began to be formed into a people, they were 
 governed by old men. 
 
 No. 1 1 9. — xix. 13. He shall surely he stoned.'] « To 
 be stoned to death was a most grievous and terrible in-, 
 fliction. When the offender came within four cubits of 
 the place of execution, he was stript naked, only leaving 
 a covering before, and his hands being bound, he was 
 led up to the fatal place, which was an eminence twice a 
 man's height. The first executioners of the sentence 
 were the witnesses, who generally pulled off their clothes 
 for the purpose : one of them threw him down with 
 great violence upon his loins : if he rolled upon his 
 breast, he was turned upon his loins again, and if he 
 died by the fall, there was an end ; but if not, the other 
 witness took a great stone, and dashed upon his breast, 
 as he lay upon his back ; and then, if he was not dis- 
 patched, all the people that stood by threw stones at 
 him till he died." Lewis's Origines Hebrcece, vol. i. 
 p. 74. 
 
 No. 120. — xx. 5. Visiting the iniquity of the fathers 
 upon the children^ unto the third and fourth generation.] 
 This part of the divine law is doubtless founded in wis- 
 dom and equity, though to many persons it may have 
 appeared harsh and severe. The principle of it has 
 however been extended by some modern legislators. 
 Thevenot (part. ii. p. 161.) says, that the punishment of 
 the third and fourth generation does not always satisfy 
 the king of Persia. " All the pearls that weigh half a 
 medical or more, that are fished up at Bahreim, belong- 
 to the king ; who, nevertheless, makes a liberal present 
 to the fisherman who brings him such : but also, if any
 
 EXODUS. 85 
 
 of them fail to do it, and sell such a pearl out of his 
 dominions, were it even at the worlds end, the king is 
 soon acquainted with it, and to be revenged, he puts to 
 death the whole family, and all the kindred of the fisher- 
 man, even to the seventh generation, both males and 
 females. Menu has also incorporated this principle in 
 his laws. See Sir W. Jones's Works, 
 
 Alexander, though of an arbitrary and tyrannical dis- 
 position, abolished the law by which the relations of a 
 criminal were involved in his punishment. Q. Curtius, 
 viii. 8. In China, they punish the parents for the faults 
 of their children. Garsilasso says that this was also cus- 
 tomary in Peru. (Montesquieu, V Esprit des Loix,) 
 vi. 20. Diodorus Siculus (1. i.) says, that the Egyptian 
 kings condemned to the mines their captives and cri- 
 minals, and those with whom they were offended : and 
 sometimes their families also and their relations. 
 
 Plato {De Leg. ix. p. 855. Steph.) expressly forbids 
 that children should suffer for the faults of their parents. 
 Ne irascamur inimicorum et hostium liberis. Inter Syllancc 
 crudelitatis exempla est, quod a republica liberos proscrip- 
 torum submovit. Nihil est iniquius quam aliquem hceredem 
 paterni odiijieri. Seneca, De Ira. ii. 34. 
 
 Nuv juev %n th rtalgos ccuxXa tloslz XwGw. Iliad, l.xi. v. 142. 
 
 No, die, and pay the forfeit of your race. Pope. 
 
 luimus perjuria Trojae. Virg. Georg. i. v. 502. 
 
 Delicta majorum immeritus lues. Horat. l.iii. Od. 6. 
 
 Culpam majorum posteri luere. Q. Curtius, 1. vi. 35. 
 
 No. 121. — xx. 12. That thy days may be long in the 
 
 land.~\ As disobedience to parents is, by the law of 
 
 Moses, threatened to be punished with death, so on the 
 
 contrary, long life is promised to the obedient ; and 
 
 G 3
 
 86 EXODUS. 
 
 that in their own country, which God had peculiarly 
 enriched with abundance of blessings. Heathens also 
 gave the very same encouragement, saying, that such 
 children should be dear to the gods, both living and 
 dying. So Euripides. It was also one of their pro- 
 mises, thou shalt live long, if thou nourish thy ancient 
 parents. Whence children are called by Xenophon 
 YepoSorxoi. Patrick, in loc. 
 
 No. 122. — xx. 24. An altar of earth shalt thou make 
 unto me."] This command certainly imports, that the 
 altars of the Lord were to be as plain and simple as 
 possible. They were to be made either of sods and 
 turfs of earth, which were easily prepared in most 
 places, whilst they stayed in the wilderness, or of rough 
 and unpolished stone, if they came into rocky places, 
 where no sods were to be obtained ; that there might be 
 no occasion to grave any image upon them. Such altars, 
 Tertullian observes (Apolog. c. 25.) were among the an- 
 cient Romans in the days of Numa ; when, as they had 
 no sumptuous temples, nor images, so they had only 
 temeraria de cespite altaria, altars hastily huddled up of 
 earth, without any art. Patrick, in loc. 
 
 No. 123. — xxi. 6. And his master shall bore his ear 
 through with an awl, and he shall serve him for ever.] 
 This Jewish custom was borrowed by other nations, 
 particularly by the Arabians, as appears from a passage 
 of Petronius Arbiter, (Satyricon, p. 364,) where he in- 
 troduces one Giton expressing himself in these terms : 
 Circumcide nos, ut Judczi videamur ; et pertunde aures, 
 tit imitemur Arabes. Juvenal puts the following expres- 
 sions in the mouth of Libertinus. 
 
 ■ Quamvis 
 
 Natus ad Euphratem, molles quod in aure fenestra? 
 Arguerint, licet ipse negem. Sat. i. 105.
 
 EXODUS. 87 
 
 No. 124. — xxii. 5. If a man shall cause ajield or 
 vineyard to be eaten.'] Chandler observed, (Travels in 
 Asia Minor ; p. 142.) that the tame cattle were very fond 
 of vine leaves, and were permitted to eat them in the 
 autumn. " We remarked," he says, " about Smyrna, 
 the leaves were decayed, or stripped by the camels and 
 herds of goats, which are admitted to browse after the 
 vintage." If those animals are so fond of vine leaves, 
 it is no wonder that Moses, by an express law, forbad a 
 man's causing another man's vineyard to be eaten by put- 
 ting in his beast. The turning any of them in before 
 the fruit was gathered, must have occasioned much mis- 
 chief, and even after it must have been an injury, as it 
 would have been eating up another's feed. Harmer, 
 vol. iv. p. 130. 
 
 No. 1 25. — xxii. 6. Iff re break out and catch in thorns, 
 so that the stacks of corn, or the standing corn, o)' thefeld, 
 be consumed therewith, he that kindled the f re shall surely 
 make restitution.] It is a common management in the 
 East, to set the dry herbage on fire before the autumnal 
 rains, which fires, for want of care, often do great 
 damage. Moses has taken notice of fires of this kind, 
 and by an express law has provided, that reparation shall 
 be made for the damage done by those who either mali- 
 ciously or negligently occasioned it. Chandler, speaking 
 of the neighbourhood of Smyrna, says, (p. 276.) " In the 
 latter end of July, clouds began to appear from the 
 south ; the air was repeatedly cooled by showers which 
 had fallen elsewhere, and it was easy to foretel the 
 approaching rain. This was the season for consuming the 
 dry herbage and undergrowth on the mountains; and we 
 often saw the fire blazing in the wind, and spreading a 
 thick smoke along their sides." He also relates an inci- 
 dent to which he was an eye-witness. Having been em- 
 ployed the latter end of August, in taking a plan at. 
 
 g 4
 
 88 EXODUS. 
 
 Troas, one day after dinner, says he, a Turk coming to 
 us " emptied the ashes from his pipe, and a spark of fire 
 fell unobserved in the grass, which was long, parched by 
 the sun, and inflammable like tinder. A brisk wind soon 
 kindled a blaze, which withered in an instant the leaves 
 of the bushes and trees in its way, seized the branches 
 and roots, and devoured all before it with prodigious 
 crackling and noise We were much alarmed, as a 
 general conflagration of the country seemed likely to 
 ensue." After exerting themselves for an hour, they at 
 length extinguished it. (p. 30.) It is an impropriety 
 worth correcting in this passage, where the word stacks 
 of corn is used rather than shocks, which is more con- 
 formable to custom, as the heaps of the East are only the 
 disposing the corn into a proper form to be immediately 
 trodden out. Harmer, vol. iv. p. 145. 
 
 In uncultivated countries it is a usual practice to set 
 the woods on fire as the first step towards clearing the 
 land. Perhaps the chaff and stubble, after harvest, were 
 frequently used for this purpose. This custom is alluded 
 to by Homer, II. xv. 605. 
 
 Nor less he raged 
 Than Mars ivhile fighting, or than flames that seize 
 Some forest on the mountain tops. Cowper, 
 
 No. 126. — xxiii. 12. On the seventh day thou shalt rests 
 that thine ox and thine ass may rest.~] We should here 
 observe the great clemency of God, who by this law 
 requires some goodness and mercy to be exercised even 
 to brute animals, that he might remove men the farther 
 from cruelty to each other. The slaughter of a plough- 
 ing ox, was prohibited by a law common to the Phry- 
 gians, Cyprians, and Romans, as we find recorded by 
 Varro, Pliny, and others. The Athenians made a decree 
 that a mule worn out by labour and age, and which used
 
 EXODUS. 89 
 
 to accompany other mules drawing burthens, should be 
 fed at the public expence. 
 
 Ludit herboso pecus omne campo, 
 Cum tibi nonae redeunt Decembres : 
 Festus in pratis vacat otioso 
 Cum bove pagus. 
 
 Hor. 1. iii. Od. xviii. ad Faunum, 9. 
 
 When the nones of December, sacred to you, return, 
 all our flocks sport in the grassy fields ; and the whole 
 village, celebrating your festival, divert themselves in the 
 meadows with the ox, who that day is allowed to rest. 
 See also Tibullus,. 1. ii. El. i. 5. Juv. Sat. vi. 536. 
 Popham on Pentateuch. 
 
 No. 127. — xxiii. 16. The feast of ingathering, which 
 is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy 
 labours out of the feld.~] The same custom prevailed 
 among the Gentiles, who, at the end of the year, when 
 they gathered in their fruits, offered solemn sacrifices, 
 with thanks to God for his blessings. Aristotle [Ethic. 
 lib. viii.) says, that the ancient sacrifices and assemblies 
 were after the gathering in of the fruits, being designed 
 for an oblation of the first fruits unto God. 
 
 No. 128. — xxiii. 19. Thou shalt not seethe a Jcid in 
 his mother's milk.] Cudworth (on the Lord's Supper, 
 p. 14.) gives a very curious relation of the superstition, 
 on account of which he conceives the seething of a kid 
 in its dam's milk to have been prohibited. " It was a 
 custom of the ancient heathens, when they had gathered 
 in all their fruits, to take a kid, and boil it in the dam's 
 milk, and then, in a magical way, to go about and 
 besprinkle with it all their trees, and fields, and gardens, 
 and orchards, thinking by this means they should make 
 them fructify, and bring forth fruit again more abun-
 
 90 EXODUS. 
 
 dantly the following year. Wherefore God forbad hh 
 people, the Jews, at the time of their in-gathering, to 
 use any such superstitious or idolatrous rite." 
 
 No. 129. — xxiv. 11. And upon the nobles of the chil- 
 dren of Israel he laid not his hand.~] It is usually said 
 that God laid not his hand in a way of terror, or anger, 
 on these nobles on account of their intrusion : but in 
 the Monthly Magazine for January, 1804, is the follow- 
 ing description of the appearance at court of the 
 Mogul's officers, who partake of his bounty or rewards. 
 " Those officers of the districts, whose time has expired, 
 or who have been recalled from similar stations, repair 
 to the imperial presence, and receive the reward, good 
 or evil, of their administration. When they are ad- 
 mitted into the presence, or retire from thence, if their 
 rank and merit be eminent, they are called near to his 
 majesty's person, and allowed the honour of placing 
 their heads below his sacred foot. The emperor lays his 
 hand on the bach of a person, on whom he means to bestow 
 an extraordinary mark of favour. Others from a dis- 
 tance receive tokens of kindness, by the motion of the 
 imperial brow or eyes." Now if the nobles of Israel 
 were not admitted to the same nearness of approach to 
 the deity as Moses and Aaron, perhaps this phrase 
 should be taken directly contrary to what it has been. 
 He laid not his hand in a way of special favour, never- 
 theless they saw God, and did eat and drink in his pre- 
 sence. This sense of laying on the hand is supported 
 by a passage in Bell's Travels to Persia, p. 103. 
 " The minister received the credentials, and laid them 
 before the shah, who touched them mth his hand, as a 
 mark of respect. This part of the ceremony had been 
 very difficult to adjust : for the ambassador insisted on 
 delivering his letters into the shah's own hands. The 
 Persian ministers on the other hand affirmed, that their
 
 EXODUS. 91 
 
 king never received letters directly from the ambassa- 
 dors of the greatest emperors on 'earth." Theological 
 Magazine, vol. iv. p. 140. 
 
 No. 130. — xxv. 10. They shall make an ark, ,] We 
 meet with imitations of this divinely instituted emblem 
 among several heathen nations, both in ancient and 
 modern times. Thus Tacitus (de Mor. German, cap. 40.) 
 informs us, that " the inhabitants of the north of Ger- 
 many, our Saxon ancestors, in general, worshipped 
 Herthum, that is, the mother earth, and believed her to 
 interpose in the affairs of men, and to visit nations : 
 that to her, within a sacred grove, in a certain island of 
 the ocean, a vehicle, covered with a vestment, was 
 consecrated, and allowed to be touched by the priest 
 alone, who perceived when the goddess entered into 
 this her secret place, and with profound veneration 
 attended her vehicle, which was drawn by cows. While 
 the goddess was on her progress, days of rejoicing were 
 kept in every place which she vouchsafed to visit. 
 They engaged in no war, they meddled not with arms, 
 they locked up their weapons : peace and quietness 
 only were then known, these only relished, till the same 
 priest reconducted the goddess, satiated with the con- 
 versation of mortals, to her temple." 
 
 " Among the Mexicans, Vitziputzli, their supreme god, 
 was represented in a human shape, sitting on a throne, 
 supported by an azure globe, which they called heaven. 
 Four poles or sticks came out from two sides of this 
 globe, at the ends of which serpents' heads were carved, 
 the whole making a litter, which the priests carried on 
 their shoulders whenever the idol was shewn in public." 
 Pi cart's Ceremonies, vol. iii. p. 146. 
 
 In Lieutenant Cook's Voyage round the World, pub- 
 lished by Dr. Hawksworth, vol. ii. p. 252, we find that 
 the inhabitants of Huaheine, one of the islands lately
 
 92 EXODUS. 
 
 discovered in the South Sea, had " a kind of chest 01 
 
 ark, the lid of which was nicely sewed on, and thatched 
 
 very neatly, with palm-nut leaves. It was fixed upon 
 
 two poles, and supported upon little arches of wood, 
 
 very neatly carved : the use of the poles seemed to be 
 
 to remove it from place to place, in the manner of our 
 
 sedan chair : in one end of it was a square hole, in the 
 
 middle of which was a ring touching the sides, and 
 
 leaving the angles open, so as to form a round hole 
 
 within, a square one without. The first time Mr. 
 
 Banks saw this coffer, the aperture at the end was 
 
 stopped with a piece of cloth, which, lest be should 
 
 give offence, he left untouched. Probably there was 
 
 then something within : but now the cloth was taken 
 
 away, and upon looking into it, it was found empty. 
 
 The general resemblance between this repository, and 
 
 the ark of the Lord among the Jews, is remarkable: 
 
 but it is still more remarkable, that upon enquiring of 
 
 the boy what it was called, he said, Ewharre no Eatau, 
 
 the house of God : he could however give no account 
 
 of its signification or use." Parkhurst's Heb. Lex. 
 
 p. 690. 4th edit. 
 
 No. 131.— xxviii. 30. The Urim and the Thiimmim.'] 
 There was a remarkable imitation of this sacred orna- 
 ment among the Egyptians ; for we learn from Diodorus 
 (lib. i. p. 68. ed. Rhod.) and from ^Elian (Far. Hist. 
 1. xiv. c. 34.) that " their chief priest, who was also 
 their supreme judge in civil matters, wore about his 
 neck, by a golden chain, an ornament of precious 
 stones called truth, and that a cause was not opened 
 till the supreme judge had put on this ornament." 
 
 No. 132.— xxviii. 33. Bells.-] « The bell seems to 
 have been a sacred utensil of very ancient use in Asia.
 
 EXODUS. 93 
 
 xolden bells formed a part of the ornaments of the pon- 
 ifical robe of the Jewish high priest, with which he 
 avested himself upon those grand and peculiar festivals, 
 l^hen he entered into the sanctuary. That robe was 
 ,-ery magnificent, it was ordained to be of sky-blue, and 
 he border of it, at the bottom, was adorned with pome- 
 granates and gold bells intermixed equally, and at equal 
 listances. The use and intent of these bells is evident 
 rom these words : And it shall be upon Aaron to minister^ 
 ind his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy 
 )lace before the Lord, and when he cometh out, that he die 
 wt. The sound of the numerous bells that covered the 
 ,iem of his garment, gave notice to the assembled people 
 ( hat the most awful ceremony of their religion had com- 
 menced. When arrayed in this garb, he bore into the 
 anctuary the vessel of incense ; it was the signal to pro- 
 trate themselves before the Deity, and to commence 
 hose fervent ejaculations which were to ascend with 
 he column of that incense to the throne of heaven." 
 i One indispensable ceremony in the Indian Pooja is 
 he ringing of a small bell by the officiating brahmin. 
 The women of the idol, or dancing girls of the pagoda, 
 iave little golden bells fastened to their feet, the soft 
 larmonious tinkling of which vibrates in unison with 
 he exquisite melody of their voices." (Maurice's Indian 
 Antiquities, vol. v. p. 137.) " The ancient kings of Persia, 
 vho, in fact, united in their own persons the regal and 
 acerdotal office, were accustomed to have the fringes of 
 heir robes adorned with pomegranates and golden bells. 
 Phe Arabian courtesans, like the Indian women, have 
 little golden bells fastened round their legs, neck, and 
 elbows, to the sound of which they dance before the 
 dng. Xhe Arabian princesses wear golden rings on their 
 Angers, to which little bells are suspended, as well as in 
 ;he flowing tresses of their hair, that their superior rank 
 may be known, and they themselves, in passing, receive
 
 94 EXODUS. 
 
 the homage due to their exalted station/' Calmet's 
 Dictionary, article Bell. 
 
 No. 133. — xxix. 20. And sprinkle the blood upon 
 the altar round about.'] It is, says Bp. Patrick, no im- 
 probable conjecture of Fortunatus Scacchus, that from 
 hence the heathens learned their Taurobolia, and CrU 
 obolia, which in process of time they disguised with 
 infernal rites and ceremonies. " The Taurobolium of 
 the ancients was a ceremony in which the high priest of 
 Cybele was consecrated, and might be called a baptism 
 of blood, which they conceived imparted a spiritual 
 new birth to the liberated spirit. In this dreadful and 
 sanguinary ceremony, according to the poet Pruden- 
 tius, cited at length by Banier on the ancient sacrifices, 
 the high priest about to be inaugurated was introduced 
 into a dark excavated apartment, adorned with, a long 
 silken robe, and a crown of gold. Above this apart- 
 ment was a floor perforated in a thousand places with 
 holes like a sieve, through which the blood of a sacred 
 bull, slaughtered for the purpose, descended in a 
 copious torrent upon the inclosed priest, who received 
 the purifying stream on every part of his dress, re- 
 joicing to bathe with the bloody shower his hands, his 
 cheeks, and even to bedew his lips and his tongue with 
 it : when all the blood had run from the throat of the 
 immolated bull, the carcass of the victim was removed, 
 and the priest issued forth from the cavity, a spectacle 
 ghastly and horrible, his head and vestments being 
 covered with blood, and clotted drops of it adhering tc 
 his venerable beard. As soon as the pontifex appeared 
 before the assembled multitude, the air was rent with 
 congratulatory shouts ; so pure and so sanctified how- 
 ever was he now esteemed, that they dared not ap- 
 proach his person, but beheld him at a distance with 
 awe and veneration." Maurice's Ind. Ant. vol. V 
 
 if
 
 EXODUS. 95 
 
 p. 196. Vid. Deylingi Observationum Sacranim, Pars 
 Secwida, p. 618. Lomeieri De Veterum Gentilium Lus- 
 trationibus, cap. xxiii. p. 294. Montfaucon in Antiq. 
 Explicat. t. ii. lib. iii. cap. 10. 
 
 No. 134-. — xxix. 22. The rumps'] Or the large tail 
 of one species of the eastern sheep. Russell (Hist, of 
 Aleppo, p. 51.) after observing that they are in that 
 country much more numerous than those with smaller 
 tails, adds, " this tail is very broad and large, terminat- 
 ing in a small appendix that turns back upon it. It is of 
 a substance between fat and marrow, and is not eaten 
 separately, but mixed with the lean meat in many of 
 their dishes, and also often used instead of butter. A 
 common sheep of this sort, without the head, feet, skin, 
 and entrails, weighs about twelve or fourteen Aleppo 
 rotoloes, of which the tail is usually three rotoloes or 
 upwards ; but such as are of the largest breed, and have 
 been fattened, will sometimes weigh above thirty roto- 
 loes, and the tail of these ten. These very large sheep 
 being about Aleppo kept up in yards, are in no danger 
 of injuring their tails : but in some other places, where 
 they feed in the fields, the shepherds are obliged to fix 
 a piece of thin board to the under part of their tail, to 
 prevent its being torn by bushes and thistles, as it is not 
 covered underneath with thick wool like the upper part. 
 Some have small wheels to facilitate the dragging of this 
 board after them." A rotoloe of Aleppo is five pounds. 
 This contrivance is at least as old as Herodotus, who 
 expressly mentions it, lib. iii. cap. 115.; where, speaking 
 of the Arabian shepherds' management to prevent this 
 kind of sheep from having their tails rubbed and ulce- 
 rated, he says, A(j,u%tiug yap vroisuvTeg, u7ro8e»<n avTag r*<r* 
 *rgr;<n, hog hactfa x*njv=o$ tjjv sprjv sm ajU,a£»8a exapjv xara- 
 liovTsg, They make little cars, and fasten one of these 
 under the tail of each sheep. With this agrees the
 
 96 EXODUS. 
 
 account given by the Abbe Mariti, (7 ravels through 
 Cyprus, vol. i. p. 36.) " The mutton is juicy and ten- 
 der. The tails of some of the sheep, which are remark- 
 ably fine, weigh upwards of fifty pounds." This shews 
 us the reason why, in the levitical sacrifices, the tail was 
 always ordered to be consumed by fire. Vid. Bochart, 
 vol. ii. p. 494. Scheuchzer's Physica Sacra in loc. 
 Lucas Voyage an Levant, torn. i. p. 1 92. 
 
 No. 135. — xxix. 24. And thou shalt put all in the 
 hands of Aaron, and in the hands of his sons, and shalt 
 wave them for a wave-offering befwe the Lord.~\ Waving 
 the sacrifice before the Lord is a very ancient sacrifical 
 rite. It was of two kinds : one was performed by waving 
 it perpendicularly, upward and downward : the other 
 by waving it horizontally, towards the four cardinal 
 points, to denote the consecration of what was thus 
 waved to the Lord of the whole earth. Jennings's 
 Jewish Ant. vol. i. p. 291. 
 
 No. 136. — xxx. 19. For Aaron and his softs shall 
 wash their hands and their feet thereat.~\ The care 
 which was taken respecting ablutions in general, and 
 with regard to sacrifices in particular, was not confined 
 to the Jews ; it is to be observed also amongst the Gen- 
 tiles. There are numerous, passages of Homer which 
 clearly evince this. Speaking of the great sacrifice 
 that was preparing to be offered for appeasing Apollo, 
 he says, 
 
 Xspw^avlo ^' ETmla, kch aXo^ra.? ot,n\ov\o, II. \. 
 
 Upon which words Eustathius observes, it was the ancient 
 custom, before they sacrificed, to wash their hands, for 
 that none but those who were clean and pure might 
 meddle with sacred things.
 
 EXODUS. 97 
 
 No. 137. — xxxii. 2. From the ears of your wives, 
 of your sons.'} Men wore these ornaments in the eastern 
 countries, as well as women ; as we find in the story of 
 the Ishmaelite and Midianite soldiers, Judges, viii. 24. 
 and Pliny, In oriente quidem et viris aurum eo loci, &c. 
 In the East, it is esteemed an ornament for men to wear 
 gold in that place : speaking of their ears. See Bochart 
 Hieroz. p. i. 1. 1 . c. 34. 
 
 No. 1 38. — xxxii. 6. And they arose up early on the 
 morrow, and offered burnt-offerings, and b? , ought peace- 
 offerings ; and the people sat doxmi to eat and to drink, 
 and rose up to play."] It is highly probable that at this 
 feast they sacrificed after the manner of the Egyptians. 
 Herodotus gives an account of a solemn feast which the 
 people of Egypt celebrated at' Bubastis in honour of 
 the goddess Diana : to her, he says, they offer many 
 sacrifices, and while the victim is burning, they dance 
 and play a hundred tricks, and drink more wine than 
 in the whole year besides. For they convene thither 
 about seven hundred thousand men and women, besides 
 children. Aaron's feast of the golden calf seems to have 
 been in imitation of this. 
 
 There is a very remarkable passage in Lucian, Tlspt 
 OpxYiasoos, vol. i. p. 913., edit. Bened. where he says to 
 his friend, " First of all you seem to me to be igno/ant 
 that this business of dancing is not novel, nor an affair 
 of yesterday, which began in the days of our fathers or 
 grandfathers; but they who have given the truest ac- 
 count of the origin of dancing will tell you, that it had 
 its rise with the first beginning of all things, and was 
 coeval with that ancient God Love. 'H yxv x°f Blc *- TuiV 
 ctssgoov, xui >; vrpo; Tag amXayzxc, roov T&Xayr{lMV ctu/jmtAojoj, xca 
 ivpvQy.og ocvlvov xoivooviu, xou suroixroj ug[j,ovici rr\g Trpwroyova 
 opxw^s Sejy.aara eg-*. For the choral revolution of the 
 stars, and the complicated motion of the planets among the 
 
 VOL. 1. ' H
 
 98 EXODUS. 
 
 fixed stars, and their regular communion pith each other, 
 and well-ordered harmony, are instdnces of the primaeval 
 dancing" Comp. Milton's Par. Lost, book iii. 1. 579. 
 and v. 1. 620, &c. Mons. Volney thinks that the sacred 
 dance of the Mahometan Dervises is intended to imitate 
 the motions of the stars — " la danse des Derviches, dont 
 les tournoyements ont pour objet d'imiter les mouve?nents 
 des Astres" Voyage en Syrie, torn. ii. p. 403. note. 
 Vid. Picart's Ceremonies and Religious Customs of all 
 Nations, vol. iii. p. 87. 120. 160. 177. 234*. and Obser- 
 vations on the Religion of the Turks, p. 42. note, edit. 2. 
 
 No. 1 39. — xxxiii. 5. Therefore ?iow put off thine 
 
 ornaments from thee.'] The Septuagint gives this as a 
 
 translation of these words : nonso therefore put off your 
 
 robes of glory, and your ornaments. It was customary to 
 
 put off their upper garments in times of deep mourning ; 
 
 and it is still practised in the East. " A few days after 
 
 this we came to a place called Rabbock, about four days' 
 
 sail on this side Mecca, where all the hagges (pilgrims), 
 
 excepting those of the female sex, enter into hirrawem, 
 
 or ihram, i. e. they take off all their clothes, covering 
 
 themselves with two hirrawems, or large white cotton 
 
 wrappers; one they put about their middle, which 
 
 reaches down to their ankles ; with the other they cover 
 
 the upper part of the body, except the head ; and they 
 
 wear no other thing on their bodies but these wrappers, 
 
 only a pair of gimgameea, or thin-sOled shoes, like 
 
 sandals, the over leather of which covers only the toes, 
 
 their insteps being all naked. In this manner, like 
 
 humble penitents, they go from Rabbock till they come 
 
 to Mecca, to approach the temple ; many times enduring 
 
 die scorching heat of the sun, till the very skin is burnt 
 
 off their backs and arms, and their heads swelled to a 
 
 very great degree." Pitts's Travels, p. 115. Harmer, 
 
 voLiv. p. 402.
 
 EXODUS. 99 
 
 No. 1 40. — xxxiii. 6. And the children of Israel 
 stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount Horeb.~\ 
 The denunciation of divine anger was the reason why the 
 children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments. 
 A similar indication of fear is observable in the general 
 practice of the Romans. A day was fixed for the trial of 
 the accused person. In the mean time he changed his 
 dress ; laid aside every land of ornament; let his hair and 
 beard grow; and in this mean garb went round and 
 solicited the favour of the people. Adam's Roman An- 
 tiquities, p. 87. 
 
 No. 141. — xxxiv. 1 5. And thou eat of his sacrifice.] 
 To eat part of what was offered in sacrifice appears to 
 have been a very ancient and general practice. Juvenal 
 particularly alludes to it in the following passage : 
 
 Moris erat quondam festis servare diebus, 
 
 Et natalitium cognatis ponere lardum, 
 
 Accedente nova, si quam dabat hostia, carne. Sat. xi. 85. 
 
 But heretofore 'twas thought a sumptuous treat. 
 
 On birth-days, festivals, or days of state, 
 
 A salt, dry flitch of bacon to prepare ; 
 
 If they had fresh meat, 'twas delicious fare, 
 
 Which rarely happened : and 'twas highly p?'iz'd, 
 
 Jf ought were left of tvhat they sacrificed. Dryden. 
 
 No. 142. — xxxviii. 8. Looking Glasses.'] A laver 
 of brass was made of the mirrors of the women who thus 
 assembled. Some have derived this from a custom of 
 the Egyptian women, who used to go to the temple with 
 a looking-glass in one hand, and a timbrel in the other. 
 Vid. Cyril de Adoratione in Spiritu et Virtute, torn, i. 
 1. 2. p. 64. 
 
 The eastern mirrors were made of polished steel, and 
 for the most part convex. So Callimachus Hymn, in 
 Lavacr. Pall. 1. 21. describes Venus as 
 
 H 2
 
 100 EXODUS. 
 
 oi&vytct p^aXxov sAoicra, 
 — — — taking the shining brass, 
 
 i. e. to adjust her hair. If they were thus made in the 
 country of Elihu, the image made use of by him will ap- 
 pear very lively. Hast thou with him spread out the sky, 
 "which is strong, and as a molten looking glass ? ( Job, xxxvii. 
 18.) Shaw informs us {Trarels, p. 241.) that " in the 
 Levant looking glasses are a part of female dress. The 
 Moorish women in Barbary are so fond of their orna- 
 ments, and particularly of their looking glasses, which 
 they hang upon their breasts, that they will not lay them 
 aside, even when, after the drudgery of the day, they are 
 obliged to go two or three miles with a pitcher, or a 
 goat's skin, to fetch water." The Israelitish women used 
 to carry their mirrors with them, even to their most 
 solemn place of worship. (Harmer, vol. ii. p. 411.) 
 The word mirror should be used in the passages here re- 
 ferred to, rather than those which are inserted in the 
 present translation of the Bible. To speak of looking 
 glasses made of steel, and glasses molten, is palpably ab- 
 surd ; whereas the term mirror obviates every difficulty, 
 and expresses the true meaning of the original. 
 
 In some heathen temples these polished mirrors were 
 of particular use. " In the centre of the temple is fre- 
 quently placed a large mirror, made of cast metal well 
 polished, which is intended to remind those who come 
 to worship, that in like manner as their personal blemishes 
 are faithfully pourtrayed in the mirror, so do the secret 
 blemishes and evil qualities of their hearts lie open and 
 exposed to the "all-searching eyes of the immortal gods." 
 Thunberg's Travels in Japan, iv. 19. See also Sir 
 John Chardin's Travels, vol.ii. 279.; GoGVET'sOrigin of 
 Laws, &c. vol.i. bookvi. ch.ii. p. 353., edit. Edinburgh ; 
 and Agreement of Customs between East Indians, and Jews 9 
 art. xv.
 
 EXODUS. 101 
 
 On the subject of mirrors in general, the reader may 
 consult the following works. Eberhartus de Weihe 
 de Speculi Origine, usu et abimi. Spanhemii Observati* 
 ones in Callimachi Hymnum in lavacrum Palladis, p. 615. 
 Meursii Exercitationes Critica, ii. 2. 6. Histoire de 
 VAcademie des Inscriptions, torn, xxiii. p. 1 40. Recher- 
 ches sur les Miroirs des Anciens, Par Menard. Beck- 
 man's History of Inventions, vol. iii. p. 154. 
 
 H 3
 
 [ 102 3 
 
 No. 143. — LEVITICUS, ii. 1, 
 
 When any will offer a meat-offering unto the Lord, Ms 
 offering shall be of fine flour, 
 
 T7LOUR of the finest sort formed a part of the sacrifical 
 offerings not only of the Jews but of the Greeks like- 
 wise. Thus Homer represents Eumaeus as acting. 
 
 Then on the board display d 
 
 The ready meal before Ulysses laid, 
 With Jlour imbrown'd. 
 
 This flour, says Dacier, was made of parched corn. 
 When the ancients fed upon any thing that had not been 
 offered in sacrifice, they sprinkled it with flour, which 
 was used instead of the hallowed barley, with which they 
 consecrated their victims. Since some honours were paid 
 to the gods in all their feasts, this sprinkling of the flour 
 by Eumaeus was a religious act. Flour was sometimes 
 used b}^ the Greeks as a substitute for animals in their 
 hecatombs. They invented a method of imposing upon 
 the gods by offering one animal only, and for the re- 
 mainder substituting little images of pas f e. 
 
 No. 144. — ii. 1. And he shall pour oil upon it.'] 
 This was done to give the offering a grateful relish, ac- 
 cording to Maimonides. The heathens used oil in their 
 sacrifices, only not mixed with flour, but poured upon 
 the flesh of the beast that was sacrificed, to make it burn 
 the better upon the altars. So Virgil : 
 
 Pingue superque oleum fundens ardentibus extis. JEn. vi. 254. 
 
 Frankincense was also put thereon. This was to make a 
 sweet odour in the court of the tabernacle, which other- 
 15
 
 LEVITICUS. 103 
 
 wise would have been offensive by reason of the flesh 
 which was daily burned there. This was common also 
 in the sacrifices of the Gentiles, as appears by a passage 
 in Ov/d : 
 
 Da mihi thura, puer, pingues facientia flammas, 
 Quodque pio fusum stridat in igne merum. 
 
 L. v. de Tristibus, Eleg. v. 11. 
 
 No. 145. — ii. 4. Unleavened cakes of fine four. 
 D'Arvieux relates, that the Arabs about Mount Carmel 
 make a fire in a great stone pitcher, and when it is 
 heated, mix meal and water, which they apply with the 
 hollow of their hands to the outside of the pitcher, and 
 this soft paste, spreading itself upon it, is baked in an 
 instant, and the bread comes off as thin as our wafers* 
 (Voy. dans la Pal. p. 192.) Stones or copper plates 
 were also used for the purposes of baking. (Pococke, 
 vol. ii. p. 96.) Upon these oven-pitchers probably the 
 wafers here mentioned were prepared. Harmer, vol. i. 
 p. 235. and Niebuhr Descrip. de V Arable, p. 46. and 
 Voyage, torn. i. p. 188. 
 
 No. 146. — ii. 13. With all thine offerings thou shall 
 offer salt.'] Salt amongst the ancients was the emblem 
 of friendship and fidelity, and therefore was used in all 
 their sacrifices and covenants. Bruce mentions a kind of 
 salt so hard, that it is used as money, and passes from 
 hand to hand no more injured than a stone would be. 
 A covenant of salt seems to refer to the making of an 
 agreement wherein salt was used as a token of confir- 
 mation. Baron Du Tott, speaking of one who was 
 desirous of his acquaintance, says, upon his departure, 
 " he promised in a short time to return. I had already 
 attended him half way down the staircase, when stopping, 
 and turning briskly to one of my domestics, bring me 
 directly, said he, some bread and salt. What he re- 
 
 H 4
 
 104 LEVITICUS. 
 
 quested was brought ; when, taking a little salt between 
 his fingers, and putting it with a mysterious air on a bit 
 of bread, he eat it with a devout gravity, assuring me, 
 that I might now rely on him." (part i. p. 214.) Among 
 other exploits which are recorded of Jacoub ben Laith, 
 he is said to have broken into a palace, and having 
 collected a very large booty, which he was on the point 
 of carrying away, he found his foot kicked something 
 which made him stumble ; putting it to his mouth, the 
 better to distinguish it, his tongue soon informed him it 
 was a lump of salt ; upon this, according to the morality, 
 or rather superstition of the country, where the people 
 considered salt as a symbol and pledge of hospitality, 
 he was so touched that he left all his booty, retiring 
 without taking away any thing with him. (D'Herbelot, 
 Biol. Orient, p. 466.) This use of salt is also evident 
 from Home?' : 
 
 Then near the altar of the darting king, 
 
 Disposed in rank, their hecatomb they bring; 
 
 With water purify their hands, and tale 
 
 The sacred offering of the salted cake. II. i. 1. 584. 
 
 And again : 
 
 Above the coals the smoking fragments turns, 
 
 And sprinkles sacred salt/row lifted urns. II. ix. I. 281- 
 
 We find similar rites among the Greek and Roman 
 heathen: the OvXca or OuXoxyrai, that is, com mixed 
 tvith salt, seem to have constituted an usual part of the 
 Grecian sacrifices; (See Homer, II. i. lin. 449. 458. ii. 
 lin. 410. 421. ; Odyss. iii. lin. 441. 425. ; Potter's Antiq. 
 book ii. ch. 4.) which might be one reason why Homer 
 (11. ix. lin. 214.) calls salt, Ssioio divine ; and why Plato 
 (cited in Plutarch, Sympcs. lib. vi. cap. 10.) says, tm> 
 a\xv dx^j. y.xlx. vo[xov avfyxnctiv Ssotpiksfarov eivw, " that 
 according to human laws the substance of salt was most 
 agreeable to the gods" And the Roman Pliny (Nat,
 
 LEVITICUS. 10o 
 
 Hist. lib. xxx. cap. 41.), Maxima tamen in sacris 
 intelligitur auctoritas [salis], quando nulla conficiuntur 
 -side mola salsa. But the influence of salt is thought to 
 be greatest in sacrifices, since none are performed without 
 the salted meal. 
 
 No. 147. — vi. 13. The Jive shall ever be burning upon 
 the altar ; it shall never go out.'] A ceremony remarkably 
 similar to this institution is mentioned by Sir W. Jones, 
 in his discourse on the Persians. " The Sagnicas, when 
 they enter on their sacerdotal office, kindle, with two 
 pieces of the hard wood semi, a fire, which they keep 
 lighted through their lives, for their nuptial ceremony, 
 the performance of solemn sasrifices, the obsequies of 
 departed ancestors, and their own funeral pile." Asiatic 
 Researches, vol. ii. p. 60. 
 
 The circumstance of the perpetual fire was so famous, 
 that it was imitated by the Gentiles, who thought it 
 ominous to have their sacred fire go out ; and therefore 
 appointed persons to watch and keep it perpetually 
 burning. The great business of the vestal virgins at 
 Rome was to look after what was called the eternal fire ; 
 imagining that the extinction of it purported the de- 
 struction of the city. The Greeks also preserved an in- 
 extinguishable fire at Delphi ; so did the Persians and 
 many other people. See Bochart Hieroz. p. i. lib. 2. 
 cap. 35. The Persians took great care to preserve a conti- 
 nual fire. Q, Curtius, giving an account of the march of 
 Darius's army, says, the fire which they called eternal 
 was carried before them on silver altars ; the Magi came 
 after it, singing hymns after the Persian manner ; and 
 three hundred and sixty-five youths clothed in scarlet 
 followed, according to the number of the days in the 
 year. Vide also Forbes's Oriental Memoirs, vol. i, 
 p. 110,
 
 106 LEVITICUS. 
 
 No. 148. — vii. 8. The priest shall have to himself the 
 skin of the burnt-offering which he hath offered.'] It is 
 probable that Adam himself offered the first sacrifice, 
 and had the skin given him by God, to make garments 
 for himself and his wife. In conformity to this, the 
 priests ever after had the skin of the whole burnt-offerings 
 for their portion. This was a custom amongst the 
 Gentiles, who gave the skins of their sacrifices to their 
 priests ; by whom they were employed to a superstitious 
 use, by laying upon them in their temples, hoping to 
 have future things revealed to them in their dreams. 
 This Dilherrus hath observed from Virgil : 
 
 Hue dona sacerdos 
 
 Qmim tulit, et effisarum ovium sub nocte silenti 
 
 Pellibus incubuit stratis, somnosque petivit ; 
 
 Multa modis simulacra videt volitantia miris, 
 
 Et varias audit voces, fruiturque deorura 
 
 Colloquio. JEn. vii. 1. 86. 
 
 " Hither when the priest had brought offerings, and in 
 the deep silence of night laid him down on the out- 
 spread skins of the victims slain, and disposed himself 
 to sleep, he sees many visionary forms fluttering about 
 in wondrous ways, hears various sounds, and enjoys 
 interviews with the gods." 
 
 We find the priests of Hercules pellibus in morem 
 cincti (Virg. 2Em, viii. 282.) clad in skins after their 
 manner, and in Lucian (de Dea Syr. torn. ii. p. 913. edit. 
 Bened.) we meet with a remarkable rite, of the offerer 
 himself squatting on his knees, upon the skin of the 
 sacrificed sheep, and putting the head and feet of the 
 victim upon his own head. 
 
 No. 149. — vii. 15, 16. And the Jlesh of the sacrifice 
 of his peace-offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten the 
 same day that it is offered — on the morrow also the re- 
 mainder of it shall be eaten, — ] The longest time allowed
 
 LEVITICUS. 107 
 
 for eating the flesh of any of the Mosaic sacrifices was 
 the clay after that on which they were killed ; the eating 
 of it on the third day is declared to be an abomination. 
 This precept may be thought to have been unnecessary 
 in so warm a climate ; but we are to remember that the 
 drying of meat is often practised in those hot countries : 
 that it is sometimes done with flesh killed on a religious 
 account ; and that this probably was the cause of the 
 prohibition. The Mahometans who go in pilgrimage 
 to Mecca are required to sacrifice sheep ; part of which 
 they eat ; part they give to their friends, and part they 
 dry for use at other times. Harmer, vol. hi. p. 157. 
 
 No. 1 50. — xi. 2. These are the beasts which ye shall 
 eat.'] The directions given by Moses in this chapter 
 respecting clean and unclean beasts have a remarkable 
 parallel in the laws of Menu. He forbids the brahmins 
 eating the milk of a camel, or any quadruped with the 
 hoof not cloven. He orders to be shunned, quadru- 
 peds with uncloven hoofs ; carnivorous birds, such as 
 live in towns ; birds that strike with their beaks ; web- 
 footed birds : those which wound with strong talons ; 
 those which dive to devour fish; all amphibious fish- 
 eaters ; also tame hogs, and fish of every sort. There 
 are a variety of other circumstantial prohibitions, con- 
 nected with those already cited, of a nature very similar 
 to this specimen. 
 
 No. 151. — xi. 33. And every earthen vessel where- 
 into any of them falleth, whatsoever is in it shall be 
 unclean, and ye shall break it.~\ The regard which the 
 Jews pay to ceremonial purity is very great. The mi- 
 nutest attention is given by them to the vessels which are 
 used in domestic economy, that they may avoid pollu- 
 tion. Leo of Modena informs us (page 8.) that " the 
 vessels wherewith they dress their meet and serve it must
 
 108 LEVITICUS. 
 
 all be bought new. They presume that some forbidden 
 meats may have been dressed or put into them, and the 
 fume may have pierced into the very substance of the 
 vessel. If it be of metal or stone which cannot receive 
 vapours, they make use of it, first putting it into the 
 fire, or seething it in water. This they do from the pro- 
 hibition of eating divers kinds of meats." 
 
 No. 152. — xi. 35. Ranges for pots.] The scarcity 
 of fuel in the East induces the people to be very frugal 
 in using it. Rauwolff (p. 192.) gives the following ac- 
 count of their management : " They make in their tents 
 or houses an hole about a foot and an half deep, wherein 
 they put their earthen pipkins or pots, with the meat in 
 them, closed up, so that they are in the half above the 
 middle. Three fourth parts thereof they lay about with 
 stones, and the fourth part is left open, through which 
 they fling in their dried dung, which burns immediately, 
 and gives so great an heat that the pot groweth so hot as 
 if it had stood in the middle of a lighted coal heap, so 
 that they boil their meat with a little fire, quicker than 
 we do ours with a great one on our hearths." As the 
 Israelites must have had as much occasion to be sparing 
 of their fuel as any people, and especially when journey- 
 ing in the wilderness, Mr. Harmer (vol. i. p. 268.) con- 
 siders this quotation as a more satisfactory commentary 
 on this passage than any which has been given. 
 
 No. 153. — xv. 13. And bathe his fesJi in running 
 water.'] The difference between bathing in ordinary 
 and in running water is here strongly marked, by a 
 positive command in favour of the latter. This circum- 
 stance was not peculiar to the Jewish ritual, but is to 
 be met with in the Mahometan law, and in the Indian 
 religion. In the Indies it is a most meritorious act to
 
 LEVITICUS. 109 
 
 pray to God in the running stream. Bernier's Travels^ 
 vol. ii. 
 
 No. 154. — xv. 17. Every skin.] The same caution 
 that has engaged the eastern people that tend cattle not 
 to sleep in the open air, but to make use of tents, in- 
 duces them not to sit or lie in their tents on the moist 
 ground, but to make use of some kind of carpeting. 
 The poorer sort of Arabs make use of mats, but others 
 of goat-skins for this purpose. Dr. Chandler says (Trav. 
 in Greece, p. 103.) that he saw some dervishes at Athens 
 sitting on goat-skins : and that he was afterwards con- 
 ducted into a room, furnished in like manner with the 
 same kind of carpeting, where he was treated with a 
 pipe and coffee by the chief dervish. Skins of goats, 
 as well as sheep and bullocks, must have been among 
 them very valuable things, and as such the priest that 
 offered any burnt-offering was to have its skin. Har- 
 mer, vol. iii. p. 68. 
 
 No. 1 55. — xvi. 8. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the 
 two goats, one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the 
 scape-goat."] The manner in which these lots were cast 
 does not appear in Scripture ; but if we may credit the 
 rabbies, there was an urn brought to the high priest, 
 into which he threw two wooden lots, on one of which 
 was written, for the Lord ; on the other azazel, the 
 word which we render the scape-goat. After he had 
 shaken them, he put both his hands into the urn, and 
 brought up the lots, one in each hand ; and as the goats 
 stood, one on each side of him, their fate was deter- 
 mined by the lot that came up in the hand next to them. 
 If the right hand brought up the lot for the Lord, they 
 regarded it as a good omen. If the left hand brought up 
 that lot, they accounted it as a bad omen, and an indi-
 
 110 LEVITICUS. 
 
 cation that God was not pacified. Jennings's Jewish 
 Ant. vol. ii. p. 267. 
 
 No. 156. — xvi. 14. Seven."] The number seven was 
 highly regarded, and thought of great efficacy in reli- 
 oious actions, not only by the Jews, but by the heathens. 
 Apuleius says, Desirous of purifying myself, I wash in 
 the sea, and dip my head seven times in the waves, the 
 divine Pythagoras having taught, that this number is 
 above all others most proper in the concerns of religion. (De 
 Asino aureo, lib. xi.) Very frequent instances of the re- 
 currence of this number are to be found in the Scriptures. 
 
 " We find, from time immemorial, the use of this 
 period among all nations without any variation in the 
 form of it. The Israelites, Assyrians, Egyptians, In- 
 dians, Arabians, and, in a word, all the nations of the 
 East, have in all ages made use of a week consisting of 
 seven days. (See Scaliger De Emendat. Temporum; 
 Selden De Jure Nat. $• Gent. lib. iii. cap. 1 7. ', Me- 
 mories de V Academie des Inscript. torn. iv. p. 65.) We 
 find the same custom among the ancient Romans, 
 Gauls, Britons, Germans, the nations of the North and 
 of America. (See Le Spectacle de la Nature, torn. viii. 
 p. 53.) Many vain conjectures have been formed con- 
 cerning the reasons and motives which determined all 
 mankind to agree in this primitive division of their time. 
 Nothing but tradition concerning the space of time em- 
 ployed in the creation of the world could give rise to this 
 universal immemorial practice." Goguet's Origin of 
 Laws, &c. vol. i. book iii. ch. ii. art. ii. p. 230. edit. 
 Edinburgh. " The months (of the ancient Scandina- 
 vians) were divided into weeks of seven days, a division 
 which hath prevailed among almost all the nations we 
 have any knowledge of from the extremity of Asia to 
 that of Europe." Mallet's Northern Antiquities^ vol. i. 
 P- 357-
 
 LEVITICUS. Ill 
 
 Also see Grotius, De Verit. Relig. Christ, lib. i. cap. 
 16. note 23. and following; and Mr. Cook's Enquiry 
 into the Patriarchal and Druidical Religion, p. 4, 5. 2d 
 edit, and the authors there quoted ; Boyse's Pantheon, 
 p. 168. 2d edit.; Leland's Advantage and Necessity of 
 Christian Revelation, part i. ch. ii. p. 74. 8vo. edit. ; 
 and Dr. Waterland's^ Charge, &c. May 19. 1731, 
 p. 41. 58. 
 
 No. 157. — xvi. 22. And the goat shall bear upon him 
 all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited ; and he shall 
 let go the goat in the wilderness. ] The Aswamedha 
 Jug is an ancient Indian custom, in which a horse was 
 brought and sacrificed, with some rites similar to those 
 prescribed in the Mosaic law. " The horse so sacri- 
 ficed is in place of the sacrificer, bears his sins with him 
 into the wilderness, into which he is turned adrift, (for, 
 from this particular instance it seems that the sacrificing 
 knife was not always employed,) and becomes the expia- 
 tory victim of those sins." Mr. Halhed observes, (Pre- 
 face to the Code of Gentoo Laws, p. 9.) that this ceremony 
 reminds us of the scape-goat of the Israelites ; and in- 
 deed it is not the only one in which a particular coin- 
 cidence between the Hindoo and Mosaic systems of 
 theology may be traced. To this account may be sub- 
 joined a narrative in some measure similar from Mr. 
 Bruce. " We found, that upon some dissension, the 
 garrison and townsmen had been fighting for several 
 days, in which disorders the greatest part of the ammu- 
 nition in the town had been expended, but it had since 
 been agreed on by the old men of both parties, that 
 nobody had been to blame on either side, but the whole 
 wrong was the work of a camel. A camel, therefore, 
 was seized, and brought without the town, and there a 
 number on both sides having met, they upbraided the 
 camel with every thing that had been either said or
 
 112 LEVITICUS. 
 
 done. The camel had killed men; he had threatened 
 to set the town on fire ; the camel had threatened to 
 burn the aga's house and the castle ; he had cursed the 
 grand signior and the sheriffe of Mecca, the sovereigns 
 of the two parties ; and, the only thing the poor animal 
 was interested in, he had threatened to destroy the 
 wheat that was going to Mecca. After having spent 
 great part of the afternoon in upbraiding the camel, 
 whose measure of iniquity it seems was near full, each 
 man thrust him through with a lance, devoting him, 
 diis manibus et diris, by a kind of prayer, and with a 
 thousand curses upon his head, after which every man 
 retired, fully satisfied as to the wrongs he had received 
 from the camel J" 
 
 No. 158. — xviii. 21. Thou shall not let any of thy 
 seed pass through the Jlre to Moloch.'] We have a par- 
 ticular description of this idol in the commentary of 
 Rabbi Simeon upon Jer. vii. ; he says, " all the houses 
 of idols were in the city of Jerusalem, except that of 
 Moloch, which was out of the city in a separate place. 
 It was a statue with the head of an ox, and the hands 
 stretched out as a man's, who opens his hand to receive 
 something from another. It was hollow within, and 
 there were seven chapels raised, before which the idol 
 was erected. He that offered a fowl or a young pigeon 
 went into the first chapel ; if he offered a sheep or a 
 lamb, he went into the second ; if a ram, into the third; 
 if a calf, into the fourth ; if a bullock, into the fifth ; if 
 an ox, into the sixth ; but he only who offered his own 
 son went into the seventh chapel ; and kissed the idol 
 Moloch, as it is written, Hos. xiii. 2. Let the men that 
 sacrifice kiss the calves. The child was placed before the 
 idol, and a fire made under it till it became red-hot. 
 Then the priest took the child, and put him into the 
 glowing hands of Moloch ; and lest the parents should
 
 LEVITICUS. 113 
 
 hear his cries, they beat drums to drown the noise. 
 Therefore the place was called Tophet, from Thoph, 
 Thuppim, that signifies drums. It was also called 
 Hinnom, because of the children's roaring, from the 
 Hebrew word naham, to roar, or because the priests 
 said to the parents, Jehenelah, It will be of advantage 
 to you." 
 
 Horrid as is the practice prohibited in these words, 
 we have irresistible evidence of its prevalence. The 
 manner in which it was performed has been variously 
 described, especially by the rabbins. Sonnerat (Trav, 
 vol. i. p. 154.) gives the following account of this cus- 
 tom : " A still more astonishing instance of the super- 
 stition of the ancient Indians, in respect to this venerated 
 fire, remains at this day, in the grand annual festival 
 holden in honour of Darma Rajah, and called the feast 
 of fire, in which, as in the ancient rights of Moloch, 
 the devotees walk barefoot over a glowing fire, extend lug 
 
 forty feet. It is called the feast of fire, because they then 
 walk on that element. It lasts eighteen days, during 
 which time, those who make a vow to keep it, must fast, 
 abstain from women, lie on the bare ground, and walk 
 on a brisk fire. The eighteenth day they assembled, on 
 the sound of instruments, their heads cr&wned with fowers, 
 the body bedaubed with saffron, a ltd follow in cadence the 
 
 figures of Darma Rajah, a .-id (f Drobcdc, his wife, who 
 are carried there in proc.'ssion. When they come to the 
 fire they stir it, to animate its activity, and take a little 
 of jthe ashes, with which they rub their foreheads, and 
 when the gods have been three times round it, they walk 
 either fast or slow, according to their zeal, over a very 
 hot fire, extending to about forty feet in length. i$ 
 carry their children in their arms ; and others lances, 
 sabres, and standards. The most fervent devotees walk 
 several times over the fire. After ihe ceremony, the 
 people press to collect some of the ashes to rub their 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 114 LEVITICUS. 
 
 foreheads with, and obtain from the devotees some of 
 the flowers with which they were adorned, and which 
 they carefully preserve. ,, 
 
 Parents themselves offered their children at this bloody 
 shrine, and used to soothe their infants by blandishments 
 and kisses to prevent their crying, that the victim 
 might not be offered weeping. See Minucius Felix, 
 p. 311. Lug. Bat. 1709. Tertullian, cap. 9. p. 10. This 
 cruel custom continued till the proconsulship of Tibe- 
 rius. See Deut. xviii. 10. Jer. vii. 31. 
 
 No. 159. — xix. 27. Ye shall not round the corners 
 of your head."] The Hebrew word translated corners^ 
 signifies also the extremities of any thing ; and the mean- 
 ing is, they were not to cut their hair equal, behind and 
 before ; as the worshippers of the stars and the planets, 
 particularly the Arabians, did. There are those, how- 
 ever, who think it refers to a superstitious custom 
 amongst the Gentiles, hi their mourning for the dead. 
 They cut off their hair, and that round about; and 
 threw it into the sepulchre with the bodies of their rela- 
 tions and friends ; and sometimes laid it upon the face 
 or the breast of the dead, as an offering to the infernal 
 gods, whereby they thought to appease them, and make 
 them kind to the deceased. See Maimonides de Idol. 
 c. xii. 1, 2, 5. 
 
 No. 160. — xix. 28. Nor print any marks upon you 
 The painting of the bodies of eminent personages, or o 
 others upon remarkable occasions, is known to have 
 obtained in countries very remote from each other. Our 
 British ancestors were painted, and Dampier, the cele- 
 brated voyager, brought over an East Indian prince, 
 whose skin was very curiously stained with various 
 figures. The wild Arabs adorn themselves in this man- 
 ner according to D'Arvieux, who tells us, among other 
 *5 
 
 :'
 
 LEVITICUS. 115 
 
 things, in his description of the preparatives for an Arab 
 wedding, that the women draw, with a certain kind of 
 ink, the figures of flowers, fountains, houses, cypress- 
 trees, antelopes, and other animals, upon all the parts of 
 the bride's body. (Voy. dans la Pal. p. 223.) This the 
 Israelites were forbidden to do. 
 
 No. 161. — xix. 32. Thou shalt rise up before the 
 hoary head, and honour the face of the old man.'] The 
 Jewish writers say that the rule was, to rise up to them 
 when they were at the distance of four cubits ; and as 
 soon as they were gone by, to sit down again, that it 
 might appear they rose up purely out of respect to them. 
 Most civilized people have adopted the practice. Juve- 
 nal says, 
 
 Credebant hoc grande nefas et morte piandum, 
 
 Si juvenis vetulo non assurrexerat Sat. xiii. v. 54^ 
 
 The Lacedaemonians had a law, that aged persons 
 should be reverenced like fathers. See also Homer, //. 
 xv. 204. et xxiii. 788. Odyss. xiii. 141. 
 
 No. 162. — xix. 36. Just balances, just Weights, a just 
 ephah, and a just hin shall ye have.] Fraudulent prac- 
 tices were severely punished among the Egyptians, 
 whether they were of a public or private wrong. Diodo- 
 rus Siculus tells us, the law commands that both the hands 
 should be cut off of those that adulterated money, or 
 substituted new weights. 
 
 Jupiter ipse duas aequato examine lances 
 
 Sustinet. Virg. JEn. xii. 725. 
 
 Jove sets the beam, in either scale he lays 
 
 The champion's fate, and each exactly weighs. Dryden. 
 
 No. 163. — xxiii. 24. A memorial of blowing of trum- 
 pets.] Some commentators have conjectured, that this 
 
 1 2
 
 116 LEVITICUS. 
 
 feast of trumpets was designed to preserve the memory 
 of Isaac's deliverance by the substitution of a ram to be 
 sacrificed in his stead : it has sometimes been called by 
 the Jews, the binding of Isaac. But it is more probable 
 that it derived its name from the kind of trumpets (rams' 
 horns) then used, and that it was intended to solemnize 
 the beginning of the new year, to remind them of the 
 beginning of the world, and to excite their thankfulness 
 for the fruits, benefits, and blessings of the preceding 
 year. The extraordinary blowing of the trumpets by 
 the priests at that time in all their cities, as well as at 
 Jerusalem, where two silver trumpets were also used at 
 the temple, as well as those of horn, when the Levites 
 sung Psalm lxxxi. was well adapted to promote those im- 
 portant objects. 
 
 No. 164-. — xxiv. 11. And the Israeli tish woman's son 
 blasphemed the name, and cursed.] The words, of the 
 Lord, which immediately follow, blasphemed the name, 
 being put in italics in our translation, shews that they 
 form no part of the original text. Among the Palmy- 
 renians it is a custom to inscribe on their marbles, " To 
 the blessed name be fear for ever." " To the blessed 
 name for ever good and merciful, be fear." This is 
 exactly similar to the above cited passage, respecting 
 the blasphemy of the Israelitish woman's son. Frag- 
 ments, No. 490. 
 
 No. 165. — xxvi. 26. Ten women shall bake your bread 
 in one oven.] An oven was designed only to serve a 
 single family, and to bake for them no more than the 
 bread of one day. This usage still continues in some 
 places, and gives peculiar force to these words. There 
 were anciently, as there are now, some public bake- 
 houses. Hence we read of the bakers' street, Jer,
 
 LEVITICUS. 117 
 
 xxxvii. 21. See Shaw's Travels, p. 252. Harmer, 
 vol. i. p. 269. 
 
 No. 166. — xxvii. 32. Whatsoever passeth tinder the 
 rod.~] This expresses the manner of the tithing, which 
 according to the Jews was thus performed. The cattle 
 were all brought into a sheep-cote, in which there was 
 but one gate, and that so narrow as to suffer only one to 
 come out at a time. The dams being placed without, 
 and the gate opened, the young ones were invited by 
 their bleating to press out to them. As they passed by, 
 one by one, a man who stood at the gate with a rod 
 coloured with ochre told them in order ; and when the 
 tenth came out, whether it were male or female, sound or 
 not, he marked it with his rod, and said, Let this be holy 
 in the name of the tenth. Bochart thinks that Moses 
 does not here speak of the rod of the tithes, but of the 
 shepherd's crook ; for the flock passed under his rod as 
 often as he numbered them, which was particularly done 
 every evening. Patrick, in loc. 
 
 i 3
 
 [ 118 
 
 No. 167. — NUMBERS, i. 49. 
 
 Thou shall not number the tribe of Levi. 
 
 17ROM this example the heathen learned to exempt all 
 those who ministered to their gods from all other 
 services, especially from war. Strabo notes (Geograph. 
 lib. ix.) this custom to have been as old as Homer's time ; 
 for in all his catalogue there is no mention of any ship 
 that went against Troy from Alalcomenon, because that 
 city was sacred to Minerva. Cjesar (lib. vi.) also observes, 
 that the ancient Druids were exempt from war and from 
 tribute. 
 
 No. 168. — v. 17. TJie priest shall take holy "water in 
 an earthen vessel. - ] In the Asiatic Researches, (vol. i. 
 p. 389.) is a curious account of the trials by ordeal, 
 practised amongst the Hindoos. They have no less than 
 nine different methods of conducting this test, one of 
 which is strikingly conformable to the trial by the water 
 of jealousy. " Trial by the cosha is as follows : the ac- 
 cused is made to drink three draughts of the water in 
 which the images of the Sun, of Devi, and other deities, 
 have been washed for that purpose ; and if, within four- 
 teen days, he has any sickness, or indisposition, his 
 crime is considered as proved." 
 
 Similar to this ordeal by the water of jealousy is the 
 practice of some of the Africans, among whom Mr. Park 
 travelled. He says, that " at Baniferile, one of our 
 slatees (slave merchants) returning to his native town, 
 as soon as he had seated himself on a mat by the 
 threshold of his door, a young woman, his intended 
 bride, brought a little water in a calabash, and kneeling 
 down before him, desired him to wash his hands ; when
 
 NUMBERS. 119 
 
 he had done this, the girl, with a tear of joy sparkling 
 in her eyes, drank the water ; this being considered as 
 the greatest proof she could give him of her fidelity and 
 attachment." Travels, p. 347. 
 
 " At Koolkorro my landlord brought out his writing 
 board, or wal/ia, that I might write him a saphie, to 
 protect him from wicked men. I wrote the board full 
 from top to bottom, on both sides ; and my landlord, 
 to be certain of having the whole force of the charm, 
 washed the writing from the board into a calabash with 
 a little water ; and having said a few prayers over it, 
 drank this powerful draught : after which, lest a single 
 word should escape, he licked the board until it was 
 quite dry." Travels, p. 236. See also Forbes's Orien- 
 tal Memoirs, vol. i. p. 319. 
 
 No. 169. — vi. 5. And shall let the locks of the hair 
 of his head grow."} The Egyptians used to let their 
 hair grow in honour of their gods, particularly of 
 Apoilo, Bacchus, and Minerva. This superstitious 
 practice indeed grew to such a height, that they conse- 
 crated it to rivers, in which they thought there was 
 some divinity. In other instances they cut it off, and 
 hung it upon trees, or laid it up in their temples, there 
 to be preserved. At Athens there was a certain day 
 appointed in one of their feasts, in which the hair of 
 their children was cut off, and sacrificed to Diana. And 
 according to Hesychius, before they performed this act, 
 they brought a measure of wine, which they offered to 
 Hercules, and then all who were present drank of it. 
 This circumstance, if not an imitation, is a remarkable 
 coincidence with the drink-offering mentioned ver. 17. 
 Some writers have asserted that the laws of the Hebrew 
 Nazarites were given to prevent an idolatrous adoption 
 of Egyptian customs : but it seems much more probable 
 that these usages are posterior to the time of Moses, 
 
 i 4
 
 120 NUMBERS. 
 
 and that they are borrowed from his institutions. See 
 Patrick, in loc. 
 
 No. J 70. — vi. 18. And the Nazarifc shall shave the 
 head of his separation at the door of the tabernacle of 
 the congregation, and shall take the hair of the head, of 
 his separation, and put it in the fire which is under the 
 sacrifice of the peace-offerings.'] It was. probably from 
 this custom of the Jewish Nazarites, that the Gentiles 
 learned the practice of consecrating their hair to their 
 gods. Lucian represents this as a very common custom, 
 and that he had himself complied with it. Suetonius 
 relates an instance of it in his life of Nero, informing 
 us, that he cut off his first beard, put it into a golden 
 box set with jewels, and consecrated it to Jupiter Ca- 
 pitolinus. 
 
 No. 171. — vi. 24. The Lord bless thee and keep 
 thee.'] The high prieet was accustomed annually to 
 bless the people when assembled together. " During 
 this ceremony he not only three times pronounced the 
 eternal benediction, and each different time in a different 
 accent, but in the elevation of his hands, extended the 
 three middle fingers of his right hand in so conspicuous 
 a manner as to exhibit a manifest emblem of the three 
 Hypostases ; to whom the triple benediction, and repe- 
 tition of the word Jehovah in a varied tone of voice, 
 evidently pointed. I am credibly informed that at this 
 day, on certain high festivals and solemnities, this form 
 of blessing the people is still adhered to by the Jewish 
 priests, but is attempted to be explained by them, as 
 if allusive to the three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and 
 Jacob ; an explanation of which it may be doubted whe- 
 ther it savour more of impiety or absurdity." Maurice's 
 Lid. Ant. vol. iv. p. 209. 
 
 Captain Innys, of Madras, has asserted that the Mo-
 
 NUMBERS. 121 
 
 hammedan priests also at present use the same form : 
 this is a strong collateral circumstance ; for, since it is 
 notorious that Mohammed was indebted for ii consider- 
 able part of his theological knowledge to the secret in- 
 structions of a Jew, he probably learned from that 
 Jew the symbol ; and it was frequently practised in the 
 Arabian mosques so early as the seventh century. 
 
 No. 1 72. — ^ T ii. 1 7. And for a sacrifice of peace-offer- 
 ings, tvoo oxen, Jive rams, Jive he-goats, Jive lambs of the 
 Jirst year.~\ Mr. Selden observes, (de Synedriis, lib. iii. 
 Clip. 14. num. 3.) that the Greeks dedicated their rltars, 
 temples, and statues with sumptuous sacrifices ; and 
 that the Romans did the same, with feasting, plays, 
 and public largesses. This custom he supposes to have 
 been derived from the Jews, who provided the numerous 
 sacrifices mentioned in this verse, because the priests, 
 the princes, and as many of the people as were invited, 
 had a share of them, and feasted before the Lord with 
 great rejoicing. 
 
 No. 173. — vii. 87. All the oxen for the burnt-offering 
 were twelve bullocks. - ] Whether there were any prayers 
 offered for a gracious acceptance of the sacrifices which 
 should be hereafter made upon this altar, we are not 
 told, but the sacrifices themselves were in the nature of 
 supplications, and it is likely they that offered them 
 made their humble petitions with them. And so the 
 Gentiles always did at the dedication of their temples 
 or altars, an instance of which is observed from Gniter 
 by Fort. Scacchus, and by Selden in these words: 
 Jrlanc tibi aram, Jupiter opt. max. dico dedicoquc, uti sis 
 volcns propitius mihi collegisque rneis, fyc. which is a de- 
 dication of an altar to Jupiter, with a prayer that he 
 would be gracious to him that dedicated it, and to 
 his friends and neighbours. The like dedication there
 
 122 NUMBERS. 
 
 is of a temple to Priapus near Padua, with this prayer, 
 that he would constantly guard their fields, &c. Pa- 
 trick, in loc. 
 
 No. 174«. — viii. 16. Instead of the frst-bom of all the 
 children of Israel have I taken them unto me.~] The 
 heathens annexed the same ideas of substitution to the 
 victims which they devoted to their gods. We find a 
 singular instance of it in Ovid. Certain birds, which 
 fed upon the flesh of children, and sucked their blood, 
 were coming down upon the young Procas, and just 
 seizing him as their prey. The nymph Crane imme- 
 diately sacrificed a pig, and holding in her hands the 
 entrails of that victim, exclaims, 
 
 Noctis aves, extis puerilibus, inquit, 
 
 Parcite : pro parvo victima parva caclit. 
 
 Cor pro corde, precor, pro fibris sumite fibras, 
 
 Hanc animam vobis pro meliore daimis. Fast, vi. 159. 
 
 No. 175. — x. 31. Thou mayest be to us instead of 
 eyes.~\ The importance of a guide in traversing the 
 deserts must be evident, when we peruse the following 
 extract from Bruce's Travels, (vol. iv. p. 586.) " A 
 hybeer is a guide, from the Arabic word hubbar, to in- 
 form, instruct, or direct, because they are used to do 
 this office to the caravan travelling through the desert 
 in all its directions, whether to Egypt and back again, 
 the coast of the Red Sea, or the countries of Sudan, 
 and the western extremities of Africa. They are men 
 of great consideration, knowing perfectly the situation 
 and properties of all kinds of water to be met on the 
 route, the distances of wells, whether occupied by ene- 
 mies or not, and if so, the way to avoid them with the 
 least inconvenience. It is also necessary to them to 
 know the places occupied by the simoom, and the 
 seasons of their blowing in these parts of the desert ;
 
 NUMBERS. 123 
 
 likewise those occupied by moving sands. He gene- 
 rally belongs to some powerful tribe of Arabs inhabiting 
 these deserts, whose protection he makes use of to 
 assist his caravans, or protect them in time of danger, 
 and handsome rewards are always in his power to dis- 
 tribute on such occasions : but now that the Arabs in 
 these deserts are every where without government, the 
 trade between Abyssinia and Cairo given over, that 
 between Sudan and the metropolis much diminished, 
 the importance of the office of hybeer, and its consi- 
 deration, is fallen in proportion, and with these the safe 
 conduct." 
 
 No. 176. — xi. 1. The Jtre of the Lord burnt among 
 them.'] Commentators have understood this to mean 
 lightning, or the breaking forth of fire from the cloud, 
 which marked the presence of God ; but it may be as 
 natural to explain it of the deadly jiery wind which some- 
 times appears in those eastern deserts. Maillet mentions 
 its being felt in the desert between Egypt and Mecca, in 
 part of which Israel wandered forty years. " If the 
 north wind happens to fail, and that from the south 
 comes in its place, then the whole caravan is so sickly 
 and exhausted that three or four hundred persons are 
 wont, in common, to lose their lives ; even greater num- 
 bers, as far as fifteen hundred, of whom the greatest part 
 are stifled on the spot, by the Jire and dust of which this 
 fatal wind seems to be composed." (P. 228.) 
 
 No. 177. — xi. 5. Onicms.~] " Whoever has tasted 
 onions in Egypt must allow that none can be had better 
 in any part of the universe. Here they are sweet, in 
 other countries they are nauseous and strong ; here they 
 are soft, whereas in the north, and other parts, they 
 are hard of digestion. Hence they cannot in any place 
 be eaten with less prejudice and more satisfaction than
 
 124 NUMBER*. 
 
 in Egj^t. They eat them roasted, cut into four pieces, 
 with some bits of roasted meat, which the Turks in 
 Egypt call kobab, and with this dish they are so de- 
 lighted, that I have heard them wish they might enjoy 
 it in paradise. They likewise make soup of them in 
 Egypt, cutting the onions in small pieces ; this I think 
 one of the best dishes I ever eat." Hasselouist's 
 Voyages, p. 290. 
 
 No. 178. — xi. 5. We remember the Jtsh which we did 
 eat in Egypt freely, ,] Pococke (Trav. vol. i. p. 1 32.) 
 says, that in Egypt fish is commonly eaten by the 
 people with great pleasure : but that in April and May, 
 which is the hot season there, they eat scarcely any 
 thing but fish, with pulse and herbs, the great heat 
 taking away their appetite for all sorts of meat. This 
 account perfectly agrees with what the children of Israel 
 are represented as saying. 
 
 No. 1 79.— xi. 5. Melons.] By t\ \s we are probably 
 to understand the water-melon, which, according to Has- 
 selquist, {Voyage, p. 255.) " the Arabians caU bateclu 
 It is cultivated on the banks of the Nile, in the rich 
 clayey earth which subsides during the inundation. 
 This serves the Egyptians for meat, drink, and physic. 
 It is eaten in abundance during the season, even by the 
 richer sort of people ; but the common people, on whom 
 providence has bestowed nothing but poverty and pa- 
 tience, scarcely eat any thing but these, and account this 
 the best time of the year, as they are obliged to put up 
 with worse fare at other seasons. This fruit likewise 
 serves them for drink, the juice refreshing these poor 
 creatures, and they have less occasion for water than 
 if they were to live on more substantial food in this 
 burning climate." This well explains the Israelites
 
 NUMBERS. 125 
 
 regretting the want of this fruit in the parched thirsty 
 wilderness. 
 
 " The water-melon, or angura, or pistacha, or dillak 9 
 as they call it here, is providentially calculated for the 
 southern countries, as it affords a cool refreshing juice, 
 assuages thirst, mitigates feverish disorders, and com- 
 pensates thereby, in no small degree, for the excessive 
 heats, not so much of these as of the more southern 
 districts.'' Shaw's 2 ravels, p. 141. " Among the 
 different kinds of vegetables, which are of importance 
 to supply the want of life, or to render it more agree- 
 able, (he tells us) is the melons, which, without dispute, 
 is there one of the most salutary and common among 
 them. All the species that they have in Europe, and in 
 the sea-ports of the Mediterranean, are to be found in 
 Egypt. Besides them, there is one, whose substance 
 is green and very delicious. It grows round like a bowl, 
 and is commonly of an admirable taste. There are also 
 water-melons, extremely good. But above all the rest, 
 at Cairo and its neighbourhood, they boast of a species 
 of melons, pointed at each end and swelling out in the 
 middle, which the people of the country call abdelarins. 
 Tins is an Arabian word, which signifies the slave of 
 sweetness. In fact, these melons are not to be eaten 
 without sugar, as being insipid without it. Macrisi says, 
 this last kind was formerly transported hither by a man . 
 whose name they bear. They give it to the sick, to 
 whom they refuse all other kinds of fruit. The rind is 
 very beautifully wrought ; its figure very singular ; as 
 well as the manner of ripening it, which is by applying 
 a red-hot iron to one of its extremities. The people of 
 the country eat it green as well as ripe, and in the 
 same manner as we eat apples. These melons, of a 
 foreign extraction, continue two whole months, and grow 
 no where else in Egypt. They say the same species is 
 found in Cyprus." Maillet, Lett. ii. p. 1 1.
 
 126 NUMBERS. 
 
 No. 180.— xii. 3. Now the man Moses was very meek 
 above all (he men who were upon the face of the earth.'] 
 That Moses should commend himself for his meekness, 
 has been perversely objected to by sceptics and infidels. 
 But certainly not upon just .ground. Parallel instances 
 occur in profane writers, which are permitted to pass 
 without censure. In Homer, Ulysses calls himself the 
 wisest of the Grecians. Achilles represents himself the 
 best and most valiant of them. iEneas talks fre- 
 quently of his own piety and valour. Xenophon re- 
 presents Cyrus upon his death-bed, as taking notice 
 of the greatest beauty of his own character, his huma- 
 nity. And Moses says of himself that he was the meekest 
 man upon' earth. 
 
 Di bene fecerunt, inopis me quodque pusilli 
 Finxerunt animi, raro et perpauca loquentis. 
 
 Hor. b. i. Sat.'w. 17. 
 
 No. 181. — xii. 14. If her father had but spit in her 
 face.'] Chardin observes, that " spitting before any one, 
 or spitting upon the ground in speaking of any one's 
 actions, is, through the East, an expression of extreme 
 detestation." Hence we find it prescribed by the law, 
 (Deut. xxv. 9.) as a mark of disgrace. Harmer, vol. ii. 
 p. 510. 
 
 Thus Theocritus represents a damsel as acting to ex- 
 press her averson from a clown who attempted to kiss 
 her. 
 
 She spoke, and spitting thrice, the saucy slut 
 Tittered, and eifd me o'er from head to foot, 
 And frowned. Idyll. xx. II. Polwhele. 
 
 See also Job, xxx. 10. Herodotus, i. 99. Beloe's 
 note; and Niebuhr, Descript. de VArabie, p. 26,
 
 NUMBERS. 127 
 
 No. 182. — xvii. 6. The rod of Aaron.'] It has been 
 the custom in all ages for elderly men, and for those 
 in authority, to carry, as a mark of dignity, a rod or 
 walking-staff, which at length became the sceptre pe- 
 culiar to princes. Minos, king of Crete, is represented 
 in Hesiod as bearing the sceptre of Jupiter ; and Homer 
 {//. i. 14.) says, the priest Chases had a sceptre of 
 gold. The priests among the Greeks and Romans had 
 their recurved rods ; and bishops in later ages have their 
 crosiers; all which are ensigns of dignity and office. 
 Expository Ind. p. 69. 
 
 No. 183.— xix. 2. Speak unto the children of Israel \ 
 that they bring thee a red heifer without spot.'] " The 
 resemblance between the institutes of the Hindoos and 
 the Jews has frequently been noticed : but I know not 
 whether the following coincidence has ever been ob- 
 served. The Hindoos believe that their mediatorial 
 god Vishnow has already been incarnate nine times, 
 and that in his tenth incarnation he will appear in the 
 form of a mighty angel, leading a white winged horse 
 like that in the Apocalypse. These ten incarnations they 
 call Avatars." (See Maurice's History of Hindostan.) 
 Let us now hear Dr. Allix. " For the Jews, in the 
 ages next to these paraphrases, (viz. the Targums,) I 
 ought to observe this one thing of Pirke Eliezer, (cap.14^.) 
 there they assert, that God descended rJne times, and 
 that the tenth time he shall descend in the age to come, 
 i. e. in the time of the Messiah. The first time was in 
 the garden of Eden: the second, at the confusion of 
 tongues : the third, at the destruction of Sodom : the 
 fourth, at his talking with Moses on Mount Horeb : the 
 fifth, at his appearance on Sinai : the sixth and seventh, 
 when he spake to Moses in the hollow of the rock : the 
 eighth and ninth, in the tabernacle : the tenth will be, 
 when he shall appear in the times of the Messiah,
 
 128 NUMBERS. 
 
 Such is their ancient opinion." {Judgment of the Jewish. 
 Church, p. 282.) The tradition mentioned by Maimo- 
 nides (de Vacca nifa, ch. 3.) respecting the red heifer 
 seems to be closely connected with the preceding. 
 " Nine red heifers have been sacrificed between the 
 original delivering of this precept, and the desolation 
 of the second temple. Our master Moses sacrificed 
 the first: Ezra offered up the second: and seven more 
 were slain during the period which elapsed from the 
 time of Ezra to the destruction of the temple : the 
 tenth king Messiah himself will sacrifice : by his speedy 
 manifestation he will cause great joy. Amen, may he 
 come quickly." It is almost superfluous to observe that 
 the red heifer is a type of Christ." Christian Observer, 
 vol. i. p. 85. 
 
 The heathens had such a hatred and detestation for 
 Typho, that they debased such cattle as were red to the 
 most vile condition. Typho, as Plutarch informs us, 
 (Isis et Osis.) " was looked upon by them as a daemo- 
 niac power; and because they were of opinion that 
 Typho was born of a red complexion, they Mere there- 
 fore used to devote to him such of the neat kind as 
 they found to be of a red colour ; and their observation 
 herein was so nice and strict, that if they perceived the 
 beast to have but one hair about it which was either 
 black or white, they accounted it unfit for sacrifice. 
 For they held, that what was fit to be made a sacrifice 
 was not to be a thing agreeable to the gods ; but con- 
 trariwise such things as contain the souls of wicked and 
 ungodly men, transformed into their shapes." Hero- 
 dotus also says, (lib. 2.) that if they found one black 
 hair en the ox, their priests adjudged it unfit for sacri- 
 fice : which, that they might know with certainty, the 
 priest appointed for that purpose viewed every part of 
 the animal, both standing and laid on the ground. 
 After this, if the beast was found unblemished, he tied
 
 NUMBERS. 129 
 
 a label about his horns, and having sealed it with the 
 signet of his ring, ordered him to be led away and 
 secured, because it was death to sacrifice one of these 
 animals, unless he had been marked with such a seal." 
 Plutarch also says, that they had certain solemnities 
 wherein to abase and affront Typho, they mishandled 
 and abused such men as they found to have red hair. 
 Diodorus (lib. 1.) says, that they anciently sacrificed 
 such persons as had red hair like Typho, at the sepul- 
 chre of Osiris. It was probably in opposition to this 
 superstition that the ordinance of the red heifer was 
 appointed. Young on Idolatry, vol. i. p. 210. 
 
 No. 184. — xix. 2. Upon itfiich never came yoke.'] 
 According to the common consent of mankind, those 
 creatures which had been used became unfit to be 
 offered to God. Hence Diomcd promises Pallas a cow 
 of a year old, 
 
 nv &~x viro £vyov rryccya cc-jy^. II. K. 
 
 which no man hitherto had brought under the yoke. See 
 more in Bochart Hieroz. p. i. 1. 2. cap. 33. 
 
 No. 185. — xix. 11. He that toiicheth the dead body 
 of any man shall be unclean seven days.~\ We meet 
 with a remarkable account of the notions of certain 
 modern heathens concerning pollution by the dead, 
 and of their ceremonies respecting it, in Captain Cook's 
 Third Voyage, vol. i. p. 305. Speaking of a walk he 
 took in Tongataboo, one of the Friendly Islands in the 
 Pacific Ocean, he says, " In this walk we met with 
 about half a dozen women in one place at supper. 
 Two of the company, I observed, being fed by the 
 others, on our asking the reason, they said, taboo mat- 
 tee. On further enquiry we found, that one of them 
 had, two months before, washed the dead corpse of a 
 
 vol. I. j K
 
 130 NUMBERS. 
 
 chief, and that on this account she was not to handle 
 any food for fi\c months. The othei had performed 
 the same office to the corpse of another person of infe- 
 rior rank, and was now under the same restriction, but 
 not for so long a time. At another place, hard by, we 
 saw another woman fed, and we learnt that she had 
 assisted in washing the corpse of the above-mentioned 
 chief." 
 
 " At the expiration of the time, the interdicted per- 
 son washes herself in one of their baths, which are 
 dirty holes, for the most part of brackish water, (com- 
 pare Numb. xix. 19.) she then waits upon the king, 
 and, after making her obeisance in the usual way, lays 
 hold of his foot, and applies it to her breast, shoulders, 
 and other parts of her body. He then embraces her 
 upon each shoulder, after which she retires, purified 
 from her uncleanness." Vol. i. p. 410. 
 
 No. 186. — xx. 19. If I and my cattle drink of thy 
 water, then will I pay for it.~\ The value of water in the 
 East is much greater than is commonly understood. Its 
 scarcity in many instances renders a well an important 
 possession : it is not then to be wondered at that con- 
 tention should arise on the probability of losing it, Gen. 
 xxvi. 20. Major Rooke relates a circumstance of 
 this kind, which cost several their lives, to such an ex- 
 tremity was the matter carried. He says, " one morning 
 when we had been driven by stress of weather into a 
 small bay, called Birk Bay, the country around it being 
 inhabited by the Budoos, (Bedoweens) the noquedah 
 sent his people on shore to get water, for which it is 
 always customary to pay; the Budoos were, as the 
 people thought, rather too exorbitant in their demands, 
 and not choosing to comply with them, returned to 
 make their report to their master : on hearing it, rage 
 immediately seized him, and, determined to have the
 
 NUMBERS. 131 
 
 water on his own terms, or perish in the attempt, he 
 buckled on his armour, and, attended by his myrmi- 
 dons, carrying their match-lock guns and lances, being 
 twenty in number, they rowed to the land. My Ara- 
 bian servant, who went on shore with the first party, 
 and saw that the Budoos were disposed for fighting, 
 told me that I should certainly see a battle. After a 
 parley of 4bout a quarter of an hour, with which the 
 Budoos amused them till near an hundred were assembled, 
 they proceeded to the attack, and routed the sailors, 
 who made a precipitate retreat, the noquedah and two 
 others having fallen in the action, and several being- 
 wounded." (Travels, p. 53.) Hence we discover the 
 conformity of the ancient and modern custom of buying 
 the water, and the serious consequences that have ensued 
 from disputes respecting it. This narration also gives 
 energy to the complaint in Lam. v. 4. We have drank 
 our own water for money. 
 
 No. 18 V. ■ — xxii. 6. Come now therefore, I pray thee, 
 and curse me this people.'] An opinion prevailed both 
 in those days, and in after ages, that some men had a 
 power by the help of their gods to devote not only par- 
 ticular persons, but whole armies to destruction. This 
 they are said to have done, sometimes by words of im- 
 precation ; of which there was a set form among some 
 people, which JEschines calls hoqitypivw ctptxv, the de~ 
 terminate curse. Sometimes they also offered sacrifices, 
 and used certain rites and ceremonies, with solemn 
 charms. A famous instance of this we find in the life 
 of Crassus ,• where Plutarch tells us, that Atticus, tri- 
 bune of the people, made a fire at the gate, out of which 
 Crassus was to march to the war against the Parthians ; 
 into which he threw certain things to make a fume, 
 and offered sacrifices to the most angry gods, with 
 horrid imprecations upon him : these, he says, accord- 
 
 k 2
 
 NUMBERS. 
 
 ing to ancient tradition had such a power, that no man 
 who was loaded with them could avoid beiAg undone. 
 
 The Romans had public officers to perform the cere- 
 mony. And Macrobius (Saturnal. lib. iii. cap. 9.) has 
 preserved the form of these execrations. 
 
 No 188. — xxii. 31. Then the Lord opened the eyes 
 of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing 
 in the toay.~\ There are several instances to be found 
 both hi the scriptures and in profane authors,, where 
 the eyes have been opened by a divine power to per- 
 ceive that which they could not see by mere natural 
 discernment. Tims the eyes of Hagar were opened, 
 that she might see the fountain, Gen. xxi. 1 9. Homer 
 al-o presents us with an example of this kind. Minerva 
 says to Diomed, 
 
 Yet more, from mortal mists I purge thy eyes, 
 
 And set to view the warring deities. It. v. 1G4. Pope. 
 
 And in Virgil, Venus performs the same office to 
 iEneas, and shews him the gods who were engaged in 
 the destruction of Troy. 
 
 A^pice ; namque oranem, quae nunc obducta tuenti 
 Mortalcs hebetat visus tibi, et humida circum, &c. 
 
 Mn. ii. 604. 
 
 Now cast your eyes around : while I dissolve 
 
 The mists and films that mortal eyes involve, 
 
 Purge from your sight the dross, and male e you see 
 
 The shape of each avenging deity. Dhydex. 
 
 Milton seems likewise to have imitated this, when he 
 makes Michael open Adam's eyes to see the future revo- 
 lutions of the world and the fortunes of his posterity. 
 
 then purg'd with euphrasy and rue 
 
 The visual nerve, for he had much to see, 
 And from the well of life three drops instill' d. 
 
 Paradise Lost, b. xi. 414.
 
 NUMBERS. 133 
 
 . No. 189.' — xxiii. 1. Build mc here seven altars, and 
 prepare vie here seven oxen and seven rams.'] The ancients 
 were very superstitious about certain numbers, supposing 
 that God delighted in odd numbers. 
 
 Tenia tibi hsec primum triplici dfversa colore 
 Licia circumdo ; terque haec altaria circum. 
 Effigiem duco ; numero Deus impare gaudet. 
 
 Virg. Eclog. viii. 7-5. 
 
 Around his waxen image first I wind 
 
 Three ivoollenfrflets, of three colours join' d ; 
 
 Thrice bind about his thrice devoted head. 
 
 Which round the sacred altar thrice is led. 
 
 Unequal numbers please the gods. Dryden. 
 
 No. 190. — xxiii. 23. IVhai hath God wrought.] 
 When the Baron du Tott was endeavouring to make 
 the Turks better gunners, for want of which they suf- 
 fered such great losses in the war with the Russians 
 which terminated in 1774, he was forced by them, very 
 contrary to his wish, to fire a cannon at a certain mark. 
 Upon redoubled solicitations he was prevailed on to 
 point the piece, and was not less surprised than those 
 around him to see the bullet hit the piquet in the centre 
 of the butt. The cry Machalla ! resounded on all sides. 
 {Mem. vol. ii. part. 3. p. 96.) At the bottom of the 
 page is this note : Machalla ! what God has done ! an 
 expression of the greatest admiration. There is a sin- 
 gular- coincidence between this and the exclamation of 
 Balaam. Harmer, vol. iv. p. 462. 
 
 No. 191. — xxiv. 1 7. There shall come a star out 
 of Jacob.'] This prophecy may possibly in some sense 
 relate to David, but without doubt it belongs principally 
 to Christ. Here the metaphor of a sceptre was common 
 and popular, to denote a ruler, like David : but the star, 
 though, like the other, it signified in the prophetic writ- 
 
 k 3
 
 134 NUMBERS. 
 
 Lng» a temporal prince or ruler, yet had a secret and 
 hidden meaning likewise. A star in the Egyptian hie- 
 roglyphics denoted God. Thus God in the prophet 
 Amos, reproving the Israelites for their idolatry on their 
 first coming out of Egypt, says, have ye offered unto me 
 sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O 
 house of Israel ? but ye have borne the tabernacle of your 
 Moloch and Chiun, your images, the star of your God which 
 ye made to yourselves. {Amos, v. 25, 26.) The star of 
 your God is a noble figurative expression to signify the 
 image of your God; for a star being employed in the 
 hieroglyphics to signify God, it is used here with great 
 elegance to signify the material image of a God : the 
 words, the star of your God, being only a repetition of 
 the preceding, Chiun, your image; and not (as some cri- 
 tics suppose) the same with your God-star. Hence we 
 conclude that the metaphor here used by Balaam of a 
 star was of that abstruse mysterious kind, and so to be 
 understood, and consequently that it related only to 
 Christ, the eternal son of God." ( Warburton's Divine 
 Legation, b. iv. sect. 4.) Bishop Newton however is 
 of opinion that the literal meaning of the prophecy re- 
 spects the person and actions of David. [Dissertations 
 on the Prophecies, vol. i. p. 139.) 
 
 No. 192. — xxiv. 21. Thou puttest thy nest in a rocJc.~\ 
 "When Balaam delivered before Balak his predictions 
 respecting the fate that awaited the nations which he then 
 particularized, he says of the Kenites, Strong is thy dwell- 
 ing, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock. Alluding herein 
 to that princely bird the eagle, which not only delights 
 in soaring to the loftiest heights, but chooses the 
 highest rocks and most elevated mountains as the most 
 desirable situations for erecting her nests. The metaphor 
 signifies security. See Hab. ii. 9. Obad. iv.
 
 NUMBERS. 135 
 
 The eagle usually constructs its airy, which is flat, and 
 jnore properly a flooring of sticks and twigs than a nest> 
 between two rocks, in a dry and inaccessible place. 
 Buffon, Hist. Nat. des Oiseaux, torn. i. p. 115. 1 2mo. 
 
 No. 193. — xxv. 8. And he went after the man of 
 Israel into the te?it 9 and thrust both of them through, the 
 man of Israel and the woman. 2 The zeal of Phinehas 
 on this particular occasion received the divine appro- 
 bation, both in personal commendation and public 
 deliverance. Similar impunity with respect to shedding 
 of blood was given by the lawgivers of other nations : 
 Pausanias relates that Draco the Athenian legislator 
 granted impunity to any body that took revenge upon 
 an adulterer. Such also was the institution of Solon, 
 " If any one seize an adulterer let him use him as he 
 pleases." Thus Eratosthenes answered a person who 
 begged his life after he had injured his bed, " It is not 
 I who slay thee, but the law of thy country." But it 
 was in the power of the injured person to take a pecu- 
 niary mulct by way of atonement : for thus Eratosthenes 
 speaks in Lysias, " he entreated me not to take his life, 
 but exact a sum of money." 
 
 No. 194. — xxvi. 55. The land shall be divided by 
 lot.~\ This appears to have been a very ancient method 
 of dividing land. It was not only adopted in the present 
 instance in the distribution of a whole country, but was 
 commonly resorted to in order to apportion particular 
 inheritances. See Hesiod, b. i. 55. Thus also in Homer t 
 Ulysses is made to say, 
 
 Sprung of a hand-maid from a bought embrace, 
 I shared his kindness with his laivful race. 
 But when that fate which all must undergo 
 From earth removed him to the shades below, 
 The large domain his greedy sons divide, 
 
 And each was portion' d as the lots decide. Odyss, xiv. 234. Popf. 
 K 4
 
 136 NUMBERS. 
 
 No. 195. — xxxi. 23. It shall be purified with the 
 'separation.'] The Jews have continued from 
 the time of Moses particularly to observe such precepts, 
 whether written or traditional, as respect purification. 
 In many instances they have carried their regard to a 
 superstitious extreme. Leo of Modena, (p. 8.) says, 
 " If they buy any new vessel of glass, earth, or metal, 
 they wash it first thoroughly, plunging it under water in 
 some river, well, or bath." 
 
 No. 196. — xxxv. 21. The revenger of blood shall 
 slay the murderer when he meeteth him.~] " The civil 
 law declared a man to be unworthy to enjoy the inheri- 
 tance of one that was murdered, if he neglected to pro- 
 secute the person that killed him, in some court of 
 justice. But the Jewish law allowed, or rather required, 
 a great deal more — that the next of kin should kill the 
 murderer with his own hands, if he met him. Thus 
 the Abyssinians at this day (as Bitterhusius observes out 
 of Alvarez) deliver the murderer into the hand of the next 
 kinsman to torture him." Patrick, in loc. The ancient 
 Greeks had no public officer charged by the state to 
 look after murderers. The relations of the deceased 
 alone had a right to pursue vengeance. (Homer, H. ix. 
 628.) Pausanias in many places speaks of this ancient 
 usage, (lib. v. c. 1. p. 376. lib. viii. c. 34. p. 669.) an 
 usage that appears to have subsisted always in Greece. 
 Plat, de Leg. 1. ix. p. 930. 931. 933. Deimosth. in 
 Aristocrat, p. 736. Pollux, lib. viii. cap. 10. segm. 118. 
 Goguet's Origin of- Laws, pt. ii. b. i. art. viii. vol. ii. 
 
 " Among the Circassians, the spirit of resentment is 
 so great, that all the relatives of the murderer are con- 
 sidered as guilty. This customary infatuation to avenge 
 the blood of relatives generates all the feuds, and occa- 
 sions great bloodshed, among all the tribes of Caucasus :
 
 NUMBERS. 137 
 
 for, unless pardon be purchased, or obtained by inter- 
 marriage between the two families, the principle of 
 revenge is propagated to. all succeeding generations. 
 The hatred which the mountainous nations evince 
 against the Russians in a great measure arises from the 
 same source. If the thirst of vengeance is quenched by 
 a price paid to the family of the deceased, this tribute 
 is called Thlil- Uasa, or the price of blood : but neither 
 princes nor Usdens accept of such a compensation, as 
 it is an established law among them to demand blood 
 for blood." Pallas's Travels, vol. i. p. 405. 
 
 No. 197. — xxxv. 31. Ye shall take no satisfaction 
 for the life of a murderer.'] Moses absolutely forbids 
 the acceptance of any compensation for the life of a 
 murderer. Through the influence of money it appears 
 that punishment was often evaded in some countries, 
 and probably till this time among the Jews. The 
 Baron du Tott tells us, that in case of a duel, if 
 one of the parties is killed, the other is tried for the 
 offence, and if condemned, " the criminal is conducted 
 to the place of punishment ; he who performs the office 
 of executioner takes on him likewise that of mediator, 
 and negotiates till the last moment with the next of kin 
 to the deceased, or his wife, who commonly follows, to 
 be present at the execution. If the proposals are refused, 
 the executioner performs the sentence ; if they are 
 accepted, he reconducts the criminal to the tribunal to 
 receive his pardon." p. 198. It may be proposed to 
 consideration, whether or not there is any reference to 
 this practice in the words of Christ, agree "with thine 
 adversary quickly, while thou art in the xvay with him. 
 Matt. v. 25.
 
 [ 138 ] 
 
 No. 198. — DEUTERONOMY, i. 28. 
 
 The cities arc great, and walled up to heaven. 
 
 T^HE great monastery at Mount Sinai, Thevenot says, 
 (parti, p. 169.) "is well built of good free-stone, 
 with very high smooth walls ; on the east side there is a 
 window, by which those that were within drew up the 
 pilgrims into the monastery, with a basket which they 
 let down by a rope that runs in a pulley." These walls, 
 he observes in the next chapter, are so high that they 
 cannot be scaled, and without cannon that place cannot 
 be taken. Thus it was anciently, and by this represen- 
 tation did the spies discourage the hearts of the people. 
 
 No. 199. — iv. 20. Iron furnace. ~\ It has been ob- 
 served by chemical writers, not only that iron melts 
 slowly even in the most violent fire, but also that it 
 ignites, or becomes red hot, long before it fuses ; and any 
 one may observe the excessive brightness of iron when 
 red or rather white-hot. "Since therefore it requires the 
 strongest fire of all metals to fuse it, there is a peculiar 
 propriety in the expression, a furnace for iron, or an iron 
 furnace, for violent and sharp afflictions. 
 
 No. 200. — vi. 7. And thou shalt teach them diligently 
 unto thy children, and. shalt talk of them when thou sittcrf 
 in thy house.'] Among the Chinese, moral maxims are 
 inculcated by the aged on the younger branches of the 
 family : and plain sentences of morality are hung up in 
 the common hall, where the male branches of the family 
 assemble. This appears to be exactly the same method 
 as was practised by the ancient Hebrews in the time of 
 Moses. See Macartney's Embassy to China,
 
 DEUTERONOMY. 139 
 
 " It was a very ancient practice in China to paint or 
 engrave moral sentences and approved verses on vessels 
 in constant nse. As the words, renew thyself daily, were 
 inscribed on the bason of the Emperor Tang : and the 
 poem of Kien Long, who is now on the throne, in 
 praise of tea, has been published on a set of porcelain 
 cups.' , Sir W. Jones's Works, vol.iv. p. 122. 
 
 No. 201. — vi. 9. 77/o?/ shall write them upon the posts 
 of thy house, and on thy gates.'] Leo of Modena {History 
 of the Jews, p. i. c. 2.) says, that in his time the Jews 
 continued this practice, writing on parchment certain 
 passages of scripture, which they roll up, and inscribe 
 with the name of Shaddai. This they put into a piece 
 of cane, or other hollow wood, and fasten to the doors 
 of their houses, and of each particular room in them ; and 
 as often as they go in and out, they make it a part of 
 their devotion to touch this parchment, and kiss it. 
 According to Huetius {Demonstratio Evangelica, p. 58.) 
 other nations used to write their laws upon their gates. 
 
 No. 202. — vii. 15. The Lord will put none of the 
 evil diseases of Egypt upon thee.'] In that country they 
 were subject to ulcers called iEgyptiaca and Syriaca, as 
 Casaubon observes on Persius, sat. v. p. 467. With 
 these the priests of Isis used to threaten and terrify poor 
 people, if they did not worship her. In opposition to 
 this Spencer (de Legibus Hcb. 1. i. c. 3.) thinks that 
 God made this special promise to his people, to preserve 
 them from all such evil diseases, if they kept themselves 
 pure from idolatry. If the worship of Isis, says Bishop 
 Patrick, were as ancient as the days of Moses, this sup- 
 position is very ingenious. 
 
 No. r 203. — vii. 22. Lest the beasts qf the field increase 
 upon thee.] That wild beasts are at present in that coun~
 
 140 DEUTERONOMY. 
 
 try in considerable numbers, and terrify strangers, appears 
 in that passage of Haynes, where, describing his arrival 
 at Cana of Galilee, he says, (p. 118.) " the approaching 
 to Cana, at the close of day, as we did, is at once terri- 
 fying and dangerous. The surrounding country swarms 
 with wild beasts, such as tigers, leopards, jackals, &c. 
 whose cries and howling, I doubt not, as it did me, would 
 strike the boldest traveller, who had not been frequently 
 in a like situation, with the deepest sense of horror." 
 See also Ezek, xxxiv. 25. Harmer, vol. iv. p. 171. 
 
 No. 204. — xi. 10. And wateredst it with thy foot.'] 
 The custom of watering with the foot, Dr. Shaw, 
 (Travels, p. 408.) thus explains from the present practice 
 of the Egyptians. " When their various sorts of pulse, 
 safranon, musca, melons, sugar-canes, &c. (all which are 
 commonly planted in rills) require to be refreshed, they 
 strike out the plugs that are fixed in the bottoms of the 
 cisterns, (wherein they preserve the water of the Nile) 
 and then the water gushing out is conducted from one 
 rill to another by the gardener, who is always ready, as 
 occasion requires, to stop and divert the torrent, by turn- 
 ing the earth against it with his foot, and opening, at 
 the same time, with his mattock, a new trench to receive 
 it. This method of conveying moisture and nourishment 
 to a land rarely or never refreshed with rain, is often al- 
 luded to in the holy scriptures ; where also it is made the 
 distinguishing quality betwixt Egypt and the land of 
 Canaan. Deut. xi. 10, 11." Mr. Parkhurst (1'Ieb. 
 Lex. p. 756. 3d edit.) is inclined to adopt another inter- 
 pretation of the expression, watering with the foot. He 
 says " it .seems more probable that Moses alluded to 
 drawing up water with a machine which was worked by 
 the foot. Such an one, Grotius long ago observed, that 
 Philo, who lived in Egypt, has described as used by the 
 peasants of that country in his time ; and the ingenious 
 and accurate Niebuhr, in his Voyage en Arabic, torn. i.
 
 DEUTERONOMY. 141 
 
 p. 121., has lately given us a representation of a machine 
 which the Egyptians make use of for watering the lands, 
 and probably the same, says he, that Moses speaks of. 
 They caH it sakki tdir beridsjel, or an hydraulic machine 
 worked by the feet''' 
 
 No. 205. — xii. 31. For even their sotis and their 
 daughters they have burnt in the fa e to their gods.~] This 
 was notoriously practised by the Carthaginians, who, it 
 is certain, derived it from the Phoenicians, the ancient 
 inhabitants of this country. Plato mentions it in Pro- 
 tagora, where he says, " the Athenian laws did not per- 
 mit them to sacrifice men ; but among the Carthaginians 
 it was a holy rite ; so that some of them permitted their 
 sons to be offered to Saturn." This wicked custom at 
 last overspread all nations, even the Greeks themselves. 
 
 No. £06. — rxiii. 8. Neither shalt thou conceal him.'] 
 This law, which requires that relations should both re- 
 veal and punish the wickedness of those who were the 
 nearest in blood to them, though apparently severe, is 
 actually the law of several countries ; where the subjects 
 are commanded, on pain of death, to disclose conspiracies, 
 in which they are not so much as even concerned. In 
 Japan, where the laws subvert every idea of human 
 reason, the crime of concealment is applied even to the 
 most ordinary cases. A certain narrative (Collection of 
 Voyages which contributed to the Establishment of the East 
 India Company, p. 423.) makes mention of two young 
 ladies, who were shut up for life in a box thick set with 
 pointed nails, the one for having had a love intrigue, the 
 other for not disclosing it. 
 
 No. 207. — xvi. 14. Thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, 
 thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, 
 and thy maid-servant. ,] There was a law similar to this 
 enacted at Athens by Cecrops, who ordained, that the
 
 142 DEUTERONOMY. 
 
 master of every family should, after harvest, make a feast 
 for his servants, and eat together with them, who had 
 takei pains together with him in tilling his ground — 
 delectari enim deum honore scrvorum, contemplatu labor is ; 
 for God delighted in the honour done to servants, in con- 
 sideration of their labour. This law, it is probable, he 
 borrowed from Moses, as he reigned much about the 
 same time that Israel came out of Egypt. 
 
 No. 208. — xvii. 18. And it shall be, when he sitteth 
 upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a 
 copy of this law in a book.] Maimonides gives the fol- 
 lowing account of this circumstance. M The king was to 
 write the book of the law for himself, besides the book 
 that was left him by his father : and if his father had left 
 him none, or if that were lost, he was to write him two 
 books of the law, the one he was to keep in his archives ; 
 the other was not to depart from him, unless when he went 
 to his throne, or to the bath, or to a place where reading 
 would be inconvenient. If he went to war, it accom- 
 panied him ; if he sat in judgment, it was to be by him." 
 
 No. 209. — xix. 1 4. Thou shall not remove thy neigh- 
 boui-'s land-marks, which they of old time have set in thine 
 inheritance."] It was the common practice both with the 
 Hebrews and with the Romans, to erect land-marks to 
 distinguish the boundaries of particular estates : and in 
 setting apart land for any use they erected a pillar, upon 
 which was marked its length and breadth. From many 
 ancient inscriptions it is evident that the Romans added 
 the following letters : H. M. H. N. S. Hoc monumen- 
 tum hceredes non sequitur. See Horace, b. i. sat. viii. 12. 
 The heathens had a deity called Jupiter Terminalis, ap- 
 pointed to preside over bounds and land-marks. Numa 
 Pompilius appointed stones to be set as bounds to every 
 man's land, and dedicated them to Jupiter Terminalis.
 
 DEUTERONOMY. 143 
 
 He ordered that those who removed them should be slain 
 as sacrilegious persons, and they and their oxen devoted 
 to destruction. 
 
 No. 210. — xx. 2. And it shall be, when ye are come 
 nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and 
 speak unto the peopled] Maimonides and the Talmudical 
 writers speak much of a sacerdos ad bellum unctus : a 
 priest anointed for war, who they say was anointed with 
 the same oil that the high-priest was, being little inferior 
 to him in dignity, though in the sanctuary he ministered 
 only as a common priest, and wore no other garments 
 than they did. His proper office was to attend the camp 
 in time of war, and encourage the people to the battle. 
 When he had pronounced the words contained in Deut. 
 xx. 3, 4. standing on a high place before the whole army, 
 another priest proclaimed it to all the people with a loud 
 voice. Dr. Jennings {Jewish Antiq. vol. i. p. 207.) does 
 not however seem satisfied with this account, and infers 
 from the silence of scripture on the point, that there really 
 was no such officer. 
 
 No. 211. — xxi. 13. She shall put the raiment of her 
 captivity from off her.~\ It was customary among the 
 ancients for the women, who accompanied their fathers 
 or husbands to battle, to put on their finest dresses and 
 ornaments previous to an engagement, in order to at- 
 tract the notice of the conqueror, if taken prisoners. 
 See Ovid. Remed. Amor. 343. 
 
 No. 212. — xxi. 19. GateS] The gates of cities, in 
 these days, and for many ages after, were the places of 
 judicature and common resort. Here the governors 
 and elders of the city went to hear complaints, admi- 
 nister justice, make conveyances of titles and estates, 
 and, in short, to transact all the public affairs of the
 
 1U DEUTERONOMY. 
 
 place. And from hence is that passage in the Psalmist, 
 They shall not be ashamed token they speak with the 
 enemies in the gate. fPs. exxvii. 5.) It is probable that 
 the room, or hall, where the magistrates sat, was over 
 the gate, because Boaz is said to go up to the gate ; and 
 the reason of having it built there, seems to have been 
 for the conveniency of the inhabitants, who, being all 
 husbandmen, and forced to pass and repass every morn- 
 ing and evening as they went and came from their la- 
 bour, might be more easily called, as they went by, 
 whenever they were wanted to appear in any business. 
 Universal Hist. 1. i. c. 7. 
 
 No. 213. — xxii. 5. T7ie woman shall not wear that 
 which pcrtaineth unto a man, neither shall a man pnt on 
 a woma?i's garment.'] This prohibitory law seems di- 
 rected against an idolatrous usage, which appears to be 
 as ancient as Moses, and which later writers inform us 
 was to be found among several nations in after times ; 
 and that too attended with the most abominable prac- 
 tices. From Plutarch (De hid. et Osir. torn. ii. p. 368. 
 edit. Xylandr.) we learn that the Egyptians called the 
 moon the mother of the world, and assigned to her a 
 nature both male and female : and Boyse ( Pantheon, 
 p. 72.) says of Diana, Luna, or the moon, that the 
 Egyptians worshipped this deity both as male and female, 
 the men sacrificing to it as Luna, the women as Lunus, 
 and each sex on these occasions assuming the dress of the 
 other. Parkhurst's Heb. Lex. p. ] 07. 
 
 Macrobius {Satumal. lib. iii. cap. 8.) says that " there 
 is an image of Venus in Cyprus with a beard, but in a 
 female dress with a sceptre, and the stature of a man, 
 and they think that she is both male and female." " Phi- 
 lochorus also in his At this affirms, that she is the 
 moon, and that ih ■ m n sacrifice to her dressed as women, 
 and the women as men, because she is thought to be both 
 
 i<5
 
 DEUTERONOMY. 145 
 
 male and female" Julius Firmicus, De Errore pro- 
 fanarum Relig. cap. 4. says, " The Assyrians and part 
 of the Africans reckon the air the principal of the ele- 
 ments, and this they worship under an artificial image 
 (imaginatdfguratione) and have consecrated it by the 
 name of Juno or the Virgin Venus, &c." And a little 
 after — " Whom their company of priests cannot duly 
 serve unless they effeminate their countenances, smooth 
 their skins, and disgrace their male sex by female orna- 
 ments. 
 
 No. 214. — xxiv. 20. When thou beatest thine olive 
 tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again, it shall be 
 for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.~\ The 
 sacred writings sometimes represent olives as beaten off 
 the trees , and at other times as shaken. This does not 
 indicate an improvement made in after times on the ori- 
 ginal mode of gathering them, or different methods of 
 procedure by different people in the same age and coun- 
 try, who possessed olive-yards; but rather expresses 
 the difference between gathering the main crop by the 
 owners, and the way in which the poor collected the few 
 olive-berries that were left, and which, by the law of 
 Moses, they were to be permitted to take. The abbot 
 Fortis in his account of Dalmatia (p. 412.) says, that 
 " in the kingdom of Naples, and in several other parts 
 of Italy, they used to beat the branches with long poles, 
 in order to make the fruit fall." Answerably to this, 
 the olives of the Holy Land continue to be beaten down 
 to this time : at least, they were so gathered in the year 
 1774. Harmer, vol. iv. p. 106. 
 
 No. 215. — xxv. 4*. Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when 
 he treadeth out the corn.~\ It is customary in Arabia, 
 and among the Moors in Barbary, to tread out the corn 
 with cattle. The sheaves lie open and expanded on the 
 
 VOL. I. l
 
 116 DEUTERONOMY. 
 
 threshing-floors, and the cattle continually move round 
 them. The natives of Aleppo still religiously observe 
 the ancient practice of permitting the oxen to remain 
 unmuzzled, when they separate the corn from the straw. 
 Shaw's Travels, p. 221. Russell's Nat. Hist, of Aleppo, 
 vol. i. p. 76. 
 
 No. 216. — xxv. 5. If Brethren dwell together, and 
 one of them die and have no child, the wife of the dead 
 shall not marry without unto a stranger : her husband's 
 brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife.'} 
 From this ancient custom the Athenians appear to have 
 had that remarkable law, that no heiress must marry out 
 of her kindred, but shall resign up herself and her for- 
 tune to her nearest relation ; and by the same law the 
 nearest relation was obliged to marry her. Potter's 
 Gr. Ant. vol. i. p. 159. 
 
 Among the modern eastern nations we still meet with 
 the law or custom of marrying the brother's widow. 
 Thus Olearius (Ambassador's Travels into Persia, 
 p. 417. Eng. ed.) informs us concerning the Circassians : 
 ' 6 When a man dies without issue, his brother is obliged 
 to marry the widow, to raise up seed to him." Volney 
 {Voyage en Syrie, torn. ii. p. 74.) observes that "the 
 druzes retain, to a certain degree, the custom of the 
 Hebrews, which directed a man to marry his brother's 
 widow : but this is not peculiar to them, for they have this 
 as well as many other customs of that ancient people, in 
 common with the inhabitants of Syria, and with the 
 Arabians in general." 
 
 Amongst the Arabians, if a father left one or more 
 widows, the sons often married them, provided they 
 were not their own mothers. This usage was suppress- 
 ed by Mohammed ; and before his time it was marked 
 with a degree of detestation. Lord Hailes {Annals of
 
 DEUTERONOMY. 147 
 
 Scotland, p. 39.) informs us, that this custom prevailed 
 in Scotland so late as the eleventh century : and he sup- 
 poses that it might have originated from avarice, in 
 order to relieve the heir from the payment of a jointure. 
 
 No. 217. — xxvi. 14. I have not eaten thereof in my 
 mourning.'] In harvest time the Egyptians offered the 
 first fruits of the earth, and kept the feast of Isis with 
 doleful lamentations. Julius Firmicus, in relating this 
 circumstance, severely reproves their folly, saying, " Cur 
 plangitis fruges terra? &c. Why do you bewail the 
 fruits of the earth ? why weep you at the growth of your 
 seed? &c. You should rather give thanks for these things 
 to the most high God, whose bounty is not to be lament- 
 ed ; but bewail rather your own error." If this custom 
 prevailed in Moses's time, it will easily be perceived why 
 he cautioned the Israelites against it. 
 
 No. 218. — xxvii. 2, 3. Thou shalt set thee up great 
 stones, and plaister them with plaister, and thou shalt 
 Write upon them all the words of this law.] Before the 
 use of paper was found out, the ancients, particularly 
 the Phoenicians and Egyptians, wrote their minds upon 
 stones. This custom continued long after the invention 
 of paper, especially if they desired any thing should be 
 generally known, and be conveyed down to posterity. 
 Patrick, in loc. 
 
 No. 219. — xxviii. 5. Blessed shall be thy Basket and 
 thy store.] Hasselquist informs us, that baskets made of 
 the leaves of the palm-tree are used by the people of the 
 East on jour nies, and in their houses, (p. 261.) Mi\Har- 
 MER, (vol. i. p. 418, note) conjectures that such baskets 
 are referred to in these words, and that the store signifies 
 their leathern bags, in both which they used to carry 
 
 l 2
 
 148 DEUTERONOMY. 
 
 things in travelling. See also Forbes's Oriental Memoirs, 
 vol. iii. p. 66. 
 
 No. 220. — xxviii. 24. The Lord shall make the rain 
 of thy land powder and dust.] An extract from Sir T. 
 Roe's Embassy, p. 373. will greatly illustrate this. 
 " Sometimes there ( in India) the wind blows very high 
 in hot and dry seasons, raising up into the air a very 
 great height, thick clouds of dust and sand. These dry 
 showers most grievously annoy all those among whom 
 they fall ; enough to smite them all with a present blind- 
 ness ; filling their eyes, ears, nostrils, and mouths too, if 
 they be not well guarded ; searching every place, as well 
 within as without, so that there is not a little keyhole 
 of any trunk or cabinet, if it be not covered, but receives 
 some of the dust into it." If this was the judgment 
 threatened, it must have been a calamity much to be 
 deprecated. 
 
 No. 221. — xxix. 23. The whole land thereof is brim- 
 stone, and salt, and burning.'] The effect of salt, where 
 it abounds, on vegetation, is described by burning. 
 Thus Volney, speaking of the borders of the Asphaltic 
 Lake, or Dead Sea, says " the true cause of the absence of 
 vegetables and animals, is the acrid saltness of its waters, 
 which is infinitely greater than that of the sea. The land 
 surrounding the lake being equally impregnated with 
 that saltness, refuses to produce plants ; the air itself, 
 which is ty evaporation loaded with it, and which more- 
 over receives vapours of sulphur and bitumen, cannot 
 suit vegetation ; whence the dead appearance which 
 reigns around the lake." ( Voyage en Syrie, torn. i. p. 282.) 
 Thus also Virgil, Georg. ii. lib. 238. 
 
 Salsa autem tellus, fy qua: perhibctur amara, 
 Frugibus infelix ; ea nee mansuescit arando, 
 Nee Baccho genus, aut pomis sua nomina servat.
 
 DEUTERONOMY. 149 
 
 Salt earth and bitter are not Jit to sow, 
 
 Nor will be tam'd or mended with the plough. 
 
 Sweet grapes degenerate there, and fruits declined 
 
 From their first gen' roiis juice, renounce their hind. Dryden. 
 
 Hence the ancient custom of sowing an enemy's city, 
 when taken, with salt, in token of perpetual deso- 
 lation. Judges, ix. 45. And thus in after times, (An. 
 1162.) the city of Milan was burnt, razed, sown 
 with salt, and ploughed by the exasperated emperor 
 Frederick Barbarossa. Complete Syst. of Geog. vol. i. 
 p. 822. 
 
 No. 222. — xxxi. 19. Put it in their mouthy That 
 is, says Bp. Patrick, that they might sing it, and thereby 
 preserve it in their memory. It was always thought 
 the most profitable way of instructing people, and com- 
 municating things to posterity, to put them into verse. 
 Aristotle (Probl. 28. sec. 19.) says, that people anciently 
 sung their laws, and that the Agathyrsi continued to do 
 so in his days. The laws of Charondas (as Athenceus 
 informs us out of Hermippus) were sung at Athens over 
 a glass of wine, and were therefore written in some sort 
 of verse. Tully also reports, that it was the custom 
 among the old Romans to have the virtues and praises 
 of famous men sung to a pipe at their feasts. This he 
 apprehends they learned from the ancient Pythagoreans 
 in Italy; who were accustomed to deliver verses con- 
 taining those precepts which were the greatest secrets in 
 their philosophy, and composed the minds of the scholars 
 to tranquillity by songs and instruments of music. 
 
 No. 223. — xxxii. 1 3. And oil out of thejlinty roch~] 
 This must mean the procuring of it from the olive-trees 
 growing there. Maundrell, {Journey at March, 25.) 
 speaking of the ancient fertility and cultivation of Judea, 
 
 L 3
 
 150 DEUTERONOMY. 
 
 says, " the most rocky parts of all, which could not well 
 be adjusted for the production of corn, might yet serve 
 for the plantation of vines and olive-trees, which delight 
 to extract, the one its fatness, the other its sprightly 
 juice, chiefly out of such dry and flinty places." Thus 
 Virgil, 
 
 " Difficiles primum terras, collesque nialigni, 
 
 " Tenius ubi argilla, et dumosis calculus arvis 
 
 " Palladia gaudent silva vivacis olivse." Georg. ii. 179, 
 
 No. 224. — xxxii. 40. Tor I lift up my hand unto 
 heaven."] This was an ancient mode of swearing, or 
 taking an oath, Gen. xiv. 22. So when God promised 
 to bring the Israelites into Canaan, he is said to lift up 
 his hand, E.vod. vi. S. Nehem. ix. 15. from hence some 
 think the word promittere is derived, signifying, to engage 
 by stretcliing out the hand ; and that from hence sprang 
 the custom of stretching out and lifting up the hand when 
 they took an oath. Thus also Virgil, 
 
 Suspiciens coeluin, tenditque ad sidera dextram. 
 
 Mn. xii. 196. 
 
 Thus Agamemnon swears in Homer : 
 
 ■ ■ -to cxrv.-Tpov ano-x&z croc* Qsoktw. . //. vii. 412. 
 
 To all the gods his sceptre he uplifts. 
 
 Among the Jews the juror held up his right hand to- 
 wards heaven. See Psalm cxliv. 8. This form is still 
 retained in Scotland. 
 
 An ancient document executed by the king of Malabar 
 begins in this manner. " In the peace of God, the 
 King, which hath made the earth, according to his plea- 
 sure. To this God, I, Airvi Brahmin, have lifted up
 
 DEUTERONOMY. 151 
 
 mine hand, and have granted by this deed, &c." Bu- 
 chanan's Christian Researches, p. 196. 
 
 See Ezek. xx. 5. Gen. xiv. 22. Dan. xii. 7. Rev. 
 x. 5, 6. 
 
 No. 225. — xxxiii. 1 9. And of treasures hid in the 
 sand.'] Scheuchzer, in his Physica Sacra, on the place, 
 refers this to the river Belus, which ran through the 
 tribe of Zabulon, and which, according to Strabo, Pliny, 
 and Tacitus ; was remarkable for furnishing the sand of 
 which they anciently made glass. But it seems much 
 more natural to explain the treasures hid in the sand, of 
 those highly valuable murices and purpuras or purple 
 fish, which were found on the sea-coast near the country 
 of Zabulon and Issachar, and of which those tribes par- 
 took in common with their heathen neighbours of Tyre, 
 who rendered the curious dyes made from those shell- 
 fish so famous among the Romans, by the names of 
 Sarranum Ostrum, Tyrii Colores. See Goguet, Origin 
 of Laws, part ii. b. 2. ch. 2. art. i. vol. ii. p. 95. 
 Edinburgh. 
 
 No. 226. — xxxiv. 8. And the children of Israel wept 
 for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days.] It was 
 usual in the East to mourn for such persons as were ab- 
 sent from home when they died, and were buried at a 
 distance from their relations. Irwin relates, (Travels, 
 p. 254-.) that one of the inhabitants of Ghinnah being 
 murdered in the desert gave birth to a mournful proces- 
 sion of females, which passed through the different streets, 
 and uttered dismal cries for his death. Josephus ex- 
 pressly declares it was a Jewish custom, and says that 
 upon the taking of Jotapata it was reported that he 
 (Josephus) was slain, and that these accounts occasioned 
 very great mourning at Jerusalem. It was after this 
 
 l 4
 
 152 DEUTERONOMY. 
 
 manner that the Israelites lamented the death of Moses. 
 He was absent from them when he died, neither did they 
 carry him to the grave, but they wept for him in the 
 plains of Moab. The mourning for Aaron, who died in 
 mount Hor, might probably be of the same kind. Num- 
 bers, xx. 25—29. Harmer, vol. iii. p. 392.
 
 [ 153 ] 
 
 No. 227. — JOSHUA, v. 15. 
 
 Loose thy shoe from off thy foot. 
 
 THE custom which is here referred to, not only con- 
 stantly prevailed all over the East, from the earliest 
 ages, but continues to this day. To pull off the sandals, 
 or slippers, is used as a mark of respect, on entering a 
 mosque or a temple, or the room of any person of dis- 
 tinction ; in which case they were either laid aside, or 
 given to a servant to bear. Ives {'travels, p. 75.) says, 
 that " at the doors of an Indian Pagoda, are seen as 
 many slippers and sandals as there are hats hanging up 
 in our churches." The same custom prevails amongst 
 the Turks. Maundrell, p. 29. describes exactly the 
 ceremonials of a Turkish visit, on which (though an 
 European and a stranger,) he was obliged to comply with 
 this custom. 
 
 Amongst the Egyptians no man was permitted to enter 
 their idol temples with shoes on his feet, because they 
 were made of the skin of dead beasts, and therefore ac- 
 counted a pollution. 
 
 Mn v xaOa^w ya,% xa9a§s \<Pol'7rltcrQcci pi N a $e/x*tov >?. 
 
 Plato, in Paced, cap. n. 
 
 The Turks, when they are called to public prayers, 
 put off their shoes at the Mosque door, summo cum silen- 
 tio discalceati ad instratum pavimentum accedunt; et, 
 summo silentio oratione peracta resumptisque calceis, 
 discedunt. Maronit de Moribus Oriental, c. 1 2. 
 
 No. 228. — vii. 6. And put dust upon, their heads."] 
 This was an expression of great grief, and of a deep
 
 154 JOSHUA. 
 
 sense of their unworthiness to be relieved. With this 
 view it was a very usual practice with the Jews, 1 Sam. 
 iv. 1 2. 2 Sam, i. 2. ; it was also imitated by the Gentiles, 
 as in the case of the Ninevites, Jo?ia/i, iii. 6. Homer also 
 describes Achilles lamenting the death of Patroelus, by 
 throwing dust upon his head, and lying down in it. 
 {Iliad. % 23, 24.) Thus also Virgil. 
 
 It scissa veste Latinus, 
 
 Conjugis attonitus fatis, urbisque ruina, 
 Canitiem immundo perfusara pulvere turpans. 
 
 JEn. xii, 609. 
 Latinus tears his garments as he goes, 
 Both for his public and his private woes ; 
 With filth his venerable beard besmears, 
 And sordid dust deforms his silver haws. Dryden. 
 
 The Greeks and Trojans had the same custom, as ap- 
 pears from Homer. Thus of Priam bewailing his son 
 Hector ; II. xxiv. lin. 164. 
 
 KOITPOS ew y.i$v,\y) te kou air^Eyt rout yejwvjoj, 
 Ttiv ^a x.v\uc)oy-Evoc xaTa^caro %Efa"»v iriTWy 
 
 With frantic hands he spread 
 
 O/'dirt abundance o'er his neck and head. Pope. 
 
 So Lucian mentions sprinkling dust upon the head as a 
 mourning ceremony among the Greeks in his time, 
 Kui KONI^ em Tr, xe<puXri vraa-a-elon, De Luct. torn. ii. 
 p. 431. 
 
 No. 229. — ix. 4. Wine bottles.'] Chardin informs 
 us that the Arabs, and all those that lead a wandering 
 life, keep their water, milk, and other liquors, in leathern 
 bottles. " They keep in them more fresh than other- 
 wise they would do. These leathern bottles are made 
 of goat skins. When the animal is killed, they cut off 
 its feet and its head, and they draw it in this manner 
 *3
 
 JOSHUA. 155 
 
 out of the skin without opening its belly. They after- 
 wards sew up the places where the legs were cut off, and 
 the tail, and when it is filled they tie it about the neck. 
 These nations, and the country people of Persia never 
 go a journey without a small leathern bottle of water 
 hanging by their side like a scrip. The great leathern 
 bottles are made of the skin of an he goat, and the 
 small ones, that serve instead of a bottle of water on the 
 road are made of a kid's skin." These bottles are 
 frequently rent when old and much used, and are ca- 
 pable of being repaired by being bound up. This they 
 do, Chardin says, " sometimes by setting in a piece ; 
 sometimes by gathering up the wounded place in 
 maimer of a purse ; sometimes they put in a round flat 
 piece of wood, and by that means stop the hole." Maun- 
 drell gives an account exactly similar to the above. 
 Speaking of the Greek convent at Bellmount, near 
 Tripoli, in Syria, he says, " the same person whom we 
 saw officiating at the altar in his embroidered sacerdotal 
 robe, brought us the next day, on his own back, a kid 
 and a goat-skin of wine, as a present from the convent." 
 (Journey, March 12.) These bottles are still used in 
 Spain, and called borrachas. Mr. Bruce gives a de- 
 scription of the girba, which seems to be a vessel of the 
 same kind as those now mentioned, only of dimensions 
 considerably larger. " A girba is an ox's skin, squared, 
 and the edges sewed together very artificially, by a 
 double seam which does not let out water, much re- 
 sembling that upon the best English cricket balls. An 
 opening is left at the top of the girba, in the same man- 
 ner as the bunghole of a cask, around this the skin is 
 gathered to the size of a large handful, which, when the 
 girba is full of water, is tied round with whip-cord. 
 These girbas generally contain about sixty gallons each, 
 and two of them are the load of a camel. They are 
 then all besmeared on the outside with grease, as well
 
 156 JOSHUA. 
 
 to hinder the water from oozing through, as to prevent 
 its being evaporated by the heat of the sun upon the 
 girba, which in fact happened to us twice, so as to put 
 us in imminent danger of perishing with thirst." ( Travels, 
 vol. iv. p. 33±.) Vide Harmer, vol. i. p. 132. 
 
 Homer mentions wine being brought, u<rx.oo sv ouysioo, 
 in a goafs skin. II. iii. 247. Odys. vi. 78. Hero- 
 dotus, ii. 121. 
 
 No. 230. — x. 11. The Lord cast down great stones 
 from heaven.'] Some writers are of opinion that this was 
 hail, larger and more violent than usual ; others maintain 
 that Joshua is to be understood literally of a shower of 
 stones ; such a circumstance, so far from being impos- 
 sible, has several times occurred. The Romans, who 
 looked upon showers of stones as very disastrous, have 
 noticed many instances of them. Under the reign of 
 Tullius Hostillius, when it was known to the people of 
 Rome that a shower of stones had fallen on the mountain 
 of Alba, at first it seemed incredible. They sent out 
 proper persons to inquire into this prodigy, and it was 
 found that stones had fallen after the same manner as a 
 storm of hail driven by the wind. (Tit. Li v. lib. i. 
 decad. i. p. 1 2. Idem, lib. xxv. xxx. xxxiv. xxxv. et alibi 
 passim.) Some time after the battle at Cannes there was 
 seen upon the same mountain of Alba a shower of 
 stones, which continued for two days together. In 1538, 
 near a village in Italy called Tripergola, after some 
 shocks of an earthquake, there was seen a shower of 
 stones and dust, which darkened the air for two days, 
 after which they observed that a mountain had risen up 
 in the midst of the Lucrine Lake. (Montfaucon, Diar, 
 Italic, cap. 21.) 
 
 No. 231. — xvii. 16. Chariots of iron.] This does 
 not intimate that the chariots were made of iron, but
 
 JOSHUA. 157 
 
 that they were armed with it. Such chariots were by 
 the ancients called currus falcati ; and in Greek Ipsnctvo- 
 yvpoti. They had a kind of scythes of about two cubits 
 long fastened to long axle trees on both wheels : these 
 being driven swiftly through a body of men made great 
 slaughter, mowing them down like grass or corn. See 
 Xenophon, Cyro-Paedia, lib. vi. Quintus Curtius, 
 lib. iv. cap. 9. 
 
 No. 232. — xxiv. SO. And they buried him in the bor- 
 der of his inheritance in Tinmafh-Serah.~] This place is 
 in Judges, ii. 9. called Tinmath-hseres, because of the 
 image of the sun engraven on his sepulchre, in memory 
 of that famous day when the sun stood still till he had 
 completed his victory. Chap. x. This is asserted by 
 several of the Jewish authors. (Hottinger, Cippi 
 Hebraici, p. 32. and Smegma Orientate, cap. viii. p. 523.) 
 Memorials alluding to particular transactions in the 
 lives of great men, were frequently made use of to adorn 
 their tombs. Tidly has recorded concerning Archi- 
 medes, that a sphere and a cylinder were put upon his 
 monument. Patrick, in loc. 
 
 No. 233. — xxiv. 30. There is a remarkable addition 
 in the Septuagint to the Sacred History, concerning 
 Joshua, which deserves attention, and naturally engages 
 the mind to enquire whether it was made by the 
 Egyptian translators of the Jewish Scriptures, in con- 
 formity to what they knew was practised in the burials 
 of Egypt, or whether it was on that account expunged 
 by the Jewish critics from the Hebrew original. The 
 Vatican copy of the Septuagint has given us this addi- 
 tion to the account that appears in the Hebrew copies 
 of the interment of Joshua, (ch. xxiv. v. 30.) " These 
 " they put with him, into the sepulchre in which they 
 " buried him, the knives of flint, with which he circum-
 
 158 JOSHUA. 
 
 " cised the children of Israel in Gilgal, when he brought 
 " them out of Egypt, as the Lord commanded them, 
 " and there they are unto this day." On the con- 
 trary, the famous Alexandrine copy of the Septuagint, 
 and some others, have not these clauses. Whether 
 this superadded account is spurious or not, there seems 
 to be a manifest allusion to the manner in which the 
 ancient Egyptians were accustomed to bury their dead. 
 Maillet informs us, " that some time before he wrote, 
 the principal person of Sacara, a village near the plain 
 where the mummies lie buried, caused some of these 
 subterraneous vaults to be opened, and as he was very 
 much my friend, he communicated to me various curio- 
 sities, a great number of mummies, of wooden figures, 
 and inscriptions in hieroglyphical and unknown charac- 
 ters, which were found there. In one of these vaults, 
 they found, for instance, the coffin of an embalmed body 
 of a woman, before which was placed a figure of wood, 
 representing a youth on his knees, laying a finger on 
 his mouth, and holding with his other hand a sort of 
 chafing dish, which was placed on his head, and in 
 which, without doubt, had been some perfumes. This 
 youth had divers hieroglyphical characters on his 
 stomach. They broke this figure in pieces, to see if 
 there was any gold inclosed in it. There was found in 
 the mummy, which was opened in like manner for the 
 same reason, a small vessel about a foot long, filled 
 with the same kind of balsam with that made use of to 
 preserve bodies from corruption; perhaps this might 
 be a mark by which they distinguished those persons 
 who had been employed in embalming the dead." 
 (p. 277.) He goes on ; "I caused another mummy to be 
 opened, which was the body of a female, and which had 
 been given me by the Sieur Bagarry, it was opened 
 in the house of the Capuchin fathers of this city (Grand 
 Cairo). This mummy had its right hand placed upon its
 
 JOSHUA. 159 
 
 stomach, and under this hand were found the strings of 
 a musical instrument, perfectly well preserved. From 
 hence I should conclude, that this was the body of a 
 person that used to play on this instrument, or at least 
 of one that had a great taste for music. I am persuaded 
 that if every mummy were examined with the like care, 
 we should find some sign or other by which the character 
 of the party would be known." The burying of those 
 knives ofjlint with Joshua, must have been done or 
 supposed to have been done, as a mark of an event the 
 most remarkable of his life, in conformity to the Egyptian 
 modes of distinguishing the dead, by tokens of a similar 
 nature. Harmer, vol.iv. p. 398.
 
 [ 160 ] 
 
 No. 234. —JUDGES, i. 14. 
 
 And she alighted from off her ass. 
 
 l^HE alighting of those that ride is considered in the 
 East as an expression of deep respect. Pococke tells 
 us, (Trav. vol. i. p. 35.) that they descend from their 
 asses in Egypt when they come near some tombs there, 
 and that Christians and Jews are obliged to submit to 
 this. Harmer, vol. ii. p. 116. 
 
 No. 235. — iii. 18. When he had made an end to offer 
 the present.'] There is often in the East a great deal of 
 pomp and parade in presenting their gifts. " Through 
 ostentation," says Maillet, (Lett. x. p. 86.) " they never 
 fail to load upon four or five horses what might easily 
 be carried by one. In like manner as to jewels, trinkets, 
 and other things of value, they place in fifteen dishes 
 what a single plate would very well hold." Something 
 of this pomp seems to be referred to in this passage, 
 where we read of making an end of offering the present L , 
 and of a number of people who conveyed it. This re- 
 mark also illustrates 2 Kings, viii. 9. So Hazael went to 
 meet him, and took a present with him, even of every good 
 thing of Damascus, forty camels burden. Harmer, 
 vol. ii. p. 18. 
 
 No. 236. — iii. 1 9. All that stood by him went out from 
 him.] From a circumstance mentioned by Mr. Bruce, 
 it appears that Ehud acted in strict conformity to the 
 customs of the time and place, so that neither the sus- 
 picion of the king nor his attendants should be excited
 
 JUDGES. up 
 
 by his conduct. It was usual for the attendants to retire 
 when secret messages were to be delivered. " I drank 
 a dish of coffee, and told him, that I was a bearer of a 
 confidential message from Ali Bey of Cairo, and wished 
 to deliver it to him without witnesses, whenever he 
 pleased. The room was accordingly cleared without 
 delay, excepting his secretary, who was also going 
 away, when I pulled him back by the clothes, saying, 
 stay, if you please; we shall need you to write the 
 answer," (Travels, vol. i. p. 153.) 
 
 No. 237. — iii. 31. And after him was Shamgar, the 
 son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred 
 men with an ox-goad.~\ Mr. Maundrell {Journey at 
 April, 15.) has an observation which at once explains 
 this transaction, and removes every difficulty from the 
 passage. He says, " the country people were now 
 every where at plough in the fields, in order to sow 
 cotton. It was observable, that in plowing they used 
 goads of an extraordinary size; upon measuring of se- 
 veral, I found them about eight feet long, and at the 
 bigger end six inches in circumference. They were 
 armed at the lesser end with a sharp prickle for driving 
 the oxen, and at the other end with a small spade, or 
 paddle of iron, strong and massy, for cleansing the 
 plough from the clay that encumbers it in working. 
 May we not from hence conjecture, that it was with 
 such a goad as one of these that Shamgar made that 
 prodigious slaughter related of him, Judges, iii. 21. I 
 am confident that whoever should see one of these in- 
 struments, would judge it to be a weapon not less *fk, 
 perhaps fitter, than a sword for such an execution. 
 Goads of this sort I saw always used hereabouts, and 
 also in Syria ; and the reason is, because the same single 
 person both drives the oxen, and also holds and ma- 
 nages the plough ; which makes it necessary to use such 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 162 JUDGES. 
 
 a goad as is above described, to avoid the incumbrance 
 of two instruments." 
 
 From Homer, (IL vi. lin. 130, &c.) it should seem 
 that the ox-goads used in his time and country were of a 
 similar kind ; since he there describes the votaries of 
 Bacchus as pursued and slain by Lycurgus with an ox- 
 goad? Seivopevui /3«7rA>jyj. 
 
 No. 238. — iv. 17 — 20.] Pococke, giving an account 
 of the maminer in which he was treated in an Arab tent, 
 in his journey to Jerusalem, says, his conductor led 
 him two or three miles to his tent, and that there he sat 
 with his wife and others round a fire. " The Arabs 
 are not so scrupulous as the Turks about their women, 
 and though they have their harem, or women's part of 
 the tent, yet such as they are acquainted with come into 
 it. I was kept in the harem for greater security; the 
 wife being always with me, no stranger ever daring to 
 come into the women's apartment, unless introduced." 
 Vol. ii. p. 5. Nothing can be a better comment on this 
 passage than this story. 
 
 No. 239. — iv. 19. And she opened a bottle of ?nilk 9 
 and gave him drink."] Jael certainly shewed her regard 
 to Israel by destroying Sisera, but it is as certain that 
 she did not do it in the most honourable manner — 
 there was treachery in it : perhaps in the estimation of 
 those people, the greatest treachery. Among the later 
 Arabs, giving a person drink has been thought to be the 
 strongest assurance of their receiving him under their 
 protection. When Guy de Lusignan, king of Jerusalem, 
 was taken prisoner, and was conducted before Saladin, 
 he demanded drink, and they gave him fresh water, 
 which he drank in Saladin's presence : but when one of 
 his lords would have done the same, Saladin would not 
 luffer % because he did not intend to spare his life ; on 
 
 16
 
 JUDGES. 163 
 
 the contrary, advancing to him, after some expostula- 
 tions, he cut off his head. D'Herbelot, p. 371. Har- 
 mer, vol. ii. p. 469. 
 
 No. 240.— -iv. 21. A nail of the tent.] Shaw, de- 
 scribing the tents of the Bedoween Arabs, (p. 221. 4 to.) 
 says, " these tents are kept firm and steady, by bracing 
 or stretching down their eves with cords tied down to 
 hooked wooden pins well pointed, which they drive into 
 the ground with a mallet ; one of these pins answering 
 to the nail, as the mallet does to the hammer, which 
 Jael used in fastening to the ground the temples of 
 Sisera." See Exod. xxvii. 1 9. xxxv. 18. Judges, v. 26. 
 
 No. 241. — v. 6. In the days of Shamgar, the son of 
 Anath, the highways were unoccupied,, and the travellers, 
 walked through by-ways.'] Though there are roads in 
 the eastern countries, it is very easy to turn out of them, 
 and to go to a place by winding about over the lands 
 when that is thought safer. Shaw took notice of this 
 circumstance in Barbary, where, he says, they found no 
 hedges, or mounds, or inclosures, to retard or molest 
 them. (Travels, Pref. p. 14.) To this Deborah doubtless 
 refers, when she says, In the days of Shamgar, the son of 
 Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied^ 
 and the travellers walked through by-ways. The account 
 Pococke gives of the manner in which the Arab, under 
 whose care he had put himself, conducted him to Jeru- 
 salem, greatly illustrates this circumstance; he says s 
 " It was by night, and not by the high road, but through 
 the fields ; and I observed that he avoided as much as he 
 could going near any village or encampment, and some- 
 times stood still, as I thought, to hearken." Just in that 
 manner people were obliged to travel in Judea in the 
 days of Shamgar and Jael. Harmer, vol. i. p. 452. 
 
 M 2
 
 16* JUDGES. 
 
 No. 24-2. — v. 10. Ye that ride on white asses."] In 
 this song Deborah expressly addresses herself to those 
 who sit in judgment, whom she describes as riding upon 
 white asses. Officers of justice, it seems, form a part 
 of the procession, and they are going up to the high 
 place, as usual, for the purpose of holding their amiual 
 judgment. They ride on asses, which appear to be 
 white from the garments which have been spread over 
 them for the accommodation of their riders ; none but 
 white garments being worn by the Hebrews during 
 their public festivals and days of rejoicing. When 
 Alexander the Great came to Jerusalem, we are informed 
 by Josephus, [Ant. 1. xi. c. 8.) that he was met by the 
 people in white raiment, the priests going before them. 
 Philo also, in his book irspi agsTu>v, describing the public 
 rejoicings in Europe and Asia, speaks of sacrifices, men 
 jdressed in white and garlands, solemn assemblies, and 
 nightly feasts, with pipe and harp. It was customary 
 to throw the white garments thus worn over animals 
 that carried persons of distinction. Hurdis's Diss, p. 62. 
 Dr. Gill seems rather to favour the idea, that they were 
 really white asses, and not such as were made to appear 
 so from having white garments thrown over them. He 
 observes that a traveller in those parts (Cartwright) 
 tells us, that on the banks of the Euphrates they had 
 beheld every day great droves of wild beasts, as wild 
 asses, $£♦ all white. 
 
 No. 243. — v. 11. They that are delivered from tlie 
 noise of archers in the places of drawing water. ~\ Shaw 
 mentions (Trav. p. 20.) a beautiful rill in Barbary, 
 which is received into a large bason called shrub we 
 krub (drink and away), there being great danger of meet- 
 ing there with rogues and assassins. If such places be 
 proper for the lurking of murderers in times of peace, 
 they must be suitable to lie in ambush in times of war;
 
 JUDGES. 165 
 
 a circumstance that Deborah takes notice of in her song. 
 Harmer, vol. ii. p. 235. 
 
 No. 244. — v, 25. Butter.'] D'Arvieux informs us 
 (Voy. dans la Pal. p. 200.) that the Arabs make butter 
 by churning in a leathern bottle. Hence Jael is said to 
 have opened a bottle of milk for Sisera, Judges, iv. 1 9. 
 Mr. Harmer (vol. i. p. 281.) supposes that she had just 
 been churning, and pouring out the contents of her bottle 
 into one of the best bowls or dishes she had, presented 
 this butter-milk to him to quench his thirst. 
 
 No. 245. — v. 30. Have they not divided the prey — 
 to Sisera a prey of divers colours, a prey of divers colours 
 of needle-work, of divers colours of needle-work on both 
 sides.~\ These were the richest part of the spoil, being 
 highly esteemed by all people. Pliny (lib. viii. cap. 48.) 
 mentions a great variety of them, both in his own and in 
 ancient times ; for he takes notice that Homer speaks of 
 painted garments, pictas vestcs, which shone with flowers 
 and trees in beautiful colours. The Phrygians after- 
 wards wrought these with needles, and Attains invented 
 the interweaving of gold into them. But, for these gar- 
 ments, Babylon was above all places famous ; from whence 
 they had the name of Babylonish garments, and were 
 much valued, Josh. vii. 21. In later ages Peter Martyr 
 observes that they were so esteemed, that only the greater 
 sort of persons were allowed to wear them ; which may 
 be the reason that they are here appropriated to Sisera 
 as his part of the spoil. 
 
 It appears from Homer, //. vi. lin. 289, &c. that the 
 women of Sidon were famous for such kind of variegated 
 works before the Trojan war. And in //. iii. lin. 1 25, &c. 
 i7. xxii. lin. 441. we find Helen and Andromache em- 
 ployed on such at their looms. 
 
 Those elegant productions called Palampores, which 
 M 3
 
 166 JUDGES, 
 
 abound in all parts of the East, were of very remote an- 
 tiquity. Not only are finely flowered linens noticed by 
 Strabo, but Herodotus relates that the nations of Cau- 
 casus adorned their garments with figures of various 
 creatures, by means of the sap of certain vegetables, 
 which, when macerated and diluted with water, com- 
 municated colours that cannot be washed out, .and are 
 no less permanent than the texture itself. The Arabian 
 Tales repeatedly describe those " fine linens of India, 
 painted in the most lively colours, and representing beasts, 
 trees, flowers, &c." Arab. Nights, vol.iv. p. 2 17, &c. 
 
 No. 246. — vi. 1 9. And Gideon went in, and made 
 ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah o/Jtour : 
 thefiesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, 
 and. brought it out to him under the oak, and presented itJ] 
 " There is a passage in Dr. Shaw, that affords a perfect 
 commentary on this text. It is in his preface, p. 12. 
 4 Besides a bowl of milk, and a basket of figs, raisins, 
 or dates, which upon our arrival were presented to us to 
 stay our appetites, the master of the tent where we lodged 
 fetched us from his flock, according to the number of 
 our company, a kid or a goat, a lamb or a sheep ; half of 
 which was immediately seethed by his wife, and served 
 up with cuscasooe : the rest was made kab-ab, i. e. cut 
 into pieces and roasted; which we reserved for our 
 breakfast or dinner next day.' " 
 
 " May we not imagine that Gideon, presenting some 
 slight refreshment to the supposed prophet, according to 
 the present Arab mode, desired him to stay till he could 
 provide something more substantial for him; that he 
 immediately killed a kid, seethed part of it, made kab-ab 
 of another part of it, and when it was ready, brought out 
 the stewed meat in a pot, with unleavened cakes of bread 
 which he had baked ; and the kab-ab in a basket for his 
 carrying away with him, and serving him for some after
 
 JUDGES. 167 
 
 repast in his journey ? Nothing could be more conve- 
 nient for the carriage of the reserved meat than a light 
 basket, and Thevenot informs us, that he carried his 
 ready dressed meat with him in a maund." Harmer, 
 vol.i. p. 330. 
 
 No. 347. — vi. 38. And it was so; for he rose up early 
 on the morrow, and thrust the Jleece together, and wrung 
 the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water. ,] It may 
 seem a little improbable to us who inhabit these northern 
 climates, where the dews are inconsiderable, how Gi- 
 deon's fleece, in one night, should contract such a quan- 
 tity, that when he came to wring it a bowl full of water 
 was produced. Irwin, in his voyage up the Red Sea, 
 when on the Arabian shores, says, " difficult as we find 
 it to keep ourselves cool in the day time, it is no easy 
 matter to defend our bodies from the damps of the 
 night, when the wind is loaded with the heaviest dews 
 that ever fell ; we lie exposed to the whole weight of the 
 dews, and the cloaks in which we wrap ourselves, are as 
 wet in the morning as if they had been immersed in the 
 sea." p. 87. 
 
 No. 248. — vii. 13. Arid when Gideon was come."] 
 Gideon, raised up by God himself, and made general of 
 the army of Israel, yet goes as a spy into the camp of 
 Midian. To this conduct there was not formerly any 
 reproach attached, as it was esteemed honourable to go 
 on such expeditions by night, or to perform those offices 
 which are now the task of the common soldiers only. 
 Homer (//. b. x.) represents Tydides as thus answering 
 a command to penetrate the Trojan camp : 
 
 The man you seek is here : 
 
 Through yon black camps to bend my dangerous way 
 
 Some god within commands, and I obey, Pops, V< 2<>0, 
 
 M 4?
 
 168 JUDGES. 
 
 No. 249. — vii. 16. He put a trumpet in every man's 
 hand, with empty pitchers.^ Though leathern bottles 
 wort' much used by the people of the East, earthen jars 
 or pitchers were sometimes used also. Dr. Chandler 
 (Trav. in Asia Minor, p. 25.) tells us, that " the vessel 
 in which their water was to be carried was an earthen 
 jar, which not only served them in the wherry in which 
 they coasted some of the nearer parts of Asia Minor, but 
 was carried upon the ass of a poor peasant, along with 
 other luggage, when they made an excursion from the 
 sea- side up into the country to visit the great ruin at 
 Troas." If this were the practice in Gideon's time, it 
 could not be difficult for him to collect three hundred 
 water jars from among ten thousand men. Harmer, 
 vol. hi. p. 258. 
 
 No. 250. — vii. 21, 22. And they stood every man in 
 his place round about the camp : and all the host ran, and 
 cried, and jled : and the three hundred men blew the 
 trumpets, and the Lord set every man's sword against his 
 Jellow.2 A modern piece of Arab history very much 
 illustrates the defeat of the Midianites by Gideon, and 
 at the same time points out wherein the extraordinary 
 interposition of God appeared. It relates to a contest 
 between two chiefs for the imamship of Oman ; and the 
 substance of it is, that one of them, whose name was 
 Achmad, finding himself at first too weak to venture a 
 battle, threw himself, with a few soldiers, into a little 
 fortress built on a mountain, where he had deposited his 
 treasures. Bel Arrab, his rival, at the head of four or 
 five thousand men, invested the place, and would have 
 forced the new imam to surrender, had he not quitted 
 the fortress, with two of his domestics, all three dis- 
 guised like poor Arabs, who were looking out for grass 
 for their camels. Achmed withdrew to a town a good 
 day's journey from the besieged fortress, where he was
 
 JUDGES. 169 
 
 much beloved ; he found no difficulty in gathering toge- 
 ther some hundreds of them, with which he marched 
 against his enemy. Bel Arrab had placed his camp be- 
 tween some high mountains near the above mentioned 
 fortress. Achmed ordered a coloured string to be tied 
 round the heads of his soldiers, that they might be dis- 
 tinguished from their enemies. He then sent several 
 small detachments to seize the passes of those mountains. 
 He gave each detachment an Arab trumpet to sound an 
 alarm on all sides, as soon as the principal party should 
 give the signal. Measures being thus laid, the imam's 
 son gave the signal at day-break, and the trumpets 
 sounded on every side. The whole army of Bel Arrab 
 being thrown into a panic at finding all the passes 
 guarded, and judging the number of the enemy to be 
 proportionate to the noise that was made, was routed. 
 Bel Arrab himself marched with a party to the place 
 where the son of the new imam was keeping guard ; he 
 knew Bel Arrab, fell upon him, killed him, and, ac- 
 cording to the custom of the Arabs, cut off his head, 
 which he carried in triumph to his father. Niebuhr, 
 Trav. p. 263. Harmer. vol. iv. p. 237. 
 
 No. 251. — viii. 20. And hesaidwito Jether his first- 
 born^ up and slay them.~] In these ages it would be 
 ' thought barbarous for a king to command his son to 
 perform an execution, like that mentioned in this pas- 
 sage: but anciently it was thought no dishonour. Homer 
 (Odyss. b. xxii.) represents Ulysses as enjoining such a 
 task upon his son, which was instantly performed. See 
 also Virgil, JEn. xi. 15. 
 
 No. 252. — viii. 26. The chains that were about their 
 camels necks."] These chains were probably like those 
 which Pococke saw in Egypt, hanging from the bridles 
 of theagas of the seven military bodies of that country,
 
 170 JUDGES. 
 
 to the breast-plates of the animals on which they rode, 
 in the grand procession of the caravan, about setting out 
 for Mecca. They were undoubtedly marks of distinction 
 and grandeur. Harmer, vol. ii. p. 1 34. 
 
 No. 253. — viii. 26. . And purple raiment that was on 
 the kings of Midian.~] Purple seems anciently to have 
 been appropriated to kings, and to them only on whom 
 they bestowed it. It is here mentioned by the sacred his- 
 torian as being found on the Midianitish kings. A gar- 
 ment of fine linen and purple is given to a favourite by 
 king Ahasuerus, Esther, viii. 15. The Jews made a 
 decree that Simon should wear purple and gold, and that 
 none of the people should wear purple, or a buckle of 
 gold, without his permission, in token that he was the 
 chief magistrate of the Jews, 1 Maccab. 43. Thus also 
 Homer describes a king : 
 
 In ample mode 
 A robe of military purple flow* d 
 (Per all his frame : illustrious on his breast , 
 The double clasp)ing gold the king confessed. 
 
 Odyss. xix. 261. Pope. 
 
 No. 254. ■ — ix. 13. Wine, which cheer eth God and 
 man."] This form of speech, however singular it may 
 appear to us, is perfectly justifiable, as connected with 
 the Jewish sacrifices, and as used in common both by 
 them and by the Gentiles. Wine, as the Jewish doctors 
 assert, was not only used in their sacrifices, but till the 
 drink-offering was poured out they did not begin the 
 hymn that was then sung to God. Virgil, speaking of 
 noble vines, or wines, says, they were 
 
 Mensiset diis accepta secundis, Georg. lib. ii. 101. 
 
 grateful to the gods and second courses : that is, they were 
 so excellent as to be fit to be used for libations which were 
 made at the second course.
 
 JUDGES. 171 
 
 No. 255. — ix. 27. Trod the grapes.'] In the east they 
 still tread their grapes after the ancient manner. " Au- 
 gust 20, 1 765, the vintage (near Smyrna) was now be- 
 gun, the juice (of the grapes) was expressed for wine ; a 
 man, with his feet and legs bare, was treading the fruit in 
 a kind of cistern, with a 'hole or vent near the bottom, 
 and a vessel beneath to receive the liquor." Chandler, 
 Travels in Greece, p. 2. 
 
 No. 256. — ix. 51. But there was a strong tower 
 within the city, and thither Jled all the men and women, 
 and all they of the city, and shut it to them.'] Besides for- 
 tified towns and cities, we find that in the time of the 
 croisades they had towers for the people of open towns 
 to fly to in time of danger. Thus in the reign of 
 Baldwin the Second, when the strength of the kingdom 
 was collected together to the siege of Tyre, the people of 
 Ashkalon suddenly invaded the country about Jerusalem, 
 and put to the sword the greatest part of the inhabitants 
 of a town called Mahomeria, five or six miles from Je- 
 rusalem. But the old men, the women, and the chil- 
 dren, betaking themselves to a tower, escaped. (Gesta 
 Dei per Francos, p. 840.) Towers of this sort appear 
 to have been in use in very early times. Harmer, vol. ii. 
 p. 239. 
 
 No. 257. — xi. 30. And Jephthah vowed a vow unto 
 the Lord.] Though he did not doubt, yet he supposed 
 that he should be more certain of the victory, if he 
 made a religious vow beforehand of being grateful to 
 God for it. In this he acted conformably to the ge- 
 neral practice of great warriors in all ages. Livy fre- 
 quently mentions it as the custom of the Roman gene- 
 rals, who used to vow to Jupiter or Apollo part of the 
 spoil they should take in war, or to build temples to 
 their honour. Thus the Israelites, when Arad came
 
 172 JUDGES. 
 
 against them as they were going to Canaan, made a vow 
 respecting his country, if God would deliver it into their 
 hands, Numbers, xxi. 2. 
 
 No. 258. — xii. 6. Then said they unto him, say now 
 « Shibboleth :" and he said, " Sibboieth"'] In Arabia 
 the difference of pronunciation by persons of various 
 districts is much greater than in most other places, and 
 such as easily accounts for the circumstance mentioned 
 in this passage. Niebuhr (Trav. p. 72.) relates some- 
 thing similar to it. " The king of the Hamjares, at 
 Dhafar, said to an Arab, a stranger, Theb, meaning to 
 say, Sit down : but as the same word in the dialect of 
 the stranger signified leap, he leaped from a high place, 
 and hurt himself: when this mistake was explained to 
 the king, he said, Let the Arab who comes to Dhafar 
 first learn the Hamjare dialect." He further says, 
 u not only do they speak quite differently in the moun- 
 tains of the small district, which is governed by the 
 imam of Yemen, from what they do in the flat country ; 
 but persons of superior rank have a different pronun- 
 ciation, and different names for things from those of 
 the peasants. The pronunciation of certain letters 
 also differs. Those which the Arabs of the north and 
 west pronounce as K or Q, at Maskat are pronounced 
 tsch ; so that buklcra kiab is by some called butscher 
 tschiab." 
 
 No. 259. — xiv. 10. And Samson made a feast there, 
 for so used the young men to do.~] This was according 
 to the custom of all countries; it was called by the 
 Jews the nuptial joy. No other feast was to be inter- 
 mixed with it, and all labour ceased as long as it lasted. 
 Selden, Uxor. Hebr. lib. ii. cap. 11. p. 1 72. 
 
 No. 260. — xiv. 1 2. And Samson said unto them 9 I 
 will now put forth a riddle unto you,"} This shews how 

 
 JUDGES. 173 
 
 ancient the custom was, (which we find afterwards 
 amongst the Greeks) of proposing questions to be re- 
 solved in their compotations and feasts, that they 
 might not be spent merely in eating and drinking, but 
 that there might be something to exercise their wit and 
 ingenuity. Such riddles as were contrived to puzzle 
 and perplex were called by the name of yqi$o<;>> which 
 the scholiast upon Aristophanes defines to be a ques- 
 tion put among their cups. See Bo chart, Hieroz. lib. 
 iv. cap. 12. It should also be observed, that they in- 
 curred a forfeiture equal to the reward, if they failed 
 altogether in their answers. 
 
 It was customary at Athens to impose a certain 
 penalty on those who could not give the solution of an 
 aenigma ; they were obliged to drink up a goblet of wine. 
 The ancients considered the art of expounding aenigmas 
 as a proof of having received a liberal education. They 
 were generally introduced as a part of the entertain- 
 ment, the reward was what an ingenuous mind would 
 have blushed to have received ; the penalty for not solv- 
 ing them was a goblet of wine, Athen^us, (b. x. 
 c. 12.) These rewards and penalties refer to questions 
 and riddles of a less honorable nature. There were 
 others introduced only among men of science, involving 
 some subtleties of philosophy or grammar. The reward 
 in such a case was a garland. They who did not solve 
 them were compelled to drink a goblet of wine mixed 
 with salt. A fragment of Antijphanes says that the cul- 
 prit in these cases was compelled to drink his salt and 
 water without taking breath, and with his hands tied 
 behind him. 
 
 No. 261. — xiv. 12. I will give you thirty sheets 
 and thirty change of garments,'] Among the Greeks 
 it was usual for the bride to give changes of dress to 
 the friends of the bridegroom at the celebration of the
 
 174 JUDGES. 
 
 marriage. Homer represents Pallas as appearing to 
 Nausicaa in a dream, and commanding her to descend 
 to the river, and wash the robes of state, preparatory to 
 her nuptials. 
 
 Oh, indolent, to ivaste thy hours away ! 
 
 And sleep 'st thou, careless of the bridal day ? 
 
 Thy spousal ornament neglected lies : 
 
 Arise, prepare the bridal train, arise. Odyss. vi. 29. Pope. 
 
 Dacier is of opinion that the custom now alluded to 
 prevailed amongst the Israelites;, and that the proposi- 
 tion made by Samson is grounded upon it. From this 
 sentiment Mr. Pope dissents : " I am rather of opinion," 
 he says, " that what is said of Samson has relation to 
 another custom amongst the ancients, of proposing 
 an aenigma at festivals, and adjudging a reward to 
 him that solved it. These the Greeks called ygip»s 
 
 0-UjU,7TOTfX8$." 
 
 No. 262. — xv. 5. And when he had set the brands 
 onjire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Phi- 
 listines.^ " There is reason to think that there was 
 nothing new or uncommon in this operation, as it was 
 most obvious for the end proposed that the wit of man 
 could devise. We accordingly find that Ovid alludes 
 to the practice, and mentions that foxes and firebrands 
 were every year exhibited at Rome, and killed in the 
 Circus. For it was the custom in many places to sacri- 
 fice by way of retaliation every animal, whether goat 
 or swine, which did particular injury to the fruits of 
 the earth. In consequence of this they introduced these 
 foxes, which had been employed for that purpose with 
 fire-brands. 
 
 Cur igitur missae vinctis ardentia tsedis 
 Terga ferant vulpes causa docenda mihi.
 
 JUDGES. 175 
 
 He then mentions an instance of much injury done by 
 a fox so accoutred by fire. 
 
 Qua fugit incendit vestitos messibus agros, 
 Damnosis vires ignibus aura dabat. 
 
 On this account the whole race, according to the poet 5 
 were condemned, at the festival called Cerealia, to be in 
 their turns set on fire. 
 
 Utque luat poenas gens hsec, Cerealibus ardet, 
 Quoque modo segetes perdidit ipsa perit. 
 
 Fast. lib. iv. 681. 707, 
 
 It is alluded to proverbially more than once by Lyco- 
 phron, and seems to have been well known in Greece. 
 He makes Cassandra represent Ulysses as a man both 
 of cunning and mischief, and styles him very pro- 
 perly Xapirovp^, a fox with a fire-brand at his tail ; for 
 wherever he went, mischief followed, v. 344. Suidas 
 also takes notice of this custom, when he speaks of a 
 kind of beetle which the Boeotians named Tipha. 
 They imagined that if to this they were to fasten some 
 inflammable matter, it would be easy to set any thing 
 on fire. He adds, that this was sometimes practised 
 with foxes." Bryant's Observations, p. 154. 
 
 The caliph Vathek being under the necessity, when 
 on his travels, of lighting torches, and making extra- 
 ordinary fires to protect himself and his attendants from 
 the fury of the wild beasts that were ready to make an 
 attack on them, set fire to a forest of cedar that bor- 
 dered on their way. Accidents of this kind in Persia 
 are not unfrequent. Hist of Caliph Vatkek, p. 250. 
 " It was an ancient custom with the kings and great men 
 to set fire to large bunches of dry combustibles, fas- 
 tened round wild beasts and birds ; which being then let 
 loose, the air and earth appeared one great illumination : 
 and as those terrified creatures naturally fled to the
 
 176 JUDGES. 
 
 woods for shelter, it is easy to conceive that conflagra- 
 tions would often happen, which must have been pecu- 
 liarly destructive." Richardson's Dissert, p. 185. 
 This circumstance reminds us of the destruction occa- 
 sioned among the standing corn, the vineyards, and 
 olives of the Philistines. In Psalm lxxxiii. 14. there is 
 a reference to one of these fires, though arising from 
 another cause. See also Homer, //. ii. 455. 
 
 No. 263. — xv. 8. And he smote them hip and thigh 
 "with a great slaughter."] Setting aside the various in- 
 terpretations which have been given of this expression 
 the Editor of Calmet's Dictionary proposes to illustrate 
 it by the following extract: " It appears probable 
 from the following circumstances, that the exercise of 
 wrestling, as it is now performed by the Turks, is the 
 very same that was anciently used in the Olympic 
 games. For, besides the previous covering of the 
 palaestra with sand, that the combatants might fall with 
 more safety, they have their pellowan bashee, or master 
 wrestler; who, like the aywvoflsnjj of old, is to observe 
 and superintend the jura palaestrae, and to be the 
 umpire in all disputes. The combatants, after they are 
 anointed all over with oil, to render their naked bodies 
 the more slippery and less easily to be taken hold of, 
 first of all look one another stedfastly in the face, as 
 Diomede or Ulysses does the palladium upon antique 
 gems. Then they run up to and retire from each other 
 several times, using all the while a variety of antic and 
 other postures, such as are commonly used in the 
 course of the ensuing conflict: after this prelude they 
 draw nearer together, and challenge each other, by 
 clapping the palms of their hands first upon their own 
 knees or thighs, then upon each other, and afterwards 
 upon the palms of their respective antagonists. The 
 challenge being thus given, they immediately close in
 
 JUDGES. 177 
 
 and struggle with each other, striving with all their 
 strength, art, and dexterity, (which are often very ex- 
 traordinary,) which shall give his antagonist a fall, and 
 become the conqueror. During these contests I have 
 often seen their arms, legs, and thighs so twisted and 
 linked together, that they have both fallen together, 
 and left the victory dubious, too difficult sometimes 
 for the pellowan bashee to decide." Shaw's 2 travels, 
 p. 217. 
 
 Do not these well deserve the description of leg and 
 thigh men, or shoulder and thigh men? The name 
 seems to be taken from their very attitudes, and cor- 
 rectly to express them. If this idea be achnitted, it 
 cannot be difficult to understand the above cited ex- 
 pression. 
 
 No. 264. — xv. 8. And he went dawn, and dwelt in 
 the top of the rock Etarru] It appears that rocks are 
 still resorted to as places of security, and are even 
 capable of sustaining a siege. So we read in De la 
 Roque, (p. 205.) " The grand signor, wishing to seize 
 the person of the emir, gave orders to the pacha to take 
 him prisoner : he accordingly came in search of him, 
 with a new army, in the district of Chouf, which is a 
 part of mount Lebanon, wherein is the village of Gesin, 
 and close to it the rock which served for retreat to the 
 emir. The pacha pressed the emir so closely, that this 
 unfortunate prince was obliged to shut himself up in 
 the cleft of a great rock, with a small number of his 
 officers. The pacha besieged him here several months, 
 and was going to blow up the rock by a mine, when the 
 emir capitulated." 
 
 No. 265. — xvi. 17. He told her all his heart, and 
 said unto her, There hath not come a razen* upon my head."] 
 Pliny {Nat. Hist lib. xii. cap. 20.) has preserved the 
 
 vol. I. N
 
 178 JUDGES. 
 
 memory of several men remarkable for their great 
 strength. The heathens were so well acquainted with 
 the circumstances of Samson's history, that from it they 
 formed the fable of Nisus the king of Megara, upon 
 whose hair the fortune of his kingdom depended. 
 Patrick, in loc. 
 
 No. 266. — xvi. 19. And she made him sleep upon 
 her knees.~] Samson is here described as sleeping upon 
 the lap of Delilah ; for so the phrase of sleeping upon 
 her hiees evidently supposes. Her posture, while sitting 
 on the cushion upon her duan, implies this very attitude 
 of the unwary champion. So Braithwaite {Journey to 
 Morocco, p. 123.) mentions a favourite court lady, in 
 whose lap the emperor constantly slept when drunk. If 
 this custom were an usual one between intimates, as im- 
 plying a kind of gallantry, we see how Delilah might 
 thus engage Samson, without exciting in him the least 
 suspicion of her insidious purpose. Fragments by the 
 Editor of Calmefs Diet. No. 198. 
 
 No. 267. — xvi. 27. Novo the house was full of men 
 and women.'] Some persons have asserted that no 
 building sufficiently capacious to receive so great a 
 number of people could be constructed, so as to rest 
 chiefly upon two pillars. But this is a mistake; for 
 Pliny (Nat. Hist. lib. xxxv. cap. 15.) mentions two 
 theatres built by C. Curio, (who was killed in the civil 
 wars on Caesar's side,) which were made of wood, and so 
 extensive as (according to his mode of writing) to hold 
 all the Roman people. They were contrived with such 
 art, that each of them depended upon one hinge. This 
 caused Pliny to censure the madness of the people, who 
 would venture into a place for their pleasure, where they 
 sat tarn bifida instabilique sede, on such an uncertain 
 and unstable seat : for if that hinge had given way, there
 
 JUDGES. 179 
 
 iad been a greater slaughter than at the battle of Cannae, 
 rhis entirely removes any imaginary difficulty, of this 
 lature at least, from the history of Samson. The 
 entiments of Sir Christopher Wren on this subject will 
 loubtless be considered as important. " In considering 
 vhat this fabric must be, that could at one pull be 
 lemolished, I conceive it was an oval amphitheatre, the 
 icene in the middle, where a vast roof of cedar beams 
 •esting round upon the walls centered all upon one 
 short architrave, that united two cedar pillars in the 
 niddle. The pillar would not be sufficient to unite the 
 ends of at least one hundred beams, that tended to the 
 centre ; therefore I say there must be a short architrave 
 resting upon two pillars, upon which all the beams 
 tending to the centre of the amphitheatre might be 
 supported. Now if Samson by his miraculous strength 
 pressing upon one of these pillars moved it from its 
 basis, the whole roof must of necessity fall." Parentalia^ 
 p. 359. 
 
 No. 268. — xvi. 27. There were upon the roof about 
 three thousand men and women.'] " The Eastern method 
 of building may assist us in accounting for the particular 
 structure of the temple or house of Dagon (Judges, xvi.) 
 and the great number of people that were buried in the 
 ruins of it, by pulling down the two principal pillars. We 
 read (v. 27.) that about three thousand persons xvere upon 
 the roof to behold while Samson made sport. Samson 
 must therefore have been in a court or area below them, 
 and consequently the temple will be of the same kind 
 with the ancient TSjaev>), or sacred inclosures. surrounded 
 only in part or altogether with some plain or cloistered 
 buildings. Several palaces and diia-wdnas, as they call 
 the courts of justice in these countries, are built in this 
 fashion ; where upon their festivals and rejoicings a great 
 quantity of sand is strewed upon the area for the wrestlers 
 
 N 2
 
 180 JUDGES. 
 
 to fall upon, whilst the roof of the cloisters round about 
 is crowded with spectators of their strength and agility. 
 I have often seen several hundreds of people diverted in 
 this manner upon the roof of the dey's palace at Algiers ; 
 which, like many more of the same quality and deno- 
 mination, hath an advanced cloister over against the 
 gate of the palace, (Esther, v. 1.) made in the fashion of 
 a large pent-house, supported only by one or two con- 
 tiguous pillars in the front, or else in the centre. In 
 such open structures as these, in the midst of their 
 guards and counsellors, are the bashas, Jcadees, and other 
 great officers, assembled to distribute justice and transact 
 the public affairs of their provinces. Here likewise 
 they have their public entertainments, as the lords and 
 others of the Philistines had in the house of Dagon. 
 Upon a supposition therefore that in the house of 
 Dagon there was a cloistered structure of this kind, the 
 pulling down of the front or centre pillars only, which 
 supported it, would be attended with the like catastrophe 
 that happened to the Philistines." Shaw's Travels, 
 p. 283. 
 
 No. 269. — xix. 5. Comfort thy heart "with a morsel of 
 bread, and afterwards go your 'way.'] " The greatest 
 part of the people of the East eat a little morsel as soon 
 as the day breaks. But it is very little they then eat ; a 
 little cake, or a mouthful of bread, drinking a dish or. 
 two of coffee. This is very agreeable in hot countries ; 
 in cold, people eat more." Chardin MS. 
 
 If this were customary in Judea, we are not to under- 
 stand the words of the Levite's father-in-law as signifying, 
 stay and breakfast; that is done, it seems, extremely 
 early : but the words appear to mean, stay and dine ; 
 the other circumstances of the story perfectly agree with 
 this account. Harmer, vol. i. p. 356.
 
 JUDGES, 181 
 
 Among the poet Sady's Maxims, we find the follow- 
 ing: " A wise man said to his son, never leave the house 
 in the morning till thou hast eaten something, for this 
 has a tendency to fortify the mind : and then shouldst 
 thou be insulted by any person, thou wilt find thyself 
 more disposed to suffer patiently ; for hunger dries up 
 and disorders the brain." 
 
 No. 270. — xix. 9. Behold, the day groweth to an 
 end.~\ It is the pitching time of the day. Marg. The 
 term pitching, here used, undoubtedly refers to tents, 
 and intimates that the day was so far advanced as to 
 make it proper to pitch a tent, or to halt. for the night. 
 In the latter part of the afternoon, eastern travellers 
 begin to look out for a proper place in which to pass the 
 night. So it is said, in the preface to Dr. Shaw's Travels, 
 (p. 17.) " Our constant practice was to rise at break of 
 day, set forward with the sun, and travel till the middle 
 of the afternoon ; at which time we began to look out for 
 the encampments of the Arabs ; who, to prevent such 
 parties as ours from living at free charges upon them, 
 take care to pitch in woods, valleys, or places the least 
 conspicuous." Harmer, vol. hi. p. 238. 
 
 The Abyssinian mode of forming an encampment is 
 simple and well adapted to journies of this description, 
 where tents might prove too serious an encumbrance. 
 On their arrival at a station, where they intend to stay 
 my time, the men begin to cut down, with the large 
 knives which they carry about them, a number of green 
 Doughs, and these they arrange into bowers with so much 
 irt, that, when a cloth is thrown over them, they afford 
 lot only shelter from the sun in the day-time, but com- 
 itate protection from the cold during the night. Salt's 
 Voyage to Abyssinia, p. 225. 
 
 N 3
 
 182 JUDGES. 
 
 No. 271. — xix. 29. And when he was come into his 
 house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, 
 and divided her, together with her bones, into twelve 
 pieces, and tent her into all the coasts of Israel.~] Inter- 
 preters say but little concerning the real views of the 
 Levite in this transaction: they merely intimate, that 
 it was done to excite a general indignation against the 
 authors of the injury he had sustained. His motives 
 certainly were good and regular. He intended to unite 
 the whole nation in vengeance against a crime, in which 
 it was interested : but as they might be checked in the 
 extent of the punishment by the number, the credit, and 
 the power of the offenders ; by the natural commiseration 
 which is felt for those who are of the same blood ; or by 
 an aversion to involve a city in destruction ; he sought 
 and seized a method which put them to the indispensable 
 necessity of espousing his cause. The only part which 
 he had to take was, to cut in pieces the body of his wife, 
 which he did, or else that of an ox, or other like animal, 
 which had been either devoted or offered in sacrifice, 
 and to send a part of it to each tribe. In consequence 
 of this every tribe entered into an indissoluble engage- 
 ment to see justice done him for the injury he had re- 
 ceived. This is what the interpreters of Scripture seem 
 not to have known, and which it is necessary to explain. 
 
 The ancients had several ways of uniting themselves 
 together by strict ties, which lasted for a stipulated time : 
 amongst these may be noticed the sacrifice of Abraham, 
 the circumstances of which are mentioned Gen. xv. 9, 
 &c. Another method was, to take a bullock offered or 
 devoted in sacrifice, cut it in pieces and distribute it. All 
 who had a piece of this devoted bullock were thence- 
 forward connected, and were to concur in carrying on 
 the affair which had given occasion for the sacrifice. 
 But as this devoting and dividing was variously practised, 
 it also produced different engagements. If he who was 
 
 2
 
 JUDGES. 183 
 
 at the expense of the sacrifice were a public person, or in 
 high office, he sent of his own accord a piece of the 
 victim to all who were subject to him ; and by this act 
 obliged them to enter into his views. If the sacrifice 
 were offered by a private person, those only who volun- 
 tarily took a piece of the sacrifice entered into a strict 
 engagement to espouse his interest. Connections of this 
 kind derived their force from the deities, in honour of 
 which the sacrifice was offered : from the true God, when 
 made by the Jews; from idols, when made by the 
 Gentiles. The Jews were content to invoke and take 
 the Lord to witness : whereas the" pagans never failed to 
 place upon an altar of green turf the deities which pre- 
 sided over their covenant. These deities were called 
 common, because they were the common deities of all 
 who were thus united, and received in common the 
 honours which they thought proper to pay them. 
 
 A direct proof of these facts is recorded in 1 Sam, 
 
 xi. 7. And Saul took a yoke of oxen, and hewed them in 
 
 pieces, and, sent them throughout all the coasts of Israel 
 
 by the hands of messengers, saying, Whosoever cometh not 
 
 forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done unto 
 
 his oxen. And the fear of the Lord fell on the people, and 
 
 they came out with one consent. Another proof is drawn 
 
 from the customs observed by the Scythians and Molos- 
 
 sians. Lucian thus speaks of what passed between these 
 
 people upon urgent occasions. " When any one had 
 
 received an injury, and had not the means of avenging 
 
 himself, he sacrificed an ox, and cut it into pieces, which 
 
 he caused to be dressed and publicly exposed ; then he 
 
 spread out the skin of the victim, and sat upon it, with 
 
 his hands tied behind him. All who chose to take part 
 
 in the injury which had been done took up a piece of the 
 
 ox, and swore to supply and maintain for him, one, five 
 
 horses, another ten, others still more; some infantry, 
 
 each according to his strength and ability. They who 
 
 N 4
 
 184 JUDGES. 
 
 had only their person engaged to march themselves. 
 Now an army composed of such soldiers, far from re- 
 treating or disbanding, was invincible, as it was engaged 
 by oath." 
 
 These circumstances, compared with the account given 
 of the Levite's conduct and the subsequent behaviour of 
 the tribes, clearly point out, that the method used by the 
 Levite to obtain redress was consistent with the esta- 
 blished usages of the times, and effected the retribution 
 he desired to see accomplished. 
 
 No. 272. — xx. 10. And We li'ill take ten men of a 
 hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel,'] This ap- 
 pointment was not so much designed to collect food as 
 to dress it, and to serve it up. In the present Barbary 
 camps which march about their territories every year, 
 twenty men are appointed to each tent; two of them 
 officers of different ranks, sixteen common soldiers, one a 
 cook, and another a steward who looks after the provi- 
 sions. (Pitts's Trav. p. 28.) Among the Greeks, ac- 
 cording to Homer, (//. ii. 126.) they seem to have 
 divided their troops into companies of ten each, one of 
 whom waited on the rest when they took their repast, 
 under the name of the oivo^o^, which is usually trans- 
 lated cup-bearer. But perhaps the person that was so 
 characterized not only gave them their wine when they 
 took their repasts, but had the care of their provisions, 
 set out their tables, and had the principal share in cook- 
 ing their food. Harmer, vol. iv. p. 234. 
 
 No. 273. — xxi. 18. Cursed be he.~\ The ancient man- 
 ner of adjuring subjects or inferiors to any conditions, 
 was by their superiors denouncing a curse on them, in 
 case they violated those conditions. To this manner of 
 swearing our blessed Lord himself submitted, Matt. xxvi. 
 63. It may be further remarked, that when the curse
 
 JUDGES. 185 
 
 was expressed in general terms, as cursed be he, i. e. who- 
 soever doth so or so, the superior who pronounced it was 
 as much bound by it as the inferior who heard it ; thus 
 there can be no doubt but the curses pronounced, Dent. 
 xxvii. 14. obliged the Levites who pronounced them; 
 and those also, Joshua, vi. 26. and 1 Sam. xiv. 24. obliged 
 Joshua and Saul, who pronounced them, as much as the 
 other people. They therefore by pronouncing those 
 curses, sware or took an oath themselves. Parkhurst's 
 Heb. Lex, p. 20, 3d ed.
 
 C 186 ] 
 
 No. 274. — RUTH, ii. 4. 
 
 And behold, Doaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto 
 the reapers, the Lord be with you ; and they answered 
 him, the Lord bless thee, 
 
 OUCH, says Bp. Patrick, was the piety of ancient times, 
 that they used to pray that God would prosper the 
 honest labours of those they saw employed : and they 
 made a return of the same prayers for those who thus 
 expressed their good will. This was also practised by 
 the heathen, especially in harvest time, which they would 
 not begin by putting the sickle into the corn, till Ceres 
 had been invoked. Thus Virgil : 
 
 Neque ante 
 
 Falcem maturis quisquam supponat aristis, 
 Quam Cereri, torta redimitus tempora quercu, 
 Det motus incompositos, et carraina dicat. 
 
 Georg. lib. i, 347. 
 
 Thus in the spring, and thus in summer's heat, 
 
 Before the sickles touch the ripening wheat, 
 
 On Ceres call: and let the lab' ring hind 
 
 With oaken wreaths his hollow temples bind ; 
 
 On Ceres let him call, and Ceres praise 
 
 With uncouth dances, and with country lays. Dryden. 
 
 No. 275. — ii. 14. Dip thy morsel in the vinegar. ,] 
 We are not to understand this of simple vinegar, but 
 vinegar mingled with a small portion of oil ; the Alge- 
 rines indulge their miserable captives with a small por- 
 tion of oil, to the vinegar they allow them with their 
 bread. Pitts {Account, p. 6.) says, that when he was 
 in slavery his allowance was about five or six spoonfuls
 
 RUTH. 187 
 
 of vinegar, half a spoonful of oil, a small quantity of black 
 biscuit, a pint of water, and a few olives. Harmer, 
 vol. iii. p. 160. 
 
 No. 276. — iii. 3. Wash thyself therefore, and anoint 
 thee.] According to the custom of the ancient nations, 
 washing generally preceded anointing. Many instances 
 of it occur in Homer ; as when Telemachus is enter- 
 tained by Nestor, and when Telemachus and Pisistratus 
 are invited to the court of Menelaus. The custom was 
 so ancient and general, that the Greeks had one word to 
 express this anointing with oil after washing with water, 
 which they called ^urAa and yyt Aoxra*. See more in 
 Pearson on Creed, p. 99. ed. 8. 
 
 No. 277. — iii. 9. Spread therefore thy sJcirt over thy 
 handmaid.'] This phrase imports taking a person under 
 protection and tuition ; and here not a common, but a 
 matrimonial one. The Chaldee therefore plainly renders 
 it, let thy name be called upon thy handmaid, by takino- 
 me for thy wife. From hence, when two persons are 
 married among the Jews, the man throws the skirt of his 
 talith over his wife, and covers her head with it. Bux- 
 torf, Synagoga Judaica, cap. 39. 
 
 No. 278. — iv. 7. Now this was the manner in former 
 times in Israel concerning redeeming, and concerning 
 changing, to confirm all things ,• a man plucked off his 
 shoe, and gave it to his neighbour ; and this was a testi- 
 mony in Israel.] It is not easy to give an account of the 
 origin of this custom ; but the reason of it is plain, it 
 being a natural signification that he resigned his interest 
 in the land, by giving him his shoe wherewith he used to 
 walk in it, that he might enter into and take possession 
 of it himself. The Targum instead of shoe hath right* 
 hand glove ,- it being then the custom perhaps, to give
 
 188 RUTH. 
 
 that in room of the shoe : in later times the Jews delivered 
 a handkerchief for the same purpose. So R. Solomon 
 Jarchi says, we acquire, or buy now, by a handkerchief 
 or veil, instead of a shoe. 
 
 The giving of a glove was in the middle ages a cere- 
 mony of investiture in bestowing lands and dignities. 
 In A. D. 1002, two bishops were put in possession of 
 their sees, each by receiving a glove. So in England, in 
 the reign of Edward the Second, the deprivation of gloves 
 was a ceremony of degradation. 
 
 With regard to the shoe as the token of investiture, 
 Castell (Lex. Polyg. col. 2342.) mentions that the em- 
 peror of the Abyssinians used the casting of a shoe as a 
 sign of dominion. See Psalm lx. 8. To these instances 
 the following may properly be added. " Childebert the 
 Second was fifteen years old, when Gontram his uncle 
 declared that he was of age, and capable of governing by 
 himself. I have put, says he, this javelin into thy hands 
 as a token that I have given thee all my kingdom. And 
 then turning towards the assembly he added, you see that 
 my son Childebert is become a man ; obey him." Mon- 
 tesquieu, Spirit of Laws, vol. i. p. 361. Pfeifferi 
 Opera Philol. p. 192. Seldenus Uxo?\ Ebr. p. 67. 
 Clodius Dissert, de Ritu excalcecmdi, $c. 
 
 No. 279. — iv. 11. The Lord make the 'woman that is 
 come into thy house like Rachel and like Leah.'] Such a 
 solemn benediction of those who were going to be married 
 was very ancient, Gen. xxiv. 60. The Jews continue it 
 to this day. They say that it was always pronounced in 
 the presence of ten persons at the least, the eldest of 
 whom gave the benediction, which was a ratification of 
 what had been agreed upon. See Selden. Uxor. Ebr* 
 lib. ii. cap. 12.
 
 C ISP 
 
 No. 280. — 1 SAMUEL, ii. 19. 
 
 Moreover his mother made him a little coat, and brought it 
 to him from year to year, 
 
 HTHE women made wearing-apparel, and their common 
 employment was weaving stuffs, as making cloth and 
 tapestry is now. We see in Homer the instances of 
 Penelope, Calypso, and Circe. There are examples of 
 it in Theocritus, (Idyll. 15.) Terence, (Heaut. act ii. 
 sc. 2.) and many other authors. But what appears most 
 wonderful is, that this custom was retained at Rome 
 among the greatest ladies in a very corrupt age, since 
 Augustus commonly wore clothes made by his wife, 
 sister, and daughter. (Suet. Aug. 73. See also Prov, 
 xxxi. 13. 19.) Fleury's Hist, of Israelites, p. 72. 
 
 No. 281. — hi. 21. The word of the Lord.'] With- 
 out recurring to the learned explanations which have 
 been given of this expression, it may possibly receive an 
 agreeable illustration from the following extracts. " In 
 Abyssinia there is an officer named Kal Hatze, who 
 stands always upon steps at the side of the lattice 
 window, where there is a hole covered in the inside with 
 a curtain of green taffeta ; behind this curtain the king 
 sits." (Bruce's Trav. vol.iv. p. 76.) The king is de- 
 scribed in another place as very much concealed from 
 public view. He even " covers his face on audiences, 
 or public occasions, and when in judgment. On cases 
 of treason he sits within his balcony, and speaks through 
 a hole in the side of it, to an officer called Kal Hatze, 
 the voice or word of the king, by whom he sends his
 
 190 1 SAMUEL. 
 
 questions, or any thing else that occurs, to the judges, 
 who are seated at the council table." (Bruce's Trav 
 vol. iii. p. 265.) If such a custom ever obtained among 
 the Jews, the propriety of the expression, the word of the 
 Lord, is obvious, as the idea must have been very 
 familiar to them. This clearly appears to have been the 
 case as to Joseph and his brethren, Gen. xlii. 23. 
 Joseph spake by an interpreter, not of languages, but 
 of dignity and state. Other instances of the same na- 
 ture may probably be traced in 2 Kings, v. 10. Job, 
 xxxiii. 23. 
 
 No. 282. — v. 4. The head of Dagon and both the 
 palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold. ,] The 
 destruction of Dagon before the ark of the Lord clearly 
 discovered the vanity of idols, and the irresistible power 
 of God. The circumstances attending his demolition 
 are remarkable ; and in them it is possible may be traced 
 a conformity with the manner in which different nations 
 treated the idol deities of each other. Dagon was not 
 merely thrown down, but was also broke in pieces, and 
 some of these fragments were found on the threshold. 
 There is a circumstance related in Maurice's Modem 
 Histoiy of Hindostaii (vol. i. part. 2. p. 296.) which 
 seems in some points similar to what is recorded of 
 Dagon. Speaking of the destruction of the idol in the 
 temple at Sumnaut, he says, that " fragments of the de- 
 molished idol were distributed to the several mosques of 
 Mecca, Medina, and Gazna, to be thrown at the thres- 
 hold of their gates, and trampled upon by devout and 
 zealous mussulmans." In both instances the situation of 
 the fragments at the threshold seems to intimate the com- 
 plete triumph of those who had overcome the idols, and 
 might possibly be a customary expression of indignity 
 and contempt,
 
 1 SAMUEL. 191 
 
 Tibullus informs us, that to beat the head against 
 the sacred threshold was with many an expiatory cere- 
 mony. It probably originated with the Egyptians in the 
 worship of Isis. 
 
 Non ego, si merui, dubitem procumbere templis, 
 
 Et dare sacratis oscula liminibus. B. i. el. j> 
 
 For crimes like these I'd, abject, crawl the ground. 
 Kiss her dread threshold, and my forehead wound, 
 
 Grainger. 
 
 No. 283. — vi. 4. Then said they, rvhat shall be the 
 trespass-offering "which we shall return to him P and they 
 answered. Jive golden emerods, and Jive golden mice, ac- 
 cording to the number of the lords of the Philistines.'] 
 The ancient heathens used to consecrate to their gods 
 such monuments of their deliverances, as represented 
 the evils from which they were rescued. They dedicated 
 to Isis and Neptune a table, containing the express 
 image of the shipwreck which they had escaped. Slaves 
 and captives, when they had regained their liberty, 
 offered their chains. The Philistines hoping shortly to 
 be delivered from the emerods and mice wherewith 
 they were afflicted, sent the images of them to that god 
 from whom they expected deliverance. This is still 
 practised among the Indians. Tavernier (Travels, 
 p. 92.) relates, that when any pilgrim goes to a pagod 
 for the cure of any disease, he brings the figure of the 
 member affected, made either of gold, silver, or copper, 
 according to his quality ; this he offers to his God, and 
 then falls a singing, as all others do after they have 
 offered. Mr. Selden also has observed, that mice were 
 used amongst the ancient heathen for lustration and 
 cleansing. De Diis Syris, Syntag. i. cap. 6. 
 
 Such offerings have been made from time immemorial 
 by the Hindoos. The women, in many parts of India,
 
 192 1 SAMUEL. 
 
 hang out offerings to their Deities ; either a string of 
 beads, or a lock of hair, or some other trifling present, 
 when a child, or any one of their family, has been re- 
 covered from illness. Among the Greeks, it was cus- 
 tomary to devote within their temples, something more 
 than the mere symbol of a benefit received. Inscrip- 
 tions were added to such signs, setting forth the nature 
 of the remedy that had been successful, or giving a de- 
 scription of the peculiar grace that had been accorded. 
 Dr. Clarke (Travels, vol. iii. p. 329.) in a long note 
 from Walpole's MS. Journal, gives many curious in- 
 stances of this custom. The following are selected from 
 it. In the island of Santerin there are some singular 
 representations on the rock. Tomasini gives the vo- 
 tive figure of a man in a dropsical state. At Phocaca 
 in the ancient Lydia, at Eleusis, at Athens, and other 
 parts of Greece, are to be seen holes of a square form, 
 cut in the limestone rock, for the r purpose of receiving 
 these votive offerings. Sometimes the offerings them- 
 selves, eyes, feet, hands, have been discovered. At 
 Cyzicum, there is a representation of two feet on marble, 
 with an inscription : probably the vow of some person 
 who had performed a prosperous journey. The temples of 
 iEsculapius were adorned with tablets presented by per- 
 sons restored to health. Invalids were allowed to sleep 
 in the porticoes, to obtain directions from the gods in 
 their dreams. The medicine itself was sometimes placed 
 in the temples : as in the case of a goldsmith, who on 
 his death-bed, bequeathed an ointment to a temple, 
 which those who were unable to see the physicians might 
 use. Such votive offerings were fixed sometimes in the 
 rock, near the sacred precincts of a temple : sometimes 
 appended to the walls and columns of the temples, and 
 sometimes fastened by wax to the knees or other parts 
 of the statues of the gods. (Juven. &//. x. 54. Pru- 
 dent, contra Sgmm. Lib. i. Lucmn. Phitop.) The tern-
 
 1 SAMUEL. 193 
 
 pies of the Greeks were used by different states, as 
 banks. To this circumstance was owing, in part, the 
 vast wealth which they contained : and this was increased 
 by the costly offerings in gold, and silver, presented on 
 various occasions. 
 
 No. 284-. — vii. 5. And Samuel said, Gather all Israel 
 to Mizpeh, and I will pray for you unto the Lord.'] 
 Apprehensive of the chances of war, it was usual an- 
 ciently to perform very solemn devotions before they 
 went out to battle : and it seems that there were places 
 particularly appropriated for this purpose. (See 
 1 Maccab. hi. 46.) It appears that Samuel convened 
 the people at Mizpeh, in order to prepare them by 
 solemn devotion for war with the Philistines. The fol- 
 lowing account from Pococke (Travels, p. 36.) may 
 possibly serve to explain this custom. " Near Cairo, 
 beyond the mosque of Sheik Duise, and in the neigh- 
 bourhood of a burial-place of the sons of some pashas, 
 on a hill, is a solid building of stone, about three feet 
 wide, built with ten steps, being at the top. about three 
 feet square, on which the sheik mounts to pray on any 
 extraordinary occasion, when all the people go out at 
 the beginning of a war, and, here in Egypt, when the Nile 
 does not rise as they expect it should : and such a place 
 they have without all the towns throughout Turkey." 
 Harmer, vol. ii. p. 265. 
 
 No. 285. — ix. 3. And Kish said to Saul his son, take 
 now one of the servants with thee, and arise, go seek the 
 asses.] The following extract, compared with the cir- 
 cumstances recorded in this chapter respecting the 
 business upon which Saul was sent, will greatly illus- 
 trate them. " Each proprietor has his own mark, which 
 is burnt into the thighs of horses, oxen, and dromedaries, 
 and painted with colours on the wool of sheep. The 
 
 vol. i. o
 
 194 1 SAMUEL. 
 
 latter are kept near the owner's habitation ; but the other 
 species unite in herds, and are towards the spring 
 driven to the plains, where they are left at large till the 
 winter. At the approach of this season they seek, and 
 drive them to their sheds. What is most singular in 
 this search is, that the Tartar employed in it has always 
 an extent of plain, which, from one valley to another, 
 is ten or twelve leagues wide, and more than thirty long, 
 yet does not know which way to direct his search, nor 
 troubles himself about it. He puts up in a bag six 
 pounds of the flower of roasted millet, which is suf- 
 ficient to last him thirty days. This provision made, he 
 mounts his horse, stops not till the sun goes down, then 
 clogs the animal, leaves him to graze, sups on his flour, 
 goes to sleep, wakes, and continues his rout. He 
 neglects not, however, to observe, as he rides, the mark 
 of the herds he happens to see. These discoveries he 
 communicates to the different noguais he meets, who 
 have the same pursuits ; and, in his turn, receives such 
 indications as help to put an end to his journey." Baron 
 Du Tott, vol. i. part iii. p. 4. 
 
 No. 286. — ix. 7. A present."] Presenting gifts is one 
 of the most universal methods of doing persons honour 
 in the east. Maundrell (Journey, p. 26.) says, 
 " Thursday, March 1 1 , this day we all dined at Con- 
 sul Hasting's house, and after dinner went to wait upon 
 Ostan, the bassa of Tripoli, having first sent our present, 
 as the manner is among the Turks, to procure a pro- 
 pitious reception. It is counted uncivil to visit in this 
 country without an offering in hand. All great men 
 expect it as a kind of tribute due to their character and 
 authority, and look upon themselves as affronted, and 
 indeed defrauded, when this compliment is omitted. 
 Even in familiar visits amongst inferior people, you shall 
 seldom have them come without bringing a flower, or 
 an orange, or some other such token of their respect 
 
 12
 
 1 SAMUEL. 195 
 
 to the person visited ; the Turks in this point keeping 
 up the ancient oriental custom hinted I Sam. ix. 7. If 
 we go (says Saul) what shall we bring the man of God ? 
 there is not a present '; &c. ; which words are questionless 
 to be understood in conformity to this eastern custom, 
 as relating to a token of respect, and not a price of di- 
 vination." To this account it may be added, that when 
 Lord Macartney had his interview with the Emperor of 
 China, in his embassy to that prince, in 1793, the re- 
 ceiving and returning of presents made a considerable 
 part of the ceremony. 
 
 Presents of some kind or other are the regular intro- 
 ducers of one party to another in the East. Pococke 
 tells us of a present of fifty radishes. Bruce relates, 
 that in order to obtain a favour from him, he received a 
 very inconsiderable present. " I mention this trifling 
 circumstance," he says, " to shew how essential to hu- 
 mane and civil intercourse presents are considered to be 
 in the East : whether it be dates, or whether it be dia- 
 monds, they are so much a part of their manners, that 
 without them an inferior will never be at peace in his 
 own mind, or think that he has hold of his superior for 
 his protection. But superiors give no presents to their 
 inferiors." Travels, vol. i. p. 68. Forbes's Oriental 
 Memoirs, vol. i. p. 260. 
 
 No. 287. — ix. 24. And the cook took up the shoulder 
 and that which was upon it, and set it before Said.'] The 
 shoulder of a lamb is thought in the East a great deli- 
 cacy. Abdolmelek the Caliph, (Ockley's Hist, of the 
 Saracens, vol. ii. p. 277.) upon his entering into Cufah, 
 made a splendid entertainment. " When he was sat 
 down, Amrou the son of Hereth, an ancient Mechzu- 
 mian, came in : he called him to him, and placing him 
 by him upon his sofa, asked him what meat he liked best 
 of all that ever he had eaten. The old Mechzumian 
 
 o 2
 
 196 1 SAMUEL. 
 
 answered, an ass's neck well seasoned and well roasted. 
 You do nothing, says Abdolmelek : what say you to a 
 leg or a shoulder of a sucking lamb, well roasted and 
 covered over with butter and milk ?" This sufficiently 
 explains the reason why Samuel ordered it for the future 
 king of Israel, as well as what that was which was upon 
 it, the butter and milk. Harmer, vol. i. p. 319. 
 
 No. 288. — ix. 26. And they rose early, and it came 
 to pass about the spring of the day, that Samuel called 
 Saul to {on) the top of the house, saying, up, that I may 
 send thee away.] Sleeping on the top of the house has 
 ever been customary with the eastern people. " It has 
 ever been a custom with them, equally connected with 
 health and pleasure, to pass the night in summer upon 
 the house-tops, which for this very purpose are made 
 flat, and divided from each other by walls. We found 
 this way of sleeping extremely agreeable ; as we thereby 
 enjoyed the cool air, above the reach of gnats and 
 vapours, without any other covering than the canopy 
 of the heavens, which unavoidably presents itself in dif- 
 ferent pleasing forms upon every interruption of rest, 
 when silence and solitude strongly dispose the mind to 
 contemplation." Wood's Balbec, Introduction. And 
 Forbes's Oriental Memoirs, vol. iii. p. 234. 
 
 No. 289. — x. 1. And kissed, him.'] The kiss of 
 homage was one of the ceremonies performed at the 
 inauguration of the kings of Israel. The Jews called 
 it the kiss of majesty. There is probably an illusion to 
 it in Psalm h. 12. 
 
 No. 290. — x. 5, 6. Thou shalt meet a company of 
 prophets coming down from the high place, with a psaltery 
 and a tabret.~] We are told in a book which gives an 
 account of the sufferings of the crew of an English
 
 1 SAMUEL. 197 
 
 privateer wrecked on the African coast in 1745, and 
 which occasionally mentions the education of their chil- 
 dren, and their getting the Koran by heart, that " when 
 they have gone through, their relations borrow a fine 
 horse and furniture, and carry them about the town in 
 procession with the book in their hands, the rest of their 
 companions following, and all sorts of music of the 
 country going before." Shaw mentions the same cus- 
 tom. (Trav. p. 195.) This seems to be a lively comment 
 on these words, which describe a procession of prophets 
 or scholars. Harmer, vol. ii. p. 106. 
 
 No. 291. — x. 24. All the people shouted and said, 
 God save the king.~\ The acclamations of the people 
 attended the ceremony of the inauguration of the Jewish 
 kings. This fully appears in the case of Saul, and also 
 of Solomon : for when Zadok anointed him king, they 
 blew the trumpet and said, God save king Solomon, 
 1 Kings, i. 39. 
 
 Acclamations were usual among the Romans on 
 several occasions. It was the manner in which they 
 testified their approbation of the conduct of princes, 
 commanders, and emperors. The forms of acclamation 
 were different upon different occasions, but always 
 included their prayers and good wishes for the welfare 
 of the person who was the object of the noisy compli- 
 ment : and was often expressed by one word, Feliciter. 
 Sometimes the acclamation was used to testify their 
 abhorrence and indignation, and was made the vehicle 
 of imprecations, as was the case upon the death of the 
 Emperor Commodus. 
 
 No. 292. — x. 27. And brought him no pn^esents.~\ 
 When D Arvienx was attending an Arab emir, a vessel 
 happened to be wrecked on the coast. The emir per- 
 ceived it from the top of the mountains, and immedi- 
 
 o 3
 
 198 1 SAMUEL. 
 
 ately repaired to the shore to profit by the misfortune. 
 Staying some time, it grew so late that he determined 
 to spend the night there under his tents, and ordered 
 supper to be got ready. He says that nothing was more 
 easy, for every body at Tartoura vied with each other 
 as to the presents they brought, of meat, fowl, game, 
 fruit, coffee, &c. Were they not presents of this kind, 
 that the children of Belial neglected to bring ? Harmer, 
 vol. ii. p. 1 5. 
 
 No. 293. — xiii. 19, 20. Now there was no smith 
 found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines 
 said, lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears : hit 
 all the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen 
 every man his share.~] The policy of the Philistines 
 has been imitated in modern times. " Mulei Ismael 
 went farther towards a total reduction of these parts of 
 Africa than his predecessors had done. Indeed the 
 vigorous Mulei Rashid, his brother and predecessor, laid 
 the foundation of that absoluteness; but was cut off in 
 the height of his vigour, his horse running away with him 
 in so violent a manner, that he dashed out his brains 
 against a tree. But this sherif brought multitudes of 
 sturdy Arabs and Africans, who used to be courted by 
 the kings of Morocco* Fez, &c. to such a pass, that it 
 was as much as all their lives were worth to have any 
 weapon in a whole dowar (moveable village, or small 
 community,) more than one knife, and that without a 
 point, wherewith to cut the throat of any sheep or 
 other creature, when in danger of dying, lest it should 
 jif, as they call it, i. e. die with the blood in it, and 
 become unlawful for food." Morgan's Hist, of Algiers, 
 p. 196. 
 
 No. 294. — xiv. 9. This shall be a sign unto as.] 
 Archbishop Potter (in his Archceologia Grceca, vol. i v
 
 1 SAMUEL. 199 
 
 p. 344.) has some curious reflections on the custom of 
 catching omens, which was common amongst the Greeks, 
 and which he conceives to be of great antiquity, and also 
 of Eastern origin. " That it was practised by the Jews, 
 is by some inferred from the story of Jonathan, the son 
 of king Saul, who going to encounter a Philistine garri- 
 son, thus spoke to his armour-bearer, If they say unto us, 
 tarry until we come unto you ; then we will stand still in 
 our place, and will not go up unto them. But if they say 
 thus, come up unto us, then we will go up ; for the Lord hath 
 delivered, them into our hand, and this shall be a sign unto 
 us." A remarkable instance of this superstition is found 
 in the following passage of Virgil: " he introduces 
 ^neas catching Ascanius's words from his mouth; for 
 the Harpies, and Anchises also, having foretold that the 
 Trojans should be forced to gnaw their very tables for 
 want of other provisions, when they landed in Italy ; 
 happening to dine upon the grass, instead of tables or 
 trenchers, which their present circumstances did not 
 afford, they laid their meat upon pieces of bread, which 
 afterwards they eat up ; whereupon, 
 
 Heus ! etiam mensas consumimus ? inquit Ileitis. 
 See, says lulus, we our tables eat. 
 
 iEneas presently caught the omen, as the poet subjoins : 
 
 Ea vox audita laborum 
 
 Prima tulit finem : primumque loquentis ab ore 
 Eripuit pater, ac stupefactus numine pressit. 
 
 . The lucky sound no sooner reached their ears, 
 But straight they quite dismiss' d their former cares : 
 His good old sire with admiration struck. 
 The boding sentence, when yet falling, took, 
 And often roWd it in his silent breast." JEneid vii. 1. 116. 
 
 No. 295. — xiv. 14. And that first slaughter which 
 Jonathan and his armour-bearer made was (of) about 
 
 o 4
 
 200 1 SAMUEL. 
 
 twenty men, within as it were a half acre of land, which 
 a yoke of oxen might plough.] This manner of measur- 
 ing a space of ground by a comparison from ploughing 
 seems to have been customary in these times, from what 
 is here said of Jonathan. A similar instance also occurs 
 in Homer. For, speaking of contending chiefs, he says, 
 
 So distant they y and such the space between, 
 As when two teams of mules divide the green. 
 
 II. iii. 109. Pope. 
 
 For the explanation of the comparison it may be proper 
 to add Dacier's description of the manner of ploughing. 
 " The Grecians did not plough in the maimer now in 
 use. They first broke up the ground with oxen, and 
 then ploughed it more lightly with mules. When they 
 employed two ploughs in a field, they measured the space 
 they could plough in a day, and set their ploughs at the 
 two ends of that space, and those ploughs proceeded 
 towards each other. This intermediate space was con- 
 stantly fixed, but less in proportion for two ploughs of 
 oxen, than for two of mules ; because oxen are slower, 
 and toil more in a field that has not yet been turned up ; 
 whereas mules are naturally swifter, and make greater 
 speed in a ground that has already had the first plough- 
 ing." 
 
 A carucate, or plough land in Domesday Book, from 
 caruca, is as much land as will maintain a plough, or as 
 much as one plough will work. 
 
 No. 296. — xiv. 15. So it was a great trembling.'] In 
 the Hebrew it is, a trembling of God, that is, which ..God 
 sent upon them. This was called by the heathens a panic 
 fear : and, as it was thought to come from the gods, made 
 the stoutest men quake. So Pindar excellently ex- 
 presses it : 
 
 — — *Ev yap 
 
 Qivyovlat kou Tlctihs Qtuv. Nemea, ix. 65.
 
 1 SAMUEL. 201 
 
 When men are struck with divine terrors, even the children 
 of the gods betake themselves to flight. 
 
 No. 297. — xv. 12. Saul came to Carmel, and behold 
 he set him up a place.~] In this place the LXX. read 
 ;£gjpa a hand, probably because the trophy or monument 
 of victory was made in the shape of a large hand, (the 
 emblem of power,) erected on a pillar. These memorial- 
 pillars were much in use anciently : and the figure of a 
 hand was by its emblematical meaning well adapted to 
 preserve the remembrance of a victory. Niebuhr 
 (Voyage en Arable, torn. ii. p. 211. French edit.) speak- 
 ing of Ali's mosque at Mesched-Ali, says, that " at the 
 top of the dome, where one generally sees on the Turkish 
 mosques a crescent, or only a pole, there is here a hand 
 stretched out, to represent that of Ali." Another writer 
 informs us that at the Alhambra, or red palace of the 
 Moorish kings, in Grenada, " on the key-stone of the 
 outward arch (of the present principal entrance) is sculp- 
 tured the figure of an arm, the symbol of strength and 
 dominion." Annual Register for 1779, Antiquities, p. 1 24. 
 To this day, in the East Indies, the picture of a hand is 
 the emblem of power or authority. When the Nabob of 
 Arcot, who was governor oifive provinces, appeared on 
 public occasions, several small flags with each a hand 
 painted upon them, and one of a large size with^ue 
 hands, were solemnly carried before him. 
 
 No. 298. — xvi. 1. Fill thy horn with oil.'] It is the 
 custom of Iberia, Colchis, and the adjacent country, 
 where the arts are little practised, to keep liquors in 
 horns, and to drink out of them. Probably the Eastern 
 horns had chains affixed to them, so that they might oc- 
 casionally be hung up. If this were the case, it may 
 account for the prophet's supposing that drinking vessels 
 were hung up. Isaiah, xxii. 24. Harmer, vol. i. p. 382,
 
 202 1 SAMUEL. 
 
 and Philosophical Transactions Abridged, vol. v. part ii. 
 p. 131, 132. 
 
 No. 299. — xvi. 17. And Said said unto his servants^ 
 provide me now a man that cati play well, and bring him 
 to me.~\ This command of Saul might originate in a de- 
 sire to obtain such a person as might by his skill in play- 
 ing equally contribute to his gratification and state. It 
 seems to have formed a part of royal Eastern magnifi- 
 cence to have had men of this description about the 
 court. " Professed story tellers, " it may also be ob- 
 served, " are of early date in the East. Even at this 
 day men of rank have generally one or more, male or fe- 
 male, amongst their attendants, who amuse them and their 
 women, when melancholy, vexed or indisposed ; and they 
 are generally employed to lull them to sleep. Many of 
 their tales are highly amusing, especially those of Persian 
 origin, or such as have been written on their model. 
 They were thought so dangerous by Mohammed, that 
 he expressly prohibited them in the Koran." Richard- 
 son's Dissert, on the Manners of the East, p. 69. and 
 Eorbes's Oriental Memoirs, vol. iii. p. 1 82. 
 
 No. 300. — xvi. 23. And it came to pass when the evil 
 spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took a harp, 
 and played with his hand ; so Saul was refreshed, and 
 was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.~\ The 
 power of music upon the affections is very great. Its 
 effect upon Saul was no more than it has produced in 
 many other instances. Timotheus the musician could 
 excite Alexander the Great to arms by the Phrygian 
 sound, and allay his fury with another tone, and excite 
 him to merriment. So Eric king of Denmark, by a 
 certain musician, could be driven to such a fury, as to kill 
 some of his best and most trusty servants. (Ath. Kiroh. 
 Phonurg. 1. ii. s. 1 . Is. Vossius de Poematum cantu et 
 rythmi viribus.)
 
 J SAMUEL. 203 
 
 No. 301. — xvii. 6. Greaves of brass.']. These were 
 necessary to defend the legs and feet from the iron 
 stakes placed in the way by the enemy, to gall and wound 
 their opponents. They were a part of ancient military 
 harness, and the artifices made use of by contending 
 parties rendered the precaution important. 
 
 No. 302. — xvii. 43. He cursed David by his gods.] 
 It is highly probable that this was a general practice with 
 idolaters, who, supposing themselves secure of the favour 
 and protection of their deities, concluded that their ene- 
 mies must necessarily be the objects of their displeasnre 
 and vengeance. Hence, anticipating the certainty of 
 divine wrath upon them, they cursed and devoted them 
 to destruction. So did the Philistine act towards David. 
 And so the Romans used to do, saying, Dii deaque te 
 perdant. 
 
 No. 303. — xvii. 44. And the Philistine said to David, 
 come to me, and I will give thy flesh to the fowls of the air 
 and to the beasts of the field.] This mode of speaking 
 and challenging was very common with the Orientals. 
 Homer gives the same haughty air to his heroes ; and it 
 was doubtless a copy of the manners and hyperbolical 
 speeches of the times. Thus he makes one say to 
 another : 
 
 Bold as thou art, too prodigal of breath, 
 
 Approach, and enter the dark gates of death. II. ii. 107. 
 
 No. 304. — xvii. 45. I come to thee in the name of the 
 Lord of hosts.] The decision of national controversies 
 by the duels of the chiefs was frequent in ancient times. 
 That between the Horatii and Curiatii is well known : 
 and even before that, Romulus, and Aruns king of the 
 Ceninenses, ended their national quarrel by the like 
 method ; Romulus killing his adversary, taking his capi-
 
 204- 1 SAMUEL. 
 
 tal, and dedicating the spoils to Jupiter Feretrius. (Val. 
 Max. 1. viii. c. 2. § 3.) Chandler's Life of David, vol. i. 
 p. 70. note. 
 
 No. 305. — xvii. 49. And David put his hand in his 
 bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the 
 Philistine in his forehead.'] The dexterity with which 
 the sling may be used as an offensive weapon is surpris- 
 ing. It evidently appears in the conflict between David 
 and Goliath, and may be confirmed by the following ci- 
 tation. " The arms which the Achaeans chiefly used 
 were slings. Thev were trained to the art from their 
 infancy, by slinging from a great distance at a circular 
 mark of a moderate circumference. By long practice 
 they took so nice an aim, that they were sure to hit their 
 enemies not only on the head, but on any part of the 
 face they chose. Their slings were of a different kind 
 from the Balearians, whom they far surpassed in dex- 
 terity." Polyb. p. 125. 
 
 No. 306. — xvii. 51. Therefore David ran, and stood 
 upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out 
 of the sheath thereof, and slew him and cut off his head 
 therewith.] Niebuhr presents us with a very similar 
 scene in his Descript. de VArabie, p. 263. where the son 
 of an Arab chief kills his father's enemy and rival, and, 
 according to the custom of the Arabs, cuts off his head, 
 and carries it in triumph to his father. In a note he 
 adds, " cutting off the head of a slain enemy, and car- 
 rying it in triumph, is an ancient custom." Xenophon 
 remarks that it was practised by the Chalybes, {Retreat 
 of the ten thousand, lib. iv.) Herodotus attributes it 
 to the Scythians, lib. iv. cap. 60. 
 
 No. 307. — xviii. 3. Then Jonathan and David made 
 a covenant.] Various ceremonies have been used on
 
 1 SAMUEL. 205 
 
 these occasions. When treaties were made, either of a 
 private or public nature, such usages were observed as 
 were of established authority, or significantly important. 
 The Scythians had a peculiar method of forming their 
 treaties. Herodotus, (1. iv. c. 70.) relates that they 
 first poured wine into a large earthen vessel, and then the 
 contracting parties, cutting their arms with a knife, let 
 some of their blood run into the wine, and stained like- 
 wise their armour therewith. After which they them- 
 selves, and all that were present, drank of that liquor, 
 making the strongest imprecations against the person 
 that should violate the treaty. 
 
 No. 308. — xviii. 4. Stripped himself of the robe^\ 
 D'Herbelot, (vol. ii. p. 20.) says, that when Sultan 
 Selim had defeated Causou Gouri, he assisted at prayers 
 in a mosque at Aleppo, upon his triumphant return to 
 Constantinople, and that the imam of the mosque, having 
 added at the close of the prayer these words, " May 
 God preserve Selim Khan, the servant and minister of 
 the two sacred cities of Mecca and Medinah," the 
 title was so very agreeable to the sultan that he gave 
 the robe that he had on to the imam. Just thus Jona- 
 than stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and 
 gave it to David. He had probably thrown off his 
 upper garment or regal robe, that he might assimilate 
 himself more to the condition of an ordinary man, or 
 perhaps, to one of the prophets. The Germans are said 
 by some writers to have appeared naked, but the repre- 
 sentation of Tacitus is, rejecta veste superiore, having 
 thrown off their upper garment. Harmer, vol. ii. p. 94. 
 
 No. 309. — xviii. 4. And Jonathan stripped himself 
 of the robe that *mas upon him, and gave it to David.'] 
 We read in Ta vernier, (p. 43.) of a nazar, whose 
 virtue and behaviour so pleased a king of Persia,
 
 206 1 SAMUEL. 
 
 after being put to the test, that he caused himself to be 
 disapparelled, and gave his habit to the nazar, which 
 is the greatest honour that a king of Persia can 
 bestow on a subject. See also Rom. xiii. 14. Ephes. iv. 24. 
 Col. iii. 10. 
 
 No. 310. — xviii. 4. And Jonathan stripped himself 
 of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and 
 his garments, even to the sword, and to his bow, and to 
 his girdle."] It was anciently a custom to make such 
 military presents as these to brave adventurers. Besides 
 the present instance of the kind, two others may be 
 quoted : the first is from Homer : 
 
 Next him Ulysses took a shining sword, 
 
 A bow and quiver, with bright arrows stor'd : 
 
 A well prov'd casque, with leather braces bound, 
 
 {Thy gift, Meriones) his temples crown' d. II. x. 507. Pope. 
 
 The other is from Virgil, in the story of Nisus and 
 Euryalus. 
 
 Euryalus phaleras Rhamnetis, et aurea bullis, &c. 
 
 JEn. ix. 359. 
 
 Nor did his eyes less longingly behold 
 
 The girdle belt, with nails of burnish' d gold ; 
 
 This present Ccedicus the rich bestow' d 
 
 On Romulus, when friendship first they vow'd, 
 
 And absent, join'd in hospitable lies : 
 
 He dying, to his heir bequeathed the prize ; 
 
 Till by the conq'ring Ardean troops oppress' d, 
 
 He fell, and they the glorious gift possess'd. Dryden. 
 
 No. 311. — xviii. 4. And to his girdle.] To ratify 
 the covenant which Jonathan made with David, amongst 
 other things, he gave him his girdle. This was a 
 token of the greatest confidence and affection. In 
 some cases it was considered as an act of adoption. 
 Agreeably to this Pitts informs us, {Travels, p. 217.)
 
 1 SAMUEL. 207 
 
 " I was bought by an old bachelor ; I wanted nothing 
 with him ; meat, drink, and clothes, and money, I had 
 enough. After I had lived with him about a year, he 
 made his pilgrimage to Mecca, and carried me with 
 him. But before we came to Alexandria, he was taken 
 sick, and* thinking verily he should die, having a woven 
 girdle about his middle, under his sash, in which was 
 much gold, and also my letter of freedom, (which he 
 intended to give me when at Mecca,) he took it off, and 
 bid me put it on about me, and took my girdle, and 
 put it on himself. ,, 
 
 No. 312. — xviii. 6. The 'women came out of all the 
 cities of Israel^ singing and dancings to meet king Said.~] 
 It was customary for women to celebrate the praises of 
 God in public on remarkable occasions. See Exod. xv. 
 20, 21. 
 
 No. 313. — xviii. 6. And it came to pass, as they 
 came, "when David was returned from the slaughter of the 
 Philistine, that the women came out of all the cities of 
 Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul.'] The 
 dancing and playing on instruments of music before 
 persons of distinction, when they pass near the dwelling- 
 places of such as are engaged in country business, still 
 continues in the East. This was practised by some 
 persons in compliment to the Baron Du Tott. He says, 
 {Memoirs, part. iv. p. 131.) "I took care to cover my 
 escort with my small troop of Europeans, and we con- 
 tinued to march on in this order, which had no very 
 hostile appearance, when we perceived a motion in the 
 enemy's camp, from which several of the Turcomen 
 advanced to meet us : and I soon had the musicians of 
 the different hordes playing and dancing before me, all 
 the time we were passing by the side of their camp." 
 Harmer, vol. iii. p. 292.
 
 208 1 SAMUEL. 
 
 No. 314% — xviii. 25. And Saul said, thus shall ye 
 say to David, the king desireth not any dowry, but a 
 hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged on 
 his enemies.~] This custom has prevailed in later times 
 in some countries, to give their daughters in marriage 
 to the most valiant men, or those who should bring 
 them so many heads of their enemies. Alex, ab Alex- 
 andro, (lib. i. cap. 24.) reports of a people in Carmania, 
 that if any were desirous to marry, it was necessary 
 that he should first bring the king the head of an enemy. 
 The Roman custom on this point differed from the 
 Hebrew, the former requiring the wife to bring a portion 
 to the husband, that he might be able to bear the charges 
 of matrimony more equally. Patrick, in loc. 
 
 Strabo (lib. xv. p. 500.) mentions in addition to 
 what other writers say, of the people in Carmania, that 
 the king lays up the skulls in a treasury, and that he 
 is the most famous who has the most heads brought to 
 him. Chardin in his MS. assures us, that in the 
 war of the Persians against the Yuzbecs, the Persians 
 took the beards of their enemies, and carried them to 
 the king. Harmer, ii. 263. 
 
 No. 315. — xix. 13. And. Michael took an image, and 
 laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goafs hair for* its 
 bolster*.'] A kind of net of goats' hair placed before 
 the teraphim is what is here meant. Such a net Dr. 
 Shaw, (Travels, p. 221. 2d edit.) says, is " a close cur- 
 tain of gauze or fine linen, used all over the East by 
 people of better fashion, to keep out the flies." That 
 they had such anciently cannot be doubted. Thus 
 when Judith had beheaded Holofernes in his bed. she 
 pulled down the mosquito net wherein he did lie in his 
 drunkenness from the pillars. Judith, xhi. 9. 15. So 
 Horace, speaking of the Roman soldiers serving under 
 Cleopatra queen of Egypt, says,
 
 1 SAMUEL. 209 
 
 Interque signa (turpe ! ) militaria 
 
 Sol aspicit Conopeum. JSpod. ix. 15. 
 
 Amidst the Roman eagles Sol surveyed 
 (O shame! ) tli Egyptian canopy displayed. Fkancis. 
 
 Abarbanel and Abendana both say, that women in 
 those times were accustomed to have figures made in the 
 likeness of their husbands, that when they were absent 
 from them, they might have their image to look upon. 
 If this was the case, most probably Michael's image was 
 one of this kind. 
 
 No. 316. — xx. 5. New moon.~] " As soon as the new 
 moon was either consecrated or appointed to be ob- 
 served, notice was given by the sanhedrim to the rest 
 of the nation, what day had been fixed for the new moon, 
 or first day of the month, because that was to be the 
 rule and measure, according to which they were obliged 
 to keep their feasts and fasts in every month respect- 
 ively. This notice was given to them in time of peace, 
 by firing beacons set up for that purpose, (which was 
 looked upon as the readiest way of communication,) but 
 in time of war, when all places were full of enemies, 
 who made use of beacons to amuse our nation with, it 
 was thought fit to discontinue it, and to delegate some 
 men on purpose to go and signify it to as many as they 
 possibly could reach, before the time commanded for 
 the observation of the feast or fast was expired." Levi's 
 Mites and Ceremonies of the Jews, p. 25. 
 
 No. 317. — xx. 30. Thou son of the perverse rebellious 
 'woman.'] In the East, when they are angry with a 
 person, they abuse and vilify his parents. Saul thought 
 of nothing but venting his anger against Jonathan, nor 
 had any design to reproach his wife personally; the 
 mention of her was only a vehicle by which, according 
 to oriental modes, he was to convey his resentment 
 
 VOL. I. p
 
 210 1 SAMUEL. 
 
 against Jonathan into the minds of those about him. 
 Harmer, vol. ii. p. 492. 
 
 An instance of the prevalence of the same principle 
 in Africa, which induced Saul thus to express himself 
 to Jonathan, occurs in the travels of Mungo Park. 
 " Maternal affection is every where conspicuous among 
 the Africans, and creates a correspondent return of ten- 
 derness in the child. Strike me, said my attendant, 
 but do not curse my mother. The same sentiment, I 
 found universally to prevail, and observed in all parts of 
 Africa, that the greatest affront which could be offered 
 to a negro was to reflect on her who gave him birth." 
 Travels, p. 264. 
 
 No. 318. — xx. 41. And fell on his face to the ground."] 
 Such prostrations as these were very common in the 
 East. Stewart, in his Journey to Mequinez, says, " We 
 marched towards the emperor with our music playing, 
 till we came within about eighty yards of him ; when 
 the old monarch alighting from his horse, prostrated 
 himself on the ground to pray, and continued some 
 minutes with his face so close to the earth, that when 
 we came up to him, the dust remained upon his nose." 
 See Newbery's Collection, vol. xvii. p. 139. 
 
 No. 319. — xxi. 13. And he changed his behaviour 
 before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands.'] 
 David is not the only instance of this kind. Among the 
 Easterns, Baihasus the Arabian, surnamed Naama, had 
 several of his brethren killed, whose death he wanted 
 to revenge. In order to it he feigned himself mad, till 
 at length he found an opportunity of executing his 
 intended revenge, by killing all who had a share in the 
 murder of his brethren. (Anthol. Vet. Hamasa, p. 535. 
 edit. Schidten.) Amongst the Greeks, Ulysses is said 
 to have counterfeited madness, to prevent Ins going to
 
 1 SAMUEL. 211 
 
 the Trojan war. Solon also, the great Athenian law- 
 giver, practised the same deceit, and by appearing in 
 the dress and with the air of a madman, and sindne a 
 song to the Athenians, carried his point, and got the 
 law repealed that prohibited, under the penalty of 
 death, any application to the people for the recovery 
 of Salamis. Plut. ViU Solo?i. p. 82. Chandler's Life 
 of David, vol. i. p. 102. note. 
 
 No. 320. — xxii. 2. And every one that was in debt.~] 
 It appears to have been -usual in ancient times for such 
 persons as are described in this verse to devote them- 
 selves to the perpetual service of some great man. The 
 Gauls in particular are remarked for this practice. 
 Plerique, cum aut cere alieno, out magnitudine tribu- 
 torum, aut injuria potentiorum premantur, sese in ser- 
 vitutem dicant nobilibus, fyc. Cjesar de Bello Gall. lib. 
 vi. cap. 13. 
 
 No. 321. — -xxii. 6. Under a tree. ,] However common 
 it might be for the generality of persons, when travel- 
 ling, to take up with a temporary residence under a 
 tree, it seems extraordinary that kings and princes 
 should not be better accommodated; yet according to 
 eastern customs it is perfectly natural. Thus when 
 Pococke was travelling in the company of the Governor 
 of Faiume, who was treated with great respect as he 
 passed along, they spent one night in a grove of palm- 
 trees. Harmer, vol. ii. p. 127. 
 
 No. 322. — xxii. 6. Having his spear in his hand J] 
 By his spear is to be understood his sceptre, according 
 to the mode of expression prevalent in these times. 
 So Justin, (lib. xliii. cap. 3.) speaking of the first times 
 ' of the Romans, says, Per ea adhuc tempora reges hastas 
 pro diademate habebant, quas Grceci sceptra direre, fyc. 
 
 p 2
 
 212 1 SAMUEL. 
 
 " In those days kings hitherto had spears as signs of 
 royal authority, which the Greeks called sceptres : for 
 in the beginning of things, the ancients worshipped 
 spears for immortal gods ; in memory of which reli- 
 gion, spears are still added to the images of the gods." 
 Thus the kings of Argos, according to Pausanias, 
 called their sceptres spears. 
 
 No. 323. — xxii. 1 7. The Icing said unto the footmen.^ 
 ** In ancient times it was as much a custom for great 
 men to do execution upon offenders, as it is now an usual 
 thing for them to pronounce sentence. They had not 
 then (as we have now) such persons as the Romans called 
 carnifices, or public executioners ; and therefore Saul bade 
 such as waited on him to kill the priests, and Doeg, one 
 of his chief officers, did it." Patrick, in loc. 
 
 No. 324-. — xxiv. 12. The Lord judge between me and 
 theeJ] Full of reverence as the eastern addresses are, 
 and especially those to the great, in some points they are 
 not so scrupulous as w r e are in the west. An inferior's 
 mentioning of himself before he names his superior is an 
 instance of this kind. Chardin assures us, that it is 
 customary among the Persians for the speaker to name 
 himself first. Thus David spoke to Saul, even when he 
 so reverenced him, that he stooped with his face to the 
 earth, and bowed himself, {Gen, xxiii. 15. compared 
 with ver. 6. is a similar instance.) Harmer, vol. ii. 
 p. 41. 
 
 No. 325. — xxv. 11. Shall I then take my bread, and 
 my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, 
 and give unto men whom I know not whence they are ?] 
 Water is considered as an important part of the provision 
 made for a repast, and is sent as such to shearers and
 
 1 SAMUEL. 213 
 
 reapers in particular. The words of Nabal in rep 1 *' to 
 David's messengers are not in the least surprising. The 
 following passage from Mr. Drummond's T?~avels 9 
 p. 216. affords proof of their propriety. " The men 
 and women were then employed in reaping, and this 
 operation they perform by cutting off the ears, and 
 pulling up the stubble ; which method has been always 
 followed in the East : other females were busy in carrying 
 water to the reapers, so that none but infants were un- 
 employed." Harmer, vol. i. p. 372. 
 
 No. 326. — xxvi. 5. And Saul lay in the trench, and 
 the people pitched round about him.'] An Arab camp is 
 always round when the disposition of the ground will 
 admit it, the prince being in the middle, and the Arabs 
 about him at a respectful distance. Their lances were 
 fixed near them in the ground all the day, ready for 
 action. (D'Arvieux, Voy. dans la Pal. p. 173.) Such 
 was probably the situation of Saul. (Harmer, vol. ii, 
 p. 245.) 
 
 Volney (Voyage, torn. i. p. 364>.) says, " The form of 
 the camps (of the Bedoween Arabs) is an irregular 
 round, consisting of a single range of tents placed at a 
 greater or less distance from each other." Grotius ob- 
 serves that kings, when absent from home, used to sleep 
 in their chariots. 
 
 " Presently the sheik of Bethoor made his appear- 
 ance, and a conversation began between him and the 
 Arab who had undertaken to escort us through his 
 territory. Then they all formed a circle, seated upon 
 the ground in the open air: the sheik being in the 
 centre, with an iron mace or sceptre in his hand, about 
 three feet in length, with a ball at the upper extremity 
 so longitudinally grooved as to exhibit edges on every 
 side." Clarke's Travels, vol. ii. p. 637. 
 
 p 3
 
 214 I SAMUEL. 
 
 No. 327. — xxvi. 7. And behold, Said lay sleeping in 
 the trench, and his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster ; 
 but Abncr ana I the people lay round about him.] A de- 
 scription very similar to this is given by Homer of 
 Diomed sleeping in his arms, with his soldiers about 
 him, and the spears sticking upright in the earth. 
 
 Without his tent bold Diomed they found, 
 
 All sheatlid in arms, his brave companions round J • 
 
 Each sunk in sleep, extended on the field, 
 
 His head reclining on his bossy shield: 
 
 A ivood of spears stood by, that, fix 1 A upright, 
 
 Shot from their flashing points a quivering light. 11. iii. 89. Pope, 
 
 The circumstance of the spears being fixed in the ground 
 might be in conformity to the usual practice of warriors. 
 Silius Italicus gives some such account of Mago, the 
 brother of Hannibal, in his camp. 
 
 Nee degener ille 
 Belligeri ritus taurino membra jacebat, 
 Effultus tergo et mulcebat tristia somno. 
 Haud procul hasta viri terrae defisa propinqual. Lib. vii. v. 2 91, 
 
 Nor he, degenerate 
 From martial rites, stretch'd on an ox's hide, 
 Forgot his cares in sleep : and near him stood, 
 Fix'd in the ground his spear. 
 
 See also Pope's Homer, II. 10. the account of the 
 Thracians. 
 Virgil, JEn. vi. 652. 
 
 Slant terra defixae hastas. 
 
 Defigunt tellure hastas, et scuta reclinant. JEn. xii. 131. 
 Hastam solo defige. Seneca, Phceniss. 470. 
 
 Fixaque silet gravibus in hasta. Valerius Flaccus, iv. 283. 
 
 These spears had two points ; one, with which they 
 struck; the other, perhaps blunter, called ^«upwT»jp,
 
 1 SAMUEL. 215 
 
 tyhich they stuck into the ground. Sometimes the 
 %oLvpoorrip was a hollow and pointed iron, which was 
 stuck into the ground, and the spear was put into it, as 
 a candle into a socket. 
 
 See also Virgil, JEn. ix. 609. Appollonius, hi. 1285. 
 
 No. 328. — xxvi. 20. Hunt a partridge.'] The ac- 
 count given by Dr. Shaw (Travels, p. 236.) of the 
 manner of hunting partridges and other birds by the 
 Arabs, affords an excellent comment on these words : 
 " The Arabs have another, though a more laborious 
 method of catching these birds ; for observing that they 
 become languid and fatigued after they have been hastily 
 put up twice or thrice, they immediately run in upon 
 them, and knock them down with their zerwattys, or 
 bludgeons, as we should call them." It was precisely in 
 this manner that Saul hunted David, coming hastily upon 
 him, and putting him up from time to time, in hopes 
 that he should at length, by frequent repetitions of it, be 
 able to destroy him. 
 
 Egmont and Heyman (vol. ii. p. 49.) give an account 
 of the manner of taking snipes in the Holy Land, very 
 much like the Arab way of catching partridges. They 
 say that if the company be numerous they may be hunted 
 on horseback, as they are then never suffered to rest till 
 they are so tired that you may almost take them in your 
 hand. But snipes delight in watery places. David 
 therefore being in dry deserts, might rather mention the 
 partridge, of which there are more species than one in 
 the East, some of which, at least, haunt mountainous 
 and desert places. Harmer, vol. i. p. 318. 
 
 No. 329. — xxvii. 9. And David smote the land, and 
 left neither man nor 'woman alive.~\ Camillus, after the 
 burning of Rome by Brennus the Gaul, beat his army 
 in two battles, and made such a thorough slaughter of 
 
 p 4
 
 215 i SAMUEL. 
 
 them, as that there was not a messenger left to carry 
 the news of their destruction. (Liv. 1. v. c. 49.) In 
 like manner Mummiiis the Roman general, when the 
 Lusitanians had invaded some of the allies of Rome, 
 killed fifteen thousand of those ravagers, and, just as 
 David did, killed all those who were carrying away the 
 booty, so that he did not suffer a single messenger to 
 escape the carnage. (Appian. al. de Bell. Hispan. 
 p. 485.) In like manner Gelo gave orders to take none 
 of the Carthaginians alive ; and they were so entirely 
 cut offj that not so much as a messenger was left alive 
 to escape to Carthage. (Djodor. Sic. 1. xi. § 33.) 
 Chandler's Life of David, vol. i. p. 220. note. 
 
 No. 330. — xxviii. 7» A woman that hath a familiar 
 spirit**] These pretenders to call up the spirits of the 
 dead were not unfrequent amongst the heathens. We 
 have an instance mentioned by Herodotus (1. v. c. 29.) 
 of Melissa the wife of Periander, who was thus raised up, 
 and who discovered the deposit, that Periander was soli- 
 citous to know where it had been concealed. 
 
 Medea in Ovid boasts, 
 
 Quorum ope, quum volui, jubeoque tremiscere montes, 
 Et mugire solum, manesque exire sepulchris. 
 
 Metam. l.vii. 199. 205. 
 
 See also Homer, Odyss. xi. Virgil, 2En. vi. and 
 Tibullus, 1. i. el. 2. 
 
 No. 331. — xxxi. 10. They fastened his body to the 
 wall of Bcth-shan.~] After the death of Saul, we are 
 informed that they fastened his body to the wall of 
 Beth-shan. Capital offences were sometimes punished 
 by throwing the criminal upon hooks that were fixed in 
 the wall below, where frequently they hung in the most 
 exquisite agonies thirty or forty hours, before they ex-
 
 1 SAMUEL. 217 
 
 pired. The exposure of the body of Saul might be 
 nothing more, than the fixing of it to such hooks as were 
 placed there for the execution of their criminals. 
 
 No. 332. — xxxi. 10. And they put his armour in 
 the House of Ashtaroth.~\ The custom of dedicating to 
 the gods the spoils of a conquered enemy, and placing 
 them in their temples as trophies of victory, is very an- 
 cient. Tryphiodorus intimates this, when he says, that 
 some of the Trojans were for consecrating the horse. 
 
 Eager they urge within some hallow' d shrine, 
 
 To fix it sacred to the powers divine ; 
 
 That future Greeks, ivhile they the steed survey 'd, 
 
 Might curse the battle, ivhere their fathers bled. Merrick. 
 
 Homer represents Hector promising that, if he should 
 conquer Ajax in single combat, he would dedicate his 
 spoils to Apollo. 
 
 And if Apollo, in whose aid I trust, 
 
 Shall stretch your daring champion in the dust, 
 
 If mine the glory to despoil the foe, 
 
 On Phoebus' temple VII his arms bestow. Pope. 
 
 Other instances occur in Virgil, 2En. vii. 183. Per- 
 sius, Satyr vi. 45. See also 1 Sam. xxi. 9. 
 
 Those who had escaped shipwreck, or any dangerous 
 fit of sickness, usually hung up in the temple of Isis 
 tablets, on which was described the manner of their de- 
 liverance or cure. 
 
 Nunc, dea, nunc succurre mini; nam posse mederi 
 Picta docet templis multa tabella tuis. 
 
 Tibullus, 1. i. el. 3. 
 
 That you can ev'ry mortal ill remove, 
 The numerous tablets in your temple prove. 
 
 See also Horace, b. i. Od. v. 1 3.
 
 218 1 SAMUEL. 
 
 Pausanias says the architraves of the temple of Apollo 
 at Delphi were decorated with golden armours, bucklers 
 suspended by the Athenians after the battle of Marathon, 
 and shields taken from the Gauls under Brennus. 
 Chandler's Travels in Greece, p. 262. So in modern 
 times, Sandys, p. 25. speaks of one of the gates of the 
 seraglio at Constantinople being " hung with shields and 
 scimitars" See more in Harmer's Observations^ voL ii. 
 p. 518.
 
 C 219 ] 
 
 No, 333.-2 SAMUEL, i. 2. 
 
 And earth upon his head, 
 
 T N several passages of Scripture mention is made of dust 
 strewed on the head, as a token of mourning. Joshua, 
 vii. 6. Job, ii. 1 2. or earth, 2 Sam, i. 2. or rapes carried 
 on the head, as a token of submission, 1 Kings, xx. 31. 
 The following instance is remarkably analogous to these 
 acts of humiliation : " He then descended the mountain, 
 carrying, as is the custom of the country, for vanquished 
 rebels, a stone upon his head, as confessing himself 
 guilty of a capital crime." Bruce's Travels, vol. ii. 
 p. 650. 
 
 When Edward the Third captured Calais, the six prin- 
 cipal citizens presented to him the keys of the town, with 
 ropes round their necks. That this was a Persian custom 
 appears from Herodotus ; he informs us, that " on the 
 tenth day after the surrender of the citadel of Memphis, 
 Psammenitus, the Egyptian king, who had reigned no 
 more than six months, was by order of Cambyses, igno- 
 miniously conducted, with other Egyptians, to the out- 
 side of the walls, and by way of trial of his disposition, 
 thus treated : his daughter, in the habit of a slave, was 
 sent with a pitcher to draw water ; she was accompanied 
 by a number of young women clothed in the same garb, 
 and selected from families of the first distinction. They 
 passed with much and loud lamentation, before their 
 parents, from whom their treatment excited a correspon- 
 dent violence of grief: but, when Psammenitus beheld 
 the spectacle, he merely declined his eyes upon the 
 ground : when this train was gone by, the son of Psam- 
 menitus, with two thousand Egyptians of the same age,
 
 220 2 SAMUEL. 
 
 were made to walk in procession, 'with ropes round their 
 necks, and bridles in their mouths" Thalia, c. 14. See 
 1 Kings, xx. 31, 32. 
 
 The young warriors of the Catti wore a ring, as a 
 badge of the vow, which they usually made to kill an 
 enemy. Tacitus, de Mor. Germ. c. 31. 
 
 No. 334. — i. 12. And, they mourned and wept, and 
 fasted until even, for Saul, and for Jonathan his son.~\ 
 History has recorded similar instances of conduct in per- 
 sons remarkable for their military greatness. When the 
 mangled body of Darius was brought to Alexander, and 
 he had taken a view of it, his historians remark that he 
 openly expressed his sorrow for his misfortunes, and 
 shed tears over a prince, that died in a manner so un- 
 worthy his former rank and dignity. (Plutarch, Vit, 
 Alex. p. 690. i In like manner when Caesar saw the 
 head of his son-in-law Pcmpey, after it had been separ- 
 ated from his body, forgetting that he had been his 
 enemy, he put on the countenance of a father-in-law, 
 and paid the tribute of tears due to Pompey and his own 
 daughter. (Valer. Max. 1. v. c. 10.) Augustus also 
 when he heard of the death of Antony, retreated into 
 the innermost part of his tent, and wept over the man 
 that had been his relation, fellow- consul, and companion 
 in many public affairs. (Liv. Hist. 1. 25. c. 24. § 15.) 
 See other cases cited in Chandler's History of Davia\ 
 vol. i. p. 278. note. 
 
 No. 335. — i. 16. Thy blood be upon thy head."] The 
 malediction expressed in these words occurs in the same 
 sense in other passages of Scripture, particularly Josh. ii. 
 1 9. and 1 Kings, ii. 37. It appears to have been cus- 
 tomary so to speak both with the Jews and Greeks, as 
 repeated instances of it are found in the best writers of 
 the last mentioned people. Homer has this expression :
 
 2 SAMUEL. 221 
 
 which you shall wipe upon your own head, or, as Eusta- 
 thius explains it, a crime which you shall make to cleave 
 to your own head. A similar expression occurs in 
 Sophocles : 
 
 xa,7Ti A«]potcnv Kafx 
 
 From whence it appears, that the blood which was found 
 upon the sword was wiped upon the head of the slain ; 
 an intimation that his own blood was fallen upon the 
 head of the deceased, and that the living were free from 
 it. It was usual with the Romans to wash their hands 
 in token of innocence and purity from blood. Thus the 
 Roman governor washed his hands, and said respecting 
 Christ, / am innocent of the blood of this just person. 
 Matt, xxvii. 24. 
 
 No. 336. — i. 17. And David lamented with this la- 
 mentation over Saul, and. over Jonathan his so7i.~] Thre- 
 netic strains on the untimely decease of royal and eminent 
 personages were of high antiquity amongst the Asiatics. 
 Instances of this kind frequently occur in the sacred writ- 
 ings. See 1 Kings, xiii. 30. Jer. ix. 17. Amos, v. 
 1, 2. 16. They are also to be met with in profane 
 authors : as in Euripides ; Iphigenia in Taur. ver. 177. 
 Orestes, ver. 1402. 
 
 No. 337. — iii. 31. The bier. ,] The word here trans- 
 lated the bier is in the original the bed : on these persons 
 of quality used to be carried forth to their graves, as com- 
 mon people were upon a bier. Kings were sometimes 
 carried out upon beds very richly adorned ; as Josephus 
 tells us that Herod was ; he says the bed was all gilded, 
 set with precious stones, and that it had a purple cover 
 curiously wrought.
 
 2 SAMUEL. 
 
 " The Christians (at Aleppo) are (still) carried to their 
 grave on an open bier — the Jews on a covered one.' 1 
 -ell, p. 130. 132. occ. Vid Geierum de Liictu 
 Hebrcvorum, cap. v. Warnekros Antiquitates Hebrce- 
 orum, cap. Hi. § 5. p. 386. Josephus, Ant. lib. xvii. 
 cap. viii. § 3. and De Bel. lib. i. cap. xxxiii. § 9. Comp. 
 Homer, II. xxiv. lin. 720. 
 
 No. 338.' — iii. 34. Thy hands Were not bound, nor 
 thy feet put into fetter$.~\ The feet as well as the hands 
 of criminals were usually secured, when they were brought 
 out to be punished. Thus when Irwin was in Upper 
 Egypt, where he was ill used by some Arabs, one of 
 whom was afterwards punished for it, he tells us, ( Trcre. 
 p. 271. note,) " the prisoner is placed upright on the 
 ground, with his hands and feet bound together, while 
 the executioner stands before him, and with a short stick 
 strikes him with a smart motion on the outside of his 
 knees. The pain which arises from these strokes is ex- 
 quisitively severe, and which no constitution can sup- 
 port for any continuance." Harmer, vol. iv. p. 205. 
 
 No. 339. — iii. 35. And when all the people came to 
 cause David to eat meat, ixhile it was yet day — ] This 
 was the usual practice of the Hebrews, whose friends 
 commonly visited them after the funeral was over, to 
 comfort the surviving relations, and send in provisions to 
 make a feast. It was supposed that they were so sorrow- 
 ful as not to be able to think of their necessary food. 
 Jer. xvi. 5. 7, 8. Ezek. xxiv. 17. Patrick, in loc. 
 The food that was thus sent contracted pollution by being 
 in the same place with a dead body. See Numb. xix. 14. 
 Hos. ix. 4. 
 
 No. 340. — iv. 12. And David commanded his yotmg 
 men, and they slew them, and cut off their hands and their
 
 2 SAMUEL. 223 
 
 feet, and hung them tip over the pool in Hebron.] In 
 times of tumult and disorder they frequently cut off ihe 
 •hands and feet of people, and afterwards exposed them, 
 as well s the head. Lady M; \Y. Montague, speak- 
 ing of the Turkish ministers of state, {Let. ii. 19.) 
 says, " if a minister displeases the people, in three hours 
 time he is dragged even from his master's arms ; they cut 
 off his hands, head, and feet, and throw them before the 
 palace gate, with all the respect in the world, while the 
 sultan (to whom they all profess an unlimited adoration) 
 Mts trembling in his apartment." Thus were the sons of 
 Rimmon served for slaying Ishbosheth. Harmer, vol. ii. 
 p. 272. 
 
 Xo. 341. — v. 6 — 8. Wherefore they said, the blind 
 and the lame shall not come into the house.'] Mr. Gregory 
 (Works, p. 29.) observes, that it was customary in almost 
 every nation, at the founding of a city, to lay up an image 
 magically consecrated, (or talisman,) in some retired part 
 of it, on which the security of the place was to depend. 
 The knowledge of this practice he supposes will clearly 
 illustrate the passage now referred to. 
 
 Several Jewish writers agree that the blind and lame 
 were images, and that these epithets were bestowed on 
 them in derision. Psalm cxv. 5. 7. They were of brass, 
 and are said to have had inscriptions upon them. They 
 were set up in a recess of the fort. Though in scorn 
 called the blind and the lame, yet they were so surely 
 entrusted with the keeping of the place, that if they did 
 not hold it out, the Jebusites said, they should not come 
 into the house : that is, they would never again connnit 
 the safety of the fort to such palladia as these. 
 
 No. 342. — vi. 1 4. And David danced before the Lord 
 •with all his might.] Upon this circumstance the Jews 
 have grounded a ridiculous custom. Iu the evening of
 
 224 2 SAMUEL. 
 
 the day on which they drew water out of the pool of 
 Siloam, those who were esteemed the wise men of Israel, 
 the elders of the Sanhedrim, the rulers of the synagogues, 
 and the doctors of the schools, met in the court of the 
 temple. All the temple music played, and the old men 
 danced, while the women in the balconies round the 
 court, and the men on the ground were spectators. All 
 the sport was to see these venerable fathers of the nation 
 skip and dance, clap their hands and sing ; and they who 
 played the fool most egregiously acquitted themselves 
 with most honour. In this manner they spent the 
 greater part of the night, till at length two priests 
 sounded a retreat with trumpets. This mad festivity 
 was" repeated every evening, except on the evening be- 
 fore the sabbath, which fell in this festival, and on the 
 evening before the last and great day of the feast. Jen- 
 nings's Jewish Antiq. vol. ii. p. 235. 
 
 Strabo tells us that it was customary among the 
 Greeks, as well as other nations, to use music and 
 dancing in their processions before their gods. (Lib. x.) 
 Callimachus mentions the chori, and dancings of the 
 youth at the altar of Apollo. Plato observes that 
 among the Egyptians, all kinds of music, songs, and 
 dances were consecrated to their gods. (De Leg. lib. iii.) 
 And even Lucian (De Saltatione) expressly says, that 
 among the ancients, no ceremonial of religion, no expi- 
 ation, no atonement was accounted rightly accomplished 
 without dancing. 
 
 No. 343. — vii. 18. Sat before the Lord."] Pococke 
 (vol. i. p. 213.) has given the figure of a person half sit- 
 ting and half kneeling, that is, kneeling so as to rest the 
 most muscular part of his body on his heels. This, he 
 observes, is the manner in which inferior persons sit at 
 this day before great men, and is considered as a very 
 humble posture. In this manner probably David sat 
 
 13
 
 2 SAMUEL. 225 
 
 before the Lord, when he went into the sanctuary to 
 bless him for his promise respecting his family. Har- 
 jvier, vol. ii. p. 58. 
 
 No. 344. — viii. 2. Casting them down to the gi*ound.~] 
 The opinion of the learned authors of the Universal 
 History, (Anc. Hist. vol. ii. p. 135. note 5.) is, that 
 David caused them to fall down flat, or prostrate on the 
 ground. Le Clerc also says, that it seems to have been 
 the manner of the eastern kings towards those they 
 conquered, especially those that had incurred their dis- 
 pleasure, to command their captives to lie down on the 
 ground, and then to put to death such a part of them as 
 were measured by a line. Both Dr. Chandler {Life 
 of David, vol. ii. p. 157. note,)and Bp. Patrick (Cozi- 
 ment. in loc.) are of opinion, that there is no evidence to 
 prove the existence of such a practice amongst the 
 Hebrews. 
 
 No. 345. — x. 4. Shaved off one half of their beards.'] 
 It is a great mark of infamy amongst the Arabs to cut 
 off the beard. Many people would prefer death to this 
 kind of treatment. As they would think it a grievous 
 punishment to lose it, they carry things so far as to beg 
 for the sake of it : By your beard, by the life of your 
 beard do. God preserve your blessed beard. When they 
 would express their value for a thing, they say, it- is worth 
 more than his beard. These things shew the energy of 
 that thought of Ezekiel, (ch. v. ver. 1. 5.) where the in- 
 habitants of Jerusalem are compared to the hair of his 
 head and beard. It intimates that though they had been 
 as dear to God as the beard was to the Jews, yet they 
 should be consumed and destroyed. (Harmer, vol. ii. 
 p. 55.) When Peter the Great attempted to civilize the 
 Russians, and introduced the manners and fashions of 
 the more refined parts of Europe, nothing met with 
 
 vol. i. Q
 
 226 2 SAMUEL. 
 
 more opposition than the cutting off of their beards, and 
 many of those, who were obliged to comply with this com- 
 mand, testified such great veneration for their beards, as 
 to order them to be buried with them. Irwin also, in 
 his Voyage up the Red Sea, (p. 40.) says, that at signing 
 a treaty of peace with the vizier of Yambo, they swore 
 by their beards, the most solemn oath they can take. 
 TfArvieux gives a remarkable instance of an Arab, who, 
 having received a wound in his jaw, chose to hazard his 
 life rather than to suffer his surgeon to take off his beard. 
 From all these representations it may easily be collected 
 how great the insult w r as which Hanun put upon David's 
 servants. It was one of the most infamous punishments 
 of cowardice in Sparta, that they who turned their backs 
 in the day of battle, were obliged to appear abroad with 
 one half of their beard shaved, and the other half un- 
 shaved. The Easterns considered the beard as vener- 
 able, because it distinguished men from women, and was 
 the mark of free men in opposition to slaves. See Ta- 
 vernier's Voyages to the Indies, part ii. b. ii. c. 7. 
 
 " When two particular friends or relations among 
 the Moors in Morocco meet, they anxiously embrace, 
 and hiss each other's faces and beards for a few minutes." 
 (Encyclopced. Britan. in Morocco, No. 43. ad fin.) We 
 find traces of the same custom among the ancient Greeks. 
 Agreeably to which, when Thetis is supplicating Jupiter 
 in Homer, II. i. lin. 501., she takes him by the chin or 
 beard wdth her right hand, 
 
 ^E^iTSf n ^ u,£ viz" avSEgfcuvo, t\e<rx. 
 
 One hand she placed 
 
 Beneath his beard Pope. 
 
 Comp. //. viii. lin. 371. 
 
 And when the spy Dolon, in //. x. lin. 454., was de- 
 tected by Diomed, —
 
 2 SAMUEL. 227 
 
 ■ The wretch prepared 
 
 With humble blandishment to stroke his beard. Pope. 
 
 Pliny mentions it as a general custom of the ancient 
 jreeks to touch the chins of those whom they suppli- 
 ated. Nat. Hist. lib. xi. c. 35. 
 
 No. 346. — xi. 4. And David sent messengers and 
 ook 7ier.~] The kings of Israel appear to have taken 
 heir wives with very great ease. This is quite consist- 
 nt with the account given in general of the manner in 
 irhich eastern princes form matrimonial alliances. " The 
 :ing, in his marriage, uses no other ceremony than this : 
 le sends an azagi to the house where the lady lives, 
 vhere the officer announces to her, it is the king's plea- 
 ure that she should remove instantly to the palace. She 
 hen dresses herself in the best manner, and immediately 
 >beys. Thenceforward he assigns her an apartment in 
 he palace, and gives her a house elsewhere in any part 
 he chooses. Then when he makes her iteghe, it seems 
 o be the nearest resemblance to marriage; for whether 
 n the court or the camp, he orders one of the judges to 
 ironounce in 4iis presence, that he, the king, has chosen 
 lis handmaid, naming her, for his queen : upon which 
 he crown is put on her head, but she is not anointed.'* 
 Jruce's Travels, vol. iii. p. 87. 
 
 No. 347. — xii. 20. David arose from the earth.] 
 2hardi:n informs us, that " it is usual in the East to 
 eave a relation of a person deceased to weep and mourn, 
 ill on the third or fourth day at farthest, the relations 
 ind friends go to see him, cause him to eat, lead him 
 o a bath, and cause him to put on new vestments, he 
 laving before thrown himself upon the ground." The 
 52 2
 
 228 2 SAMUEL. 
 
 surprise of David's servants, who had seen his bitter 
 anguish while the child was sick, was excited at his 
 doing that himself, which it was customary for the friends 
 of mourners to do for them. Harmer, vol. ii. p. 495. 
 
 This was also the custom of the Persians. They 
 mourned forty days : and for a relation or a friend, it 
 was denoted by a total negligence of dress, without any 
 regard to the colour : during the forty days they affected 
 not to shave, and refused to change their clothes. Gold- 
 smith's Geography, p. 220. 
 
 No. 348. — xii. 23. But 7ioxv he is dead wherefore 
 should I fast P Can I bring him back again P~] Mai- 
 monides says, that the Jews did not lament infants, who 
 died before they were thirty days old; but carried them 
 in their arms to the grave, with one woman and two 
 men to attend them, without saying the usual prayers 
 over them, or the consolations for mourners. But if 
 an infant were above thirty days old when it died, they 
 carried it out on a small bier, and stood over it in 
 order, and said both the prayers and consolations. If 
 it were a year old, then it was carried out upon a bed. 
 This custom Gierus thinks that David followed, in 
 making no mourning for his child when it was dead. 
 Bp. Patrick however doubts whether the practice were so 
 ancient as to have prevailed in his reign. 
 
 No. 349. — xiii. 8. She took Jiour, and kneaded itJ\ 
 Mr. Parkhurst (Hebrew Lexicon, p. 413. 3d edit.) 
 supposes this passage is to be understood of the frequent 
 turning of the cakes while baking. This appears to 
 have been the common method of preparing them, for 
 Rauwolff, speaking of his entertainment in a tent on 
 the other side of the Euphrates, says, " the woman was 
 not idle neither, but brought us milk and eggs to eat, 
 so that we wanted for nothing. She made also some
 
 2 SAMUEL. 229 
 
 ough for cakes, and laid them on hot stones, and kept 
 lem turning, and at length she flung the ashes and 
 mbers over them and so baked them thoroughly. They 
 r ere very good to eat, and very savoury." 
 
 No. 350. — xiii. 18. Garment of divers colours.'] Party- 
 oloured vestments were esteemed honourable. To make 
 hem, many pieces of different coloured ribbands were 
 swed together. (Shaw's Trav. p. 228.) Kings' daughters 
 fere thus arrayed. Harmer, vol. ii. p. 91. 
 
 No. 351.— xiii. 19. And Tamar put ashes on her 
 lead.] This was a general practice with the people of 
 he East, in token of the extremity of sorrow, and was 
 lommon both to the Hebrews and the Greeks. Job, ii. 12. 
 They rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon 
 heir heads toK)a?-ds heaven. Ezek. xxvii. 30. And shall 
 :ast up dust upon their heads. Homer affords some 
 nstances of the same kind, as it respects the Greeks, 
 Of Achilles bewailing the death of Patroclus, he says : 
 
 A^oti^G-i, Iz x*f™ &«>* KONIN AI0AAOE2XAN 
 
 XsuaTO xa,K •/.s'QciXyjs, %apisv ^' nxj/uvs 'Hfoo-WTror 
 
 NtKlafW h p^-rovi ft&OUV upQifan TE0>PH. 27. 18. 22, 
 
 Cast on the ground with furious hands he spread 
 The scorching ashes o'er his graceful head. 
 His fragrant vest the sooty show'r defiles. 
 
 And of Laertes : 
 
 Deep from his soul he sigHd, and sorrowing spread 
 
 A cloud of ashes on his hoary head. Odyss. xxiv.369. Pope. 
 
 Let men lament and implore ever so much, or pour 
 ever so much dust upon their heads, God will not grant 
 what ought not to be granted, Maximus TyriuSj 
 Diss. xxx. p. 366. 
 
 S 3
 
 230 2 SAMUEL. 
 
 No. 352. — xiv. 17. As an angel of God so is my 
 lord the king, to discern good and bad.'] Chardin 
 relates a circumstance concerning some commercial 
 transactions which he had with the king of Persia, in 
 which he expressed himself dissatisfied with the valu- 
 ation which the king had put upon a rich trinket, in 
 answer to which the grand master replied, " Know that 
 the kings of Persia have a general and full knowledge 
 of matters, as sure as it is extensive ; and that equally in 
 the greatest and smallest things there is nothing more 
 just and sure than what they pronounce." The know- 
 ledge of this prince, according to this great officer of 
 state, was like that of an angel of God. Harmer, 
 vol.ii. p. 287. 
 
 No. 353. — xiv. 26. He weighed, the hair of his head 
 at two hundred shekels after the king's weight.'] In those 
 days hair was accounted a great ornament, and the 
 longer it was, the more it was esteemed. In after ages 
 art was used to make it grow, and grow thick. They 
 also anointed their hair with fragrant oils, of myrrh, 
 and cinnamon ; and then powdered it with dust of gold: 
 all which made it very ponderous. JosepJnis informs us 
 that such ostentation was in use amongst the Jews : for 
 speaking of the guard which attended Solomon with Jong 
 flowing hair about their shoulders, he says, that they 
 scattered in their hair every day little particles of gold, 
 which made their hair shine and sparkle by the reflection 
 of the rays of the sun upon it. These circumstances 
 may in some measure account for the great weight of 
 Absalom's hair. Patrick, in loc. 
 
 No. 354!. — xv. 30. And had his head covered.] Co- 
 vering the head was used by persons in great distress, 
 or when they were loaded with disgrace and infamy 
 Esther, vi. 12. 2 Sam. xix. 4. Ezeh xii. 6. Thus Darius,
 
 2 SAMUEL. 231 
 
 when he was informed by Tyriotes the eunuch that his 
 queen was dead, and that she had suffered no violence 
 from Alexander, covered his head, and wept a long 
 while, and then throwing off the garment that covered 
 him, gave the gods thanks for Alexander's moderation 
 and justice. (Curtius, 1. iv. c. 10. §33.) So also, when 
 the same prince was in the power of Bessus, who soon 
 after murdered him, he took his leave of Artabazus 
 with his head covered. Id. 1. v. c. 12. § 8. Chandler's 
 Life of David, vol. ii. p. 304?. 
 
 Thus in Homer, {II. xxiv. lin. 163.) Priam, when 
 grieving for his son Hector, is represented 
 
 Close-muffied in his robe. 
 
 So Panthea, the wife of Abradatas, when taken by Cyrus, 
 is described by Xenophon (Cyropced. lib. v.) as sitting 
 Kexci\\v[AsvY) ts, xou bi§ yr\v 6poo<ru, covered with a veil, and 
 looking upon the ground. Isocrates in Trapezit. E7rs<S>j 
 »jXSoju,£v si$ axpo7ro\w, syxu\u^a(j,svo; sxXous, After we were 
 come to the citadel, covering or mivffling himself, he 
 wept. And thus in Plato's Phdedon, towards the end, 
 Eyxakv^u^syoc onrexKuiov s^olvtqv, Muffling, I bemoaned 
 myself. 
 
 No. 355. — xv. 30. And he went barefoot.'] This 
 was an indication of great distress : for in ancient times 
 the shoes of great and wealthy persons were made of 
 very rich materials, and ornamented with jewels, gold, 
 and silver. When any great calamity befel them, either 
 public or private, they not only stripped themselves of 
 these ornaments, but of their very shoes, and walked 
 barefoot. In this manner prisoners taken in war were 
 forced to walk, both for punishment and disgrace. See
 
 •J32 2 SAMUEL. 
 
 BrN^US, de Calccis Hebrceor. 1. ii. c. 5. and Guier, de 
 
 Luct. c. 15. § 4. 
 
 No. 356. — xv. 32. ^>zd earth upon his head.~\ One 
 method whereby submission was formerly expressed was 
 by presenting earth to a conqueror. Hence we find it 
 related of Darius, that being weary of a tedious and 
 fatiguing pursuit, he sent a herald to the king of the 
 Scythians, whose name was Indathyrsus, with this mes- 
 sage in his name : " Prince of the Scythians, wherefore 
 dost thou continually fly "before me ? why dost thou not 
 stop somewhere or other, either to give me battle, if thou 
 believe thyself able to encounter me, or, if thou think 
 thyself too weak, to acknowledge thy master, by pre- 
 senting him with earth and water ?" Rollin, Anc. Hist* 
 vol. hi. p. 31. 
 
 No. 357. — xvii. 17. And a *wench went out and told 
 them.'] In the East, the washing of foul linen is per- 
 formed by women by the sides of rivers and fountains. 
 Dr. Chandler, [Travels in Asia Minor, p. 21.) says, that 
 u the women resort to the fountains by the houses, each 
 with a large two handled earthen jar on her back, or 
 thrown over her shoulder, for water. They assemble at 
 one without the village or town, if no river be near, 
 to wash their linen, which is afterwards spread on the 
 ground or bushes to dry." May not this circumstance, 
 says Mr. Harmer, (vol. iv. p. 438.) serve to confirm 
 the conjecture, that the young woman that was sent to 
 En-rogel went out of the city with a bundle of linen, as 
 if she were going to wash it ? Nothing was more natu- 
 ral, or better calculated to elude jealousy. 
 
 No. 358. — xvi. 13. And cast dust.] When the consul, 
 whom Pococke attended, entered Cairo, " according 
 to an ancient custom of state, a man went before, and
 
 2 SAMUEL. 233 
 
 sprinkled water on the ground to lay the dust." (Vol. i. 
 p. 17.) In hot and dry countries this practice must have 
 been very convenient. If it was used in Judea before the 
 time of David, it will explain Shimei's behaviour, and 
 give it great energy. He threw stones and dust at him, 
 who probably had been honoured by having the ground 
 moistened, that the dust might not rise, when he walked 
 out. So also Acts, xxii. 23. Chardin has made an ob- 
 servation, which places this matter in a different point of 
 view : he says, " that in almost all the East those who 
 accuse a criminal, or demand justice against him, throw 
 dust upon him; as much as to say, he deserves to be put 
 under ground : and it is a common imprecation of the 
 Turks and Persians — Be covered with earth." The Jews 
 certainly thought Paul deserved to die; and Shimei 
 might design to declare by what he did, that David was 
 unworthy to live. Harmer, vol. ii. p. 109. 
 
 No. 359. — xvii. 28. And earthen vessels. - } Speaking 
 of a town called Kenne, Dr. Perry (View of the Levant^ 
 p, 339.) tells us, that its chief manufacture is in bar- 
 dacks, to cool and refresh their water in, by means of 
 which it drinks very cool and pleasant in the hottest 
 seasons of the year. It is not then surprising that ear- 
 then vessels should be presented to David; at least if this 
 were the use for which they were designed. Harmer, 
 vol. ii. p. 12. 
 
 No. 360. -—xvii. 28. Parched com.'] Parched corn 
 is a kind of food still retained in the East, as Hasselquist 
 informs us. " On the road from Acre to Seide we saw a 
 herdsman eating his dinner, consisting of half-ripe ears 
 of wheat, which he roasted and eat with as good an 
 appetite as a Turk does his pillau. In Egypt such food 
 is much eaten by the poor, being the ears of maize or 
 Turkish wheat, and of their durra, which is a kind of
 
 234- 2 SAMUEL. 
 
 millet. When this food was first invented, art was in 
 a simple state: yet the custom is still continued in some 
 nations, where the inhabitants have not even at this time 
 learned to pamper nature." 
 
 No. 361. — xvii. 28, 29. And parched com— for they 
 said, the people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty in the 
 wilderness.'] The flour of parched barley is the chief 
 provision which the Moors of West Barbary make for 
 travelling. It is indeed much used as a part of their 
 diet at home. " What is most used by travellers is 
 zumeet, tumeet, or flour of parched barley for limereece. 
 They are all three made of parched barley-flour, which 
 they carry in a leathern satchel. Zumeet is the flour 
 mixed with honey, butter, and spice: tumeet is the 
 same flour done up with origan oil : and limereece is 
 only mixed with water, and so drank. This quenches 
 thirst much better than water alone, satiates a hungry 
 appetite, cools and refreshes tired and weary spirits, 
 overcoming those ill effects which a hot sun and fatigu- 
 ing journey might occasion." Jones's Account of the Diet 
 of the Moors of West Barbary. Miscell. Cur. vol. iii. 
 p. 390. Mr. Harmer, (vol. i. p. 275.) proposes this ex- 
 tract as an illustration of the passage now cited. 
 
 No. 362. — xviii. 11. / would have given thee ten 
 shekels of silver and a girdle.~\ Rewards are both hono- 
 rary and pecuniary, and a great distinction is with us 
 carefully preserved. But in the East they are generally 
 blended together. Du Tott did many great services to 
 the Turkish empire in the time of their late war with 
 Russia; and the Turks were disposed to acknowledge 
 them by marks of honour. " His Highness," said the 
 first minister, speaking of the grand signor, " has 
 ordered me to bestow on you this public mark of his 
 esteem f and, at the same time he made a sign to the
 
 2 SAMUEL. 235 
 
 master of the ceremonies to invest me with the pelisse, 
 while the hasnadar (or treasurer) presented me with a 
 purse of two hundred sequins. Memoirs, torn. iii. p. 127. 
 Thus Joab would have rewarded an Israeli tish soldier 
 with ten shekels of silver and a girdle. The girdle 
 would have been an honorary reward ; the ten shekels 
 would have been a pecuniary one. Harmer, vol. iii. 
 p. 363. 
 
 No. 363. « — xviii. 18. Now Absalom in his life-time 
 had taken and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in 
 the king's dale ,« for he said, I have no son to keep my name 
 in remembrancer^ There seems to have prevailed 
 amongst almost all nations a common sentiment of re- 
 spect for the dead. The Jews appear to have been in- 
 spired by it equally with other people. The following 
 extract will furnish us with a curious illustration of the 
 fact, and a singular coincidence of circumstances with 
 the case of Absalom. The Scythians and Indians are re- 
 markable for the great veneration which they pay to the 
 memory of their ancestors. " When upbraided by 
 Darius for flying before his army, the former exclaim, 
 pursue us to the sepulchres of our ancestors, and attempt 
 to violate their hallowed remains, and you shall soon 
 find with what desperate valour the Scythians can fight." 
 The Indians, we learn from Mr. Holwell, have so pro- 
 found a veneration for the ashes of their progenitors, 
 that on the fast of Callee worship and offerings are paid 
 to their manes : and Mr. Wilkins, in a note upon the 
 Heetopades, favours us with additional information, that 
 the offerings consisted of consecrated cakes; that the 
 ceremony itself is denominated stradha; and that a 
 Hindoo's hopes of happiness after death greatly depend 
 upon his having children to perform this ceremony, by 
 which he expects that his soul will be released from the 
 torments of naraka or hell. In his sixth note upon the
 
 2 SAMUEL. 
 
 text of the Geeta his account of this ceremony is stili 
 more ample : for in that note he acquaints us that the 
 Hindoos are enjoined by the vedas to offer these cakes to 
 the ghosts of their ancestors, as far back as the third 
 generation; that this greater ceremony of the stradha is 
 performed on the day of the new moon in every month ; 
 but that they are commanded by those books daily to 
 propitiate them by an offering of water, which is called 
 tarpan, a word signifying to satisfy, to appease. A speech 
 of the Indian emperor Dushmanta, in the Sacontala, re- 
 markably exemplifies this observation. That emperor, 
 struck with horror at the idea of dying childless, ex- 
 claims, Ah me, the departed souls of my ancestors, who 
 claim a share in the funeral cake which I have no son to 
 offer, are apprehensive of losing their due honour when 
 Dushmanta shall be no more on earth ; who then, alas, 
 will perform in our family those obsequies which the 
 vedas prescribe ? My forefathers must drink, instead of 
 a pure libation, this flood of tears, the only offering 
 which a man who dies childless can make them." Mau- 
 rice's hid. Ant. vol. ii. p. 80. 
 
 No. 364?. — xix. 8. Then the king arose, and sat in the 
 gate.~\ This custom appears to have been very ancient, 
 and is found in other writings than the sacred books. 
 Homer thus represents Nestor. 
 
 The old man early rose, ivaW 'd forth , and sate 
 
 On ]JoIish'd stone before his palace gate. 
 
 With unguents smooth the lucid marble shone, 
 
 Where ancient Neleus sat, a rustic throne ; 
 
 But he descending to the infernal shade, 
 
 Sage Nestor JiWd it, and the sceptre sway'd. Odyss. i, 518. 
 
 These seats or thrones might be consecrated with oil, 
 to draw reverence to the seats of justice by an act of 
 religion.
 
 2 SAMUEL. 237 
 
 No. 365. — xix. 35. Can I hear any more the ^oice of 
 i singing me?i and singing women ?~\ The Mahometan 
 | caliphs are represented as surrounded by young and 
 I handsome ladies in a morning, with all sorts of instru- 
 ! ments of music in their hands, standing with great 
 modesty and respect ; who, on their sitting up in their 
 beds, in order to rise, prostrate themselves, and those 
 with instruments of music begin a concert of soft flutes, 
 &c. In the halls in which they eat and drink, bands 
 of musicians are supposed to attend them in like manner. 
 {Arabian Nights' Entertainments, vol. ix. p. 20.) Theo- 
 critus has described the same custom as existing amongst 
 the Greeks, and from the words of Barzillai to David 
 it appears, that something of the kind was practised in 
 the court of that king. Forbes's Oriental Memoirs^ 
 vol. i. p. 82. 
 
 Juvenal, Sat. x. lin. 210, &c. mentions the same 
 melancholy circumstance of old age : 
 
 Quae cantante voluptas, 
 
 Sit licet eximius citharaedus, sitve Seleucus, 
 Et quibus aurata mos estfulgere lacernd? 
 
 What music, or enchanting voice, can chean 
 
 A stupid, old, impenetrable ear? Drydex. 
 
 No. 366. — xx. 3. They were shut up unto the day of 
 their death, living in widowhood.] In China, when an 
 emperor dies, all his women are removed to an edifice 
 called the Palace of Chastity, situated within the walls 
 of the palace, in which they are shut up for the remainder 
 of their lives. Macartney, p. 375. 
 
 No. 367. — xx. 9. Joab took Amasa by the beard to 
 kiss him.'] Mr. Harmer, (vol. ii. p. 54.) supposes we 
 are to understand this expression as referring to the prac- 
 tice of kissing the beard itself which was a customary 
 thing. D'Aryieux {Voy. dam la Pal. p. 71.) describing
 
 238 2 SAMUEL. 
 
 the assembling together of several petty Arab princes at 
 an entertainment, says, that « all the emirs came just 
 together a little time after, accompanied by their friends 
 and attendants, and after the usual civilities, caresses, 
 h'ssings of the beard and of the hand, which every one 
 gave and received according to his rank and dignity, 
 they sat down upon mats." 
 
 This. is the custom still among the Eastern people. 
 The Indians take one another by the chin, that is, the 
 beard, when they would give a hearty salute to a person ; 
 at the same time saying, Bobba, i. e. father, or Bii, 
 brother. See Peter dflla Valle, Travels, p. 410. 
 
 Alexander ordered his Macedonian troops to shave 
 their beards, these being a ready handle in battle. 
 Plutarch. Fit. Theseus. 
 
 It was an ancient custom among the Grecians, to take 
 the person, to whom they had any address to make, by 
 the chin or beard. Antiquis Gracice in Supplicando 
 Mentum attingere Mcerat. Pliny, lib. 11. c.45, 
 Thevenot's Travels, c. 22. 
 
 The Arabians have a great regard for the beard, the 
 wives kiss the husband's, and the children their father's 
 beards, when they salute them. And when two friends 
 meet they thus salute each other. D' Arvieux, Coustumes 
 des Arabes, c. 7. 
 
 No. 368. — xxii. 6. S?iares of death.'] This is an al- 
 lusion to the ancient manner of hunting, which is still 
 practised in some countries, and was performed by " sur- 
 rounding a considerable tract of ground by a circle of 
 nets, and afterwards contracting the circle by degrees, 
 till they had forced all the beasts of that quarter together 
 into a narrow compass, and then it was that the slaughter 
 began. This manner of hunting was used in Italy of 
 old, as well as all over the eastern parts of the world, 
 (Virgil, jEu. iv. 1. 121 —131. Shaw's Travels, p, 235.) 
 16
 
 2 SAMUEL. 239 
 
 and it was from this custom that the poets sometimes re- 
 presented death as surrounding persons with her nets, 
 and as encompassing them on every side. Thus Statius, 
 lib. v. Sylv. i. 1. 156. 
 
 Furvce miserum circum undique lethi 
 
 Vallavere plagse." 
 
 Spence's Poly metis, Dial. xvi. p. 262. Horace, lib. iii. 
 Ode xxiv. 1. 8., uses the expression Laqueis mortis, toils 
 or nets of death. See Shaw's Travels, p. 235. See also 
 Psalm xviii. 5. et al. 
 
 No. 369. — xxiii. 15. And David longed, and said, 
 Oh that one would give me drink of the "water of the well 
 of Bethlehem, which is by the gate /] Agathocles relates 
 that there were certain fountains in those regions, to the 
 number of seventy, whose waters were denominated 
 golden, and of which it was death for any one to drink, 
 except the king and his eldest son. This may explain 
 the wish of king David for water from the well of Beth- 
 lehem, unless we suppose it to have arisen from a pre- 
 dilection, like that of the Parthian monarchs for the 
 water of Choaspes, which was carried with them where- 
 ever they went, and from that circumstance styled by 
 Tibullus regia lympha, and by Milton, the drink of 
 none but kings. Gillingwater MS. 
 
 ** The water of Soliman's well is reckoned extremely 
 pure, and is much sought after. When the oriental 
 princes and great men travel, they generally have the 
 water which they are accustomed to drink, carried with 
 them, either in earthen jars, or leather vessels, called 
 pacauleys. This is a wholesome custom, as the variety 
 of water on a journey is the cause of many disorders, 
 especially to those who neither mingle it with wine, nor 
 drink any other liquor. Aurungzebe carried it with 
 him from Delhi to Cachemice. The opulent Hindoo
 
 240 2 SAMUEL. 
 
 travels with the water of the Ganges ; the ancient kings 
 of Parthia were accompanied by the water of the Cho- 
 aspes. David, when surrounded by the Philistine army, 
 longed to taste of the water from the well at Bethlehem, 
 his native place." Forbes's Oriental Memoirs, vol. iii. 
 p. 272. 
 
 No. 370. — xxiv. 1 8. Threshing floor.'] These among 
 the ancient Jews, were only, as they are to this day in 
 the East, round level plats of ground in the open air, 
 where the corn was trodden out by oxen, the Libycce 
 area; of Horace, ode i. 1. 10. Thus Gideon's floor 
 (Judges, vi. 37.) appears to have been in the open air; 
 as was likewise that of Araunah the Jebusite ; else it 
 would not have been a proper place for erecting an 
 altar and offering sacrifice. In Hosea, xiii. 3. we read 
 of the chaff which is driven by the "whirlwind from the 
 floor. This circumstance of the threshing floor's being 
 exposed to the agitation of the wind, seems to be the 
 principal reason of its Hebrew name ; which may be 
 further illustrated by the direction which Hesiod (Opera 
 et Dies, 1. 597.) gives his husbandman to thresh his com 
 in a place well exposed to the wind. From the above ac- 
 count it appears that a threshing-jloor (rendered in our 
 textual translation a void place) might well be near the 
 entrance of the gate of Samaria, and that it might afford 
 no improper place for the kings of Israel and Judah to 
 hear the prophets in. See 1 Kings, xxii. 10. 2 Chron. 
 xviii. 9. Psalm i. 4. Shaw's Travels, p. 139. 2d ed. 
 Goguet's Origin of Laws, vol. i. p. 94. edit. Edinb.
 
 I 241 ] 
 
 No. 371.— 1 KINGS, ii. 5. 
 
 find shed the blood, of war in peace, and put the blood of 
 war upon his girdle that was about his loins, and in his 
 shoes that were on his feet. 
 
 ["T is evident that David meant by these words to 
 describe the violence of Joab, the effects of which 
 eem to have been coincident with the sentiment of 
 ibdollah, who " went out and defended himself, to the 
 error and astonishment of his enemies, killing a great 
 nany with his own hands, so that they kept at a distance, 
 ind threw bricks at him, and made him stagger; and 
 yhen he felt the blood run down his face and beard, he 
 •epeated this verse, the blood of our wounds doth not fall 
 lown on our heels, but on our feet, meaning that he did 
 jot turn his back on his enemies." Ockley's Hist, of 
 he Sarace?is, vol. ii. p. 291. In like manner the blood 
 shed by Joab fell on his feet, on his shoes ; it was not 
 nadvcrtently, but purposely shed ; shed with ferocity^ 
 •ather than valour. Fragments, No. 321. 
 
 No. 372. — ii. 7. But shew kindness unto the sens of 
 Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be of those that eat 
 it thy table.'] The privilege of eating at court was both 
 private and public. Those passages which speak of a 
 •ight to eat at a royal table may be understood as re- 
 erring to public and solemn feasts. Chardin thus under- 
 stood the dying advice of David to Solomon, which, he 
 jays, may be referred to the megelez, not the daily and 
 jrdinary repasts ; at these megelez many persons have 
 i right to a seat; others are present only from special 
 grace. We are therefore to consider it 5 of their receiv- 
 
 vol. i. R
 
 242 1 KINGS. 
 
 ing a right to a constant attendance there. Harmer, 
 vol. i. p. 351. 
 
 No. 373. — ii. 9. Now, therefore hold him not guilt- 
 less ; for thou art a wise man, and knowest what thou 
 oughtest to do unto him; but his hoary head bring thou 
 down to the grave with blood.~\ David is here represented 
 in our English version, as finishing his life with giving a 
 command to Solomon to kill Shimei; and to kill him on 
 account of that very crime, for which he had sworn to 
 him by the Lord, he would not put him to death. The 
 behaviour thus imputed to the king and prophet, should 
 be examined very carefully, as to the ground it stands 
 upon. When the passage is duly considered, it will ap- 
 pear highly probable that an injury has been done to 
 this illustrious character. It is not uncommon in the 
 Hebrew language to omit the negative in a second part 
 of a sentence, and to consider it as repeated, when it 
 has been once expressed, and is followed by the con- 
 necting particle. The necessity of so very considerable 
 an alteration, as inserting the particle not, may be here 
 confirmed by some other instances. Thus Psalm i. 5. 
 The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor (the 
 Heb. is and. signifying and not) sinners in the congrega- 
 tion of the righteous. [Psalm ix. 18. Psalm xxxviii. 1. 
 Psalm Ixxv. 5. Prov. xxiv. 12.) If then there are in fact 
 many such instances, the question is, whether the ne- 
 gative, here expressed in the former part of David's 
 command, may not be understood as to be repeated in 
 the latter part; and if this may he, a strong reason will 
 be added why it should be so interpreted. The passage 
 will run thus: Behold, thou hast with thee Shimei, who 
 cursed me, h ut I sware to him by the Lord, saying, I will 
 not put thee to death by the sword. Now therefore hold 
 him not guiltless, (for thou art a wise man, and knowest 
 what thou oughtest to do unto him) but bring not down
 
 1 KINGS. 243 
 
 his hoary head to the grave with blood. Now, if the lan- 
 guage itself will admit this construction, the sense thus 
 given to the sentence derives a very strong support 
 from the context. For, how did Solomon understand 
 this charge? did he kill Shimei in consequence of it? 
 certainly he did not. For, after he had immediately 
 commanded Joab to be slain, in obedience to his father, 
 he sends for Shimei, and knowing that Shimei ou«-ht to 
 be well watched, confines him to a particular spot in 
 Jerusalem for the remainder of his lite. 1 Kings* ii. 
 36 — 42. Kennicott's Remarks, p. 131. 
 
 No. 374. — ii. 10. So David slept with his fathers, 
 ind was buried in the city of David.] In general the dead 
 ivere buried out of the eastern cities: and as this was 
 the usual practice, it was not departed from, but upon 
 rery particular occasions. It was a mark of distinguished 
 honour to be interred within a city. " Hali Dey, as a 
 srery eminent mark of distinction, was buried within an 
 nclosed tomb within the city." Hist, of the Piratical 
 States of Barbary, p. 163. Harmer, vol. ii. p. 141. 
 
 No. 375. — ii. 23. And king Solomon sware by the 
 Lord, saying, God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah 
 have not spoken this word against his own life.~\ Solomon 
 considered it as a treasonable request, that Adonijah 
 should desire to have David's wife. For, according to 
 the custom of the Hebrews, no man who had been the 
 servant of the king might serve any other master ; nor 
 might any man ride upon the king's horse, nor sit upon 
 his throne, nor use his sceptre; much less might any 
 private person marry the king's widow, who belonged 
 only to his successor. Thus God gave David all the 
 wives of Saul. 2 Sam. xii. 8, See Selden de Uxor. 
 Heb. lib. i. cap. 10. 
 
 r 2
 
 
 244 1 KINGS. 
 
 No. 376. — ii. 28. And caught hold of the horns of 
 the altar.'] That it was customary to fly to the altar as 
 to a place of safety, is evident from this and various 
 other passages of scripture. It was equally practised 
 by the Jews and other nations. With the Greeks it 
 certainly prevailed. Of the altar of Jupiter Hercaeus 
 it is said to one, 
 
 ~fiy 
 
 To Jove's inviolable altar nigh. Odyss. xxii. 372. Pope. 
 
 The altar mentioned by Virgil was of the same nature: 
 to this Priam fled at the taking of Troy. See JEn. ii. 
 
 Among the Gentiles it was usual to flee to the statues 
 of their emperors, and to the temples of their deities, 
 as well as to the altars. This w T as customary among the 
 Molossians, the Samothracians, Crotoniatas, and Mes- 
 senians. The altar of Jupiter Servator was an asylum 
 or place of refuge to the Ithacians. (Alex. ab. Alex, 
 Gen. Dier. 1. 3. c. 20. Cornelius Nepos (Fit. Pausan, 
 \. iv. c. 4.) has given us an instance of one that fled to a 
 temple of Neptune, and sat upon the altar for his se- 
 curity. 
 
 No. 377. — iv. 7. And Solomon had twelve officers over 
 all Israel, who provided victuals for the king and. his 
 household.'] These are doubtless to be considered as his 
 general receivers; for " the revenues of princes in the 
 East are paid in the fruits and productions of the earth; 
 there are no other taxes upon the peasants." Chardin, 
 MS. HariMEr, vol. ii. p. 284. 
 
 No. 378. — viii. 31. And the oath come before thine 
 altar in this house.] It was the custom of all nations to 
 touch the altar when they made a solemn oath, calling 
 God to witness the truth of what they said, and to punish 
 them if they did not speak the truth. Patrick, in loc.
 
 1 KINGS. 245 
 
 No. 379. — viii. 63. And Solomon offered a sacrifice of 
 peace-offerings which he offered unto the Lord, two and 
 twenty thousand oxen, and a hundred, and twenty thtu- 
 sand. sheep.~\ Such great sacrifices as this were imitated 
 by the heathens in their hecatombs, which consisted of 
 a hundred beasts of a kind. They are described by 
 Julius Capitolinus in his life of the emperors Pupienus 
 Maximus, and Balbinus ; the last of whom, he says, 
 was so transported with joy, that he offered a hecatomb. 
 A hundred altars of turf were raised in one place; at 
 them a hundred swine and a hundred birds were killed. 
 Patrick, in loc. 
 
 No. 380. — viii. 65. And at that time Solomon held a 
 feast, and all Israel with him.'] Such solemnities were 
 usual among the heathen, when they celebrated the 
 presence of any of their gods. This Ez. Spanheim 
 (upon Callimachus's Hymn to Apollo, v. 13.) conjectures 
 to have been derived from this famous festival of 
 Solomon. 
 
 No. 381.— x. 16. Targets."] The middle part of the 
 target projected in a sharpish point, as some of the 
 shields afterwards used by the Greeks and Romans did : 
 and we are informed by the writers on their military 
 affairs, that this pointed protuberance was of great 
 service to them, not only in repelling or glancing off 
 missive weapons, but in bearing down their enemies: 
 whence Martial has this allusion : 
 
 In turbam incideris, cunctos umbone repellet. 
 In crouds his pointed boss mill all repel. 
 
 Fid. Scheuchzer's Physica Sacra, pi. 305., where are 
 several representations of these pointed shields. 
 
 R 3
 
 246 1 KINGS. 
 
 , No. 382. — x. 20. There was not the like made in any 
 kingdom.'] In after ages we read of thrones very 
 glorious and majestic. Athuiceus says, that the throne 
 of the Parthian kings was of gold, encompassed with 
 four golden pillars, beset with precious stones. The 
 Persian kings sat in judgment under a golden vine, (and 
 other trees of gold,) the bunches of whose grapes were 
 made of several sorts of precious stones. 
 
 To this article may be very properly annexed the 
 following account of the famous peacock throne of the 
 Great Mogul. " The Great Mogul has seven thrones, 
 some set all over with diamonds; others with rubies, 
 emeralds, and pearls. But the largest throne is erected 
 in the hall of the first court of the palace; it is, in form, 
 like one of our field-beds, six feet long and lour broad. 
 I counted about a hundred and eight pale rubies in 
 collets about that throne, the least whereof weighed a 
 hundred carats; but there are some that weigh two 
 hundred. Emeralds I counted about a hundred and 
 forty, that weighed some threescore, some thirty carats. 
 
 The under part of the canopy is intirely embroidered 
 w T ith pearls and diamonds, with a fringe of pearls round 
 the edge. Upon the top of the canopy, which is made 
 like an arch with four panes, stands a peacock, with his 
 tail spread, consisting entirely of sapphires and other 
 proper coloured stones: the body is of beaten gold, 
 enchased with numerous jewels ; and a great ruby adorns 
 his breast, to which hangs a pearl that weighs fifty carats. 
 On eaeh side of the peacock stand two nosegays, as 
 high as the bird, consisting of various sorts of flowers, 
 all of beaten gold enamelled. When the king seats 
 himself upon the throne, there is a transparent jewel, 
 with a diamond appendant, of eighty or ninety carats 
 weight, encompassed with rubies and emeralds, so sus- 
 pended that it is always in his eye. The twelve pillars 
 also that uphold the canopy are set round with rows of
 
 1 KINGS. 247 
 
 fair pearl and of an excellent water, that weigh from 
 six to ten carats a piece. At the distance of four feet, 
 upon each side of the throne, are placed two umbrellas, 
 the handles of which are about eight feet high, covered 
 with diamonds; the umbrellas themselves beino- of crim- 
 son velvet, embroidered and fringed with pearl. This 
 is the famous throne which Timur began and Shah 
 Johan finished, and is really reported to have cost a 
 hundred and sixty millions and five hundred thousand 
 livres of our money." Tavernier's Indian Travels, 
 torn. hi. p. 331. edit. 1713. 
 
 Mr. Morier, describing his interview with the kino* 
 of Persia, says: " He was seated on a species of throne, 
 called the takht-e-taoos, or the throne of the peacock, 
 which is raised three feet from the ground, and appears 
 an oblong square of eight feet broad and twelve lono*. 
 We could see the bust only of his majesty, as the rest 
 of his body was hidden by an ekvated railing the 
 upper work of the throne, at the corners of which were 
 placed several ornaments of vases and toys. The back 
 is much raised; on each side are two square pillars, on 
 which are perched birds, probably intended for pea- 
 cocks, studded with precious stones of every descrip- 
 tion, and holding each a ruby in their beaks. The 
 highest part of the throne is composed of an oval orna- 
 ment of jewelry, from which emanate a great number 
 of diamond rays. Unfortunately we were so far distant 
 from the throne, and so little favoured by the light, that 
 we could not discover much of its general materials. 
 We were told, however, that it is covered with gold 
 plates, enriched by that fine enamel work so common in 
 the ornamental furniture of Persia. It is said to have 
 cost one hundred thousand tomauns" Travels through 
 Persia, p. 191. Vid. also Forbes's Oriental Memoirs, 
 vol. ill. p. 84. 
 
 b 4
 
 248 1 KINGS. 
 
 No. 383. — x. 21. And all king Solomon's drinking- 
 vessels were of gold. ] The magnificence of Solomon, 
 particularly with respect to his dr in kingr vessels, 1ms not 
 been exceeded by modern Eastern princes. The gold 
 plate of the kings of Persia has been much celebrated 
 and is taken notice of by Chardin. He observes, that 
 the plate of the king of Persia is of gold, and that very 
 fine, exceeding the standard of ducats, and equal to 
 those of Venice, which are of the purest gold. Shah 
 Abas caused seven thousand two hundred maiks of gold 
 to be melted for this purpose. Now the two hundred 
 targets of gold which Solomon made, weighed but little 
 less than the drinking-vesscls which Shah Abas made. 
 1 Kings, x. 16. We may therefore believe that his 
 royal drinking- vessels were of equal, if not greater 
 weight. Harmer, vol. i. p. 384. 
 
 No. 384. — x. 22. Peacocks.'] Ellis, in Cook's last 
 voyage, speaking of the people of Otaheite, says, they 
 expressed great surprise at the Spaniards (who had 
 lately made them a visit) because they had not red 
 feathers as well as the English, (which they had brought 
 with them in great plenty from the Friendly Isles) for 
 they are. with these people the summum bonum and ex- 
 tent of all their wishes. (Vol. i. p. 129.) As these islands 
 border so closely upon Asia, and have among their man- 
 ners and customs many which bear a resemblance to 
 those of the Asiatics, may not these people's high 
 esteem for red feathers throw some light upon this pas- 
 sage, where we find peacocks ranked amongst the va- 
 luable commodities imported by Solomon ? 
 
 No. 38.5. — xi. 3. And he had seven hundred wives, 
 princesses ; and three hundred concubines.] It appears to 
 have been the manner of eastern princes, to have a 
 great number of wives, merely for pomp and state.
 
 1 KINGS. 249 
 
 Father La Compte tells us in his History of China (pt. i. 
 p. 62.) that there the emperor hath a great number of 
 wives, chosen out of the prime beauties of the country. 
 It is also said, that the great mogul has as many wives 
 as make up a thousand. 
 
 H abes ci {Present state of the Ottoman Empire, p. 166.) 
 says that the number of women in the ha ram of the 
 Grand Seignior depends on the taste of the reigning 
 monarch. Sultan Selim had nearly two thousand : 
 Sultan Mahomet had but three hundred : Achmet the 
 Fourth lias pretty near sixteen hundred. See also 
 Knolles's History of the Turks, p. 1368. Hanvvay's 
 History of the Revolutions of Persia, part vii. eh. xxxL 
 p. 208. 
 
 No. 386. — xiii. 26. And when the prophet that hr ought 
 him back from the way heard thereof, he said, it is the 
 man of God, that was disobedient to the word of the Lord.~] 
 Disobedience in special cases, has commonly been pu- 
 nished by those in authority. The Athenians put their 
 ambassadors to death, whom they had sent into Aicadia, 
 though they had faithfully performed their business, 
 because they came another way than that which had 
 been prescribed to them. ^Elian. Far. Hist. lib. vi. 
 cap. 5. 
 
 No. 387. — xiv. 10. Shut up and leftj Sometimes, 
 when a successful prince has endeavoured to extirpate 
 the preceding royal family, some of. them have escaped 
 the slaughter, and secured themselves in a fortress or 
 place of secrecy, while others have sought an asylum 
 in foreign countries, from whence they have occasioned 
 great anxiety to the usurper. The word shut up, strictly 
 speaking, refers to the first of these cases; as in the 
 preservation of Joash from Athaliah in a private apart- 
 ment of the temple 5 2 Kings, xi. Such appears also
 
 250 1 KINGS. 
 
 to have been the case in more modern times. " Though 
 more than thirty years had elapsed since the death of 
 Sultan Achmet, father of the new emperor, he had not, 
 in that interval, acquired any great information or im- 
 provement. Shut up, during this long interval, in the 
 apartments assigned him, with some eunuchs to wait on 
 him, and women to amuse him, the equality of his age 
 with that of the princes who had a right to precede him 
 allowed him but little hope of reigning in his turn; 
 and he had, besides, well-grounded reasons for a more 
 serious uneasiness." Baron Du Tott, vol. i. p. 115. 
 But when David was in danger, he kept himself close 
 (1 Chron. xii. 1.) in Ziklag, but not so as to prevent 
 him from making frequent excursions. In later times, 
 in the East persons of royal descent have been left, when 
 the rest of a family have been cut off; if no danger was 
 apprehended from them, on account of some mental or 
 bodily disqualification. Blindness saved the life of Ma- 
 hammed Khodabendeh, a Persian prince of the sixteenth 
 century, when his brother Ismael put all the rest of his 
 brethren to death. UHerbelot, p. 613. This explana- 
 tion will enable us more clearly to*understand 2 Kings, 
 xiv. 26. Dent, xxxii. 36. Harmer, vol. iv. p. 211. 
 
 No. 388. — xv. 2. Three years reigned he in Jeru~ 
 salem, and his mother s name was Maachah.~\ It has 
 been conjectured by Mr. Baruh, that the phrase, " and 
 his mother's name was" &c. when expressed on a king's 
 accession to the throne, at the beginning of his history, 
 does not always refer to his natural mother, but that it 
 is a title of honour and dignity, enjoyed by one of the 
 royal family, denoting her to be the first in rank. This 
 idea appears well founded from the following extracts: 
 " The oloo kani is not governess of the Crimea. This 
 title, the literal translation of which is, great queen, 
 simply denotes a dignity in the haram, which the khan 
 
 13
 
 1 KINGS. 251 
 
 usually confers on one of his sisters; or if he has none, 
 on one of his daughters, or relations. To this dignity 
 are attached the revenues arising from several villages, 
 and other rights." Baron Du Tott, vol. ii. p. 64. " On 
 this occasion the king crowned his mother Malaeotawit, 
 conferring upon her the dignity and title of iteghe, i. e. 
 as king's mother, regent and governess of the king when 
 under age." Bkuce's Trav. vol, ii. p. 531. 
 
 No. 389. — xvii. 1. Elijah.'] " We are deceived by 
 not seeing titles among the Israelites, like those of our 
 nobility. Every one was called plainly by his own 
 name : but their names signified great things, as those of 
 the patriarchs. The name of God was part of most; 
 which was in a manner a short prayer. Elijah and Joel 
 are made up of two of God's names, joined in a different 
 way. Jehoshaphat and Shephatiah signify the "judg- 
 ment of God : Jehozedek and Zedekiah, his justice : 
 Johanan, his mere;: Nathanael, Elnathan, Jonathan, 
 and Nathaniah, all four, signify, God-given, or the 
 gift of God. Sometimes the name of God was under- 
 stood, as in Nathan, David, Obed, &c. as is plain by 
 Eliezer, God my helper; Uzziel, God my strength; 
 and Obadiah, the Lord's servant. The Greek names 
 also are of the same import, many are composed of the 
 names of their gods ; as Diodorus, Diogenes, Hermo- 
 dorus, Haephestion, Athenais, and Artemisia." Fleury's 
 Hist, of the Israelites, p. 20. 
 
 No. 390. — xviii. 26. They leaped upon the altar 
 which was made.] Baal, whose idolatrous worship is 
 here referred to, was the same as Apollo, or the Sun. 
 Callimachus has given us a remarkable instance of the 
 universal veneration which was paid by the ancient 
 pagans, at his altar in the temple of Delos. Amongst 
 other ceremonies in the worship of this idol, it was cus-
 
 252 1 KINGS. 
 
 tomary to run round his altar, to strike it with a whip, 
 and with their hands or arms bound behind them to bite 
 the olive. For of Delos the poet says, 
 
 Thee, ever honoured isle, what vessel dares 
 
 Sail by regardless ? "'twere in vain to plead 
 
 Strong driving gales, or, stronger still than they, 
 
 Swift-wing' d necessity: their swelling sails 
 
 Here mariners must furl ; nor hence depart, 
 
 Till round thy altar struck with many a blow 
 
 The n.aze they tread, and backward bent their arms, 
 
 The sacred olive bite. Hymn to Dtlos, v. 433. 
 
 The former part of this ceremony plainly alludes to 
 singing and dancing round the altar. The latter part 
 seems to accord with what is said of Baal, 1 Kings, xviii. 
 26 — 28. where we read of the priests of Baal who leaped 
 upon the altar they had made, which the Septuagint 
 renders ran round; and I hey cried aloud, and cut them- 
 selves after their ma?iner xvil/i knives and lances, till the 
 blood gushed out upon them. Their running round the 
 altar signified the annual rotation of the earth round the 
 sun. Striking with a whip the altar, cutting themselves 
 with knives and lances, crying aloud to their deity, 
 were symbolical actions, denoting their desire that he 
 would shew forth his power upon all nature in general, 
 and that sacrifice in particular then before him. Having 
 thus surrounded the altar of Apollo, and by these ac- 
 tions declared their belief in his universal power, they 
 used to bend their own arms behind them, and so take 
 the sacred olive into their mouths; thereby declaring, 
 that not from their own arm or power, which was bound, 
 but from his whose altar they surrounded, and from him 
 they expected to obtain that peace, whereof the olive 
 was always a symbol. Gen. viii. 1 1. 
 
 There are some evident allusions to these abominable 
 idolatrous practices in the Old Testament; and for 
 which the Jews are severely reprimanded by the prophets,
 
 1 KINGS. 253 
 
 for following such absurd and wicked ceremonies. Thus 
 saith the Lord concernmg the prophets that make my 
 ■people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry 
 peace, Micah, iii. 5. : and respecting Aslidod, the pro- 
 phet says, / will take away his blood out of his mouth 
 and his abominations from between his teeth, Zech. 
 ix. 7. 
 
 " Theseus, in his return from Crete, put in at Delos, 
 and having sacrificed to Apollo, and dedicated a statue 
 of Venus which he received from Ariadne, joined with 
 the young men in a dance, which the Delians are said 
 to practise at this day. It consists in an imitation of the 
 mazes and outlets of the labyrinth ; and, with various 
 involutions and evolutions, is performed in regular timei 
 This kind of dance, as Diceaearchus informs us, is called 
 by the Delians the Crane ; he danced it round the altar 
 Keraton, which was built intirely of the left side horns 
 of beasts." Plutarch. Vit, Theseus. 
 
 This was a circular dance and probably called the crane 5 
 because cranes commonly fly in the figure of a circle. 
 This dance, after a lapse of 3000 years, still exists in 
 Greece, under the name of the Candiot. See an ac- 
 count of it in M. Guy's Hist. Lit. de la Grece. Lett. 13. 
 And a plate in Leroy Haines des plus beaux Monumens 
 de la Grece. 
 
 No. 391. — xvii. 12. Barrel.'] As corn is subject to 
 be eaten by worms, the Easterns keep what they are 
 spending in long vessels of clay. (Sandys's Trav. p. 1 1 7.) 
 So it appears the woman of Zarephath did. The word 
 translated barrel properly signifies a jar ; and is the 
 same with that used for the vessels in which Gideon's 
 soldiers concealed their torches, and which they brake 
 when they blew with their trumpets. Harmer, vol. i. 
 p. 277.
 
 254 1 KINGS. 
 
 No. 392. — xviii.28. Cut themselves.'] If we look 
 into antiquity we shall find that nothing was more com- 
 mon in the religious rites of several nations, than this 
 barbarous custom. To this purpose we may observe, 
 that (as Plutarch, de Superstitione tells us) the priests of 
 Bellona when they sacrificed to that goddess, besmeared 
 the victim with their own blood. The Persian magi 
 (Herodotus, lib. vii. c. 191.) used to appease tempests, 
 and allay the winds by making incisions in their flesh. 
 They who carried about the Syrian goddess, ( Apuleius, 
 lib. viii.) cut and slashed themselves with knives, till the 
 blood gushed out. This practice remains in many places 
 at the present time, and frequent instances of it may be 
 met with in modern voyages and travels. The same 
 things were practised in the rights of Cybele and Isis. 
 See Lactantius, edit. Sparke, 94, 95. Oxon. 1684. Lu- 
 cian. de Syria Dea, vol. ii. p. 910. ed. Bened. Lucan. 
 Pharsal. lib. i. v. 565. 
 
 No. 393. — xviii. 38. The f re of the Lord fell'] Bp. 
 Patrick apprehends that God testified his approbation 
 of Abel's sacrifice by a stream of light, or a flame from 
 the shekinah which burnt it up. In this opinion many 
 ancient writers concur ; remarking that footsteps of it 
 may be met with in many other cases. See Geti. xv. 1 7. 
 Levit. ix. 24. Judges, vi. 21. 1 Chron. xxi. 26. 2 Chron. 
 vii. 13. Psalm xx. 3. marg. reading. Some relics of it 
 are to be found among the heathen : for when the Greeks 
 went on ship-board to the Trojan war, Homer represents 
 Jupiter promising them good success in this manner. 
 (Iliad, ii. 354.) And thunder sometimes accompanying 
 lightning, Virgil makes him establish covenants in that 
 manner. After iEneas had called the sun to witness, 
 Latinus lifts up his eyes and right hand to heaven, 
 saying, 
 
 Audiat h£ec genitor, qui fcedera fulmine sancit. JEn. xii. 200.
 
 1 KINGS. 255 
 
 Let the fawvcAy) father hear what I say, who establishes 
 covenants with thunder. 
 
 From some early instances of this kind the heathen 
 seem to have derived their notion, that when a sacrifice 
 took fire spontaneously, it was a happy omen. So Virgil: 
 
 Aspice: corripuit tremulis altaria flammis 
 
 Sponte sua, dum ferre moror, cinis ipse : bonum sit. 
 
 i?c/.viii. 105. 
 
 See also Georg. iv. 384. , 
 
 Pausanias says that when Seleucus, who accompanied 
 Alexander in his expedition from Macedonia, was sacri- 
 ficing at Pella to Jupiter, the wood advanced of its own 
 accord towards the image, and was kindled without fire. 
 See also Levit. ix. 24. 1 Chron. xxi. 26. 2 Chron. 
 vii. 1. 
 
 No. 394. — xviii. 42. Elijah went up to the top of Car- 
 met: and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his 
 face between his knees.] The devout posture of some people 
 of the Levant greatly resembles that of Elijah. Just be- 
 fore the descent of the rain, he cast himself down upon the 
 earth, and put his face between his knees. Char din re- 
 lates that the dervises, especially those of the Indies, 
 put themselves into this posture, in order to meditate, 
 and also to repose themselves. They tie their knees 
 against their belly with their girdles, and lay their heads 
 on the top of them, and this, according to them, is the 
 best posture for recollection. Haiimer, vol. ii. p. 506. 
 
 No. 395. — xviii. 44. A little cloud.] When Elijah's 
 servant reported to his master, that he saw a little cloud 
 arising out of the sea like a man's hand, he commanded 
 him to go up and say unto Ahab, prepare thy chariot, and 
 get thee down, that the rain stop thee not. This circum- 
 stance was justly considered as the sure indication of an
 
 956 1 KINGS. 
 
 approaching shower, for it came to pass in the meanwhile 
 that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there 
 was a great rain. Mr. Bruce (Travels, vol, iii. p. 669.) 
 has an observation which greatly corroborates this rela- 
 tion. He says, " there are three remarkable appear- 
 ances attending the inundation of the Nile: every 
 morning in Abyssinia is clear and the sun shines; about 
 nine, a small cloud, not above four feet broad, appears 
 in the East, whirling violently round as if upon an axis; 
 but arrived near the zenith, it first abates its motion, then 
 loses its form, and extends itself greatly, and seems to 
 call up vapors from all opposite quarters. These clouds 
 having attained nearly the same height, rush against 
 each other with great violence, and put me always in 
 mind of Elijah's foretelling rain on mount Carmel. The 
 air, impelled before the heaviest mass, or swiftest mover, 
 makes an impression of its own form in the collection of 
 clouds opposite, and the moment it has taken possession 
 of the space made to receive it, the most violent thunder 
 possible to be conceived instantly follows, with rain; 
 and after some hours the sky again clears.' , 
 
 No. 396. — xviii. 44. And he said, go up, say unto 
 Ahab, prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain 
 stop thee 7iot.~\ That is, says Bp. Patrick, Elijah saw 
 such abundance of rain coming as would cause floods, 
 and render the way impassable, if Ahab did not make 
 haste home : and, accordingly, in a very short space of 
 time that little cloud spread itself, and with a great 
 thickness covered the face of the sky. 
 
 Thus the translator of an Arabian tale from an unpub- 
 lished manuscript, in describing the journey of the 
 caliph Vathek, informs us, that the caliph having tra- 
 velled three days, on the fourth day the heavens looked 
 angry, and a terrible tempest ensued; this tempest, says
 
 1 KINGS. 257 
 
 this writer, may be deemed somewhat the more violent, 
 from a supposition that Mahomet interfered, which will 
 appear the more probable, if the circumstance of its 
 obliterating the road through which the camels passed 
 be considered. It frequently happens that a sudden 
 blast will arise in the vast deserts of the East, and sweep 
 away in its eddies the last passenger, whose camel there- 
 fore in vain is sought by the wanderer that follows. 
 {Hist, of Caliph Vathek, p. 247.) 
 
 William of Tyre hath recorded one of a similar 
 nature, that visited Baldwin in his expedition against 
 Damascus. He, against whose will all projects are vain, 
 suddenly overspread the sky with darkness, poured 
 down such torrents of rain, and so entirely effaced the 
 roads, that scarce' any hope of escaping remained. 
 These disasters were portended by a gloominess in the 
 air, lowering clouds, irregular wind, increasing thunder, 
 and incessant lightning. Gesta Dei per Francos, p. 849. 
 
 GlLLINGWATER MS. 
 
 No. 397. — xix. 1 3. And it was so, when Elijah heard 
 it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle.'] The Jews 
 accounted it a token of reverence to have their feet bare 
 in public worship, and to have their heads covered. 
 This was accordingly the practice not of the priests 
 only, but of the people also; and the latter practice 
 remains so to this day. Thus on the divine appearance 
 to Moses in the bush, it is said, he hid his face, for he 
 was afraid to look upon God, Exod. iii. 6. ; and on the 
 extraordinary manifestation of the divine presence to 
 Elijah, he wrapped his face in his mantle. On the same 
 account perhaps the angels were represented in vision 
 to Isaiah as covering their faces with their wings in the 
 presence of Jehovah. Isaiah, vi. 2. 
 
 The ancient Romans performed their sacred rites with 
 a covering on their heads. Thus Virgil ; 
 
 vol, i. s
 
 258 1 KINGS. 
 
 Spes est pads, ait. Turn nuiuina sancta precamur 
 
 Palladis armisonae, quae prima accepit ovantes : 
 
 Et capita ante aras Phrvgio velamur amictu. Mn. iii. 545. 
 
 Our ivay wc bend 
 To Pallas, and the sacred Mil ascend: 
 There prostrate to the fierce virago pray. 
 Whose temple was the land-mark of our way, 
 Each with a Phrygian mantle veiVd Us head. 
 
 The Grecians on the contrary performed their sacred 
 rites bare headed. St. Paul therefore writing to the 
 Corinthians, who were Greeks, says, every man praying 
 or prophesying with his head covered dishonoured his 
 head. 1 Cor. xi. 4. 
 
 No. 398. — xix. 18. All the knees that have not bowed 
 to Baal, and every mouth that hath not kissed him.'] 
 Bowing the knee was an act of worship, and so was 
 kissing the idol. This was done two ways : either by 
 applying their mouth immediately to the image, or 
 kissing their hand before the image, and then stretching 
 it out, and as it were, throwing the kiss to it. Sal- 
 masius says, that such kisses were called labrata oscula 9 
 and from hence came the phrases oscula jacere, and 
 basia jactare, and manu venerari, and manu salutare. 
 Pliny also says, in adorando dextram ad osculum refe- 
 rimus, toium corpus circumagimus. When we worship, 
 we kiss our hand, and turn about our whole body. 
 
 No. 399. — xx. 12. As he was drinking, he and the 
 kings, in the pavilions.'] The pavilions here spoken of 
 were nothing more than mere booths or common tents, 
 notwithstanding Benhadad and the kings were drinking 
 in them. That great and even roval persons occasion- 
 ally refreshed or indulged themselves in this manner, 
 ig clear from the following paragraph in Dr. Chandler's 
 Travels in the Lesser Asia, p. 149. " While we were
 
 1 KINGS. 259 
 
 employed on the theatre of Miletus, the aga of Suki, 
 son-in-law by marriage to Elez Oglu, crossed the plain 
 towards us, attended by a considerable train of do- 
 mestics and officers, their vests and turbans of various 
 and lively colours, mounted on long-tailed horses, with 
 showy trappings, and glittering furniture. He re- 
 turned, after hawking, to Miletus : and we went to 
 visit him, with a present of coffee and sugar; but were 
 told that two favourite birds had flown away, and that 
 he was vexed and tired. A couch was prepared for 
 him beneath a shed made against a cottage, and covered 
 with green boughs to keep off the sun. He entered as 
 we were standing by, and fell down on it to sleep, 
 without taking any notice of us." Harder, vol. iii. 
 p. 50. 
 
 No. 400. — xx. 32. They girded sackcloth on their 
 loins, and put ropes on their heads.'] Approaching per- 
 sons with a sword hanging to the neck is in the East a 
 very humble and submissive act. Thevenot has men- 
 tioned this circumstance (part. i. p. 289.) in the account 
 he has given of the taking of Bagdat by the Turks, in 
 1638. When the besieged entreated quarter, the prin- 
 cipal officer went to the Grand Vizier, with a scarf about 
 his neck, and his sword wreathed in it, and begged 
 mercy. The ropes mentioned in this passage were pro- 
 bably what they suspended their swords with. Harmer, 
 vol. ii. p. 258. 
 
 Mr. Mungo Park in his travels in Africa, speaking of 
 the manner in which the African slaves are made cap- 
 tive, says, " every four slaves are fastened together by 
 their necks with a strong rope of twisted thongs 9 and 
 thus conducted to the sea-ports for transportation. 
 This is the usual way in which they travel, and at other 
 times they have fetters on their hands and legs, as well 
 as ropes on their necks." 
 
 S 2
 
 260 1 KINGS. 
 
 No. 401. — xx. 31. Thou shalt make streets for thee 
 in Damascus.'] The circumstances connected with this 
 passage, and those contained in the following extract, 
 so much resemble each other, that it must be apparent 
 with what propriety our translators have chosen the 
 word streets, rather than any other, which commentators 
 have proposed instead of it. " Biazet hauing worthily 
 relieued his besieged citie, returned againe to the siege 
 of Constantinople ; laying more hardly vnto it than be- 
 fore, building forts and bulwarks against it on the one 
 side towards the land ; and passing over the strait of 
 Bosphorus, built a strong castle vpon that strait ouer 
 against Constantinople, to impeach so much as was pos- 
 sible all passage thereunto by sea. This streight seige 
 (as most urite) continued also two yeres, which I sup- 
 pose by the circumstance of the historie, to haue been 
 part of the aforesaid eight yeres. Emanuel, the besieged 
 emperor, wearied with these long wars, sent an embassador 
 to Biazet to inireat with him a peace, which Biazet was 
 the more willing to hearken vnto, for that he heard 
 newes, that Tamerlane, the great Tartarian prince, in- 
 tended shortly to warre upon him. Yet coidd not this 
 peace be obtained, but upon condition that the emperor 
 should grant free libertie for the Turks to dwell together 
 in one street of Constantinople, with free exercise of 
 their owne religion and, lawes, - vnder a judge of their 
 owne nation ; and further, to pay vnto the Turkish 
 king a verely tribute of ten thousand duckats, which 
 dishonourable conditions the distressed emperor was glad 
 to accept of. So was this long siege broken vp, and 
 presently a great sort of Turks with their families were 
 sent out of Bithynia, to dwell in Constantinople, and a 
 church there built for them ; which not long after was 
 by the Emperor pulled downe to the ground, and the 
 Turks againe driuen out of the citie, at such time as
 
 1 KINGS. 261 
 
 Birtzet was by the mightie Tamerlane overthrowne and 
 taken prisoner." Knolles's History of the Turks, 
 p. 206. 
 
 No. 402. — xxi. 8. Seal.~\ Seals are of very ancient 
 invention. Thus Judah left his seal with Tamar as a 
 pledge. The ancient Hebrews wore their seals or sig- 
 nets in rings on their fingers, or in bracelets on their 
 arms. Sealing rings, called annuli signatorii, sigil- 
 lares, and chirographi, are said by profane authors to 
 have been invented by the Lacedaemonians, who not 
 content to shut their chests, armouries, &c. with keys, 
 added a seal also.- Letters and contracts were sealed 
 thus : first they were tied up with thread or a string, 
 then the wax was applied to the knot, and the seal im- 
 pressed upon it. Rings seem to have been used as seals 
 in almost every country. Pliny, however, observes that 
 seals were scarcely used at the time of the Trojan war; 
 the method of shutting up letters was by curious knots, 
 which invention was particularly honoured, as in the 
 instance of the Gordian knot. We are also informed 
 by Pliny, that in his time no seals were used but in the 
 Roman empire: but at Rome testaments were null 
 without the testator's seal and the seals of seven wit- 
 nesses. Digest, lib. xxxvii. tit. de Bonorum Possessione. 
 Wilson's Archceol. Diet. art. Seal. 
 
 The very ancient custom of sealing dispatches with 
 a seal or signet, set in a ring, is still retained in the 
 East. Pococke says, {Travels, vol. i. p. 186. note,) 
 ■" in Egypt they make the impression of their name 
 with their seal, generally of cornelian, which they wear 
 on their finger, and which is blacked when they have 
 occasion to seal with it." Hanway remarks ( Trav. i. 
 317.) that " the Persian ink serves not only for writing, 
 but for subscribing with their seal ; indeed many of the 
 Persians in high office could not write. In their rings 
 
 s 3
 
 262 1 KINGS. 
 
 they wear agates, which serve for a seal, on which is 
 frequently engraved their name, and some verse from 
 the Koran." Shaw (Trav. p. 247.) says, " As few or 
 none either of the (Arab) shekhs, or of Turkish, and 
 eastern kings, princes or bashaws know to write their 
 own names, all their letters and decrees are stamped with 
 their proper rings, seals, or signets, (1 Kings, xxi. 8. 
 Esth. iii. 12. Dan. vi. 17 or 18, &c.) which are usually 
 of silver or cornelian, with their respective names en- 
 graved upon them on one side, and the name of their 
 kingdom or principality, or else some sentence of the 
 Koran, on the other." 
 
 Eastern signets have cyphers and letters on them. 
 Clarke's Trav. vol. i. p. 320. 
 
 No, 403. — xxi. 23. The dogs shall eat Jezebel.'] Mr. 
 Bruce, when at Gondar, was witness to a scene in a 
 great measure similar to the devouring of Jezebel by 
 dogs. He says, " the bodies of those killed by the 
 sword were hewn to pieces, and scattered about the 
 streets, being denied burial. I was miserable, and al- 
 most driven to despair, at seeing my hunting-dogs, twice 
 let loose by the carelessness of my servants, bringing into 
 the court-yard the heads and arms of slaughtered men, 
 and which I could no way prevent, but by the destruc- 
 tion of the dogs themselves." He also adds, that upon 
 being asked by the king the reason of his dejected and 
 sickly appearance, among other reasons he informed 
 him, " it was occasioned by an execution of three men, 
 which he had lately seen ; because the hyaenas, allured 
 into the streets by the o,uantity of carrion, would not 
 let him pass by night in safety from the palace, and be- 
 cause the dogs fled into his house, to eat pieces of human 
 carcases at their leisure." Travels, vol. iv. p. 81. This 
 account illustrates also the readiness of the dogs to lick 
 
 16
 
 1 KINGS. 263 
 
 the blood of Ahab, 1 Kings, xxii. 3.8. in perfect confor- 
 mity to which is the expression of the prophet Jeremiah 9 
 xv. 3. I will appoint over them the sword to slay, and, the 
 dogs to tear. 
 
 No. 404. — xxi. 27. And went softly. ~] Going softly 
 seems to have been one of the many expressions of 
 mourning commonly used among the eastern nations. 
 That it was in use among the Jews appears from the 
 case of Ahab ; and bv mistake it has been confounded 
 with walking barefoot. It seems to have been a very 
 slow, solemn manner of walking, well adapted to the 
 state of mourners labouring under great sorrow and 
 dejection of mind. 
 
 No. 405. — xxii. 43. The high places."] Many of old 
 worshipped upon hills and on the tops of high moun- 
 tains ; imagining that they thereby obtained a nearer 
 communication with heaven. Strabo says that the Per- 
 sians always performed their worship upon hills. Some 
 nations, instead of an image, worshipped the hill as 
 the deity. In Japan most of their temples are at this 
 day upon eminences; and often upon the ascent of 
 high mountains; commanding fine views, with groves 
 and rivulets of clear water : for they say, that the gods 
 are extremely delighted with such high and pleasant 
 spots. (Kjempfer's Japan, vol. ii. b. 5.) This practice 
 in early time was almost universal ; and every mountain 
 was esteemed holy. The people who prosecuted this 
 method of worship enjoyed a soothing infatuation, which 
 flattered the gloom of superstition. The eminences to 
 which they retired were lonely and silent ; and seemed 
 to be happily circumstanced for contemplation and 
 prayer. They who frequented them were raised above 
 the lower world ; and fancied that they were brought 
 s 4
 
 264. I KINGS. 
 
 into the vicinity of the powers of the air, and of the 
 deity who resided in the higher regions. But the chief 
 excellence for which they were frequented was, that 
 they were looked upon as the peculiar places where God 
 delivered his oracles. Holwell's Mythological Diet. 
 p. 225.
 
 [ 265 ] 
 
 No. 406. — 2 KINGS, i. 4, 
 
 Down from that bed. 
 
 THIS expression may be illustrated by what Shaw 
 says of the Moorish houses in Barbary {Travels, 
 p. 209.), where, after having observed that their cham- 
 bers are spacious, of the same length with the square 
 court on the sides of which they are built, he adds, « at 
 one end of each chamber there is a little gallery raised 
 three, four, or five feet above the floor, with a balustrade 
 in the front of it, with a few steps likewise leading up to 
 it. Here they place their beds ; a situation frequently 
 alluded to in the Holy Scriptures, which may likewise 
 illustrate the circumstance of Hezekiah's turning his 
 
 face, when he prayed towards the wall, (i. e. from his atten- 
 dants,) 2 Kings, xx. 2. that the fervency of his devotion 
 
 . might be the less taken notice of and observed. The 
 like is related of Ahab, 1 Kings, xxi. 4., though probably 
 he did thus, not upon a religious account, but in order 
 to conceal from his attendants the anguish he was in 
 for his late disappointment. 
 
 Russell (Nat. Hist, of Aleppo, p. 4.) gives a similar 
 account. He says that the oriental divan or sopha is 
 " a part of the room raised above the floor, and spread 
 with a carpet in winter, in summer with fine mats ; along 
 the sides are thick mattresses about three feet wide, 
 covered commonly with scarlet cloth, and large bolsters 
 of brocade hard stuffed with cotton are set against the 
 walls (or rails, when so situated as not to touch the wall) 
 for the conveniency of leaning. As they use no chairs, 
 it is upon these they sit, and all their rooms are so fur- 
 nished." To which may be added the following account
 
 266 2 KINGS. 
 
 from Mr. Maundrell's account of a visit to a Turkish 
 great man, Journey at Mar, 13., " Coming into his 
 room, you find him prepared to receive you, either 
 standing at the edge of the duan, or else lying down at 
 one corner of it, according as he thinks it proper to 
 maintain a greater or less distinction." So " when the 
 [Turkish Grand] Vizir gives audience to ambassadors 
 and foreign ministers, he is seated upon a corner of the 
 imperial sopha alone." See Habesci's Present State of 
 the Ottoman Empire, p. 187. 
 
 No. 407. — ii. 19. And the ground barren. Marg. 
 Causing to miscany.'] If the latter reading is allowed 
 to be more just than the former, we must entertain a 
 different idea of the situation of Jericho than the textual 
 translation suggests. There are actually at this time 
 cities where animal life of certain kinds pines and decays 
 and dies ; and where that posterity which should replace 
 such loss is either not conceived ; or, if conceived, is 
 not brought to the birth ; or, if brought to the birth, is 
 fatal in delivery to both mother and offspring. An 
 instance of this kind occurs in Don Ulloa's Voyage 
 to South America, vol. i. p. 93. He says of the climate 
 of Porto Bello, that " it destroys the vigour of nature, 
 and often untimely cuts the thread of life." And of 
 Sennaar Mr. Bruce (Trav. vol. iv. p. 469.) says, that 
 <c no horse, mule, ass, or any beast of burthen, will 
 breed or even live at Sennaar, or many miles about it. 
 Poultry does not live there; neither dog nor cat, sheep 
 nor bullock, can be preserved a season there. They 
 must go all, every half year, to the sands. Though 
 every possible care be taken of them, they die in every 
 place where the fat earth is about the town, during the 
 first season of the rains." He farther mentions, that the 
 situation is equally unfavourable to most trees.
 
 2 KINGS. 267 
 
 No. 408. — iii. 11. Whofoured "water on the hands 
 of Elijah.'] This was a part of the service which Elisha 
 performed to his master. We read of it in other in- 
 stances. Pitts tells us, (p. 24.) " the table being re- 
 moved, before they rise (from the ground whereon they 
 sit) a servant, who stands attending on them with a cup 
 of water to give them drink, steps into the middle, with 
 a bason, or copper pot of water, somewhat like a coffee- 
 pot, and a little soap, and lets the water run upon their 
 hands one after another, in order as they sit." Mr. 
 Hanway, speaking of a Persian supper, says, (Trav. 
 vol. i. p. 223.) " supper being now brought in, a servant 
 presented a bason of water, and a napkin hung over his 
 shoulders ; he went to every one in the company, and 
 poured water on their hands to wash." 
 
 The same office is performed by the servants, both 
 male and female, in Homer. Thus, Odyss. iv. lin. 216. 
 Asphalion, the servant of Menelaus, pours water on the 
 hands of him and his guests, 
 
 ■Ao-tyaXiwv o <zg vdwg ett* %fij>aj £p£si/EV 
 
 Or^^oj Se^aTTwv MziiiXcth; xi^aA^oto. 
 
 And at lin. 52., and Odyss. i. lin. 136. xv. lin. 135., and 
 xvii. lin. 91., female servants are employed in like manner. 
 So when the Tyrian or Phoenician Dido entertains 
 iEneas in Virgil, 2En. i. lin. 705. 
 
 Dant famuli manibus lymph as. 
 
 " Between each dish, a slave poured water over my 
 hands, and another gave me a towel of coarse, but very 
 white cloth." Chateaubriand's Travels in Greece, 
 Palestine, &c. vol. i. p. 132. In some places rose-water 
 is poured on the hands. Forbes's Oriental Memoirs, 
 vol. iii. p. 181.
 
 266 2 KINGS. 
 
 No. 409. — iii. 15. But bring me now a minstrel] 
 The music of great men in civil life has been sometimes 
 directed to persons of a sacred character, as an expres- 
 sion of respect, in the East : perhaps the playing of the 
 minstrel before Elisha is to be understood, in part at 
 least, in the same manner. When Dr. Chandler was at 
 Athens, the archbishop of that city was upon ill terms 
 with the waiwode: and the Greeks in general siding 
 with the waiwode, the archbishop was obliged to with- 
 drew for a time. But some time after, when Chandler 
 and his fellow-travellers were at Corinth, they were in- 
 formed, that the archbishop was returned to Athens; 
 that the waiwode had received him kindly, and ordered 
 his musicians to attend him at his palace ; and that a 
 complete revolution had happened in his favour. Travels 
 in Greece, p. 244. Harmer, vol. iii. p. 302. 
 
 No. 410. — iii. 1 7. Ye shall not see wind, neither shall 
 ye see rain.~] Rain is often in the East preceded by a squall 
 of wind. The editor of the Ruins of Palmyra tells us, 
 that they seldom have rain except at the equinoxes, 
 and that nothing could be more serene than the sky all 
 the time he was there, except one afternoon, when 
 there was a small shower, preceded by a whirlwind, 
 which took up such quantities of sand from the desert 
 as quite darkened the sky. (p. 37.) Thus Elisha told 
 the king of Israel, ye shall not see wind nor rain, yet that 
 valley shall be filled with water. The circumstance of 
 the wind taking up such a quantity of sand as to darken 
 the sky may serve to explain 1 Kings, xviii. 45. The 
 heaven was black with clouds and wind. The wind's 
 prognosticating of rain is also referred to Prov. xxv. 1 4. 
 whoso boasteth himself of a false gift, pretending to give 
 something valuable, and disappointing the expectation, 
 Is like clouds and wind without rain. Harmer, vol. i. 
 p. 54.
 
 2 KINGS. 269 
 
 No. 411. — iii. 25. Felled the good trees.'] In times 
 of war it was formerly very common for one party to 
 injure the other by destroying their valuable trees. Thus 
 the Moabites were punished, and thus the Arabs of the 
 Holy Land still make war upon each other, burning the 
 corn, cutting down the olive trees, &c. Hasselouist, 
 Trav. p. 143. 
 
 No. 412. — iii. 27. He took his eldest son and offered, 
 him for a burnt offering.'] Sir John Shore, (now Lord 
 Teignmouth) in a paper concerning some extraordinary 
 customs of the Hindoos, mentions a practice called 
 dherna, formerly very common at Benares. " It is 
 used by the brahmens in that city to gain a point which 
 cannot be accomplished by any other means. The pro- 
 gress is as follows : the brahmen who adopts this expe- 
 dient for the purpose mentioned, proceeds to the door 
 or house of the person against whom it is directed, or 
 wherever he may most conveniently intercept him : 
 he there sits down in dherna, with poison, or a poig- 
 nard, or some other instrument of suicide in his hand, 
 and threatening to use it if his adversary should attempt 
 to molest or pass him, he thus completely arrests him. 
 In this situation the brahmen fasts, and by the rigour 
 of the etiquette, which is rarely infringed, the unfor- 
 tunate object of his arrest ought to fast also ; and thus 
 they both remain until the institutor of the dherna ob- 
 tains satisfaction. In this, as he seldom makes the 
 attempt without resolution to persevere, he rarely fails ; 
 for if the party thus arrested were to suffer the brah- 
 men sitting in dherna to perish by hunger, the sin 
 would for ever lie upon his head." (Asiatic Researches, 
 vol. iv. p. 344.) This custom is there exemplified by 
 a remarkable instance in which it was practised. The 
 reason why the king of Moab offered his son on the 
 'wall was to represent to the attacking armies to what
 
 270 2 KINGS. 
 
 straits they had reduced him. If any practice of a nature 
 similar to that of the dherna formerly prevailed, we 
 may suppose that the king of Moab did not in this case 
 merely implore assistance from his gods by the sacrifice 
 of his son, but took this method of terrifying his adver- 
 saries, after his own personal valour had proved inef- 
 fectual to deliver himself and his country. 
 
 In great distress several persons like the king of 
 Moab, have offered their own children upon their altars. 
 Eusebius (Prcepar. Evartg. lib. v.) and Lactantius 
 (Div. Instit. cap. 21.) mention several nations who used 
 these sacrifices. Cjesar (De Bello Gallico, lib. vi.) says 
 of the Gauls, that when they were afflicted with griev- 
 ous diseases, or in time of war, or great danger, they 
 either offered, men for sacrifices, or vowed they would 
 offer them. For they imagined God would not be ap- 
 peased, unless the life of a man were rendered for the 
 life of a man. 
 
 If plundered or ill treated, without reparation, either 
 the protecting Bhaut, or one of the tribe, sheds his 
 blood in presence of the aggressors : a dreadful deed, 
 supposed to be always followed by divine vengeance. 
 Forbes's Oriental Memoirs, vol. iii. p. 255. 
 
 No. 413. — iv 1. The creditor is come to take unto 
 him my two so?is to be his bondsmen,] This was a case 
 in which the Hebrews had such power over their chil- 
 dren, that they might sell them to pay what they owed ; 
 and the creditor might force them to it. Huet thinks 
 that from the Jews this custom was propagated to the 
 Athenians, and from them to the Romans. 
 
 No. 414. — iv. 10. A little chamber,'] " To most of 
 these houses there is a smaller one annexed, which 
 sometimes rises one story higher than the house; at
 
 2 KINGS. 271 
 
 other times it consists of one or two rooms only and a 
 terrace, whilst others, that are built (as they frequently 
 are) over the porch or gateway, have (if we except the 
 ground-floor, which they have not) all the conveniences 
 that belong to the house, properly so called. There is 
 a door of communication from them into the gallery of 
 the house, kept open or shut at the discretion of the 
 master of the family, besides another door, which 
 opens immediately from a private staircase, down into 
 the porch or street, without giving the least distur- 
 bance to the house. These back-houses are known 
 by the name of olee or oleah (for the house properly so 
 called is dar or beet) and in them strangers are usually 
 lodged and entertained ; in them the sons of the family 
 are permitted to keep their concubines ; whither likewise 
 the men are wont to retire from the hurry and noise 
 of the families, to be more at leisure for meditation or 
 diversions, besides the use they are at other times put 
 to in serving for wardrobes and magazines. 
 
 The oleah of Holy Scripture, being literally the same 
 appellation, is accordingly so rendered in the Arabic 
 version. We may suppose it then to have been a struc- 
 ture of the like contrivance. The little chamber, conse- 
 quently, that was built by the Shunamite for Elisha 
 (whither, as the text instructs us, he retired at his plea- 
 sure, without breaking in upon the private affairs of the 
 family, or being in his turn interrupted by them in his 
 devotions) ; the summer-chamber of Eglon, (which in 
 the same manner with these, seems to have had privy 
 stairs belonging to it, through which Ehud escaped, 
 after he had revenged Israel upon that king of Moab) ; 
 the chamber over the gate, (whither, for the greater 
 privacy, king David withdrew himself to weep for Ab- 
 salom) ; and that upon whose terrace Ahaz, for the same 
 reason, erected his altars : seem to have been structures
 
 272 2 KINGS. 
 
 of the like nature and contrivance with these olees" 
 
 Shaw's Travels, p. 280. 
 
 No. 415. — iv. 23. It is neither new moon nor sab- 
 bath. Peter Della Valle assures us ( Travels into Ara- 
 bia Deserta, p. 258.) that it is now customary in that 
 country to begin their journeys at the new moon. When 
 the Shunamite proposed going to Elisha, her husband 
 dissuaded her by observing that it was neither new 
 moon nor sabbath. Harmer, vol. ii. p. 514. 
 
 No. 416. — iv. 24. Then she saddled an ass, and said 
 to her servant, drive and go forward.'] Asses were much 
 used for riding, and Pococke tells us, (vol. i. p. 191.) 
 that " the man, (the husband, I suppose, he means) 
 always leads the lady's ass, and if she has a servant he 
 goes on one side ; but the ass-driver follows the man, 
 goads on the beast, and when he is to turn, directs his 
 head with a pole." The Shunamite, when she went to 
 the prophet, did not desire so much attendance, but 
 only requested her husband to send her an ass and its 
 driver, to whom she said, Drive and go forward. Har- 
 mer, vol. i. p. 449. 
 
 No. 417. — iv. 39. And one went out into the f eld to 
 gather herbs.] To account for this circumstance, why 
 the herbs were gathered in the field and not in the gar- 
 den, it may be observed from Russell, that at Aleppo, 
 besides the herbs and vegetables produced by regularly 
 cultivated gardens, the fields afford bugloss, mallow, 
 and asparagus, which they use as pot-herbs, with some 
 others which are used in salads. Harmer, vol. i. 
 p. 332. 
 
 No. 418. — v. 6. That thou may est recover him of his 
 leprosy.] Schultens (in his MS. orig. Heb.) observes
 
 2 KINGS. 27S 
 
 that " the right understanding of this passage depends 
 on the custom of expelling lepers, and other infectious 
 persons, from camps or cities, and reproachfully driv- 
 ing them into solitary places; and that when these 
 persons were cleansed and re-admitted into cities or 
 camps, they were said to be recollect?, gathered again 
 from their leprosy, and again received into that society 
 from which they had been cut off." 
 
 No. 419. — v. 7. And it came to pass when the king 
 of Israel had read the letter — ] It was an ancient cus- 
 tom for the kings of Egypt to read all the letters of 
 state themselves. Diodorus Sic. p. 44. 
 
 No. 420. — v. 17. And Naaman said, shall there not. 
 then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules 9 
 burthen of earth ?~\ When the Israelites were in the 
 wilderness, and water was so scarce that a miracle was 
 necessary to procure a sufficiency for their sustenance, 
 it must have been almost impossible to have obtained 
 such a quantity as their numerous ablutions required. 
 In similar circumstances of difficulty contrivances have 
 been adopted, whereby it has been obviated. " If 
 they (the Arab Algerines) cannot come by any water, 
 then they must wipe themselves as clean as they can, 
 till water may conveniently be had ; or else it suffices 
 to take abdes upon a stone, which I call an imaginary 
 abdes ; i. e. to smooth their hends over a stone two or 
 three times, and rub them one with the other, as if 
 they were washing with water. The like abdes suf- 
 ficeth when any are sickly, so that water might en- 
 danger their life : and after they have so wiped, it is 
 gaise, i. e. lawful to esteem themselves clean." Pitts's 
 Account, p. 44. 
 
 In a Mahometan treatise of prayer, published by 
 
 VOL I. t
 
 m 2 KINGS. 
 
 De la Motraye, (vol. i. p. 360.) it is said, " in case 
 water is not to be had, that defect may be supplied 
 with earth, a stone, or any other product of the earth ; 
 and this is called tayamum, and is performed by clean- 
 ing the insides of the hands upon the same, rubbing 
 therewith the face once; and then again rubbing the 
 hands upon the earth, stone, or whatever it be, stroking 
 the right arm to the elbow with the left hand ; and so 
 the left with the right." 
 
 With respect to Naaman the prevailing opinion has 
 been, that he meant to erect an altar of the earth which 
 he requested of Elisha : but it may be proposed to 
 consideration, whether he had not a view to purifica- 
 tion, agreeably to the instances which occur in the 
 foregoing extracts. 
 
 " The narrative of an embassy from Justin to the 
 Khakan, or emperor, who then resided in a fine vale 
 near the source of the Irtish, mentions the Tartarian 
 ceremony of purifying the Roman ambassadors by con- 
 ducting them between two fires." Sir W. Jones's 
 Works, vol. iii. p. 89. 
 
 No. 421. — v. 18. And he leaneth upon my hand.'] 
 This might be done out of state, or on account of weak- 
 ness. In the additions to the book of Esther, (xv. 4.) 
 mention is made of two young women that waited on 
 that queen, upon one of whom she leaned, and the 
 other held up her train. It w r as not only the custom 
 amongst the Persians and Syrians, but the Israelites 
 also. 2 Kings, vii. 2. 17. Patrick, in loc. 
 
 No. 422. — vii. 10. Horses tied and asses tied.] From 
 the circumstances recorded concerning the flight of the 
 Syrians, it appears to have been remarkably precipitate. 
 That they were not altogether unprepared for a hasty
 
 2 KINGS. 275 
 
 departure may be inferred from comparing this pas- 
 sage with the following extract (from Memoirs rela- 
 tive to Egypt, p. 300.) : " As soon as the Arabs are ap- 
 prehensive of an attack, they separate into several small 
 camps, at a great distance from each other, and tie their 
 camels to the tents, so as to be able to move off at a mo- 
 ment's notice." Such a precaution is not probably pecu- 
 liar to the modern Arabs, but might be adopted by the 
 Syrian army. If this was the case, it shews with what 
 great fear God filled their minds, that though prepared 
 as usual for a quick march, they were not able to avail 
 themselves of the advantage, but were constrained to 
 leave every thing behind them as a prey to their 
 enemies. 
 
 No. 423. — vii. 12. And the king arose in the night, 
 and said tinto his servants, I will now shew you what the 
 Syria?is have done to us : they know that we are hungry, 
 therefore are they gone out of the camp to hide themselves 
 in the field, saying, when they come out of the city, we 
 shall catch them alive, and get into the city,'] In the his- 
 tory of the revolt of Ali Bey, (p. 99.) we have an ac- 
 count of a transaction very similar to the stratagem 
 supposed to have been practised by the Syrians. The 
 pasha of Sham (Damascus) having marched near to 
 the sea of Tiberias found Sheik Daher encamped 
 there : but the sheik deferring the engagement till the 
 next morning, during the night divided his army into 
 three parts, and left the camp with great fires, all 
 sorts of provisions, and a large quantity of spirituous 
 liquors, giving strict orders not to hinder the enemy 
 from taking possession of the camp, but to come down 
 and attack them just before dawn of day. " In the middle 
 of the night, the pasha of Sham thought to surprise Sheik 
 Daher, and marched in silence to the camp, which, to 
 
 T 2
 
 276 2 KINGS. 
 
 his great astonishment, he found entirely abandoned, 
 and thought the sheik had fled with so much precipi- 
 tation, that he could not carry off the baggage and 
 stores. The pasha thought proper to stop in the camp 
 to refresh his soldiers. They soon fell to plunder, and 
 drank so freely of the liquors, that, overcome with the 
 fatigue of the day's march, and the fumes of the 
 spirits, they were not long ere they were in a sound 
 sleep. At that time Sheik Sleby and Sheik Crime, who 
 were watching the enemy, came silently to the camp ; 
 and Sheik Daher, having repassed the sea of Tiberias, 
 meeting them, they all rushed into the camp, and fell 
 on the confused and sleeping enemy, eight thousand of 
 whom they slew on the spot ; and the pasha, with the 
 remainder of his troops, fled with much difficulty to 
 Sham, leaving all their baggage behind." Harmer, 
 vol. iv. p. 244. 
 
 No. 424. — ix. 1 3. Then they hasted, and took every 
 ?nan his garment, and put it under him on the top of the 
 stairs, and blew with trumpets, saying, Jehu is king.'] 
 " When I read," says Mr. King, (Archceol. vol. vi. 
 p. 293.) " that on Jehu's being anointed king over 
 Israel at Ramoth-gilead, the captains of the host, who 
 were then sitting in council, as soon as they heard 
 thereof, took every man his garment, and put it under 
 him on the top of the stairs, and blew with trumpets, 
 proclaiming, Jehu is king; and when I consider the 
 account given by Herodotus of the ancient Ecbatana, 
 which was at no great distance from Syria, and in a 
 country much connected with it ; and reflect also upon 
 the appearance of the top of the stair-cases, both at 
 Launceston and Connisborough, (which were narrow 
 and steep,) I am very apt to conclude, that at either of 
 the two latter places is still to be beheld nearly the 
 -ome kind of scenery, as to building, which was exhi-
 
 2 KINGS. 277 
 
 bited to the world on the remarkable occasion of inau- 
 gurating Jehu at Ramoth-gilead." 
 
 No. 425. — x. 15. And he gave him his hand.'] In 
 token of acknowledging a newly elected prince it was 
 not uncommon, or inconsistent with the reverence due 
 to his character, to take him by the hand. D'Herbelot 
 (p. 204.) in explaining an eastern term, which he tells 
 us signifies the election or inauguration of a khalif, in- 
 forms us, that this ceremony consisted in stretching 
 forth a person's hand, and taking that of him that they 
 acknowledged for khalifF. This was a sort of performing 
 homage, and swearing fealty to him. Harmer, vol. hi. 
 p. 330. 
 
 This was also sometimes done as a token of friend- 
 ship and fidelity. Gal. ii. 9. With this view it was also 
 practised by the Romans, as appears from Virgil: 
 
 Ipse pater dextram Anchises, haud multa moratus, 
 Dat juveni; atque animum praesenti pignore firmat. 
 
 JEn.m. t>10. 
 
 " My father Anchises frankly gives the youth his right 
 hand, and fortifies his mind by that kindly pledge." 
 
 No. 426. — xi. 2. Bed chamber.] A bed chamber 
 does not, according to the usage of the East, mean a 
 lodging room, but a repository for beds. Chardin 
 says, " In the East, beds are not raised from the ground 
 with posts, a canopy, and curtains; people lie on the 
 ground. In the evening they spread out a mattress or 
 two of cotton, very light, of which they have several in 
 great houses, against they should have occasion, and a 
 room on purpose for them." From hence it appears 
 that it was in a chamber of beds that Joash was con- 
 cealed. Harmkr, vol. ii. p. 489. 
 
 T 3
 
 278 2 KINGS. 
 
 No. 427. — xi. 12. Clapped their hands,"] The way 
 by which females in the East express their joy, is by 
 gently applying one of their hands to their mouths. 
 This custom appears to be very ancient, and seems to 
 be referred to in several places of Scripture. Pitts, 
 [Religion and Manners of the Mahometans, p. 85.) de- 
 scribing the jov with which the leaders of their sacred 
 caravans are received in the several towns of Barbary, 
 through which they pass, says, " This Emir Hagge, into 
 whatever town he comes, is received with a great deal 
 of joy, because he is going about so religious a work. 
 The women get upon the tops of the houses to view the 
 parade, where they keep striking their four fingers on 
 their lips softly as fast as they can, making a joyful 
 noise all the while." The sacred writers suppose two 
 different methods of expressing joy by a quick motion 
 of the hand : the clapping of the hands, and that of one 
 hand only, though these are confounded in our transla- 
 tion. The former of these methods obtained anciently, 
 as an expression of malignant joy ; [Lam. ii. 15. Job, 
 xxvii. 23.) but other words, which our version translates 
 clapping the hands, signify, the applying of only one 
 hand somewhere with softness, in testimony of a joy of 
 a more agreeable kind. Thus in 2 Ki?igs,x\. 12. and 
 Psalm x\\ T ii. 1. it should be rendered in the singular, 
 Clap your hand, and as the word implies gentleness, it 
 may allude to such an application of the hand to the 
 mouth as has now been recited. Harmek, vol. iii. 
 p. 277. 
 
 This practice was not only an expression of joy, as in 
 the present instance, but was also the ordinary method 
 in the East of calling the attendants in waiting. Thus 
 in the history of the Caliph Vathek (p. 127.) we are 
 toldj that Nourouishar clapped her hands, and imme- 
 diately came together Gulcheurouz and her women. 
 See also Psalm xlvii. 1. xcviii. 8.
 
 2 KINGS. 279 
 
 The following extracts from recent travels cannot be 
 unacceptable. 
 
 " Having clapped his hands, a swarm of attendants 
 came into the room bearing gilded goblets filled with 
 lemonade and sorbet, which they presented to us.'' 
 Clarke's Travels, vol. i. p. 348. 
 
 " After endeavouring to make us feel our inferiority, 
 he next strove to dazzle our senses with his splendor and 
 greatness. Having clapped his hands, a swarm of 
 attendants, most magnificently dressed, came into the 
 room, bearing gilded goblets filled with lemonade and 
 sorbet, which they presented to us." Clarke's Travels, 
 vol. ih p. 351. 
 
 " In the absence of better music, they were obliged 
 to content themselves with a single tomtom, the harmony 
 of which was greatly heightened by the clapping of 
 hands, and a peculiar kind of hissing that I never before 
 had heard, somewhat resembling the sounds produced 
 by a quick and alternate pronunciation of the conso- 
 nants p, t, and s. Only one person danced at a time, 
 who came forward in front, keeping up a constant, but 
 not very active motion with his feet, while his whole 
 body, but more particularly his shoulders and breast, 
 was agitated with a writhing gesture, w T hich as it pro- 
 ceeded, became too violent to be continued. The person 
 thus exhausted retired, and another took his place; but 
 I observed that this exercise was almost exclusively con- 
 fined to the chiefs, whose proficiency in it appeared 
 far greater than that of their companions, a circumstance 
 owing no doubt to their possessing superior strength and 
 activity, qualities extremely requisite for such violent 
 exertions." Salt's Voyage to Abyssinia, p. 226. 
 
 No. 428. — xi. 14. And when she looked, behold, the 
 king stood by a pillar, as the manner 'was.'] From 
 various testimonies it appears, that a seat erected 
 
 t 4
 
 280 2 KINGS. 
 
 near a pillar or column was particularly honourable and 
 distinguishing. Homer furnishes an instance of this 
 kind. Speaking of Ulysses, he says, 
 
 The monarch by a column high enthroned 
 His eye withdrew, and fix'd it on the ground. 
 
 Ody&s. xxiii. 93. Pope. 
 
 The same custom is also twice mentioned in Odyss. b. viii. 
 See also 2 Kings, xxiii. 3. 
 
 No. 429. — xii. 10. They 'put up (bound up) in bags, 
 and told the money.~\ It appears to have been usual in 
 the East for money to be put into bags, which, being 
 ascertained as to the exact sum deposited in each, were 
 sealed, and probably labelled, and thus passed currently. 
 Instances of tins kind may be traced in the Scriptures, 
 at least so far as that money was thus conveyed, (2 Kings, 
 v. 23.) and also thus delivered from superior to inferior 
 officers for distribution : as in the passage referred to 
 in this article. Major Rexnell (on the Geography of 
 Herodotus, sect. 15.) in giving an abstract of the History 
 of Tobit, says, " we find him again at Nineveh (Tab it, 
 xi. 16.) from whence he dispatches his son Tobias to 
 Ptages by way of Ecbatana, for the money. At the lat- 
 ter place, he marries his kinswoman Sara, and sends a 
 messenger on to Rages. The mode of keeping and de- 
 livering the money was exactly as at present in the East. 
 Gabael, who kept the money in trust, " brought forth 
 bags, which were sealed up, and gave them to him." 
 ( Tobit, ix. 5.) and received in return the handwriting or 
 acknowledgment which Tobias had taken care to require 
 of his father before he left Nineveh. The money we 
 learn (Tobit, i. 14.) was left in trust, or as a deposit, and 
 not on usury, and, as it may be concluded, with Tobit's 
 seal on the bags. In the East, in the present times, a bag 
 of money passes (for some time at least) currently from
 
 2 KINGS. 281 
 
 hand to hand, under the authority of a banker's seal, 
 without any examination of its contents." 
 
 No. 430. — xix. 7. Behold^ I will send a blast upon 
 him.'] The destruction of Sennacherib and his army 
 appears to have been effected by that pestilential wind 
 called the simoom, Mr. Bruce thus speaks of it : " We 
 had no sooner got into the plains than we felt great 
 symptoms of the simoom ; and about a quarter before 
 twelve our prisoner first, and then Idris, called out, The 
 simoom ! the simoom 1 My curiosity would not suffer me 
 to fall down without looking behind me ; about due south, 
 a little to the east, I saw the coloured haze as before. It 
 seemed now to be rather less compressed, and to have 
 with it a shade of blue : the edges of it were not defined as 
 those of the former, but like a very thin smoke, with about 
 a yard in the middle tinged with those colours. We all 
 fell upon our faces, and the simoom passed with a gentle 
 ruffling wind. It continued to blow in this manner till 
 near three o'clock, so we were all taken ill that night, and 
 scarcely strength was left us to load the camels, and 
 arrange the baggage." Travels, vol. iv. p. 581. In 
 another place Mr. Bruce describes it as producing a 
 desperate kind of indifference about life — that it brought 
 upon him a degree of cowardice and languor, which he 
 struggled with in vain ; and that it completely exhausted 
 his strength. From the accounts of various travellers 
 it appears to have been almost instantaneously fatal and 
 putrefying. It was consequently a fit agent to be em- 
 ployed in desolating the army of Sennacherib. 
 
 " It sometimes happens, that during an excessive 
 heat, there comes a breath of air still more burning, and 
 that then both men and beasts being already over- 
 powered and faint, this small increase of heat entirely 
 deprives them of respiration." Niebuhr, DescripL 
 deVArabie, p. 81.
 
 282 2 KINGS. 
 
 No. 43 1 . — xx. 11. The dial of Ahaz.~] At the be- 
 ginning of the world it is certain there was no distinc- 
 tion of time, but by the light and darkness, and the 
 whole day was included in the general terms of the even- 
 ing and morning. The Chaldaeans, many ages after the 
 flood, were the first who divided the day into hours ; 
 they being the first who applied themselves with any 
 success to astrology. Sun-dials are of ancient use: 
 but as they were of no service in cloudy weather and 
 in the night, there was another invention of measuring 
 the parts of time by water; but that not proving suffi- 
 ciently exact, they laid it aside for another by sand, 
 The use of dials was earlier among the Greeks than the 
 Romans. It was above three hundred years after the 
 building of Rome before they knew any thing of them: 
 but yet they had divided the day and night into twenty- 
 four hours; though they did not count the hours nu- 
 merically, but from midnight to midnight, distinguish- 
 ing them by particular names, as by the cock-crowing, 
 the dawn, the mid-day, &c. The first sun-dial we read 
 of among the Romans, which divided the day into 
 hours, is mentioned by Pliny, (Nat. Hist. lib. i. cap. 20.) 
 as fixed upon the temple of Quirinus by L. Papy- 
 rius the censor, about the twelfth year of the wars 
 with Pyrrhus. Scipio Nasica some years after mea- 
 sured the day and night into hours from the dropping 
 of water. 
 
 No. 432. — xx. 13. Shewed them all the house of his 
 precious things.'] The display which Hezekiah made of 
 his treasure was to gratify the ambassadors of the king 
 of Babylon. It appears to have been an extraordinary 
 thing, and not done but upon this and occasions of a 
 similar nature; such probably was the general practice. 
 Lord Macartney informs us, that " the splendor of the 
 emperor of China and his court, and the riches of the
 
 2 KINGS. <2$3 
 
 mandarins, surpass all that can be said of them. Their 
 silks, porcelain, cabinets, and other furniture, make a 
 most glittering appearance. These, however, are only 
 exposed when they make or receive visits: for they 
 commonly neglect themselves at home, the laws against 
 private pomp and luxury being very severe." 
 
 No. 433. — xx. 13. And Hezekiah hearkened unto 
 them, and shewed them all the house of his precious 
 things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the 
 precious ointment, and all the house of Jus armour.'] 
 Vertomannus, in his voyage to the East, describing the 
 treasure of the king of Calicut, says, that it is esteemed 
 so immense that it cannot be contained in two remark- 
 ably large cellars or warehouses. It consists of pre- 
 cious stones, plates of gold, and as much coined gold as 
 may suffice to lade a hundred mules. They say that it 
 was collected together by twelve kings who were before 
 him, and that in his treasury is a coffer three spans long 
 and two broad, full of precious stones of incalculable 
 value. This custom for the eastern princes to amass 
 enormous loads of treasure, merely for show and osten- 
 tation, appears to have been practised by the kings of 
 Judea. One instance of it at least is found in the case 
 of Hezekiah, in the passage now referred to. 
 
 No. 434. — xxi. 11. Manasseh king of Judah hath 
 done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above 
 all that the Amorites did.] Bodin informs us from 
 Maimonides, that it was customary among the Amorites 
 to draw their new-born children through a flame : be- 
 lieving that by this means they would escape many ca- 
 lamities; and that Maimonides himself had been an 
 eye-witness of this superstition in some of the nurses 
 Of Egypt.
 
 284 2 KINGS. 
 
 No. 435. — xxiii. 7. The women wove hangings for 
 the grove. ~] In the history of Schemselouhar and the 
 Prince of Persia {Arabian Nights' Entertainment), when 
 the former was told that the caliph was coming to visit 
 her, she ordered the paintings on silk, which were in 
 the garden, to be taken down. In the same manner 
 are paintings or hangings said to be used in the passage 
 referred to. 
 
 The authority given for this custom must be allowed 
 to be sufficient to vouch for the existence of the prac- 
 tice in question, to whatever animadversions the work 
 itself may be liable in any other point of view.
 
 [ 285 ] 
 
 No. 436. — 1 CHRONICLES, ii. 35. 
 
 And Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha his servant 
 to wife. 
 
 "\X7HEN the people of the East have no sons, they 
 frequently marry their daughters to their slaves, 
 and that even when they have much property to bestow 
 upon them. Hassan had been the slave of Kamel his 
 predecessor. But Kamel, " according to the custom of 
 the country, gave him one of his daughters in marriage, 
 and left him at his death one part of the great riches he 
 had amassed together in the course of a long and pros- 
 perous life." Maillet, Lett. nCi. p. 118. Harmer, 
 vol. ii. p. 370. 
 
 " Among the attendants of the Cambay Nabob, as also 
 at Surat, and other places, are several Abyssinian and 
 Caffree slaves, called by way of courtesy seddees or 
 master. They are often promoted to great honor, richly 
 apparelled, and furnished 'with horses, arms, and ser- 
 vants. This is customary among the Moguls, Turks, 
 Persians, and Arabians, and especially the Mamelukes 
 in Egypt, most of whom have ascended to their emi- 
 nence from such an origin, as the name signifying pur- 
 chased or property implies. The slaves who conduct 
 themselves well, find their chains light, are treated like 
 near relatives, and are admitted to great confidence. 
 They often obtain their freedom, and marry their mas- 
 ter's daughters." Forbes's Oriental Memoirs, vol. iii. 
 p. 167. 
 
 No. 437. — xii. 40. And on oscenJ] Dandini seems 
 to have been surprised to see oxen employed to carry 
 burthens upon their backs, like camels, mules, and
 
 286 I CHRONICLES. 
 
 asses, when he was making his observations on the cus- 
 toms of the East at Tripoly in Syria ; contrary to the 
 
 old saying, 
 
 Optat ephippia bos piger, optat arare caballus. 
 
 It appears, however, to have been a very ancient prac- 
 tice. Harmer, vol. ii. p. 465. 
 
 No. 438. — xvi. 36. And all the people said Amen.'] 
 This practice is of very great antiquity, and was in 
 general use with the Jews in early times. {Vitringa de 
 Synag, Vet. part. ii. lib. iii. cap. 18.) It was also retained 
 by them after the captivity. Nek, viii. 6. The Jewish 
 doctors give three rules for pronouncing the word. 
 1. That it be not pronounced too hastily and swiftly, 
 but with a grave and distinct voice. 2. That it be not 
 louder than the tone of him that blessed. 3. It was to 
 be expressed in faith, with a certain persuasion that 
 God would bless them and hear their prayer. 
 
 No. 439. — xxii. 8. Thou shalt not build a house unto 
 my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the 
 earth'] The custom which prohibits persons polluted 
 with blood to perform any offices of divine worship 
 before they were purified, is so ancient and universal, 
 that it may almost be esteemed a precept of natural 
 religion, tending to inspire an uncommon dread and 
 horror of bloodshed. In the case of David it amounted 
 to a disqualification, as it respected the building of the 
 temple. And with regard to some of the Israelites, it 
 was the cause of the rejection of their prayers. Isaiah. 
 i. 15. The Greeks were influenced by the same princi- 
 ple. Euripides represents Iphigenia as arguing that it 
 was impossible for human sacrifices to be acceptable to 
 the gods, since they do not permit any defiled with 
 blood, or even polluted with the touch of a dead body. 
 
 15
 
 1 CHRONICLES. 287 
 
 to come near their altars. (Jphig* in Taur. v. 380.) 
 Homer makes Hector say, 
 
 III fits it vie, with human gore distain'd, 
 
 To the pure skies these horrid hands to raise, 
 
 Or offer heav'n's great sire polluted praise. 
 
 II. vi. 355. Pope. 
 
 Virgil also makes iEneas say, 
 
 Me bello e tanto digressum et caede recenti 
 
 Attrectare nefas, donee me flumine vivo 
 
 Abluero.- JEn. \\. 717. 
 
 No. 440. — xxvi. 27. Out of the spoils isoon in battle 
 did they dedicate to maintain the house of the Lord.~\ 
 According to the law of Moses the booty was to be 
 divided equally, between those who were in the battle, 
 and those who were in the camp, whatever disparity 
 there might be in the number of each party. The law 
 farther requires, that out of that part of the spoils which 
 was assigned to the fighting men the Lord's share should 
 be separated : and for every five hundred men, oxen, 
 sheep, &c, they were to take one for the high priest, as 
 being the Lord's first-fruits, and out of the other moiety 
 belonging to the children of Israel they were to give 
 for every fifty men, oxen, sheep, &c, . one to the Le- 
 vites. Amongst the Greeks and Romans the plunder 
 was brought together into one common stock, and 
 divided afterwards amongst the officers and soldiers, 
 paying some respect to their rank in the distribution. 
 Sometimes the soldiers made a reserve of the chief part 
 of the booty, to present by way of compliment to 
 their respective generals. The gods were always re- 
 membered. And the priests had sufficient influence to 
 procure them an handsome offering, and other accept- 
 able presents. See Homer, 77. vii. 81. Eurip. Here, 
 Fur. 476. Virgil, JEn. iii. 286. et vii. 183. Wilson's 
 ArchceoL Diet. art. Booty.
 
 288 1 CHRONICLES. 
 
 No. 44-1. — xxvii. 28. Cellars of oil"] Dr. Chan- 
 dler (Trav. in Greece, p. 126.) says, the modern Greeks 
 keep their oil in large earthen jars, sunk in the ground, in 
 the areas before their houses. The custom might obtain 
 among the Jews; it is certain they sometimes buried 
 their oil in the earth, to secrete it in times of danger, in 
 which case they fixed upon the most likely place for 
 concealment — the Jields. (Jer. xli. 8.) Joash may there- 
 fore be properly considered as set over the treasures of 
 oil, whatever was the place in which it was stored. 
 Harmer, vol. iv. p. 108.
 
 C 289 ] 
 
 No. 442. — 2 CHRONICLES, vi. l. 
 
 Then said Solomon, the Lord hath said, that he would 
 dwell in the thick darkness, 
 
 PHIS notion of God's dwelling in darkness prevailed 
 amongst the heathens, who are supposed to have 
 learned it hence. Justin Martyr observes, that Orpheus 
 and another ancient writer called God TIayx.p<j$ov, alto- 
 gether hidden. And the Lacedaemonians, who pretend 
 to be allied to the Jews, had a temple dedicated to Zsvg 
 %xo\sivq$, Jupiter the dark. Patrick, in loc. 
 
 No. 443. — vi. 34. If thy people go out to war against 
 their enemies.'] The most usual time of going forth to 
 war was at the return of spring. In the beginning of 
 spring, says Josephus (Ant. 1. vii. c. 7.) David sent 
 forth his commander in chief Joab, to make war with 
 the Ammonites. At another place he says of Adad, 
 that as soon as spring was begun he levied and led 
 forth his army against the Hebrews. (Ant. 1. viii. c. 8.) 
 Antiochus, in the same manner made ready to invade 
 Judea at the first appearance of spring. Vespasian 
 likewise, earnest to put an end to the war in Judea, 
 marches with his whole army to Antipatris at the com- 
 mencement of spring. Holofornes also receives his 
 orders to lead forth the prmy of the king of Assyria on 
 the two and twentieth day of the first month, that is, a 
 few days after Easter. Judith, ii. 1. Hurdis's Diss. 
 p. 30. 
 
 No. 444. — ix. 24. And they brought every man his 
 present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment.'] 
 Thevenot tells us, (part i. p. 253.) it was a custom in 
 vol. I. v
 
 290 2 CHRONICLES. 
 
 Eo-ypt in his time, for the consuls of the European 
 nations to send the basha a present of so many vests, 
 and so many besides to some officers, both when a new 
 basha came, and a new consul entered bis office, as 
 were rated at above a thousand piastres. Doth not this 
 last account remind us of the presents that were made 
 to Solomon by the neighbouring princes at set times, 
 part of which, we are expressly told, consisted of 
 raiment? Harmer, vol. ii. p. 89. 
 
 No. 445. — xvi. 14. And they made a very great 
 burning for him.'] The Greeks and Romans burnt dead 
 bodies, throwing frankincense, myrrh, cassia, and other 
 fragrant things into the fire : and these were used in 
 such vast quantities, that Pliny represents it as a piece 
 of profaneness to bestow such heaps of frankincense upon 
 a dead body, when they offered it to their gods by 
 crumbs. (Nat. Hist. lib. x\i. cap. 18.) The Israelites 
 had no such custom; but from the ancient Egyptians 
 perhaps adopted the practice, not of burning bodies, 
 but of burning many spices at their funerals, 2 C/iron. 
 xxi. 19. Jer. xxxiv. 5. Kimchi here says, that they burnt 
 the bed on which they lay, and other household stuff, 
 that none might have the honour to use them when they 
 w ere gone. Something of the same sort was usual with 
 the Romans according to Tacitus, (Ann. 1. iii. c. 2.) " In 
 the colonies through which they passed, the populace 
 in mourning, and the knights in their purple robes, 
 threw into the flames rich perfumes, spices, and gar- 
 ments, with other funeral offerings, according to the 
 ability of the place." 
 
 No. 446. — xxv. 1 2. And cast them down from the 
 top of the rock.] This mode of punishment was prac- 
 tised by the Greeks and Romans, as well as the Jews. 
 In Greece, according to the Delphian law, such as were 
 14
 
 2 CHRONICLES. 291 
 
 guilty of sacrilege were led to a rock, and cast down 
 headlong, ^lian. Far. Hist. lib. xi. c. 5. The Romans 
 also inflicted it on various malefactors, by casting them 
 down from the Tarpeian rock. Livy, Hist. 1. vi. c. 20. 
 Mr. Pitts in his account of the Mahometans (p. 10.) 
 informs us, that in Turkey, at a place called Constan- 
 tine, a town situated at the top of a great rock, the 
 usual way of executing great criminals is by pushing 
 them off the cliff. 
 
 This is also mentioned as a capital punishment by 
 Tacitus, Ann. lib. ii. c. 39. 
 
 No. 447. — xxviii. 23. For he sacrificed unto the gods 
 of Damascus, which smote him.~\ However stupid it was 
 to imagine that they had any power over him, who could 
 not defend themselves from Tiglath-Pileser, yet being of 
 opinion that they were gods, he endeavoured by sacrifices 
 to appease them, that they might do him no further 
 hurt. Thus the ancient Romans by sacrifices intreated 
 the gods of their enemies to come over to them, and to 
 be their friends. See Jackson's Original of Unbelief 
 cap. 17. 
 
 No. 448. — xxviii. 27. And AJiaz slept with his fathers, 
 and they buried him in the city, even in Jerusalem j but 
 they brought him not into the sepulchres of the Icings of 
 Israel.'] The Israelites were accustomed to honour in 
 a peculiar manner the memory of those kings who had 
 reigned over them uprightly. On the contrary, some 
 marks of posthumous disgrace followed those monarchs 
 who left the world under the disapprobation of their 
 people. The proper place of interment was in Jeru- 
 salem. There, in some appointed receptacle, the re- 
 mains of their princes were deposited: and, from the 
 circumstance of this being the cemetery for successive 
 rulers, it was said, when one died and was so buried., 
 
 u 2
 
 292 2 CHRONICLES. 
 
 that he was gathered to his fathers. Several instances 
 occur in the history of the kings of Israel, wherein, on 
 certain accounts, they were not thus interred with their 
 predecessors, but in some other place in Jerusalem. So 
 it was with Ahaz, who though brought into the city, 
 was not buried in the sepulchres of the kings of Israel. 
 In some other cases, perhaps to mark out a greater 
 degree of censure, they were taken to a small distance 
 from Jerusalem. It is said that Uzziak was buried "with 
 his fathers in the f eld of the burial which belonged to the 
 kings ; for they said, he is a leper. (2 Chron. xxvi. 23.) 
 It was doubtless with a design to make a suitable im- 
 pression on the minds of their kings while living, that 
 such distinctions were made after their decease. They 
 might thus restrain them from evil or excite them to 
 good, according as they were fearful of being execrated, 
 or desirous of being honoured, when they were dead. 
 The Egyptians had a custom in some measure similar 
 to this ; it was however general as to all persons, though 
 it received very particular attention, as far as it con- 
 cerned their kings. It is thus described in Franklin's 
 History of ancient and modern Egypt, vol. i. p. 374. 
 " As soon as a man was dead, he was brought to his 
 trial. The public accuser was heard. If he proved 
 that the deceased had led a bad life, his memory was 
 condemned, and he was deprived of the honours of 
 sepulture. Thus, that sage people were affected with 
 laws which extended even beyond the grave, and every 
 one, struck with the disgrace inflicted on the dead per- 
 son, was afraid to reflect dishonour on his own memory, 
 and that of his family. 
 
 " But what was singular, the sovereign himself was 
 not exempted from this public inquest upon his death. 
 The public peace was interested in the lives of their 
 sovereigns in their administration, and as death termi- 
 nated all their actions, it was then deemed for the public
 
 2 CHRONICLES. 293 
 
 welfare, that they should suffer an impartial scrutiny 
 by a public trial, as well as the most common subject. 
 Even some of them were not ranked among the ho~ 
 noured dead, and consequently were deprived of public 
 burial. The Israelites would not suffer the bodies of 
 some of their flagitious princes to be carried into the 
 sepulchres appropriated to their virtuous sovereigns. 
 The custom was singular : the effect must have been 
 powerful and influential. The most haughty despot, 
 who might trample on laws human and divine in his life, 
 saw, by the solemn investigation of human conduct, that 
 at death he also would be doomed to infamy and exe- 
 cration." What degree of conformity there was be- 
 tween the practice of the Israelites and the Egyptians, 
 and with whom the custom first originated, may be 
 difficult to ascertain and decide, but the conduct of the 
 latter appears to be founded on the same principle as 
 that of the former, and as it is more circumstantially 
 detailed, affords us an agreeable explanation of a rite 
 but slightly mentioned in the Scriptures. 
 
 No. 449. — xxxv. 25. And Jeremiah lamented for Jo- 
 siah, and all the singing men and the si?iging "women speak 
 of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them 
 an ordinance in Israel.'] Public characters were lamented 
 in anniversary solemnities with mournful music, and 
 oftentimes in such a manner as might represent the cir- 
 cumstances of their affliction or death, as far as they 
 could with propriety. The Persians annually mourn 
 for Houssain, (the grandson of Mohammed,) and visit 
 his sepulchre near the ancient Babylon. The mourning 
 continues ten days; all pleasures are suspended; they 
 dress as mourners ; and they pronounce discourses re- 
 lating to his death to numerous assemblies : all this is 
 done in the royal palace in the hearing of the prince 
 himself, as well as in other places among the common 
 u 3
 
 294 2 CHRONICLES. 
 
 people. Chardin. The mourning for the death of Jo- 
 siah, and the mourning for the daughter of Jephthah, 
 were probably of this kind. Harmer, vol. iii. p. 435. 
 
 No. 450. — xxxvi. 15. Rising up betimes, and sendi?ig 
 them.'] The Jews in general rose very early in the 
 morning. Hence in their style, to rise early signifies to 
 do a thing sedulously, and with a good will : thus it is 
 frequently said, that God rose up early to send the pro- 
 phets to his people, and exhort them to repentance. 
 Jer. vii. 13. xi. 7. xxxv. 14. It is a consequence of 
 country labour. The Greeks and Romans followed the 
 same custom : they rose very early, and worked till 
 night; they bathed, supped, and went to bed in good 
 time, Fleury's Hist, of Israelites, p. 49.
 
 [ 295 ] 
 
 No. 451. — EZRA, iv. 14. 
 
 Maintenance from the king's palace. 
 
 A/TARG. Salted with the salt of the palace. - ] Some 
 have supposed these words refer to their receiving 
 of a stipend from the king in salt ; others, that it ex- 
 presses an acknowledgment that they were protected by 
 the king as flesh is preserved by salt. It is sufficient, 
 however, to put an end to all these conjectures, to recite 
 the words of a modern Persian monarch, whose court 
 Chardin attended some time. " Rising in wrath 
 against an officer who had attempted to deceive him, he 
 drew his sabre, fell upon him, and hewed him in pieces 
 at the feet of the Grand Vizir, who was standing, (and 
 whose favour the poor wretch courted by this deception,) 
 and looking fixedly upon him, and the other great lords 
 that stood on each side of him, he said with a tone of 
 indignation, I have then such ungrateful servants and 
 traitors as these to eat my salt." (Tom. iii. p. 149.) I 
 am well informed, says Mr. Parkhurst (Heb. Lex. p. 448. 
 3d edit.) that it is a common expression of the natives 
 in the East Indies, " I eat such an one's salt," meaning 
 I am fed by him. Salt, among the eastern natives for- 
 merly was, as it still is, a symbol of hospitality and 
 friendship. The learned Jos. Mede observes, [Works, 
 p. 370. fol.) that in his time, " when the Emperor of 
 Russia would shew extraordinary grace and favour to 
 any, he sent him bread and salt from his table. And 
 when he invited Baron Sigismund, the Emperor Fer- 
 dinand's embassador, he did it in this form, " Sigis* 
 mund, you shall eat your bread and salt with us." So 
 Tamerlane in his Institutes, mentioning one Share Beh- 
 u 4
 
 296 EZRA. 
 
 return, who had quitted his service, joined the enemy, and 
 fought against him, says, " at length my salt which he 
 had eaten, overwhelmed him with remorse, he again 
 threw himself on my mercy, and humbled himself before 
 me." Harmer, vol. iv. p. 458. 
 
 No. 452. — vi. 11. And let his house be made a 
 dunghill for this.'] Thus the Romans pulled down the 
 houses of very wicked men, for their greater disgrace. 
 Of this we have instances in Sp. Cassius and Ovidius 
 Poliio. Livy (1. ii.) speaking of the punishment of the 
 former, tells us, dirutas publice cedes, and Valer. Max. 
 (vi. 3.) observes of the same person, Senatus yopulusque 
 Homanus non contentus capitali eitm supplicio afficere in- 
 terempto domum superjecit, ut penatium quoque strage pu- 
 niretur. Sp. Melius also suffered a like fate. Thus the 
 house of Caius Cassius was pulled down for his affecta- 
 tion of government, and for treason ; and that of M. 
 Manlius Capitolinus, who was suspected of seizing the 
 government, after he was thrown down from the rock, 
 was made a mint of. That of Spurius Melius, for the 
 same crime, after he had suffered, was by reproach called 
 JEqvimelium. Other instances are mentioned in Alex. 
 ab Alex. Genial. Dier. 1. iii. c. 23. See 2 Kings, x. 27. 
 
 In the same manner the Persians no longer ago than 
 the year 1 729, not only demolished the superb mauso- 
 leum of the late Afghan Sultan, Maghmud, but " to 
 add yet a greater mark of contempt and abhorrence, in 
 the very place on which the mausoleum had been erected, 
 they built a public jakes." Hanway's History of Nadir 
 Shah, p. 34. 
 
 No. 453. — vi. 15. The month Adar.~\ This was the 
 name, after the Babylonish captivity, of the twelfth 
 month, nearly answering to our February O. S. and per-
 
 EZRA. 297 
 
 haps so called from the richness or exuberance of the 
 earth in plants and flowers at that season in the warm 
 eastern countries. " As February advances, the fields, 
 which were partly green before, now by the springing 
 up of the latter grain, become entirely covered with an 
 agreeable verdure : and though the trees continue in 
 their leafless state till the end of this month or the begin- 
 ning of March, yet the almond, when latest, being in 
 blossom before the middle of February, and quickly 
 succeeded by the apricot, peach, &c. gives the gardens 
 an agreeable appearance. The spring now becomes 
 extremely pleasant." Ezra, vi. 15. Esther, iii. 7. See 
 Russell's Nat. Hist, of Aleppo, p. 13. 30. Hassel- 
 quist's Travels, p. 27. 
 
 No. 454-. — viii. 27. Precious as gold. ,] Yellow or 
 shining brass, marg. Sir J. Chardin, MS. note, has 
 mentioned a mixed metal used in the East, and highly 
 esteemed there, which might probably be of as ancient 
 an origin as the time of Ezra. He says, " I have heard 
 -some Dutch gentlemen speak of a metal in the island 
 of Sumatra and among the Macassars, much more 
 esteemed than gold, which royal personages alone might 
 wear. It is a mixture, if I remember right, of gold and 
 steel, or of copper and steel. Cahnbac, is this metal, 
 composed of gold and copper ; it in colour nearly re- 
 sembles the pale carnation rose, has a very fine grain, 
 and the polish extremely lively. Gold is not of so lively 
 and brilliant a colour." Harmer, vol. ii. p. 490. 
 
 No. 455. — ix. 3. And plucked off the hair of my head.'] 
 In ordinary sorrows they only neglected their hair, and 
 let it hang down scattered in a careless manner: the prac- 
 tice mentioned in these words was used in bitter lamen- 
 tations; and that also amongst the heathens. Thus
 
 298 EZRA. 
 
 Homer, speaking of Ulysses and his companions be- 
 wailing the death of Elpenor, says, 
 
 'E£ojw,Evoi £s vflaZQu youv rlXXoSjo te p^a/ras. Odi/ss. x. 15. 
 
 They sitting down there howled and plucked off their 
 hairs. 
 
 " As we rode into the town, we met a long train of 
 women, dressed in white robes, the beautiful costume of 
 the capital, filling the air with their lamentations. Some 
 of them were of the middle age, but all were handsome. 
 As they came on they exposed their faces and breasts to 
 public view, tearing their hair, and weeping piteously.' , 
 Clarke's Travels, vol. ii. p. 347.
 
 [ 299 ] 
 
 No. 456. — NEHEMIAH, ii. 8. 
 
 And the king granted me according to the good hand of 
 my God. upo?i me. 
 
 JPHE hand is sometimes taken in an ill sense for in- 
 flicting punishments ; Ruth, i. 1 3. Jer. xv. 17.; and 
 sometimes in a good sense, for we extend favours to 
 men with the hand. Thus Drusius explains Psalm 
 lxxxviii. 5. cut off from thy hand, that is, fallen from thy 
 grace and favour. Pindar (Olymp. 10.) thus uses the 
 hand of God, for his help and aid, &ss <rvv noCka^*, by 
 the hand of God ; which the scholiast interprets, by the 
 power and help of God. Thus Nehemiah is here to be 
 understood. 
 
 No. 457. — v. 5. We bring into bondage our sons and 
 our daughters to be servants.~] As to the paternal power 
 of the Hebrews, the law gave them leave to sell their 
 daughters, Exod. xxi. 7. ; but the sale was a sort of mar- 
 riage, as it was with the Romans. Fathers sold their 
 children to their creditors, Isaiah, 1. 1 ., and in the time of 
 Nehemiah the poor proposed to sell their children for 
 something to live upon ; and others bewailed themselves 
 that they had not wherewith to redeem their children 
 that were already in slavery. They had the power of 
 life and death over their children, Prov. xix. 18. But 
 they had not so much liberty as the Romans, to make 
 use of this severe privilege without the knowledge of the 
 magistrate. The law of God only permitted the father 
 and mother, after they had tried all sorts of correction 
 at home, to declare to the elders of the city that their 
 son was stubborn and rebellious ; and upon their com-
 
 300 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 plaint he was condemned to death and stoned. Dent. 
 xxi. 19. The same law was in force at Athens. Fleury's 
 Hist, of the Israelites, p. 140. 
 
 No. 458. — v. 11. Also the hundredth part of the 
 money, and cf the corn, the nine, and the oil, that ye exact 
 of them,'] The hundredth part was an usury at this 
 time exacted in those countries, as afterwards among 
 the Romans: this was the hundredth part of what was 
 lent every month, so that every year they paid the eighth 
 part of the principal. Salmasius however observes, that 
 in the eastern countries, there never were any laws to 
 determine what interest should be taken for money lent 
 for a day, or a week, or a month, or a year, (for there 
 were all these sorts of usury,) but every one was left to 
 demand what he pleased *, and according to what was 
 agreed they paid for what was borrowed. Patrick, in loc. 
 
 " Nothing is more destructive to Syria than the 
 shameful and excessive usury customary in that country. 
 When the peasants are in want of money to purchase 
 grain, cattle, &c. they can find none but by mort- 
 gaging the whole or part of their future crop greatly 
 under its value. The danger of letting money appear 
 closes the hands of all by whom it is possessed ; and if it 
 be parted with, it must be from the hope of a rapid and 
 exorbitant gain: the most moderate interest is twelve 
 per cent. : the usual rate is twenty, and it frequently 
 rises as high even as thirty." Volney's 1 rav. vol. ii. 
 p. 4 1 0. See also Jer. xv. 1 0. 
 
 No. 459. — v. 15. Even their servants bare ride over 
 the people. ~] By these words it is evident that some 
 oppressive practices are referred to. They probably 
 relate to the forcible taking away of provisions from the 
 people by the servants of former governors. In these 
 countries this was no uncommon thing : many instances of
 
 NEHEMIAH. 301 
 
 it might be easily produced : the one which follows may 
 however suffice. After the jealousy of the poor oppress- 
 ed Greeks lest they should be pillaged, or more heavily 
 loaded with demands by the Turks, had prevented their 
 voluntarily supplying the Baron Du Tott for his money, 
 Ali Aga undertook the business, and upon the Molda- 
 vian's pretending not to understand the Turkish lan- 
 guage, he knocked him down with his fist, and kept 
 kicking him while lie was rising ; which brought him to 
 complain in good Turkish of his beating him so, when 
 he knew very well they were poor people, who were 
 often in want of necessaries, and whose princes scarcely 
 left them the air they breathed. " Pshaw ! thou art 
 joking, friend," was the reply of Ali Aga, " thou art in 
 want of nothing, except of being basted a little oftener. 
 But all in good time. Proceed we to business. I must 
 instantly have two sheep , a dozen of fowls, a dozen of 
 pigeons, fifty pounds of bread, four oques (a Turkish 
 weight of about forty-two ounces) of butter, with salt, 
 pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, lemons, wine, salad, and 
 good oil of olives, all in great plenty." With tears the 
 Moldavian replied, I have already told you that we are 
 poor creatures, without so much as bread to eat ; where 
 must we get cinnamon ? The whip was taken from under 
 his habit, and the Moldavian beaten. till he could bear 
 it no longer, but was forced to fly, finding Ali Aga 
 inexorable, and that these provisions must be produced. 
 A quarter of an hour was not expired, within which 
 time Ali Aga required these things, before they were all 
 brought. Memoirs, vol. i. part ii. p. 10. and Forbes's 
 Oriental Memoirs, vol. i. p. 281. 
 
 " It was nearly dark when we reached the town, if 
 a long straggling village may bear this appellation. 
 Ibrahim rode first, and had collected a few peasants 
 around him, whom we could just discern by their white 
 habits, assembled near his horse. In answer to his en-
 
 302 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 quiries respecting provisions for the party, they replied, 
 in an humble tone, that they had consumed all the food 
 in their houses, and had nothing left to offer. Instantly, 
 the noise of Ibrahim's lash about their heads and 
 shoulders made them believe that he was the herald of a 
 party of Turks, and they fled in all directions. This 
 was the only way, he said, to make those misbegotten 
 dogs provide any thing for our supper. It was quite 
 surprizing to see how such lusty fellows, any one of 
 whom was more than a match for Ibrahim, suffered them- 
 selves to be horse-whipped, and driven from their homes, 
 owino- to the dread in which they hold a nation of stupid 
 and cowardly Mahometans." Clarke's Travels, vol. iii. 
 p. 614. 
 
 No. 460. — vi. 5. An open letter.'] A letter has its 
 Hebrew name from its being rolled or folded together. 
 " The modern Arabs roll up their letters, and then 
 flatten them to the breadth of an inch, and paste up 
 the end of them instead of sealing them." (Niebuhr, 
 p. 90.) The Persians make up their letters in " a roll 
 about six inches long, and a bit of paper is fastened 
 round it with gum, and sealed with an impression of 
 ink, which resembles our printer's ink, but (is) not so 
 thick." (Hanw'ay's Travels, vol. i. p. 317.) Letters were 
 generally sent to persons of distinction in a bag or 
 purse, and to equals they were also inclosed, but to 
 inferiors, or those who were held in contempt, they were 
 sent open, i. e. uninclosed. Lady M. W. Montague 
 says, [Letters, vol. i. p. 136.) the bassa of Belgrade's 
 answer to the English embassador going to Constanti- 
 nople was brought to him in a purse of scarlet satin. But 
 in the case of Nehemiah an insult was designed to be 
 offered to him by Sanballat, in refusing him the mark of 
 respect usually paid to persons of his station, and treat- 
 ing him contemptuously, by sending the letter without
 
 NEHEMIAH. 303 
 
 the customary appendages when presented to persons of 
 respectability. Harmer, vol. ii. p. 129. 
 
 Futty Sihng sent a chopdar to me at Dhuboy, with 
 a letter of invitation to the wedding, then celebrating 
 at Brodera at a great expence, and of long continuance. 
 The letter, as usual, from oriental princes, was written 
 on silver paper, flowered with gold, with an additional 
 sprinkling of saffron, enclosed under a cover of gold 
 brocade. The letter was accompanied by a bag of crim- 
 son and gold keem-caub, filled with sweet-scented seeds, 
 as a mark of favour and good omen. For on these oc- 
 casions the brahminical astrologers and soothsayers are 
 always particularly consulted. Forbes's Oriental Me- 
 moirs, vol. iii. p. 279. 
 
 No. 461. — vii. 64. Genealogy. ~] Among the Chinese 
 a tablet of ancestry is in every house : and references in 
 conversation are often made to their actions. (Macart- 
 ney's Embassy, p. 295.) This practice seems to cor- 
 respond with the genealogical tables of the Jews, which 
 they are so careful in preserving. 
 
 No. 462. — xiii. 25. Plucked off their hair.'] To cut off 
 the hair of guilty persons seems to be a punishment 
 rather shameful than painful : yet it is thought that pain 
 was added to disgrace, and that they tore off the hair 
 with violence, as if they were plucking a bird alive. 
 This is the genuine signification of the Hebrew word 
 used in this passage. Sometimes they put hot ashes on 
 the skin after they had torn off the hair, to make the 
 pain the more exquisite. Thus they served adulterers 
 at Athens ; as is observed by the Scholiast on Aristo- 
 phanes in Nubibus. This kind of punishment was com- 
 mon in Persia. King Artaxerxes, instead of plucking 
 off the hair of such of his generals as had been guilty of 
 a fault, obliged them to lay aside the tiara, says Plu-
 
 304 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 torch. {Apophthegm.) The Emperor Domitian caused 
 the hair and beard of the philosopher Apollonius to be 
 shaved. {Philostrat. lib. iii. cap. 24.) Calmet's Diet. 
 art. Punishment. 
 
 No. 463. — x. 34. The wood-offering.] Concerning 
 this offering Maimonides says, " what is the wood-offer - 
 ino- ? there was a time fixed for families to go out into 
 the forests, and bring in wood of disposition (to be laid 
 in order upon the altar) : and the day when it came to 
 the turn of a family to bring the wood, they offered up 
 a free-will burnt-offering, which they called a wood- 
 offering, and it was to them a good day (or festival) : 
 and they were forbidden to mourn, fast, or do any work 
 on it." Josephus speaks of a feast called avXoyopict, 
 when it was customary for all to bring wood to the altar, 
 to keep the sacred fire, that it might not go out. De 
 BelloJud. l.ii.'c. 17. §6. 
 
 No. 464. — xii. 24. And the chief of the Levites ; 
 Hashabiah, Sherebiah, aud Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, 
 with their brethren over against them, to praise and give 
 thanks according to the commandment of David the man 
 of God, ward over against ward.'] " Though we are 
 rather at a loss for information respecting the usual 
 manner and ceremony of chanting the Hebrew poems ; 
 and though the subject of this (the Jews) sacred musie 
 in general is involved in doubt and obscurity, thus far 
 at least is evident from many examples, that the sacred 
 hymns were alternately sung by opposite choirs; and 
 that the one choir usually performed the hymn itself, 
 while the other sung a particular distich, which was 
 regularly interposed at stated intervals, either of the 
 nature of the proasm or epode of the Greeks. Exod. 
 xv. 20, 21. Ezra, iii. 11. 1 Sam. xviii. 7. and many of 
 the Psalms." Lowth's Led. on Heb. Poetry, vol. ii. 
 p. 25.
 
 [ 305 ] 
 
 No. 465. — ESTHER, i. 4-. 
 
 When he shewed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the 
 honour of his excellent majesty many days, even a hun- 
 dred and fourscore days. 
 
 COME persons apprehend that he was thus long in 
 making preparation for this splendid entertainment 
 which did not last many days. But this custom is still 
 continued of keeping an annual festival an hundred and 
 eighty days, according to Dr. Fryer {Lett. v. p. 348.) 
 who lived lately in this country, and gives an account 
 of it in his travels. And Cheus, a Chinese emperor, 
 used frequently to make a feast which lasted one hun- 
 dred and twenty days. The quantity and quality of the 
 dishes and provision at such entertainments, were pro- 
 portioned as marks of honour, to the rank of the guests. 
 Forbes's Oriental Memoirs, vol. 3. p. 187. 
 
 No. 466. — i. 9. Feast for the women."] Chardin 
 says, " it is the custom of Persia, and of all the East, 
 for the women to have their feasts at the same time 
 (with), but apart from the men." Harmer, vol. i. 
 p. 354. 
 
 Maillet, (Lett. 10. p. 79.) after having given an 
 account of the extraordinary feasting at the castle of 
 Grand Cairo, upon the circumcision of the sons of 
 the bashaw of Egypt, tells us at the close, that " he 
 was assured that the expence, which was incurred at 
 the same time in the apartments of the women of the 
 bashaw, was not much less considerable than what 
 appeared in public : there being there the same liberali- 
 ties, the same pleasures, the same abundance, the same 
 
 VOL. I. X
 
 306 ESTHER. 
 
 magnificence, that appeared out of the apartments." 
 Dr. Shaw (Trav. p. 232.) observes, that as in former 
 ages, so at present it is the custom, in the eastern 
 countries, at all their festivals and entertainments, for 
 the men to be treated in separate apartments from the 
 women, not the least intercourse or communication 
 being ever allowed between the sexes. Vid. Forbes's 
 Oriental Memoirs, vol. i. p. 266. 
 
 No. 467. — i. 1.1. To bring Vashti the queen before 
 the king.'] The Persians on festival occasions used to 
 produce their women in public. To this purpose Hero- 
 dotus relates a story of seven Persians being sent to 
 Amyntas a Grecian prince, who received them hospit- 
 ably, and gave them a splendid entertainment. When, 
 after the entertainment, they began to drink, one of the 
 Persians thus addressed Amyntas : " Prince of Mace- 
 donia, it is a custom with us Persians, whenever we 
 have a public entertainment, to introduce our concu- 
 bines and young wives." On this principle Ahasuerus 
 gave command to bring his queen Vashti into the public 
 assembly. 
 
 No. 468. — ii. 11. And Mordecai walked every day 
 before the court of the women 9 s house, to know how Esther 
 did, and what shoidd become of her. ~\ The harams in the 
 East were guarded -with extreme vigilance. Chardin 
 [Travels, p. 332.) informs us, that it is a crime for any 
 person whatever to be enquiring what passes within 
 those walls ; that it is very difficult to be informed of the 
 transactions in those habitations; and that a man may 
 walk a hundred days, one after another, by the house 
 where the women are, and yet know no more what 
 is done therein than at the farther end of Tartary. 
 This sufficiently explains the reason of Mordecai's 
 Conduct.
 
 ESTHER. so? 
 
 No. 469.-— ii. 19. The king's gate. ~\ « The public 
 place for doing business among the Greeks and Romans 
 was the market-place or exchange, because they were 
 all merchants. In our ancestors' time the vassals of each 
 lord met in the court of his castle, and hence comes the 
 expression, the courts of princes. As princes live more 
 retired in the East, affairs are transacted at the gate of 
 their seraglio : and this custom of making one's court at 
 the palace-gate has been practised ever since the times 
 of the ancient kings of Persia." Fleury's Hist, of the 
 Israelites, p. 147. 
 
 No. 470.— iii. 7. In thejirst months (that is, the month 
 
 ; NisanJ in the twelfth year of King AJiasuerus, they cast 
 pur, that is, tlie lot, before Human, from day to day, and 
 
 from month to month, to the twelfth month, that is, the 
 month Adar,~] It was customary in the East, by casting 
 lots into an urn, to enquire what days would be fortunate, 
 and what not, to undertake any business in. According 
 to this superstitious practice, Hainan endeavoured to find 
 out what time in the year was most favourable to the 
 
 , Jews, and what most unlucky. First he enquired what 
 month was most unfortunate, and found the month Adar, 
 which was the last month in the year, answerable to 
 
 ' our February. There was no festival during this month, 
 nor was it sanctified by any peculiar rites. Then he 
 enquired the day, and found the thirteenth day was not 
 auspicious to them, ver. 1 3. Some think there were as 
 
 ' many lots as there were days in the year, and for every 
 day he drew a lot ; but found none to his mind, till he 
 came to the last month of all, and to the middle of it. 
 Now this whole business was governed by Providence, 
 by which these lots were directed, and not by the Per- 
 sian gods, to fall in the last month of the year ; whereby 
 almost a whole year intervened between the design and 
 its execution, and gave time for Mordecai to acquaint 
 
 x 2
 
 308 ESTHER. 
 
 Esther with it, and for her to intercede with the king 
 for the revoking or suspending his decree, and disap- 
 pointing the conspiracy. Patrick, in loc. 
 
 No. 471. — iii. 10. And the king took his ring from 
 his hand, and gave it unto Haman.'] This he did both as 
 a token of affection and honour. With the Persians, for 
 a king to give a ring to any one was a token and bond of 
 the greatest love and friendship imaginable. (Alex, ah 
 Alex. Genial. Dier. 1. i. c. 26.) " Mirza Sheffeea enter- 
 tained us with a breakfast more elegant than any of the 
 similar meals to which we had been invited. Just before 
 we were rising to depart, the minister, after having 
 talked much on the hopes which he cherished, that the 
 friendship of the two nations would long subsist, pulled 
 a diamond ring from off his own finger, and placed it 
 on the envoy's, saying, " And, that I may not be 
 thought to be insincere in my professions, let me beg of 
 you to accept this as a pledge of my friendship for you ; 
 and I intreat you to wear it for my sake." This gift, un- 
 like the generosity of Persian presents, was really hand- 
 some ; it was a beautiful stone, perfect in all its parts." 
 Morier's Journey through Persia, p. 194. 
 
 It may be this was given to Haman to seal with it the 
 letters that were or should be written, giving orders for 
 the destruction of the Jews. 
 
 Among the Romans in aftertimes, when any one was 
 put into the equestrian order, a ring was given to him, 
 for originally none but knights were allowed to wear 
 them. It was sometimes used in appointing a successor 
 in the kingdom : as when Alexander was dying, he took 
 his ring from off' his finger, and gave it to Perdiccas, 
 by which it was understood that he was to succeed him. 
 Seel Mace. vi. 14, 15. 
 
 Sit annulus tuus, non ut vos aliquod, sed tanquam ipse 
 tu ; non minister alienee voluptatis, sed testis tuce. Cic. 
 ad. Q. Fratr.
 
 ESTHER. 309 
 
 No. 472. — v. 6. Banquet of 'wine.'] Ole-arius (p. 709.) 
 thus describes an entertainment at the Persian court. 
 w The floor of the hall was covered with a cotton cloth, 
 which was covered with all sorts of fruits and sweetmeats 
 in basons of gold. With them was served up excellent 
 Schiras wine. After an hour's time the sweetmeats were 
 removed, to make way for the more substantial part 
 of the entertainment, such as rice, boiled and roasted 
 mutton, &c. After having been at table an hour and 
 an half, warm water was brought, in an ewer of gold, 
 for washing, and grace being said, they begun to retire 
 without speaking a word, according to the custom of the 
 country." The time for drinking wine was at the be- 
 ginning, not at the close of the entertainment. Har- 
 mer, vol.i. p. 389. 
 
 No. 473. — v. 1 2. Haman said moreover, Yea, Esther 
 the queen let no man come in with the king unto the ban- 
 quet that she had prepared, but myself; and to-morrow 
 am I invited unto her also with the king.~\ Athenceus 
 mentions it as a peculiar honour, which no Grecian 
 ever had before or after, that Artaxerxes vouchsafed to 
 invite Timagoras the Cretan to dine even at the table 
 where his relations ate, and to send sometimes a part of 
 what was served up at his own: which some persons 
 looked upon as a diminution of his majesty, and a pros- 
 titution of their national honour. Plutarch, in his life 
 of Artaxerxes, tells us, that none but the king's mother 
 and his real wife were permitted to sit at his table, and 
 therefore he mentions it as a condescension in that 
 prince, that he sometimes invited his brothers. So that 
 this particular favour was a matter which Haman had 
 sol ^ reason to value himself upon. Biblical Researches* 
 vol. ii. p# 199 , 
 
 x 3
 
 310 ESTHER. 
 
 No. 474?. — vi. 1. The book of records."] In these 
 diaries (which we now call journals) wherein was 
 set down what passed every day, the manner of the 
 Peisians was, to record the names of those who had done 
 the king any signal service. Accordingly, Josephus in- 
 forms us, " that, upon the secretary's reading of these 
 journals, he took notice of such a person, who had great 
 honours and possessions given him, as a reward for a 
 glorious and remarkable action ; and of such another, 
 who made his fortune by the bounties of his prince for 
 his fidelity : but that when he came to the particular 
 story of the conspiracy of the two eunuchs against the 
 person of the king, and of the discovery of this treason 
 by Mordecai, the secretary read it over, and was passing 
 forward to the next, when the king stopped him, and 
 asked if that person had any reward given him for his 
 service." This shews a singular providence of God, 
 that the secretary should read in that very part of the 
 book, wherein the service of Mordecai was recorded, 
 vide Jewish Antiq. lib. xi. cap. 6. 
 
 That which was practised in the court of Ahasuerus 
 in the passage now referred to, appears to have been cus- 
 tomary in the Ottoman Porte. " It was likewise found 
 in the records of the empire, that the last war with Russia 
 had occasioned the fitting out of a hundred and fifty 
 galliots, intended to penetrate into the sea of Azoph : 
 and the particulars mentioned in the account of the ex- 
 penses not specifying the motives of this armament, it 
 was forgotten that the ports of Azoph and Taganrag 
 stood for nothing in the present war; the building of the 
 galliots was ordered, and carried on with the greatest 
 dispatch." Baron du Tott, vol. ii. p. 15. 
 
 " The king has near his person an officer, w*0 is 
 meant to be his historiographer ; he is also kfeper of 
 his seal, and is obliged to make a journal o f the king's 
 actions, good or bad, without comment of his own
 
 ESTHER. 311 
 
 upon them. This, when the king dies, or at least 
 soon after, is delivered to the council, who read it 
 over, and erase every thing false in it, whilst they 
 supply every material fact that may have been omitted, 
 whether purposely or not." Bruce's Trav. vol. ii. p. 596. 
 In Ahmedabad, as in most other large oriental cities, 
 are a sort of news-writers, or gazetteers, who at mid- 
 night record all the transactions of the preceding day, 
 and send them off by express halcarras, or messengers, 
 to their correspondents in distant provinces. During 
 the splendour of the Mogul government, in the capital of 
 every district, the emperor maintained a gazetteer, to 
 collect and record the occurrences of the day; and im- 
 mediately to transmit them to a public officer, at the 
 imperial court, who laid such as were of importance 
 before the sovereign. Forbes's Oriental Memoirs, vol. iii. 
 p. 130. 
 
 No. 475. — vi. 7 — 9.] Pitts gives an account (p. 1 98.) 
 of a cavalcade at Algiers upon a person's turning Mo- 
 hammedan, which is designed to do him, as well as their 
 law, honour. " The apostate is to get on horseback on 
 a stately steed, with a rich saddle and fine trappings; 
 he is also richly habited, and hath a turban on his head, 
 but nothing of this is to be called his-own; only there are 
 given him about two or three yards of broad cloth, which 
 is laid before him on the saddle. The horse, with him 
 on his back, is led all round the city, which he is several 
 hours in doing. The apostate is attended with drums 
 and other music, and twenty or thirty Serjeants. These 
 march in order on each side of the horse, with naked 
 swords in their hands. The cryer goes before, with a 
 loud voice giving thanks to God for the proselyte that 
 is made." The conformity of custom in the instance 
 now cited, and the passage alluded to in Esther, must 
 appear remarkable. Harmer, vol. ii. p. 102. 
 
 X 4
 
 312 ' ESTHER. 
 
 No. 476. — vi. 8. And the horse that the Jcing ridcth 
 upon, and the cr&wn royal which is set upon his head*} 
 Herodotus relates that the kings of Persia had horses 
 peculiar to themselves, which were brought from Ar- 
 menia, and were remarkable for their beauty. If the 
 same law prevailed in Persia as did in Judea, no man 
 might ride on the king's horse, any more than sit on his 
 throne, or hold his sceptre. The crown royal was not 
 to be set on the head of the man, but on the head of 
 the horse ; this interpretation is allowed by Aben Ezra, 
 by the Targum, and by the Syriac version. No men- 
 tion is afterward made of the crown as set upon the 
 head of Mordecai ; nor would Haman have dared to 
 advise that which could not be granted. But it was 
 usual to put the crown royal on the head of a horse 
 led in state; and this wc are assured was a custom in 
 Persia, as it is with the Ethiopians to this day ; and so 
 with the Romans. Horses drawing triumphal chariots 
 were crowned. Gill, in loc. 
 
 No. 477. — vi. 12. Having his head covered.'] Tin's 
 was so natural and significative a method of expressing 
 confusion or grief, that it was adopted by other nations 
 as well as the Jews. Demosthenes being on a particular 
 occasion hissed by the people, went home with his head 
 covered. [Plutarch in Demosthene.) More instances 
 of this may be found in Lively's Chronology of the 
 Persian Monarchy, p. 18, 19. 
 
 No. 478. — vii. 8. And Haman was fallen upon the 
 bed whereon Esther was.~] They sat, or rather lay, upon 
 beds, as they eat and drank; and Haman fell down as 
 a supplicant at the feet of Esther, laying his hand upon 
 her knees, and beseeching her to take pity upon him. 
 It was the custom among the Greeks and Romans to 
 embrace the knees of those whom they petitioned.
 
 ESTHER. 313 
 
 to be favourable to them. It was indeed usual in 
 their religious worship to touch the knees of their 
 gods. Sulpitius Severus apprehends this to have been 
 done by Hamun in the present instance. Patrick, in loc. 
 
 No. 479. — vii. 8. They covered HamartsfaceJ] The 
 majesty of the kings of Persia did not allow malefactors 
 to look at them. As soon as Haman was so considered, 
 his face was covered. Some curious correspondent ex- 
 amples are collected together in Poole's Synopsis, in loc. 
 From Pococke we find the custom still continues ; speak- 
 ing of the artifice by which an Egyptian bey was taken 
 off, he says. {Travels, vol. i. p. 1 79.) "A man being 
 brought be tore him like a malefactor just taken, with his 
 hands behind him as if tied, and a napkin put over his 
 head, as malefactors commonly have, when he came into 
 his presence, suddenly shot him dead." Harmer, vol. ii, 
 p. 96. 
 
 This custom may be traced among the Romans in the 
 punishment of a patricide, who when convicted, was 
 immediately hooded as unworthy of the common light, 
 (Kennett's Rom. Ant. part ii. b. 3. c. 20. p. .146.) and 
 in that form of pronouncing sentence on a criminal 
 ascribed by Cicero {Pro Caio Rabin:., cap. 4.) to Tar- 
 quinius Superbus. I, lictor, colliga manus, caput obnu- 
 bito, arbori infelici suspendito. Go, officer, bind his 
 hands, nniffle his head, hang him on the fatal tree. 
 
 No. 480. — viii. 1 5. And Mordecai went out from the 
 presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white."} 
 White garments were usually worn by those who set up 
 as candidates for any honourable employment in the 
 state; and it was done to shew how justly and in- 
 nocently they would perform the duties and offices 
 committed to their charge. See Horace, b. i. od. 35. 
 1.21.
 
 5i4 ESTHER. 
 
 No. 481. — ix. 19. Sending portions.] The eastern 
 princes and people not only invite their friends to feasts, 
 but " it is their custom to send a portion of the banquet 
 to those that cannot well come to it, especially their re- 
 lations, and those in a state of mourning." (MS. Char- 
 din.) Thus when the grand emir found it incommoded 
 M. D'Arvieux to eat with him, he desired him to take 
 his own time for eating, and sent him from his kitchen, 
 what he liked, and at the time he chose. (Voy. dans la 
 Pal. p. 20.) Ne&em. viii. 10. 2 Sam. xi. 8—10. Har- 
 mer, vol. i. p. 353. 
 
 No. 482. — ix. 26. Wherefore they called these days 
 Purim.'] This festival was to be kept two days succes- 
 sively, the fourteenth and fifteenth of the month Adar, 
 ver. 21. On both days of the feast the modern Jews 
 read over the Megillah, or book of Esther, in their 
 synagogues. The copy there read must not be printed, 
 but written on vellum in the form of a roll; and 
 the names of the ten sons of Haman are written 
 on it in a peculiar manner, being ranged, they say, 
 like so many bodies hanged on a gibbet, The reader 
 must pronounce all these names in one breath. When- 
 ever Haman's name is pronounced, they make a terrible 
 noise in the synagogue : some drum with their feet on 
 the floor, and the boys have mallets, with which to 
 knock and make a noise. They prepare themselves 
 for their carnival by a previous fast, which should con- 
 tinue three days, in imitation of Esther's, Esther > iv. 1 6. 
 but they have mostly reduced it to one day. Jennings's 
 Jewish Ant. vol. ii. p. 305.
 
 [ 315 ] 
 
 No. 483. — JOB, i. 3. 
 Five hundred she-asses, 
 
 " TT is remarkable that in this passage female asses 
 only are enumerated; the reason is, because in them 
 great part of their wealth consisted ; the males being 
 few, and not held in equal estimation. We find that 
 the former were chosen for riding by the natives of 
 these parts : and the ass of Balaam is distinguished as a 
 female. They were probably led to this choice from 
 convenience ; for, where the country was so little fer- 
 tile, no other animal could subsist so easily as this : and 
 there was another superior advantage in the female; 
 that whoever traversed these wilds upon a she-ass, if he 
 could but find for it sufficient browse and water, was 
 sure to be rewarded with a more pleasing and nutritious 
 beverage." Bryant's Observations, p. 61. 
 
 No. 484. — i. 3. So that this man was the greatest of 
 all the men in the East.~] Job might well be styled the 
 greatest man in the land of Uz, when he was possessed 
 of half as many camels as a modern king of Persia. 
 " The king of Persia being in Mazanderan in the year 
 1676, the Tartars set upon the camels of the king in the 
 month of February, and took three thousand of them, 
 which was a great loss to him, for he has but seven 
 thousand in all, if their number should be complete : 
 especially considering that it was winter, when it was 
 difficult to procure others in a country which was a 
 stranger to commerce, and their importance, these 
 beasts carrying all the baggage ; for which reason they
 
 516 JOB. 
 
 are all called the ships of Persia." Chardin, Harmek, 
 
 vol. ii. p. 486. 
 
 No. 485. — i. 5. When the days of their feasting were 
 gone about.'] The feasting continued till they had been 
 at each other's house in turn. Something like this is 
 practised by the Chinese, who have their co-fraternities, 
 which they call the brotherhood of the month ; this 
 consists of thirty, according to the number of days 
 therein, and in a circle they go every day to eat at 
 one another's houses by turns. If one man have not 
 convenience to receive the fraternity in his own house, 
 he may provide for it at another ; and there are many 
 public-houses very well provided for this purpose. 
 Semedo's Hist, of China, part i. c. 1 3. 
 
 No. 486. — i. 20. And shaved his head.] Among the 
 Jews and neighbouring nations, it was an usual sign of 
 mourning to shave the head. This was the practice of 
 Job : and in Jer. xli. 5. we read of fourscore men who 
 were going to lament the desolations of Jerusalem, 
 having their beards shaven, and their clothes rent. It 
 was also usual among the Persians. (Quint. Curt, de 
 Gestis Alexand. 1. x. c. 5. § 1 7.) Suetonius in his life of 
 Caligula observes, that on the death of Caesar Germa- 
 nicus some barbarous nations at war among themselves 
 and with the Romans, agreed to a cessation of hostili- 
 ties, as if their grief had been of a domestic nature, 
 and on an occasion which alike concerned them both ; 
 he adds, JRegulos quosdam (ferunt) barbam posuisse et 
 uxorum capita rasisse ad indicium maximi luctus. See 
 also Jer. vii. 29. Micah, i. 16. Isaiah, vii. 20. 
 
 Lucian says, that thus the Egyptians lamented the 
 funeral of their Apis, and the Syrians the death of 
 Adonis. Thus also Homer,
 
 JOB. 317 
 
 The rites of woe, 
 Are all, alas, the living can bestow. 
 O'er the congenial dust : enjoined to shear 
 The graceful curl, and drop the tender tear. 
 
 Odyss. iv* 197. Pope. 
 
 No. 487. — ii. 4. Skin for skin, yea, all that a man 
 hath, "will he give for his life.'] Before the invention of 
 money, trade used to be carried on by barter ; that is, 
 by exchanging one commodity for another. The men 
 who had been hunting in the woods for wild beasts 
 would carry their skins to market, and exchange them 
 with the armourer for so many bows and arrows. As 
 these traffickers were liable to be robbed, they some- 
 times agreed to give a party of men a share for de- 
 fending them, and skins were a very ancient tribute : 
 with them they redeemed their own shares of property 
 and their lives. It is to one or both of these customs 
 that these words allude, as a proverb. Biblical Re~ 
 searches, vol. ii. p. 88. 
 
 No. 488. — ii. 10. Thou speakest as one of the foolish 
 women speaketh.'] Sanctius thinks that Job refers to 
 the Idumean women, who, like other heathens when 
 their gods did not please them, or they could not ob- 
 tain of them what they desired, would reproach and 
 cast them away, and throw them into the fire, or the 
 water, as the Persians are said to do. 
 
 In Homer, //. i. 353. iii. 365. Achilles and Menelaus 
 blaspheme Jupiter. 
 
 No. 489. — iii. 1. After this opened Job his mouth."] 
 It is to be oserved, says Mr. Blackwell, (Inquiry into 
 the Life of Homer, p. 43.) that the Turks, Arabians, 
 and Indians, and in general most of the inhabitants of 
 the East, are a solitary kind of people ; they speak but
 
 318 JOB. 
 
 seldom, and never long without emotion. Speaking is 
 a matter of moment among such people, as we may 
 gather from their usual introductions : for, before they 
 deliver their thoughts, they give notice by saying, 
 / will open my mouth ; as here, that is, unloose their 
 tongue. It is thus in Horner^ Uesiod, and Orpheus : 
 and thus also Virgil: 
 
 finem dedit ore loquendi. JEn. vi. 75, 
 
 He made an end of speaking with his mouth. 
 
 No. 490. — iii. 3. Let the day perish wherein I was 
 born."] The Greeks had their awo^pa.^£$, and the Ro- 
 mans their dies infausti ; that is, certain days which 
 had been distinguished by some great calamity; on 
 which, therefore, they did not indulge themselves in 
 any mirth or pleasure, and expected no good event to 
 happen to them. Tacitus relates (Annal. lib. xiv. § 12.) 
 that the senate, to flatter Nero, decreed, ut dies natalis 
 Agrippince iiitei* nefastos esset. 
 
 No. 491. — iii. 12. Why did the knees prevent me ?~\ 
 This is not to be understood of the mother ; but either 
 of the midwife, who received the new-born infant into 
 her lap, or of the father, as it was usual for him to 
 take the child upon his knees as soon as it was born, 
 Gen. 1. 23. This custom obtained amongst the Greeks 
 and Romans. Hence the goddess Levana had her 
 name, causing the father in this way to own the child. 
 Gill, in loc. 
 
 No. 492. — iv. 19. Which are crushed before the 
 mothr\ It is probable that this means a moth-worm, 
 which is one state of the creature alluded to. It is first 
 enclosed in an egg, from whence it issues a worm, and 
 after a time becomes a complete insect, or moth. The 
 following extracts from Niebuhr may throw light on 
 
 15
 
 JOB. 319 
 
 this passage, that man is crushed by so feeble a thing 
 as a worm. " A disease very common in Yemen is the 
 attack of the Guieny-worm, or the Vena Medinensis, 
 as it is called by the physicians of Europe. This dis- 
 ease is supposed to be occasioned by the use of the putrid 
 waters, which people are obliged to drink in several 
 parts of Yemen; and for this reason the Arabians 
 always pass water, with the nature of which they are 
 unacquainted, through a linen cloth, before drinking 
 it. Where one unfortunately swallows any of the eggs 
 of this insect, no immediate consequence follows : but 
 after a considerable time, the worm begins to shew 
 itself through the skin. Our physician, Mr. Cramer, 
 was, within a few days of his death, attacked by five of 
 these worms at once, although this was more than five 
 months after we had left Arabia. In the isle of Karek 
 I saw a French officer named Le Page, who after a 
 long and difficult journey performed on foot and in an 
 Indian dress, between Pondicherry and Surat, through 
 the heart of India, was busy extracting a worm out of 
 his body. IJe supposed that he had got it by drinking 
 bad water in the country of the Marattas. 
 
 " This disorder is not dangerous, if the person affected 
 can extract the worm without breaking it. With this 
 view it is rolled on a small bit of wood as it comes out 
 of the skin. It is slender as a thread, and two or three 
 feet long. It gives no pain as it makes its way out of 
 the body, unless what may be occasioned by the care 
 which must be taken of it for some weeks. If un- 
 luckily it be broken, it then returns into the body, and 
 the most disagreeable consequences ensue, palsy, a 
 gangrene, and sometimes death." Scripture Illust. 
 Expos. Index. 
 
 No. 493. — v. 23. For thou shalt be in league with 
 the stones ofthejield.'] It has been supposed that these
 
 320 JOB. 
 
 words refer to a custom called scopilism, which is thus 
 described by Van Egmont and Heyman, (Travels, 
 vol. ii. p. 156.) " In the province of Arabia there is a 
 crime called <r7ro7nAi<rjxoj, or fixing of stones; it being 
 a frequent practice among them to place stones in the 
 grounds of those with whom they are at variance, as a 
 warning that #ny person who dares to till that field, 
 should infallibly be slain by the contrivance of those 
 who placed the stones there." This malicious practice 
 is thought to have had its origin in Arabia Petrasa. See 
 2 Kings, m. 19. 25. 
 
 No. 494. — vi. 4. The arrows of the Almighty are 
 'within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit."] 
 It appears that the art of poisoning arrows was very 
 ancient in Arabia. The venenata sagittce, poisoned 
 arrows, of the ancient Mauri or Moors in Africa, are 
 mentioned by Horace, (lib. i. ode 22. line 3.) and we are 
 informed that " the Africans were obliged to poison their 
 arrows, in order to defend themselves from the wild 
 beasts with which their country was infested. This 
 poison, Pliny tells us, was incurable." (Dacier's and 
 Francis's note.) And that poisoned arrows were anciently 
 used by other nations, besides the Mauri, may be seen 
 in Grotius, de Jure Belli et Pads, (lib. iii. cap. 4. §16.); 
 in Freinsremius's note on Curtius, (lib. ix. cap. 8. §20.); 
 in Justin, (lib. xii. cap. 10. § 2.); and Berneccerus\ note 
 there; and in Virgil, (j5E?i. xii. lin. 857.) 
 
 But perhaps no passage in any heathen author so 
 clearly shews the antiquity and make of poisoned a?TOWs 9 
 as what we read in Homer, concerning Ulysses, that he 
 went to Ephyra, a city of Thessaly, in order to procure 
 deadly poison for smearing his brazen-pointed airows, 
 from litis, the son of Mermerus, who is said to have been 
 descended from Medea and Jason ,* Odyss. i. lin. 260, &c.
 
 JOB. 321 
 
 lli^sro yap xaxHorj Sew? i9r* vw? 05u<7<m/?, 
 OAPMAKON ANAPOfcONON hfy/unb »fy» o* »*» 
 IOY2 XPIEI0AI XAAKHPEAS 
 
 The pestilence which spread through the Grecian 
 camp, was said to have been inflicted by means of an 
 arrow shot by Apollo. //. i. 48. Arrows in Scripture 
 often signify afflictions, or the means which produce 
 them. 
 
 In the poem of Zohair, the third of the Moallakat, 
 or those transcribed in golden characters and suspended 
 from the temple at Mecca, on account of their excel- 
 lence, we meet with the very same image. " Their 
 Javelins had no share in drinking the blood of Naufel." 
 
 No. 495. — vi. 6. Can that which is unsavoury be eaten 
 without salt ?"] The eastern people often make use of 
 bread, with nothing more than salt or some such trifling 
 addition, such as summer-savory dried and powdered. 
 This, Russell says (Hist, of Aleppo, p. 27.) is done by 
 many at Aleppo. The Septuagint translation of this 
 passage seems to refer to the same practice, when it 
 renders the first part of the verse, will bread be eaten with- 
 out salt ? Harmer, vol. i. p. 238. 
 
 No. 496. — vii. 1 2. Am I sea, or a whale, that thou 
 settest a watch over me ?] Crocodiles are very terrible to 
 the inhabitants of Egypt ; when therefore they appear, 
 they watch them with great attention, and take proper 
 precautions to secure them, so that they should not be 
 able to avoid the deadly weapons afterwards used to kill 
 them. To these watchings, and those deadly after-as- 
 saults, I apprehend Job refers, when he says, an i a 
 whale, (but a crocodile no doubt is what is meant there) 
 that thou settest a watch over me ? " Different methods," 
 says Maillet, " are used to take crocodiles, and some 
 of them very singular ; the most common is to dig deep 
 
 vol. I. T
 
 322 JOB. 
 
 ditches along the Nile, which are covered with straw, 
 and into which the crocodile may probably tumble. 
 Sometimes they take them with hooks, which are baited 
 with a quarter of a pig, or with bacon, of which they 
 are very fond. Some hide themselves in the places 
 which they know to be frequented by this creature, and 
 lay snares for him." Lett. ix. p. 32. Harmer, vol. iv. 
 p. 286. 
 
 No. 497. — vii. 19. Let me alone till I swallow down 
 my spittle,'] This is a proverb among the Arabians to 
 the present day, by which they understand, Give me 
 leave to rest after my fatigue. This is the favour which 
 Job complains is not granted to him. There are two 
 instances which illustrate the passage (quoted by SchuU 
 tens) in Hariraes's Narratives, entitled the Assembly. 
 One is of a person, who, when eagerly pressed to give 
 an account of his travels, answered with impatience, 
 *« Let me swallow down my spittle, for my journey hath 
 fatigued me." The other instance is of a quick return 
 made to one who used that proverb, " Suffer me," said 
 the person importuned, " to swallow down my spittle :" 
 to which his friend replied, " You may if you please 
 swallow down even Tigris and Euphrates f that is, take 
 what time you please. Biblical Researches, vol. i. p. 84. 
 
 No. 498* — ix. 18. He will not suffer me to take my 
 breath.] Dr. Gill -is of opinion that in these words 
 there is an allusion to the hot burning winds, which 
 prevailed in the eastern countries; and which some- 
 times blew so strong as almost to take away a man's 
 breath. Thevenot ( Travels, part i. b. 1 . c. 34.) reports, 
 that between Suez and Cairo they had for a day's time 
 and more, so hot a wind, that they were forced to turn 
 their backs to it to take breath.
 
 JOB. sn 
 
 No, 499. — ix. 25. My days are swifter than a post"] 
 The common pace of travelling in the east is very slow. 
 Camels go little more than two miles an hour. Those 
 who carried messages in haste moved very differently. 
 Dromedaries, a sort of camel which is exceedingly swift, 
 are used for this purpose ; and Lady M. W. Montague 
 asserts, that they far outrun the swiftest horses. (Lett. 
 ii. 65.) There are also messengers who run on foot, and 
 who sometimes go an hundred and fifty miles in less than 
 twenty-four hours; with what energy then might Job 
 say, my days are swifter than a post. Instead of passing 
 away with a slowness of motion like that of a caravan, 
 my days of prosperity have disappeared with a swiftness 
 like that of a messenger carrying dispatches. Harmer. 
 vol. i. p. 438. 
 
 No. 500. — xiv. 1 7. Sealed up in a bag.'] The mo- 
 ney that is collected together in the treasuries of eastern 
 princes is told up in certain equal sums, put into bags? 
 and sealed, ( Chardin). These are what in some parts of 
 the Levant are called purses, where they reckon great 
 expences by so many purses. The money collected in 
 the temple in the time of Joash, for its reparation, seems 
 in like manner to have been told up in bags of equal 
 value to each other, and probably delivered sealed to 
 those who paid the workmen. (2 Kings, xii. 10.) If Job 
 alludes to this custom, it should seem that he considered 
 his offences as reckoned by God to be very numerous, as 
 well as not suffered to be lost in inattention, since they 
 are only considerable sums which are thus kept. Har- 
 MER, vol. ii. p. 285. 
 
 No. 501. — xvi. 9. He gnasheth upon me with his 
 teeth.'] Homer describing Achilles arming to revenge 
 the death of Tatroclus, among other signs of indigna- 
 tion mentions the grinding of his teeth : 
 
 v 2
 
 324 JOB. 
 
 Ta *ai o jonrwy pa xavap^ TtXi. H» xix. 365. 
 
 Grief and revenge his furious heart inspire, 
 
 His glowing eye-balls roll with living fire : 
 
 He grinds his teeth, and, furious with delay, 
 
 O'erlooks th* embattVd host, and hopes the bloody day. Pope. 
 
 Thus in Virgil, Hercules is described fur ens animis, 
 dentibus infrendens^ raging in mind, and gnashing his 
 teeth. (Mn. viii. 228.) So also Polyphemus : 
 
 Dentibus infrendens gemitu. JBn. iii. 664. 
 
 No. 502. — xvii. 9. He that hatJi clean hands.'] The 
 idea here suggested is that of purity and holiness. 
 Porphyry observes, that in the Leontian mysteries the 
 initiated had their hands washed with honey, instead of 
 water, to intimate that they were to keep their hands 
 pure from all wickedness and mischief; honey being of 
 a cleansing nature, and preserving other things from 
 corruption. 
 
 No. 503. — xviii. 4. Shall the earth be forsaken for 
 thee ? and shall the rock be removed out of its place ?] 
 When the Orientals would reprove the pride or arro- 
 gance of any person, it is common for them to desire him 
 to call to mind how little and contemptible he and every 
 mortal is, in these or similar apophthegms : 
 
 What though Mahommed were dead, 
 
 His imams (or ministers) conducted the affairs of the .nation. 
 
 The universe shall not fall for his sake. 
 
 The world does not subsist for one man alone. 
 
 Lowth's Led. (Gregory's Translat.) vol. ii. p. 420. 
 
 No. 504. — - xviii. 1 5. Brimstone shall be scattered 
 upon his habitation.'] Scheuchzer (Physic. Sacr. vol. iv. 
 p. 709.) is of opinion that this expression refers to the
 
 JOB. 325 
 
 lustration of houses with sulphur, to drive away dae- 
 mons, remove impurity, and make them fit to dwell in. 
 Homer, Od. xxii. propejinem. 
 
 To Euryclea then addressed the king ; 
 
 Bring hither fire ', and hither sulphur brings 
 
 To purge the palace. — — — — — 
 
 She hears, and at the ivord obedient flies. 
 
 With fire and sulphur, cure of noxious fumes, 
 
 He purged the walls, and blood polluted rooms. Pope. 
 
 Sulphur habet in religionibus locum, ad expiandas suf- 
 fitu domos. Pun. I. xxxv. c. 1 5* 
 
 Et veniat, quae lustret anus lectumque focumque, 
 Praeferat et tremula sulphur et oua manu. 
 
 Ovid, 1. ii. de Arte. 
 
 Quoties hinc talis ad illos 
 
 Umbra venit, cuperent lustrari, si qua darentur 
 Sulphura cum taedis, et si foret humida laurus. 
 
 Juvenal, Sat. ii. 
 
 Others think it is to be understood of the burning of 
 
 o 
 
 sulphur in houses at funerals, to testify and exaggerate 
 mourning. Livy mentions this practice as usual amongst 
 the Romans, lib. xxx. c. 1 5. Menochium de Repuh. 
 Heb. 1. 8. c. 6. Col. 792. Theocrit. Idyl 25. 95. 
 
 No. 505. — xix. 23. O that my words were now written.'} 
 m The most ancient way of writing was upon the leaves 
 of the palm-tree. ( Pliny, lib. xiii. cap. II.) Afterwards 
 they made use of the inner bark of a tree for this pur- 
 pose ; which inner bark being in Latin called liber, and 
 in Greek /3</3xo?, from hence a book hath ever since in 
 the Latin language been called liber, and in the Greek 
 /3*/3*o£, because their books anciently consisted of leaves 
 made of such inner barks. The Chinese still make use 
 of such inner barks or rinds of trees to write upon, as 
 
 y 3
 
 526 JOB. 
 
 some of their books brought into Europe plainly shew. 
 Another way made use of among the Greeks and Ro- 
 mans, and which was as ancient as Home?', (for he makes 
 mention of it in his poems,) was, to write on tables of 
 wood covered over with wax. On these they wrote with 
 a bodkin or style of iron, with which they engraved their 
 letters on the wax; and hence it is that the different 
 ways of men's writings or compositions are called dif- 
 ferent styles. This way was mostly made use of in the 
 writing of letters or epistles ; hence such epistles are in 
 Latin called tabellce, and the carriers of them tabellarii. 
 When their epistles were thus written, they tied the 
 tables together with a thread or string, setting their seal 
 upon the knot, and so sent them to the party to whom 
 they were directed, who cutting the string opened and 
 read them. But on the invention of the Egyptian papy- 
 rus for this use, all the other ways of writing were soon 
 superseded, no material till then invented being more 
 convenient to write upon than this. And therefore when 
 Ptolemy Philadelphus king of Egypt set up to make a 
 great library, and to gather all sorts of books into it. he 
 caused them to be all copied out on this sort of paper ; 
 and it was exported also for the use of other countries, 
 till Eumenes, king of Pergamus, endeavouring to erect a 
 library at Pergamus, which should outdo that at Alex- 
 andria, occasioned a prohibition to be put upon the ex- 
 portation of that commodity. This put Eumenes upon 
 the invention of making books of parchment, and on 
 them he thenceforth copied out such of the works of 
 learned men as he afterwards put into his library, and 
 hence it is that parchment is called in Latin ^ergamena, 
 that is, from the city Pergamus in Lesser Asia, where it 
 was first used for this purpose among the Greeks. For 
 that Eumenes on this occasion first invented the making 
 of parchment cannot be true ; for in Isaiah, Jeremiah, 
 Ezekiel, and other parts of the Holy Scriptures, many
 
 JOB. 327 
 
 ages before the time of Eumenes, we find mention made 
 of rolls of writing ; and who can doubt but that these 
 rolls were of parchment ? From the time that the noble 
 art of printing hath been invented, the paper which is 
 made of the paste of linen rags is that which hath been 
 generally made use of both in writing and in printing, as 
 being the most convenient for both, and the use of parch- 
 ment hath been mostly appropriated to records, registers, 
 and instruments of law, for which, by reason of its du- 
 rableness, it is most fit." ( Pride aux's Connection, vol. ii. 
 p. 707. 9th edit.) It is observable also, that anciently 
 they wrote their public records on volumes or rolls of 
 lead, and their private matters on fine linen and wax. 
 The former of these customs we trace in Job's wish, O 
 that my words were now written ! O that they were printed 
 in a book ! that they were graven with an iron pen and lead 
 in the rock for ever ! There is a way of writing in the 
 East, which is designed to fix words on the memory, 
 but the writing is not designed to continue. The chil- 
 dren in Barbary that are sent to school make no use of 
 paper, Dr. Shaw tells us, (Trav, p. 194.) but each boy 
 writes on a smooth thin board, slightly daubed over with 
 whiting, which may be wiped off or renewed at plea- 
 sure* There are few that retain what they have learned 
 in their youth ; doubtless things were often wiped out 
 of the memory of the Arabs in the days of Job, as well 
 as out of their writing-tables. Job therefore says, O that 
 they were written in a book, from whence they should not 
 be blotted out ! But books were liable to injuries, and 
 for this reason he wishes his words might be even graven 
 in a rock, the most lasting way of all. Thus the distinc- 
 tion between writing and writing in a book becomes per- 
 fectly sensible, and the gradation appears in its beauty, 
 which is lost in our translation, where the word printed 
 is introduced, which, besides its impropriety, conveys no 
 idea of the meaning of Job, records that are designed to 
 
 y *
 
 328 JOB. 
 
 last long not being distinguished from less durable papers 
 by being printed. Harmer, vol. ii. p. 168. Vide also 
 Jones's Vindication of the former Part. of St. Matthew's 
 Gospel, chap. xiv. and xv. 
 
 By a passage in Dionysius, it appears that writing on 
 skin was in use among the early Romans. The custom 
 was of still greater antiquity in other parts of the 
 world. It prevailed amongst the Ionians. (Herodotus, 
 v. 58.) The ancient Persians chronicled their history 
 upon skins. (Diodorus, ii. 32.) Linen books were 
 also used by the ancients, according to the testimony of 
 Pliny and Vopisctis. Livy speaks of the linen books 
 which were found in the temple of Moneta, iv. 7. That 
 writing on linen was equally customary in the east, may 
 be presumed from the bandages of the mummies, which 
 are often found covered with characters illegible from 
 age. The square characters of the oriental dialects are 
 particularly suited to a woven material : and Eichorn 
 conjectures with great plausibility that the books of the 
 Old Testament were written on linen. (Einl. in Alt. 
 Test. ii. 3.) This custom is still prevalent in the East, 
 as appears from the Moallakat, or linen books of the 
 Arabian poets, which are seen to hang on the temple 
 at Mecca. Sir W. Jones's Works, vol. iv. p. 245. 
 Forbes's Oriental Memoirs, vol. i. p. 4-50. 
 
 No. 506. — xx. 1 7. The brooks of honey and butter.] 
 In these cool countries we have no idea of butter so liquid 
 as described in these words; it appears among us in a 
 more solid form. But as the plentiful flowing of honey, 
 when pressed from the comb, may be compared to a little 
 river, as it runs into the vessels in which it is to be kept; 
 so, as they manage matters, butter is equally fluid, and 
 may be described in the same way : " A great quantity 
 of butter is made in Barbary, which, after it is boiled with 
 salt, they put into jars, and preserve for use." (Shaw ?
 
 JOB. 329 
 
 p. 169.) Streams of butter then, poured, when clarified, 
 into jars to be preserved, might as naturally be compared 
 to rivers, as streams of honey flowing upon pressure 
 into other jars in which it was kept. Harmer, vol. iii. 
 p. 176. 
 
 No. 507. — xxi. 33. The clods of the valley shall be 
 sweet unto him.'] These words seem to suppose that 
 the person buried in a grave may partake in some re- 
 spects of the prosperous state of the tomb which con- 
 tains him. Such an idea seems to have been indulged 
 by Sultan Amurath the Great, who died in 1450. 
 " Presently after his death, Mahomet his sonne, for 
 feare of some mnouation to be made at home, raised 
 the siege, and returned to Hadrianople : and afterwards 
 with great solemnitie buried his dead body at the west 
 side of Prusa in the suburbs of the citie, where he now 
 lieth, in a chappell without any roofe, his graue no- 
 thing differing from the manner of the common Turks ; 
 which they say he commanded to be done in his last 
 will, that the mercie and blessing of God (as he 
 termed it) might come vnto him by the shining of the 
 sunne and moone, and falling of the raine and dew of 
 heauen upon his graue." Knolles's Hist, of the 
 Turks, p. 332. 
 
 No. 508. — xxiv. 8. They are wet with the showers of 
 the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter."] 
 This exactly agrees with what Niebuhr says of the mo- 
 dern wandering Arabs near mount Sinai. ( Voyage en 
 Arabie, torn. i. p. 187.) " Those who cannot afford a 
 tent, spread out a cloth upon four or six stakes ; and 
 others spread their cloth near a tree, or endeavour to 
 shelter themselves from the heat and the rain in the cavities 
 of the rocks."
 
 3SQ JOB. 
 
 No. 509. — xxiv. 16. Dig through houses.'] The houses 
 were built of mud, or at best with bricks formed from 
 it, of a very soft texture, which rendered them liable to 
 such an assault; the thickness of the walls, however, 
 would require considerable labour to penetrate, and 
 consequently digging would be requisite to effect a 
 breach. 
 
 No. 510. — xxvii. 16. Prepare raiment as the clay.] 
 D'Herbelot tells us (p. 208.) that Bokhteri, an illus- 
 trious poet of Cufah in the ninth century, had so many 
 presents made him in the course of his life, that at his 
 death he was found possessed of an hundred complete 
 suits of clothes, two. hundred shirts, and five hundred 
 turbans; an indisputable proof of the frequency with 
 which presents of this kind are made in the Levant to 
 men of study; and at the same time a fine illustration of 
 Job's description of the treasures of the East in his days, 
 consisting of raiment as well as silver. Harmer, vol. ii. 
 p. 11. 
 
 No. 511. — xxvii. 1 9. He shall not be gathered.] " The 
 heathens had a conceit that the souls of such persons as 
 had not had the due rites of burial paid them, were not 
 admitted into Hades, but were forced to wander a hun- 
 dred years, a parcel of vagabond ghosts, about the banks 
 of the Styx. Hence we find the ghost of Patroclus sup- 
 plicating Achilles to give him his funereal rites. * Bury 
 me/ says he, * that I may pass as soon as possible through 
 the gates of Hades.' So speaks Palinurus in Virgil ; 
 * Throw upon me some earth, that at last I may obtain 
 rest in death, in quiet habitations.' Here the self-con- 
 ceited philosopher smiles at the rite of sprinkling the 
 body three times with dust; but this, although misunder- 
 stood, and tinged with the fabulous, was borrowed from 
 the Hebrew nation.
 
 JOB. 331 
 
 " To gather denotes, as to the dead, the bringing of 
 their souls to Paradise. Although this cannot be effected 
 by mortals, yet they expressed the benevolent wish that 
 the thing might be. On the other hand, Job says of the 
 rich man, he shall lie down, hit he shall not be gathered. 
 In the ages which followed, the performance of this rite 
 was termed sealing. Of this we have a bright instance in 
 the second book of Esdras : " Wheresoever thou findest 
 the dead, seal them, and bury them f that is, express 
 the benevolent prayer which is in use amongst the Jews 
 to this day : c May he be in the bundle of life, may his 
 portion be in Paradise, and also in that future world 
 which is reserved for the righteous/ It would also ap- 
 pear that, in this act of sealing a corpse, they either wrote 
 upon the head with ink, or simply made the form with 
 the finger (Le-hovah). This at bottom could make no 
 difference in the state of the deceased, but it expressed 
 their desire that such a person might be among those 
 who are written unto life. From a passage in Isaiah it 
 appears that persons were in use to mark with indelible 
 ink on the hand, the words (Le-hovah) the contracted 
 form of this sentence, / am the Lord's. This agrees with 
 what Rabbi Simeon says, " The perfectly just are sealed, 
 and in the moment of death are conveyed to Paradise." 
 This sealing St. Paul applies, as far as wishes can go, 
 to Onesiphorus. May the Lord grant to Onesiphorus, 
 that he may obtain mercy of the Lord in that day ! As 
 many, says the same apostle, as walk according to this 
 ride, peace be on them, and xipon the Israel of God 1 . (Gab 
 vi. 16.) 
 
 " Such being marked in death with the expression be- 
 longing to the Lord, explains this sentence, the foundation 
 of the Lwd standeth sure, having this Seal, the Lord 
 knoxveth them that are his. Hurt not the earth, nor the 
 trees, says the angel in the book of Revelation, until we 
 have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. This
 
 332 JOB. 
 
 seal, we are told, is their father's name; that is, Le~ 
 hovah, the Lord's, alluding to the Old Testament form* 
 This name Christ says he himself writes, and by doing 
 so, acts the part of the Kedosh-Israel, opening where 
 none can shut. This sealing, then, is taking them off 
 by death, and placing them in his father's house; for 
 after they are so sealed, we find them before the throne, 
 hungering and thirsting ?io mwe, and the lamb in the 
 midst of them, and leading them forth into pastures* 
 
 " This ancient rite St. Paul improves upon. Men can, 
 in sealing go no farther than wishes, but the spirit of 
 God can do more ; ye are sealed by the Spirit, until the 
 day of redemption ,• that is, what others of old may have 
 done symbolically, he will do in reality — he will write 
 upon you Le-hovah. Tins is a seal which no power can 
 erase ; it will last until the day of redemption. So in 
 another place he says, ye are sealed with the Holy Spirit of 
 promise. Now the seal Le-hovah, the Lord's, not only 
 says they are his, but it is also their memorial through 
 the hidden period, that he will appear, and receive them 
 unto himself, and in this way the seal itself has in it the 
 nature of a promise." Bennet's View of the interme- 
 diate State, p. 353— 356. 
 
 No. 512. — xxvii. 21. The east-wind carrieth him 
 away, and he departeth ; and as a storm hurleth him out 
 of his place.~\ The ancients were persuaded that some 
 persons were carried away by storms and whirlwinds. 
 Homer gives us an instance of this, making one exclaim, 
 
 Snatch me, ye whirlwinds, far from human race, 
 
 Toss'd through the void illimitable space. Odi/ss. b. xx. 
 
 See also Isaiah, xli. 16. 
 
 No. 513. — xxix. 3. When his candle shone upon my 
 head."] The tents of princes are frequently illuminated 
 
 15
 
 JOB. 353 
 
 as a mark of honour and dignity. Norden tells us 
 (part ii. p. 45.) that the tent of the bey of Girge was 
 distinguished from the other tents by forty lanterns sus- 
 pended before it, in form of chequer work. If this was 
 the custom formerly, it is possible that these words of 
 Job might have a reference to it. Oh, that it were with 
 me as in months past, as in the days when God preserved 
 me, when his candle shone upon mine head, (when I re- 
 turned prosperous from expeditions against the enemies 
 of my tribe, and had my tent adorned with lamps) and 
 1 passed through the night by the light of it. 
 
 The houses of Egypt, according to Maillet, are never 
 without lights in the night-time. If such were the an- 
 cient custom not only of Egypt, but of the neighbouring 
 countries of Judea and Arabia, it will strongly illustrate 
 this passage. Mr. Scott, however, thinks that there is 
 probably an allusion to the lamps, which hung from the 
 ceiling in the banqueting-rooms of the wealthy Arabs; 
 not unlike what Virgil mentions in the palace of Dido, 
 
 dependent lychni laquearibus aureis 
 
 Incensi. Mnu i. 730. 
 
 From gilded roofs depending lamps display 
 
 Nocturnal beams that imitate the day. Drydkn. 
 
 See also Lucretius, ii. 24. 
 
 No. 514. — xxix. 6. Washed my steps with butter, .] 
 Chandler, in his travels, particularly observes that it 
 was usual for men to tread on skins of cream, in order to 
 separate the butter from its more watery part. This 
 article was sometimes made in very large quantities; on 
 which account such a method might be preferred for 
 expedition. This circumstance Mr. Harmer considers 
 (vol. iii. p. 173.) as a very natural explanation of the 
 phrase, / washed my steps with butter. Hasselquist 
 mentions a custom of the Greek ecclesiastics at Mag-
 
 334 JOB. 
 
 nesia, " the priests having waited and dried their feet, 
 (their guests) anointed them with fresh buttery which 
 as they told me, was made of the first milk of a young 
 cow." Perhaps the first milk of a cow which had re- 
 cently calved. Bruce says that the king of Abyssinia 
 anoints his head daily with butter. 
 
 No. 515. — xxix. 7. I prepared my seat in the street.'] 
 Sitting upon a cushion is an expression of honour ; and 
 preparing a seat for a person of distinction seems to 
 mean, laying things of this kind on a place where such 
 a one is to sit. Char din says, "it is the custom of Asia 
 for persons in common not to go into the shops of that 
 country, which are mostly small, but there are wooden 
 seats on the outside, where people sit down ; and if it 
 happens to be a man of quality, they lay a cushion there. 
 The people of quality cause carpets and cushions to be 
 carried every where that they like, in order to repose 
 themselves upon them more agreeably." It is then ex- 
 tremely natural to suppose that Job sent his servants to 
 lay a cushion or a carpet upon one of the public seats, 
 or some such place. Eli's seat by the way side, (1 Sam, 
 iv. 13.) was a seat adorned, we may believe, after the 
 same manner. {Harmer, vol. ii. p. 59.) 
 
 Job here speaks of himself as a civil magistrate, as a 
 judge upon the bench, who had a seat erected for him 
 to sit upon whilst he was hearing and trying causes : 
 and this was set up in the street, in the open air, before 
 the gate of the city, where great numbers might be con- 
 vened, and Lear and see justice done. The Arabs to 
 this day hold their courts of justice in an open place, 
 under the heavens, as in a field, or a market place. 
 See Norden's Travels in Egypt, vol.ii. p. 140. 
 
 No. 516. — xxix. 8. The aged arose and stood up.'] 
 « This is a most elegant description, and exhibits most
 
 JOB. 335 
 
 correctly that great reverence and respect which was 
 paid even by the old and decrepit, to the holy man in 
 passing along the streets, or when he sat in public. 
 They not only rose, which in men so old and infirm 
 was a great mark of distinction, but they stood; they 
 continued to do it, though even the attempt was so dif- 
 ficult." Lowth's Led. vol.ii. p. 412. 
 
 No. 517. — xxix. 19. The dew lay all night upon my 
 branch.] It is well known that in the hot eastern countries, 
 where it rarely rains during the summer months, the 
 copious dews which fall there during the night contri- 
 bute greatly to the nourishment of vegetables in ge- 
 neral. " This dew," says Hasselquist, speaking of the 
 excessively hot weather in Egypt, " is particularly ser- 
 viceable to the trees, which would otherwise never be 
 able to resist this heat; but with this assistance they 
 thrive well and blossom, and ripen their fruit." Travels, 
 p. 455. So also Volney, (Voyage, torn. i. p. 51.) 
 p Dans VEgypte outre la so?nme d'eati dont la terre fait 
 provision, lors de Vinondation, les rosces, qui tombent dans 
 les nuits d'ete, sifjisent a la vegetation." Comp. Hag. i. 1 0. 
 1 Kings, xvii. 1. Zech. viii. 12. See Shaw's Trav. p. 440., 
 and Niebuhr, Descript de VArabie, p. 8. 
 
 No. 518. — xxx. 4. Who cut up mallows by the bushes, 
 and juniper roots for their meat.] Biddulph (Collec- 
 tion of Voyages and Travels from the Library of the 
 Earl of Oxford, p. 807.) says he " saw many poor 
 people gathering mallows and three-leaved grass, and 
 asked them what they did with it: they answered, it 
 was all their food ; and that they boiled it, and did eat 
 it. Then we took pity on them, and gave them bread, 
 which they received very joyfully, and blessed God 
 that there was bread in the world." (Harmer, vol. iii. 
 p. 166.) Herodotus informs us, lib. viii. cap. 115., that
 
 336 JOB. 
 
 when the routed army of Xerxes was fleeing from Greece? 
 such of them as could not meet with better provision, 
 tow SevSgSiov rov <p\cnov wepjAsTrovTS?, xa* rot $v\kct xaraSpg- 
 ?tovts, xar>]O-0iov, ojxoiwc raw re ^sp'jov xou tccv aypiov, x«i eXmov 
 *8sv Taura 8'«roieyv utto Xipx, were compelled by hunger 
 to eat the bark and leaves which they stripped off all 
 kinds of trees." And during the siege of Ispahan by 
 Maghmud, in the year 1 722, " the people fed on the 
 baric of trees and leaves" (Hanway's Revolutions of 
 Per si a, vol. iii. p. 143.) And we are told that in Lap- 
 land the tops and bark of the pine serve the people for 
 bread, salt, and spices ; and even in Sweden, {Scheffer 
 Lappon, p. 247.) " the poorest sort in many places re- 
 mote from traffick, are obliged to grind the bark of birch 
 trees to mix with their corn, and make bread of which 
 they have not always plenty." {Complete System of Geo- 
 graphy, vol. i. p. 930.) 
 
 No. 519. — xxx. 22. Thou liftest me up to the mud, 
 thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance.'} 
 Amongst other interpretations given of this passage, the 
 editor of Calmet's Dictionary refers to a sandstorm, 
 and justifies the application of such an idea by the fol- 
 lowing extract from Mr. Bruce. " On the 14th, at 
 seven in the morning, we left Assa Hagga, our course 
 being due north. At one o'clock we alighted among 
 some acacia trees at Waadi el Halboub, having gone 
 twenty-one miles. We were here at once surprised and 
 terrified by a sight surely one of the most magnificent in 
 the world. In that vast expanse of desert, from W. and 
 to N. W. of us, we saw a number of prodigious pillars 
 of sand at different distances, at times moving "with great 
 celerity, at others stalking on with majestic slowness; 
 at intervals we thought they were coining in a very few 
 minutes to overwhelm us; and small quantities of sand 
 did actually more than once- reach us. Again they
 
 JOB. 337 
 
 would retreat so as to be almost out of sight, their tops 
 reaching to the very clouds; their tops often separated 
 from the bodies ; and these, once disjoined, dispersed in 
 the air, and did not appear more. Sometimes they were 
 broken near the middle, as if struck with a large cannon 
 shot. About noon they began to advance with consider- 
 able swiftness upon us, the wind being very strong at 
 north. Eleven of them ranged along side of us about 
 the distance of three miles. The greatest diameter of 
 the largest appeared to me at that distance as if it would 
 measure ten feet. They retired from us with a wind at 
 S. E. leaving an impression upon my mind to which I 
 can give no name, though surely one ingredient in it 
 was fear, with a considerable deal of wonder and asto- 
 nishment. It w r as in vain to think of flying ; the swiftest 
 horse, or fastest sailing ship, could be of no use to carry 
 us out of this danger, and the full persuasion of this 
 rivetted me as if to the spot where I stood, and let the 
 camels gain on me so much in my state of lameness, 
 that it was with some difficulty I could overtake them." 
 (Travels, vol. iv. p. 553.) If this quotation is allowed to 
 explain the imagery used by Job, we see a magnificence 
 in it not before apparent. " We see how Job's dignity 
 might be exalted in the air, might rise to great grandeur, 
 importance, and even terror, in the sight of beholders ; 
 might ride upon the wind, which bears it about, causing 
 it to advance or to recede; and, after all, when the 
 wind diminishes, might disperse this pillar of sand into 
 the undistinguished level of the desert. This comparison 
 seems to be precisely adapted to the mind of an Arab, 
 who must have seen, or have been informed of, similar 
 phenomena in the countries around him." 
 
 Previously to the approach of a Shummall, the air 
 became always extremely heavy, and the atmosphere, 
 from being apparently loaded with sand, which the force 
 of partial gusts of wind had carried up in the shape of 
 
 vol. i. z
 
 338 JOB. 
 
 pillars, and these were constantly observed sweeping in 
 different directions across the plain. I never heard of 
 any accident occurring from these moving pillars of sand, 
 nor did the natives appear to entertain any particular 
 dread of them. Salt's Voyage to Abyssinia, p. 180. 
 
 No. 520. — xxx. 23. Death, the house appointed for 
 all living^ Those expressions in which the grave is 
 described as the house appointed for all living ; the long 
 home of man ; and the everlasting habitation ; are ca- 
 pable of much illustration from antiquity. Mont- 
 I'aucon says, " We observed in the fifth volume of 
 our Antiquity a tomb styled quictorium, a resting-place. 
 Quiescere, to rest, is often said of the dead in epitaphs. 
 Thus we find in an ancient writer a man speaking of 
 his master who had been long dead and buried, cujus 
 ossa bene quiescant ; may his bones rest in peace. We 
 have an instance of the like kind in an inscription in 
 Gruter (p. 696.) and in another (p. 594.) fecit sibi re- 
 quietorium, he made himself a resting-place. 
 
 This resting-place is called frequently too an eternal 
 house. In his life-time he built himself an eternal 
 house, says one epitaph. He made himself an eternal 
 house with his patrimony, says another. He thought 
 it better (says another) to build himself an eternal 
 house, than to desire his heirs to do it. They thought 
 it a misfortune when the bones and ashes of the dead 
 were removed from their place, as imagining the dead 
 suffered something by the removal of their bones. 
 This notion occasioned all those precautions used for 
 the safety of their tombs, and the curses they laid on 
 those who removed them." 
 
 No. 521. — xxxi. 20. The fleece of my sheep, "\ It 
 was common in Judea, and possibly in other eastern 
 countries, to clothe their sheep to keep their wool
 
 JOB. 339 
 
 clean from dirt and filth. Horace seems to allude to 
 this custom when, speaking of the Tarentine sheep, he 
 says, 
 
 Dulce pellitis ovibus Galesi 
 .Flumen. 2?.ii. Od.6. 
 
 iThis practice was unquestionably designed to enhance 
 the value of the fleece, and render the wool itself more 
 useful and excellent. 
 
 No. 522. — xxxi. 26, 27. Kissed my hand,'] « If (says 
 Pitts) an inferior comes to pay his respects to a supe- 
 rior, he takes his superior's hand, and kisses it, afterwards 
 putting it to his forehead. But if the superior be of a con- 
 ■ descending temper, he will snatch away his hand as soon 
 as the other has touched it : then the inferior puts his own 
 fingers to his lips, and afterwards to his forehead, and 
 sometimes the superior will also in return put his hands 
 to his lips." (P. 66.) Thus also Irwin, {Voyage, p. 268.) 
 , " When the shaik of Ghinnah held a court of justice, and 
 had condemned his vizier, he was immediately surround- 
 ed by a crowd of his courtiers, who kissed his hands, em- 
 ! braced his knees, and interceded with him for the pardon 
 ; of the vizier." If Job had done this in the c$se he refers 
 to, it would have been an idolatrous action, notwith- 
 standing it is exactly agreeable to the civil expressions 
 of respect which obtain in the East. Minutius Felix 
 (De Sacrif. cap. 2. adjin.) remarks, that when Caecilius 
 observed the statute of Serapis, Ut vidgus superstitiosus 
 solety manum ori admovens, osculum labiis jpressit. Accord- 
 ing to the custom of the superstitious vulgar, he moved 
 his hand to his mouth, and kissed it with his lips. 
 
 No. 523. — xxxi. 35, 36. That mine adversary had 
 
 Written a book ! surely I would take it upon my shoulder^ 
 
 : and bind it as a croxm to me.] From the following ex- 
 
 z 2
 
 340 JOB. 
 
 tracts it appears what is the customary kind of homage, 
 which, in the East, is paid not only to sovereignty, but 
 to communications of the sovereign's will, whether by 
 word or letter. " When the mogol, by letters, sends 
 his commands to any of his governors, these papers are 
 entertained with as much respect as if himself were pre- 
 sent; for the governor, having intelligence that such 
 letters are coming near him, himself, with other inferior 
 officers, rides forth to meet the pata?nar, or messenger, 
 that brings them, and as soon as he sees those letters, 
 he alights from his horse, falls down on the earth, and 
 takes them from the messenger, and lays them on his head 
 thereon he binds them fast : then retiring to his place of 
 public meeting, he reads, and answers them." Sir 
 Thomas Roe's Embassy, p. 453. 
 
 " The letter which was to be presented to the new 
 monarch was delivered to the general of the slaves, it 
 was put up in. a purse of cloth of gold drawn together 
 with strings of twisted gold and silk, with tassels of the 
 same, and the chief minister put his own seal upon it ; 
 nor was any omitted of all those knacks and curiosities, 
 which the oriental people make use of in making up 
 their epistles." 
 
 " The general threw himself at his majesty's feet, 
 bowing to the very ground : then rising upon his knees, 
 he drew out of the bosom of his garment the bag, wherein 
 was the letter which the assembly had sent to the new 
 monarch. Presently he opened the bag, took out the 
 letter, kissed it, laid it to his forehead, presented it to his 
 majesty, and then rose up." (Chardin's Cor on of So- 
 leiman, p. 44.) To such a custom as is here described 
 Job seems to allude in this passage. 
 
 No. 524. — xxxii. 2 1 . Neither let one give flattering 
 titles tinto man.'] The Hebrew word here used signifies 
 to surname, or more properly to call a person by a
 
 JOB. 34-1 
 
 name which does not strictly belong to him, and that 
 generally in compliment or flattery. Mr. Scott on this 
 passage informs us from Pococke, that " the Arabs 
 make court to their superiors by carefully avoiding to 
 address them by their proper names, instead of which 
 they salute them with some title or epithet expressive of 
 respect." 
 
 No. 525. — xxxvii. 9. Out of the south cometh the 
 whirlwind.] M. Savary speaking of the southern wind, 
 which blows in Egypt from February to May, says, it 
 fills the atmosphere with a subtle dust, which impedes 
 respiration, and brings with it pernicious vapours. 
 Sometimes it appears only in the shape of an impetuous 
 whirlwind, which passes rapidly, and is fatal to the tra- 
 veller, surprised in the middle of the deserts. Torrents 
 of burning sand roll before it, the firmament is enve- 
 loped in a thick veil, and the sun appears of the colour 
 of blood. Sometimes whole caravans are buried in it. 
 Does not Job allude to this wind when he says, out of 
 the south cometh the 'whirlwind ? 
 
 No. 526. — xxxvii. 22. Fair weather cometh out of 
 the north.'] The Hebrew word for fair weather is ren- 
 dered by the LXX. Ns<p>j xpvo-uvysvloi, gold-coloured 
 clouds. An old Greek tragedian, quoted by Grotius, 
 speaks of Xpv<rw7ro$ A*0>j£, the gilded ether. Varro uses 
 the phrase aurescit aer, the air is gilded. The poets 
 abound with passages comparing the solar orb or light 
 to gold. Thus Virgil, Georg. i. 232., calls the sun 
 aureus, or golden : and Milton, Par. Lost, b. iii. 572, 
 mentions 
 
 The golden sun in splendor likest heatfn : 
 
 And Thomson, in his description of a summer's morn- 
 ing, introduces, 
 
 z 3
 
 342 -JOB. 
 
 .. the mountain's brow 
 
 Illumin'd with fluid gold. Summer, lin. 83. 
 
 No. 527. — xxxviii. 14. It is turned as clay to the 
 seal.'] The birds pillage the granary of Joseph ex- 
 tremely, where the corn of Egypt is deposited, that is 
 paid as a tax to the Grand Signior ; for it is quite unco- 
 vered at the top, there being little or no rain in that 
 country; its doors however are kept carefully sealed, 
 but its inspectors do not make use of wax upon this occa- 
 sion, but put their seal upon a handful of clay, with which 
 they cover the lock of the door. This doubtless is what 
 is referred to in these words, it is turned as clay to the 
 seal. Harmer, vol. ii. p. 457. 
 
 No. 528. — xli. 1. Canst thou draw out leviathan 
 with an hook?] From this passage Hasselquist 
 {Travels, p. 440.) observes, that the leviathan " means a 
 crocodile by that which happens daily, and. without 
 doubt happened in Job's time, in the river Nile ; to wit, 
 that this voracious animal, far from being drawn up by a 
 hook, bites off and destroys all fishing-tackle of this kind, 
 which is thrown out in the river. I found, in one that 
 I opened, two hooks, which it had swallowed, one stick- 
 ing in the stomach, and the other in a part of the thick 
 membrane which covers the palate." 
 
 No. 529. — xli. 7. Or his head with Jish-spears ?"] 
 The Hebrew root of the word rendered Jish-spears 
 seems to have no connection in sense with spears. The 
 Hebrew phrase may mean to insert, place, or set in ,• the 
 Chaldee Targum on this verse runs literally thus : Is it 
 possible that thou shouldst place his skin in the booth, 
 and his head in the shed or hut forjish ? Agreeably to 
 this idea the whole verse may refer, as Gusset has ob- 
 served, to the fishermen's custom of hanging up in their
 
 JOB. 343 
 
 huts the skins or heads of the strange or monstrous 
 fishes they had taken; as hunters did those of -wild 
 beasts, and as our fox-hunters still nail up against the 
 stable door the heads of the foxes they have killed. 
 Parkhurst's Heb. Lex. p. 614. ed.k. 
 
 No. 530. — i xli. 20. Out of his nostrils goeth smoke as 
 out of a seething pot or caldron."] This last word is 
 usually translated a rush or a bulrush, and may pro- 
 bably refer to an ancient custom in the East of placing 
 dishes of food on mats. D'Arvieux says (Voy. dans la 
 Pal. p. 29 ) that a supper, which the inhabitants of a 
 village in Palestine prepared for him, consisted of fried 
 fish, eggs, rice, &c. placed upon a mat, or a round table 
 made of straw stitched together. If the word rendered 
 a caldron in this passage have this meaning, it gives a 
 very natural sense to the text, and is much more intel- 
 ligible than the idea which some have attached to it. 
 Harmer, vol. i. p. 359. 
 
 No. 531. — xlii. 14. And he called the name of the 
 first Jemima.] To vary names by substituting a word 
 similar in sound is very prevalent in the East. The 
 following extract from Sir Thomas Roe (p.425.)isa 
 striking example of this circumstance. " They speak 
 very much in honour of Moses, whom they call Moosa 
 calim Alia, Moses the publisher of the mind of God : so 
 of Abraham, whom they call Ibrahim carim Alia, Abra- 
 ham the honoured, or the friend, of God : so of Ishmael, 
 whom they call Ismal, the sacrifice of God : so of Jacob, 
 whom they call Acob, the blessing of God : so of Joseph, 
 whom they call Eesoff, the betrayed for God: so of 
 David, whom they call Dahood, the lover and praiser of 
 God : so of Solomon, whom they call Selymon, the wis- 
 dom of God: all expressed in short Arabian words, 
 which they sing in ditties, unto their particular remem- 
 
 z 4
 
 344. JOB. 
 
 brances. Many men are called by these names : others 
 are called Mahmud, or Chaan, which signifies the moon : 
 or Frista, which signifies a star. And they call their 
 women by the names of spices or odours ; or of pearls 
 or precious stones ; or else by other names of pretty or 
 pleasing signification. So Job called his daughters."
 
 [ 345 ] 
 
 No. 532. — PSALM xvi. Title. 
 Michtam. 
 
 J)> HERBELOT observes of the works of seven of 
 the most excellent Arabian poets, that they were 
 called Al Modhahebat, which signifies golden, because 
 they were written in letters of gold upon Egyptian 
 paper. (P. 586.) Might not the six psalms which are 
 thus distinguished be so called, on account of their 
 having been on some occasion or other written in letters 
 of gold, and hung up in the sanctuary ? Ainsvoorth sup- 
 poses that Michtam signifies a golden jewel. Such a 
 title would have been agreeable to the eastern taste, as 
 D'Hcrbelot has mentioned a book intitled, Bracelets of 
 Gold. Writing in letters of gold still continues in the 
 East. Maillet, speaking of the royal Mohammedan 
 library in Egypt, says, the greatest part of these books 
 were written in letters of gold, such as the Turks and 
 Arabs, even of our time, make use of in the titles of their 
 books. {Lett. xiii. p. 189.) The Persians are fond of 
 elegant manuscripts gilt and adorned with garlands of 
 flowers. (Jones's Persian Grammar, p. 144.) On the 
 title of this psalm the reader may consult with advantage 
 Sonntagio Tituli Psalmorum, p. 344 — 354. 
 
 No. 533. — xviii. 33. He maketh my feet like hind's 
 feet.'} This was reckoned a very honourable qualifica- 
 tion amongst the ancient warriors, who, as they generally 
 fought on foot, were enabled by their agility and swift- 
 ness speedily to run from place to place, to give orders, 
 attack their enemies, defend their friends, or for any 
 other purposes the service might require of them.
 
 346 PSALMS. 
 
 Achilles was nobus wxu : -, swift-footed. Virgil's Nisiis 
 is hyperbolically described, 
 
 Et ventis efc fulrainis ocior alis. JEn, v. 
 
 It was one of the warlike Camilla's excellencies that she 
 was able 
 
 Cursii pedum praevertere ventos. JEn. vii. 
 
 See also 2 Sam. i. 23. 1 C/irofi. xii. 8. 
 
 Few creatures exceed the antelope in swiftness. See 
 Shaw's Trav. vol. ii. p. 278. 8vo. Hasselouist's 
 Trav. p. 190. 
 
 The circumstance of standing on the high places or 
 mountains is applied to the hind or stag by Xenophon 
 Lib. de Venat. 
 
 No. 534-. — xviii. 34-. He teacheth my hands to war, 
 so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.'] This was 
 an argument of great strength. Thus in the story of 
 the bow of Ulysses, which none of the suitors were able 
 to draw, it is said, 
 
 So the great master drew the mighty bow, 
 And drew with ease; one hand aloft display* d 
 The bending horns, and one the string essay' d. 
 
 Odyss. lib. xxi. 409. 
 
 When Ulysses had thus bent his bow, and shot the 
 arrows through the rings ; he glories, and says to his 
 son Telemachus, 
 
 Nor have I wrought thee shame ; 
 
 Nor err'd this hand unfaithful to its aim ; 
 
 Nor proved the toil too hard; nor have I lost 
 
 That ancient vigor, once my pride and boast. Pope, 
 
 Herodotus tells us that when Cambyses sent his spies 
 into the country of Ethiopia, the king of that country.
 
 PSALMS. 347 
 
 well understanding the intention of their coming, said 
 to them, when the Persians can easily draw bows of this 
 largeness, then let them invade the Ethiopians. He then 
 unstrung the bow and gave it them to carry to their 
 master. {Thalia, c. 21 .) 
 
 No. 535. — xix. 5. Which is as a bridegroom coining 
 out of his chamber.'] Marriages among the Hebrews 
 were performed with great public rejoicings. Among 
 other rites then in use Buxtorf {Synagoga Jud.) informs 
 us, that it was usual for a tent or canopy to be pitched 
 in the open air, in which the bride and bridegroom met ; 
 and the bride being delivered to the bridegroom, they 
 came forth with great pomp and joy. 
 
 No. 536. — xix. 10. Sweeter also than honey and the 
 honey-comb. ,] There is no difference made amongst us 
 between the delicacy of honey in the comb and that 
 which is separated from it. From the information of 
 Dr. Halley concerning the diet of the Moors of Barbary, 
 we learn that they esteem honey a very wholesome 
 breakfast, " and the most delicious, that which is in the 
 comb, with the young bees in it, before they come out 
 of their cases, whilst they still look milk- white." {Mis- 
 cellanea Curiosa, vol. iii. p. 382.) The distinction made 
 by the Psalmist is then perfectly just, and conformable 
 to custom and practice, at least of more modern, and 
 probably, equally so of ancient times. 
 
 No. 537. — xx. 5. In the name of our God we will set 
 up our banners.] The banners formerly so much used 
 were a part of military equipage, borne in times of war 
 to assemble, direct, distinguish, and encourage the 
 troops. They might possibly be used for other purposes 
 also. Occasions of joy, splendid processions, and espe- 
 cially a royal habitation, might severally be distinguished
 
 348 PSALMS. 
 
 in this way. The words of the Psalmist may perhaps 
 be wholly figurative : but if they should be literally un- 
 derstood, the allusion of erecting a banner in the name 
 of the Lord, acknowldging his glory, and imploring his 
 favour, might be justified from an existing practice. 
 Certain it is that we find this custom prevalent on this 
 very principle in other places, into which it might ori- 
 ginally have been introduced from Judaea. Thus Mr. 
 Turner {Embassy to Tibet, p. 31.) says, " I was told 
 that it was a custom with the soobah to ascend the hill 
 every month, when he sets up a white flag, and performs 
 some religious ceremonies, to conciliate the favour of a 
 dewta, or invisible being, the genius of the place, who is 
 said to hover about the summit, dispensing at his will 
 good and evil to every thing around him." 
 
 No. 538. — xxiii. 5. Thou anointest my head with oil.'] 
 The Psalmist here alludes to the custom of eastern coun- 
 tries at feasts in anointing the heads of the guests with 
 oil. Eccl.ix. 7, 8. Matt.\i. 17. On certain occasions 
 the head was anointed, as well as other parts of the 
 body. Hence Propertius, 
 
 Terque lavet nostras spica Cilissa comas. Lib. iv. el. 6. v. 74. 
 
 In the time of Homer it was usual both to wash and 
 anoint before meals not the head only, but the feet also. 
 (Iliad, x. 577. Odyss. iii. 466. viii. 454. x. 450.) See 
 Luke, vii. 38. 46. Eccles. ix. 8. It is spoken of as an 
 ancient custom by Aristophanes (Vesp. p. 473.) for 
 daughters to anoint the feet of their parents after they 
 had washed them. 
 
 No. 539. — xxiii. 5. Thou anointest my head with, 
 oil : my cup runneth over.] In the East the people fre- 
 quently anoint their visitors with some very fragant per- 
 fume ; and give them a cup or a glass of some choice
 
 PSALMS. 349 
 
 wine, which they are careful to fill till it runs over. 
 The first was designed to shew their love and respect ; 
 the latter to imply that while they remained there, they 
 should have an abundance of every thing. To some- 
 thing of this kind the Psalmist probably alludes in this 
 passage. Homer, Odyss. K. 364. T. 505. *. 154. 12. 365. 
 
 No. 540. — xxvi. 6. / will wash my hands in inno- 
 cence, so will I compass thine altar, O Lord. 2 It was 
 usual for the priests to go round the altar, when they 
 had laid the sacrifice upon it, and bound it to the horns 
 of it at the four corners, and there sprinkled and poured 
 out the blood, Ps. xliii. 4. in order to which they washed 
 their hands. In the worship of the heathen, the same 
 ceremony was performed before the commencement of 
 the service ; so Tibullus : 
 
 . Pura cum veste venite, 
 
 Et manibus puris sumite foncis aquam. Lib. iv El. i. 15 
 
 But come ye pure, in spotless garbs array' d, 
 
 For you the solemn festival is made: 
 
 Coyne, follow thrice the victim round the lands, 
 
 In running water purify your hands. Grainger. 
 
 It was customary to form a ring round the altar. The 
 heathens sometimes danced round their deities. Calli- 
 machus Hymn, in Dian. v. 267. Philo perhaps refers 
 to some such custom, when he says that God delights in 
 fireless altars, round which the virtues dance. See 
 Psalm vii. 7. and Spencer de Leg. Heb. torn. 2. 
 
 No. 541. — xxviii. 2. When I lift up my hands to- 
 ward thy holy m^acle.'] Lifting up the hands was a ges- 
 ture commonly used in prayer by the Jews. There are 
 many instances to prove that it was practised by the 
 heathens also. See Homer, II. v. 174. So also Horace:
 
 350 PSALMS. 
 
 Coelo suspinas si tuleris mantis 
 
 Nascente luna B. iii. Od. 23. 1. 
 
 Other instances may be found in Virgil, 2En. ii. and x. 
 
 No. 542. — xxx. Title. A psalm and song at the 
 dedication of the house of David."] It was common when 
 any person had finished a house and entered into it, to 
 celebrate it with great rejoicing, and keep a festival to 
 which his friends were invited, and to perform some 
 religious ceremonies to secure the protection of heaven. 
 Thus, when the second temple was finished, the priests, 
 and Levites, and the rest of the captivity, kept the 
 dedication of the house of God with joy, and offered, 
 numerous sacrifices, Ezra, vi. 1 6. We read in the New 
 Testament of the feast of the dedication, appointed by 
 Judas Maccabasus in memory of the purification and 
 restoration of the temple of Jerusalem, after it had been 
 defiled and laid in ruins by Antiochus Epiphanes ; and 
 celebrated annually, to the time of its destruction by 
 Titus, by solemn sacrifices, music, songs, and hymns 
 to the praise of God; and feasts, and every thing that 
 could give the people pleasure, for eight days succes- 
 sively. (Josephus, Ant. 1. xii. § 7.) This was customary 
 even amongst private persons. Deut. xx. 5. The 
 Romans also dedicated their temples and their theatres. 
 (Suet. Octav. c. xliii. J 13.) So also they acted with 
 respect to their statues, palaces, and houses. Chand- 
 ler's Life of David, vol. ii. p. 8. 
 
 No. 54-3. — xxxii. 4. My moisture is turned into the 
 drought of summer.] In England and the neighbouring 
 countries it is common for rain to fall in all months of 
 the year. But it -is not so in the Levant. Egypt has 
 scarce any rain at all, and Dr. Shaw affirms that it is as 
 Uncommon in what they call at Algiers the Desert, which 
 is the most southern part of that country. These, how- 
 
 16
 
 PSALMS. 351 
 
 ever, are peculiar cases. Rain indiscriminately in the 
 winter months, and none at all in the summer, is what 
 is most common in the East. Jacobus de Vitriaco as- 
 sures us it is thus in Judea ; for he observes that " light- 
 ning and thunder are wont, in the western countries, to 
 be in the summer, but happen in the Holy Land in 
 winter. In the summer it seldom or never rains there : 
 but in winter, though the returns of rain are not so 
 frequent, after they begin to fall they pour down for 
 three or four days and nights together as vehemently as 
 if they would drown the country." (Gesta Dei per 
 Francos, vol. i. p. 1097.) The withered appearance 
 of an eastern summer, which is very dry, is doubtless 
 what the Psalmist refers to when he says, my moisture is 
 turned into the drought of summer. The reference is 
 not to any particular year of drought, but to what com- 
 monly occurs. Harmer, vol. i. p. 6. 
 
 No. 544. — xxxv. 6. Let their way be dark and 
 slippery.'] This is an allusion, to some of the valleys in 
 the land of Palestine, which were dark, and the roads 
 in them very smooth and slippery. Maundrell's 
 Travels, p. 7. 
 
 No. 545. — xxxv. 7. They have hid fcrr thee their 
 net in a pit.~] This is said in allusion to the custom of 
 digging pits, and putting nets into them, for the purpose 
 of catching wild beasts ; they were covered with straw, 
 or dust, or such like things, that they might not be 
 discerned. 
 
 Captain Knox {Historical Relation of Ceylon, part i. 
 chap 6.) says, that the inhabitants of that island catch 
 the wild boar in pits dug to a convenient depth, with 
 sharp stakes fastened and concealed within them. 
 
 " The Arabs dig a pit where the lions are observed 
 to enter, and covering it slightly with reeds, or small
 
 352 PSALMS. 
 
 branches of trees, they frequently decoy and take them, 
 Pliny has taken notice of the same practice." Shaw's 
 Trav. p. 172. 4to. 
 
 No. 546. — xxxv. 16. With hypocritical mockers in 
 feasts.'] This may probably refer to some of Saul's 
 courtiers, who were parasites and flatterers, and made 
 it their business at Saul's table and in their banquetings 
 to mock at David. They were hypocritical mockers of 
 or for apiece of bread, as it may be rendered : the same 
 word is used for a pasty or cake, and for flatterers: 
 they used at their feasts to throw a pasty baked with 
 honey to parasites. Weemse's Christ. Syn. 1. i. c. 6. 
 p. 209. 
 
 No. 547. — - xlii. 3. My tears have been my meat day 
 and night.] It seems odd to an English reader to re- 
 present tears as meat or food, but we should remember 
 that the sustenance of the ancient Hebrews consisted for 
 the most part of liquids, such as broth, pottage, &c. 
 
 Thus also Ovid : 
 
 Cura dolorque animi lachrymseque alimenta fuere. 
 
 Met A. x. v. 75, 
 
 Rore mero lachrymisque suis jejunia pavit. 
 
 Met. 1. iv. v.265.. 
 
 No. 548. — xliv. 20. Stretched out our hands.] The 
 stretching out of the hand towards an object of devo- 
 tion, or an holy place, was an ancient usage among both 
 Jews and heathens, and it continues in the East to this 
 time. Pitts, in his account of the religion and manners 
 of the Mahometans, speaking of the Algerines throwing 
 wax candles and pots of oil over- board, to some Marab- 
 bot (or Mohammedan saint), says, " when this was done, 
 they all together held up their hands, begging the Ma-
 
 PSALMS. 353 
 
 ^abbot's blessing, and a prosperous voyage." (P. 17.) 
 This custom he frequently observed in his journey. See 
 Exod. ix. 29. 1 Kings, viii. 22. Psalm cxliii. 6. 
 
 No. 549. — -xlv. 3. Gferrf thy sword upon thy thigh."] 
 The eastern swords, whose blades are very broad, are 
 worn by the inhabitants of these countries under their 
 thigh when they travel on horseback. Chardin takes 
 notice of these particulars. He says, the eastern people 
 have their swords hanging down at length, and the Turks 
 wear their swords on horseback under their thigh. This 
 passage and Sol. Song, iii. 8. shew they wore them after 
 the same manner anciently. Harmer, vol. i. p. 448. 
 
 The arms of the ancient Gauls were, a long sword 
 hanging hy a belt on the right thigh, a kince, &c. Adam's 
 Summary, p. 545. 
 
 No. 550. — xlv. 9. Kings' daughters xvere among thy 
 honourable women ; upon thy right hand did stand the 
 queen in gold of Ophir.~] It was the custom anciently 
 in the East, and it is still among the Turkish princes, 
 to have one among their many wives superior to all the 
 rest in dignity. Lady M. W. Montagu tells us, (vol. ii. 
 p. 156.) that she learnt from the Sultana Hafiten, fa- 
 vourite of the late emperor Mustapha, that the first 
 those princes made choice of, was always after, the first 
 in rank, and not the mother of the eldest son, as other 
 writers would make us believe. See also 2 Chrcn. xi. 
 21, 22. 2 Chron.w. 16. 
 
 No. 551. — lv. 17. Evening, and. morning, and at 
 noon will I pray.~] The frequency and the particular 
 seasons of prayer are circumstances chiefly connected 
 with the situation and disposition of such as habituate 
 themselves to this exercise. But from a singular con- 
 formity of practice in persons remote both as to age 
 
 vol. i. a A
 
 35* PSALMS, 
 
 and place it appears probable that some idea must have 
 obtained generally, that it was expedient and accept- 
 able to pray three times every day. Such was the prac- 
 tice of David, and also of Daniel, (see ch. vi. 10.) and as 
 a parallel, though, as far as connected with an idola- 
 trous system, a different case, we are informed that " it 
 is an invariable rule with the Brahmins to perform their 
 devotions three times every day : at sun-rise, at noon, 
 and at sunset." Maurice's Indian Antiquities, vol. v. 
 p. 129. 
 
 No. 552. — lvi. 8. Put my tears into thy bottle.'] Doth 
 not this seem to intimate, that the custom of putting 
 tears into the ampulla, or urnce lachrymales, so well 
 known amongst the Romans, was more anciently in use 
 amongst the eastern nations, and particularly amongst 
 the Hebrews ? These urns were of different materials, 
 some of glass, some of earth ; as may be seen in Moniv 
 saucon's Antiq. Expliq. vol. v. p. 116. where also may 
 be seen the various forms or shapes of them. These 
 urns were placed on the sepulchres of the deceased, as a 
 memorial of the distress and affection of their surviving 
 relations and friends. It will be difficult to account for 
 this expression of the Psalmist, but upon this supposi- 
 tion. If this be allowed, the meaning will be, let my 
 distress, and the tears I shed in consequence of it, be ever 
 before, thee, excite thy hind remembrance of me, and plead 
 with thee to grant me the relief I stand in need of 
 Chandler's Life of David, vol. i. p. 106. 
 
 No. 553. — lvii. 4.. And their tongue a sharp sword.*] 
 There was a sort of swords called Lingulce, because in 
 the shape of a tongue. A. Gell. Noct. Attic. 1. x. c. 25. 
 
 No. 55* — lviii. 5. The voice of charmers.] Whether 
 any man ever possessed the power to enchant or charm 
 15
 
 PSALMS. 355 
 
 adders and serpents ; or whether those who pretended 
 to do so profited only by popular credulity, it is certain 
 that a favourable opinion of magical power once existed. 
 Numerous testimonies to this purpose may be collected 
 from ancient writers. Modern travellers also afford their 
 evidence. Mr. Browne (in his Travels in Africa, p. 83.) 
 thus describes the charmers of serpents. Romeili is an 
 open place of an irregular form, where feats of juggling 
 are performed. The charmers of serpents seem also 
 worthy of remark, their powers seem extraordinary. 
 The serpent most common at Kahira is of the viper 
 class, and undoubtedly poisonous. If one of them enter 
 a house, the charmer is sent for, who uses a certain form 
 of words. I have seen three serpents enticed out of the 
 cabin of a ship lying near the shore. The operator 
 handled them, and then put them into a bag. At other 
 times I have seen the serpents twist round the bodies 
 of these psylli in all directions, without having had their 
 fangs extracted or broken, and without doing them any 
 injury. 
 
 Sir H. Blount {Voyage into the Levant, p. 81. ed. 5.) 
 says, " Many rarities of living creatures I saw at Grand 
 Cairo, but the most ingenious was a nest of four-legged 
 serpents of two feet long, black and ugly, kept by a 
 Frenchman, who when he came to handle them, they 
 would not endure him, but ran and hid in their hole. 
 Then would he take his cittern and play upon it : they 
 hearing his music, came all crawling to his feet, and 
 began to climb up him, till he gave over playing, then 
 away they ran." 
 
 No. 555. — lviii. 6. Break their teeth.'] This clause 
 of the verse is understood as a continuation of the fore- 
 going verse, and to be interpreted of the method made 
 use of to tame serpents, which Chardin says, is by break- 
 ing out their teeth. Music has a wonderful influence 
 
 A A 2
 
 $56 PSALMS. 
 
 upon them. Adders will swell at the sound of a flute, 
 raising themselves up on the one half of their body, 
 turning themselves about, and beating proper time. 
 (Harmer, vol. ii. p. 223.) Teixeira, a Spanish writer, 
 in the first book of his Persian History, says, that in 
 India he had often seen the Gentiles leading about the 
 enchanted serpents, making them dance to the sound of 
 a flute, twining them about their necks, and handling 
 them without any harm. 
 
 Thus the author of The Conformity of the East vidians 
 with tlie Jews and other ancient Nations, ch. xxviii. 
 " Their (the Indians) enchantments, or at least such 
 as I have any knowledge of, have not very much in 
 them, and extend no farther than to taking of adders, 
 and making them dance to the music of a flute. 
 They have several kinds of adders, which they keep in 
 baskets : these they carry from house to house, and 
 make them dance whenever any body will give them 
 money. When any of these reptiles get into the houses, 
 they get these Indians to drive them out : these have the 
 art to bring them at their feet by the sound of their flutes, 
 and by singing certain songs ; after which they take them 
 up by handfuls, without receiving the least hurt" To 
 which is added in Pi cart's Ceremonies and Religious 
 Customs of all Nations, vol. iii. p. 268. note, " As to 
 serpents, it is very probable they may be delighted with 
 musical sounds, and that the whole enchantment of the 
 Bramins may centre there. BALDiEUS, author of the 
 Description of Coromandel, in Dutch, relates that he 
 himself was an eye-witness to this conjuration with 
 serpents" 
 
 So the judicious Niebuhr, Voyage en Arabic, torn. i. 
 p. 152., speaking of the Egyptian amusements. " Other 
 persons make serpents dance. This perhaps will appear 
 incredible to those who do not know the instinct of 
 those animals : but certain species of setpents appear to
 
 PSALMS. 357 
 
 love music ; on hearing the drum they naturally rear 
 their head, and the upper part of their bodies ; and this 
 is what they call dancing." 
 
 In Apollonius Rhodius, Medea is said to have 
 soothed the monstrous serpent or dragon which guarded 
 the golden fleece, with her sweet voice, 
 
 c H$e**j ENOnH* $«*£«» TEpa; 
 
 Lib. iv. lin. 147. 
 
 And the laying of that dragon to sleep is by Ovid, 
 Metam. lib. vii. lin. 153. 5., ascribed to the words uttered 
 by Jason, 
 
 Verbaque ter dixit placidos facientia somnos, — 
 Somnus in ignotos oculos subrepit — 
 
 So Virgil attributes the like effects on serpents to the 
 song, as well as to the touch of the inchanter, 2En. vii. 
 lin. 753, &c. 
 
 Vipereo generi, et graviter spirantibus Hydris, 
 Spargere qui somnos cantuque manuque solebat, 
 Mulcebatque iras, & morsus arte levabat. 
 
 His wand and holy words the viper's rage, 
 
 And venom 1 d wound of serpents could assuage, Drydin. 
 
 c; Among the serpents of India the cobra minelle is 
 the smallest, and most dangerous ; the bite occasions a 
 speedy and painful death. They are of a brown colour, 
 speckled with black and white, though at a distance not 
 easily distinguished from the ground on which they 
 move ; and happy would it be if they confined them- 
 selves to it ; but they enter the houses, and creep upon 
 the beds and chairs ; I once found four, and at another 
 time five, in my chamber up stairs. 
 
 The cobra de capello, or hooded-snake (coluber naja), 
 called by the Indians the nang, or nagao, is a large 
 and beautiful serpent; but one of the most venomous 
 a a 3
 
 358 PSALMS. 
 
 of all the coluber class ; its bite generally proves mortal 
 in less than an hour. It is called the hooded- snake, 
 from having a curious hood near the head, which it 
 contracts or enlarges at pleasure ; the centre of this 
 hood is marked in black and white like a pair of spec- 
 tacles, from whence it is also named the spectacle-snake. 
 
 Of this genus are the dancing-snakes, which are car- 
 ried in baskets throughout Hindostan, and procure a 
 maintenance for a set of people, who play a few simple 
 notes on the flute, with which the snakes seem much 
 delighted, and keep time by a graceful motion of the 
 head ; erecting about half their length from the ground, 
 and following the music with gentle curves, like the un- 
 dulating lines of a swan's neck. It is a well attested 
 fact, that when a house is infested with these snakes, 
 and some others of the coluber genus, which destroy 
 poultry and small domestic animals, as also by the larger 
 serpents of the boa tribe, the musicians are sent for; 
 who, by playing on a flagelet, find out their hiding- 
 places, and charm them to destruction : for no sooner do 
 the snakes hear the music, than they come softly from 
 their retreat, and are easily taken. I imagine these 
 musical snakes were known in Palestine, from the Psal- 
 mist comparing the ungodly to the deaf adder, which 
 stoppeth her ears, and refuseth to hear the voice of the 
 charmer, charm he never so wisely. 
 
 When the music ceases the snakes appear motion- 
 less ; but if not immediately covered up in the basket, 
 the spectators are liable to fatal accidents. Among my 
 drawings is that of a cobra de capello, which danced for 
 an hour on the table while I painted it ; during which I 
 frequently handled it, to observe the beauty of the spots, 
 and especially the spectacles on the hood, not doubting 
 but that its venomous fangs had been previously ex- 
 tracted. But the next morning my upper servant, who 
 was a zealous Mussulman, came to me in great haste,
 
 PSALMS. 359 
 
 iand desired I would instantly retire and praise the 
 Almighty for my good fortune : not understanding his 
 meaning, I told him that I had already performed my 
 devotions, and had not so many stated prayers as the 
 followers of his prophet. Mahomed then informed me, 
 that while purchasing some fruit in the bazar, he ob- 
 served the man who had been with me on the preceding 
 evening, entertaining the country people with his danc- 
 ing snakes ; they, according to their usual custom, sat 
 on the ground around him ; when, either from the music 
 stopping too suddenly, or from some other cause irritat- 
 ing the vicious reptile which I had so often handled, it 
 darted at the throat of a young woman, and inflicted 
 a wound of which she died in about half an hour. 
 Mahomed once more repeated his advice for praise and 
 thanksgiving to Alia, and recorded me in his calendar 
 as a lucky man. 
 
 Dr. Russell, in his valuable treatise on Indian ser- 
 pents, has distinguished between the venomous and the 
 harmless species, in the three genera of boa, coluber, 
 and anguis : he has given an accurate description, and 
 coloured engravings of forty-three of the most common 
 serpents in Hindostan ; experiments on the effects of 
 their bite, and the several remedies applied ; with ob- 
 servations on the apparatus provided by nature, for pre- 
 paring and instilling their poison : he mentions, that a 
 quantity of warm Madeira wine taken internally, with 
 an outward application of eau-de-luce on the punctures, 
 was generally successful in curing the bite of the most 
 venomous species : and that the medicine called the 
 Tanj ore-pill seemed to be equally efficacious. Dr. Rus- 
 sell further observes, that " of forty-three serpents ex- 
 amined and described by him, seven only were found 
 with poisonous organs : and upon comparing the effects 
 of the poison of five oriental serpents on brute animals, 
 with those produced by the poison of the rattle-snake, 
 
 A A 4
 
 560 PSALMS. 
 
 and the European viper, it may in general be remarked 
 that they all produce morbid symptoms nearly similar ; 
 however much they may differ in the degree of their 
 deleterious power, or in the rapidity of its operation. 
 The bite of a rattle-snake in England, killed a dog in two 
 minutes; the bite of the most pernicious snake in India 
 was never observed to kill a dog in less than twenty- 
 seven minutes.'* Forbes's Oriental Memoir s, vol. L 
 p. 43. 
 
 Xo. 556. — lix. 14. Dog, 2 Though dogs arc not suf- 
 fered in the houses in the East, and people are very 
 careful to avoid them, lest they should be polluted by 
 touching them, there are great numbers of them in their 
 streets. They do not belong to particular persons, nor 
 are they fed regularly, but get their food as they cam 
 It is considered right however to take some care of 
 them : and . charitable people frequently give money to 
 butchers and bakers to feed them, and some leave lega- 
 cies at their deaths for the same purpose. (Le Bruyn, 
 torn. i. p. 361.) Dogs seem to have been looked upon 
 among the Jews in a disagreeable light, (1 Sam. xvii. 4-3. 
 2 Kings, viii. 13.) yet they had them in considerable 
 numbers in their cities. They were not shut up in their 
 houses or courts, but seem to have been forced to seek 
 their food where they could find it. (Psalm\ix.6. 14, 15.) 
 Some care of them seems to be indirectly enjoined upon 
 the Jews, Excel, xxii. 3 1 . 
 
 Busbequius {Legal. Turc. Epist. iii. p. 178. edit* 
 Elzev.) says, that "" the Turks reckon a dog an unclean 
 and fdthy creature, and therefore drive him from their 
 houses ; that these animals are there in common, not be- 
 longing to any particular owners, and guard rather the 
 streets and districts than particular houses, and live oj 
 offals which are thrown abroad"
 
 PSALMS. 361 
 
 Dr. Russell remarks concerning Aleppo, {Nat. Hist, 
 p. 60.) that dogs abound in their streets without any 
 owners, and live upon the most putrid substances, Comp. 
 Sandy's Travels, p. 45.; Complete System of Geography, 
 vol. ii. p. 8. ; Baron Du Tott's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 209., 
 edit. Robinson-, Volney, Voyage, torn. i. p. 216. torn. ii. 
 p. 355. Forbes's Oriental Memoirs, vol. iii. p. 67. 
 Bocharti Opera, vol. ii. p. 662. 
 
 No. 557. — lxiv. 3. And bend their bows to shoot 
 their arrows, even bitter words.'] This appears to be 
 an allusion to the practice of fixing letters in arrows, 
 and shooting or directing them where it was desired 
 they should fall and be taken up. Timoxenus and 
 Artabazus sent letters to one another in this way at 
 the siege of Potidasa. Thus the Jews say Shebna and 
 Joab sent letters to Sennacherib, acquainting him that 
 all Israel were willing to make peace with him, but 
 Hezekiah would not surfer them. Gill, in loc. 
 
 No. 558. — Ixviii. 24. They have seen thy goings, 
 God, even the goings of my God, my king, in the 
 sanctuaiy.'] Instead of the word goings, Dr. Hurdis 
 {Dissertations on Psalm and Prophecy, p. 68.) substi- 
 tutes that of processions, referring to the custom of the 
 Egyptians at the overflowing of the Nile. He observes 
 that the flood of Egypt, like that of Palestine, was 
 autumnal ; and both may be ascribed to the same perio- 
 dical rains. The ceremonies also observed in Egypt 
 during the swelling of the Nile, and when it had attained 
 its happiest height, as frequently alluded to by the 
 r acred writers, were perfectly similar to those of the 
 Hebrews. To the present day, we are informed by 
 Irwin, {Travels, vol. i. p. 307.) that at the first visible 
 rise of the river the female chorus, singing and dancing 
 to the sound of instruments, goes in procession by
 
 36* PSALMfc. 
 
 night to the stream. In veneration of the benevolent 
 power who thus dispenses annually the blessings of 
 plenty, it not only praises him till it reaches the brink 
 of the flood, but even bathes in its waters, to express 
 the most unbounded adoration. The very same custom 
 manifestly prevailed when the infant Moses was found 
 floating upon the river. For it is not sufficient to say 
 with our translators, that when the daughter of Pharaoh 
 went down to the flood, her maidens walked along by 
 the river side. The word which expresses their motion 
 is always used by the sacred writers to describe the ac- 
 tion of the chorus ; as the Psalmist explains it in these 
 words. Hurdis on Psalm and Prophecy, p. 68. 
 
 No. 559. — lxviii. 25. The singers "went before,"] The 
 same custom prevailed also amongst the Gentiles in their 
 solemn processions : for both before and after, as well 
 as during the time of their libations and sacrifices, they 
 sang hymns in praise of their respective deities : and 
 when they celebrated the supposed advent of their gods 
 at particular times, it was with the greatest demonstra- 
 tions of joy, with dancing, music, and songs. (See 
 Callimachus, Hy. in Apol. v. 12.) On this account 
 they employed persons to compose these sorts of hymns ; 
 and that the singing of them might be performed with 
 greater harmony and dignity, they chose for this reli- 
 gious service persons trained up to, and well skilled in, 
 vocal music, For this employment they brought up 
 children of both sexes, who marched in procession at 
 their great festivals. See Horace, Carm. Sec. and 
 Catullus, Carm. Sec. Chandler's Life of David, 
 vol. ii. p. 82. 
 
 No. 560. — lxviii. 30. Rebuke the company of the 
 spear-men.'] Literally, rebuke the beast of the reeds, or
 
 
 PSALMS. 363 
 
 canes. This in all probability means the wild-boar, 
 which is considered as destructive to the people of Israel, 
 Psalm lxxx. 1 3. That wild-boars abound in marshes, 
 fens, and reedy places appears from Le Bruyn, who 
 says, " we were in a large plain full of canals, marshes, 
 and bull-rushes. This part of the country is infested 
 by a vast number of wild-boars, that march in troops, 
 and destroy all the seed and fruits of the earth, and 
 pursue their ravages as far as the entrance into the vil- 
 lages. The inhabitants, in order to remedy this mischief, 
 set fire to the rushes which afford them a retreat, and 
 destroyed above fifty in that manner: but those that 
 escaped the flames spread themselves all round in such 
 a manner, that the people themselves were obliged to 
 have recourse to flight, and have never disturbed them 
 since for fear of drawing upon themselves some greater 
 calamity. They assured me that some of these creatures 
 were as large as cows." Travels, vol. ii. p. 62. See also 
 Apollonius, lib. ii. 820. Virgil, JEn.yi. Ovid. Metam. 
 viii. Scripture Illust. Expos. Index. 
 
 No. 561. — lxix. 9. The zeal of thine house hath eaten 
 me up."] Peysonnel, in his Remarks on Baron Du 
 Tott, (p. 45.) describes a custom which probably is al- 
 luded to by the Psalmist. " Those who are aggrieved 
 stand before the gate of the seraglio ; each carries on 
 his head a kind of match, or wick, lighted and smok- 
 ing, which is considered as the allegorical emblem of 
 the fire that consumes his soul." The LXX. acquainted 
 with this practice, have given a version of the passage 
 more bold than our own, and more agreeable to the He- 
 brew. The zeal of thine house hath melted me, — & e. 
 consumed me by fire. 
 
 No. 562. — lxix. 21. In my thirst they gave me 
 vinegar to drink.'] The refreshing quality of vinegar
 
 964 PSALMS. 
 
 cannot be doubted ; but a royal personage had reason to 
 complain of his treatment in having this only presented 
 to him to quench his thirst, when it was only made use 
 of by the meanest people. Pitts (p. 6.) tells us, that 
 die food that he and the rest had when first taken by the 
 Algerines was generally only five or six spoonfuls of 
 vinegar, half a spoonful of oil, a few olives, with a 
 small quantity of black biscuit, and a pint of water, a 
 day. The juice of lemons is what those of higher life 
 now use, and probably among the higher orders the 
 juice of pomegranates might be used, to produce a 
 grateful acidity. Harmer, vol. i. p. 395. 
 
 No. 563. — lxxii. 9 — 11. His enemies shall lick the 
 dust.~] In Mr. Hugh Boyd's account of his embassy to 
 the king of Candy in Ceylon, there is a paragraph which 
 singularly illustrates this part of the Psalm ; and shews 
 the adulation and obsequious reverence, with which an 
 eastern monarch is approached. 
 
 Describing his introduction to the king, he says, 
 " The removal of the curtain was the signal of our 
 obeisances. Mine, by stipulation, was to be only kneel- 
 ing. My companions immediately began the perform- 
 ance of theirs, which were in the most perfect degree 
 of eastern humiliation. They almost literally licked the 
 dust; prostrating themselves with their faces almost 
 close to the stone floor, and throwing out their arms 
 and legs ; then rising on their knees, they repeated in 
 a very loud voice a certain form of words of the most 
 extravagant meaning that can be conceived : — that the 
 head of the king of kings might reach beyond the sun; 
 that he might live a thousand years, &c." 
 
 Compare this with the passage of Scripture now re- 
 ferred to. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea 9 
 and from the river unto the ends of the earth. Tkey 
 that dwell in the wilderness shall boxv before him 9 and
 
 PSALMS. 365 
 
 his enemies shall lich the dust, i. e. the wild unconquered 
 Arabians shall be brought to abject submission. This 
 is beautifully emblematic of the triumph of Christ over 
 those nations and individuals, whom it appeared impos- 
 sible for the Gospel to subdue. The Icings of Tarshish 
 and of the Isles shall bring presents; the kings of Sheba 
 and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down 
 before him ,■ all nations shall serve him. 
 
 No. 564. — lxxii. 10. The kings of Tarshish and of 
 the Isles shall bring presents.'] Presents were sometimes 
 made as an acknowledgment of inferiority and subjec- 
 tion. They were a kind of tribute from those who 
 made to those who received them ; in this light we are 
 doubtless to understand those spoken of in this verse. 
 
 6 
 d those spoken of in 
 
 Harmer, vol. ii. p. 20. 
 
 No. 565. — lxxii. 16. They of the city shall flourish 
 like grass of the earth.] The rapidity with which grass 
 grows in the East is the idea here referred to. " When 
 the ground there hath been destitute of rain nine months 
 together, and looks all of it like the barren sand in the 
 deserts of Arabia, where there is not one spire of green 
 grass to be found, within a few days after those fat 
 enriching showers begin to fall, the face of the earth 
 there (as it were by a new resurrection) is so revived, 
 and as it were so renewed, as that it is presently covered, 
 all over with a pure green mantle." Sir Thomas Roe's 
 Voyage to India, p. 360. 
 
 " In the temperate climes of Europe, it is difficult to 
 conceive the force and beauty of the eastern language 
 respecting fertilizing streams and refreshing showers : it 
 is not so with the inhabitants of the torrid zone, who 
 look forward with eager expectation to the setting in of 
 the rainy season; when cultivation commences, the seed 
 .is sown, and a joyful harvest anticipated. Should these
 
 366 PSALMS. 
 
 periodical rains be withheld, when the heavens are " as 
 brass, and the earth as iron," the consequences would 
 be fatal. Famine and pestilence, with all their dire at- 
 tendants, stalk through the land, and spread destruc- 
 tion and despair on every side : as those can testify who 
 beheld the dreadful scenes at Bengal in the year 1770 ; 
 and others, who have witnessed the sad effects of a 
 failure of the crops in different parts of Hindostan, 
 where thousands are carried off by famine ; and, from 
 being deprived of sepulture or cremation, the atmo- 
 sphere is rendered pestilential." Forbes's Oriental Me- 
 moirs, vol. i. p. 33. 
 
 No. 566. — lxxv. 4-, 5. Lift not up your horn on high, 
 speak not with a stiff neck.'] This passage will receive 
 some illustration from Bruce 's remarks in his Travels to 
 discover the Source of the Nile, where, speaking of the 
 head-dress of the governors of the provinces of Abyssinia, 
 he represents it as consisting of a large broad fillet bound 
 upon their forehead, and tied behind their head. In 
 the middle of this was a horn, or a conical piece of sil- 
 ver, gilt, about four inches long, much in the shape of 
 our common candle extinguishers. This is called kirn, 
 or horn, and is only worn in reviews, or parades after 
 victory. The crooked manner in which they hold the 
 neck, when this ornament is on their forehead, for fear 
 it should fall forward, seems to agree with what the 
 Psalmist calls, speaking with a stiff neck, for it perfectly 
 shews the meaning of speaking with a stiff neck, when 
 you hold the horn on high, or erect, like the horn of a 
 unicorn. See also Psalm xcii. 10. 
 
 Mr. Clarkson, in his Memoirs of the Private and 
 Public Life of William Penn, vol. i, p. 34-0., gives us the 
 following account of the manner in which he made a 
 contract with the Indians for the land of Pennsylvania. 
 " One of the sachems, who was the chief of them, then
 
 PSALMS. 367 
 
 put upon his own head a kind of chaplet, in which ap- 
 peared a small horn. This, as among the primitive 
 eastern nations, and according to scripture language, 
 was an emblem of kingly power : and whenever the chief, 
 who had a right to wear it, put it on, it was understood 
 that the place was made sacred, and the persons of all 
 present inviolable. Upon putting on this horn, the In- 
 dians threw down their bows and arrows, and seated 
 themselves round their chiefs, in the form of a half moon, 
 upon the ground. The chief sachem then announced 
 to William Penn, by means of an interpreter, that the 
 nations were ready to hear him." 
 
 No. 567. — lxxv. 8. For in the hand of the Lord 
 there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture ; 
 and he poureth out of the same : but the dregs thereof 
 all the wicked of the earth shall wting them out and 
 drink them.~] At entertainments, when they drank 
 healths, it was usual to drain the vessel they drank out 
 of as far as the sediment. So Theocritus : 
 
 Pll drink 
 
 Till to the lees the rosy b&ivl I sink. Idyl. vii. 86. Fawkes. 
 
 And Horace : 
 
 Nee poti faece tenus cadi. B. iii. Od. 1 5. 
 
 See also Isaiah, li. 17. 22. 
 
 No. 568. — Ixxx. 1 7. Let thy hand be upon the man 
 of thy right handS] If we would understand the genuine 
 import of this phrase, we must attend to a custom which 
 obtained in Judea and other eastern countries. At 
 meals the master of the feast placed the person whom 
 he loved best on his right hand, as a token of love and 
 respect: and as they sat on couches, in the intervals
 
 368 PSALMS. 
 
 between the dishes, when the master leaned upon hi* 
 left elbow, the man at his right hand, leaning also on 
 his, would naturally repose his head on the master's 
 bosom ; while at the same time the master laid his right 
 hand on the favourite's shoulder or side, in testimony 
 of his favourable regard. See also John, xxi. 20. Pirie's 
 Works, vol. iii. p. 90. 
 
 No. 569. — lxxxiv. 7. They go from strength to 
 strength.'] The scarcity of water in the East makes 
 travellers particularly careful to take up their lodgings 
 as much as possible near some river or fountain. D'Her- 
 belot informs us, that the Mohammedans have dug 
 wells in the deserts, for the accommodation of those who 
 go in pilgrimage to Mecca. (P. 396.) To conveniences 
 perhaps of this kind, made, or renewed, by the devout 
 Israelites in the valley of Baca, to facilitate their going 
 up to Jerusalem, the Psalmist may refer in these words. 
 Hence also there appears less of accident than we com- 
 monly think of, in Jacob's lodging on the banks of Jab- 
 bok, {Gen. xxxii. 22.) and the men of David's waiting 
 for him by the brook Besor, (1 Sam, xxx. 21.) when they 
 could not hold out with him in his march. Harmer, 
 vol.i. p. 421. 
 
 No. 570. — xc. 4. As a watch in the night.] s; As the 
 people of the East have no clocks, the several parts of 
 the day and of the night, which are eight in all, are 
 given notice of. In the Indies, the parts of the night 
 are made known, as well by instruments (of music) as 
 by the rounds of the watchmen, who with cries and 
 small drums give them notice that a fourth part of the 
 night is passed. Now as these cries awakened those 
 that had slept all that quarter part of the night, it ap- 
 peared to them but as a moment." (Chardin.) It is
 
 PSALMS. 369 
 
 apparent the ancient Jews knew how the night passed 
 away, though we cannot determine by what means the 
 information was communicated to them. Harmer, 
 vol.i. p. 210. 
 
 No. 571. — xcii. 10. My horn shalt thou exalt like the 
 horn of an unicorn • I shall be anointed with fresh oil.'} 
 Mr. Bruce, after having given it as his opinion, that 
 the reem of scripture is the rhinoceros, says, " the 
 derivation of this word, both in the Hebrew and in the 
 Ethiopic, seems to be from erectness, or standing straight. 
 This is certainly no particular quality in the animal it- 
 self, which is not more, or even so much erect as many 
 other quadrupeds, for in its knees it is rather crooked ; 
 but it is from the circumstance and manner in which his 
 horn is placed. The horns of other animals are inclined 
 to some degree of parallelism with the nose or os fron- 
 ds. The horn of the rhinoceros alone is erect and per- 
 pendicular to this bone, on which it stands at right angles, 
 thereby possessing a greater purchase, or power, as a 
 lever, than any horn could possibly have in any other 
 position. 
 
 " This situation of the horn is very happily alluded to 
 in the sacred writings : my horn shalt thou exalt like the 
 horn of an unicorn ; and the horn here alluded to is not 
 wholly figurative, as I have already taken notice in the 
 course of my history, but was really an ornament worn 
 by great men in the days of victory, preferment, or re- 
 joicing, when they were anointed with new, sweet, or 
 fresh oil, a circumstance which David joins with that of 
 erecting the horn." {Travels, vol. v. p. 88.) 
 
 The horn is frequently used by the sacred writers, and 
 by the Arabians, to denote riches, strength, dignity, and 
 power. See Horace, Qarm. lib. iii. Od.2\., etEpod.6, 
 
 « In Abyssinia the horn, according to Bruce, is worn 
 as an ornament by the nobles and great men, and 
 
 vol. i. bb
 
 SYi PSALMS. 
 
 bound upon the forehead in the days of victory, pre* 
 ferment, and rejoicing, on which occasions they are 
 anointed with new or sweet oil ; a circumstance which 
 David expressly unites with that of lifting up or erecting 
 the horn." Forbes's Oriental Memoirs, vol. iii. p. 278. 
 
 No. 572. — cii. 26. As a vesture shalt thou change 
 them.'] A frequent change of garments is very common 
 in the East ; and that, both to shew respect and to dis- 
 play magnificence. Thevenot tells us (part i. p. 86.) 
 that when he saw the Grand Seignior go to the new 
 mosque, he was clad in a satin doliman of a flesh colour, 
 and a vest nearly similar; but when he had said his 
 prayers there, he changed his vest, and put on one of a 
 particular kind of green. To this frequent change of 
 vestments amongst the great, the Psalmist may allude 
 in these words. Harmer, vol. ii. p. 1.17. 
 
 No. 573. — civ. 2. Who stretchest out the heavens like 
 a curtain.'] It is usual in the summer season, and upon 
 all occasions when a large company is to be received, 
 to have the court of the house (which is the middle of 
 an open square) sheltered from the heat of the weather 
 by an umbrella or veil, which, being expanded upon 
 ropes from one side of the parapet- wall to the other,, 
 may be folded or unfolded at pleasure. The Psalmist 
 seems to allude to some covering of this kind in that 
 beautiful expression of stretching out the heavens like a 
 curtain. Shaw's Travels, p. 274. 
 
 No. 574. — civ. 26. There go the ships ; there is that 
 Leviathan whom thou hast made to play therein.'] The 
 terms of the original Hebrew are here so very strong* 
 that we cannot doubt of the author's intention to couch 
 a figurative sense under the literal and more obvious 
 acceptation of his expressions. Leviathan is unques-
 
 PSALMS. 371 
 
 tionably the prince and people of Egypt, exhibited under 
 the apt emblem of their own crocodile. It is not unusual 
 with the sacred writers to allude to that country under 
 this formidable image. Compare Isaiah, xxvii. 1. with 
 Ezek. xxix. 3. If therefore it be here said literally of the 
 great and wide waters to which the Psalmist is pointing, 
 there ships shall make procession, that Leviathan thou hast 
 fashioned to perform the actions of his feast therein, the 
 author must intend to speak of the rejoicings of the 
 Egyptians at the height of their flood, rather than of 
 the sports of the Leviathan, of which natural history 
 affords no proof. The very term here applied is used to 
 express the action of the multitude when Aaron cele- 
 brated the Egyptian feast of the golden calf, and they 
 rose up to dance and sing before it. It is also used to 
 denote the gestures of the triumphal procession of the 
 Hebrews, the motions of the women who sung with 
 timbrels, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten 
 thousands. That the Egyptians did anciently make pro- 
 cessions by water to their temples, Herodotus bears wit- 
 ness. The feast of Bubastis, which is mentioned by him 
 as the greatest of the Egyptian feasts, commenced with a 
 procession by water. He says that " both men and 
 women embark together, a vast multitude of each in 
 every vessel; some of the women being furnished with 
 crotala, play with them, while some of the men perform 
 on the pipe, during the whole of the voyage. The re- 
 mainder both of women and men sing and clap hands. 
 This they particularly do when they draw near to any 
 city. The women also at such times call upon the 
 female inhabitants of those cities severally to exert them- 
 selves, and they accordingly come forth and dance." 
 Hurdis's Diss. p. 133. 
 
 No. 575. — cix. 24k My knees are weak through fast- 
 ing i and my flesh faileth of fatness.'} A sentiment similar 
 
 bb2
 
 372 PSALMS. 
 
 to that which is suggested by this passage, and expressed 
 in words not very different, is to be met with in several 
 ancient writers. Thus Tryphiodorus, {Destruction of 
 Troy, v. 252.) 
 
 Lest faint and wearied e'er the tank was done, 
 
 Stretch' d through the length of one revolving sun, 
 
 Their knees might fail, by hunger 's force subdued, 
 
 And sink, unable to support their load. Merrick. 
 
 Plautus, in his Cwculio, has taken notice of this effect 
 of hunger. 
 
 Tenebras oboriuntur, genua inedia succidunt. Ac.ii. sc*3- 
 
 So also Lucrhtius, 
 
 Et quoniam non est quasi quod suffuiciat artus, 
 Debile fit corpus, languescunt omnia membra : 
 Brachia palpebrseque cadunt, poplitesque procumbunt. 
 
 Lib. iv. 948. 
 
 See Leoit, xxvi. 26. Ezek. iv. 16. 
 
 No. 576. — cxvi. 13. The cup of salvation."] It has 
 been observed that the expression, the cup of salvation^. 
 was at least imitated by the Greeks in their phrase, the 
 boxii of liberty. It occurs in Tryphiodorus, {Destruction 
 of Troy) but is supposed to be borrowed from Homer, 
 II. vi. 526. 
 
 These ills shall cease, whene'er by Jove's decree 
 
 We crown the bowl to heaven and liberty. Pope, 
 
 The free bowl, or bowl of liberty, was that in which 
 they made libations to Jupiter, after the recovery of 
 their liberty. Athenceus mentions those cups which the 
 Greeks called ypapftaTixa exiruifictluy and were consecrated 
 to the gods in consequence of some success. He gives 
 us the inscription of one of this sort, which was AlO% 
 2&THP02.
 
 PSALMS. 373 
 
 The dispensations and gifts of God, whether good or 
 bad are ordinarily expressed by a cup poured out, and 
 given men to drink. The heathens had the same ex- 
 pression concerning their gods. We read in Homer : 
 
 Aoiot yocf te mOoi, &c. 
 
 6 There are two cups of the gods, the one of good 
 things, the other of bad.' 
 
 No. 577. > — cxviii. 27. Bind the sacrifice "with cords 
 even unto the horns of the altar, .] Luther would render 
 this passage, adorn the feast with leaves : and others, 
 bind on the feast-day branches, as was usual on the 
 feast of Tabernacles, Levit. xxiii. 40. The heathens 
 used to strew their altars with green herbs and flowers, 
 particularly vervain, 
 
 Ramis tegerem ut frontlentibus aras. 
 
 ViRG.^w.iii. 25. 
 
 See also Ovid, de TrisU 1. iii. El. 1 3. 
 
 No. 578. — cxix. 83. I am become like a bottle in the 
 smoke,~\ Cups and drinking vessels of gold and silver 
 were doubtless used in the courts of princes. (1 Kings^ 
 x. 21.) But in the Arab tents leathern bottles as well 
 as pitchers were used. These of course were smoky 
 habitations. To this latter circumstance, and the con- 
 trast between the drinking utensils, the Psalmist alludes : 
 " My appearance in my present state is as different 
 from what it was when I dwelt at court, as the furniture 
 of a palace differs from that of a poor Arab's tent." 
 Harmer, vol. i. p. 131. 
 
 This passage may perhaps be best understood of a 
 
 bottle or skin placed within reach of the smoke or vapour 
 
 of the fire. It has been supposed that bottles or skins, 
 
 when damaged by moisture, were hung near the fire in 
 
 b b 3
 
 374 PSALMS. 
 
 order to dry them gradually : or that the skins of wine 
 were sometimes hung in the smoke, to give the wine a 
 particular flavor. The Romans smoked their wines in 
 the vessel. Qjio?iiam vina celerins vetustescunt, quce fumi 
 quodam tenore jyi*cecocem maturitatem trahunt. Colu- 
 mella, 1. i. c. 6. If the poor people in the East some- 
 times boil their meat in caldrons made of raw hides, 
 this circumstance might perhaps explain the text. 
 Buchanan {Iter. Scot. lib. viii.) says that the English in 
 the 14th century, on entering a camp deserted by the 
 Scots, found caldrons of that sort. 
 
 No. 579. — »■ cxxiii. 2. As the eyes of servants look unto 
 the hands of their masters.'] The servants or slaves in 
 the East attend their masters or mistresses with the 
 profoundest respect. Maundrell {Journey at March, 
 p. 13.) observes, that the servants in Turkey stand round 
 their master and his guests with the profoundest respect, 
 silence, and order imaginable. Pococke says, that at a 
 visit in Egypt every thing is done with the greatest 
 decency, and the most profound silence, the slaves or 
 servants standing at the bottom of the room, with their 
 hands joined before them, watching with the utmost 
 attention every motion of their master, who commands 
 them by signs. De la Motraye {Travels, vol. i. 
 p. 249.) says, that the eastern ladies are waited on 
 " even at the least wink of the eye, or motion of the 
 fingers, and that in a manner not perceptible to stran- 
 gers." The Baron du Tott, (vol. i. p. 30.) relates a 
 remarkable instance of the authority attending this mode 
 of commanding, and of the use of significant motions. 
 " The customary ceremonies on these occasions were 
 over, and Racub (the new visir) continued to discourse 
 familiarly with the ambassador, when the ?nuzur-aga 
 (or high provost) coming into the hall, and approaching 
 the pacha, whispered something in his ear, and we
 
 PSALMS. 375 
 
 observed that all the answer he received from him was 
 a slight horizontal motion with his hand, after which 
 the visir, instantly resuming an agreeable smile, conti- 
 nued the conversation for some time longer: we then 
 left the hall of audience, and came to the foot of the 
 great stair-case, where we remounted our horses : here, 
 nine heads, cut off, and placed in a row on the outside 
 of the first gate, completely explained the sign, which the 
 visir had made use of in our presence." To the same pur- 
 pose Mons. Savary, (Lettres sur T Egypte, p. 135.) "Des 
 esclaves, les mains croisees sur la poitrine, se tiennent en 
 silence a Pextremite de Pappartement. Les regards at- 
 taches sur leur maitre {Egyptien,) ils cherchent aprevenir 
 ses moindres volontes." Dr. Russell [Nat Hist, of 
 Aleppo, p. 101) presents this subject to the eye by giving 
 us two prints, in one of which stands a male servant 
 attending on a Turk of dignity, " in that dress and 
 humble submissive attitude in which they are accustomed 
 to wait upon their masters." In the other print a female 
 servant is in like manner waiting on her mistress. Digiti 
 crepantis signa novit eunuchus. Martial, 1. iii. 82. 
 Hence we discover the propriety of the actions performed 
 by the prophets. Ezekiel was a sign to the people in 
 not mourning for the dead, (chap, xxiv.) in his removing 
 into captivity, and digging through the wall. (chap, xii.) 
 Such conduct was perfectly well understood, and was 
 very significant. See Pignorium de Servis, p. 136. 
 
 No. 580. — cxxvi. 4. Turn again our captivity, O 
 Lord, as the streams in the South.~] " This image is taken 
 from the torrents in the deserts to the south of Judea; 
 in Idumea, Arabia Petraea, &c. a mountainous coun- 
 try. These torrents were constantly dried up in the 
 summer, (see Job, vi. 17, 18.) and as constantly returned 
 after the rainy season, and filled again their deserted 
 channels. The point of the comparison seems to be 
 
 B B 4.
 
 376 PSALMS. 
 
 the return and renewal of these (not rivers, but) torrents, 
 which yearly leave their beds dry, but fill them again ; 
 as the Jews had left their country desolate, but now 
 flowed again into it." Bishop Horne's Commentary, 
 vol. ii. p. 425. 
 
 No. 581 . — cxxvi. 5, 6. He that goeth forth andweep- 
 eth, bearing precious seed,'] The writer of the account 
 of the ruins of Balbec,~ speaking of the valley in which 
 it stood, observes that it has very little wood ; and adds, 
 " though shade be so essential an article of oriental 
 luxury, yet few plantations of trees are seen in Turkey, 
 the inhabitants being discouraged from labours, which 
 produce such distant and precarious enjoyment, in a 
 country where even the annual fruits of their industry 
 are uncertain. In Palestine we have often seen the 
 husbandman sowing, accompanied by an armed friend, 
 to prevent his being robbed of the seed." The Israelites 
 that returned from Babylon upon the proclamation of 
 Cyrus, were in similar circumstances to husbandmen 
 sowing their corn amidst enemies and robbers. The 
 rebuilding of their towns and their temple resembled a 
 time of sowing; but they had reason to fear that the 
 neighbouring nations would defeat these efforts. {Nehem. 
 iv. 7.) In opposition to this apprehension the Psalmist 
 expresses his hope, perhaps predicts, that there would 
 be an happy issue of these beginnings to re-people their 
 country. Harmer, vol. i. p. 87. 
 
 No. 582. — cxxix. 6. Let them be as the grass upon 
 the house tops.'] The tops of the houses in Judea were 
 flat, and so grass grew upon them, being covered with 
 plaister of terrace. As it was but small and weak, and, 
 being on high was exposed to the scorching sun, it w r as 
 soon withered. (Shaw's Tray^, p. 210.) Menochius 
 says, that he saw such roofs in the island of Corsica, 
 
 10
 
 PSALMS. 377 
 
 flat, and having earth upon them, on which grass grew 
 of its own accord ; but being burnt up in summer time 
 by the sun, soon withered. (De Republica Heb. 1. vii. 
 c. 5. p. 666.) But what Olaus Magnus relates is extra- 
 ordinary. He says, that in the northern gothic coun- 
 tries they feed their cattle on the tops of houses, 
 especially in a time of siege; that their houses are 
 built of stone, high and large, and covered with rafters 
 of fir and bark of birch : on this is laid grass-earth, cut 
 out of the fields four-square, and sowed with barley or 
 oats, so that their roofs look like green meadows : and, 
 that what is sown, and the grass that grows thereon, 
 may not wither before plucked up, they very dili- 
 gently water it. (De Ritu Gent. Septe?it. l.ix. c. 12.) 
 Maundrell (Journey from Aleppo, p. 144.) says, that 
 these words allude to the custom of plucking up corn 
 from the roots by handfuls, leaving the most fruitful 
 fields as naked as if nothing had ever grown in them ; 
 and that this is done, that they may not lose any of the 
 straw, which is generally very short, and necessary 
 for the sustenance of their cattle, no hay being made 
 in that country. See also Plaisted's Journal from Bus- 
 serah to Aleppo, p. 1 1 1 . ed. 2. 
 
 The inhabitants of St. Kilda (Martin's Voyage, p. 29.) 
 pluck all their bear by the roots in handfuls, both for the 
 sake of their houses, which they thatch with it, and for 
 their cows. That a like method was anciently used in 
 Greece, in a season of scarcity, may perhaps be col- 
 lected from Hesiod, who speaks of a mower, gathering 
 little in his hand. Op. et Dies, v. 497. 
 
 Mr. Morier (Journey through Persia, Armenia, and 
 Asia Minor, in 1808, p. 321.) says that at Arz-roum, 
 the houses are in general built of stone, with rafters of 
 wood, and terraced. Grass grows on their tops, and 
 sheep and calves feed there, so that, when seen from an
 
 378 PSALMS. 
 
 eminence, the roofs of the houses can hardly be distin- 
 guished from the plain at their foundation. 
 
 No. 583. — cxxxii. 18. Upon his head shall the crown 
 Jlourish.~] " This idea seems to be taken from the nature 
 of the ancient crowns bestowed upon conquerors. From 
 the earliest periods of history the laurel, olive, and ivy 
 furnished crowns to adorn the heads of heroes, who had 
 conquered in the field of battle; gained the prize in 
 the race; or performed some other important service to 
 the public. These were the dear-bought rewards of the 
 most heroic exploits of antiquity. This sets the pro- 
 priety of the phrase in full view. The idea of a crown 
 of gold and jewels flourishing is at least unnatural: 
 whereas flourishing is natural to laurels and oaks. These 
 were put upon the heads of the victors in full verdure." 
 Pirie's Works, vol. iii. p. 224. 
 
 No. 584. — cxxxiii. 2. It is like the 'precious ointment 
 upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even 
 Aaron's beard, that went down to the skirts of his gar-~ 
 ments.~] The manner of performing the ceremony of 
 anointing the high priest has been particularly trans- 
 mitted to us by the rabinical writers. They inform us 
 that the oil was poured on the top of the priest's head, 
 which was bare, so plentifully, as to run down his face 
 upon his beard, to the collar (not the lower skirts) of his 
 robe. It has been said, that at the consecration of the 
 high priest the unction was repeated seven days together, 
 an opinion founded upon Exod, xxix. 29, 30. Jen- 
 nings's Jewish Ant, vol. i. p. 210. 
 
 No. 585. — cxxxiii. 2, 3. As the dew of Hermon, and 
 as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion.'] 
 « A great difficulty occurs in the comparison which 
 the Psalmist makes to the dew of Hermon that fell on
 
 PSALMS. 379 
 
 the hill of Sion; which might easily be interpreted, 
 if it had been observed, that the clouds which lay on 
 Hermon, being brought by the north winds to Jeru- 
 salem, caused the dews to fall plentifully on the hill of 
 Sion. But there is a Shihon mentioned in the tribe of 
 Issachar, (Joshua, xix. J 9.) which maybe Sion spoken 
 of by Eusebius and Saint Jerome as near Mount Tabor ; 
 and there might be a hill there of that name, on which 
 the dew of the other Hermon might fall, that was to 
 the east of Esdraelon. However, as there is no certainty 
 that Mount Hermon in that part is even mentioned in 
 scripture, so I should rather think it to be spoken of this 
 famous mountain, and that Tabor and Hermon are 
 joined together, as rejoicing in the name of God, not 
 on account of their being near to one another, but be- 
 cause they are two of the highest hills in all Palestine. 
 So that if any one considers this beautiful piece of elo- 
 quence of the Psalmist, and that Hermon is elsewhere 
 actually called Sion, (Deut. iv. 48.) he will doubtless be 
 satisfied, that the most natural interpretation of the 
 Psalmist would be to suppose, though the whole might 
 be called both Hermon and Sion, yet that the highest 
 summit of this mountain was in particular called Her- 
 mon, and that a lower part of it had the name of Sion ; 
 on which supposition, the dew falling from the top of 
 it down to the lower parts, might well be compared in 
 every respect to the precious ointment upon the head that 
 ran down unto the beard, even unto Aaroris beard, and 
 went down to the skirts of his clothing, and that both of 
 them in this sense are very proper emblems of the bless- 
 ings of unity and friendship, which diffuse themselves 
 throughout the whole society." Pococke's Travels, 
 vol. ii. p. 74. 
 
 No. 586. — exxxv. 7. He maketh lightnings for the 
 rain.'} Russell (p. 154.) says, that at Aleppo a night
 
 380 PSALMS. 
 
 seldom passes without lightning in the north-west quar- 
 ter, but not attended with thunder. When it appear* 
 in the west or south-west points, it is a sure sign of the 
 approaching rain; this lightning is often followed by 
 thunder. Thus God maketh the lightnings fat' the rain ; 
 and when he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters 
 in the heavens ; and as these refreshing showers are pre- 
 ceded by squalls of wind, he bringeth forth the wind 
 out of his treasures. Jer. li. 16. Harmer, vol. i. p. 67. 
 
 No. 587. — cxxxvii. 9. Happy shall he be that taketh 
 and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.~\ This was 
 an instance of cruelty frequently exercised in the sack- 
 ing of towns. Thus Isaiah (c. xiii. v. 16.) foretells to 
 Babylon, that her children shall be dashed in pieces 
 before her eyes by the Medes. See also Hosea, xiii. 1 6. 
 So also in Homer one exclaims, 
 
 My city burnt, 
 My bleeding infants dash'd against the floor ; 
 These I have yet to see, perhaps yet more. 
 
 II. (3. v. 22. Pope. 
 
 He also represents Andromache lamenting over Hector : 
 
 Thou too, my son ! to barb'rous climes shalt go, 
 The sad companion of thy mother's woe ; 
 Driven hence a slave before the victor's sword; 
 Condemned to toil for some inhuman lord: 
 Or else some Greek, whose father pressed the plain, 
 Or son, or brother, by great Hector slain, 
 In Hector's blood his vengeance shall enjoy, 
 And hurl thee headlong from the tow'rs of Troy. 
 
 Il.xxiv.752. Popl. 
 
 In like manner we hear of 
 
 V/TTJSi TtKVX 
 
 BaXXo^tEva -sr^OTt yaw, iv ouwt cSnlorvfrt. 
 
 infants dash'd 
 
 Against the ground, in dire hostility. 
 
 II. 22, v. 63. Cowpisr.
 
 PSALMS. 381 
 
 No. 588. — cxli. 7. On?- bones are scattered at the 
 grave's mouth.'] Whether this expression was designed 
 to be understood literally or figuratively, Mr. Bruce 
 relates a circumstance which shews that it might be 
 literally verified. " At five o'clock we left Garigana, 
 our journey being still to the eastward of north, and at 
 a quarter past six in the evening arrived at the village 
 of that name, whose inhabitants had all perished with 
 hunger the year before, their wretched bones being all 
 unburied, and scattered upon the surface of the ground 
 where the village formerly stood. We encamped among 
 the bones of the dead; no space could be found free 
 from them." (Travels, vol. iv. p. 349.) To the Jews 
 such a spectacle must have been very dreadful, as the 
 want of burial was esteemed one of the greatest cala- 
 mities which could befal them. 
 
 Thus Tacitus (Ann. lib. i.) represents the bones of 
 the legions cut off by Harminius in Germany with 
 Quintilius Varus, and left in the open field, when six 
 years after Germanicus brought his army to the same 
 place. In medio Campi Albentia ossa ut Jiigerant, ut 
 restitcrant) disjecta vel aggerata ,• adjacebant Jragmina 
 telorum, equorumque Artus. " In the midst of the field, 
 bones grown white, scattered or heaped, as they had 
 fled or resisted : by them lay pieces of broken weapons, 
 with the members of horses/' 
 
 No. 589. — cxlvii. 16, 17. Who can stand before his 
 cold /*] The winters in the East are very cold and severe, 
 at least in some places, and in some particular years ; 
 Jacobus de Vitriaco (Gesta Dei per Francos, p. 1130.) 
 saw the cold prove deadly to man and beast. How 
 forcible the exclamation of the Psalmist appears from 
 this representation ! It is said also, that he giveth snow 
 like wool. To illustrate this remark, Char din says, 6i that 
 towards the Black Sea, in Iberia and Armenia, the
 
 382 PSALMS. 
 
 snow falls in flakes as big as walnuts, but not being either 
 hard or very compact, it does no other hurt than pre- 
 sently covering a person." Harmer, vol.i. p. 16. 
 
 No. 590. — cxlix. 5. Let them sing aloud upon theb 
 beds.~\ Among some of the most celebrated of the 
 ancients, war was proclaimed by the ministers of reli- 
 gion, and military expeditions were opened by devout 
 processions and public sacrifices. The 149th Psalm was 
 doubtless composed on such an occasion. It was sung 
 when David's army was marching out to war against 
 the remnant of the devoted nations, and first went up 
 in solemn procession to the house of God, there as it 
 were to consecrate the arms he put into their hands. 
 The beds referred to, on which they were to sing aloud, 
 were probably the couches on which they lay at the 
 banquet attending their sacrifices ; which gives a noble 
 sense to a passage on any other interpretation hardly 
 intelligible. Doddridge's Works, vol. hi. p. 52. 
 
 " It is the custom of all nations to stir up themselves 
 to fight by the sound of some musical instrument or 
 other. The ancient inhabitants of Etruria used the 
 trumpet for this purpose : the Arcadians the whistle : 
 the Sicilians an instrument called the pectida : the Cre- 
 tians the harp : the Lacedemonians the pipe : the Thra- 
 cians the cornet : the Egyptians the drum : the Arabians 
 the cymbal." Clemens Alexandrinus. Padagogus. 
 b. ii. ch. 4.
 
 C 383 1 
 
 No. 591. —PROVERBS, i. 1. 
 
 Proverbs. 
 
 *' TN those periods of remote antiquity, which may 
 with the utmost propriety be styled the infancies of 
 societies and nations, the usual, if not the only, mode 
 of instruction was by detached aphorisms or proverbs. 
 Human wisdom was then indeed in a rude and unfi- 
 nished state: it was not digested, methodized, or re- 
 duced to order and connection. Those who by genius 
 and reflection, exercised in the school of experience, 
 had accumulated a stock of knowledge, were desirous 
 of reducing it into the most compendious form, and 
 comprised in a few maxims those observations which 
 they apprehended most essential to human happiness. 
 Tli is mode of instruction was, in truth, more likely 
 than any other to prove efficacious with men in a rude 
 stage of society; for it professed not to dispute, but 
 to command; not to persuade, but to compel: it con- 
 ducted them, not by a circuit of argument, but led 
 immediately to - the approbation and practice of inte- 
 grity and virtue. That it might not, however, be alto- 
 gether destitute of allurement, and lest it should dis- 
 gust by an appearance of roughness and severity, some 
 degree of ornament became necessary: and the in- 
 structors of mankind added to their precepts the graces 
 of harmony, and illuminated them with metaphors, 
 comparisons, allusions, and the other embellishments 
 of style. This manner, which with other nations pre- 
 vailed only during the first periods of civilization, with 
 the Hebrews continued to be a favourite style to the
 
 384 PROVERBS. 
 
 latest ages of their literature." Lowth's Lectures on 
 the Hebrew Poet?y, vol. i. p. 162. 
 
 No. 592. — iii. 8. It shall be health to thy navel.] 
 Medicines in the East are chiefly applied externally 
 and in particular to the stomach and belly. This com- 
 parison, Chardin says, is drawn from the plaisters, oint- 
 ments, oils, and frictions, which are made use of in the 
 East upon the belly and stomach in most maladies ; they 
 being ignorant in the villages, of the art of making 
 decoctions and potions, and the proper doses of such 
 things. Harmer, vol. ii. p. 488. 
 
 No. 593. — iii. 16. Length of days is in her right 
 hand, and in her left riches and. hononr.~] Wisdom is 
 here represented as a queen, holding in one hand, in- 
 stead of a sceptre, length of days, and in the other, 
 instead of a globe, riches and honour. The allusion is 
 thought by some to be to an ancient custom of number- 
 ing things and the ages of men by the hand and fin- 
 gers, beginning with the left hand; and when they 
 came to a hundred, going on to the right. So that in 
 her right hand might be said to be length of days, few 
 persons arriving to that number. (Alex, ab Alex. Ge~ 
 nial. Dier. 1. i. c. 14.) To this Juvenal refers when 
 speaking of Nestor, 
 
 Suos jam dextra computat annos. Sat, x. 249. 
 
 Vid. Nefoissens Qidnquagena. c. 16. 
 
 No. 594. — v. 15. Drink waters out of thine own 
 cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.'] There 
 jnay be an allusion in these words to a law which 
 Clement of Alexandria (Stromal. 1. i. p. 274.) says 
 Plato had from the Hebrews, which enjoined husband- 
 men not to take water from others to water their lands,
 
 PROVERBS. 385 
 
 till they themselves had dug into the earth called virgin 
 earth, and found it dry and without water. 
 
 No. 595. — vi. 1. — if thou hast stricken thy hand 
 with a stranger. "\ To strike hands with another per- 
 son was a general emblem of agreement, bargaining, or 
 suretyship. See also Prov. xvii. 18. xxii. 26. Job, xvii. 3. 
 So Homer represents it, 27. ii. lin. 341, and 27. iv. 
 lin. 159. 
 
 AEHIAI, v? E7T£7rtG/u.Ey. 
 
 And in Virgil, JEn. iv. 1. 597, 
 En dextra, fidesque ! 
 
 No. 596. — ix. 3. She hath sent forth her maidens.'] 
 Hasselquist (p. 56.) observed a custom in Egypt, which 
 he imagines to be very ancient. He saw a number of 
 women, who went about inviting people to a banquet. 
 They were about ten or twelve in number, covered with 
 black veils, as is usual in that country. They were 
 preceded by four eunuchs ; after them, and on the side, 
 were Moors with their usual walking-staves. As they 
 were walking, they all joined in making a noise, which 
 he was told signified their joy, but which he could not 
 find resembled a pleasing song. This passage of So- 
 lomon seems to allude to this practice ; for wisdom is 
 said to have sent forth her maidens, and to cry upon the 
 high places of the city. Harmer, vol. iii. p. 193. 
 
 No. 597. — xi. 21. Though hand join in hand."] To 
 join hands was anciently, and still continues in the East, 
 a solemn method of taking an oath, and making an 
 engagement. This circumstance is probably alluded to 
 in these words of Solomon; its present existence is 
 clearly ascertained by what Mr. Bruce (Trav. vol. i. 
 
 vol. i. c c
 
 386 PROVERBS. 
 
 p. 199.) relates: " I was so enraged at the traitorous 
 part which Hassan had acted, that, at parting, 1 could 
 not help saying to Ibrahim, now shekh, I have done 
 every thing you have desired, without ever expecting fee 
 or reward ; the only thing I now ask you, and it is pro- 
 bably the last, is, that you avenge me upon this Hassan, 
 who is every day in your power. Upon this he gave me 
 his hand, saying, he shall not die in his bed, or I shall 
 never see old age." 
 
 The joining of hands naturally signifies contracting a 
 friendship, and making a covenant. 2 Kings, x. 15. 
 Prov. xi. 21. The right hand was esteemed so sacred, 
 that Cicero calls it, the witness of our faith. Dextraz 
 qiuE fidei testes esse solebant. Alex, ab Alex. Genial 
 Dier. 1. ii. c. 19. et 1. ii. c. 5. Xenophon, Cyrop. 1. viii. 
 Servius in Virgil, JE?i.'\\.v. 104. Tobit.vii. 13. Greg. 
 Naz. Ej>. 57. ad Anys. Tacitus, Hist. 1. ii. c. 8. 
 
 No. 598. — xi. 22. A jewel of gold in a swine's snout."] 
 This proverb is manifestly an allusion to the custom of 
 wearing nose jewels, or rings set with jewels, hanging 
 from the nostrils, as ear-rings from the ears, by holes 
 bored to receive them. This fashion, however strange 
 it may appear to us, was formerly, and is still, common 
 in many parts of the East, among women of all ranks. 
 Paul Lucas, speaking of a village, or clan of wandering 
 people, a little on this side of the Euphrates, says, " The 
 women, almost all of them, travel on foot ; I saw none 
 handsome among them. They have almost all of them 
 the nose bored, and wear in it a great ring, which makes 
 them still more deformed." (2d Voyage du Levant, torn. 
 j. art. 24.) But in regard to this custom, better autho- 
 rity cannot be produced than that of Pietro della 
 Valle, in the account which he gives of Signora Maani 
 Gioerida, his own wife. The description of her dress,
 
 PROVERBS. 387 
 
 as to the ornamental parts of it, with which he intro- 
 duces the mention of this particular, will give us some 
 notion of the taste of the eastern ladies for finery. " The 
 ornaments of gold, and of jewels, for the head, for the 
 neck, for the arms, for the legs, and for the feet, (for 
 they wear rings even on their toes) are indeed, unlike 
 those of the Turks, carried to great excess, but not of 
 great value: as turquoises, small rubies, emeralds, car- 
 buncles, garnets, pearls, and the like. My spouse 
 dresses herself with all of them according to their fashion, 
 with exception however, of certain ugly rings of very 
 large size, set with jewels, which, in truth very absurdly, 
 it is the custom to wear fastened to one of their nostrils, 
 like buffaloes : an ancient custom however, in the East, 
 which, as we find in the Holy Scriptures, prevailed 
 among the Hebrew ladies, even in the time of Solomon. 
 These nose rings in complaisance to me she has left off; 
 but I have not yet been able to prevail with her cousin 
 and her sisters to do the same. So fond are they of an 
 old custom, be it ever so absurd, who have been long 
 habituated to it." (Viaggi, torn. i. lett. 17.) To this 
 account may be subjoined the observation made by 
 Chardin, as cited in Harmer (vol. ii. p. 390.) " It is 
 the custom in almost all the East for the women to wear 
 rings in their noses, in the left nostril, which is bored 
 low down in the middle. These rings are of gold, and 
 have commonly two pearls and one ruby between, placed 
 in the ring. I never saw a girl or a young woman in 
 Arabia, or in all Persia, who did not wear a ring after 
 this manner in her nostril." Vide Bp. Lowth's note on 
 Isaiah, iii. 20. 
 
 Sir John Chardin remarked in his time two sorts of 
 ear-ri?igs worn in the East. " Some of the' eastern 
 ear-rings are small, and go so close to the ear, as that 
 there is no vacuity between them ; others are so large, 
 
 cc3
 
 $S$ PROVERBS. 
 
 that you may put the fore-finger between, adorned with 
 a ruby and a pearl on each side of it, strung on the ring." 
 The latter of these two sorts was called in Heb. CDTJ 
 from it's artificial structure, as the other was named 
 simply 7^y a ring from it's circular farm, 
 
 " 1 have seen some of these (larger) ear-rings," adds 
 Sir John Chardin, " with figures upon them, and 
 strange characters, which I believe may be talismans or 
 charms, or perhaps nothing but the amusement of old 
 women. The Indians say they are preservatives against 
 enchantments. Perhaps the ear-rings of Jacob's family 
 which he buried with the strange gods, Gen. xxxv. 4. 
 were of this kind." 
 
 So Niebuhh, Voyage en Arable, torn. i. p. 242., says 
 of a woman of Loheia in Yemen, " Elle avoit — de 
 grands anneaux clans les oreilles. She had great rings in 
 her ears." Not so great however, according to the re- 
 presentation of her in the print, as those of the Shech's 
 wife of the valley of Faran near Mount Sinai, of whom 
 he says, p. 133., " Ses bagues cVoreille, qiCelle avoir 
 oVargent, etoient cVune si grande cir conference, que Von 
 auroit pu y passer la main. Her ear-rings, which were 
 of silver, were of so great a circumference that one 
 might have put one's hand through them." 
 
 " No women can be more attentive to cleanliness than 
 the Hindoos : they take every method to render their 
 persons delicate, soft, and attractive: their dress is 
 peculiarly becoming ; consisting of a long piece of silk, 
 or cotton, tied round the waist, and hanging in a grace- 
 ful manner to the feet; it is afterwards brought over the 
 body in negligent folds ; under this they cover the bosom 
 with a short waistcoat of satin, but wear no linen. 
 Their long black hair is adorned with jewels, and wreaths 
 of flowers : their ears are bored in many places, and 
 loaded with pearls : a variety of gold chains, strings of 
 pearl, and precious stones, fall from the neck over the
 
 PROVERBS. 389 
 
 bosom; and the arms are covered with bracelets, from 
 the wrist to the elbow; they have also gold and silver 
 chains round the ancles, and abundance of rings on 
 their fingers and toes ; among the former is frequently a 
 small mirror. I think the richer the dress, the less be- 
 coming it appears ; and a Hindoo woman of distinction 
 always seems to be overloaded with finery : while the 
 village nymphs, with fewer ornaments, but in the same 
 elegant drapery, are more captivating ; although there 
 are very few women, even of the lowest families, who 
 have not some jewels at their marriage." Forbes's 
 Oriental Memoirs, vol. i. p. 74. 
 
 No. 599. — xii. 27. The slothful man roasteth not 
 that which he took in hunting.^ Solomon evidently 
 represents it as an instance of diligence in these words, 
 both that a man should employ himself in hunting 
 and that he should properly prepare what was so ob- 
 tained. The small portion of land which fell to the 
 share of a man could by no means find him full em- 
 ployment; and only labour, besides time, was requi- 
 site for catching wild animals, which might contribute 
 to his support and maintenance. The present Arabs 
 frequently exercise themselves in hunting in the Holy 
 Land. (Voy. dans la Pal. p. 243.) Harmer, vol. i. 
 p. 335. 
 
 Hares and hedge-hogs, when caught, are prepared 
 for eating by being singed. The latter is reckoned a 
 princely dish in Barbary [Miscell. Cur. vol. iii. p. 389.) 
 Hares are thus dressed. A hole being dug in the ground, 
 and the earth which is scooped out of it laid all round 
 its edge, the brush-wood with which it is filled is set on 
 fire, and the hare is thrown unskinned into the hole : 
 afterwards it is covered up with the heated earth from 
 its sides ; when it has continued till it is thought enough 
 done, it is brought to table, sprinkled with salt, and is 
 c G 3
 
 390 PROVERBS. 
 
 found very agreeable food. Russell's Aleppo, vol. ii. 
 p. 158. 
 
 No. 600. — xv. 17. A stalled or.] This instance 
 of luxury appears to be alluded to in Matt. xxii. 4. and 
 Lake xv. 23. In the times of Homer it was in high 
 esteem, and formed a chief part of their entertain- 
 ments. At the feasts made by his heroes, Agamemnon, 
 Menelaus, and Ajax, it is mentioned as the principal 
 part, if not the whole of what was prepared. See //. vii. 
 320. Od. iv. 65. et viii. 60. Virg. JEn. viii. 182. 
 
 No. 601. — xv. 19. The way of the slothful man is an 
 hedge of thorns. ~\ Hasselquist says, (p. 111.) that he 
 saw the plantain tree, the vine, the peach and the mul- 
 berry tree, all four made use of in Egypt to hedge about 
 a garden; now these are all unarmed plants. This 
 consideration throw's a great energy into the words of 
 Solomon. The way of the slothfid man is an hedge of 
 thorns. It appears as difficult to him, not only as break- 
 ing through an hedge, but even through a thorn fence : 
 and also into that threatening of God to Israel, Behold, 
 I will hedge up thy way with thorns. Hosea, ii. 6. 
 
 Doubdan (Voy. de la Terre Sainte, p. 154.) tells us, 
 that a very fruitful vineyard, full of olive and fig-trees, 
 as well as vines, which he found about eight miles south- 
 west of Bethlehem, was enclosed with a hedge, and 
 that that part of it adjoining to the road was strongly 
 formed of thorns and rose bushes, intermingled with 
 pomegranate trees, the most pleasant in the world. 
 " The Cactus Ficus-indicus, or prickly pear, which 
 grows to a prodigious size in the Holy Land, as in 
 Egypt, where it is used as a fence for the hedges of 
 enclosures, sprouted luxuriantly among the rocks, dis- 
 playing its gaudy yellow blossoms, defying all human 
 approach." Clarke's Travels, vol. iii. p. 405.
 
 PROVERBS. 391 
 
 No. 602. — xvi. 11. A just weight and balance are the 
 Lord's, all the weights of the bag are his work.] The 
 Jews were required to be exact in their weights and 
 measures, that the poor might nut be defrauded. Hesy- 
 chins remarks upon this point, as a reason for such great 
 care, that what the possession of a field or house is to 
 a wealthy man, that the measure of corn, or wine, or the 
 weight of bread is to the poor who have daily need of 
 such things for the support of life. " The Jewish doctors 
 assert, that it was a constitution of their wise men, for 
 the preventing of all frauds in these matters, that no 
 weights, balances, or measures, should be made of any 
 metal, as of iron, lead, tin, (which were liable to rust, 
 or might be bent or easily impaired,) but of marble, 
 stone, or glass, which were less subject to be abused : 
 and therefore the scripture speaking of the justice of 
 God's judgments, observes, (according to the Vulgate) 
 that they are weighed with all the stones in the bag" 
 Lewis's Origines Hebrcece, vol. iii. p. 403. 
 
 The shekel was a sort of standard weight of silver 
 money, reserved or kept as a model in the sanctuary, 
 according to which the common ones were to be framed 
 or valued. The Romans observed a similar practice ; 
 and the emperor Justinian ordered the standard weights 
 and measures to be laid up in the churches. 
 
 No. 603. — xvi. 14. The wrath of a king is as messen~ 
 gers of death.'] When the enemies of a great man have 
 gained influence enough over the prince to procure a 
 warrant for his death, a capidgi, or executioner, is sent 
 to him, and " shews him the order he has to carry back 
 his head. The other takes the Grand Signior's order, 
 kisses it, puts it upon his head in sign of respect, and 
 then having performed his ablution, and said his prayers, 
 freely gives up his head. Thus they blindly obey the 
 Grand Signior's order, the servants never offering to 
 c € 4
 
 392 PROVERBS. 
 
 hinder the capidgi, though he often comes with few or 
 no attendants." (Thevenot, cap. 46.) Much the same 
 method was used by the Jewish princes. Benaiah was 
 the capidgi sent by Solomon to put Adonijah to death. 
 (1 Kings, ii. 25.) A capidgi in like manner beheaded 
 John the Baptist in prison. (Matt. xiv. 10.) Great 
 energy will then be allowed to the term messengers of 
 death, if we understand the words, of the capidgi of the 
 Jewish princes. Harmer, vol. iv. p. 207. 
 
 No. 604. — xvii. 6. The glory of children are their 
 fathers^ The Jews often added the father's name, 
 either for the sake of distinction or respect, to shew 
 that the father was a man of renown. Perhaps Solo- 
 mon had this custom in view when he said, the glory of 
 children are their fathers. Thus we see in Homer, 
 that the Greeks took the paternal name for a mark of 
 honour. (Iliad, x. 68.) Sometimes the mother's name 
 w r as given for the surname; as when the father had 
 many wives, or when the mother was of the better 
 family. So Joab and his brethren are always called the 
 sons of Zeruiah, who was David's sister, 1 Chron. ii. 
 16. If the name of the father were not distinction 
 enough, they added the grandfather's, as Gedaliah the 
 son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Jer. xxxix. 14. 
 Sometimes a surname was taken from the head of a 
 particular branch, from a town, a country, or a na- 
 tion if they were originally strangers; as, Uriah the 
 Hittite, Araunah the Jebusite. Fleury's Hist, of the 
 Israelites, p. 21. 
 
 No. 605. — xvii. 1 9. He that exalteth his gate seeketh 
 destntetion.'] The Arabs are accustomed to ride into the 
 houses of those they design to harass. To prevent this 
 Thevenot tells us (Travels, parti, p. 181.) that the door 
 of the house in which the French merchants lived at
 
 PROVERBS. 393 
 
 Rama was not three feet high, and that all the doors of 
 that town are equally low. Agreeablyto this account the 
 Abbe Mariti, speaking of his admission into a monas- 
 tery near Jerusalem, says, " the passage is so low that 
 it will scarcely admit a horse; and it is shut by a gate ot 
 iron, strongly secured in the inside. As soon as we 
 entered, it was again made fast with various bolts and 
 bars of iron : a precaution extremely necessary in a 
 desert place, exposed to the incursions and insolent 
 attacks of the Arabs." (Travels through Palestine, vol. 
 iii. p. 37.) Mr. Drummond (Travels, let. ix. p. 187.) 
 says, that in the country about Roudge in /Syria, " the 
 poor miserable Arabs are under the necessity of hewing 
 their houses out of the rock, and cutting very small doors 
 or openings to them, that they may not be made stables 
 for the Turkish horse, as they pass and repass." And 
 thus, long before him 3 Sandys (Travels, p. 117.) says, 
 at Gaza, in Palestine, " we lodged under an arch in a 
 little court, together with our asses ; the door exceeding 
 low, as are all that belong unto Christians, to withstand 
 the sudden entrance of the insolent Turks" To exalt the 
 gate would consequently be to court destruction. 
 
 No. 606. — xix. 24. A slothful man hideth his hand in 
 his bosom, and will not so much as bring it to his mouth 
 again.~\ The Arabs in eating their milk use no spoons. 
 They dip their hands into the milk, which is placed in 
 a wooden bowl before them, and sup it out of the palms 
 of their hands. (Le Bruyn, vol. i. p. 586. D'Arvieux, 
 Voy. dans la Pal. p. 205. Shaw's Travels, p. 232. Nie- 
 buhr, Description de V Arabie, p. 46, &c. — Voyage en 
 Arabie, torn. i. p. 188.; and Complete System of Geo- 
 graphy, vol. ii. p. 304, col. 2.) " The business of eating 
 was a pleasure to the Persians, but it was misery to us. 
 They comfortably advanced their chins close to the 
 dishes, and commodiously scooped the rice or other
 
 39* PROVERBS. 
 
 victuals into their mouths, with three fingers and the 
 thumb of their right hand ; but in vain did we attempt 
 to approach the dish : our tight-kneed breeches, and all 
 the ligaments and buttons of our dress, forbade us ; and 
 we were forced to manage as well as we could, fragments 
 of meat and rice falling through cur fingers all around 
 us. When we were all satisfied, dinner was carried away 
 with the same state in which it was brought: the servant 
 who officiated, dropping himself gracefully on one knee, 
 as he carried away the trays, and passing them expertly 
 over his head with both his hands extended to the lac- 
 quey, who was ready behind to carry them off. We 
 were treated with more Kalcoons after dinner, and then 
 departed to our beds." Morier's Embassy to Persia, 
 p. 75. Is it not reasonable to suppose the same usage 
 obtained among the Jews, and that Solomon refers to it, 
 when he says, a slothful man hideth his hand in the dish, 
 and will not so much as bring it to his mouth again ? 
 Our translators render it the bosom, but the word every 
 where signifies a -pot or dish, Harmer, vol. i. p. 289. 
 
 No. 607. — xxi. 8. The way of man is froward and 
 strange.'] This passage, according to the common in- 
 terpretation, is very obscure. The original Hebrew 
 words are used to signify a man laden with guilt and 
 crimes, and that his way is (not froward and strange, as 
 in our translation,) but unsteady or continually varying ; 
 in which expression there is a most beautiful allusion to 
 a beast which is so overburthened that he cannot keep in 
 the straight road, but is continually tottering and stag- 
 gering, first to the right hand, and then to the left. 
 Parkhurst's Heb. Lex. p. 187. 3d. edit. 
 
 No. 608. — xxi. 9. It is better to dwell in a corner of 
 the house top, than with a brawling woman in a wide 
 house.] During the summer season, it was usual to sleep
 
 PROVERBS. 395 
 
 on the tops of the houses, which were flat, and properly 
 guarded by a parapet wall ; for this purpose they were ac- 
 commodated with little arbours and wicker work closets, 
 which, however agreeable in the dry part of the year, 
 would prove much otherwise when it rained, as it would 
 expose them to a continual dropping. To be limited to 
 such a place, and to have no other apartment to live in, 
 must be very inconvenient. To such circumstances it 
 is, probably, that Solomon alludes, when he says, it is 
 better to dwell in a corner of the house top, than with a 
 brawling woman in a wide house. The allusion is ren- 
 dered more perfect and striking by connecting with this 
 passage the continual dropping mentioned, Prov. xix. 
 13. and xxvii. 15. Harmer, vol. i. p. 172. 
 
 No. 609. — xxi. 17. He that loveth wine and oil shall 
 not be rich.~] Pococke, in describing his journey to Je- 
 rusalem, after his landing at Joppa, tells us, he was con- 
 veyed to an encampment of Arabs, who entertained him 
 as well as they could, making him cakes, and bringing 
 him fine oil of olives, in which they usually dip their bread. 
 ( Travels, vol. ii. p. 5.) This Mr. Harmer (vol. i. p. 238.) 
 considers not as their constant course, but as practised 
 upon particular occasions, as the generality were con- 
 strained to be more frugal. This of course discovers the 
 propriety of the words of Solomon, when he says, he 
 that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich. 
 
 No. 610. — xxii. 1 4<. The mouth of strange women is a 
 deep pit.'] Maundrell (p. 5.) describing the passage 
 out of the jurisdiction of the bassa of Aleppo into that 
 of Tripoli, tells us, that the road was rocky and uneven, 
 but attended with variety. He says, " they descended 
 into a low valley, at the bottom of which is a fissure into 
 the earth of a great depth ; but withal so narrow, that it 
 is not discernable to the eye till you arrive just upon it,
 
 396 PROVERBS. 
 
 though to the ear a notice is given of it at a great dis- 
 tance, by reason of the noise of a stream running down 
 into it from the hills. We could not guess it to be less 
 than thirty yards deep, but it is so narrow that a small 
 arch, not four yards over, lands you on its other side. 
 They call it the sheik's wife; a name given it from a 
 woman of that quality, who fell into it and perished." 
 Probably Solomon might allude to some such dangerous 
 place, in comparing a whore to a deep pit. See also 
 Prov. xxiii. 27. Harmer, vol. i. p. 461. 
 
 No. 611. — xxiii. 6. An evil eye."} Whether the same 
 ideas are to be attached to this expression as used by 
 Solomon, and as understood by the Egyptians, may not 
 be easily ascertained, though perhaps worthy of consi- 
 deration. Pococke {Travels, vol. i. p. 181.) says of 
 the Egyptians, that " they have a great notion of the 
 magic art, have books about it, and think there is much 
 virtue in talismans and charms: but particularly are 
 strongly possessed with an opinion of the evil eye. 
 When a child is commended, except you give it some 
 blessing, if they are not very well assured of your good 
 will, they use charms against the evil eye ; and particu- 
 larly when they think any ill-success attends them on 
 account of an evil eye, they throw salt into the fire." 
 
 Pliny relates from Isigonus, that " among the Tri- 
 ballians and Illyrians there were certain enchanters, qui 
 visu quoque effascinent interimantque quos diutius intue- 
 antur, iratis jprcesertim oculis ; who with their looks could 
 bewitch and kill those whom they beheld for a considera- 
 ble time, especially if they did so with angry eyes" Nat. 
 Hist, lib. vii. cap. 2. 
 
 fij /xs BA£KAN®ft ^£, T£i$ u$ tpov ivlva-a, xoXttov. 
 
 To guard against the harm of evil eyes, 
 Thrice on my breast I spat,
 
 PROVERBS. 391 
 
 says a shepherd in Theocritus, Idyl. vi. I. 39. And 
 another in Virgil, Eclog. iii. 1. 103. 
 
 Nescio quis teneros oculus mihi fasciwt agnos. 
 Some evil eyes bewitch my tender lambs. 
 
 " No nation in the world, says Dr. Shaw, ( Travels, 
 p. 243. 2d edit.) is so much given to superstition as the 
 Arabs, or even the Mahometans in general. They hang- 
 about their children's necks the figure of an open hand, 
 usually the right; which the Turks and Moors paint 
 likewise upon their ships and houses, as a counter-charm 
 to an evil eye : for Jive is with them an unlucky number, 
 2xidijive (meaning their fingers) in your eyes, is their pro- 
 verb of cursing and defiance. Those of riper years carry 
 with them some paragraphs of their Koran, which (as 
 the Jews did their Phylacteries, Exod.yjii. 16. Num. xv. 
 38.) they place upon their breasts, or sew under their 
 caps, to prevent fascination and witchcraft, and to secure 
 themselves from sickness and misfortunes. The virtue 
 of these scrolls and charms is supposed to be so far 
 universal, that they suspend them even upon the necks 
 of their cattle, horses, and other beasts of burden." 
 
 " The curious superstition of dreading the injurious 
 consequences of a look, from an evil, or an envious eye, 
 is not peculiar to the Arabs. The Turks and many 
 other nations, the Highlanders of Scotland, and the 
 people of Cornwall, entertain the same notion. But the 
 Arabs even extend it to their cattle, whom they believe 
 liable to this fascination." Clarke's Travels, vol. ii. 
 p. 495. 
 
 No. 612. — xxiii. 20. Be not among wine-bibbers, 
 among riotous eaters ofjtesh.~] The Arabs are described 
 by Shaw (p. 169.) as very abstemious. They rarely 
 diminish their flocks by using them for food, but live 
 chiefly upon bread, milk, butter, dates, or what they
 
 398 PROVERBS. 
 
 receive in exchange for their wool. Their frugality is ilt 
 many instances the effect of narrow circumstances ; and 
 shews with what propriety Solomon describes an expen- 
 sive way of living by their frequent eating of flesh. See 
 also Russell's Hist, of Aleppo, p. 108. 
 
 No. 613. — xxiii. 30. They that tarry long at the 
 wine.'] Dandini (p. 17.) informs us that it was the 
 practice of tipplers not merely to tarry long over the 
 bottle, but over the wine cask. " The goodness of the 
 wine of Candia renders the Candiots great drinkers, 
 and it often happens that two or three great drinkers 
 will sit down together at the foot of a cask, from whence 
 they will not depart till they have emptied it." See also 
 Isaiah, v. 11. 
 
 No. 614. — xxiv. 11. If thou forbear to deliver them 
 that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be 
 slain.'] It was allowed among the Jews, that if any per- 
 son could offer any thing in favour of a prisoner after 
 sentence was passed, he might be heard before execution 
 was done: and therefore it was usual, as the Mishna 
 shews, that when a man was led to execution, a crier 
 went before him and proclaimed, " This man is now 
 soine: to be executed for such a crime, and such and 
 such are the witnesses against him; whoever knows 
 him to be innocent, let him come forth, and make it 
 appear." Doddridge's Works, vol. ill. p. 236. note. 
 
 No. 615. — xxiv. 26. Every man shall kiss his lips that 
 giveth a right answer.] The rescripts of authority used 
 to be kissed whether they were believed to be just or not ; 
 and the letters of people of figure were treated in this 
 manner; but it is possible these words may refer to an- 
 other custom, which D'Arvteux gives an account of in 
 his description of the Arabs of Mount Carmel, who, when 
 
 14
 
 PROVERBS. 399 
 
 they present any petition to their emir for a favour, offer 
 their billets to him with their right hands, after having 
 first kissed the papers. {Voy. dans la Pal, p. 15,5.) The 
 Hebrew manner of expression is short ; every lip shall 
 kiss, one maketh to return a right answer, that is, every one 
 shall be ready to present the state of his case, kissing it 
 as he delivers it, when there is a judge whose decisions 
 are celebrated for being equitable. Harmer, vol. ii. p. 52. 
 
 No. 616. — xxiv. 31. The stone wall .] Stone walls 
 were frequently used for the preservation of vineyards, as 
 well as living fences. Van Egaiont and Heyman (vol. ii. 
 p. 39.) describing the country about Saphet, a cele- 
 brated city of Galilee, tell us, " the country round it 
 is finely improved, the declivity being covered with 
 vines, supported by low walls." Harmer, vol. i. p. 456. 
 
 It was possibly to guard against the depredations of 
 jackalls, that induced them to build walls about their 
 vineyards, since we are assured by Hasselquist, {Trav. 
 p. 127.) that theseanimals are very numerous in Palestine, 
 especially during the vintage, often destroying whole 
 vineyards, and fields of cucumbers. 
 
 No. 617. — xxv. 13. As the cold of snow in the time oj 
 harvest."] As the mixing of snow with wine in the sultry 
 time of harvest is pleasing and refreshing, so a success- 
 ful messenger revives the spirit of his master who sent 
 him, and who was ready to faint from an apprehension 
 of his failure. The custom of cooling wines with snow 
 was usual among the eastern nations. It was derived 
 from the Asiatics and Greeks to the Romans. Plutarch 
 describes the manner in which they preserved it (Sympos. 
 lib. vi. 2. 6.) by covering it with straw, and coarse cloths 
 unshorn. Xenophon says, it was necessary to procure 
 snow to cool the wines in summer, which otherwise 
 pould not be drank with any pleasure. The Orientals
 
 400 PROVERBS. 
 
 more early used it for this purpose, and Athenccus 
 mentions it as an ancient custom, and that they used 
 oak branches for the same purpose. Various instances 
 among the eastern nations of this custom, of cooling 
 their wines may be produced, and particularly among 
 the Jews. In some hot countries it was often difficult to 
 obtain it, and they were obliged to search into the hol- 
 low cliffs to collect it. Mount Hebron, which was al- 
 ways covered with snow, plentifully supplied the inha- 
 bitants of that country, from whence it was often carried 
 to Tyre. Barry's Observations on the Wines of the 
 Ancients, p. 169. 
 
 The Romans used snow not only to cool their liquors, 
 but their stomachs, after having inflamed themselves 
 with high eating. Nivem rodwit, solatium stomachi res- 
 tuantis. Seneca, Epist. 95. This custom still prevails 
 in Italy, especially at Naples, where, as Mr. Addison 
 observes, they " drink very few liquors, not so much as 
 water, that have not lain in fresco ; and every body, 
 from the highest to the lowest, makes use of it : inso- 
 much that a scarcity of snow would raise a mutiny at 
 Naples, as much as a dearth of corn or provisions in 
 another country." (Travels, p. 185.) 
 
 No. 618. — xxv. 26. A righteous man falling down 
 before the wicked is as a troubled fountain and a corrupt 
 springS] One method of rendering streams of water 
 unfit for use to an enemy was, by throwing filth into 
 them. This was sometimes practised, (Gesta Dei per 
 Francos, p. 1031.) and in particular it was done by the 
 people at a place called Bosseret. Accident has also 
 sometimes had the same effect. The same writer men- 
 tions a large quantity of water collected in cisterns, as 
 being spoiled by locusts perishing in it. A circum- 
 stance of this kind might be alluded to by Solomon in 
 these words. Harmer, vol. ii, p. 234.
 
 PROVERBS. 401 
 
 No. 619. — xxv. 27. It is not good to eat much 
 honeyJ] Delicious as honey is to an eastern palate, it 
 has been thought sometimes to have produced terrible 
 effects. Sanutus (Gesta Dei per Francos, vol. ii. p. 224.) 
 informs us, that the English who attended Edward the 
 First into the Holy Land died in great numbers, as 
 they marched, in June, to demolish a place, which he 
 ascribes to the excessive heat, and their intemperate 
 eating of fruits and honey. This circumstance seems 
 to illustrate both the remark of Solomon, and the pro- 
 phetic passage, which speaks of a book sweet in the 
 mouth as a morsel of honey, but bitter after it was down. 
 Rev. x. 9, 10. Harmer, vol. i. p. 299. 
 
 No. 620. — xxvi. 8. As he that bindeth a stone in a 
 sling.~\ The custom, which prevailed almost universally 
 among the heathens, of erecting memorials of stone, 
 both for a witness of covenants, and for an object of 
 worship, to the idol Margemah, Markolis, or Mercury, 
 seems extremely ancient. 11. Elias Aschenaz (cited by 
 Kircher in his Oedipus, synt. iv. c. 2.) says, that the re- 
 ligious honour which was paid to Markolis (the same as 
 the Anubis of the Egyptians, as the Hermes of the Greeks, 
 and Mercury of the Romans) consisted in throwing stones 
 together into a heap ; which practice originated from an 
 idle fable concerning the gods, not worth repeating. 
 To this idolatrous rite Solomon is supposed (by Selden 
 and others) to allude in this passage : where, instead 
 of rendering the text, as he that bindeth a stone in a sling, 
 which does not afford the comparison of folly intended, 
 it should have been translated, as he that thromoeth a stone 
 to Margemah, or Mercury, which cannot profit the idol, 
 so is he that giveth honour to a fool, of which he is 
 wholly insensible. (Seld. de Mercurii Acervo.) There 
 were also Mercurii, or Hernia: viales, for the direction of 
 travellers. Dr. Plot (in his Natural History of Oxford- 
 
 VOL. I. D D
 
 402 PROVERBS. 
 
 shire) thinks, with Dr. Stilling jleet, that the Britons, long 
 before the arrival of the Romans, were acquainted with 
 the Greeks, and that they learned from them the prac- 
 tice of setting up unpolished stones, instead of images, 
 to the honour of their gods : and he asserts from Pausa- 
 nias, that, near the statue of Mercury, there were thirty 
 square stones, which the Pharii worshipped, and gave 
 to every one of them the name of a god. Stones were 
 universally set up for memorials, and were sacred to the 
 election of kings, &c. by the Danes and other northern 
 nations. The same author seems also of opinion, that 
 the celebrated Stonehenge, in Wilts, was neither a Roman 
 temple nor Danish monument, but rather somewhat 
 belonging to the idol Markolis. (Nat. Hist. Oxf. c. 10. 
 § 81. 102.) Plutarch, in his life of Cimon, mentions the 
 erection of stone Mercuries, with inscriptions upon them, 
 in honour of taking the city Eione from the Persians. 
 And Gyraldus asserts that the heathens had their deus 
 lapideus or stone god to swear by, and relates from 
 Polybius the form of an oath, which was so taken, be- 
 tween the Romans and Carthaginians, relative to a treaty 
 of peace. Many have thought that the whole of this 
 custom was a vile abuse of Jacob's consecration of the 
 stone at Bethel. 
 
 No. 621. — xxvii. 6. The kisses of an enemy are 
 deceitful.'] It was not customary among the Greeks 
 and Romans to give the kiss of adoration to their idols ; 
 but at Agrigentum in Sicily, where it seems the wor- 
 ship of the Tyrian Hercules was introduced by the 
 Phenicians, who, it is well known, settled many con- 
 siderable colonies in that island, we meet with .a brazen 
 image of Hercules, whose mouth and chin were worn 
 by the kisses of his worshippers. The kiss of adoration 
 is still practised by the Siamese pagans, for in their 
 public worship, " after the priest's benediction, every
 
 PROVERBS. 403 
 
 one goes to an image, and kisses or bows to it, and 
 then marches off in good order." Complete Syst. of 
 Geog. vol. ii. p. 288. 
 
 No. 622. — xxvii. 9. Ointment and peifume.'] At 
 the close of a visit in the East, it is common to sprinkle 
 rose or some other sweet-scented water on the guests, 
 and to perfume them with aloes wood, which is brought 
 last, and serves for a sign that it is time for a stranger to 
 take leave. It is thus described by M. Savary : " To- 
 wards the conclusion of a visit amongst persons of dis- 
 tinction in Egypt, a slave, holding in his hand a silver 
 plate, on which are burning precious essences, ap- 
 proaches the faces of the visitors, each of whom in his 
 turn perfumes his beard. They then pour rose-water on 
 the head and hands. This is the last ceremony, after 
 which it is usual to withdraw/' Lord Valentia 
 (Voyages and Travels, vol. ii. p. 85. 8vo.) mentions the 
 same practice as existing in India. At the conclusion 
 of a visit which he paid, he says, " on my taking leave, 
 we had rose-water thrown on our handkerchiefs."—" The 
 Dola was not awake, so that he could net receive me, 
 and I was kept waiting a few minutes : however to com- 
 pensate this neglect, he rose up to pay his compliments 
 to each of the gentlemen of my party, who were suc- 
 cessively presented to him. The usual compliments 
 passed, rose-water was presented, and our chins per- 
 fumed with frankincense." Ibid. p. 195. 
 
 As to the method of using the aloes wood, Maun- 
 DRELL says, (p. 30.) they have for this purpose a small 
 silver chafing-dish, covered with a lid full of holes, and 
 fixed upon a handsome plate. In this they put some 
 fresh coals, and upon them a piece of 'lignum aloes, 
 and then shutting it up, the smoke immediately ascends 
 with a grateful odour through the cover. Probably to 
 such a custom, so calculated to refresh and exhilarate, 
 dd2
 
 404 PROVERBS. 
 
 the words of Solomon .have an allusion. See also 
 Forbes's Oriental Memoirs, vol. i. p. 224?. and Dr. 
 Clarke's Travels, vol. ii. p. 352. 
 
 No. 623. — xxvii. 22. Though thou shouldest bray afoot 
 in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his 
 foolishness depart from him.] That such a punishment as 
 this was used in the East will clearly appear from the fol- 
 lowing testimonies. " Fanaticism has enacted in Turkey, 
 in favour of the ulemats, (or body of lawyers,) that 
 their goods shall never be confiscated, nor themselves 
 put to death, but by being bruised in a mortar." Baron 
 Du Tott, vol. i. p. 28. "As for the guards of the 
 towers (who have let Prince Coreskie, a prisoner, escape,) 
 some of them were empaled, and some were pounded or 
 beaten to pieces in great mortars of yron, wherein they 
 do usually pound their rice, to reduce it to meale." 
 (Knolles's History of the Turks, p. 1374.) " The 
 Mahometans consider this office so important and en- 
 titled to such reverence, that the person of a pacha, 
 who acquits himself well in it, becomes inviolable, even 
 by the sultan : it is no longer permitted to shed his blood. 
 But the Divan has invented a method of satisfying its 
 vengeance on those who are protected by this privilege, 
 without departing from the literal expression of the 
 law, by ordering them to be pounded in a mortar, or 
 smothered in a sack, of which there have been various 
 instances." Volney's Travels, vol. ii. p. 250. See also 
 Complete System of Geography, vol. ii. p. 16. 
 
 No. 624. — xxvii. 27. And thou shalt have goats' 
 milk enough for thy food.'] Milk is a great part of the 
 diet of the eastern people. Their goats furnish them 
 with some part of it, and Russell tells us (p. 53.) are 
 chiefly kept for that purpose ; that they yield it in no 
 inconsiderable quantity; and that it is sweet and well
 
 PROVERBS. 405 
 
 tasted. This at Aleppo is however chiefly from the 
 beginning of April to September; they being gene- 
 rally supplied the other part of the year with cows' 
 milk, such as it is : for the cows being commonly kept 
 at the gardens, and fed with the refuse, the milk gene- 
 rally tastes so strong of garlic or cabbage-leaves as to 
 be very disagreeable. This circumstance sufficiently, 
 points out how far preferable the milk of goats must 
 have been. Harmer, vol. i. p. 288. 
 
 No. 625. — xxx. 8. Food convenient for me.'] This ex- 
 pression properly signifies an allowance or proportion 
 of food ; it is an allusion to the custom which then pre- 
 vailed of giving daily to servants and other dependants 
 a certain daily supply. 
 
 It is mentioned by Theophrastus, Eth. Char.yi. 
 where, describing a mean, sordid wretch, he says, He 
 "will himself measure out the usual allowance to his domestics, 
 fierpeiv ctuTOs toi$ evhov ra enirrfisicL. See Duport on the 
 the place, p. 394. So Terence, in his Phormio, the 
 scene of which is laid at Athens, introduces Davus speak- 
 ing of the demensum of Geta, another slave, Act i. 
 Scene 1. lin. 9. On which passage Donatus informs us 
 that the demensum, or allowance of corn given to each 
 slave for a month, was four modii, which at most did 
 not exceed six of our pecks. 
 
 No. 626. — xxx. 1 7. The eye that mockeih at his 
 father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the 
 valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat itJ\ 
 That ravens were understood to prey on criminals who 
 had been executed, appears from many passages in 
 ancient writers. The Greeks often speak of throwing 
 to the ravens. The old man Mnesilochus, in Aristo- 
 phanes, intreats for a mitigation of his sentence, and 
 d n 3
 
 406 proverbs: 
 
 that he may not be hanged to serve as food for ravens. 
 So we read in Horace, 
 
 non pasces in cruce corvos. 
 
 Thou shalt not hang on a cross and feed ravens. 
 
 No. 627, — xxx. 33. The churning of milk bringetk 
 forth butter.^ The ancient way of making butter in 
 Arabia and Palestine was probably nearly the same as 
 is still practised by the Bedoween Arabs and Moors in 
 Barbary, and which is thus described by Dr. Shaw. 
 " Their method of making butter is by putting the milk 
 or cream into a goat's skin turned inside out, which they 
 suspend from one side of the tent to the other, and then 
 pressing it to and fro in one uniform direction, they 
 quickly occasion the separation of the unctuous and 
 wheyey parts." (Trav. p. 168.) So " the butter of the 
 Moors in the empire of Morocco, which is bad, is made 
 of all the milk (comp. Prov. xxx. 33. above) as it comes 
 from the cow, by putting it into a skin and shaking it 
 till the butter separates from it." (Stewart's Journey 
 to Mequinez.) And, what is more to the purpose, as re- 
 lating to what is still practised in Palestine, Hasselquist 
 speaking of an encampment of the Arabs, which he found 
 not far from Tiberias, at the foot of the mountain or hill 
 where Christ preached his sermon, says, " they make 
 butter in a leathern bag hung on three poles, erected for 
 the purpose, in the form of a cone, and drawn to and 
 fro by two women. (Trav, p. 159.) 
 
 No. 628. — xxxi. 13. She seeketh wool and fax."} It 
 was usual in ancient times for great personages to do 
 such works as are mentioned in these words, both among 
 the Greeks and Romans. Lucretia with her maids 
 was found spinning, when her husband Collatinus paid 
 a visit to her from the camp. Tanaquilis, or Caia Cge- 
 
 15
 
 PROVERBS, 407 
 
 cilia the wife of king Tarquin, was an excellent spin- 
 ner of wool. (Valerius Maximus, 1.x. p. 348.) Her 
 wool, with a distaff and spindle, long remained in the 
 temple of Sangus ; and a garment made by her, worn 
 by Servius Tullius, was reserved in the temple of For- 
 tune. Hence it became a custom for maidens to ac- 
 company new-married women with a distaff and spindle, 
 with wool upon them, signifying what they were prin- 
 cipally to attend to. (Plin. Nat. Hist, 1. viii. c. 48.) 
 Maidens are advised to follow the example of Minerva, 
 said to be the first who made a web ; and if they de- 
 sired to have her favour, learn to use the distaff, and to 
 card and spin. (Ovid. Fast. 1. hi.) So did the daughters 
 of Minyas, (Ovid. Met. 1. iv. f. 1. v. 34.) and the 
 nymphs. (Virgil. Geor. 1. iv.) Augustus Caesar usually 
 wore no garments but such as were made at home, by his 
 wife, sister, or daughter. (Sueton. in Vit. August, c. 73.) 
 
 No. 629. — xxxi. 18. Her candle goeth not out by 
 night.'] There is a passage in Virgil, which may serve 
 as an illustration of this text, and which bears so great 
 a resemblance to it, that it might almost pass for a 
 poetical imitation. 
 
 Prima quies medio jam noctis abactae 
 
 Curriculo expulerat somnum : cum foemina primum 
 Cui tolerare colo vitam, tenuique Minerva, 
 Imposition cinerum et sopitos suscitat ignes, 
 Noctem addens open, famulasque ad lumina longo 
 Exercet penso. 2En. viii. lin. 407, 
 
 Night was now sliding in her middle course: 
 
 The first repose was finished: when the dame, 
 
 Who by her distaff 1 s slender art subsists, 
 
 Wakes the spread embers and the sleeping fire, 
 
 Night adding to her work : and calls her maids 
 
 To their long tasks, by lighted tapers urged. Trap?, 
 
 And to give a modern instance of a similar kind. Mon- 
 sieur De Guys, in his Sentimental Journey though Greece, 
 
 D J> 4
 
 408 PROVERBS. 
 
 (cited in Critical Review, for June 1772, p. 459.) says, 
 " embroidery is the constant employment of the Greek 
 women. Those who follow it for a living are employed in 
 it from morning to night, as are also their daughters and 
 slaves. This is a picture of the industrious wife, painted 
 after nature by Virgil in the eighth book of his JEneid. 
 I have a living portrait of the same kind constantly be- 
 fore my eyes. The lamp of a pretty neighbour of mine, 
 who follows that trade, is always lighted before day, 
 and her young assistants are all at work betimes in the 
 morning*" 
 
 . 
 No. 630. — xxxi. 22. She maketh herself coverings 
 of tapestry. .1 Homer, who was nearly contemporary 
 with Solomon, represents both Helen and Penelope 
 employed at. their looms, //. iii. 125. Od. ii. 94. etxi. 52. 
 And to this day in Barbary, " the women alone are 
 employed in the manufacturing of their hykes, or 
 blankets as we should call them : who do not use the 
 shuttle, but conduct every thread of the woof with their 
 fingers." Shaw's Travels, p. 224. 
 
 No. 631. — xxxi. 24. She maketh fine linen and, 
 selleth it, and delivereth girdles unto the merchants.'} 
 Herodotus informs us, that the Egyptian women used 
 to carry on commerce. That trade is now however 
 lost ; and the Arabs of that country are the only people 
 who retain any share of it. Maillet (Lett. xi. p. 134.) 
 says, that the women used to deal in buying and selling 
 things woven of silk, gold, and silver, of pure silk, 
 of cotton, of cotton and thread, or simple linen clcth, 
 whether made in the country or imported. This is pre- 
 cisely what the industrious Israelitish women are sup- 
 posed to have done. Harmer, vol ii. p. 414.
 
 [ 409 ] 
 
 No. 632. — ECCLESIASTES, iii. % 
 
 A time to sew. 
 
 jpUTTING on new clothes h thought by the people of 
 the East very requisite for the due solemnization of 
 a time of rejoicing. Hasselquist says, (p. 400.) " The 
 Turks, even the poorest of them, must absolutely have 
 new clothes at the bairam," or great festival. The rend- 
 ing mentioned in this verse undoubtedly refers to the 
 oriental mode of expressing sorrow : the sewing is de- 
 signed as an opposite to it : it appears then from this 
 consideration, connected with the custom now men- 
 tioned, to intend a time of making up new vestments, 
 rather than, as has been commonly understood, the re- 
 paration of old ones. Harmer, vol. ii. p. 119. 
 
 No. 633. — vii. 6. The crackling of thorns under a 
 poW] Cow-dung dried was the fuel commonly used for 
 firing, but this was remarkably slow in burning. On 
 this account the Arabs would frequently threaten to burn 
 a person with cow-dung as a lingering death. When this 
 was used it was generally under their pots. This fuel 
 is a very striking contrast to thorns and furze, and things 
 of that kind, which would doubtless be speedily con- 
 sumed, with the crackling noise alluded to in this pas- 
 sage. Probably it is this contrast which gives us the 
 energy of the comparison. Harmer, vol.i. p. 261. 
 
 The common fuel used by the inhabitants of the 
 country {Egypt) is prepared from a mixture of camels* 
 dung, mud, and straw : these ingredients, being mixed 
 as a paste, they collect into balls, which are flattened 
 upon the walls of their huts for drying in the sun, and
 
 410 ECCLESIASTES. 
 
 made into circular cakes. Clarke's Travels, iii. 34,, and 
 Forbes's Oriental Memoirs, vol. iii. p. 96, 
 
 No. 634. — vii. 26. IJindmore bitter than death the 
 woman whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as 
 bands.~\ The following insidious mode of robbery gives 
 a very lively comment upon these words of Soiomom 
 ff The most cunning robbers in the world are in this 
 country. They use a certain slip with a running noose, 
 which they cast with so much sleight about a man's 
 neck when they are within reach of him, that they 
 never fail, so that they strangle him in a trice. They 
 have another curious trick also to catch travellers. 
 They send out a handsome woman upon the road, 
 who, with her hair dishevelled, seems to be all in tears ; 
 sighing, and complaining of some misfortune which she 
 pretends has befallen her. Now, as she takes the same 
 way as the traveller goes, he easily falls into conversa- 
 tion with her, and finding her beautiful, offers her his 
 assistance, which she accepts: but he hath no sooner 
 taken her up on horseback behind him, but she throws 
 the snare about his neck, and strangles him, or at least 
 stuns him ; until the robbers who lie hid come running 
 in to her assistance, and complete what she hath begun." 
 Thevenot, part iii. p. 4 1 . 
 
 No. 635. — x. 1. Dead Jlies cause the apothecary' } s 
 ointment to stink.~] " A fact well known," says Scheuch- 
 zer, (Phys, Sacra, in loc.) " wherefore apothecaries 
 take care to prevent flies coming to their syrups and 
 other fermentable preparations. For in all insects there 
 is an acrid volatile salt, which mixed with sweet or 
 even alkaline substances, excites them to a brisk intes- 
 tine motion, disposes them to fermentation, and to 
 putrescence itself; by which the more volatile princi- 
 ples fly off, leaving the grosser behind: at the same
 
 ECCLESIASTES. 41 i 
 
 time the taste and odour are changed, the agreeable to 
 fetid, the sweet to insipid." 
 
 No. 636. — x. 7. I have seen se?°va?its riding upon 
 horses^ and princes walking as servants upon the earth.] 
 Riding on an horse is a very honourable thing in the 
 East, and what Europeans are not in common permitted 
 to do. They are ridden in a very stately manner. It is 
 contrary to the Turkish dignity to go on an horse faster 
 than a foot pace in the streets. When they appear thus 
 abroad they are attended with a number of servants. 
 Ideas of stateliness consequently attach themselves to 
 riding on horseback. In other instances, asses were 
 very much used both by the men and by the women, 
 but the former practice became so prevalent in the time 
 of Solomon, that speaking of state and pomp, he says, 
 / have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as 
 servants upon the earth. Harmer, vol. ii. p. 104. 
 
 No. 637. — xii. 4. The doors shall be shut in the streets, 
 when the sound of the grinding is low.'] The people in 
 the East bake every day, and usually grind their corn 
 as they want it. The grinding is the first work in the 
 morning. This grinding with their mills makes a consi- 
 derable noise, or rather as Sir John Chardin says, " the 
 songs of those who work them." May not this help to 
 explain the meaning of this passage, in which the royal 
 preacher, describing the infirmities of old age, among 
 other weaknesses, says, the doors shall be shut in the 
 streets, when the sound of the grinding is low ? that is, the 
 feeble old man shall not be able to rise from his bed 
 early in the morning to attend that necessary employ- 
 ment of grinding corn, consequently his doors shall be 
 shut ; neither will the noise of their songs, which are 
 usual at that employment, be heard, or when it is heard, 
 it will be only in a low feeble tone.
 
 422 ECCLESIASTES. 
 
 No. 638. — xii. 11. As nails fastened by the masters 
 of assemblies.] The Romans were accustomed to num- 
 ber their years by the clavi or nails which were fixed on 
 the temple doors. The praetor, consul, or dictator, 
 drove one annually into the wall of Jupiter's temple 
 upon the ides of March. (See Horace, b. iii. Od. xxiv. 
 5. Livy. Lib. vii. s. 3.) May not these words of Solo- 
 mon allude to a custom similar to this ? 
 
 No. 639. — xii. 11. Masters of assemblies.'] It is 
 most probable that the assemblies here referred to were 
 for the purpose of pronouncing discourses of an elo- 
 quent and philosophical nature. Such assemblies have 
 been common in those countries since the days of So- 
 lomon, and even in his time might not be unknown. 
 Macamat signifies, according to D'Uerbelot, assemblies 
 and conversations, pieces of eloquence, or academical 
 discourses, pronounced in assemblies of men of letters. 
 This way of reciting compositions in prose and verse 
 has been as frequent among the Orientals, as it was 
 anciently among the Romans, and as it is now in our 
 academies. The Arabians have many books containing 
 discourses of this kind, which are looked upon by them 
 as master-pieces of eloquence. Harmer, vol.iv. p. 70.
 
 [ 413 ] 
 
 No. 640. — SOLOMON'S SONG., i. 5. 
 
 I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, 
 as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. 
 
 A/TODERN tents are sometimes very beautiful. " The 
 Turks spare for nothing in rendering their tents 
 convenient and magnificent. Those belonging to the 
 grand signor were exceeding splendid, and covered 
 entirely with silk ; and one of them lined with a rich 
 silk stuff, the right side of which was the apartment for 
 the eunuchs. But even this was exceeded by another, 
 which I was informed cost twenty-five thousand piastres ; 
 it was made in Persia, and intended as a present to the 
 grand signor ; and was not finished in less than three or 
 four years. The outside of this tent was not indeed 
 remarkable ; but it was lined with a single piece made 
 of camels' hair, and beautifully decorated with festoons 
 and sentences in the Turkish language." Travels, by 
 Van Egmont and Heyman, vol. i. p. 212. 
 
 Nadir Shah had a very superb tent, covered on the 
 outside with scarlet broad-cloth, and lined within with 
 violet-coloured satin, ornamented with a great variety 
 of animals, flowers, &c. formed entirely of pearls and 
 precious stones. 
 
 No. 641. — i. 9. / have compared thee, O my love, 
 to a company of horses.~] This appears a very coarse 
 compliment to a mere English reader, arising from the 
 difference of our manners ; but the horse is an animal 
 in very high estimation in the East. The Arabians are 
 extravagantly fond of their horses, and caress them as 
 if they were their children. From the following extract 
 it appears that it is seldom they ever part with them. 
 " The Paishwa had said in a former conversation that
 
 414 SOLOMON'S SONG. 
 
 he would mention another circumstance on a future oc- 
 casion. It turned out to be a request that I would pro- 
 cure him an Arab mare. The colonel of course assured 
 him that I would do my best : but unfortunately I knew 
 it was impossible, as the Arabs never will part with their 
 mares." Lord Valentia's Voyages and Travels, vol. ii. 
 p. 119. 
 
 UArvieux gives a diverting account of the affectionate 
 caresses an Arab used to give a mare which belonged 
 to him. He had sold it to a merchant at Rama, and 
 when he came to see it, (which be very frequently did,) 
 he would weep over it, kiss its eyes, and when he de- 
 parted, go backwards, bidding it adieu in the most 
 tender manner. The horses of Egypt are so remarkable 
 for stateliness and beauty, as to be sent as presents of 
 great value to the sublime porte ; (Maillet, Lett, ix. 
 and xiii.) and it appears from sacred history, that they 
 were in no less esteem formerly among the kings of 
 Syria, and of the Hittites, as well as Solomon himself 
 who bought his horses at 150 shekels, which (at Dean 
 Prideaux's calculations of three shillings the shekel) is 
 £22 105. each, a very considerable price at which to 
 purchase twelve thousand horses together. The qua- 
 lities, which form the beauty of these horses, are tallness, 
 proportionable corpulency, and stateliness of manner ; 
 the same qualities which they admire in their women, 
 particularly corpulency, which is known to be one 
 of the most esteemed characters of beauty in the East. 
 Niebuhr says, " as plumpness is thought a beauty in the 
 East, the women in order to obtain this beauty, swallow, 
 every morning and every evening, three of these insects, 
 (a species of tenebriones) fried in butter." Upon this 
 principle is founded the compliment of Solomon ; and it 
 is remarkable that the elegant Theocritus, in his epitha- 
 lamium for the celebrated queen Helen, whom he de- 
 scribed as plump and large, uses exactly the same image.
 
 SOLOMON'S SONG. 415 
 
 comparing her to the horse in the chariots of Thessaly. 
 (Idyl, xviii. ver. 29.) Williams's New Translation of 
 Solomon's Song, p. 1 72. 
 
 No. 642. — i. 10. Thy checks are comely with roivs 
 of jewels.'] Olearius supposes the head-dress of the 
 bride here referred to is the same with that which is now 
 frequently used in the East. He says, (p. 818.) that 
 all the head-dress that the Persian ladies make use of 
 consists of two or three rows of pearls, which are not 
 worn there about the neck, as in other places ; but 
 round the head, beginning at the forehead, and de- 
 scending down the cheeks and under the chin ; so that 
 their faces seem to be set in pearls. Harmlr, on SoL 
 Song, p. 205. 
 
 No. 643. — i. 13. A bundle of myrrh is my well beloved 
 unto me, he shall lie all night between my breasts.'] The 
 eastern women amongst other ornaments used little per- 
 fume boxes, or vessels filled with perfumes, to smell at. 
 These were worn suspended from the neck, and hanging 
 down on the breast. v This circumstance is alluded to in 
 the bundle of myrrh. These olfactoriola, or smelling 
 boxes, (as the Vulg. rightly denominates them,) are still 
 in use among the Persian women, to whose " necklaces, 
 which fall below the bosom, is fastened a large box of 
 sweets ; some of these boxes are as big as one's hand ; 
 the common ones are of gold, the others are covered 
 with jewels. They are all bored through, and filled 
 with a black paste very light, made of musk and amber, 
 but of very strong smell." Complete System of Geogra- 
 phy, vol. ii. p. \ 75. 
 
 No. 644. — i ii. 3. I sat down under his shadow with 
 great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.'] 
 " Shade, according to Mr. Woop, in his description of
 
 416 SOLOMON'S SONG. 
 
 the ruins of Balbec, (p. 5.) is an essential article in orien- 
 tal luxury. The greatest people seek these refresh- 
 ments as well as the meaner. So Dr. Pococke found 
 the patriarch of the Maronites (who was of one of their 
 greatest families) and a bishop sitting under a tree. 
 (Travels, vol. ii. p. 95.) Any tree that is thick and 
 spreading doth for them ; but it must certainly be an 
 addition to their enjoying of themselves, when the tree is 
 of a fragrant nature, as well as shady, which the citron 
 tree is. Travellers there, we find in their accounts, 
 have made use of plane trees, walnut trees, &c. and 
 Egmont and Heyman were entertained with coffee at 
 Mount Sinai, under the orange trees of the garden of 
 that place, vol. ii. p. 1 78. 
 
 The people of those countries not only frequently sit 
 under shady trees, and take collations under them, but 
 sometimes the fruit of those trees, under which they sit, 
 is shaken down upon them, as an agreeableness. So 
 Dr. Pococke tells us, when he was at Sido?i, he was en- 
 tertained in a garden, in the shade of some apricot trees, 
 and the fruit of them was shaken upon him. ( Travels, 
 vol. ii. p. 85.) He speaks of it indeed as if it w r as done 
 as a great proof of their abundance, but it seems rather 
 to have been designed as an agreeable addition to the 
 entertainment. Harmer, on SolomorCs Song, p. 24<7. 
 
 No. 64?5. -*• ii. 9. He standeth behind the wall.'] Mr. 
 Harmer thinks this means the green wall, as it were, of 
 a chiosk, or eastern arbour, which is thus described by 
 Lady M. W. Montague, (Letters, vol. ii. p. 38.) " In 
 the midst of the garden is the chiosk, that is, a large 
 room commonly beautified with a fine fountain in the 
 midst of it. It is raised nine or ten steps, and inclosed 
 with gilded lattices, round which vines, jessamins, and 
 honey-suckles make a sort of green wall ; large trees are 
 planted round this place, which is the scene of their
 
 SOLOMON'S SONG. 417 
 
 greatest pleasures." See Outlines of a new Commentary 
 on Solomon's Song, p. 140. 
 
 No. 646. — ii. 15. Take us the foxes, the little foxes, 
 that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes.'] 
 Foxes are observed by many authors to be fond of 
 grapes, and to make great havoc in vineyards. Aris- 
 tophanes (in his Equites) compares soldiers to foxes, 
 who spoil whole countries, as the others do vineyards. 
 Galen (in his book of Aliments) tells us, that hunters 
 did not scruple to eat the flesh of foxes in autumn, 
 when they were grown fat with feeding on grapes. Vid. 
 Russell's Nat. Hist, of Aleppo, p. 60. 
 
 No. 647. — ii. 1 7. Till the day break.'] Till the day 
 hreathe. It is obvious to common observation, in almost 
 every country, that in settled weather there is generally, 
 at the time of the sun's approach to the horizon, and a 
 little after he is risen, a pretty brisk easterly gale, which 
 seems to be the breathing of the day here mentioned. 
 Egmont and Heyman (vol. ii. p. 13.) inform us, 
 that " though the heat of the coast of the Holy Land, 
 and of some other places there, is very great, yet this 
 excessive heat is very much lessened by a sea-breeze, 
 which constantly blows every morning, and by its cool- 
 ness renders the heats of the summer very support- 
 able." See Nature Displayed, vol. iii. p. 177. English 
 ed. 12mo. 
 
 No. 648. — iii. 1. Night.~] In the East they now 
 have a public festival called Zeenah, in which crowds of 
 both sexes dress out in their best apparel, and laying 
 aside all modesty and restraint, go in and out where 
 they please ; at other times the women are very closely 
 confined. (Shaw's Trav. p. 207.) Mr. Harmer (OuU 
 lines of a Commentary, p. 270.) seems to suppose the 
 
 VOL. I. O
 
 418 SOLOMON'S SONG. 
 
 night referred to in these words was one of those 
 festivals. 
 
 No. 649. — iii. 3. The watchmen that go about the 
 city found me*~] In Persia the watch is kept up very 
 strictly. In the night they suffer no person to go 
 about the streets without a lantern. They incessantly 
 walk about the street to prevent mischief and robberies, 
 with vigilance and exactness, being obliged to indemnify 
 those who are robbed. " It is reported that one night 
 Shah Abbas, desirous to make trial of the vigilance of 
 these people, suffered himself to be surprised by them ; 
 and had been carried to prison, had he not been known 
 by one of the company, who discovering him to the 
 rest, they all cast themselves at his feet to beg his 
 pardon." Ambassador's Travels, p. 328. See Ezek. 
 xxxiii. 2. 
 
 No. 650. — iii. 6. Who is this that cometh out of the 
 wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and 
 frankincense ?~\ The use of perfumes at eastern mar- 
 riages is common, and upon great occasions very pro- 
 fuse. Not only are the garments scented till, in the 
 Psalmist's language, they smell of myrrh, aloes, and 
 cassia, but it is customary for virgins to meet and lead 
 the procession with silver-gilt pots of perfumes ; and 
 sometimes even the air around is rendered fragrant, by 
 the burning of aromatics in the windows of all the 
 houses in the streets, through which the procession is to 
 pass. In the present instance, so liberally were these 
 rich perfumes burnt, that, at a distance, a pillar, or pil- 
 lars of smoke arose from them ; and the perfume was so 
 rich as to exceed in value and fragrancy all the powders 
 of the merchant. Lady M. W. Montague confirms the 
 foregoing observations in the account which she gives of 
 the reception of a beautiful young Turkish bride at the
 
 SOLOMON'S SONG. 419 
 
 bagnio; she says " two virgins met her at the door, two 
 others filled silver-gilt pots witli perfumes, and began the 
 procession, the rest following in pairs to the number of 
 thirty. In this order they marched round the three 
 large rooms of the bagnio." And Maillet {Lett, v.) 
 describing the entrance of the ambassadors of an eastern 
 monarch, sent to propose marriage to an Egyptian 
 queen, into the capital of that country, tells us, " the 
 streets through which they passed were strewed with 
 flowers ; and precious odours, burning in the windows 
 from very early in the morning, embalmed the air." 
 Harmer, on Sol. Song, p. 123. See also Clarke's 
 Travels, voL ii. p. 352. 
 
 No. 651.« — hi. 11. The crown wherewith his mother 
 crowned him in the day of his espousals."] Such a cere- 
 mony as this was customary among the Jews at their 
 marriages. Maillet informs us the crowns were made 
 of different materials. Describing the custom as prac- 
 tised by the members of the Greek church who now 
 live in Egypt, he says (Lett. x. p. 85.) " that the 
 parties to be married are placed opposite to a reading- 
 desk, upon which the book of the gospels is placed, 
 and upon the book two crowns, which are made of such 
 materials as people choose, of flowers, of cloth, or of 
 tinsel. There he (the priest) continues his benedic- 
 tions and prayers, into which he introduces all the 
 patriarchs of the Old Testament. He after that places 
 these crowns, the one on the head of the bridegroom, 
 the other on that of the bride, and covers them both 
 with a veil." After some other ceremonies the priest 
 concludes the whole by taking off their crowns, and 
 dismissing them with prayers; to which we may add 
 from Dr. King's Rites, &c. of the Greek church in 
 Russia, " The second ceremony, which is properly the 
 marriage, is called the office of matrimonial coronation^ 
 
 E E 2
 
 420 SOLOMON'S SONG. 
 
 from a singular circumstance in it, that of crowning the 
 parties. Formerly these crowns were garlands made of 
 flowers or shrubs, but now there are generally in all 
 churches crowns of silver kept for that purpose." So in 
 the marriages of the Maronites in Syria, " after a short 
 service the bishop puts a crown first on the bridegroom's 
 head, after which the bride, bride's man and maid are 
 crowned in the same manner." Dr. Russell's Nat. 
 Hist, of Aleppo, p. 127. 
 
 No. 652. — iv. 9. Thou hast ravished my heart with 
 one of thine eyes.] " There is a singularity in this ima- 
 gery which has much perplexed the critics ; and perhaps 
 it is not possible to ascertain the meaning of the poet 
 beyond a doubt. Supposing the royal bridegroom to 
 have had & profile, or side view of his bride in the pre- 
 sent instance, only one eye, or one side of her necklace, 
 would be observable ; yet this charms and overpowers 
 him. Tertullian mentions a custom in the East, of 
 women unveiling only one eye in conversation, while 
 they keep the other covered : and Niebuhr mentions 
 a like custom in some parts of Arabia. ( Travels, vol. i. 
 p. 262.) This brings us to nearly the same interpreta- 
 tion as the above." Williams's New Translation of 
 Solomon's Song, p. 267. 
 
 No. 653. — iv. 12. A garden inclosed is my sister, my 
 spouse, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.] " This 
 morning we went to see some remarkable places in the 
 neighbourhood of Bethlehem. The first place that we 
 directed our course to, was those famous fountains, 
 pools, and gardens, about an hour and a quarter distant 
 from Bethlehem southward, said to have been the con- 
 trivance and delight of king Solomon. To these works 
 and places of pleasure that great prince is supposed to 
 allude, (Eccl. ii. 5, 6.) where, amongst the other in- 
 
 14
 
 SOLOMON'S SONG. 421 
 
 stances of his magnificence, he reckons up his gardens, 
 and vineyards, and pools. 
 
 As for the pools, they are three in number, lying in a 
 row above each other, being so disposed that the waters 
 of the uppermost may descend into the second, and 
 those of the second into the third. Their figure is quad- 
 rangular ; the breadth is the same in all, amounting to 
 about ninety paces ; in their length there is some dif- 
 ference between them, the first being about one hun- 
 dred and sixty paces long, the second two hundred, the 
 third two hundred and twenty. They are all lined with 
 wall, and plastered, and contain a great depth of water. 
 
 Close by the pools is a pleasant castle of a modern 
 structure ; and at about the distance of one hundred and 
 forty paces from them is a fountain, from which princi- 
 pally they derive their waters. This the friars will 
 have to be that sealed fountain to which the holy spouse 
 is compared {Cant. iv. 12.); and, in confirmation of this 
 opinion they pretend a tradition, that king Solomon 
 shut up these springs, and kept the door of them 
 sealed with his signet, to the end that he might preserve 
 the waters for his own drinking, in their natural fresh- 
 ness and purity. Nor was it difficult thus to secure 
 them, they rising under ground, and having no 
 avenue to them but by a little hole like to the mouth of 
 a narrow well. Through this hole you descend directly 
 down, but not without some difficulty, for about four 
 yards, and then arrive in a vaulted room, fifteen paces 
 long and eight broad. Joining to this is another room 
 of the same fashion, but somewhat less. Both these 
 rooms are covered with handsome stone arches, very 
 ancient, and perhaps the work of Solomon himself. 
 
 Below the pools here runs down a narrow rocky val- 
 ley, inclosed on both sides with high mountains. This 
 the friars will have to be the inclosed garden alluded to 
 in the same place of the Canticles before cited. What
 
 422 SOLOMON'S SONG. 
 
 truth there may be in this conjecture I cannot abso- 
 lutely pronounce. As to the pools, it is probable enough 
 they may be the same with Solomon's ; there not being 
 the like store of excellent spring-water to be met with 
 any where else throughout all Palestine." Maundrell's 
 Journey, April 1. p. 88. 7th edit. 
 
 No. 654:. — v. 13. His cheeks are as a bed of spices.'] 
 The ancients by way of indulgence used to repose 
 themselves on large heaps of fragrant herbs, leaves, and 
 flowers. Among others, we may take an instance from 
 Anacreon. In Ode iv. b. 1. of himself, he says, 
 
 Reclirfd at ease on this soft bed, 
 
 With fragrant leaves of myrtle spread 
 
 And flowery tote, I* 11 noiv resign 
 
 My cares, and quaff the rosy ivine. Fawkes, 
 
 No. 655. — vi. 10. Fair as the moon.'] This manner 
 of describing beauty still prevails in the East. D' Her- 
 belot informs us that the later writers of these coun- 
 tries have given to the partriarch Joseph the title of the 
 Moon of Canaan, that is, in their style, the most per- 
 fect beauty that ever appeared above the horizon of 
 Judea. Many eastern writers have applied the com- 
 parison particularly to the females of those countries. 
 
 No. 656. — vii. 5. And the hair of thy head like 
 purple ; the king is held (Heb. bound) in the galleries.] 
 Mr. Parkhurst proposes to render the words, the hair 
 of thy head is like the purple of a king bound ?ip in the 
 canals or troughs. The Vulgate is Comae capitis tui 
 sicut purpura regis vincta canalibus. " In Solo?non y s 
 Song," says Mons. Goguet, alluding to this text, " there 
 is mentioned a royal purple which the dyers dipt in the 
 canals, after having tied it in small bundles." (Origin of 
 Laws, vol. ii. p. 99.) The following note is also added:
 
 SOLOMON'S SONG. 423 
 
 u The best way of washing wools after they are dved 
 is to plunge them in running water. Probably the 
 sacred author had this practice in view when he said, 
 they should dip the royal purple in canals. As to what 
 he adds, after being tied in little bundles or packets, 
 one may conclude from this circumstance, that instead 
 of making the cloth with white wool, and afterwards 
 putting the whole piece into the dye as we do now, 
 they then followed another method : they began by 
 dying the wool in skeins, and made it afterwards into 
 purple stuffs." His account well illustrates the com- 
 parison of a lady's hair to royal purple bound up in 
 the canals, if we may suppose, what is highly pro- 
 bable, that the eastern ladies anciently braided their 
 hair in numerous tresses (perhaps with purple ribbands, 
 as well as with those of other colours) in a manner 
 somewhat similar to what they do in our times, ac- 
 cording to the description given by Lady M. W. 
 Montague. 
 
 No. 657. — viii. 2. I would cause thee to drinh of spiced 
 wine, of the juice of my pomegranate.'] The spiced wine 
 is thought to allude to a custom of the parties drinking 
 wine from the same cup in one part of the marriage 
 ceremony, and we know that spiced wine was a great de- 
 licacy in the East. Spiced wines were not peculiar to the 
 Jews. " Hqfiz speaks of wine richly bitter, richly sweet. 
 The Romans lined their vessels (amphorcc) with odorous 
 gums, to give the wine a warm bitter flavour; and 
 it is said the Poles and Spaniards have a similar method 
 to give their wines a favourite relish." (Nott's Odes of 
 Hqfiz, note, p. 30.) 
 
 The word rendered by our translators juice, is pro- 
 perly new wine, or must ; and the new wine of pomegra- 
 nates is " either new wine acidulated with the juice of 
 pomegranates, which the Turks about Aleppo still mix
 
 424 SOLOMONS SONG. 
 
 with their dishes for this purpose, or rather wine made 
 of the juice of pomegranates, of which Sir J. Chardm 
 says, they still make considerable quantities in the East." 
 Harmer, vol. i. p. 377. 
 
 No. 658. — viii. 10. I am a wall) and my breasts 
 like toivers.~\ In these words Solomon alludes to mounts, 
 common in Greece, Egypt, and Syria. They were 
 generally formed by art; being composed of earth, 
 raised very high, which was sloped gradually with great 
 exactness. The top of all was crowned with a tower. 
 They were held in great reverence, and therefore con- 
 sidered as places of safety, and were the repositories of 
 much treasure. (Josephus, Bell. Jud. 1. vii. p. 417.) 
 There were often two of these mounds of equal height 
 in the same in closure. To such as these Solomon refers 
 in this passage. Holwell's Mythological Diet. p. 26*2. 
 
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
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