Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/dictionaryofnatuOOharrrich A DICTIONARY OF THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BIBLE. He spake of Trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall. He spake also of Beasts and of Fowls, and of Creeping Things, and of Fishes." 1 Kings, iv. 33. i/s> A DICTIONARY OF THE NATURAL HISXQB>:^4)F THE BIBLE; ':4t OF *!tt* THE QUADRUPEDS, BmD^, FfsilES, RlSPTI£HfS, AND INSECTS, TREES, PLANTS, FLOWERSi GUMS, AND PRECIOUS STONES, MENTIONED IN THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. COLLECTED FROM THE BEST AUTHORITIES, AND ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED, By THADDEUS MASON HARRIS, D.D. A NEW EDITION: WITH CORRECTIONS AND CONSIDERABLE ADDITIONS. LONDON: PRINTED FOR T. T. AND J. TEGG, No. 73, CHEAPSIDE ; R. GRIFFIN AND. CO. GLASGOW ; AND J, GUMMING, DUBLIN. 1833. 7iv fTXjixfxa'X'Biv ujouv eyo' Ou9' oj T^OTOJ yap ouovht sS' o» vofuo*. HfjLUiv, utt' ayCKi^w Se hexn declares, "Egyp- tit coluerunt cattum, et canem, et lupum', et sirniam^ et draconem. Alii cepas, et allia et i spinas." The ox was sacred to Apis, the I dog to Anubis, &c. I XIX killing and eating these animals must appear not only odious but sacrilegious, transgressing the rules of good behaviour, and oftending the gods. Other animals, as several of the birds of yrey, were also held sa- cred by the Egyptians, or were ve- nerated in the rites of augury^. The Hebrews, being instructed to consi- der these as unclean, would be pre- vented from the indulgence of the like superstition. Hence Origen, contra Celsum, I. iv. justly admired the Jewish ritual, and observes, that those animals which are prohibited by Moses, were such as were reputed sacred by the Egyptians, and used in divination by other nations. Ta vo- , fiii^(x)fieva Trap' AiyvTrTioig, Kai toiq XoLTTOig T(i)V avOpioTTOJV [lavTiKa. And Montfaucon, in his HexapL Orig. has published a fragment of Eusebius Emisenus, from a manu- script Catena in the library of the king of France, which may be thus translated : •* God wills that they should eat some kinds of flesh, and that they should abstain from others, not that any of them in themselves were common or unclean, but this he did on two accounts ; the one was, that he would have those ani- mals to be eaten which were wor- shiped in Egypt, because eating them would render their pretensions most contemptible. And, pursuant to the same opinion, he forbids the eating of those kinds which the Egyptians used to eat very greedily and luxuriously, as the swine, &c. The other reason was, that their properties and natures seemed to lay a prejudice in the way of some of these, and to render them, as it 8 The hazvk was dedicated to Osiris, the eagle to the god Ammon of Thebais, the raven to OruH. The custom of consecrating ail the birds of prey to the gods came ori- ginally from the Egyptians. According to i*:iian, 1. xii. they were distributed in the following manner : " Accipitres distributi sunt, autem et consecrati variis diis. Per- dicarius et oxypteros ApoUinis ministri sunt, ut ferunt ossifraga et harpe sacriB sunt Mi- nervae. Plumbario Mercurium delectari aiunt. Junoni dedicatur tanysipteros ; Di- anae buteo ; Matri deum mermnus ; alii de- nique aliis diis." DISSERTATION III. were, a sort 6f profanation. Some were monstrously big, others very ugly, others fed upon dead bodies, and to others human nature had an inbred antipathy ; so that, in the main, what the law forbid was na- ture's aversion before." Thus were the Jews taught to distinguish them- selves from that people, not only in their religious worship, not being allowed ** to sacrifice the abomina- tion of the Egyptians," Exod. viii. 26, but to deviate from them in the most common actions in life. By having a diet peculiar to themselves, by eating in one instance that to which the others attributed a cer- tain sanctity, as the ox, the sheep, and the goat, and by holding in de- testation those creatures which the others venerated as sacred, as the hawk, &c. they would be precluded from all intimacy or agreement ; and of course from becoming corrupted by their idolatries or addicted to their superstitions^. Not only were the Egyptians, but other heathen nations, and particu- larly the Canaanites, grossly corrupt in their manners, morals, and wor- ship: and this restriction with re- spect to diet was alike calculated to prevent intimacies with them ; so that in no instance should ** their table become a snare, or their enter- tainments a trap." Psal. Ixix. 22. ** This statute, above all others, estabUshed not only a political and sacred, but a physical separation of the Jews from all other people. It made it next to impossible for the one to mix with the other either in meals, in marriage, or in any familiar connexion. Their opposite customs in the article of diet not only pre- cluded a friendly and comfortable intimacy, but generated mutual con- tempt and abhorrence. The Jews religiously abhorred the society, man- ners, and institutions of the Gentiles, 9 Chaereinon,in Porphyry de Abstinentia, 1. iv. c. 7, tells us, that the Egyptian priests would not eat any sort of fish which their country afforded, nor any animals that had tolid hoofs, or divided paws, or harm. because they viewed their own ab- stinence from forbidden meats as a token of peculiar sanctity, and of course regarded other nations, who wanted this sanctity, as vile and de- testable. They considered them- selves as secluded by God himself from the profane world by a peculiar worship, government, law, dress, mode of living, and country '^. Though this separation from other people, on which the law respecting food was founded, created in the Jews a criminal pride and hatred of the Gentiles ; yet, it forcibly operated as a preservative from heathen ido- latry, by precluding all familiarity with idolatrous nations^'." So bigoted were the Jews in the observance of this law, that by no reproaches, no threats, no sufferings, nay, hardly by a new command from- God himself, could they be brought to lay it aside. See 1 Maccab. i. 63 ; Ezek. iv. 14 ; Acts x. 14. Though some thousand years have passed since thisdiscriminatingritual was given to the Jews, and though they have been scattered abroad among every nation upon earth ; though their government and tem- ple have been entirely destroyed, yet this prohibition of particular foods has been regarded, and has served,' with other reasons, to keep them distinct and separate from every other people. We find Peter, after the vision- recorded in the 10th chapter of the Acts, when he had entered the house of Cornelius, observed to the people JO " Aristeas (Hist. Septvag. hihl. Gr. Pair. torn. 2. p. 870.) cuidam objicienti, vofju^siv TOtj iroXKoig 7r£f»£fy*av £X^iv, &c. Multis visum esse, multa in lege temere comprehensa, ut ilia qua de cibo et potu, et animalibus illis qua habentiir impura, tradita sunt ; sic apud anctorem ilium respondetur, cernis quid possint et efficiant conversatio et constietudo, quod homines ex conversatione improborum depraventur et fiant miseri per totam vitam. hoc diligenter contemplatus, utpote sapiens legislator noster, ne per impietatis ullius com- municationem inficeremur, neve conversatione improborum depravaremur, circumsepsit nos legali sanctitate et puritate, cibi, poti/s, tac- tus, au^itus et visits.** I 11 Tappan's Lectures, p. 263. DISSERTATION II[. who were present, " Ye know that it is not lawful for a man that is a Jew to keep company with, or come unto one of another nation ; but God hath shewed me that I should call no man unclean." — " Here," says Mr. Jones, in his Zoologia Ethica, " we have an apostolical comment upon the sense of the vision. God had shewed him that henceforward he should call no living creatures unclean which were in any sense proper for food ; and by these brutes of all kinds he understands men of all nations. And, without question, he applied the vision to what the wisdom of God intended to express by it. The case was this : St. Peter, as a Jew, was bound to abstain from all those animals, the eating of which was prohibited by tlie law of Moses : but God shewed him that he should no longer account these animals un- clean. And what does he understand by it I That he should no longer ac- count the heathen so. * God hath shewed me that I should call no man common or unclean ;' or, to speak in other words borrowed from the apostle, ' God hath shewed me that a Jew is now at liberty to keep com- pany with or come unto one of ano- ther nation ;' which, so long as the Mosaic distinction betwixt clean and unclean beasts was in force, it was not lawful for him to do." II. Another reason for the dis- tinction was, that, as the Jews were a people peculiarly devoted to God, they should be reminded of that relation by a particularity of diet, which should serve emblematically as a sign of their obligation to study moral purity. This is expressly given as the rea- son, Levit. xi. 43, 44, and 45 (refer- ring to the forbidden animals), " Ye shall not make yourselves unclean with them that you may be defiled thereby ; for I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God, ye shall THEREFORE BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY." The meaning of which is, ** I Jeho- vah, who am distinguished from all other gods, am your peculiar sove- reign, and have selected and sepa- rated you from all other people ; therefore, you must be holy ; and, as indicative of this, you are distin- guished from ail other people by sacred manners and institutions, and especially by a distinction in the arti- cles of your food, that you may know yourselves to be set apart from all other nations of the world, and, in your very diet, evidence to them the purity which you should in every thing cherish and preserve." — As thus Jehovah meant to impress on his people a constant sense of his own infinite purity, as the Holy One of Israel, so he meant to habituate them to regard and honour him as such by the conspicuous purity both of their manners and worship. Not one of the Pagan gods so much as pretended to purity of character, or claimed to be worshiped under the title of the Holy One. Far from this, even the worship of these gods was frequently performed by impure rites, and the use of vile and filthy ani- mals '2, by which the worshippers proclaimed the foul character of their deities. On the contrary, the pure ceremonies ofthe Hebrews constantly reminded them of the immaculate purity of Jehovah, and this nice dis- tinction of meats was fitted to teach them the rudiments of moral purity or true holiness. Isaiah Ixv. 3, 4; Ixvi. 17. As several of the remarks adapted to this head were anticipated in the preceding, I go on to state other reasons for the distinction between animals as clean and unclean in the Levitical institute. III. It has been suggested, that the quality of the food itself is an im- portant consideration, and that to the eating of certain animals may be as- cribed a specific injiuence on the moral 12 This is the prevailing reason assigned by the fathers of the Christian church : See Theodoret, quaest. xi. in Levit. Cyrill. Alexandr. 1. ix. contra Julian, p. 302. Ori- gen, Homil. vii. in Levit. Clem. Alex. Strom. 1. V. Opera, tom. ii. p. 677. No- vatian, de Cibis Jud. c. iii. Euseb. Emisen. in Hexapl. Montf. p. 120. xxu DISSERTATION III. temperament. I introduce this topic, because it is insisted upon so much among the ancient Jewish interpre- ters, rather than because I consider it of any real force or importance. It savours strongly of the allegorical style of reasoning and interpretation in which the Rabbins delighted. There are several mischnical tracts devoted to this explication. One of them says : ** As the body is the seat of the soul, God would have it a fit instrument for its companion, and therefore removes from his peo- ple all those obstructions which may hinder the soul in its operations ; for which reason all such meats are for- bidden as breed ill blood ; among which if there may be some whose hurtfulness is neither manifest to us nor to physicians, wonder not at it, for the faithful physician who forbids them is wiser than any of us'^." The moral or tropological reasons, alleged by Aristaeus, in Eusebius Praep. Evang. 1. viii. c. 9, are in substance, (for the whole passage is long, though curious,) that the Jews should, by these inhibitions and li- mitations, be secure and fenced from whatever contagion or immorality might otherwise invade them and spread among them from any heathen or idolatrous quarter ; and also to teach them morality even in their food ; for the birds and beasts allowed were of the tame and gentler kinds, and not of fierce and voracious na- tures, to teach them the great truths of justice, moderation, and kindness. The learned Wagenseil, also, in his Annotations on that title in the Mischna called " Sota," fol. 1171, discusses the moral reasons of these precepts. In a volume by the Rev. William Jones, entitled " Zoologia Ethlca," this particular construction is largely insisted upon. The learned Ainsworth, in his Commentary, has extended these reasons to the borders of mysticism. His remarks are : " The parting of 13 Levi Barcelona, Precept. Ixxix. the /joo/' signified the right discerning of the word and will of God, the dif- ference between the law and the gospel, and the walking in obedience to the word of God with a right foot. The chewing of the cud signified the meditating in the law of God night and day," &c. IV. Another reason for the dis- tinction here made was, without doubt, dietetical, and to make a dis- tinction between wholesome and un- wholesome food. Those animals are denominated clean, which afl^brd a copious and wholesome nutriment; and those unclean, whose flesh is unwholesome, and yields a gross nutriment, often the occasion of scro- fulous and scorbutic disorders. Mai- monides (More Nevochim, p. iii. c. 48) discourses at large upon this subject ; Wagenseil ( Conf. Carm, R. Lipmanni, p. 556) defends it ; and Michaelis, in his Commentary on the Laws of Moses (article cciii.), assigns it as the principal reason ''*. The special propriety of it may be found also in the situation of those regions in which the Jews resided, in which the flesh of some animals was more unwholesome than it would be in a more northern climate. Their sultry climate made it necessary to be considerate in the use of food, as they were exposed to inflammatory and putrid disorders. So that the wisdom of the interdiction of those kinds of flesh which tend soon to corruption, is very evident. Blood, in particular, is not only diflScult of digestion in the stomach, but easily putrefies ; and so the flesh of stran- gled animals, or of wild animals heated by the chase, and full of blood, soon becomes corrupt. The free use of very fat meat is always prejudicial to health ; and is the 14 [Not as the principal reason. His words are : " Besides this main object,*' (that of separating the Jews from other nations,) " there might, no doubt, in the case of cer- tain animals, interfere dietetical consider- ations to influence Moses : only we are not to seek for them in all the prohibitions relative to unclean beasts." Smith's Mi- chaelis. vol. iii. p. 23Q.] DISSERTATION III. XXlll cause of bilious and putrid disorders. ! The flesh of the swine, in particular, i which is generally supposed to breed the leprosy, as an aliment must have been highly improper for a people so subject to leprosies as the Jews appear to have been'^ Of those animals whose flesh the Israelites were prohibited from eat- ing, most sought their food in filthy places, lived on prey, or fed on car- rion ; so that their juices were in a state strongly tending to prutres- cence ; of course, their flesh was very unfit for the purposes of nutri- tion. Agreeably to this opinion. Dr. James, the learned author of the Medicinal Dictionary, under the ar- ticle " Alcali," after having made some critical remarks on the nature of alcalescent aliments, and their ef- fects on the human body, — and com- mented on the various animals clean and unclean, enumerated in the Le- vitical institute, draws the following conclusion : '* From what has been said in relation to the alcalescence of animal aliment, one reason at least will appear, why it pleased the Su- preme Being to forbid the Jews, a people that inhabited a very warm climate, the use of many sorts of animals as food, and why they w^ere enjoined to take away a great deal of blood from those which they were allowed to eat." On the whole, as Mr. Lowman justly observes, " the food allowed to the chosen nation was of the 15 Mr. Beloe, in his note npon Herodotus, '* Euterpe," § Ixxii. has the following re- mark : ** Antiphanes in Athenseus, address- ing himself to the Egyptians, says, * You adore the ox; I sacrifice to the gods. You reverence the eel as a very powerful deity; we consider it as the daintiest of food.' Antiphanes and the Greek writers, who amused themselves with ridiculing the re- ligious ceremonies of Egypt, were doubt- less ignorant of the motive which caused this particular fish to be proscribed. The flesh of the eel, and some other fish, thick- ened the blood, and by checking the per- spiration, excited all those maladies con- nected with the leprosy. The Priests for- bade the people to eat it, and, to render their prohibition more effectual, they pre- tended to regard these fish as sacred." milder sort, of the most common and domestic animals; creatures of the cleanest feeding, which afforded the most palatable and nourishing meat, and which by a proper care might be had in the greatest plenty and perfection. If the Jews, as a select and holy people, ought to have any distinction of foods, surely none could have been devised more proper than this. Was not this far better than to license and encourage the pro- miscuous hunting of wild beasts and birds of prey, less fit for food, more difficult to be procured, and hardly consistent with a domestic, agricul- tural, and pastoral life? Did not the restrictions in question, tend to promote that health and ease, that useful cultivation of the soil, that diligence, mildness, and simplicity, that consequent happiness and pros- perity, which were among the chief blessings of the promised land." The following passage, translated from Tertullian (adv. Marc. I. ii. c. 18, injine), may be a fit conclusion of this dissertation : '* If the law takes away the use of some sorts of meat, and pronounces creatures un- clean, that were formerly held quite otherwise, let us consider that the design was to inure them to temper- ance, and look upon it as a restraint laid upon gluttons, who hankered after the cucumbers and melons of Egypt, whilst they were eating the food of angels. Let us consider it too, as a remedy at the same time against excess and impurity, the usual attendants on gluttony. It was partly, likewise, to extinguish the love of money, by taking away the pretence of its being necessary for providing of sustenance. It was, finally, to enable men to fast with less inconvenience upon religious occasions, by using them to a mo- derate and plain diet." The following catalogue of the BIRDS forbidden, written " in English metre," is extracted from the Bibli- otheca Bihlica,\ . iii. p. 142, ed. 4to, 1725, where it is printed in the old- black letter. XXIV DISSERTATION III. " Of feathred Foules that fanne the buck- som aire. Not all alike weare made for foode to Men, For, these thou shalt not eat doth God declare, Twice tenne their nombre, and their flesh unclene : Fyrst the great Eaglet byrde of feigned Jove 16, Which Thebanes worshippe 17, and di- viners love. " Next Ossifrage and Ospray (both one kinde is). Of luxurie and rapine, emblems mete. That haunte the shores, the choicest preye to finde, And brast the bones, and scoope the mar- rowe swete : The Vulture,\o\6. of delicace and feare, Who spareth not the pale dede man to teare : " The tall-built Swann, faire type of pride confest; The Pelica?ie, whose sons are nurst with bloode, Forbidd to man ! she stabbeth deep her breast, Self-murtheresse through fondnesse to hir broode. They too that range the thirstie wilds emong. The Ostryches, unthoughtful of thir yongeis. •6 Vid. Natal. Com. de Mjrthol. 1. ii. cap. de Jove. 17 Diodor. Sicul. lib. i. w Gesner, de avib. 19 Job, xxix. 16. ** The Raven ominous (as Gentiles holde). What time she croaketh hoarsely a la morte ; The Hawke, aerial hunter, swlfte and bolde, In feates of mischief trayned for disporte ; Thevocale C?f ahel, whose plural is D"''7n^* AHALiM,) is a small tree, about eight or ten feet high. Michaelis inquires if it be not possible that there is a transposition of the letters and word, so as to render it corre- spondent to the Greek aXorf ; and if it is not even probable that the Jews might have been led to make this alteration in reference to their re- spect to Elohim, the name of the Deity, to which it bore too near a re- semblance. This, however, is only conjectural criticism. In Rumphius, Herbarium Amboi- 7ie7isis, torn. ii. p. 29 — 40, may be found a particular description of the tree, and Tab. x. an engraving. At the top of the Aloe-tree is a large bunch of leaves, which are thick and indented, broad at the bottom, but growing narrower to- ward the point, and about four feet in length. Its blossoms are red, in- termixed with yellow ; and double, like a pink. From the blossom comes the fruit, or pod, which is oblong and triangular, with three apartments filled with seed. That the flower of this plant yielded a fragrance, is assured to us in the following extract from Swin- burne's Travels, letter xii. *' This morning, like many of the foregoing ones, was delicious. The sun rose gloriously out of the sea, and all the air around was 'perfumed with the ejjiuvia of the Aloe, as its rays sucked up the dew from the leaves." This extremely bitter plant con- tains under the bark three sorts of wood. The first is black, solid, and weighty ; the second is of a tawny 8 AM A colour, of a liglit spongy texture, very porous, and filled with a resin extremely fragrant and agreeable ; the third kind of wood, which is the heart, has a strong aromatic odour, and is esteemed in the East more precious than gold itself. It is used for perfuming habits and apartments, and is administered as a cordial in fainting and epileptic fits^^. These pieces called calunbac, are carefully preserved in pewter boxes, to pre- vent their drying. When they are used, they are ground upon a marble with such liquids as are best suited to the purpose for which they are intended. This wood, mentioned Cantic. iv. 14, in conjunction with several other odoriferous pi ants there referred to, was in high esteem among the Hebrews for its exquisite exhalatioos. " The scented aloe, and each shrub that showers Gum from its veins, and odours from its flowers.*' Thus the son of Sirach, Ecclus. xxiv. 1.5. I gave a sweet smell like the cinnamon and asphaltus. I yielded a j)leasant odour like the best myrrh; like galbanum and onyxy and fragrant storax, and like the fume of frankin- cense in the tabernacle. It may not be amiss to observe, that the Persian Translator renders ahalim, sandal-wood; and the same was the opinion of a certain Jew in Arabia, who was consulted by Nie- buhr. See Lign-Aloe. AMARANTHINE. AMAPAN- TINOS. From a, negative, and fjLapaivoiiai, to fade, wither. That cannot fade away, not capable of fading. This word occurs in 1 Peter, v. 4, where the apostle seems to allude to those fading garlands of leaves, which crowned the victors in the heathen games, and were conse- quently in high esteem among them. Comp. 1 Cor. ix.,25 ; 1 Peter, i. 4. 31 Lady M. W. Montague's Letters, v. 2. p. 91. Arabian Nights' Entertainments, V. 5. No. 171. Hasseiquist, p. 249. Ray- nal's Indies, v. 2. p. 279. A MB But the learned Henry Stephens, in his Greek Thesaurus, thinks it im- probable that Peter should use afia- pavTivoQ for aixapavrog, since ajxa- pavTivoQ is not formed from the adjective ajiapavroQ, as signifying unfading, but from the substantive afAapavTOQ, the name of a flower. Amaranth, so called from its not speedily fading. AfxapavTivog, therefore, will properly signify ama- ranihine, but will be equivalent to unfading. " Immortal Amaranth ! a flower which once In Paradise, fast by the tree of life. Began to bloom : but soon, for man's of- fence. To heaven removed, where first it grew, there grows. And flowers aloft, shading the fount of life ; And where the river of bliss, through midst of heaven. Rolls o'er Eiysian flowers her amber stream : With these, that never fade, the spirits elect Bind their resplendent locks, inwreath*d with beams." Milton. AMBER. bDu;n chasmal. Ezek. i. 4, 27, and viii. 2. The amber is a hard, inflammable bitumen. When rubbed, it is highly endowed with that remarkable pro- perty called electricity ; a word which the moderns have formed from the Greek name eXtKrpov. But the ancients had also a mixed metal of fine copper and silver, resembling the amber in colour, and so called by the same name. St. Jerom, Theodoret, St. Gre- gory, and Origen think that, in the above cited passages from Ezekiel, a precious and highly polished metal is meant. Bochart and Le Clerc consider it the same as the electrum. It is evident that our Translators could not suppose it to mean the natural amber, for that, being a bi- tuminous substance, becomes dim as soon as it feels the fire, and soon dissolves and consumes j nor could they intend crystal, as seme have supposed, because it bore the same name among the ancients ^^ ; for that 32 'HZvipaYii nKsKjpoi as^ETM. DiON. Perieg. V. 317. A ME substance would not long stand the fire, and, while it did, would soon lose its tians})areucy, and, instead of glowing, would become opaque. The metal so celebrated for its beautiful lustre, is most probably intended. As Ezekiel prophesied among the Chal- deans, after the captivity of king Jehoiachim, so here, as in other in- stances, he seems to have used a Chaldee word; and, considered as such, bnuTT may be derived from U'nj (copper) dropping the initial 3, and Chald. bbo (gold as it comes from the mine); and so denote either a metal mixed of copper and gold, as the ces pyropum mentioned in the ancient Greek and Roman writers, and thus called from its fiery colour ; and the noted tes corinthum ; or else it may signify x^Xkoq j(;pv/^, which Aristotle describes as very brilliant, and of which it is probable the cups of Darius mentioned by him were made, and the two vessels ofjine brass, precious as gold, of which we read Ezra, viii. 27 ^^. See Brass. AMETHYST. nnbriN ahalmah. Exod. xxviii. 19, and xxix. 12 ; and once in the N. T. Rev. xxi, 20. AfXiiOvaTog. A transparent gem of a colour which seems composed of a strong blue and deep red ; and, according as either prevails, affording different tinges of purple, sometimes ap- proaching to violet, and sometimes even fading to a rose colour '^'^. The stone called amethyst by the ancients, was evidently the same with that now generally known by this name ; which is far from being the case with regard to some other gems. The oriental is the hardest, scarcest, and most valuable. It was the ninth stone in the pec- toral of the high priest^*, and is mentioned a& the twelfth in the foundations of the New Jerusalem. 33 See soiw^e learned iljustrations of this subject in Bochart,, Hieroz. v. 3. p. 781. and Scheuchzer, Phys. Sacr. v. 7. p. 343 31 SaUnasiuSjin ExeFcit. Plinianie,p 563. 35 Hillier, Tc de xii. gemmis in Pecto- rali Pontif. Hebr. p. 59. Branninsde Ves- titu Sacerd. Hebr. ii. c. 16. p. 709. AMI 9 AMIANTHUS. AMIANT02. The fibrous mineral substance com- monly called Asbestos. " Lapis ex quojila duci possunt, et teles, Jieri, qu(H comburinonpossunt." Hederic. Lex. in verb ^^. That this extraordinary mineral, and its use, were well known to the ancients, is evident from the follow- ing passage, cited and translated from Dioscorides, lib. iv. c. 156. " The mineral called Amiantus is produced in Cyprus, and resembles the scissile, or plumose alum ; and as it is flexible, they manufacture and make it into cloth, as an object of curiosity ; for if one throws this cloth into the fire, it burns, indeed, but without being consumed, and comes out more beautiful." Pliny. (N. H. I. xix. c. 1), speaking of the same, says : •* We meet also with a kind of cloth which is not consumable by fire. They call it living (or im- mortal); and I have at feasts seen towels made of it, burning in the fire, and in this manner more tho- roughly cleansed, than they could have been with water. Of this are made the funeral vests of kings, to preserve the ashes of their bodies separate from the rest. It is rarely to be found, and hard to weave by reason of its shortness ; and is ex- ceeding costly ^^." From its peculiar property of not being destroyed by fire, the term 36 It is called oi(ris^axa km h^ixtxToi, o is (Tuv \j>»«« ^icKpavYi ytvcTat, i. e. Vtu7itur veste linea, ex lapidibtis. Quod quidem texint. Mollia nint lapidum stamina, et memdrana ex qiiibus pannifiunt, qui neque igne eruruntur, neqne aqua expurgantnr, sed cum sordes et maculas contraxertmt, in jlammam injecti albescunt. C3 10 AMI afiiavOoQ is figuratively used for im- perishable, indestructible. In 1 Peter, i. 3, 4, we read : ** Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his great mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead ; to an inheritance incorruptible, and unde- filed, and that fadeth not away." This blessed inheritance is called acpQaprov, incorruptible, because it will not, like the earthly Canaan, be corrupted with the sins of its in- habitants. [Levit. xviii. 28.] For into the heavenly country entereth nothing that detileth. [Rev. xxi. 27.] It is declared to be afiiavrov, indestructible, because it shall neither be destroyed by the waters of a flood, as this earth had been, nor ^yfir^t ^s, in the end, the earth will be ; and it is to be afiapavrov, un- fading, because its joys will not wither, but remain fresh through all eternity. Scheuchzer, in his Physica Sacra, conjectures, that the DEID carpas, in Esther, i. 6, may mean the cloth made of Asbestos, or Amiantus. The Septuagint render it by a word de- rived from the Hebrew, KapTraffi- viog, and the Vulgate " carbasini^^." But, though we may suppose this kind of cloth to be known to the Persians in the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus, yet, it is hardly to be imagined that it could have been procured in quantities sufficient to form any considerable part of that vast Veil which was expanded over the court of the royal gardens. Tay- lor, Hebr. Lex. says, *' I am inclined ^ Valerius Maximus describes car dams as a Tobe that the rich wore, made of fine linen. The word also is used for cloth of which sails are made. " Carbasa ventis Credit dubius navita vitfU7»8 XjQb "Xj^ujfxsro; I^Y\^'j) xoXXufju). Oculos vere ipsos currohorahis si sicca collyrio quod ex Phrygio lapide componatur. 4S It is called " Ismed ;" the ore is pre- pared by roasting it in a quince, apple, or trutfle ; then it is levigated with oil of sweet almonds on a marble stone. If intended ANTIMONY. 13 applied to the eye ; the lids are closed upon it while it is drawn through between them. This blacks the in- side, and leaves a narrow black rim all round the edge. That this was the method practised by the Hebrew women, we infer from Isaiah, iii. 22, where the prophet, in his enumera- tion of the articles which composed the toilets of the deficate and luxu- rious daughters of Zion, mentions " the wimples and the crisping pins," or bodkins for painting the eyes. The satirist Juvenal describes the same practice : ** Ille stipercilium madida fuligine tinctum Ohliqua producit acu, pingit^ue trementes Attollens ocvlos." Sat. ii. ** These with a tiring-pin their eyebrows 9a\fiiov vTToypaipy, with painted eyes ; and Clemens Alexandrinus (Psed. 1. iii. c. 2) mentions vTroypa- ^ag 0(p9a\n(t)v, the painting of the €yes,2LS a practice of the Alexandrian women in his time ; and Tertullian (De Culiu foemin.) exclaims thus against the custom, ** Inunge oculos nonstibioDiaboli,sed collyrio Christi." Josephus (de Bell. Jud. 1. iv. c. ix. § 10) mentions some infamous men, a short time before the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans, as abounding in that devoted city, who affected the manners and dress of women, /cat ttqoq EVTrpeirtiav vtto- ypa"|» k East. Serid or Seriad, ui^Siist^^ ih4^^ land of the hive ;" and Canaan tnu ' celebrated as " a land flowing with milk and honey." The wild bees formed their comb in the crevices of the rocks, and in the hollows of decayed trees. I have already mentioned that the Septuagint, after describing the prudence and foresight of the ant, Prov. vi. 8, directs the sluggard also to inspect the labours of the bees ; to observe with what wonderful art they construct their cells, how their work is regulated, and how diligent and profitable their toil. This pas- sage is quoted by Clemens Alexan- drinus, Stromata, lib. i; Origen, in Numb, homilia, 27, and in Isai. hom. 2 ; Basil, in hexameron, ho- mil. 8; Ambrose, lib. v. c. 21; Jerom, in Ezek. c. iii.; Theodoret, de Providentia, Orat. 5 ; Antiochus, abbas sabbiK, homil. 36 ; and Joh. Da- mascenus, lib ii. paral. c. 89: and though Jerom observes that this is not in the Hebrew text ; neither is it in the ChaldeenorSyriac version ; yet we may suppose that the Greek interpreters translated it from some copy then in use. Bochart^^ quotes several authors, who celebrate conjointly the labours and the skill of the ^nt and the bee ; as ^Elian, Plutarch, Phocilides, Cicero, and others. One or two in- stances must suince here. " Sola hyemimetuejif:, latebroso pumice ccndit Triticeos popiiluta ho minum formica labor cn. Idem amor atque apihit^ eadem experientia parcis." Pontanus, lib. i. de stellis. " Formica et apis utraqne deponunt in annum. Hanc sedulitas, hanc .studium facit virilem. Huic alveus, illi satis est cavum ptmllum," Scaliger, in Carni. •* Avara Milit." " Formica et apis nos operaria docedunt Pro parte laborare, dein frui lab:re" lb. in titulo, " Labor pater fruitionis." The passage in Isai. vii. 8, which mentions the hissing for the bee, is supposed to involve an allusion to the practice of calling out the bees •-» Hieroz. part ii. 1. iv. c. U. p. 3CC. 38 BEE from their hives, by a hissing or whistling sound, to their labour in the fields, and summoning them again to return when the heavens begin to lower, or the shadows of evening to fall. In this manner Je- hovah threatens to rouse the ene- mies of Judah, and lead them to the prey. However widely scattered, or far remote from the scene of ac- tion, they should hear his voice, and with as much promptitude as the bee that has been taught to recog- nise the signal of its owner and obey his call, they should assemble their forces; and, although weak and insignificant as a swarm of bees, in the estimation of a proud and in- fatuated people, they should come, with irresistible might, and take pos- session of the rich and beautiful re- gion which had been abandoned by its terrified inhabitants. The bee is represented by the ancients as a vexatious and even a formidable enemy ; and the expe- rience of every person who turns his attention to the temper and habits of this insect, attests the truth of their assertion. The allusion, there- fore, of Moses to their fierce hos- tility, Deut. i. 44, is both just and beautiful. " The Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir even unto Hormah." The Amorites, it appears, were the most bitter adver- saries to Israel of all the nations of Canaan. Like bees that are easily irritated, that attack with great fury and increasing numbers the person that dares to molest their liive, and persecute him in his flight to a con- siderable distance, the incensed Amorites had collected their hostile bands, and chased the Israelites from their territory. I'he Psalmist also complains that his enemies com- passed him about like bees ; fiercely attacking him on every side. The author of the book of Eccle- siasticus, xi. 3, says : '• The bee is little among such as fly, but her fruit is the chief of sweet things." See Honey. BEE BEETLE. b:iir] chargol. The word occurs only Levit. xi. 22. A species of locust is thought to be there spoken of. The word yet re- mains in the Arabic, and is derived from an original, alluding to the vast number of their swarms. Golius explains it oiihe locust without wings. There is a story of this locust, that it fights against serpents ; and such is the import of its name in Greek, o0io/xa%7/c^^. This arose, perhaps, from finding the insect preying upon the putrid bodies of dead snakes. Some have supposed it the Gryllus verrucivorus of Linnaeus. The Egyptians paid a supersti- tious worship to the beetle, — Blatta Egyptiaca, Lin. Mr. Moljneux, in the " Philosophical Transactions," A'o. 234 ^^ says: " It is more than probable that this destructive beetle we are speaking of, was that very kind of scarabffius, which the idola- trous Egyptians of old had in such high veneration, as to pay divine worship unto it, and so frequently engrave its image upon their obe- lisks, &c. as we see at this day^'. 29 So rendered in the Septuagint. See an account of this insect in Aristot. Hist. Anim. lib. ix, c. 6. " Notandum est ocfjto- /u.ax,*!!' in Lege poni pro Hebmo b3in chargol, aut argol ; 7iam ex tisu veterum p'^text utro- que modo scribi sic nomen puto veteres saip- sisse, adspiratione dempta. Atgtie inde natani esse fabulam de argolis ophimnachis , quos pro locust is serpent es fuisse 7ivgantur, et ideo dictos argolas, quod ex Jrgo Pelasgico in Jh.gyptum ah Alcxandro translati sint, vt Aspides interficerent. Ita refert iSiddas, Af-yoXaJ f»5of c£e MaicgSwv o AXef- a.),^og £x 7H AfyBf T« JJeKac-yniii sig AXftav- 5fjav, xcct svs^stKev en; tov 7roTa/u.ov, tt^sj uvM' f£(r»y T'jjv ua-ni^uiv. Bochart, Hieroz. v. 3. p. 204. 30 Lowtliorp's Abridgm. v. ii. p. 779. 31 Scarabs are even now seen sculp- tured on stones in the royal sepulchres of BEE For nothing can be supposed more natural, than to imagine a nation addicted to polytheism as the Egyp- tians were, in a country frequently suffering great mischief and scarcity from swarms of devouring insects, should, from a strange sense and fear of evil to come, (the common principle of superstition and idola- try,) give sacred worship to the visible authors of these their suffer- ings, in hopes to render them more propitious for the future. Thus it is allowed on all hands, that the same people adored as gods, the ravenous crocodiles of the Nile ; and thus the Romans, though more polite and civilized in their idolatry, '* fehrem ad minus nocendum vere- bantur, eamquevariis templisextructls coLebant." Valer. Maxim. 1. ii. c.5. See under the articles Fly and Lo- cust. BEEVES, -ipn BEKAR. (The Ara- bic generical name is Alhukre.) The generical name for clean ani- mals, such as had hoofs completely divided into two parts only. Col- lectively, herds. The following arrangement of this class of clean animals may gratify the curious. Ox, or beeve, SibN alluph. The chief of all cattle, and indeed of all clean beasts. Psalm viii. 17; cxliv.l4; Jerem. xi. 19^^. Bull, nu' shur ; Chaldee, taiir ; Arabic, al-taur ; Latin, taurus. Young Bull, HE) par. Job, xxi. 10; 1 Sam. vi. 7, 10; Psalm Ixix. 32. Heifer, ms parah. Calf, b^y oget ; Arabic, adjel. Zebu, MiT\ thau ; the little Bar- Biban el Moluk : those momiments are considered as more ancient tiian the pyra- mids. 32 Bochart supposes the word alluph, Jer. xi. 19, to be an adjective, and renders the former part of the sentence thus, " I was brought as a tame sheep to the slaughter ;" probably with an idea that it might be a parallel proverbial speech with Isai. liii. 7. But we may well admit the common trans- lation, the disjunctive partiile being un- derstood, as it is in Ps. Ixix. 21, and Isa. xxxviii. 14. BEH 39 bary cow ; Arabic, bekerel wasJi, But Shaw and Michaelis sup- pose this word, which occurs only in Deut. xiv. 5, and Isai. li. ^0, to be the Buffalo, See Bull. BEHEMOTH. mDm. "This term (says Mr. Good^^) has greatly tried the ingenuity of the critics. By some, among whom are Bythner and Reiske, it is re- garded in Job, xl. 16, as a plural noun for beasts in general : the pe- culiar name of the animal imme- diately described not being men- tioned, as unnecessary, on account of the description itself so easily ap- plied at the time. And iu this sense it is translated in various passages in the Psalms. Thus 1. 10, in which it is usually rendered cattle, as the plural of nnnn, it means unques- tionably a beast or brute, in the ge- neral signification of these words : * For every beast of the field is mine, and the cattle (behemoth) upon a thousand hills.' So again Isai. Ixxiii. 22. * So foolish was I, and igno- rant, I was as a beast (behemoth) before thee.' It is also used in the same sense in ch. xxxv. 11, of the present poem ; * who teacheth us more than the beasts (behemoth) of the earth.' The greater number of critics, however, have understood the word behemoth in the singular number, as the peculiar name of the quadruped here described, of what- ever kind or nature it may be ; al- though they have materially differed upon this last point, some regarding it as the hippopotamus, or river horse, and others as the elephant. Among the chief supporters of the former opinion, are Bochart, Scheuchzer, Shaw, Calmet, and Dr. Stock ; among the principal advocates for the latter interpretation, are Schul- tens and Scott ^*." 33 Book of Job literally translated, with Dissertations, Notes, &c. by John Mason Good, F.R. S. Lond. 1712, p. 473. Notes. 34 To the above authorities in favour of the Elephant may be added, Franzius, Bruce, Gnzzetius, in Comment. ling hebr. Pfeiffer, in dubiis vexatis, p. 519. J. D. 40 BEHEMOTH, In the first edition of this work, I took some pains to prove that the elephant was intended; but a more critical examination of the subject has changed my opinion. " The author of the book of Job has delineated highly finished poeti- cal pictures of two remarkable ani- mals, Behemoth and Leviathan. These he reserves to close his de- scription of animated nature, and with these he terminates the climax of that discourse which he puts into the mouth of the Almighty. He even interrupts that discourse, and separates as it were by that inter- ruption, these surprising creatures from those which he had described before ; and he descants on them in a manner which demonstrates the poetic animation with which he wrote. The two creatures evidently appear to be meant as companions ; to be reserved as fellows and asso- ciates. We are then to inquire what animals were likely to be thus asso- ciated in early ages, and in countries bordering on Egypt, where the scene of this poem is placed. " I believe that it is generally admitted, that the leviathan is the crocodile; his fellow, then, could not be the elephant, which was not known in Egypt ; was not, at least, peculiar to that country, though inhabiting the interior of Africa ^^. Michaelis in Notis Jobi, et Suppl. Lex. Heb. par. 1. page 146. Hiiffnagel, in not. JobJ. ScJioder in specim. i. Hieroz. p. 1. Those who assert it to be the Hippopota- mus, are, Ludolph, Hist, iiithiop, 1. 1. c. xi. H. S. Reimarus, Herder de genio Poes. Hebr. p. 1. p. 130. The learning ot Bochart seems inexhaustible on tliis subject. Mr. Good, however, says : " It is most probable that the Behemoth (unquestion ably a pachydermatous quadruped, or one belon<;ing to the order of this name, to which both the elephant and the hippopota- mus appertain in the Cuverian system) is at present a genus altogether extinct, like the mastodontonton or mammoth, and at least two other enormous genera, all belonging to the same class and order." 35 [The hippopotamus, which never ap- pears below the Cataracts, is the inveterate enemy of the crocodile, and kills it when- ever it meets it : " otherwise," says Has- selquist, " considering the many ejigs the latter lays, it would utterly destroy Egypt."] " Had any ancient Egyptian poems, or even writings, come down to us, we might possess a chance of meet- ing in them something to guide our inquiries ; but of these we are totally deprived. We however maj^ esteem ourselves fortunate, that by means of Egyptian representations we can determine this question, and identify the animal. *' In the great work published under the authority of the king of Naples, containing prints from an- tiquities found in Herculaneum, are some pictures of Egyptian land- scapes, in which are ligures of the crocodile lying among the reeds, and of the hippopotamus browsing on the aquatic plants of an island 3^." And in that famous piece of anti- quity, commonly called the '* Prae- nestine pavement," the crocodile and river-horse are associated ^^ • ^s they are also on the base of the fa- mous statue of the Nile," 36 Scripture Illustr in addition to Calmet, \o. Ixv. 37 This most curious and valuable piece of antiquity was found in the ruins of the Temple of Fortune at Palestine, the ancient Prajneste, about twenty-one miles from Rome. It is formed of small stones of dif- ferent colours, disposed with such art and neatness as to make it comparable to some of the finest paintings. It represents Egypt and a part of Ethiopia ; though not laid down in a geographical manner, nor ac- cording to the rules of perspective. It ex- hibits tracts of land, mountains, valleys, branches of the Nile, lakes, quadrupeds, and fish of various kinds, and a great many- birds. Several of the beasts have names [written near them in Greek letters] not found in historians ; though it is probable that some of these are corrupted through the ignorance of copyists. It represents the huntsmen and fishermen, galleys, boats, men, and women, in dittercnt dresses, great and small buildings of different kinds, obe- lisks, arbours, trees, and plants, with a great variety of the most curious particulars, re- lative to the tinjes in which it was formed ; and presents us with a greater number of objects, relative to the civil and natural history of Egypt and Ethiopia, than are any where else to be met with. A history of this most instructive piece of antiquity is to be found in Montfaucon's Antiquities, vol. xiv.; in Dr. Shaw's Tra- vels, p. 423-4i7- edit. 2. 4to. with an ela- borate explication, and a large plate; and in Harmer's Observations, vol. 4. Dr. Adam Clarke's edition, p. 63—90. BEHEMOTH The hippopotamus is nearly as large as the rhinoceros. The male has been found seventeen feet in length, fifteen in circumference, and seven in height. The head is enor- mously large, and the jaws extend upwards two feet, and are armed with four cutting teeth, each of which is twelve inches in length. The body is of a lightish colour, thinly covered with hair. The legs are three feet long. Though am- phibious, the hoofs, which are quad- rifid, are unconnected with mem- branes. The hide is so thick and tough as to resist the edge of a sword or sabre. Although an inhabitant of the waters, the hippopotamus is well known to breathe air like land ani- mals. On land, indeed, he finds the chief part of his food. It has been pretended that he devours vast quan- tities of fish ; but it appears with the fullest evidence, both from the relations of many travellers, and from the structure of the stomach, in spe- cimens that have been dissected, that he is nourished solely, or almost solely, on vegetable food^^; though occasionally on aquatic plants, yet he very often leaves the waters, and commits wide devastations through all the cultivated fields adjacent to the river. Unless when accidentally pro- voked, or wounded, he is never of- fensive ; but when he is assaulted or hurt, his fury against the assailants is terrible. He will attack a boat, break it in pieces with his teeth j or, where the river is not too deep, he will raise it on his back, and overset it. If, when on shore, he is irritated, he will immediately betake liimself to the water, and there, in his native element, manifest all his strength and resolution. I shall now offer a corrected ver- sion of the description given by Job of the behemoth, and add a few cri- ticisms and comments. 33 See Joh. Gottlieb Schneider, Historia Hippopotami Veterum Critica; addita Ar- tedi Synonomiffi Pisciiim, p. 247. Hassel- quist, p. 281. Lobo, Sparrman,aiid otliers. 41 Behold now Behemoth whom I made with thee 39; He feedeth on grass like the ox. This answers entirely to the hip- popotamus, who, as I before observed, feeds upon grass '*^ ; whereas the proper food of the elephant is the young branches of trees. Behold now his strength is in his loins. His vigour in the muscles of his belly. He plieth his tail, which is like a cedar; The sinews of his thighs are braced toge- ther. His ribs are like unto pipes of copper; His backbone'" like a bar of iron 4^. These verses convey a sublime idea of his bulk, vigour, and strength ; and no creature is known to have firmer or stronger limbs than the river-horse. Bochart justly argues, that behemoth cannot be the ele- phant, because the strength of the elephant consists not in his belly ; for though his hide on the back is very hard, yet on his belly it is soft. On the other hand, the description agrees well with the river-horse, the skin of whose belly is not only natu- rally as thick as on other parts of the body, but is in a degree hardened, or made callous, by its being dragged over the rough stones at the bottom of the river. The skin, indeed, is so remarkably firm and thick as to be almost impenetrable, and to resist the force of spears and darts. This gave occasion to that hyperbole which Ptolemy mentions, lib. vii. c. 2. " The Indian robbers have a skin like that of river-horses ; such as even arrows cannot penetrate." The expression also, ** he moveth his tail like a cedar," furnishes a strong presumption that the hippo- potamus is intended in the text, and 39 " With thee"— -T?3]; ; that is, near thee, or, in thine own country. ■lo P. Gillius, in the account which he gives of a hippopotamus, which he saw, says — " Eodem anhelandi sonitu respiradat, quo bos solet. Edebat faimm, et catera qnxb bovex et equi edere solent.*^ Cap. viii. p. 25. 41 ^121^. LXX. h 5e fax*? awT8, his back- bone. •i'-^ The word for bar is blO?2 metal, which is pure Arabic. A bar of iron is called by the Arabians, matalo al-ohadid: " cum fer- rum contunditur ut longum JiatV Giggeus, as quoted by Chappellow, in he. 42 BEHEMOTH. not the elephant, whose tail, like that of the hog, is small, weak, and inconsiderable. It is, according to Buffon, but two feet and a half or three feet long, and rather slender ; but the tail of the liippopotamus, he observes, resembles that of the tor- toise, only that it is incomparably thicker. The tail of the hippopota- mus, Scheuchzer observes, although short, is thick, and may be compared with the cedar for its tapering, co- nical shape, its smoothness, thick- ness, and strength. But, although it is thick, short, and very firm, yet he moves and twists it at pleasure: which, in the sacred text, is consi- dered as a proof of his prodigious strength. He is chief of the works of God. He that made him hath fastened on his weapon •»3. The fi. led insertion of the tusk is remarkable in this animal ; and it is very properly introduced into a de- scription of his parts, that his Maker has furnished him with a weapon so eminently offensive. The rising lands supply him with food; All the beasts of the field there are made a mock of. It is to be observed, that in the celebrated Prfenestine Mosaic, these river-horses appear on the hillocks that are seen here and there rising above the water, among the vegeta- bles growing upon them. May we not believe that these are the hills, ** the mountains" as in our transla- tion, which bring him forth food ? It is certain that the altar of God, which was only ten cubits high and fourteen square, is, in Ezek. xliii. 15, called bti irt har el, " the moun- tain of God." The eminences then 43 The word nn is of Phoenician origin, and signifies a tusk; whence the Greek ocp-mn, which the poets attribute to the Hip- popotamus. Thus Nicander, in his Theri- acon, V. 556. H jTnre, Tov NtiXcf vTrcp Imv ai^aXosra-ctv Upon which the Scholiast observes : 'AfTni oXa; T8,- (TTaXPOiq ipwyBi. See also Nonnus, in b. xxvi. of his Aiovjc-jctxwv to the same effect. which appear as the inundation of the Nile subsides, may undoubtedly be called mountains in the poetical language of the book of Job. Nor is it any wonder that these animals are pictured in the pavement on these eminences, since the Turkey wheat is what they are fond of, and that vegetable grows on them. So Hasselquist tells us, that he saw, on the 17th of September, " the places not yet overflown, or where it has already begun to decrease, clothed with a charming verdure, a great part sown with Turkey wheat, and some parts, though bat few, with lucern." p. 84. And on the other hand, he tells us in another place, that " the river-horse does much damage to the Egyptians in those places which he frequents, destroy- ing, in a short space of time, an en- tire field of corn or clover, not leaving the least verdure as he passes, being voracious, and requiring much to fill his great belly." This agrees with Maillet's account, who tells us, " it is incredible how pernicious he is to the productions of the earth, deso- lating the fields, and eating in all places through which he passes, the ears of corn, especially the Turkey wheat''*." Hasselquist, in the first of the two last citations, goes on to inform us, that " innumerable birds were to be seen on the places not under water: I thought this the more remarkable as an incredible number covered the fields." We see birds, accordingly, upon some of the hillocks in the Praenestine pavement, and beasts in great variety upon others. This an- swers to that other clause, " where all the beasts of the field are disrer garded," or made no account of. This may either imply that other animals do not meet with annoyance from him, or that he disregards or defies them''^. All the wild beasts of the coun- 44 Let. ix. p. 31. 45 See this ingeniously illustrated in Fragments, published as an Appendix to Calmet, No. Ixv. from which extracts have been freely taken in the above explana- tions. BEHEMOTH. 4.5 tries where the elephant resides, are not mountaineers; and if they were, it would be difficult to assign a rea- son why that circumstance should be mentioned in a description of the terribleness of the elephant ; but all the quadrupeds of Egypt are obliged to retire to these emmences when the Nile overflows, and the coming of the hippopotamus among them, and destroying all the verdure of the places of their retirement, augments our ideas of the terribleness of this creature. He sheltereth himself under the shady trees ^, In the coverts of the reeds and in ooze; The branches tremble as thej* cover him, The willows of the stream while they hang over him. These verses describe the places in which the behemoth seeks shelter and repose; and the vegetables here mentioned are such as grow upon the banks of the Nile. That the elephant is not described here, Bochart argues, because he very rarely lies down, but even sleeps standing. But concerning the hip- popotamus, the passage which he quotes from Marcellinus, is, as he writes, " locus Jobi loco gernhius ;" who, speaking of the hippopotamus, says, " Inter arundines celsas et squa- lentes nimla densitate h(cc hellua cu- hilibus positis,'* &c. Therefore we are to consider, as he observes, whe- ther those words in Psalm Ixviii. 30, do not belong to him ; " Rebuke the company of the spearmen." But the literal construction, as in the margin of our Bibles, is, rebuke the beast of the reeds. The people of Egypt, he thinks, being figuratively represented by the river-horse ; because, imme- diately, mention is made of bulls and calves, which the Egyptians wor- shiped. Indeed, Bochart under- stands bn2 NAHAL, ** the stream," to mean the Nile. So in Numb, xxxiv. 5, for the Hebrew word bn3 nahai, Jonathan and the Jerusalem Talmud read Dib''^ nilus. The word is used for that river also, Josh. xv. 4, 47 ; ^ " Shady trees," Q-bNV.the Lotus-trees, according to Schultens, from the Arabic 1 Kings, viii. 65; 2 Kings, xxiv. 7; 2 Chron. vii. 8 ; Isai. xxvii. 12. Mr. Good observes, that *' the description is peculiarly bold and beautiful, and may challenge the whole scope of Grecian and Roman literature for a parallel. Dr. Stock, who is the only translator that has fairly rendered the Hebrew ibbv as a verb, " they quake," (the rest understanding it as a substantive, which requires the aid of a supplied preposition to make sense of it,) has given a tame and inadequate version of the text, by explaining *' they quake" — they play to and fro. The real intention is clear. The shadowy trees themselves are alarmed at his fear- ful and enormous form, and tremble while they afford him a shelter." Behold the eddy may press, he will not hurry himself. He is secure, though the river rise against his mouth 47. No sudden rising of the river gives him any alarm. He is not borne awav with the violence or rapidity of the stream ; but enjoys himself the same as if the river ran with its usual flow. This is peculiarly appli- cable to the hippopotamus, but not to the elephant ; for though the lat- ter may ford a river, yet he will not stem one that is deep and violent. Though any one attempt to take him in a net«, Through the meshes he will pierce with his snout. This must refer to the method of taking fish with a net ; and is an additional reason for applying the description to an aquatic animal. 47 « I render," says Dr. Durrell, " pn* a river, considering it as an appellative, rather than as a proper name. It is derived from n" to descend, the common property of all rivers. By the word thus interpreted, the Nile may be meant, which is more likely than Jordan, because the hippopotamus is a stranger to this latter river, as was pro- bably Job himself." 48 Dr. Durrell says, " I give this sense to T^D"]; from the Arabic, which signifies la- queolus in extremitate nervi, which its cor- relate in the next hemistich points out." And he quotes a passage from Achilles Tatius, to prove, that this animal is not to be taken in sn.ires. 44 B E R [Burckhardt thus describes the hippopotamus, called in Arabic the Barnik or Forass el Bahr, i. e. river- horse. " The voice of a hippopota- mus is a harsh and heavy sound, like the creaking or groaning of a large wooden door: it is made when he raises his huge head out of the water, and when he retires into it again. He sleeps on shore, eats greens, but not flesh, and passes his days under water. He is here (in Mahass) caught by pits and snares, and famishes food for the table of the Malek^^:''] To relieve the reader a little, I insert the following poetic version by Mr. Scott. " Behold my Behemoth his bulk uproar. Made by thy Maker, grazing like a steer. What strength is seated in each brawny loin! What muscles brace his amplitude of groin ! Huge like a cfdar, see his tail arise; Large nerves their meshes weave about his thighs; His ribs are channels of unyielding brass, His chine a bar of iron's harden'd mass. My sovereign work ! and, other beasts to awe, I with a tusky falchion arm'd his jaw. In peaceful majesty of might he goes, And on the verdant isles his forage mows ; Where beasts of every savage name resort. And in wild gambols round his greatness sport. In moory creeks beside the reedy pools. Deep plunged in ooze his glowing flanks he cools. Or near the banks enjoys a deeper shade Where lotes and willows tremble o'er his head. No swelling river can his heart dismay. He stalks secure along the watery way; Or should it heap its swiftly eddying waves Against his mouth, the foaming flood he braves. Go now, thy courage on this creature try, Dare the bold duel, meet his open eye ; In vain! nctr can thy strongest net confine A strength which yields to no device of thine." BERYL. u;*'U'-in tabshish. BH- PYAAOS. Apocal. xxi. 20. A pellucid gem of a sea or bluish green colour. From this it seems to have derived its Hebrew name ; as the word is applied to the sea in Psalm xlviii. 7, and Isai. ii. 16. Bochart, in bringing his proofs 49 Travels in Nubia, p. 250. BIR that Tartessus in Spain was the an- cient Tarshish, intimates, that this precious stone might hence have had its name ; and quotes as authority the following passage from Pliny. " Bacchus auctor est et in Hispania repertus (chrysolithos), quo in loco crystallum dicit, ad libramentum aqucc piiteis effossis inde erutum," It was the tenth stone on the pec- toral. Exod. xxviii. 10. In the Septuagint, and by Josephus, Epi- phanius and Jerom, it was rendered chrysolite (see Ezek. xxviii. 13); but Dr. Geddes says that, with Abarba- nel, he believes the beryl to be in- tended. [Lamy concludes it to be the chrysolite or topaz ; but he adds, that some suppose it to be the aigue marine.^ BIRDS, "nsv TsippoR. A com- mon name for all birds ; but some- times used for the sparrow in par- ticular. Occurs often. Siy oiTH. The Jlyer. Translated " fowl," Gen. i. 21, and elsewhere frequently. to-y ait; a bird of prey; hence the Greek AETOS, the eagle. In Gen. XV. 11 ; Job, xxviii. 7 ; and Isai. xviii. 6, translated '* fowls ;" in Jerem. xii. 9, " bird ;" and in Isai. xlvi. 11, and Ezek. xxxix. 4, "ra- venous birds." onnn barbarim, occurs only 1 Kings, iv. 23, and rendered " fowls," is supposed to be those which had been fatted to the greatest delicacy. A general name for winged ani- mals of the feathered kind. They are distinguished, by the Jewish legislator, into clean and unclean, that is, such as might be eaten and such as might not. Of this, some- thin g will benoted under their proper articles. It may in brief be observed here, that such as fed upon grain and seeds were allowed for food, and such as devoured flesh and carrion were prohibited. Birds were offered for sacrifice on many occasions. Levit. i. 14, 15, 16, and v. 7, 8. Moses, to inspire the Israelites with sentiments of tenderness to- BIR wards the brute creation, orders, if they find a bird's nest, not to take the dam with the young, but to suffer the old one to fly away, and to take the young only. Deut. xxii. 6. This is one of those merciful constitutions in the law of Moses, which respect the animal creation, and tended to humanize the heart of that peojDle, to excite in them a sense of the Divine Providence extending itself to all creatures, and to teach them to exercise their dominion over them with gentleness. The law seems also to regard posterity ; for letting the dam go free, the breed may be con- tinued ; whereas if it should wholly fail, would it not in the end be ill with them, and by thus cutting off the means of their continual support, must not their days be shortened on the land ? Besides, the young never knew the sweets of liberty ; the dam did : they might be taken and used for any lawful purpose ; but the dam must not be brought into a state of captivity. They who can act other- wise must be either very inconsiderate or devoid oi feeling ; and such per- sons can never be the objects of God's peculiar care and attention, and there- fore need not expect that it shall be well with them, or that they shall prolong their days upon the earth. Every thing contrary to the spirit of mercy and kindness, the ever blessed God has in utter abhorrence. And we should remember a fact ; that he who can exercise cruelty towards a sparrow or a wren, will, when cir- cumstances are favourable, be cruel to his fellow creatures ^°. The poet Phocylides has a maxim, in his admonitory poem, very similar to that in tlie sacred texts. M>]Se TJ5 ofvtfia? xcthin; otixa Travra? sKec^u], ' M>iT£fa 5' £X7rgoX*7ry]j iv' £X*lf TaXjvnjf 5e veomtg. V.80. Nor from a nest take all the birds away, The mother spare, she'll breed a future day. It appears that the ancients hunted birds. Baruch, iii. 17, speaking of the kings of Babylon, says, ** They had their pastime with the fowls of 50 Dr. Adam Clarke's note in loc. BIT 45 the air;" and Daniel, iii. 38, tells Nebuchadnezzar, that God had made the fowls of the air subject to him. BITTER-HERBS. onnD muru- RiM. Exod. xii. 8, and Numb. ix. 11. The Jews were commanded to eat their passover with a salad of bitter herbs ; but whether one particular plant was intended, or any kind of bitter herbs, has been made a ques- tion. By the Septuagint it is rendered £7ri TTLKpidiov : by Jerom, " cum lac- tucis agrestibus ;" and by the Gr. Venet. £7rt iriKpiffiv. Dr. Geddes remarks, that " it is highly probable, that the succory or wild-lettuce is meant : the Jews of Alexandria, who translated the Pentateuch, could not be ignorant what herbs were eaten with the paschal lamb in their days. Jerom understood it in the same manner; and Pseudo- Jonathan ex- pressly mentions horehound and let- tuces,'' Eubulus, an Athenian comic poet, in his Amalthea, mentions Hercules as refusing to eat the itiKpihgy in these words : Kayw yaf B xauXoi(r»v, ale crt^cpiuf 0\.'5' h^oavhoig koh iriy.^aig Traf o\(/»o-» 3o7\§ot; T'e/uauTOv ^o^aTwv eAvjXufia. The Mishna in Pesachim, cap. 2, reckons five species of these bitter herbs. (1.) Chazareth, taken for lettuce. (2.) Ulsin, supposed to be endive or succory. (3.) Tamca, probably tansay^'. (4.) Charub- BiNiM, which Bochart thought might be the nettle, but Scheuchzer shews to be the camomile. (5.) Meroh, the sow-thistle, or dent-de-lion, or wild lettuce. Mr. Forskal says, " the Jews in Sana, and in Egypt, eat the lettuce with the paschal lamb ;" he also re- marks that moruis centaury, of which the young stems are eaten in Febru- ary and March. BITTERN. TiDp kephud. Oc- curs Isai. xiv. 23, xxxiv. 11 ; and Zeph. ii. 14. Interpreters have rendered this 51 Harmer Obs. v. 3. p. 100. 46 BIT word variously ; an owl, an osprey, a tortoise, a porcupme, and even an otter. ** How unhappy," says Mr. Harmer, " that a word which occurs but three times in the Hebrew Bible should be translated by three differ- ent words, and that one of them should be otters^^T' Isaiah, prophesying the destruc- tion of Babylon, says, that " the Lord will make it a possession for the bit- tern, and pools of water ;" and Zepha- niah, ii. 14, prophesying against Nineveh, says that ** the cormorant and bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it ; their voice shall sing in the wiiidows^^. Dr. Shaw, Bp. Lowth, Mr. Dodson, and Bp. Stock, following Bochart, I think improperly, render it the porcupine. I see no propriety in ranking that animal with the cor- morant, the raven, and the owl ; but the bittern, which is a retired bird, is more likely to be found in their company in the same wilds and fens. Besides, the porcupine is not an aquatic animal : and pools of water are pointed out as the retreat of those here mentioned. Neither has it any note ; yet of these creatures it is said, their voices shall sing in the windows ; least of all could we think of either that or the other making a 52 Scheuchzer says, " the beaver is what best agrees with the word." 53 Vide J. E. Faber, Dissertatio de Ani- malibus quorum mentio tit Zeph. ii. 14. BLU lodging on the chapiters of the co* lumns. It is remarkable that the Arabic version reads, Al-houbara. Accord- ing to Dr. Shaw, the Houbara is " of the bigness of a capon, but of a longer habit of body. It feeds on little shrubs and insects, like the Graab el Sahara, frequenting in like manner the confines of the desert." Golius interprets it the bustard ; and Dr. liussel says, that the Arabic name of the bustard is " houbry." BLACK. There are three words in the Hebrew. (1.) -|^n\l' shakor, [or sichor] which is applied to the blackness of a quenched coal. Job, XXX. 30 ; Lament, v. 10 ; to the darkness which precedes the dawn- ing of the day. Job, iii. 9, and many otber places ; and to the colour of the raven, Cantic. v. 11. (2.) )r''N Aisii, is the blackness of the pupil of the eye, Deut. xxii. 10 ; Psalm vii. 2, 9, and xx. 20. (3.) lip koder, the darkness of the sky, Mic. iii. 6 ; and emblematic of mourning. Job, XXX. 28, and frequently elsewhere. BLUE. The Hebrew word nb'^n THECHELETH, Exod. XXV. 4, and thirty times more in this single book, has been variously understood by inter- preters. Josephus. Antiq. 1. iii. c. 8, §1. Philo,in Vit. Mos. 1. iii. p. 148. Origen, Greg. Nyssen, Am- brose, Jerom, and most qf the an- cient versions, render it hyacinthine ; but Bochart asserts it to be cerulean, azure, or sky colour ^^. My learned friend, the Hon. James Winthrop, suggests that the colour extracted from the indigo may be intended. That plant probably de- rived its origin, as it doubtless does its name, from India, where its beau- tiful dyes have long given value to the fine linens and cottons of that ancient empire. Niebuhr mentions two places in Arabia in which indigo is now cultivated and prepared ^^. 54 Hieroz. part ii. lib. v. c. 19. Conf. Braunius de Vest, sacerd. Hebr. ii. 14. p. 553. Abarbinei, " est sericum infectum co- lore (}ui mari similis est." 55 Page 133, and 197. BOA Whether it grew there in remote ages, may not be easily determined. The splendour and magnificence of dress seem to have consisted, among the ancients, very much in the rich- ness of colours ; the art of dyeing which to perfection was esteemed a matter of great skill. The excellence of the Tyrian purple is celebrated by both sacred and profane authors ; and the blue, which, from many passages of Scripture, we find to have been in great request, was imported from remote countries, as an article of expensive and elegant luxury. See Ezek. xxvii. 7, 24 ; Jer. x. 4. Buxtorf, in his Hebrew Lexicon, applies the word translated vermilion in Jer. ii. 14, and Ezek. xxiii. 14, to the dye prepared from indigo. Harenburg, in Musaeum Brem. vol. ii. p. 297, observes that the thecheleth of the Jews is by the Tal- mudists rendered ^i^bn chalasdon, which he thinks to be the Greek yXarov, the Latin glastum, and the German woad. BOAR. Tm HAziR. Occ. Levit. xi. 9; Deut. xiv. 8; Psalm Ixxx. 13; Prov. xi. 22; Isai. Ixv. 4, Ixvi. 3, 17. BOX 47 The wild boar is considered as the parent stock of our domestic hog. He is much smaller, but at (he same time stronger and more undaunted. In his own defence, he will turn on men or dogs ; and scarcely shuns any denizen of the forests, in the haunts where he ranges. His colour is always an iron gray, inclining to black. His snout is longer than that of the common breed, and his ears are comparatively short. His tusks are very formidable, and all his habits are fierce and savage. It should seem, from the accounts of ancient authors, that the ravages of the wild boar were considered as more formidable than those of other savage animals^^. The conquest of the Erymanthian boar was one of the fated labours of Hercules ; and the story of the Calydonian boar is one of the most beautiful in Ovid. The destructive ravages of these animals are mentioned in Psalm Ixxx. 14. Dr. Pocock observed very large herds of uild boars on the side of Jordan, where it flows out of the sea of Tiberias ; and several of them on the other side lying among the reeds by the sea. The wild boars of other countries delight in the like moist retreats. These shady marshes then, it should seem, are called in the scripture, " woods," for it calls these animals " the wild boars of the woods ^^." See Hog. BOX-TREE, iwsn teashur. Occ. Isai. xli. 9 ; Ix. 13 ; and Ezek. xxvii. 6. Buxus, 2 Esdras, xiv. 24 ; wliere the word appears to be used for tablets. Though most of the ancient, and several of the modern translators render this the Buxus, or box-tree ; from its being mentioned along with trees of the forest, some more stately tree must be intended. The Hebrew name im.Yi\ies,Jiourishirig or perpetual viridity: and in the Rabbinical book 56 Herodot. Hist. " Clio," § xxxvi. 57 See also Oedmann, Vermischte Samni- lungen, fascic, i. c. 4. p. 41. I 48 BOX Jelammedenu, we read, " Quare va- catur Theaschur? Quia est felicis- sima inter omnes species cedrorum." The passage Ezek. xxvii. 6, is of very difficult construction. The learned Mr. Dimock published a discourse upon it, in 1783, which I have not been able to procure. In our version it is, *' The company of the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of Chittim." The original anu;^ nn, rendered *' company of the Ashu- rites," Michaelis, (Spicel. Geogr. p. iii.) proposes, by a change of points, to read ** Jilite lucorum,'' supposing it to refer to the elephant, the inha- bitant of the woods. Other learned men have said, " ivory, the daughter of steps ;" " ivory well trodden ;" " ivory set in box ;" &c. And Bishop Newcome renders it, "Thy benches have they made of ivory, inlaid in box, from the isles of Chittim." The ancients sometimes made ornamen- tal marquetry, or veneered work of box and ivory inlaid. * Quale per artem Inclumm Buxo, out Oricia Terebintho Lucet Ebur." Virgil, Mn. x. V. 135. But this would hardly be used on benches in a ship. The word ]\t} SHEX, " ivory," is wanting in one manuscript; and the bishop thinks it wrongly inserted in the text ; the transcriber having been led to the mistake by the similar ending of the preceding word. The author of " Fragments as an Appendix to Calmet," No. ccxvii., proposes this reading : " thy shrine they made of ivory ; for the Deity, the daughter of Assyria, brought from the isles of Chittim*^." He supposes the Assyrian nymph, or Venus, of excellent Greek sculpture, to have been placed at the extremity 58 The Syriac version reads Chetthoje, which has some resemblance to Cataya ; by which we are directed towards Ijidia. Some of the Arabs translate the word, the isles of India : but the Chaldee has it, the province of ylfulia, meaning the region of elephants, and probably intending Pul in Egypt. BRA of the poop of the vessel, as the tutelar deity. The LXX seem to authorize this construction ; ra itpa i ecoth, and pi dak, imply. And I cast the dust thereof into the brook, and being thus lighter than the water, it would readily float, so that they could easily see, in this re- duced and useless state, the idol to which they had lately offered divine honours, and from which they were vainly expecting protection and de- fence. No mode of argumentation could have served so forcibly to de- monstrate the folly of their conduct as this method pursued by Moses." The Hebrews, without doubt, upon this occasion, intended to imitate the worship of the god Apis^"^, which they had seen in Egypt. In after times, Jeroboam having been ac- knowledged king by the ten tribes of Israel, and intending to separate them for ever from the house of Da- vid, thought fit to provide new gods for them, whom they might worship in their own country, without being obliged to go to the temple of Jeru- salem, there to pay their adoration. 1 Kings, xii. 27 — 30. Monceau, in his " Aaron purgatus," thought that these golden calves were imitations of the cherubim, and that they oc- casioned rather a schismatic than an idolatrous worship : and it is con- fessed, that all Israel did not re- nounce the worship of Jehovah by 87 An Egyptian deity worshiped in the form of a bull. See Philo, de Vita Mosis, p. 667, and Selden de Diis Syris. Synt. 1, c. 4. C AL adoptiag that of the golden calves, and by ceasing to go up to Jerusa- lem. Jehovah did not altogether abandon Israel ; but sent them pro- phets, and preserved a great number of faithful worshippers, who either went privately to the temple at Je- rusalem, as Tobit tells us he did, ch. i. 5 ; or worshiped God in their own houses. Nevertheless, the de- sign of Jeroboam was to corrupt the people; and he is frequently re- proached with having made Israel to sin ; and when, at any time, the Scripture would describe a bad prince, it is by saying that he imi- tated Jeroboam, who introduced this idolatrous worship. ** It is well known," says Bishop Newcome^^ " that animals of this species were worshiped in Egypt the Apis at Memphis, and the Mnevis at Heliopolis. As they were em- ployed in tilling the ground, they may have been used as symbols of one who had anciently introduced or improved the art of agriculture. Males of this kind were dedicated to Osiris, and females to Isis. The I sraelites may have originally bor- rowed this superstition from the Egyptians, and may have afterwards revived it ; imputing the great fer- tility of Egypt to the deity thus re- presented." The glory of Israel was their God, their law, and their ark ; but the adorers of the golden calves consi- dered those idols as their glory. Hosea says, x. 5, " The priests thereof rejoiced on it for the glory thereof.'' And he exclaims to them in raillery, xiii. ^2, "Ye who worship calves, come, sacrifice men !" Can there be any greater madness? Ye adore calves, and sacrifice men to Moloch ! The Septuagint, however, gives this passage another meaning. ** They say, we want calves, sacrifice men." We have no more calves to sacrifice, let us bring men for that purpose. But the Hebrew may be interpreted, *• let them who would sacrifice, come and kiss the calves." 88 Note on Hosea, viii. 6. CAM b? Hosea foretold the destruction of these idols, viii. 5, 6. ** Thy calf, Samaria, hath cast thee ofi^; mine anger is kindled against them. The calf of Samaria shall become as con- temptible as spider's webs." The Assyrians, having taken Samaria, carried off the golden calves with their worshippers. The Hebrew word, translated " spider's webs," is difficult. The Septuagint trans- lates it " is deceitful," or " mis- taken;" Symmachus, ** is incon- stant," or *' gone astray ;" the Rab- bins, *' is as it were dust," sawdust ; the generality of interpreters, " is broken to pieces." Jerom was in- formed by his Hebrew master, that it signified spiders' webs, which float in the air and are soon dis- persed. CAMEL. bD3 GAMAL. In Chal- dee, it is called gamala ; in ancient Arabic, gimel ; and in modern, djam- mel ; in Greek, fca/nr/Xo^. With very little variation, the name of this animal is retained in modern lanyuajjes. An animal very common in Ara- bia, Judea, and the neighbouring countries. It is often mentioned in Scripture, and reckoned among the most valuable property. 1 Chron. V. 21 ; Job, i. 3, &c. I'his animal is distinguished from the dromedary ^^ by having two pro- tuberances or bunches of thick matted 89 [This is a mistake. The Arabian camel has but one hump : the Bactrian camel has two. See Dromedary. Of the Arabian camel, there are several species. Those of Yemen are small and of a light brown colour : those of Nedjed are dark brown, large, and lubberly.] 56 CAMEL. hair on its back. Its height is six feet six inches. Its head is small ; ears short; neck long, slender, and bending, [The mouth and lips are covered with a thick cartilage, to protect them from the plants of the desert, which are for the most part prickly]. Its hoofs are in part, but not thoroughly divided. The bot- tom of the foot is tough and pliant. The tail is long, and terminates in a tuft of considerable length. On the legs this animal has six callosities ; four on the fore legs, and two on the hinder ; besides another on the lower part of the breast. These are the parts on which it rests. Its hair is fine, soft, and of considerable length ; of a dusky reddish colour. Besides the same internal structure as other ruminating animals, tlie camel is furnished with an additional bag, which serves as a reservoir to con- tain a quantity of water till it be- comes necessary to quench his thirst and macerate his food: at which time, by a simple contraction of cer- tain muscles, he makes a part of this water ascend into his stomach, or even as high as the gullet. This singular construction enables him to travel several days in the sandy de- serts wTithout drinking ; and to take at once a prodigious quantity of water, which is held in reservation. Though of a heavy and apparently unwieldy form, this animal moves with considerable speed. With a bale of goods on his back, he will travel at the rate of thirty miles a day. •• The camel ruminates, but, whe- ther it fully parts the hoof, is a ques- tion so undecided," says Michaelis, (Laws of Moses, article 204), " that we do not, even in the ' Memoirs of the Academy at Paris,' find a sa- tisfactory answer to it on all points. The foot of the camel is actually divided into two toes, and the di- vision below is complete, so that the animal might be accounted clean ; but then it does not extend the whole length of the foot, but only to the fore part ; for behind, it is not parted, and we find, besides, under it and connected with it, a ball on which the camel goes. Now, in this dubious state of circumstances, Moses authoritatively declares (Le- vit. xi. 4), that the camel has not the hoof fully divided. It would appear as if he had meant that this animal, heretofore accounted clean by the Ishmaelites, Midianites, and all the rest of Abraham's Arabian descendants, should not be eaten by the Israelites ; probably with a view to keep them, by this means, the more separate from these nations, with whom their connexion and their coincidence in manners was otherwise so close ; and, perhaps too, to prevent them from conceiving any desire to continue in Arabia, or to devote themselves again to their favourite occupation of wandering herdsmen ; for in Arabia, a people will always be in an uncomfort- able situation, if they dare not eat the flesh and drink the milk of the camel." To this opinion of Mi- chaelis, an objection is made by Ro- senmuller, in his note upon Bochart (Hieroz. v. 1. p. 12); and he is rather inclined to think, that the prohibition was predicated upon the unwholesomeness of the flesh itself, and the general opinion as stated by Pocock, (in Not, ad Specim. Hist. Arab. Ex. Abulpharagio, p. 87), that eating the flesh of the camel gene- rated ill humours in the mind, as well as in the body ^. Though this might not in fact be the effect, yet, if it was a prevailing opinion in the time of Moses, it was sufficient to justify the interdiction. It being so evident, that the camel was declared unclean in the Leviti- cal law, it is something strange, that Hehogabalus should order the flesh of camels and ostriches to be served up at his table, saying, " prxceptum Jiidctis ut ederenty" there was a pre- cept of the Jews, that they might be 90 " Qui camihus camelorum vesci solent^ odii tenaces sunt. Ihide insitum Arahibus, deserti cultorihus, hoc vitium, ideo quod ca- melorum camibus vescantur." CAMEL. eaten (as Larapridius, cap. 28, re- ports bis words). Salmasius, how- ever, says, tliat a manuscript in the Palatine library, reads : " struthio- camelos exhibidt in caiiis," — he had the camel-bird [ostriches] served up at supper. " No creature," says Volney, ** seems so peculiarly fitted to the climate in which he exists, as the camel. Designing this animal to dwell in a country where he can find little nourishment, nature has been sparing of her materials in the whole of bis formation. She hfis not bestowed upon him the fleshi- ness of the ox, hor.>,e, or elephant ; but, limiting herself to what is strictly necessary, has given him a long head, without ears, at the end of a long neck without flesh ; has taken from his legs and thighs every muscle not immediately requisite for motion; and, in short, bestowed upon its withered body only the ves- sels and tendons necessary to con- nect its frame together. She has furnished him with a strong jaw, that he may grind the hardest ali- ments ; but, lest he should consume too much, has straitened his sto- mach, and obliged him to chew the cud ; has lined his foot with a lump of flesh, which sliding in the mud. and being no way adapted to climb- ing, fits him only for a dry, level, and sandy soil, like that of Arabia. So great, in short, is the importance of the camel to the desert, that, were it deprived of that useful ani- mal, it mast infallibly lose every in- habitant." The Arabians, of course, hold the camel in the highest estimation and Bochart has preserved an an- cient Arabic eulogy upon this ani- mal, which is a great curiosity^'. See Dromedary. Camels were in ancient times very numerous in Judea, and over all the East. The patriarch Job had at first three thousand, and after the days of his adversity had passed away, six thousand camels. The 91 Hieroz. V. 1. p. 13, edit, Rosenmuller. Midianites and Amalekites had ca- mels without number, as the sand upon the sea shore, Judg. vii. 1 2. So great was the importance at- tached to the propagation and ma- nagement of camels, that a particular officer was appointed, in the reign of David, to superintend their keep- ers. Nor is it without design that the sacred writer mentions the de- scent of the person appointed ; he was an Ishmaelite, and therefore supposed to be thoroughly skilled in the treatment of that useful quad- raped. rhe chief use of the camel has always been as a beast of burden, and for performing journeys across the deserts. They have sometimes been used in war, to carry the bag- gage of an oriental army, and mingle in the tumult of the battle. Many of the Amalekite warriors, who burnt Ziklag in the time of David, were mounted on camels ; for rhe sacred historian remarks, that of the whole army not a man escaped the furious onset of that heroic and exasperated leader, " save four hundred young men, which rode upon camels^ and fled." 1 Sam. xxx. 17, A passage of Scripture has been the occasion of much criticism, in which our Lord says, " It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven." Matth. xix. 24. Some assert that near Jerusalem was a low gate callf^d " the needle's eye," through which a camel could not pass unless his load were taken oflu Others con- jecture, that as the ancient j3 and ft are much alike in manuscripts, /ca- fjiiXog here, and in Aristophanes, vesp. schol. 1030, should be read Ka(3L\oQ, a cable. But it is to be recollected, that the ancient manu- scripts were in capital letters ; and there are no ancient MSS. to sup- port the reading. But in the Jewish Talmud, there is a similar proverb about an elephant. ** Rabbi She- sheth answered Rabbi Amram, who had advanced an absurdity. Perhaps 60 CAMEL. thoa art one of the Pampidithians, who can make the elephant pass through the eye of a needle ;" that is, says the Aruch, " who speak things im- possible." There is also an expres- sion similar to this in the Koran : " The impious, who in his arrogancy shall accuse our doctrine of falsity, shall find the gates of heaven shut ,; nor shall he enter there, till a camel shall pass through the eye of a needle. It is thus that we shall recompense the wicked." Surat. vii. V. 37. Indeed, Grotius, Light- foof, Wetstein, and Michaelis join in opinion, that the comparison is so much in the figurative stjle of the oriental nations and of the Rab- bins, that the text is sufiiciently au- thentic. In Matthew, xxiii. 24, is another proverbial expression. " Ye strain at a gnat and swallow a camel." Dr. Adam Clarke has proved that here is an error of the press in print- ing the English translation, in which at has been substituted for out, which first occurred in the edition of 1611, and has been regularly continued since. It may be remarked too, that the Greek word divki^ovTig, here translated " strain," does not denote, as many have understood it, to make an effort to swallow, but to filter, ox percolate ; and alludes to a custom which the Jews had of filter- ing their wine, for fear of swallowing any insect forbidden by the law as unclean. Maimonides, in his trea- tise of forbidden meats, c. 1, art. 20, affords a remarkable illustration of our Saviour's proverbial expres- sion. " He who strains wine, or vinegar, or strong drink (says he), and eats the gnats, oifiies, or worms, which he has strained off, is whip- ped." That the Jews used to strain their wine, appears also from the LXX version of Amos, vi. 6, where we read of dLvXifTfjiTivov oivov, strain- ed, or filtered wine. This expres- sion is applied to those who are superstitiously anxious in avoiding small faults, yet did not scruple to commit the greatest sinsj and it plainly refers to the Jewish law, in which both gnats and camels were considered as unclean. See Gnat. On tlie subject of cloth made from camels' hair, I extract the following remarks from ** Fragments Supple- mentary to Calmet's Dictionary, No. cccxx." " John the Baptist, we are told, was habited in a raiment of camels' hair ; and Chardin assures us, that the modern dervises wear such gar- ments ; as they do also great leathern girdles ^^. Camels' hair is also made into those most beautiful stuffs, called shawls; but certainly the coarser manufacture of this material was adopted by John, and we may receive a good idea of its texture, from what Braithwaite says of the Arabian tents ^^ ; * they are made of camels' hair, somewhat like our coarse hair cloths to lay over goods.' By this coarse vesture, the Baptist was not merely distinguished, but contrasted with those in royal pa- laces, who wore soft raiment, such as shawls, or other superfine manu- factures, whether of the same ma- terial or not. " We may, I think, conclude that Elijah the Tishbite wore a dress of the same stuff, and of the like coarse- ness. 2 Kings, i. 8. * A man dressed in hair (hair-cloth, no doubt), and girt with a girdle of leather.' Our translation reads * a hairy man;' which might, by an unwary reader, be referred to his person, as in the case of Esau; but it should un- doubtedly be referred to his dress. Observe, too, that in Zechariah, xiii, 4, a rough garment, that is of a hairy manufacture, is noticed as a cha- racteristic of a prophet. " lliis may lead us to inquire, what might be the nature of the sackclothso often mentioned in Scrip- ture ; and I the rather attempt this, because Mr. Harmer tells us that * it was a coarse kind of woollen cloth, such as they made sacks of, and neither haircloth, nor made of *J Harmer, Obs. V. 2. p. 487. 93 Journey to Morocco, p. 138. CAM hemp ; nor was there that humilia- tion in wearing it, which we sup- pose^**.' This is incorrect, because the Scripture expressly mentions, Rev. vi. 12, * The sun became black as sackcloth of hair;' and Isai. 1. 8, * I clothe the heavens with black- ness, I make sackcloth their cover- ing.' Sackcloth then was made of hair, and it was black. The pro- phets wore it at particular times ^^, and agreeably to that custom, the two witnesses. Rev. xi. 3, are repre- sented as clothed in sackloth; im- plying the revival and resumption of the ancient prophetical habili- ment. It was used in these cases to express mourning. It appears, also, to have been employed to en- wrap the dead, when about to be buried; so that its being worn by survivors was a kind of assimilation to the departed ; and its being worn by penitents was an implied confes- sion that their guilt exposed them to death. This may be gathered from an expression of Chardin, who says, * Kel Anayet, the Shah's buf- foon, made a shop in the seraglio, which he filled with pieces of that kind of stuff of which winding sheets for the dead are made :' and again — * the sufferers die by hundreds, viTapping-cloth is doubled in price.' However, in later ages, some na- tions might bury in linen, yet others still retained the use of sackcloth for that purpose." CAMPHIRE. -13D GOPHER. Turc. /ca/wr [Meninski,Lexic. 3849]. Gr. KVTTpog. Lat. Cyprus. Occ. Cantic. i. 14 ; iv. 13. Sir T. Browne supposes the plant mentioned in the Canticles, ren- dered KVTTQOQ in the Septuagint, and Cyprus in the Vulgate, to be that described by Dioscorides and Pliny, growing in Egypt, and near to Ascalon, producing an odorate bush of flowers, and yielding the celebrated oleum cyprinum ^, »4 Harmer's Obs. V. 1. p. 430. 95 Isai. XX, 3; Joel, i. 13. 96 '* Cyprus est arbuscula in Syria, freguen- tissima, coma odoratissima, ex qua fit ungnen- tum Cyprinum." Plin. N. H. lib. xii. 24. CAM 61 M. Mariti says, " that the shrub known in the Hebrew language by the name of copher, is common in the island of Cyprus, and thence had its Latin name^^ ;" he also re- marks, that '* the botrus cypri has been supposed to be a kind of rare and exquisite grapes, transplanted from Cyprus to Engaddi ; but the hotrus is known to the natives of Cyprus as an odoriferous shrub, call- ed henna, or alkanna^®." This shrub had at first been con- sidered as a species of privet, to which it has, indeed, many relations ; but difference in the parts of fructi- fication have determined botanists to make a distinct genus of it, to which LinnaBus has given the name 97 Travels, Vol. ii. p. 34. [That the island of Cyprus might take its name from the plant, is not impossible; but it is clear that the Latin name of the shrub is not derived from the island, but from the Greek word. The real etymo- logy of the name is not supplied, however, by either the Greek or the Hebrew, but is probably to be found in the Sanscrit capuru, the name of the camphor-plant in India, and from which comes our word camphor. Whether the copher of the Hebrews, and the xt/n-pof of the Greeks, was the camphor plant, or the henna, seems doubtful. It may de- serve notice, that the name of the hhinna comes very near to that of the khinnamon, which might be rendered the mom (or wax) of the hhinna, i. e. camphor. Are they two species of the same genus, or have the names been confounded ?] 98 Travels, Vol. i. p. 333. R. Ben Melek, in his note on Cantic. expressly says, " Bo- trus copher id ipsum est quod Arahes vocant Al-hinna." See also Prosp. Alpinus de Plantis ^Egypti, c. 13, and Abu'l Fadli as quoted by Celsius, Hierobot. Vol. i. p. 223. 62 CAM of lawsonia, and to that we are de- scribing, lawsonia inerm is. Its Arabic name is hennt [or hhinna], and with the article, al-henna. In Turkey, it is called karma and al-kanna. This is one of the plants which is most grateful to the eye and the smell. The gently deep colour of its bark ; the light green of its fo- liage ; the softened mixture of white and yellow with which the flowers, collected into long clusters like the lilac, are coloured ; the red tint of theramifications which support them, form a combination of the most agree- able eflfect. These flowers whose shades are so delicate, difiuse around tke sweetest odours, and embalm the gardens and apartments which they embellish. The women take pleasure in decking themselves with these charming clusters of fragrance, adorn their chambers with them, carry them to the bath, hold them in their hand, in a word adorn their bosom with them. With the pow- der of the dried leaves, thej give an orange tincture to their nails, to the inside of their hands, and to the soles of their feet. The expression m3iDV n^f nn\2;y, rendered " pare her nails," Deut. xxi. 12, may perhaps rather mean, " adorn her nails;" and imply the antiquity of this prac- tice. This is a universal custom in Egypt, and not to conform to it, would be considered indecent. It seems to have been practised by the ancient Egyptians, for the nails of the mummies are most commonly of a reddish hue^*'. Prosper Alpinus, speaking of the several quahties of this plant, ob- serves, that clusters of its flowers are seen hanging to the ceilings of houses in Cairo, &c. to render the air more moderate and pure*. Mr. Harmer has given a particular account of this plant, in his very va- luable *' Outlines of a Commentary on Solomon's Song," extracted from ^ See a Memoir on Embalment, by M. Caylus, in tlie Memoirs of the Acad, of Inscr. and Belles Lettres, torn, xxiii. p. 133. J Nat. Hist. ^gypt. torn. ii. p. 19:?. CAN Rauwolf. The plant is also de' scribed by Hasselquist, Shaw, and Russell ; who all attribute to it the same qualities. But the most exact account is to be found in Sonnini's Travels, accompanied with a beau- tiful drawing 2. CANE. HDp KANEH. A reed common in Arabia and Syria. [The word karieh or cane, which is variously rendered by oui translators, cane, calamus, reed, and stalk, is evidently a generic term. It is applied to the reeds of the Nile, Psalm Ixviii. 31 ; Isa. xxxvi. 6 ; xlii. 3 ', — to the calamus aromaticus or sweet cane, Exod. xxx. 23 ; Cant, iv. 14; Isa. xliii. 24; Jer. vi. 20; and Ezek. xxvii. 19 ;— to a stalk of corn, Gen. xli. 5, 22 ; — to a measuring reed, Ezek. xl. 3, 5 ; xli. 8 ;— and to a branch or pipe of a lamp, Exod. XXV. 31, et passim. There is another word rendered reed by our Trans- lators ; pn:iN agmon, i. e. marsh- plant, answering to the Greek (txoi- voQtjuncus. See Reed.] CANKER-WORM. pVialek. Occ. Psalm cv. 34, and Jerem. Ii. 27, where it is rendered ** caterpil- lar." Joel, i. 4; ii. 25, and Na- hum. iii. 15, " canker-worm." According to the opinion of Adam Genselius-^, ialek is an insect which principally ravages the vineyards; called by the Greeks, nric, nriq. Pliny calls it convolvulus, volvox'^ ; Columella calls it volucra^ ; and Plautus, involvulus^ ; because it de- posits its eggs in the leaves, and occasions them to roll themselves up. It is known wherever the vine is cultivated. As it is frequently mentioned with the locust, it is thought by some to be a species of that insect. It cer- tainly cannot be the canker-worm, as our version renders it ; for in Na- hum, it is expressly said to have wings and fly, to camp in the hedges by day, and commit its depredations 2 Vol. i. p. 164. 3 Ephemerid. Germ. Cent. vii. 4 N. H. lib. xviii. c. 8. 5 De Re rustica. 6 Cistel. act iv. seen. 2. CAN in the night. But it may be, as the Septuagint renders it in five pas- sages out of eight where it occurs, the bruchus, or hedge-chafer'^ . Never- theless, the passage, Jerem. li. 27, where the ialek is described as " rough," that is with hair standing an end on it, leads us very naturally to the rendering of our translators in that place, " the rough caterpil- lar," which like other caterpillars, at a proper time, casts its exterior covering and flies away in a winged state ^. The several changes of insects are not always well understood even by tolerable observers; but supposing that their different states have dif- ferent names, in reference to different insects, or to insects which differ in their periods of appearance, (as some are several weeks, others a long time in their grub state,) it is no wonder that we find it difficult to ascertain what is meant by the appellation in Hebrew, though we may perceive the general application or import of the terms employed by the sacred writers. Scheuchzer observes, that we should not, perhaps, be far from the truth, if, with the ancient inter- preters, we understood this ialek, after all, as a kind of locust; as some species of them have hair principally on the head, and some which have prickly points standing out ^. Perhaps there is an allusion to such a kind, in Revelation, ix. 8, where we read of locusts " having hair like the hair of a woman." The Arabs call this kind orphan alphan- tapho. See Locust. 7 Scarabseiis sacer. Linnaei. 8 Jerome (in Amos, iv.) says, " Non evolat enica, ut locmta, S^c. Sed permanet perituris frugibus, et tarda lapsii, pigrisque morsibus coiisumit imiversa. ** Non solum teneras audent erodere frondes Implicitus conchalol dam), quibtis perditio hominibus, non utilitas infertur ?" Bellonius has the following remark upon this herb. lib. ii. c. 3. ** Le consul de tlo- reyitins nous fait gouster d'mie racine, que les Arahes nomment bish, la quelle cavsa si grande chaleur en la houche, qui nous dura devjc jours, qxCil nous sembloit y avoir du feu. Llle est bien petite comme un petit naveau. Les antres Vont nommee JSapelluSf qui est commune auz drogueurs Turcs." 74 CONY. Bochart^^, and others'''', have sup- posed the shaphan of the Scriptures to be the " Jerboa ;" but Mr. Bruce proves that the Ashkoko is intended. This curious animal is found in Ethi- opia, and in great numbers on Mount Lebanon, &c. " It does not burrow and make holes as the rat and rab- bit, nature having interdicted it this practice by furnishing it with feet which are round, and of a soft, pulpy, tender substance ; the fleshy part of the toes projects beyond the nails, which are rather broad than sharp, much similar to a man's nails ill grown, and these appear rather given for defence of the soft toes, than for any active use in digging, to which they are by no means adapted. " The total length of the animal, as it sits, is seventeen inches and a quarter. It has no tail ; and gives, at first sight, the idea of a rat, rather than any other creature. The colour is gray, mixed with reddish brown, and the belly white. All over the body are scattered hairs, strong and polished, like mustachoes; these are, for the most part, two inches and a quarter in length"*^. The ears are round, not pointed. The upper jaw is longer than the other. It lives upon grain, fruit, and roots ; and certainly chews the cud." Instead of holes, these animals seem to delight in less close or more airy places, in the mouths of caves, or clefts in the rock. They are gre- garious, and frequently several do- zens of them sit upon the great stones at the mouths of caves, and warm themselves in the sun, or come out and enjoy the freshness of the sum- mer evening. They do not stand 43 Hieroz. vol. ii. p. 409—429. edit. Ro- senmuUer. ** Schultesn, ad Prov. xxx. 26. Oedmann in Miscel. Sacr. part iv. c. 5, p. 41, ed Up- sal, 1789. Tychsen, Pliysiol. Syrus, p. 25. 45 Mr. Bruce observes : " In Amhara this animal is called Ashkoko, which, I appre- hend, is derived from the singularity of these long herinaceous hairs, which, like small thorns, grow about his back, and which in Amhara are called ashok." " Am- haricnm enim Aschok significat spinam." Vide Ludolfi, Lex. Amhar. p. 58. upright upon their feet, but seem to steal along as in fear, their belly being nearly close to the ground ; advancing a few steps at a time, and then pausing. They have something very mild, feeble-like, and timid in their deportment ; are gentle and easily tamed, though, when roughly handled at the first, they bite very severely. Many are the reasons to believe this to be the animal called saphan, in Hebrew, and erroneously by our Translators, " the cony," or rabbit. We know that the last mentioned animal is peculiar to Spain, and therefore could not be supposed to be either in Judea or Arabia. They are gregarious indeed, and so far re- semble each other, as ako in size ; but seek not the same place of retreat, for the rabbit burrows most gene- rally in the sand. Nor is there any thing in the character of rabbits that denotes excellent wisdom, or that they supply the want of strength by any remarkable sagacity. The sa- PHAN then is not the rabbit ; which last, unless it was brought him by his ships from Europe, Solomon never saw. Let us now apply the characters of the ashkoko to the saphan. " He is above all other animals so much attached to the rocks, that I never once (says Mr. Bruce) saw him on the groimd, or from among large stones in the mouth of caves, where is his constant residence. He lives in families or flocks. He is in Judea, Palestine, and Arabia, and conse- quently must have been familiar to Solomon. David describes him very pertinently, and joins him to other animals perfectly known : 'the hills are a refuge for the wild goats, and the rocks for the saphan.' And So- lomon says, that * they are exceed- ing wise ;' that they are ' but a feeble folk, yet make their houses in the rocks.' Now this, I think, very ob- viously fixes the ashkoko to be the saphan, for his weakness seems to allude to his feet, and how inade- quate these are to dig holes in the CONY. 75 rock, where yet, however, he lodges. From their tenderness, these are very liable to be excoriated or hurt : notwithstanding which, they build houses in the rocks, more inaccessi- ble than those of the rabbit, and in which they abide in greater safety, not by exertion of strength, for they have it not, but are truly, as Solo- mon says, a feeble folk, but by their own sagacity andjudgement, and are therefore justly described as wise. Lastly, what leaves the thing with- out doubt is, that some of the Arabs, particularly Damir, say that the sa- phan has no tail, that it is less than a cat, that it lives in houses or nests, which he builds of straw, in contra- distinction to the rabbit and the rat, and those animals that burrow in the ground." Such is the account, and such the opinion of Mr. Bruce ; and it must be acknowledged, that many of his coincidences are striking, and lead to the adoption of his opinion. The Author of " Scripture Illus- trated" quotes Mr. Pennant ''^ " as counsel on the other side; but his judgement cannot avail, for he mis- quotes Dr. Shaw, who is his chief authority, and confounds the jerboa with the animal which, after Dr. Shaw, he calls " Daman Israel*"^." Dr. Shaw remarks : " The daman Israel is an animal of Mount Liba- nus, though common in other places of this country. It is a harmless creature, of the same size and quality with the rabbit, and with the like incurvating posture and disposition of the fore teeth ; but itis of a browner colour, with smaller eyes, and a head more pointed. The fore feet like- wise are short, and the hinder are near as long in proportion as those of the jerboa. Though this animal is known to burrow sometimes in the ground, yet, as its usual residence and refuge is in the holes and clefts 46 Hist. Qiiadrnp. p. 427. 4to. 47 ** Sud nomine agni Israelis /loc animal descripsit Shaw, ubi tamen false scriptum Daman Israel, joro Ganam Israel; giii error in plures alios libros irrepsit." RosenmiiUer, not. in Bochart, Hieroz. v. 2. p. 414. of the rocks, we have so far a more presumptive proof that this creature may be the saphan of the Scriptures, than the Jerboa. I could not learn why it was called daman Israel, i. e. Israel's lamb, as those words are in* terpreted^^" The Author of " Scripture Illus* trated" displays his usual ingenuity in attempting to explain the word daman, not aware that it should have been written ganam. So Mr. Bruce says : " In Arabia and Syria, the ashkoko is called Gannim Israel, or Israel's sheep ; for what reason I know not, unless it is chiefly from its frequenting the rocks of Horeb and Sinai, where the children of Israel made their forty years pere- grination. Perhaps this name ob- tains only among the Arabians'*®." I add that Jerom, in his epistle to Sunia and Fretela, cited by Bo- chart, says, that ** the D-DSir *^are a kind of animal not larger than a hedgehog, resembling a mouse and a bear," (the latter, I suppose, in the clumsiness of its feet,) " whence in Palestine it is called apKrofivg, the bear mouse; and there is great abundance of this genus in those countries, and they are wont to dwell in the caverns of the rocks and caves of the earth." This descrip- tion well agrees with Mr. Bruce 's account of the Ashkoko; and, as this animal bears a very considerable re- semblance to the rabbit, with which Spain anciently abounded, it is not improbable that the Phoenicians might, from ]S\r, call that country n>33\z; Spanih, whence are derived its Greek, Latin, and more modern names; and accordingly, on there- verse of a medal of the emperor Adrian, Spain is represented as a woman sitting on the ground, with a rabbit squatting on her robe^o. 48 •* Animal quoddam humile, cnnicvjo non dissimile, quod agnum filiorum Israel mm- cupant.'* Pros. Alpinus, Nat. Hist. iEgypt. part 1. c. XX. p. 80. et 1. iv. c. 9. 49 Travels, p. 348. ed. 4to. 50 See an engraving of the medal in Scheuchzer, Phys. Sacr. tab. ccxxxv. and in Addison on medals, dial. ii. series 3. fie. 6. F2 76 COPPER. COPPER. n\yn3 nehesh. Copper is one of the six primitive metals ; and is the most ductile and malleable after gold and silver. Of this metal and lapis calminaris is made brass. Anciently copper was employed for all the purposes for which we now use iron^'. Arms, and tools for husbandry and the mechanic arts, were all of this metal for many ages. Job speaks of bows of cop- per, ch. XX. 24 ; and when the Phi- listines had Samson in their power, they bound him with fetters of copper. To be sure our translators say " brass," but under that article I have pointed out their mistake. In Ezra, viii. 27, are mentioned " two vessels of copper, precious as gold." The Septuagint renders it, CKevT) x«^K8 .»(?av», quod est >vfl/?w, fundo stillo." Monum. Ingeniorum, torn, iv, p. 283—1 have myself followed the definition of Suidas, and the authorities quoted in Bochart, v. 3. p. 895. ed. Rosen- muUer. COP solidity, its rarity ; it was even pre- ferred to gold itself. It was capable of receiving an exquisite polish ; and might be the metal used for the mirrors mentioned Exod. xxxviii. 8 ; Job, xxxvii. 18 ; and Isai. ii. 3. In these qualities, platina, which is a native mineral, much resembles it. The Syriac version of the Bible pre- tends, that the vessels which Hiram gave Solomon for the temple, were made of this composition. Esdras is mentioned by Josephus as de- livering up to the priests, among other treasures, vessels of brass that iceremore valuable thangold^*. Upon which Dr. Hudson takes notice, that this kind of brass or copper, or rather mixture of gold and copper, was called aurichalcum ; and was of old esteemed the most precious of metals. Corinthian brass seems to be of a similar metallic substance. This is said to have been made of the united gold, silver, and copper sta- tues, vessels, &c. which were melted together when Corinth was burned by the Romans ^^. This mixture was for ages held in the highest estima- tion. Its rarity seems to have been the principal cause of its exorbitant value. It became, hence, a proverb, that those who would appear more perfect than others in the arts, had smelt the purity of Corinthian brass. This makes the subject of a lively epigram of Martial : " Consuluit nares an olerunt (Era Coritithuniy Cuipavit stattias, et Polydete tuas." Ezekiel, ch. xxvii. 13, speaks of the merchants of Javan, Jubal, and Meshech, as bringing vessels oinehesh (copper) to the markets of Tyre. Ac- cording to Bochart and Michaelis, these were people situated towards mount Caucasus, where copper mines are worked at this day ^^. 5t Antiq. lib. xi. c. 5. sect. 2. and 1 Esdras, ii. 13. 55 At the end of the second volume of Heron's Elegant Extracts from Natural History, is a very particular account of the Orichalcum. 56 " Cupri fodinas in hunc vsqiie diem Cau- casus habet, in quo et Kubescha, vicus ele- COR 77 The rust of copper is a solution or corrosion of the metal by some kind of salt; and it is remarkable, that whereas other metals have their peculiar dissolvents, copper is dis- solved by all. Even the salts float- ing in the common air are sufficient powerfully to corrode it. This re- mark is made in order to explain Ezek. xxiv. 6, 11, 12, where the word riNbn, rendered "scum," must mean rust, which, not being remov- able by any other means, was to be burned off by fire, and so was a dread- ful emblem of Jerusalem's punish- ment. CORAL. rnnxT ramuth^^ Occurs Job, xxviii. 18, and Ezek. xxvii. 16, only. A hard, cretaceous, marine produc- tion, resembling in figure the stem of a plant, divided into branches. It is of different colours, black, white, and red. The latter is the sort emphatically called coral, as being the most valuable, and usually made into ornaments. This, though no gem, is ranked by the author of gantia vasorum aeneorum nobilitatm. Arzeri pr&terea, qua est urbs Armenia montanay adeoqve in vicinia Moschicorvm montium si(a,plurima vasa aenea fieri ycuprique fodinas tridui abesse, auctor est Buschingius.'* Mich. Spied. Geogr. 50. 57 This word is formed from a verb whose primary and usual signification is to lift, or raise up, and in Isai. ii. 13, and X. 33, to have lofty branches. Coral lifts itself to some height above the water, and therefore might very properly be called " the branching stone." From mTaKI may, perhaps, be derived the Latin word ramvjt, a branclu 78 COR the book of Job (xxxviii. 18.) with the onyx and sapphire. Mr. Good observes : '* It is by no means cer- tain what the words here rendered * corals and pearls,' and those im- mediately afterwards rendered * ru- bies and topaz/ really signified. Reiske has given up the inquiry as either hopeless or useless ; and Schultens has generally introduced the Hebrew words themselves, and left the reader of the translation to determine as he may. Our common version is, in the main, concurrent with most of the oriental render- ings, and I see no reason to deviate from it." Pliny informs us (lib. xxxii. c. 2.) that the coral was highly esteemed anciently. '* The Indians value coral as highly as we value pearls. Their priests and predictors attri- bute to it even something sacred, and aflSrm that it has the virtue of protecting from dangers those who carry it; so that two things contri- bute to render it valuable, supersti- tion and beauty." Experience con- firms this relation of Pliny, for often, in that country, a collar of coral sells for a price equal to one of pearls. CORIANDER. n^oAD. Occ. Exod. xvi. 31, and Numb. xi. 7. A strongly aromatic plant. It bears a small round seed of a very agreeable smell and taste. Celsius quotes an author who has explained the names of plants men- tioned in Dioscorides, as remarking, COR AiyvTTTWi o%ioi/, A0pot yoid. " Co- riander is called ochion by the Egyptians, and gold by the Afri- cans'^." The manna might be compared to the coriander seed in respect to its form, or shape, as it was to bdellium in its colour. See Manna. CORMORANT, nbu' salach. Occ. Levit. xi. 17, and Deut. xvi. 17. A large sea bird. It is about three feet four inches in length, and four feet two inches in breadth from the tips of the extended wings. I'he bill is about five inches long, and of a dusky colour; the base of the lower mandible is covered with a naked yellowish skin, which ex- tends under the throat and forms a kind of pouch. It has a most vora- cious appetite, and lives chiefly upon fish, which it devours with unceasing gluttony. It darts down very rapidly upon its prey ; and the Hebrew, and the Greek name KaTapaKrijg, are expressive of its impetuosity^^. Dr. Geddes renders it *' the sea gull," and observes : " That this is bl plung- ing bird, I have little doubt. Some modern critics think it is the ' Feli- canus Bassanus^ of Linnaeus. The Chaldee and Syriac version, Jish- catcher, favours this rendering; nor 58 Hierobot. V. 2. p. 81. Dioscorid. p. 364. Conf. Kircher, prodrom. et Lexic. copt. suppl. y. 603. 59 Bochart, Hieroz. V. 3. p. 20. COT less, the Greek caturactes^ which, according to Aristotle, draws for its food fishes from the bottom of the sea." At any rate, this is meant of a water bird; and therefore demon- strates the impropriety of the pre- ceding and following bird being rendered " owl." The word nap kaath, which, in our version of Isai. xxxiv. 11, is rendered " cormorant," is the peli- can. See Pelican. CORN. The generic name in Scripture for grain of all kinds; as wheat, rye, barley, &c. COT 79 In Levit. xxiii. 14, bmDT "bp, commonly rendered as if they were two different things, as in our public version, ** nor parched com, nor green ears," Dr. Geddes, from a comparison with ch. ii. 14, is con- vinced, are to be considered as meaning only one, namely full ears of corn roasted, or parched. So the Septuagint understood them. Parched ears of corn still consti- tute a part, and not a disagreeable one, of the food of the Arabs now resident in the Holy Land. COTTON. Gossypium arboreum. Linnaei. A woolly, or rather downy sub- stance, enveloping the seeds of the Gossypium ; which is a small shrub. The plant puts forth many yellow flowers, the ground of which is purple, and striped within. These are succeeded by a pod as large as a pigeon's egg, which, when ripe, turns black, and divides at top into three parts, disclosing the soft lanu- ginous contents, called " cotton." Prosper Alpinus (de Plantis JEgyptif p. 69) gives an engraving of the cotton plant, and observes, that the product is called by the inhabitants, " Bessa." This bears some resemblance to the V^l butz of the Hebrews; whence the iSvcTaog of the Greeks, and the byssus of the Latins. We do not find this name for apparel among the Jews, till the times of their royalty, when by commerce they obtained articles of dress from other nations. See 1 Chron. iv. 21 ; xv. 27 ; 2 Chron. ii. 13 ; iii. 14 ; v. 12 ; Esth. i. 6 ; viii. 15; and Ezek. xxvii. 16. It was probably, therefore, a word of foreign extraction. That the article translated *' fine linen," in our version, was the cotton, is shewn in an elaborate treatise •' de bysso antiquorum," by Dr. J. S. Forster. The probability of this is strengthened by the description given of the byssus by Pollux, Ono- masticon, lib. vii. c. 17, which cannot be applied to any thing but cotton. He says, that this material came from a nut which grew in Egypt and also in India : they opened the nut, extracted this substance, spun it, and wove it for garments. Phi- lostratus describes it much in the same manner. Besides, it seems 80 COT evident, from the analogy of lan- guages, that the word used by Moses, Gen. xli. 42, in describing the garments with which Joseph was arrayed by Pharaoh in Egypt, must mean cotton. This is the opinion of some of the most learned interpreters and commentators. We learn further, from profane authors, that robes of cotton were very ancient in Egypt, and that they were worn only by persons of the greatest distinction. By Pliny, they are called " vesies sacerdotibus gratissimcE ;" and wrappers of it, according to Plutarch de Isidore, and Herodotus, 1. ii. c. 86, were the sacred winding-sheets and fillets of the mummies. Pausanias, Eliac, 1. i. says: H de ^vaaog ?; ev rrf HXet, XsTTTOTTfJTOg flEV fVtKtt, OVK aTTodil rrjQ 'E(3paiu)v, 8-71 de ov% ofxoLwc ^avOj], * The fine byssus in Elea is not inferior in tenuity to that of the Hebrews, but it is less yellow.' On which Forster remarks (p. 43) : " Hanc HebrdPorum Byssum suspicor non ex gossypio factum, verum. ex bom- bacis lanugine, qu(e cotoris esifusci et jiavescentis," The bombax, or silk cotton-tree, is a native of the Indies, where it grows large. The fruit is as big as a swan's egg, having a thick ligneous cover, which, when ripe, opens in five parts, and is full of a silky down, or cotton. This is spun and wrought into clothes. This must be distinguished from the bombyx, the name of the silk- worm; whence we have the word bombasine for a slight silken stuflf. Lipsius (ad Taciti. Annal. xi.) gives this caution: " Nolim erres ; dis- tincta genera vestium olim Byssma, et Bombycina. Byssma e lino, Bom bycina e verme." But whether the Jews were acquainted with a cloth of this fabric, seems very doubtful. Some writers, indeed, suppose that the byssus of the ancients was the product of a shell-fish ; and we know, that from remote periods, the silky threads by which the pumcB marincE fix their shells to the rocks or stones at the bottom of the sea, CR A have been spun and woven into different articles of dress. Aris- totle, Hist. 1. V. c. 25, says. At de . Tcivvai op9aL(f)vovTai sk tov (3v(r(Tov ev Toig apfiiodeai Kai /3op/3opw^f(n. * The pinnce are found on the beach or sands of the sea-coast, and from these the byssus is obtained^".' In '* Memoires de I'Academie Royale des Sciences," 1712, p. 207, M. Godefroi has given an account of the pinna, and of the knowledge which the ancients had of it as fur- nishing materials for apparel. To obtain the article, the shells are dragged up by a kind of iron rake with many teeth, each about seven inches long, and three inches asun- der ; and attached to a handle pro- portionate to the depth of the water in which the shells are found. When the byssus is separated, it is well washed to cleanse it from im- purities. It is then dried in the shade, straightened with a large comb ; the hard part from which it springs, is cut off, and the remainder is properly carded. By these dif- ferent processes, it is said that a pound of byssus, as taken from the sea, is reduced to about three ounces. This substance, in its na- tural colour, which is a brilliant golden brown, is manufactured (with the aid of a little silk to strengthen it) into small articles of dress, of extremely fine texture. It is not at all likely, that this difficult and curious fabric is ever mentioned in Scripture ; though, from the following passage of Mai- monides, it appears to have been known to the Jews : •' Est in urbi- bus maritimis quadam lana, qucE nas- citur in tupidibus, in mari salso, aurei colons et tenerrima, nomine calach : ilium cum lino misceri vetiium est, propter externum speciem, quia similis est LancE. agnorum. Sic etiam sericus et calach non licet misceri propter ex- ternam speciem.'' CRANE. In Isai. xxxviii. 14, and Jerem. viii. 7, two birds are 60 See also Basil in hexam. orat. p. 7. Procopius de Justin, fabriciis, 1. iii. p. 30. C R A mentioned, the WM/ sis, and the Ti^y OGUR. The first in our version is translated " crane," and the second, *• swallow;" but Bochart exactly re- verses them, and the reasons which he adduces are incontrovertible. Pagninus, Munster, Schindler, Ju- nius, and Tremellius, also suppose the ogur to be the crane ; as do also CRI 81 the most learned Hebrews, Jarchi, Kimchi, and Pomarius, following Jonathan in the Chaldee paraphrase, where it is ^^'•D'i^D kurkeja. This latter word is adopted in the Talmud and Arabian writers ; and may be assimilated in sound to the Hebrew, whence the Roman grus, the Greek yspavoQ, the Cambro-Britannic ga- ran, and the German cran. From the note of this bird, says Festus, is derived gruere, anglice, grunt. The Arabic name is gurnuk^^. ** The cranes," says Isidore, " take their name from their voice, which we imitate in mentioning them. The Turks and the Arabs give the name karjeit to a bird with a long bill^'-^." In the Berischith Rabba, sect. 64, is the following fable. A lion de- vouring his prey, was obliged to desist, for a sharp bone stuck in his throat. He exclaimed, I will well reward any one who will take out the bone. The core of Egypt put «5i Meninski, Lex. 3396. Foiskal, p. viii. mentions among the obscure birds of Arabia, one which they call ghomak. «a lb. 3581. its long beak down his throat, and pulled out the bone ; and said, Give me a recompense. The lion an- swered, Go, and make your boast that you have been between the jaws of a lion, and escaped unhurt." There is a similar fable in Phsedrus, of the wolf and the crane. Ancient naturalists, who always mixed fiction with truth, have left us many pleasing but improbable accounts of these birds; holding them forth as a pattern worthy of imitation for the wisdom and policy of their government, their filial piety, and their art in war, dis- played in their annual battles with the pigmies. But what is most re- markable is their migration, in which they fly at a height so great as to be imperceptible to the naked eye, but yet known by their note, which re- verberates upon the listening ear. Aristophanes curiously observes, that **it is time to sow, when the crane migrates clamouring into Africa ; she also bids the mariner suspend his rudder, and take his rest, and the mountaineer provide himself with raiment;" andHesiod says: " When thou hearest the voice of the crane, clamouring annually from the clouds on high, recollect that this is the sig- nal for ploughing, and indicates the approach of showery winter." " Where do the cranes or winding swal- lows go. Fearful of gathering winds and falling snow ? Conscious of all the coming ills, they fly To milder regions and a southern sky." Prior. The prophet Jeremiah mentions this bird, thus intelligent of seasons, by an instinctive and invariable ob- servation of their appointed times, as a circumstance of reproach to the chosen people of God, who, although taught by reason and religion,*' knew not the judgement of the Lord." CRIMSON. bmD carmel. Occurs only 2 Chron. ii. 7, and iii. 14. The name of a colour. Bochart supposes it to be the ** cochlea pur- puraria," or purple from a kind of F3 82 cue shell-fish taken near mount Carmel^^ But as the name of the mount is said to mean a vineyard, I should rather suppose the colour to signify that of grapes; like the redness of the vesture of him who trod the wine-press, Isai. Ixiii. 1, 2. What our version renders ** crim- son," Isai. i. 18, and Jer. iv. 30, should he scarlet. See Purple, Scar- let. CROCODILE. See Dragon and Leviathan. CRYSTAL. I. nip koreh. This word is translated " crystal" in Ezek. i. 22 j and " frost," Gen. xxxi. 40; Job xxxvii. 10 ; and Jer. xxxvi. 30 ; and " ice," Job vi. 16 ; xxxviii. 29, and Psalm cxlvii. 17 ; KPY2TAAA0S, Rev. iv. 6; and xxii. 1. Crystal is supposed to have its name from its resemblance to ice. The Greek word KQvaraWog is formed from Kpvog, ice, and jahalom. Arab, almds^^, Occ. Exod. xxviii. 18; xxix. il ; and Ezek. xxviii. 13. This has from remote antiquity DOG been considered as the most valuable, or, more properly, the most costly substance in nature. The reason of the high estimation in which it was held by the ancients, was its rarity and its extreme hardness. Our Translators thus render the word, from a verb which signifies to break; whence mnbn halmuth, is a " hammer," or " maul," Jud. v. 26. Of course some stone may be in- tended which it was hard to break, or used in breaking others. But Dr. Geddes thinks the argument from etymology in favour of the dia- mond to be unsatisfactory; and in- deed, we have facts enough from antiquity to make us doubt whether the diamond was in use in the times of Moses. Whatever stone it was, it filled the sixth place in the high priest's breastplate, and on it was engraved the name of Naphtali'^. See Crystal. For the word l^nu; shmir, rendered '* diamond," Jerem. xvii. 1, and " adamant," Ezek. iii. 9, and Zech. vii. 12, see Adamant. DOG. 2bD cheleb; Arab, kilb. An animal well known. By the law of Moses, it was declared unclean, and was held in great contempt among the Jews. Comp. 1 Sam. xvii. 43 ; xxiv. 14 ; 2 Sam. ix. 8 ; 2 Kings, viii. 13. Yet they had them in considerable numbers in their cities. They were not, how- ever, shut up in their houses or courts, but forced to seek their food w^here they could find it. The Psalmist, Ps. lix. 6, 14, 15, com- pares violent men to dogs, who go about the city in the night, prowl about for their food, and growl, and become clamorous if they be not sa- tisfied. Mr. Harmer has illustrated this by quotations from travellers into the East ; and I may add from Busbequius^^, that the Turks reckon 70 Michaelis, Suppl. Lex Hehr, after ex- amining several opinions, thus concludes, *' Ergo donee nove quid lucis affidgeat, qtuE gemma DblT' ^it fateamur nos ignorare.^' 71 Legat. Turc. Epist. iii. p. 178. ed. Elzev. Compare also Dr. Russell, Nat. Hist. Alep. p. 60. Sandy's Trav. p. 45, and Volney, the dog a filtlf^'Sregrture, and tlierfe/^'^ . fore drive him from their houses ; '* i that these animals'^jfcc^hei'e'in coni-^ mon, not belonging to^^:particularJ.* owners, and guard rather the streets^ and districts, than particular houses, and live on the offals that are thrown abroad. The Continuatorof Calmet, in Fragment, No. liii. " On carcasses devoured by dogs," has explained several passages of Scripture, by the mention of similar circumstances in the narratives of travellers "^^^ These voracious creatures were of use to devour the offal from the daily butchery of animals for food, and also what was left after the repasts of the Jews ; and to them was given the meat that had become tainted, or the animals that had died in con- sequence of being wounded, or being torn of other beasts. So Exod. xxii. 31, " Ye shall not eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field; ye shall cast it to the dogs." Comp. Matth. XV. 26 ; Mark, vii. 27. We see that some of the heathens had the same aversion to eating the flesh of animals torn by beasts, as appears from these lines of Phocylides. AavJ/ava T^iire xuo-t, ^a^'joy wno Sa^ff tloviou. Eat not the flesh that has been torn by beasts; leave those remains to the dogs; let beasts feed on beasts. In 1 Sam. xxv. 3, Nabal is said to to have been " churlish and evil in his manners, and he was of the house of Caleb ;" but this last is not a proper name. Literally it is, " he was a son of a dog." And so the Septua- gint, Syriac, and Arabic render. It means that he was irritable, snap- pish, and snarling as a dog. The irritable disposition of the dog is the foundation of that saying, Prov. xxvi. 17. " He that passeth Voyage, tom. i. p. 216; torn. ii. p. 355. Le Bruyn, tom. u p. 361. Thevenot, part i. p. 51. Maillet, let. ix. p. 30. 72 The son of Sirach says, Ecclus. xiii. 18. " What agreement is there between the hyena and a dog?" and Mr. Bruce men- tions the hyenas and dogs contending for the offals and carrion of the streets during the night season. Trav. V. iv. p. SI, &c. 86 DOG. by, and meddleth with strife be- longing not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears ;" that is, he wantonly exposes himself to danger. In Deut. xxiii. 18, cheleb seems to be used for a pathic, a catamite, called plainly ^mp, in the imraedi' ately preceding verse, and joined, as here, with the " whore." Such abominable wretches appear like- wise to be denoted by the term KVV8Q, "dogs," Rev. xxii. 15, where we may also read their doom. Comp. Rev. xxi. 8. The Pagan Greeks in like manner, though they practised the abomination without remorse, as St. Paul, Rom. i. 27, 28, and their own writers'^, abundantly testify, yet called male prostitutes Kvvaidoi from Kvojv, a dog, and aiSiog, mo- desty"^*. The Son of Sirach says, Ecclus. xxvi. 25, " a shameless wo- man shall be counted as a dog." The dog was held sacred by the Egyptians. This fact we learn from Juvenal, who complains in his fifteenth satire, ** Oppida tola canem venerantur, nemo Dia- nam.** The testimony of the Latin poet is confirmed by Diodorus, who, in his first book, assures us, that the Egyp- tians highly venerate some animals, both during their life and after their death ; and expressly mentions the dog as one object of this absurd ado- ration. To these witnesses may be added Herodotus, who says, " that when a dog expires, all the members of the family to which he belonged worship the carcass; and that in every part of the kingdom, the car- casses of their dogs are embalmed and deposited in consecrated ground." The idolatrous veneration of the dog by the Egyptians, is intimated in the account of their god Anubis, to whom temples and priests tvere consecrated, and whose image was 73 See Leland, Advantage of Christianity, V. ii. p. 49, 61, and 126. Grotius de Verit. I. ii. c. 13. note 4. Wetstein on Rom. i. 27. 74 See more in Le Clerc's note on Deut. xxiii. 18, and Daubuz on Rev. xxii. 15. borne in all religious ceremonies. Cynopolis, the present Minieh, si- tuated in the lower Thebais, was built in honour of Anubis. The priests celebrated his festivals there with great pomp. ** Anubis," says Strabo, " is the city of dogs, the capital of the Cynopolitan prefec- ture. These animals are fed there on sacred aliments, and religion has decreed them a worship." An event, however, related by Plutarch, brought them into considerable dis- credit with the people. Cambyses, having slain the god Apis, and thrown his body into the field, all animals respectedit, except the dogs, which alone eat of his flesh. This impiety diminished the popular ve- neration. Cynopolis was not the only city where incense was burned on the altars of Anubis. He had chapels in almost all the temples. On solemnities, his image always accompanied those of Isis and Osiris. Rome having adopted the ceremo- nies of Egypt, the emperor Commo- dus, to celebrate the Isiac feasts, shaved his head, and himself carried the dog Anubis. In Matthew, vii. 6, is this direc- tion of our Saviour to his disciples : — " Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine ; lest these (the swine) trample them under their feet, and those (the dogs) turn again and tear you." It was customary not only with the writers of Greece and Rome, but with the Eastern sages, to denote certain classes of men by animals supposed to resemble them among the brutes. Our Saviour was naturally led to adopt the same con- cise and energetic method. By dogs, which were held in great detesta- tion by the Jews, he intends men of odious character and violent temper ; by swine, which was the usual em- blem of moral filth, the abandoned and profligate; and the purport of his admonition is, ** as it is a maxim with the priests not to give a part of the sacrifice to dogs, so it should be a maxim with you, not to impart D V the holy instruction with which you are favoured, to those who are likely j to blaspheme and abuse you, nor i that religious wisdom which is more precious than rubies, and of which pearls are but imperfect symbols, to the impure, who will only deride and reproach you'^*/' Prudence will require you to consider the cha- racter of those whom you may wish to rebuke or exhort. For there are some such profane and bold con- temners of every thing good and serious, that any solemn admoni- tion would not only be lost upon them, but excite in them the most violent resentment; which, besides bringing us into difficulties, might cause even the name and truth of God to be blasphemed. DOVE. n^vjoNA; Greek oivog'^ A bird too well known to need a particular description. DO V 87 This beautiful genus of birds is very numerous in the East. In the wild state they are called pigeons, and generally build their nests in the holes or clefts of rocks, or in excavated trees ; but they are easily taught submission and familiarity with mankind ; and, when domes- ticated, build in structures erected for their accommodation, called *• dove-cotes." They are classed by Moses among the clean birds; 75 Jones's Illustrations of the Gospels, p. 132. [See also Phil. iii. 2.] 76 " Columha fera genus, a vino, om NACiJASH, and here, ^Dn tan- nin. As riachash seems to be a term restricted to no one particular meaning, so the words tannim, tan- nin, TANMNiM, and TANNOTH, are used to signify different kinds of animals in the Scriptures. — As it was a rod, or staff, that was changed into the tannim in the cases men- tioned here, it has been supposed that an ordinary serpent is what is intended by the word, because the size of both might be pretty nearly equal ; but, as a miracle was wrought on the occasion, this circumstance is of no weight ; it was as easy for God to change the rod into a croco- dile, or any other creature, as to change it into an adder or common snake." From the Apocryphal story of Bel and the Dragon, it appears evident that the idol was a living crocodile ^^. See Leviathan and Whale. DROMEDARY. This name answers to two words in the ori- ginal. HDi, and fern. niDl eacar, or BicEE. Isai. Ix. 6, and Jer. ii. 24. and o^Din\i'nx achastaran, Esth. viii. 10, "young dromedaries;" pro- bably the name in Persian ^^. The dromedary is a race of camels chiefly remarkable for its prodigious swiftness. The most observable difference between it and the camel is, that it has but one protuberance 95 Justin Martyr, alluding to the Egyp- tian worship, always deemed the oppro- brium of Paganism, reprobates the sense- less, trifling, and disgusting objects of it.— AXXon/ aXKuya xat 5ev5fa asSofxEvov, xa» ■wolafxa; xat ixvg, xa» atXajaj, km x^oxo5«X»f, xa» rujv aXoyuiv {wwv ict zroKKu. Apol. 2. p. 63. ed. Francf. That the crocodile was held sacred, we have the authority of Plutarch, Mor. 976. B. ^Elian de Nat. Animal, x. 24. Juvenal, Sat. xv. 2. Strabo, lib. xvii. 811. D. Minucius Felix, p. 268. 96 This word is used, 1 Chron. iv., as the name of a man ; anglice, Mr. Swift. DRO 97 on the back^^; and instead of the slow, solemn walk to which that animal is accustomed, it paces, and will go as far in one day, as that will in three. For this reason, it is used to carry messengers on des- patches where haste is required. The animal is governed bj a bridle, which, being usually fastened to a ring fixed in the nose, may very well illustrate the expression, 2 Kincs, xix. 28, of putting a hook into the nose of Sennacherib ; and may be further applicable to his swift re- treat. Jer. ii. 23, properly gives the epithet ** swift" to this animal. Dr. Shaw 9^ mentions a dromedary named ashaary, and Morgan, adsh- are^^. Upon which the Continuator of Calmet ^ remarks : " The appli- cation of the word adshare to a swift dromedary, illustrates a passage in Prov. vi. 11 ; at least, it illustrates [97 This is a mistake. The Arabian camel Cdjammel, camelus viilgaris) has but one hump ; and the dromedary, or hadjin (called droma, the runner, by the Greeks), varies from the camel, not in species, but only in breed, being of a light and slender frame, and swifter than the horse; in fact, bearing the same relation to a camel, that a hunter or race-horse does to a horse of common breed. The Bactrian camel (.b^chty is distinguished from the Arabian by having two humps on the back. Djam- mel is used as a generic term ; hadjin always denotes a particular species. See Forskal's Fauna Orientalis. Art. Cameltts.] 9» Trav. p. 167. ed. 4to. 99 Hist, of Algiers, p. 101. [The Berber name of the dromedary is maherry. Upon this animal the Tuarick will perform ex- traordinary journeys. Its full speed is a long trot, at the rate of about nine miles an hour, in which it can continue for many hours together. Lyon's Travels p. 115.] 1 Fragments, No. 475. G 98 D RO the ideas of the Chaldee paraphrase on this passage, and the parallel pas- sage, or rather repetition, ch. xxiv. 34. * A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the arms to sleep ; so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.' It is evident that the writer means to denote the speed and rapidity of the approaches of penury ; therefore, instead of * one that travelleth,' read a post, a swift messenger, an express. " The words ish magen are no where used in the sense of an armed man, or * a man of a shield,' as some would render them literally ; but the Chaldee paraphrast trans- lates them si^r'2 Nin3 gabra cisheba, or rather ci-ashera, like an aashare- rider. The similitude of the Hebrew letters, as they now stand, to what they would be if the word achastaran, which is used in Esther, was re- ceived instead of them, is worth our notice: pDU^ND linWNQ. If the Chaldee has not retained this read- ing, it has done no more than sub- stitute the name of the swiftest species of camel with which the writer was acquainted, for the swift- est species mentioned in the He- brew. " The LXX translates dpojievQ, a runner ; which shews that they knew nothing of this ' man with a shield,' who certainly could not be expected to run so freely when encumbered with a shield, as an- other could run without one. Be- sides, a shield is an armour of de- fence : had it been said a sword, it might have denoted power and at- tack. Our translators, aware of this, have employed the ambiguous word ' armed.' The sentiment, on these principles, would stand thus : * So shall thy poverty advance as D RO rapidly as an express ; and thy penury as a strong and swift a^share- rider.' " DROUGHT. '\^Nm tsimmaon. Occ. Deut. viii. 15. This word is by some thought to be the serpent dipsas, whose bite causes an intolerable thirst. The poet Lucan, in the ninth book of his Pharsalia, has given a particular description of the terrible effects of the bite of the dipsas, which is thus translated by Rowe : " Aulus, a noble youth of Tyrrhene blood. Who bore the standard, on a dipsas trod ; Backward the wrathful serpent bent her head. And, fell with rage, the unheeded wrong repaid. Scarce did some little mark of hurt remain. And scarce he found some little sense of pain. Nor could he yet the danger doubt, nor fear That death, with all its terrors, threatened there. When lo ! unseen the secret venom spreads. And every nobler part at once invades; Swift flames consume the marrow and the brain. And the scorch'd entrails rage with burn- ing pain ; Upon his heart the thirsty poisons prey. And drain the sacred juice of life away. No kindly floods of moisture bathe his tongue. But cleaving to the parched roof it hung ; No trickling drops distil, no dewy sweat. To ease his weary limbs and cool the raging heat/' Gregory Nazianzen {Iambic 22) describes the dipsas as infesting the deserts of Egypt. A»\J/af Tig sTTt Twv eX^^vf^i^v ysvm, TfTTwv, Of' h BpnfMg AtyuTiTti (pepei. And Avicenna (v. ii. p. 139) men- tions these serpents as numerous in the regions of Africa and Syria. Meninski (2986) mentions a ve- nomous serpent by the name of symem, which may be that here des- cribed. See Serpents. EAGLE. 99 E EAGLE. "iu;2 NisR ; Arab, nesr; Chald. neschei\ Occ. Exod. xix. 4 ; Levit. xi. 13, et al freq.^. The name is derived from a verb which signifies to lace- rate, or tear in pieces. The eagle has always been con- sidered as the king of birds, on ac- count of its great strength, rapidity and elevation of flight, natural fero- city, and the terror it inspires into its fellows of the air. Its voracity is so great that a large extent of territory is requisite for the supply of proper sustenance, Providence has therefore constituted it a soli- tary animal : two pair of eagles are never found in the same neighbour- hood, though the genus is dispersed through every quarter of the world. It seldom makes depredations on the habitations of mankind ; pre- ferring its own safety to the gratifi- cation of appetite. Neither does it ever make mean or inconsiderable conquests ; the smaller and harmless birds being beneath its notice. It will, however, carry away a goose, 2 ** Aquilarum diverse circa proprietatem , magnitudinem et color em sunt species; ma- jores Arahico idiomate Nesir vocantur." Leo Af^canut^, Descr. Afr. 1. ix. c. 56. Et cap, 57. '* Nesir maxima Africa volucr^im, corpore gruem excedit, rostra tamen, collo et cruribus brevior." or even a turkey. It has often been known to seize hares, young lambs, and kids; which latter, as well as fawns, it frequently destroys for the sake of drinking their blood, as it never drinks water in the natural state. Having slain an animal too large to be eaten at once, it devours or carries off a part; leaving the remainder for other creatures less delicate : for it never returns to feed upon the same carcass, neither will it ever devour carrion. Its sight is quick, strong, and piercing to a proverb. Jackson, in his Accomit of Mo- rocco, p. 62, says, that ** the vulture (nesser), except the ostrich, is the largest bird in Africa. They build their nests on lofty precipices, high rocks, and in dreary parts of the mountains. Mr. Bruce has called this bird * the golden eagle,' but I apprehend that he has committed an error in denominating it an eagle, the generical name of which, in the Arabic language, is El Bezz," On the other hand, Mr. Salt, Trav. in Abyssinia, says, " its general ap- pearance in a natural state, together with the vigour and animation which it displays, incline me to think it more nearly allied in the natural system to the eagles, and I should therefore be inclined to call it ' the African bearded Eagle.' " In Job, xxxix. 27, the natural history of the eagle is finely drawn up. Is it at thy voice that the eagle soars ? And therefore maketh his nest on high ? The rock is the place of his habitation. He abides on the crag, the place of strength. Thence he pounces upon his prey. His eyes discern afar off. Even his young ones drink down blood : And wherever is slaughter, there is he. Mrs. Barbauld has given a des- cription of the Eagle in the following lines : " The royal bird his lonely kingdom forms Amid the gathering clouds and sullen storms : G 2 100 EAGLE. Through the wide waste of air he darts his flight, And holds his sounding pinions pois'd for sight ; With cruel eye premeditates the war, And marks his destined victim from afar. Descending in a whirlwind to the ground, His pinions like the rush of waters sound; The fairest of the fold he bears away, And to the nest compels the struggling prey." Alluding to the popular opinion, that the eagle assists its feeble young in their flight, by bearing them up on its own pinions, Moses repre- sents Jehovah as saying, Exod. xix. 4, " Ye have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself." Scheuchzer has quoted from an ancient poet, the following beautiful paraphrase on this pas- sage. *• Ac velut alituum'princepSffulvmgue tonantis Armiger, imphmes, et adhvc siyie robore natos Sollicita refovet cura, pingnisque ferina Jndulget pastus : mox ut cum liribus ala Vesticipes crevere, vocat se blandior auroy Expansa invitat plnma, dorsoque morantes Excipit,attollitqve humerii ,plansuque secvndo Fertur in arva, timens oneri, et tamen impete presso Remigium tentans alarum, incurvaque pinnis Vela legens, humiles tranat sub nubibus or as, Hinc sensim supra aha petit, jam jamque sub astra Frigitur, cwsitsque leves citui urget in auras. Omnia pervolitans late loca, et agmine fatus Fertqv£ refertque suos vario, moremque volandi Addccet : ilH autem, longa assuetudine docti, Paulatim i?icipiunt pennis se credere cttlo Impavidi: Tantum a teneris valet addere curam,^* When Balaam, Numb. xxiv. 21, delivered his predictions respecting the fate that awaited the nations which he then particularized, he said, of the Kenites, " Strong is thy dwelling, and thou puttest thy nest in the rock;" alludingto that princely bird, the eagle, which not only de- lightsinsoaringto the loftiest heights, but chooses the highest rocks and most elevated mountains, as de- sirable situations for erecting its nest. Comp. Hab. ii. 9. Obad.4. What Job says concerning the eagle, which is to be understood in a literal sense, " where the slain are, there is he," our Saviour makes an allegory of, when he says, Matth. xxiv. 28, " Wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together :" that is, wherever the Jews are, who deal unfaithfully with God, there will also the Romans, who bore the eagle in their standard, be to execute vengeance upon them. Comp. Luke, xvii. ?i7 . The swiftness of the flight of the eagle is alluded to in several pas- sages of Scripture ; as Deut. xxviii. 49, ** The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from afar, from the end of the earth ; as swift as the eagle flieth." In the affecting lamentation of David over Saul and Jonathan, their impetuous and rapid career is described in forcible terms. 2 Sam. i. To, " I'hey were swifter than eagles ; they were stronger than lions." Jeremiah, (iv. 13,) when he beheld in vision the march of Nebu- chadnezzar, cried : "Behold he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Wo unto us, for we are spoiled." To the wide expanded wings of the eagle, . and the rapidity of his flight, the same prophet beautifully alludes in a subsequent chapter, where he de- scribes the subversion of Moab by the same ruthless conqueror. Jer. xlviii. 40, " Behold he shall fly as an eagle, and spread his wings over Moab." In the same manner he describes the sudden desolations of Ammon in the next chapter; but, when he turns his eye to the ruins of his own country, he exclaims in still more energetic language. Lam. iv. 19, " Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heavens." Under the same comparison, the patriarch Job describes the rapid flight of time, ix. 26, " My days are passed away,as the eagle that hasteth to the prey." The surprising ra- pidity with which the blessings of common providence sometimes va- nish from the grasp of the possessor, is thus described by Solomon, Prov. xxx. 19 : " Riches certainly make themselves wings ; they fly away as an eagle towards heaven." EAGLE. 101 The flight of this bird is as sub- lime as it is rapid and impetuous. None of the feathered race soar so high. In his daring excursions he is said to leave tiie clouds of heaven, and regions of thunder, and light- ning, and tempest far beneath him, and to approach the very limits of ether 3. Alluding to this lofty soar- ing is the prophecy of Obadiah, ver. 4, concerning the pride and humilia- tion of Moab: " Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord." The prophet Jeremiah, xlix. 16, pronounces the doom of Edom in similar terms : ** O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that boldest the height of the hill ; though thou shouldst make thy nest high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord." It has been a popular opinion, that the eagle lives and retains its vigour to a great age; and that, be- yond the common lot of other birds, it moults in its old age, renews its feathers, and is restored to youthful strength again"*. This circumstance is mentioned in Psalm ciii. 5, and Isai. xl. 31. Whether the notion is in any degree well founded or not, we need not inquire. It is enough for a poet, whether sacred or pro- fane, to have the authority of popular opinion to support an image intro- duced for illustration or ornament. It is remarkable that Cyrus, com- pared in Isai. xlvi. 11, to an eagle (so the word translated " ravenous bird" should be rendered), is by Xe- noplion said to have had an eagle for his ensign; using, without knowing it, the identical word of the prophet, with only a Greek tennination to it^ So exact is the correspondence 3 Apuleius, as quoted by Bochart. 4 See Damir. Aristot. Hist. Anim. 1. ix. C.33. Plin. N.H.l.x.c.3. Horus Apollo, 1. ii. c. 92. Valterus, Aquilae Natura e Sa- cris Litteris, ex Deut. xxxii. 11, Ezek. xvii. 3, Psalm ciii. 5, et hsec vicissim, ex Historia Naturali et monumentis Veterum illustratae, 4to. Lips. 1747. 5 " A very proper emblem for Cyrus," says Bishop Lowth, " as in other respects. betwixt the prophet and the histo- rian, the prediction and the event. Xenophon and other ancient his- torians inform us, that the golden eagle with extended wings was the ensign of the Persian monarchs long before it was adopted by the Ro- mans ; and it is very probable, that the Persians borrowed the symbol from the ancient Assyrians, in whose banners it waved, till imperial Ba- bylon bowed her head to the yoke of Cyrus. If this conjecture be well founded, it discovers the reason why the sacred writers, in describing the victorious march of the Assyrian armies, allude so frequently to the expanded eagle. Referring to the Babylonian monarch, the prophet Plosea ( viii. 1 .) proclaimed in the ears of all Israel, the measure of whose iniquities was nearly full — " He shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord." Jeremiah (xlviii. 40) predicted a similar calamity : ** Thus saith the Lord, behold he shall fly as an eagle, and spread his wings over Moab." And the same figure was employed to denote the sudden destruction that overtook the house of Esau : " Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah." The words of these prophets received a full accomplishment in the irre- sistible impetuosity and complete success with which the Babylonian monarchs, and particularly Nebu- chadnezzar, pursued their plans of conquest. Ezekiel denominates him, with great propriety, " a great eagle with great wings ;" because he was the most powerful monarch of his time, and led into the field more nu- merous and better appointed armies, (which the prophet calls, by a beau- tiful figure " his wings," the wings of his army,) than perhaps the world had ever seen. The prophet Isaiah, referring to the same monarch, pre- so particularly because the ensign of Cyrus was a golden eagle, AET02 X5"<''°'^>» the very word ID*"]/ which the prophet here uses, expressed as near as may be in Greek letters. Xenoph. Cyrop. I. vii. sub init. 102 EB O dieted the subjugation of Judea in these terms : ** He shall pass through Judah. He shall overflow, and go over. He shall reach even to the neck. And the stretching out of his wings (the array of his army) shall fill the breadth of thy land, Immanuel." Isai.viii. 8. The king of Egypt is also styled by Ezekiel, " a great eagle, with great wings, and many feathers ;" but he mani- festly gives the preference to the king of Babylon, by adding, that he had ** long wings, full of feathers, which had divers colours ;" that is, greater wealth, and a more nume- rous army^. See Gier-Eagle. EBON Y. D^mrr, or, according to 23 of Dr. Kennicott's codices, D^^nn hobnim; Greek, EBENOS^; Vul- gate, hebeninos. An Indian wood, of a black colour, and of great value in ancient times ®. As being very hard and heavy, and admitting of a fine polish, it was used in inlaid work with ivorj, with which it formed a beautiful contrast. It is mentioned with ivory, as among the imported articles, in Ezek. xxvii. 15 ; and that is the only place in which the word occurs in Scripture. It is to be observed that the word is in the plural ; and Theophrastus, Hist. 1. iv. c. 5, Plin. N. H. 1. xii. c. 4, and other authors mention two kinds of ebony. Besides, all the other kinds of precious woods in Scripture are in the plural j as WiDW 6 Paxtou, Illustrations of Scripture, V. ii. 7 " In Montfauconii quidem Hexaplis Ori geiiianis nihil de Symmacho notatum est : at ex Theodoreto disco, eum de Heheno cogitasse. Ta KseaTU, inquit ad h, I. o 2ujUiw.axof esfvaj )lfiU.>)vaKr*v, a<{)' wv Ta eSsvia xaXs/u-eva ynerau. Ergo Heheni nomen in hoc versu apud Sym- machum legit, sed male ad m^Tp retulit.'' Michaelis, Not. ad Geogr. Heb. exter. part i. p. 206. 8 Sola India nigrum Pert ehenum, Virg. Georg. ii. 117. SI scevo;, w X^og, w sic X«uxa sXecfiavrof A»gTo« I Thbocr. Idyl. xv. v. 123. Theophrastus also says, that Ebony was peculiar to India; but Pliny quotes Hero- dotus, to shew that Ethiopia produces Ebony ; and Lucian mentions it as grow- ing in that country. EGG twenty times in Exodus, and D^ni^b^ or DOinbN 1 Kings, x.l2; 2 Chron. ix. 10, 11; and this, perhaps, not from their being varieties, but their being in separate pieces, or being sold in parcels. EGG. D''Vn BETziM, plur. Occ. Dent. xxii. 6 ; Job, xxxix. 14 ; Isai. x. 14 ; and lix. v. QON Luke, xi. 12. Eggs are considered as a very great delicacy in the East, and are served up with fish and honey at their entertainments. Asa desirable article of food, the egg is mentioned, Luke, xi. 12. '* If a son ask for an egg, will his father offer him a scor- pion?" — It has been remarked, that the body of the scorpion is very like an egg, as its head can scarcely be distinguished^ ; especially if it be of the white kind, which is the first species mentioned by uElian, Avi- cenna, and others. Bochart has produced testimonies to prove that the scorpions in Judea were about the bigness of an egg ^^. So the si- militude is preserved between the thing asked and the thing given. The reasoning is this. If a child ask an earthly parent for bread, a necessary of life, he will not deny him what is proper for his support, putting liim off with a stone ; and if he should ask for a sort of food of the more delicious kind, an eel or an egg, he will not, we may assure ourselves, give his child what is hurtful, a serpent or a scorpion. If sinful men, then, will give good gifts to their children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the necessary and the more desirable gifts of his Spirit to those who sup- plicate for them ! This passage may be compared with Isai. lix. 5. They hatch the eggs of the basilisk- He that eateth their eggs dieth ; And when it is crushed, a viper breaketh forth. 9 Lamy Appar. Bibl. b. iii. c. 2. $. 7. The Greeks have an adage, avr* ir«fX)if ' From the passage in Ezekiel we learn, that the Tyrians traded in these jewels in the marts of Syria. They probably had them from India, or the south of Persia. The true oriental emerald is very scarce. 12 Nat. Hist. I. xxxvii. c. 5. FALLOW-DEER, i^nw yach- MUR. Occ. Deut. xiv. 5, and 1 Kings, iv. 23. The animal here mentioned is not the fallow-deer, but the bubalus ; and it is so rendered by the Septuagint and Vulgate ; and indeed Bochart has sufficiently proved, that, in the ancient Greek writers, BafiaXog or Bs(5a\ig signifies an animal of the deer kind. This animal Dr. Shaw supposes to be the bekkar el wash, which is nearly of the same size with the red deer ; with which it also agrees in colour, as yachmur likewise, the scripture name, (being a derivative from iDn, hommar, ru- here,) may denote. The flesh is very sweet and nourishing; much prefer- able to the red deer; and so might well be received, with the deer and the antelope, at Solomon's table, as mentioned, 1 Kings, iv. 23 ^^. On the other hand, Herodotus, Oppian, ^lian, Aristotle, describe an animal of the species of Gazelle, which Pallas*'* calls " Antelope Bubalis," and Oedman renders pro- bable is the creature here mention- ed'^; and Niebuhr observes, that 13 Trav. p. 170, and 415. ed. 4to. 14 Sicel. Zool. fasc. 1. No. 10. 15 Vermisclite Sammlungen aus der Na- turkunde, fasc. 1. c. 3, p. 27, and fasc. iv. c. 2. there is an antelope which still re- tains this name in Arabia*^. It in- habits the mountains of that country, and it is frequent about the Eu- phrates. For other conjectures, I refer to the note of RosenmuUer on Bochart, Hieroz. 1. II. c. 28. p. 282, vol. i. Michaelis, Suppl. Lexic. Hebr. p. v. p. 1544, and Tychsen, Physiologus Syrus, p. 36 — 42. FERRET, np^a anakah, from p3N anak to groan, or cry out. Occ. Levit. xi. 29. The ferret is a species of the wea- sel ; but Bochart will have the ana- kah to be the spotted lizard called by Pliny " stellio." Dr. James takes it for the " frog," in allusion to the name, which literally signifies ** the crier," befitting the croaking of that animal ; but we shall find the frog mentioned under another name. Dr. Geddes renders it " the newt," or rather " the lizard of the Nile ''' ;" and it evidently must be of the lizard species. Pliny mentions " the ga- leotes, covered with red spots, whose cries are sharp '^ :" this may be the Gekko, which I have reason to think the animal here intended. Besides which, few, if any, lizards cry. As its name in the Indies, tockai, and 16 Praef. xlii. 17 Lacerta Nilotica, Hasselquist, p. 22J. 18 Nat. Hist. 1. xxix. c. 4. G3 106 FIG in Egypt gekko, is formed from its voice, so the Hebrew name anakah, or perhaps anakkah, seems to be formed in like manner ; the double k being equally observable in all these appellations'^. If these remarks are admissible, this lizard is sufl&- ciently identified. FIG-TREE. n3Nn teenah ; Arab. tijn. Occ. Gen. iii.7 ; Numb. xiii. 23 ; and elsewhere freq. ; and SYKEH Matth. vii. 16; xxi. 19; xxiv. 32 ; Mark, xi. 13, 20,21; xiii. 28; Luke, vi. 44 ; xiii. 6,7 ; xxi. 29; John, i. 48 ; James, iii. 12 ; and Rev. vi. 13. This tree was very common in Palestine. It becomes large, di- viding into many branches, which are furnished with leaves shaped like those of the mulberry. It affords a friendly shade. Accord- ingly, we read, in the Old Testa- ment, of Judah and Israel dwelling, or sitting securely, every man under his fig-tree. 1 Kings, iv. 2.5. (Comp. Mic. iv. 4; Zech. iii. 10; and 1 Maccab. xiv. 12.) And in the New Testament, we find Nathaniel under a fig-tree, probably for the purposes of devotional retirement. John i. 49, 51. Hasselquist, in his journey from Nazareth to Tiberias, says : '* We refreshed ourselves under the shade of a fig-tree, under which was a well, where a shepherd and his 19 In the Syriac version it is amkatha, wliich, according to Gabriel Sionita, is a kind of lizard. FIG herd had their rendezvous; but without either house or hut." The fruit w^hich it bears, is pro- duced from the trunk and large branches, and not from the smaller shoots, as in most other trees. It is soft, sweet, and very nourishing. Milton is of opinion that the ba- nian-tree 2" was that with whose leaves our first parents made them- selves aprons 2>. But his account, as to the matter of fact, wants even probability to countenance it ; for the leaves of that tree are so far from being, as he has described them, of the bigness of an Amazonian target, that they seldom or never exceed five inches in length, and three in breadth. Therefore we must look for another of the fig kind, that better answers the purpose referred to by Moses, Gen. iii. 7 ; and as the fruit of the banana-tree 2^ is often, by the most ancient authors, called a fig, mav we not suppose this to have been the fig-tree of Paradise \ Pliny, describing this tree, says, that its leaves were the greatest and most shady of all others 23; and as the leaves of these are often six feet long, and about two broad, are thin, smooth, and very flexible, they may be deemed more proper than any other for the covering spoken of; especially since they may be easily joined together with the numerous threadlike filaments, which may, without labour, be peeled from the body of the tree '^*. The first ripe fig is still called boccore in the Levant, which is nearly its Hebrew name, miDl. Jer. xxiv. ^0 Ficus Indica : Opuntia. Tournef. 239. Cactus, Lin. gen. plan. 539. 21 Paradise Lost, ix. IIOL 22 Musa, the Egyptian mauze. 23 ** Folium habet maximum umbrosissi- m7imque." N. H. lib. xvi. c. 26. 24 So Homer's Ulysses covers his naked- ness in the vv^ood. Odys. vi. 127. " Then where the grove with leaves urn brageons bends. With forceful strength a branch the hero rends ; Around his loins the verdant cincture spreads, A wreathy foliage and concealing shades." BROOM£. FIG-TREE. lor S-"*. Thus Dr. Shaw, in giving an account of the fruits in Barbary, mentions " the black and white boccoi-e, or early Jig, which is pro- duced in June ; though the kermes"^ or kermouse, the Jig, properly so called, which they preserve and make up into cakes, is rarely ripe before August ^7." And on Nah. iii. 12, he observes, that " the boccores drop as soon as they are ripe, and, according to the beautiful allusion of the prophet,/a// into the mouth of the eater upon being shaken.^' Fur- ther, *♦ it frequently falls out in Bar- bary," says he, " and we need not doubt of the like in this hotter cli- mate of Judea, that, according to the quality of the preceding season, some of the more forward and vigor- ous trees will now and then yield a few ripe fgs six weeks or more be- fore the full season. Something like this may be alluded to by the pro- phet Hosea, ch. ix. 10, when he says, that he saw their fathers as mon the first ripe in thefg-tree, at herfrst time. Such figs were reck- oned a great dainty." Comp. Isai. xxviii. 4. The prophet Isaiah gave orders to apply a lump of figs to Hezekiah's boil ; and immediately after it was cured 28. God, in eiFecting this mi- raculous cure, was pleased to order '■^ [The Hebrew word signifies primus fnictus et pracox ; iGoWw^y—ficus precox, prodromvs, sive protherima. (Scliind. Lex.) Our word apricot (or apricock)is supposed to liave a similar derivation ] 26 [So called, perhaps, from its colour being often that of the kermes, a scarlet berry. When just formed, they are the pAagim(oKw&b"3 NiELLE, Inigella'^^.'] The gith was called by the Greeks, fieXavQiov, and by the Latins, ni- gella^^ ; and is thus described hy Ballester*3 : " It is a plant com- monly met with in gardens, and grows to a cubit in height, and some- times more, according to the rich- ness of the soil. The leaves are small, like those of fennel, the flower blue, which disappearing, the ovary shews itself on the top, like that of a poppy, furnished with little horns, oblong, divided by membranes into several partitions, or cells, in which are enclosed sseds of a very black colour, not unlike those of the leek, but of a very fragrant smell." And Ausonius, lib. xix. c. 8, observes, that its pungency is equal to that of pepper. " Est inter fmges morsu piper mquiparens git." Pliny (N. H. I. xx. c. 17) says, it is of use in bake-houses [pistrinisi, and that it affords a grateful seasoning 41 In tract. Edajoth, c. v. § 3. Tract. Tibbul. Jom. c. 1. § 5. 42 Salmasius in Solin. 126. 43 Hierogl. I. ill. c. 5. p. 234. to bread : — " semen gratissime panes etiam coiidief — " inferiorem crustam [panis] apium gitqiie cereali sapore condiunt." So also Dioscorides, lib. xix. c. 8. Yrrtpjia fieXav, dpifiv, 'sviodsg, KaraTrXarrffofievov eig ap- rovg. And the Jewish Rabbins men- tion the seeds among condiments, and mixed with bread. For this purpose it was probably used in the time of Isaiah ; since the inhabitants of those countries, to this day, have a variety of rusks and biscuits, most of which are strewed on the top with the seeds of sesamum, coriander, and wild garden saffron'''^. As, in the Talmud and various Rabbinical tracts, the gith, cummin, and sesa- mum are mentioned in connexion ^s, this may render probable the con- jecture, that the word 173D2 nisman in this verse of Isai. xxviii. 25, translated " the appointed," is an error of the transcription, for pDD sesamonJ which varies one letter only, and that by the mere omission of a stroke to complete its form ; the sesamum, so well known in the East. If we suppose the letter D to have been omitted here, then we may make the 3 into \ and read sesamem; otherwise we may read, according to the Egyptian name semsemum, pDDD, supposing the first syllable omitted. The passage would then be — " He casts abroad the wheat, barley, and sesamum in their places." The other word rendered" fitches" in our translation of Ezek. iv. 9, is riDDD cusmeth ; but in Exod. ix. 32, and Isai. xxviii. 25, " rye." In the latter place, the Septuagiut has ^ea, and in the two former, oXvpa ; and the Vulgate in Exodus, "far," and in Isaiah and Ezekiel, ** vicia." Sa- ADiAs likewise took it to be some- thing of the leguminous kind, ]N3b3, cicercula (misprinted circula in the Polyglott version) or a chickliiig, Aquila has Z,Ea, and Theod. oXvQa, 44 Ranwolf, Ray's Trav. p. 95. See also Harmer's Obs. v. iii. p. 265, " On different kinds of Seeds eaten with Bread." 45 Tract Oketz. c. iii. § 3. Edajoth, c. v.§3. Tibbul. Jom. c.i. §5. Buxtorf, Lexic. Talniudic. p. 2101. FLA Onkelos and Targum have N^n2i3 and Syr. nHDID, which are supposed to be the millet, or a species of it called panicum ; Pers. m^DIO, the spelt ; and this seems to be the most probable meaning of the Hebrew word; at least, it has the greatest number of interpreters from Jerom to Celsius. The following are the words of the former, in his Comment, on Ezek. torn. iii. p. 722. ** Quam nosvitiam [inciam] interpretati sumus, pro quo ill HebrcEo dicitur chasamin ; Septuaginta Theodotioque posuerunt o\vpav,quam alii avenam,alii sigalam putant. AquilcE autem prima editio et Symmachus K^ag, sive ^eiag, interpre- tati sunt ; quas nos vel far, velgentili ItalicB PannoniiEque sermone spicam SPELTAMQUE diclmus." There are not, however, wanting those who think it was rye; among whom is R. D. Kimchi, followed by Luther, and our English Translators ; Dr. Geddes, too, has retained it, though he says that he is inclined to think that the spelt is preferable. Singular is the version of Gr. Ven. atyiXo;//, (probably a misprint for aiyiXio-^,) oats: jet, the Arabic Translator of Isaiah and Ezekiel uses a word, ]^E3 w, which, some are of opinion, denotes avena, oats ; while others think it means secale, rye ^^. Dr. Shaw thinks that this word may signify rice-. Hasselquist, on the contrary, affirms that rice was brought into cultivation in Egypt under the Caliphs. This, however, may be doubted. One would think, from the intercourse of ancient Egypt with Babylon and with India, tliat this country could not be ignorant of a grain so well suited to its climate. FLAG. •1^^< achu. Occ. Gen. xli. 2, 18, and Job, viii. 11, and f]^D suph, Exod. ii. 3,5; Isai. xix. 6 ; and John, ii. 5, " weeds." The word achu, in the two first instances, is translated ** meadows," and in the latter, "flag." It pro- bably denotes the sedge or long grass which grows in the meadows of the Nile, very grateful to the "•fi Geddes, Crit. Rem. on Exod. ix. 32. FLA 113 cattle. It is retained in the Sep- tuagint in Gen. ev toj a^f t ; and is used by the Son of Sirach, Ecclus. xl. 16, ax^ and a%£i ; for the copies vary. St. Jerom, in his Hebrew ques- tions or traditions on Genesis, writes: " Achi neque Grcecus sermo est, nee LatinuSfSed et Hebrc^us ipse corruptus est," The Hebrew vau T and jod ^ being like one another, and differing only in length, the LXX inter- preters, he observes, wTote TMi achi for ^^^< achu ; and, according to their usual custom, put the Greek x for the double aspirate n. That the grass was well known among the Egyptians, he owns in his Com- ment upon Isai. xix. 7, where the LXX render miy aroth, paper reeds, to a%t ro x^^pov. ** Cum ab eruditis quctrerum, quid hie sermo signijicaret, audivi ab ^gyptiis hoc nomine lingua eorum omne, quod in palude virens nascitur appellari,'* " We have no radix," says the learned Chappellow, " for ^n.vf , unless we derive it, as Schultens does, from the Arabic achi, to bind or join to- gether." Thus Parkhurst defines it, " a species of plant, sedge, or reed, so called from its fitness for making ropes, or the like, to con- nect or join things together ; as the LzLtin juncus, a bulrush, ajungendo, from joining, for the same reason'*''." And he supposes that it is the plant, or reed, growing near the Nile, which Hasselquist describes as having nu- merous narrow leaves, and growing about eleven feet high; of the leaves of which the Egyptians make ropes*^. It should, however, be observed, says the Author of" Scripture Illus- trated," that the LXX, in Job, viii. 11, render butomus, which Hesy- chius explains as "a plant on which cattle are' fed, like to grass;" and Suidas, as " a plant like to a reed, on which oxen feed." These ex- planations are remarkable, because we read, Gen. xli. 2, that the fat 47 So the English retain the word juni, for an old rope, or cable. 48 Hasselquist, Trav. p. 97. 114 FLAG kine of Pharaoh fed in a meadow, says our translation, on achu, in the original. This leads us to wish for information on what aquatic plants the Egyptian cattle feed; which, no doubt, would lead us to the achu of these passages^^. II. The word f]^D suph is called by Aben Ezra, " a reed growing on the borders of the river." Bochart, Fuller, Rivetus, Ludolphus, and Junius and Tremellius, render it by jimcus, carei, or alga; and Celsius thinks it the fucus or alga, sea- weed*^. Dr. Geddes says, there is little doubt of its being the sedge called sari ; which, as we learn from Theophrastus and Pliny, grows on the marshy banks of the Nile, and rises to the height of almost two cubits *^ This, indeed, aojrees very well with Exod. ii. 3, 5, and with " the thickets of arundina- ceous plants, at some small distances from the Red Sea," observed by Dr. Shaw^2. but ^jjg place in Jonah seems to require some submarine plant. Browne, in his Travels (p. 191), observes : ** At Suez, I observed in the shallow parts of the adjacent sea a species of weed, which in the sunshine appeared to be red coral, being of a hue between scarlet and 49 " Vocabulvm Copticum esse jam alii tnonuerunt. Scholtzii et Woidii Lex. Copt. p. 10. et 53. Complectitur nojnen vel maxime bucoHca Mgyptia ah Heliodoro iii Mtkiopicis, lib. i. p. 10, eleganter descripta, recteque a Josepho, ipso quoque bono si'gniJicatio7iis teste IXof, palustria, redditur. Ant. 1. v. c. 5. Mi- chaelis. Lex. Hebr. Suppl. N. 61. p. 56. 50 " Alga venit pelago, sed nascitur viva Alga is the sea-weed ; ulva is only used to express the reeds or weeds growing in pools and standing waters. " Sufestlenom d'une herbe ou d'une plante, que Von trouve en Ethiopie, de la grandeur du Chardon, la fleiir est meme assez semblable a celle du Chardon, a la couleur pres, qui ap- proche beaucoup de celle du Saffron. Les Abessins s'en servent beaucoup dans leurs teintures, et en fond un incarnat tr'cs beau." Lobo, Voyage d'Abissinie, trad. Fr. par M. le Grand, Amst. 1727, page 53. 51 *' Fructicosi generis est sari, circiim Nilum nascens, duorumfere cuhitorum altitu- dine." PHn. N. H. 1. xiii. c. 23. 62 Trav. p. 447, ed. 4to. crimson, and of a spongy feel and quality. I know not whether any use be made of it, nor am I ac- quainted with its Arabic name ; but it strikes me, that, if found in great quantities at any former period, it may have given the recent name to this sea; for this was the Arabian Gulf of the ancients, whose Mare EryihrcEum, or Red Sea, was the Indian Ocean. This weed may, perhaps, be the suph of the He- brews, whence yam suph, their name for this sea." This, however, is all conjecture ; and in the close of this article, I think it will appear, is not an authority for the appella- tion given to this sea. One of the questions which Mi- chaelis proposed for the investiga- tion of the travellers sent into Arabia by the King of Denmark, was respecting the meaning of the term suph, given to what is now called " the Red Sea^^." He him- self was of the opinion which Celsius had advanced, that it meant a species of alga, probably the sargazo, which grows at the bottom of the sea, around the shore, and spreads its floating leaves, of a reddish hue, on the sur- face. He observes that the FjlD is mentioned in Exod. ii. 3, as grow- ing in the Nile ; and that in the ancient Egyptian language, the sea is named sari, and that this plant, which is mentioned by Pliny, may be the sargazo of M. Jablonski^*. M. Niebuhr, who was one of these 53 Exod. xiii. 18; xv.4; Numb. xiv. 25; xxi. 4 : Judg. xi. 16 ; 1 Kings, ix. 26 ; Psal. cvi. 7,9,22; cxxxvi.13,15; and Jer. xlix. 21. Once by the Septuagint, Jud. xi. 16, rendered SaXacrcra 2i<^, the sea of Ziph ; in other places, ffoSja fiaXatrcra, and in the • Vulgate " r^ibrum mare." In our translation of Deut. i. 1, we read, " in the plain over agaiust the Red Sea." As Moses and the people were in the plains of Moab, the place here spoken of, and called in the original suph, could not be the Red Sea, for they were now further from that, than they had yet been ; and, indeed, there is no word for " sea " in the original. The place suph is, perhaps, the sijme that is called " Ziph" in 1 Sam. ix. 6. 54 Pantheon. yEgypt. 1. iv. c. 1. $ 6. p. 151, el Diss, de Terra Gosen, p. 60. FLAG. 115 travellers, remarks : " Reeds are so common about the Arabic Gulf, as to have procured it the name Yam Suph, or the sea of reeds, from the ancients**." But Mr. Bruce thinks, the sea suph, in our and other ver- sions called " the Red Sea," should be named the sea of coral. He says ; "As for what fanciful people have said of any redness in the sea itself, or colour in the bottom, all this is fiction ; the Red Sea being in colour nothing different from the Indian or any other ocean. There is greater difficulty in assigning a reason for the Hebrew name Yam Suph, pro- perly so called, say learned authors, from the quantity of weeds in it. Thus, both Diodorus Siculus and Antemidorus in Strabo, (cited in Bochart, V. i. p. 282.) have taken particular notice of the fxviov and ^VKovg, m,oss and alga, with which the sea abounds, and from whence they account for its remarkably green colour." Com. Wisd. xix. 7. Dr. Shaw also is for translating F^iD D^ " the sea of weeds," from the variety of alg(E and fuci; but ob- serves : " I no where observed any species of the flag kind ; we have little reason, therefore, to imagine that this sea should receive a name from a production which does not properly belong to it." Forskal, Descr. plantar, Flor. jEgyptiaco Ara- bic(£, p. 24, declares : " Arundines non crescunt ad littora Maris Rubri, nisi uhi fontes et lacustria sunt loca, velut Ghobeibe ; qucB rarissima inve- niuntur." Mr. Bruce also adds : " I never (and I have seen the whole extent of it) saw a weed of any sort in it ; and indeed, upon the slightest consideration, it will ap- pear to any one, that a narrow gulf, under the immediate influence of monsoons blowing from contrary points six months each year, would have too much agitation to produce such vegetables, seldom found but in stagnant waters, and seldomer, if ever, found in salt ones. My opinion then is, that it is from the large 55 Trav. V. ii. p. 349. translation. trees or plants of white coral, spread everywhere over the bottom of the Red Sea, perfectly in imitation of plants on land, that the sea has obtained this name." A learned friend. Rev. Dr. West, of New Bedford, who called upon me when writing this article, strengthened, by his ingenious criti- cisms, this opinion of Mr. Bruce. He observed that the word suph means, sometimes, a post or stake, to which the large branches of coral may bear some resemblance. Dr. Shaw speaks of them as so consi- derable, that they tied their boats to them. The sea is at this day called Bahr Suf, and the vegetation it produces, siifo ; and Calmet pro- duces the authority of John de Castro, viceroy of the Indies for the king of Portugal, who believed that it had its name from the quantity of coral found in it. If, after this, I might hazard a conjecture of my own, I would sug- gest, that it means the extreme or boundary sea ; my reasons for which I will adduce after accounting for the name which it now bears. It is certain, that the books of the Old Testament invariably call it ** the Sea Suph." I am inclined to believe, that the name "Red" was not given it till after the Idu- means [or Edomites] had spread themselves from east to west, and till they came to border upon and possess this sea. They had long the property and use of it for their shipping. Then it came to be called by the name of " the Sea of Edom." Afterwards, the Greek mistook the name DTIN for an appellative, instead of a proper name, and therefore rendered it epv9pa QaXaaaa, that is, the red sea; for Edom, in the lan- guage of that country, signified red ; and it is observed in Scripture, that Esau, having sold his birthright to his brother Jacob for a mess of red pottage, was, for that reason, called Edom, i. e. the red. Gen. xxv. 30. And Strabo (1. xvi. p. 766), Pliny (N. H. 1. vi. c. 23), Pomponius 116 FLA Mela (1. iii. c. 8), and others ^^ g^y^ that this sea was so called, not from any redness that was in it, but from a king Erythros, who reigned in a country adjoining to it." This is confirmed by 1 Kings, ix. 26, and 2 Chron. viii. 17, where the Sea Suph is mentioned as in the terri- tory of Edom^^. Now it is to be observed, that this sea is twice mentioned expressly as the limit or extreme boundary of the possessions of the Israelites. Exod. xxiii. 31 ; and Numb, xxxiv. 3; and, in several instances, is implied, or included, in the boundary. Deut. xi. 24; Josh. i. 4; 1 Kings, iv. 21, 24, and Psal. Ixxii. 8. The original and most general meaning of suph is, end, limit, extremity, or further part^^. This has induced me to believe it originally called by the Jews, the further boundary sea. That it was not named suph because abounding in coral, I apprehend from this circumstance, that that marine production is mentioned in Scripture by an entirely different name. It is spoken of in Job, xxviii. 18, and Ezek. xxvii. 16, as a precious stone, and is called ramut^^. See Coral. The sea is now called Bahr el Kolzoom; that is, the sea of drowning, or overwhelming ^^. The term ** Red 6« Agatharcides, p. 2. Quint. Curtius, I. viii. c. 9. Philostratus, 1. iii. c. 15. Fuller, Miscel. Sacr. 1. iv. c. 20. Prideaux Connect. V. i. p. 10. Univ. Hist. V.xviii. p. 338. 57 In 1 Kings, ix. 26, it is rendered by the LXX, B(rX°tTy[v SctXao-trav, the furthest sea. 58 See Buxtorf and Taylor, Heb. Con- cordance. 59 The opinion which I have given above, is corroborated by the conjecture of Lippenius, whose remark has been lately pointed out to me. He supposes the name of the sea to mean, " circumscribed by visible bounds on both sides," in contra- distinction, perhaps, to the Great Sea, or Mediterranean. Dicitur mare Suph He- brake ex rad. 5"iD, deficere finire, unde est nomen ^^D. finis, seu extremitas, Eccles. iii. 11. Hinc mare Suph est, vi verbi, mare finitimum, limitatum, terminis et littorihus ciraimseptum. [Navig. Salomonis Ophirit. illustr. Wittemb. 1660, p. 286.] 60 [The western branch of the Arabian Gulf is styled by the Greek and Latin FLA Sea " appears to be very improperly adopted in Numb. xxi. 14 ; and Deut. i. 1. In the first passage we read : "What he did in the Red Sea, and in the brooks of Arnon." It should be in suphah ; for there is no sea in the original. In the latter passage also, it should be in the plain over against suph. Here our translators confess, by their italics, that they have inserted the word " Sea," between Paran, Tophel, &c. By this insertion, the geography is sadly confused. The proper ren- dering of this name, and the dis- missing of all reference to the Red Sea, is of great consequence to the ancient geography of the place : as that station which was in any toler- able sense over against the Red Sea, could not possibly be near to Paran, nor to Hazaroth ; neither could it be " eleven days journey from Horeb, by the way of Mount Seir ; " i. e. at Kadesli Barnea. FLAX. nn^TB pishtah. Occ. Exod. 31 ; Levit. xiii. 47, 48, 52, 59; Deut. xxii. 11; Josh, ii. 6 ; Jud. xv. 14 ; Prov. xxxi. 13 ; Isai. xix. 9 ; xliii. 3 ; xliii. 17 ; Jer. xiii. 1 ; Ezek. xl. 3 ; xliv. 17, 18 ; Hosea, ii. 5, 9 ; AINON Matth. xii. 20 ; and Rev. xv. 6. A plant very common, and too well known to need a description. It is a vegetable upon which the industry of mankind has been ex- ercised with the greatest success and utility. On passing a field of it, one is struck with astonishment when he considers that this appa- geographers, the Gulf of Heroopolis and the Sea of Clysma, from the towns on its western shore. Clysma is the Greek form of Kolsoom, and was the name of a town, of which, Niebuhr says, considerable ruins still exist to the north of Suez. If the name of the town refers, as has been sup- posed, to the destruction of the Egyptians at the time of the exodus, its site would indicate the point at which they crossed the arm of the gulf.' This, according to Lord Valentia's supposition respecting their route, must have been adore Suez. See Mod. Trav. vol. iv. pp. 119, 196. It is, after all, not improbable, that Suf was the name of an ancient citj^, whatever be the meaning of the word.] FLAX. 117 rently insignificant plant may, by the labour and ingenuity of man, be made to assume an entirely new form and appearance, and to con- tribute to pleasure and health, by furnishing us with agreeable and ornamental apparel. The word nnw^ pishtah, Mr. Parkhurst thinks, is derived from the verb ion's pashat, •• to strip," because the substance which we term Jiax, is properly the bark or fibrous part of the vegetable, pilled or stripped off the stalks. From time immemorial Egypt was celebrated for the production or manufacture of flax^^ Wrought into linen garments, it constituted the principal dress of the inhabi- tants, and the priests never put on any other kind of clothing^^^ The Jine linen of Egypt is celebrated in all ancient authors, and its superior excellence is mentioned in the Sacred Scriptures ^^. The manufacture of flax is still carried on in that country, and many writers take notice of it. 6| Herodot. 1. ii. p. 121. c. 105. p. 151. Plin. N. H. 1. xix. c. i. p. 156. Arrian Peripl. p. 145. Kircher, ^gypt. Rest, p. 370. Philostr. Vit. Apol. p. 258. 62 Herodot. p.^ 116. Apuleius. Apol. p. 69. Plutarch de Iside et Osiride, p. 352. S. Hieron. in Ezek. xliv. fol. 257, " Vesti- hns lineis viuntur Mgyptii Sacerdotes non solum extrinsecus sed et intriiisecus " And Silius Italicus, speaking of the priests of Amnion, says, " Velantur corpore lino." 63 Prov. vii. 16; Ezek. xxvii. 7. Rabbi Benjamin Tudela mentions the manufactory at Damiata^**; and Egmont and Heyman describe the article as being of a beautiful colour, and so finely spun that the threads are hardly discernible. But as the Scripture uses the word V^ butz for ** fine linen," Dr. Geddes supposes the byssus or cotton, of which the ancients made a very fine cloth, to be intended. Of this I shall after- wards treat, and now proceed to illustrate the several texts where the word nriWE) PISHTAH is introduced. The first instance is in Exodus, ix. 31 ; where the seventh plague in Egypt is thus described : " The flax and the barley were smitten ; for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was boiled." The destruc- tion of this article, so necessary and valuable, and at the very season when they were about to gather it, must have distressed them very much ^5. The next instance in which flax is mentioned is Levit. xiii. 47, 48, 52, 59, where the taint or infection made by the leprosy in a garment is described. In Deut. xxii. 11, there is a pro- hibition of wearing a garment of flax and wool^. The original word, 64 " Damiata—cvjus incola linum serunt, et Candidas telas texunt, quas iti omnes mundi regiones deferunt." Itiner. p. 125. 65 Acerba res est frugam pernices, quis enifn negaverit ? Jam spe ipsa oblectantium , aqtie horreis appropinquantium. Acerba res prematura messis, et agricola labor ibus suis ingemiscentes, ac velut mxirtvis fcttibus assi- dentes. Mi serum spectaculum terra ignomi- niose vastata atque detonsa, suoque ornatu spoliata ! " Greg. Nazianzen, Orat. in plag. grandinis, p. 86. 66 See, on this subject, the Disputation of Abarbinel, translated into Latin by Buxtorf, and annexed to the book of Cosri, p. 400. Bochart, Hif roz. p. i. p. 492. Cel- sius Hierobot. V. 2. p. 300. Adam Clarke's note ad loc. and Dr. Geddes, Cr. Rem. who explains in a very ingenious and satisfactory manner the nice distinction in the original between the zvarp and the zcoof; and confutes the forced and far- fetched explications of Le Clerc, Houbi- gant, Dathe, and Rosenmuller. Another explanation is given by the learned Mi- chaelis in his Commentary on the Laws of Moses, Vol. iii. p. 366, of Dr. Smith's trans- lation. 118 FLAX. T3oyu; sHAATNEz, translated " linen and woollen," Levit. xix. 19, is difficult of explanation. I am in- clined to believe that it must refer to a garment of divers sorts, rather than to what we call ** linsey wool- sey ;" to one made up of patchwork, differently coloured, and arranged, perhaps, for pride and show, like the coat of many colours made by Jacob for his son Joseph, Gen. xxxvii. 3®'. It is related in Joshua ii. 6, that Rahab hid the Israelitish spies under the stalks of pishtah, which she had laid to dry on the root of her house. Mr. Harmer has fur- nished some useful remarks upon this subject ^^, to ascertain the time of the year, and thus prove that Jiax is here spoken of. As, how- ever, the order in the original is peculiar, " in flax of wood," some have thought hemp to be intended : but Alpian remarks ^^, that under the name of wood, some countries comprehended thorns, thistles, and other stemmy plants ; especially Egypt, where the reeds and rushes and the plant papyrus were used for fuel. I apprehend that the Hebrews did the same; [comp. Matth. vi. 30, Luke, xii. 48,] and therefore our translation well ex- presses the sense of the original. In Judges, xv. 14, the same word agcun occurs in the declaration, that the cords with which Samson was bound by the Philistines, were as easily parted as a string of flax is separated by the fire. Prov. xxxi. 13, mentions Jiax for the spindle, and the loom as sought for by the virtuous and industrious housewife. Comp. Exod. xxxv. 25. In the oracle concerning Egypt, Isaiah, xix. 9, it is declared, that ** they that work in fine flax, and 67 For much curious illustration of this subject, see Mishna, Tract, Kilaim, Ains- worth, and Calmet, in loc. Hiller, Hiero- phyt. part ii. p. 135, Braunius,de vestiment Hebrjeorum, 1. i. c. iv. p. 102, and Spencer, de Legib. I. ii. p. 397. 63 Obs. V. 4. p. 97. 4th edit. 69 Deg. lib. xxxii. leg. 55. they that weave net-works, shall be confounded." The word here ren- dered ** fine " is piu^, which rather means tawney or brown, and must mean raw or unbleached flax. In predicting the gentleness, cau- tion, and tenderness with which the Messiah should manage his admi- nistration, Isaiah (xlii. 3.) happily illustrates it by a proverb. " The bruised reed he shall not break, and the smoking flax he shall not quench." He shall not break even a bruised reed, which snaps asunder immediately when pressed with any considerable weight ; nor shall he extinguish even the smoking flax, or the wick of a lamp, which, when it first begins to kindle, is put out by any little motion. With such kind and condescending regards to the weakest of his people, and to the first openings and symptoms of a hopeful character, shall he proceed till he send forth judgment unto vic- tory, or till he make his righteous cause victorious. This place is quoted in Matth. xii. 20, where, by an easy metonomy, the material for the thing made, flax, is used for the wick of a lamp or taper; and that, by a synecdoche for the lamp or taper itself, which, when near going out, yields more smoke than light"^*^. " He will not extinguish, or put out, the dying lamp." Isai. xliii. 17, the word translated " tow," means the flax of which the wick of a lamp is formed ^i. Jer. xiii. 1, a li7ien girdle is men- tioned ; and in Ezek. xl. 3, a mea- suring lineofflax'^^. By comparing Ezek. xliv. 17, 18, [clothed with "TIU^S, linen garments, 70 Campbell, in loc. 71 See Tract Shabbat. c. ii. § 3. Rabbi Obdias de Bartenora. Pliny says, " Quod proximum cortici fiat, stupa appellatur, dete- rioris Ii7ii,lucer7iarumfere luminibus apitor." N. H. 1. xix. c. 50. 72 So the Greeks used the word a finer; or the latter may refer to the whiteness of the linen, as lilies are called □'•U'lu;, the Parian marble \inr, Esther, i. 6 '9, and a man of white hairs, \rw^^°. By comparing Exod. xxv. 4, and xxvi. 23, with 2 Chron. ii. 14, and Exod. xxvi. 31, with 2 Chron. iii. 14, it appears that Vl3 butz is called WW SHESH ; and by comparing Exodus,^ xxviii. 42, with xxix. 28, that 11 is also called WW shesh. I know of no other way of reconciling this, than to suppose these several words to relate either to the quality or colour of cloth made of the same material. That white raiment was held in high estimation may be inferred from Eccles. ix. 8 : Dan. vii. 9 ; Matth. xxvii. 2 ; Luke, ix. 29 ; Rev. iii. 4, 5; iv. 4; vii. 9, 13; xv. 6; and xix. 8, 14 81. Hosea, ii. 5, 9, is the last place where the pishtah is mentioned in the Old Testament ; and it is men- tioned there together with wool. In the Talmud and Rabbinical tracts, much is written upon the sowing and gathering of the plant. 79 In the LXX Haftva TuQa. In Cantic. V. 15, Aqiiilaand Theodotion render n<*f»vo», and 1 Chron. xxix. 2. ITafiov or Ila^tyoy, and Vulg. Marmor Parium. 80 Mr. Hanner suggests that these words may import the colour of the cloth ; that of the common people of Egypt being bhie. Obs. V. iv. p. 102. 4th edit. Eben Ezra says : " Shesh idem est quod bad, species quadam lini quod nascitur in J^lgypio tantum ; tenue est, et album, et rum tingittir." And Maimonides, ** Vbicunque in lege dicitur shesh aut bad, intelligitur pishtah, id est byssus." Browne, in his Travels, p. 448, observes, that in the neighbourhood of Aleppo, ** the country was cultivated with hashish, a kind of flax." If ha be an article in the shish, we may find authority for under- standing the Hebrew shesh to be a variety of the _flax, a somewhat different species from tiie common. From WW shesh is derived our word SASH ; a girdle of linen or silk. 81 Comp. Plutarch de Isid. et Osir. p. 352. Apul. metam. 1. ii. p. 245. " Nivea pulchriora Una." Sidon. ApoUin. Epist. ix. v. 13. 120 FLAX. and the maceration and dressing of the flax, and on the spinning and weaving of the thread ^^^ Having mentioned flax as the pro- duce of Egypt, and its manufacture into cloth, as practised there in the earliest ages, I would now add, that linen is still, according to Norden^^^ one of their principal merchandises, and is sent away in prodigious quan- tities, along with unmanufactured flax and spun cotton : to which may be added this remark of Sanutus^"*, who lived above four hundred years ago, that though Christian countries abounded in his time in flax, yet, the goodness of the Egyptian was such, that it was dispersed all about, even into the west. For the same reaspn, without doubt, the Jews, Hittites, and Syrians anciently pur- chased the linen yam of this coun- try, though they had flax growing in their own. Our version having more than once mentioned " the fine linen of Egypt," numbers of people have been ready to imagine, says Mr. Harmer^*, that their linen manufactures were of the most delicate kind, whereas, in truth, they were but coarse. This is proved by examining that in which their embalmed bodies are found wrapped up ^. So Hasselquist ob- serves ^'^: "The ancients have said much of the fine linen of Egypt ; and many of our learned men imagine that it was so fine and precious that we have even lost the art, and can- not make it so good. They have been induced to think so by the commendations which the Greeks have lavished on the Egyptian linen. 82 Tr. Chilaim. 1. c. et cap. 9, ^, not a huntsman, did not usdergo th^^^^ fatigue of hunting foxes, but directly* attacked the harvest of his enemies. He did not unkennel three hundred beasts, but only found so many shocks of corn. He did not tie three hundred tails, but only joined so many sheaves together. Inter- preters have been misled by the custom of the ancient Jews, who al- ways affected the hieroglyphical or mystical sense in words of an equi- vocal signification. In this story, they insinuated to the reader, that Samson had deceived his enemies, who, by tampering with his wife, had before been too cunning for him. This gave occasion to saying, * Sam- son pursued the foxes;' that is to say, he revenged himself with great damage on the Philistines. They concealed this thought under the ambiguity of the word cbyiw, in- stead of D^byu;, which properly sig- nifies sheaves: for words must be explained according to the subject, scope, and series of the discourse. It is observable, too, that the word 131, which we translate " tail," sig- nifies, through the whole tenor of the Jewish law, the extreme part of any thing whatever. For example, if a garden had five trees, in the Jewish language, the fifth and last was always called iDT. In like man- ner, the last sheaf of a whole shock was called iDT. "It is no wonder, therefore, that interpreters have not hit upon tbe real matter of fact, when they did not apprehend the design of the an- cient Jews. They fatigue themselves in chasing the poor foxes, and bring- ing them by droves to Samson; but all the while they are at a loss to know how he surprised them, and where he kept and maintained them till opportunity served ; in a word, liow he could enchant so many beasts, and make them follow him to the place appointed ; with other diffi- 134 FOX. culties in the history too obvious to need enumeration. In reality, they have undergone more drudgery and fatigue to provide Samson with foxes, than he himself could have suffered, had he attempted to surprise them in a hundred places. ** To conclude, there was no need to maintain such a troop of wild beasts, since the prudent captain, without such an impracticable me- thod, was able, as we have seen above, to reduce to ashes the har- vest of the Philistines, with no other assistance than his own hands and a small quantity of combustible mat- ter." The following strictures upon this criticism were furnished by my ve- nerated friend, the late Stephen Sewall, Hollis Professor of Hebrew and the Oriental languages in Har- vard college at Cambridge ; and though some of his remarks are in part a recapitulation of preceding ones under this article, I shall give them entire. •' However plausible this turn may seem, I think that it is as far from the sense of the sacred historian as it is from our translation, which, I imagine, truly expresses his mean- ing. For the word izb, which our Translators have rendered * caught,' never signifies simply to get, take, or fetch, but always to catch, seize, or take by assault, stratagem, or sur- prise, &c.; unless the following place, 1 Sam. xiv. 47, * So Saul took the kingdom over Israel,' be an excep- tion. Again, admitting the proposed alteration in the word byiu;, it will be difficult to prove that even then it means a sheaf. The word is used but three times in the whole Bible. Its meaning must be gathered from the connexion in which it stands here. The first place is 1 Kings, xx. 10, where it is rendered ' haudfuls,' not of grain, but of dust. * The gods do so unto me, and more also,' says Benhadad, king of Syria, * if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that fol- low me.' In Isaiah, xl. 12, the same word is translated, " the hollow of the hand.' * Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out the heavens with a span.' The last place in which the. word occurs is Ezekiel xiii. 9 : ' And will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley, and for pieces of bread'?' The connexion here with pieces of bread seems evidently to point out to us handfuls of barley in the grain, not handfuls or sheaves in the ear and straw. In fine, from the places quoted, taken in their se- veral connexions, the word plainly appears to mean a measure of capa- city, as much as the hollow of the hand can hold ; as a hand-breadth is used in Scripture for a measure of extension. Add to this, that in all other places of Scripture where we meet with the word handful, that is, as much grain in the stock as the reaper can grasp in his hand, or sheaf, a collection of such handfuls bound together, different terms from that in dispute, are always made use of in the original ; as Ruth ii. 15, 16, and elsewhere. " The supposed incredibleness of the story, as it stands in our Bibles, is, I imagine, the only reason for forcing it into another meaning. The language of the critics I oppose, is this : ' The action of Samson, as re- presented in our translation, is so extraordinary, that it must be mira- culous. The occasion was unworthy of the divine interposition. There- fore the Jranslators of the Bible must in this particular have mis- taken the meaning of the sacred historian.' But we have shewn above, from an examination of the principal terms, that the translation is just. It remains then to be shewn, either that the occasion was not un- worthy of the divine interposition, or that the action was not above human capacity. The latter, I am fully persuaded, is the truth of the case, though I am far from thinking the former indefensible. The chil- dren of Israel were, in a peculiar manner, separated from the rest of FOX. 135 mankind, for this purpose more es- pecially, to preserve in the world, till the times of general reformation should come, the knowledge and worship of the one true God. At sundry times, and in divers manners, did the Deity for this end interpose. Many instances of this kind are re- corded in the book of Judges. When this people perverted the end of their distinguished privileges, God suffered them to be enslaved by those idolatrous nations whose false deities they had worshiped. By this means they were brought to a sense of their error; and when they were sufficiently humbled, * the Lord raised up Judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.' Jud. ii. 16. In such a state of servitude to the Philistines were they at this time. Samson was raised up in an extraordinary man- ner to be their deliverer ; and his intermarriage with the Philistines was a means which Providence saw fit to make use of to effect their de- liverance. Thus the affair is repre- sented. Samson proposes his inten- tions to his parents. They expos- tulate with him. * Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all thy people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines V * But they,' adds the sacred historian, * were ignorant that it was of the Lord, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines; for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.' Though Samson, then, might propose to himself nothing more in forming a connexion with a foreign lady, than the gratification of his own inclinations, yet we are warranted to say, an overruling Pro- vidence had a further design. The same may be affirmed of other ac- tions of Samson, which appear to have proceeded from passions of a more rugged complexion. His in- tention in them might be unworthy of a divine interposition ; but the end which God had in view, the deli- verance of a people chosen to pre- serve his worship in the world, would make it highly fit and neces- sary. Nor ought it to be reckoned strange, that such means should he used; for we are authentically as- sured, that the wrath of man, and, by parity of reason, other passions too, are sometimes made to praise the Lord. Thus much I thought necessary to say, for the sake of those to whom a solution on natural prin- ciples shall seem unsatisfactory. Such a solution I now proceed to give. " In the first place, it is evident from the Holy Scriptures, that Pa- lestine abounded with foxes, or that animal, be it what it will, which is signified by the Hebrew word byiU'. This appears from many passages. Psalm Ixiii. 10; Cantic. ii. 15; Lam. V. 18 ; 1 Sam. xiii. 17 ; Josh. xv. 28 ; xix. 3. From their numbers, then, the capture would be easy. " Further : under the Hebrew word bv^w was probably compre- hended another animal, very similar to the fox, and very numerous in Pa- lestine ; gregarious, and whose Persic name is radically the same with the Hebrew. Allowing this to be the animal, the story is easily admissible to belief, without the supposition of a miracle. For it is not said, that Samson caught so many foxes in one hour, or one day ; or, that he caught them all with his own hands. Being then Judge of Israel, he might em- ploy many hands, and yet be said, according to the common use of lan- guage, to do it himself. " Add to this, that the season, the days of wheat harvest, was ex- tremely favourable for hunting these animals ; and, as they were grega- rious, many might be surrounded or entrapped at once. " I shall conclude with an argu- ment more in favour of the justness of our translation, in rendering the word byw * a fox,' not a sheaf. It has been esteemed by some persons of extensive literature to be a de- monstrative argument. - 1 shall men- tion it, and leave it to stand on its 136 FOX. own bottom. At the feast of Ceres, the goddess of corn, celebrated an- nually at Rome about the middle of April, there was the observance of this custom,— to fix burning torches to the tails of a number of foxes, and to let them run through the circus till they were burnt to death. This was done in revenge upon that spe- cies of animals, for having once burned up the fields of corn. The reason, indeed, assigned by Ovid, is too frivolous an origin for so solemn a rite ; and the time of its celebra- tion, the 17th of April, it seems, was not harvest time, when the fields were covered with corn, — * vestitos messibtis agros ;' for the middle of April was seed-time in Italy, as ap- pears from Virgil's Georgics. Hence we must infer that this rite must have taken its rise from some other event than that by which Ovid ac- counted for it ; and Samson's foxes are a probable origin of it. The time agrees exactly, as may be col- lected from several passages of Scrip- ture. For instance, from the book of Exodus we learn, that before the Passover, that is, before the four- teenth day of the month Abib, or March, barley in Egypt was in the ear; xii. 18: xiii. 4. And in ch. ix. 31, 32, it is said, tliat the wheat at that time was not grown up. Barley harvest, then, in Egypt, and so in the country of the Philistines which bordered upon it, must have fallen about the middle of March. Wheat harvest, according to Pliny, N. H. lib. viii. c. 7, was a month later. * In ^Egypto hordeum sexto a satu mense, frumenta septimo metun- tur,* Therefore, wheat harvest hap- pened about the middle of April ; the very time in which the burning of foxes was observed at Rome. "It is certain that the Romans borrowed many of their rites and ceremonies, both serious and ludi- crous, from foreign nations : and Egypt and Phoenicia furnished them with more, perhaps, than any other country. From one of these, the Romans might either receive this rite immediately, or through the hands of their neighbours the Car-, thaginians, who were a colony of Phoenicians; and so its true origin may be referred back to the story which we have been considering." A writer in the Biblioth. Brem. class viii. fasc. v. p. 802, suggests, that all the difficulty is removed by supposing that Samson employed the Shualim (Shualites, or men of Shual, a district of the country bor- dering on the Philistines 1^) to do this mischief. ** Non nobis est tantas componere lites," II. Bochart has made it probable that the a>^N iyim spoken of in Isai. xiii. 22 ; xxxiii. 14 ; and Jerem. I. 39, rendered by our Translators " the beasts of the islands," an appellation very vague and indeterminate, are jackaU^^ ; and that the Qwtg of the Greeks, and the Beni-ani of the Arabians are the same animal : and though he takes that to have been their specific name, yet he thinks, that, from their great resemblance to a fox, they might be comprehended under the Hebrew name of a fox, sHUAL ; which is indeed almost the same with sciagal or sciugal, the Persian names of the jackal 2». J. G. Scaliger and Olearius, quoted by Bochart, expressly call the jackal a fox; and Mr. Sandys speaks cf it in the same manner : " ihe jackals, in my opinion, are no other than foxes, whereof an infinite number^s." Has- selquist calls it " the httle eastern fox ;" and Kjempfer says, that it might not improperly be called " the wolf-fox 23." It is therefore very conceivable that the ancients might comprehend this animal under the general name of fox. To be '* the portion of foxes," Psalm Ixiii. 10, is for men to have their land or habitation rendered 19 1 Sam. xiii. 17; Josh. xv. 23; xix. 3, 41 ; 1 Cliron. iv. 28; and Jud. i. 35. ^ The Chaldee paraphrases have b^HJ^ chathul , the sound of which aids tlie sense. 21 Hieroz. p. 1. 3. c. 13. 2'^ Tiav. b. 3. 23 ^maenit. Exot. fasc. 2. p. 413. FOX. 137 desolate and ruinous, and themselves left unburied. " On my asking a gentleman of the army," says Mr. Merrick, " not long before returning from the East Indies, in what man- ner the barbarous nations of that country dispose of the bodies of their enemies killed in battle, he answered, that they leave them on the field, to be devoured by the jackals and other animals. I could not but regard this intelligence as some confirmation of their opinion, who suppose jackals to be the beasts here meant by the Hebrew word which is translated foxes. In Cantic. ii. 15, foxes are men- tioned as destroying the vines. These animals are observed by many au- thors to be fond of grapes, and to make great havock in vineyards. Aristophanes, in his Equites, com- pares soldiers to foxes, who spoil whole countries, as the others do vineyards. Galen, cle Aliinent, 1. 3, c. 2, tells us, that hunters did not scruple to eat the flesh of foxes in autumn, when they were grown fat with feeding on grapes. The following is the remark of Theocri- tus, Idyl, E. V. 112. I hate those brush-tailed foxes, that each night Spoil Micon's vineyards with their deadly bite. Hasselquist remarks, p. 184, that " this animal is common in Pales- tine. They are very numerous in the stony country about Bethlehem. There is also plenty of them near the convent of St. John, in the de- sert, about vintage time ; and they destroy all the vines, unless they are strictly watched." The fable of " the /ox and the sour grapes" is well known. In the original, we have not only mention made of wbv^, ** foxes," but also of D'byiU' D'^lSp, " little foxes," which, as it is generally conjectured by the com- mentators, may perhaps be Jackals ; animals, as Mr. Harmer observes, very common even in the present day, and, occasionally, extremely troublesome and injurious to vine- yards and gardens 2'*. Ezekiel (xiii. 4) compares the false prophets to foxes. Either it was his design to heighten their cunning and hypocrisy in imitating the true prophets; or he intended to shew that these false teachers, instead of supporting Jerusalem, en- deavoured only to destroy it, by un- dermining its walls and shaking its foundations, as foxes undermine the ground to make holes of retreat for themselves. To give an idea of his own ex- treme poverty, our Lord says, Luke ix. 58, " The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." And he calls Herod, the tetrarch of Galilee, a /ox, Luke xiii. 32 ; thereby signifying his craft and the refinements of his policy. In illustration of the pertinency of this allusion, I quote a remark of Busbequius, p. 58: ** I heard a mighty noise, as if it had been of men who jeered and mocked us. I asked, what was the matter ? and was answered, only the bowlings of certain beasts which the Turks call ciacals, or jackals. They are a sort of wolves, somewhat bigger than foxes, but less than common wolves, yet as greedy and devouring. They go in flocks, and seldom hurt man or beast ; but get their food more by craft and stealth than by open force. Thence it is, that the Turks call subtle and crafty persons by the me- taphorical name of ciagals." It may be proper to close this ar- ticle with a description of the jackal. It is a beast between the wolf and the dog ; and participating the nature of both, to the shyness and ferocity of the one, unites the impudence and familiarity of the other. Jackals never stir out alone, but always in flocks of twenty, thirty, or forty. They collect together every day, to go in search of their prey. 24 See at large on this passage, Harmer's Observations on Sol. Song, p. 256. 138 FR A They live on little animals, and make themselves formidable to larger by their number. They attack every kind of beasts or birds almost in the presence of the human species. They abruptly enter stables, sheepfolds, and other places, without any sign of fear ; and, when they can lind nothing else, they will devour boots, shoes, harnesses, &c.; and what lea- ther they have not time to consume, they take away with them. When they cannot meet with any live prey, they dig up the dead carcasses of men or animals. The natives are obliged to cover the graves with large thorns and other things to prevent them from scratching and, ^iggi^g up the dead bodies. The dead are also buried very deep in the earth; for it is not a little trouble that discourages them. Numbers of them work together, and accompany their labour with a doleful howling. And when they are once accustomed to feed on dead bodies, they run from country to country, follow armies, and keep close to caravans. They will eat the most infectious flesh ; and so constant and vehement is their appetite, that the driest leather is savoury to them, and skin, flesh, fat, excrement, or the most putrid animal, is alike to their taste. For other particulars of the jackal, I refer to A. C. Guelden'staedt, in Nov. Comment. Acad. Petrop. tom. XV. p. 449. Oedman Vermischte Sammungen, fascic. 2. Diederichs Zur Geschichte Simsons.Goet. 1778. FRANKINCENSE, minb le- BONAH. Exod. XXX. 34, et al. freq. AIBAN02, Matth. ii. 11 ; Apoc. xviii. 13. A dry, resinous substance, of a yellowish white colour, a strong fra- grant smell, and bitter, acrid taste. The tree which produces it is not known. Dioscorides mentions it as procured from India. What is here called the " pure frankincense," is no doubt the same with the ** mas- cula thura" of Virgil; and signifies what is first obtained from the tree. The region from which it is FRO brought, is said in Scripture to be Slieba, Isai. Ix. 6; Jer. vi. 20. And Theophrastus, Hist, plant, lib. ix. c. 4, says, FLveraL fxev ovv 6 Xi^avoq ev ry riov Apa(5wv %wp^ fitcry Trtpt Tov "SajSuy Kai Adpaixirra, km Ki- TajSaiva, The same is said by Strabo; 1. xvi. p. 778. Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. vi. c. 28, and 1. xii. c. 14, and Virgil, Georg. ii. v. 58. Divisai arboribus patrm. Sola India nigrum Fert ebenum ; solis est ihurea virga Sabais. And Sidonius Apoll. carm. V. v. 43. Fert Indus ebur, ChaldtBus amomum, Assyrius gemmas, Ser vellera, thura SabtEus. From the name, some have sup- posed it to be a gum from Mount Lebanon ; and others, that the mount itself was so called from the fra- grance of the cedar-trees resembling that of incense. This seems inti- mated in Cantic. iv. 14; and Auso- Nius, in Monosyl. p. 110, says, " Li- bani ceu montis honor thus." But it is very certain that the gum was brought to Judea from foreign parts. This is affirmed by Kinichi, ad Jerem. vi. 20. " Apportabatur thus e terris longe dissitis, quia non inve- niebatur in terra Israelis," M. Nie- buhr, Trav. p. 356, says : " We could learn nothing of the tree from which incense distils ; and M. Fors- kal does not mention it. I know that it is to be found in a part of Ha- dramaut, where it is called oliban." FROG. jmsVTSEPHARDEA; Arab. akurrak ; Graec. BATPAXOS. Occ. Exod. viii. 2 — 14 ; Psalm Ixxvii. 45 ; cv, 30 ; and Revel, xvi. 13. There is no disagreement about the meaning of the word^Sj ]j^^^ ^^g etymology is very uncertain. After examining and disproving those of the lexicographers and of Bochart, Dr. Geddes conjectures that the word is derived from the Hebrew 25 Aben Ezra, indeed, says, that several Rabbins thought it was the crocodile; and Abarbanel himself deemed this opinion very probable. The proofs which he ad- duced in support of it had so great weight with D. Levi, that he tirmly believed it the right one. FROG. 139 root S3V, [pipare, mussitare, ululare,^ and the Arabic yi") ; [slime, mud ;] as if we were to call the frog, " the slime-croaker." A frog is, in itself, a harmless animal ; but to most people, who use it not as an article of food, ex- ceedingly loathsome. God could with equal ease have sent crocodiles, lions, or tigers, to have punished the Egyptians and their impious king, as frogs, lice, flies, &c. ; but, had he used any of those formidable animals, the effect would have ap- peared so commensurate to the cause, that the hand of God might have been forgotten in the punishment, and the people would have been exasperated without being humbled. In the present instance, he shews the greatness of his power, by making an animal devoid of every evil qua- litj^ the means of a terrible affliction to his enemies. How easy is it, both to the justice and mercy of God, to destroy or save, by means of the most despicable and insig- nificant instruments ! Though he is the Lord of hosts, he has no need of powerful armies, the ministry of angels, or the thunderbolts of jus- tice, to punish a sinner, or a sinful nation : the frog, or the Jly, in his hands, is a sufficient instrument of vengeance. The river Nile, which was the object of great admiration to the Egyptians, is here made to contri- bute to their punishment. The ex- pression, ** the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly," not only shews the vast numbers of those animals which should infest the land, but it seems also to imply, that all the spawn or ova of those creatures which were already in the waters and marshes should be brought mi- raculously to a state of perfection. We may suppose that the animals were already in an embryo exist- ence ; but multitudes of them would not have come to a state of perfec- tion, had it not been for this miracu- lous interference. This supposition will appear the more natural when it is considered, that the Nile was remarkable for breeding frogs and such other animals as are principally engendered in such marshy places as must be left in the vicinity of the Nile after its annual inundations^^. The circumstance of their coming up into the bed-chambers, and into the ovens and kneading-troughs, needs explanation to us, whose domestic apartments and economy are so dif- ferent from those of the ancient na- tions. Their lodgings were not in upper stories, but recesses on the ground floor; and their ovens were not like ours, built on the side of a chimney, and adjacent to a fireplace, where the glowing heat would fright away the frogs; but they dug a hole in the ground, in which they placed an earthen pot, which having suffi- ciently heated, they stuck their cakes to the inside to be baked. To find such places full of frogs when they came to heat them in order to bake their bread, and to find these nasty creatures in the beds where they sought repose, must have been both disgusting and distressing in the extreme. The magicians, indeed, went to persuade Pharaoh that Moses was only such a miracle-monger as they were, by imitating this miracle as they had done the precedent ones, and bringing a fresh swarm of frogs. They might, indeed, have shewed their skill to a better purpose, if they had tried to remove those vermin, of which the Egyptians did not need this fresh supply ; but it seems that they had not power enough to do that. Wherefore Pharaoh was re- duced to the necessity of sending for Moses, and promising that he would 26 Dr. Adam Clarke, Annot. in loc. 140 GAL let Israel go, if he would but rid him and his country of that odious plague. Moses took him at his word ; and desiring him to name the time when he should free the land of these creatures, punctually and precisely performed it ; so that the next day, ** the frogs died out of the houses, and out of the villages, and out of the fields ;" and whilst his subjects were gathering them up in heaps in order to carry them off, (their stench being like to have bred an infection,) Pharaoh was thinking how to elude his promise, not con- sidering that he only made way for another plague. ** From what is said in Rev. xvi. 13, I should be induced to think," says Mr. Bryant, ♦* that these ani- mals were of old, types of magicians, priests, and prophets; particularly those of Egypt. If this be true, the miracle which Moses at this time exhibited, was attended with awon- G A L derful propriety in respect to Pha- raoh and his wise men ; and, at the same time, afforded a just punish- ment upon the whole of that in- fatuated people, * qiiibus res eo 'per- venit, lit et rancE et culices eiformiccB Dii esse viderentur.' " Lactantius, in N''bn chaleea, took it for Nbn chala, which sig- nifies vinegar ; and bitter he trans- lated by x^^^' ^s it is often used in the Septuagint. Nay, St. Matthew may have written tibn. and have still meant to express sweet wine : if so, the difference only consisted in the points; for the same word which, when pronounced chalt, signifies sweet, denotes vinegar as soon as it is pronounced chala.' *• With this conjecture. Dr. Marsh ^MichaeHs's translator) is not satis- fied ; and therefore finds a Chaldee word for oivog, wine, which may easily be mistaken for one that de- GALL. notes o^O|^, vinegar; and likewise a Chaldee word, which signifies (TfjLvp- va, myrrh, which may be easily mistaken for the one that denotes %oXr;, gall. * Now,' says he, * inn ciiAMAR, or ^f^n^ ciiamera, really denotes oivoq, wine, and V^'^ cha- METs, or NVnn CHAMETSA, really de- notes o%OQ, vinegar. Again, NTra mura, reallj signifies (jfivpva, myrrh, and NTia MURERA, really signifies Xo\r], gall. If, then, we suppose that the original Chaldee text was Ntlnn I3^bn NIDH CHAMERA IIALEET BEMURA, wine mingled with myrrh, which is not at all improbable, as it is the reading of the Syriac version at Mark xv. 23, it might easily have been mistaken for NTim to^bn NYTSn CHAMETSA HALEET BEMURERA, Vinegar mingled with gall.' See Marsh's Notes to Michaelis, vol. iii. part ii. p. 127 — 28. This is a more ingenious conjecture than that of Michaelis. But as that kind of sour wine which was used by the Roman soldiers . and common people, appears to have been termed oivoq, and vinegar (vin aigre) is sour wine, it is not difficult to reconcile the two ac- counts, in what is most material to the facts here recorded." Bochart thinks it to be the same herb that the evangelist calls 'Y(Tow- iroQ, hyssop; a species of which growing in Judea, he proves from Isaac Ben Orman, an Arabian writer, to be so bitter as not to be eatable ; and Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Nonnus^*, took the hyssop men- tioned by St. John to be poisonous. Theophylact expressly tells us, the hyssop was added, (og drjXrjTepiiodec, as being deleterious, or poisonous ; and Nonnus, in his paraphrase, says : One gave the deadly acid mix'd with liyssop. In Jer. viii. 14; ix. 15, to give water of gall to drink, denotes very bitter affliction. Comp. Lament, iii. 19. In Habbakuk ii. 15, we read, 31 Cited in Martini LQxicon, art. Hys- sopus. GAR " Woe to him who maketh his neighbour drink ; who putteth his fiaggon to him, and maketh him drunken, that he may look on his nakedness :" which several versions render by words expressive of gall, or venom ; that is, what in the issue would prove so. Perhaps the pro- phet hints at the conduct of Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, toward king Zedekiah : *V He gave him gall to drink, and made him drunk, that he might insult over his nakedness." The Rabbins relate, that one day Nebuchadnezzar, at an entertain- ment, sent for Zedekiah, and gave him an intoxicating liquor to drink, purposely to expose him to ridi- cule. " The gall of bitterness," Acts viii. 23, signifies the most desperate disposition of mind, the most in- curable malignity ; as difficult to be corrected as to change gall into sweetness. See Hemlock. There is another word, ^nnn me- RERATHi, from marar, which our Translators rendef ** gall," in Job xvi. 13 ; XX. 14, 25. In two of the places, the human bile is intended; in the other, the venom of the asp. In the story of Tobit vi. 5 ; viii. 13, the gall of a fish is mentioned as being used to cure his father's eyes. Pliny, N. H. 1. xxviii. c. 10, says, the gall of a fish is prescribed for sore eyes ; " ad oculorum medica- menta utilius habetur." GARLICK. aw scHUM. As this word occurs only in Num- bers xi. 5, some doubts have arisen respecting the plant intended. From its being coupled with leeks and onions, there can be but little doubt that the garlick is meant. The Tal- mudists frequently mention the use of this plant among the Jews, and their fondness of it. " Moris autem apud Judctos erat allium indere omni pulmento, ad conciliandum illi sapo- rem^^." And Salomon Levi thus 3*^ Tract. Chilaim, c. i. § 3. c. 6. § 10; Ne- dar, viii. 6, iii. 10, vi. 10 ; Maaseroth, v. 8; Edajoth, ii. 6; Maschir, vi. 2; Tib.Jom. ii. 3; Ohalothy vi. 6; Oketsim^ i. 2, 3 ; Peak, GAR 143 defends the practice: " Hcereditat^ hanc consuetudinem a majoribus nos- tris ad nos transiisse arbitror, quihus allium vehementer arrisisse dicitur Numb. xi. Allium vero, Talmudis testimonio, cibus judicatur saluberri- mus^'^.^' That garlicks grew plenteously in Egypt, is asserted by Dioscorides, lib. i. p. 80 ; where they were nauch esteemed, and tvere both eaten and worshiped^"*. ' . " Then gods were recommended by their taste. Such savoury deities must needs be good. Which served at once for worship and for food." » * , So Prudentius, describing the su- perstition of the Egyptians, says : Porrum et cepe nefas imponere nubibus oust. Alliaque ex terra coeli super astra colere.'* Hasselquist, however, says, p. 290, " that garlick does not grow in Egypt, and, though it is much used, it is brought from the islands of the Archipelago ;" upon which, Mr. Harmer, Obs. V. ii. p. 337, thus rea- sons. "Ifanimportedarticle in these vi. 9, 10; Teriimoth, vii. 7; Maimon. Sche- mit, ve Jobel, vii. 11 ; Cow/. Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. in verbum. 33 Theriac. Jud. c. i. § 20. 34 Pliny reports, lib. xix. c. 6, that onions and garlicks were reckoned among the deities of Egypt, and that they even swore by them. See also Minucius Felix, c. xxviii. p. 145, ed. Davisii and Note, 144 GIE times, we cannot suppose the en- slaved Israelites were acquainted with it, when residing in Egypt in those elder times. Perhaps the roots of the colocassia might he meant, which are large, Maillet tells us, almost round, and of a reddish colour; and, as being near akin to the nymphea, are probably very codling." See Onion. GIER-EAGLE. Dm each am. Occ. Levit. xi. 18 ; and Deut. xvi. 17, only. As the root of this word signifies tenderness and affection^ it is sup- posed to refer to some bird remark- able for its attachment to its young. Hence some have thought that the Pelican is to be understood ; and Bochart endeavours to prove that the golden vulture is meant ; but there can be no doubt that it is the percnopterus of the ancients ^^ the ach-bobba of the Arabians, particu- larly described by Bruce under the name of Rachamah ^^. He says : •* We know from Horus Apollo, 1. i. c. 11, that the Kachma, or she-vul- ture, was sacred to Isis, and adorned the statue of the goddess; that it was the emblem of parental affec- tion ; and that it was the hierogly- phic for an affectionate mother." He further says, that " this female vulture, having hatched her young ones, continues with them one hun- dred and twenty days, providing them with all necessaries ; and, when the stock of food fails them, she tears off the fleshy part of her thigh, and feeds them with that and the blood which flows from the wound." In 35 From Dr. Russell vfe learn, that at Aleppo, the ** Vvltur percnopterus" of Lin- neeus is called "^Dnl* which is evidently the same with the Hebrew om, and the Arabic nrDm. 36 The tignre which Gessner, de Avib. p. 176, has given of it, Dr. Shaw says, is a very exact and good one. " JDescripiionefn ejus avis, qiuB Arahibus llachaeme audit, accuratissimam dedit Has- selquist in Itiner. p. 286, qui nomen ei in- didit Vulturis percnopteri, capite nudo, gula plumosa ; quo nomine etiam comparet in Syst. Linn. t. i. p. 1. p. 249. Rosen- mulier. OLA this sense of attachment, we see the word used with great propriety, 1 Kings iii. 26 ; Isai. xlix. 15 ; and Lamentations iv. 10. Hasselquist (p. 194) thus de- scribes the Egyptian vulture. (Vul- tur percnopterus.) "The appear- ance of the bird is as horrid as can well be imagined. The face is naked and wrinkled, the eyes are large and black, the beak black and crooked, the talons large, and extended ready for prey ; and the whole body pol- luted with filth. These are qualities enough to make the beholder shud- der with horror. Notwithstanding this, the inhabitants of Egypt cannot be enough thankful to Providence for this bird. All the places round Cairo are filled with the dead bodies of asses and camels ; and thousands of these birds fly about and devour the carcasses, befo]*e they putrefy and fill the air with noxious exhala- tions." No wonder that such an animal should be deemed unclean. This insatiable appetite seems to be alluded to in Prov. xxx. 16, where its name is unhappily translated " womb." The wise man, describing four things which are never satisfied, says, they are the grave, and the ravenous racham, the earth, that is always drinking in the rain, and the jire that consumeth every thing." Here, the grave which devours the buried body, and the racham which feeds on the unburied, are perti- nently joined together. See Eagle and Vulture. GLASS. 'YAAOS. This word occurs Rev. xxi. 18, 21 ; and the adjective vaXivoq, Rev. iv. 6 ; XV. 2. Parkhurst says, that in the later Greek writers, and in the New Testament, vaXog denotes the artificial substance, glass; and that we may either, with Mintert, derive it from eXrj, " splendour," or immediately from the Hebrew brr, " to shine." So Horace, 1. iii. od. 13, V. 1. " Ofons Blandusie, splendidior vitro." O thou Blandusian spring, more bright than glass. GLASS. 145 And Ovid, Hesiod. Epist. xv. v. 158. ** Vitreo magis pellucidvs amne." Clearer than the glassy stream. There seems to be no reference to glass in the Old Testament. The art of making it was not known. De Neri, indeed, will have it as an- cient as Job; for the writer of that poem, ch. xxviii. 17, speaking of wisdom, says, •* gold and glass shall not be equalled to it." This, we are to observe, is the reading of the Septuagint, Vulgate, Latin, St. Je- rom, Pineda, &c. In the English version we read '* crystal ;" and the same is expressed in the Chaldee, Arias Montanus, and the king of Spain's edition. In other versions it is rendered " stone ;" in some, " beryl ;" in the Italian, Spanish, French, Dutch, &c. ** diamond ;" in others, " carbuncle;" and in the Targum, " mirror." The original word is nOTDT zECHuciiiTH, which is derived from the root zacac^ to shine, be white, transparent ; and it is ap- plied, Exod. XXX. 34, to frankin- cense, and rendered in the Septua- gint, pellucid. Hence the reason of so many different renderings; for the word signifying beautiful and transparent, in the general, the Translators were at liberty to apply it to whatever was pure or bright. See Crystal. Most authors will have Aristo- phanes to be the first who mentions glass^"^ ; but the word he uses is ambiguous, and may as well be un- derstood of crystal. Aristotle has two problems upon glass; but the learned doubt very much whether they be original. The first author, therefore, who makes unquestionable mention of this matter, is Alexander Aphrodisaeus. After him, the word vaXoQ occurs commonly enough. Lucian mentions large drinking glasses. And Plutarch, in his Sym- posiacon, says, that the fire of the 37 See his Comedy of the Clouds, Scene i. Act 2. tamarisk w^ood is fittest for making glass. Among the Latin writers, Lucian is the first who takes notice of glass. Pliny relates the manner in which this substance was disco- vered. It was found, he says, by accident in Syria, at the mouth of the river Belus, by certain merchants driven thither by the fortune of the sea. Being obliged to live there, and dress their victuals by making a fire on the ground, and there being much of the plant kali upon the spot, this herb being burnt to ashes, and the sand or stones of the place acci- dentally mixed with it, a vitrifica- tion was made ; from whence the hint was taken and easily improved. This, says De Pau^^, is probably a fabulous narrative. Mankind had made fire in this same way, many thousand years before the existence of the town of Tyre ; and in certain cases, even the ashes of wood or dried herbs, are sufficient solvents. It was, therefore, superfluous to suppose that these adventurers had the good for- tune to find some alkali ; and this cir- cumstance has evidently been added afterwards to support an incongruous fable. The concourse of fortuitous causes has not been so powerful, in all such inventions, as people gene- rally imagine ; and the procedures must have been developed one after another. Chance seems, indeed, to have little to do in the discovery of glass, which could only be a conse- quence of the art of pottery. In Egypt, the people, in burning their earthen pots, might have discovered, sooner than the inhabitants of other countries, all the different stages of vitrification. Accordingly, ancient historiansagree, almost unanimously, that glass was known to the Ethio- pians : the glass-house of the great Diospolis, the capital of the Thebais, seems to have been the most ancient regular fabric of the kind. They even had the art of chiseling and turning glass, which they formed into vases and cups. The Roman poets speak 33 Recherches sur les Egyptiennes. 1 146 GLASS. of these fragile goblets, as unfavour- able to their parties of pleasure. So Martial, " Talk puer calices, tepidi toreumata Nili; Et mi/ii secjira pocula trade manu." This passage is explained by one in the xiith book, as well as by the following lines : ** Nos sumus audacis plebeia toreumata vitri ; Nostra nee ardenti gemma feritur aqiia. Aspicis ingenium Nili, quibus addere plura Dum cupit, ah ! quoties perdidit auctor opus." So that the factitious, transparent substance now known to us by the name oi glass, may probably enough be referred to in the New Testa- ment by the Greek word vaXog; though, as we noted before, it is not mentioned in the Old Testament. Our Translators have rendered the Hebrew word naii^ maroth, in Exodus xxxviii. 8, and Job xxxvii. 1 8, '* looking-glass." But the making mirrors of glass, coated with quick- silver, is an invention quite modern. Dr. Adam Clarke has a note upon this place in Exodus, where our ver- sion represents Moses as making *' the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass, of the looking-glasses of the women." He says : " Here me- tal highly polished must certainly be meant, as glass was not yet in use ; and had it been, we are sure that /oo/ci7io--GLAssES could not make a BRAZEN laver. The word, there- fore, should be rendered mirrors, not looking-glasses, which in the above verse is perfectly absurd, because from those maroth, the brazen laver was made. The first mirrors known among men were the clear, still foun- tain, and unruffled lake. The first artificial ones were apparently made of brass, afterwards of polished steel, and when luxury increased, they were made of silver ; but they were made at a very early period of mixed metal, particularly of tin and copper, the best of which, as Pliny tells us, were formerly manufactured at Brun- dusium. * Optima apiid majoresfue- rant Brundusina, stannoet (Eremixtis.' Hist, Nat. 1. xxxiii. c. 9. But ac- cording to him, the most esteemed were those made of tin : and he says that silver mirrors became so common that even the servant girls used them. * Specula (ex stanno) laudatissima, Brundusii tempera- buntur ; donee argenteis uti compere et ancillce.' Lib. xxxiv. c. 17. When the Egyptian women went to the temples, they always carried their mirrors wdth them. The Israelitish women probably did the same ; and Dr. Shaw states, that the Arab wo- men carry them constantly hung at their breasts. It is worthy of re- remark, that at first, these women freely gave up their ornaments for this important service, and now give their very mirrors, probably as being of very little service, seeing they had already given up the principal decorations of their persons. Wo- man has been invidiously defined, « creature fond of dress, though this belongs to the whole human race, and not exclusively to woman. Had this been true of the Israelitish women, in the present case, we must say, they nobly sacrificed their in- centives to pride to the service of their God." On the other hand. Dr. Geddes says, that ** the word nmn from Tiai, though it occurs above a hun- dred times in the Hebrew Scrip- tures, never elsewhere signifies a mirror. W^hy then should it have that signification here? especially as in the whole Pentateuch, a mirror is not so much as mentioned under any denomination : nor, indeed, as far as 1 know, in any Hebrew writ- ing prior to the Babylonish cap- tivity^^. 39 " I bnow that Job xxvii. 18, has been alleged as a proof, where ""KID pyi?3 has been by moderns rendered " siait speculum fusum^'—" as a molten looking-glass." But besides that the word here is "N"!, not nN")?3, it is very doubtful whether "KT be well rendered ** speculum." I have en- deavoured to shew the contrary in my C. R. on that place. At any rate, it cannot be brought as a proof, that nN"l?3 in Exo- dus has the same meaning.** GLASS. 147 " The first time I meet with a mirror in the Bible, is in the book of Wisdom, vii. 26, * the unspotted mirror of the power of God.' What Hebrew word, (if the book were ever in Hebrew,) corresponded with ecTOTrrpov, we know not ; but it could not, I think, be riNlD. The term wliich the Syriac translator of Wis- dom uses to express a mirror is Nnina; and the same term is em- ployed by the Syriac translator of the New Testament in 1 Cor. xiii. 12, and in James i. 13." After ex- amining the oriental versions and various readings, Dr. Geddes seems assured, that the only proper ren- dering of the passage is, " he made the laver under the inspection of the women, who ministered at the entry of the door of the convention tent." It may be remarked, that the word " looking-glass" occurs in our version of Ecclesiasticus, xii. 11. " Never trust thine enemy; for like as iron [marg. brass] rusteth, so is his wick- edness. Though he humble himself, and go crouching, yet take good heed and beware of him, and thou shalt be unto him as if thou hadst washed a looking-glass, and thou shalt know that his rust hath not been altogether wiped away." This passage proves, by its mention of rust, that mirrors were then made of polished metal. In reprobating in the daughters of Sion their superfluities of orna- mental dress, Isaiah says, ch. iii. 23, that they shall be stripped of their jewels, &c., and our version includes their glasses; but Bp. Lowth, Dr. Stock, and Mr. Dodson, render it " transparent garments," like gauze; worn only by the most delicate wo- men, and such as preferred elegance to decency of habif*^. This sort of garments was after- wards in use among the Greeks. Prodicus, in his celebrated fable, exhibits the personage of Sloth in this dress. ' Her robe betray'd, probis.' ' elegantius, quam necesse esset Through the clear texture, every tender limb. Heightening the charms it only seem'd to shade, And as it tlow'd adown, so loose and thin, Her stature show'd more tall, more snowy white her skin." This, like other Grecian fashions, was received at Rome when luxury began under the emperors'*' ; and it was sometimes worn even by the men, but looked upon as a mark of extreme effeminacy*^. The word e, and no where else in the Hebrew bible, is supposed to be the tragelaphus, or goat-deer. Schultens, in his manuscript ** Ori- gines Hebraicae," conjectures that this animal might have its name, *' ob fugacitaiem,'" from its shyness or running away. This conjecture is confirmed by Dr. Shaw% [Travels, p. 415,] who, from the LXX, and Vulgate translation of the name, concludes that it means some animal resembling both the goat and. the deer; and such a one he shews that there is in the East, known by the name of the fshtdll, and in some parts called lericee ; which, says he, is the most timorous species of the goat kind, plunging itself, whenever pursued, down rocks and precipices, if there be any in its way^^ III. The word by jaal, or iol, plural lOLiM, feminine ioleh, occurs 1 Sam. xxiv. 3 ; Job xxxix. 1 ; Psalm civ. 18 ; and Prov. v. 19 ; and vari- ous have been the sentiments of in- terpreters on the animal intended by it. Eochart insists that it is the ibex or rock-goat. The root, whence the name is derived, signifies " to ascend," " to mount ;" and the ibex is famous for clambering, climbing, leaping, on the most craggy preci- pices. The Arab writers attribute to the jaal very long horns, bending backwards ; consequently it cannot be the chamois. The horns of the jaal are reckoned (says Scheuchzer) among the valuable articles of traffic, Ezek. xxvii. 15. The ibex is finely shaped, grace- ful in its motions, and amiable in its manners. The female is particularly celebrated by natural historians for tender aft'ection to her young, and the incessant vigilance with which she watches over their safety ; and also for ardent attachment and fi- delity to her mate. The authors of " Scripture Illus- 6" Capra Mamhrica. Linn. S. N. p. 95. ' ei Capra cornubus reclinads, auribus pen- See the Figure in Russell's Aleppo, V. ii. dnlis^ gula barbata. Linn. Syst. ed. 13, p. pi. 2. 194. I 13 154 GOL trated," remark on the language of Proverbs v. 19, that commentators have hardly seized the poet's mean- ing. " He is contrasting the con- stancy and fidelity of a wife with the inconstancy and infidelity of a mistress ; and he uses, first, the simile of the hind, as expressing kindness in prosperity and in society. The attachment of the ibex, in spite of deserts and solitude, forms his second simile. He means to com- pare, 1, the hind, or female deer, accompanying its mate in the forest, on the plains, amidst verdure, amidst fertility ; 2dly, the female ibex, faith- ful to its associate on the mountain crags, amidst the difficulties, the dangers, the hardships of rocks and precipices ; to the constancy of a wife, who, in the most trying situ- ations, still encourages her partner, shares his toils, partakes his embar- rassments, and, however he may be hunted by adversities, endeavours to moderate by her constancy, and to cheer by her blandishments, tliose hours of solitude and solicitude, which otherwise were dreary, com- fortless, and hopeless." Graevius declares, that the bv in this passage, is not the ibex, but a species of gazelle described by Buf- fon, N. H, torn. xii. and Suppl. T. V. under the name of ** Nanguer," or ** Nagor." [The prophet Daniel describes Macedonia under the symbol of a goat with one horn; and an ancient bronze figure of a goat with 6ne horn, has been dug up in Asia Minor. The same figure is seen on the reverse of a coin of Archelaus, king of Macedon, and on a gem in the Florentine collection. In all these representations, the horn is seen growing out of the middle of the forehead, but curved backward over the head. The type of Persia appears to have been the head of a ram with two horns, curling on the side of the head. See Coins in Calmet.] GOLD. IHT ZAHAB. Gen. xxiv. 22, and very frequently in all other GOL parts of the Old Testament^^. XPY- 202, Matth. xxiii. 16, 17, et al. The most perfect and valuable of the metals. In Job xxviii. 15, 16, 17, 19, gold is mentioned five times, and four of the words are different in the origi- nal. (1.) n^D SEGOR, which may mean gold in the mine, or shut up (as the root signifies) in the ore, (2.) Dn3 KETHEM, from DnD catham, to sign, seal, or stamp ; gold made current by being coined ; standard gold, exhibiting the stamp expres- sive of its value. (3.) nni zahab, wrought gold, pure, highly polished gold. (4.) ^TS PAZ, denoting solidity, compactness, and strength ; probably gold formed into different kinds of plate, or vessels. Jerom, in his Comment on Jer. x. 9, writes: '* Septem nominihus apud Hebneos appeilatur aurum'^ The seven names (which he does not mention) are as follows, and thus distinguished by the Hebrews. (I.) zahab, gold, in general. (II.) zahab tob, good gold, of a more valuable kind, Gen. ii. 12. (111.) ZAHAB oPHiR, gold of Ophir, 1 Kings ix. 28, such as was brought by the navy of Solomon. (IV.) ZAHAB MUPHAz, soHd gold, pure, wrought gold ; translated I Kings X. 18, " the best gold." (V.) zahab SHACHUT, beaten gold, 2 Chron. ix. 15. (VL) ZAHAB SLGOR, shut up gold ; either, as mentioned above, " gold in the ore," or, as the Rab- bins explain it, " gold shut up in the treasuries," gold in bullion. (VII.) ZAHAB PARVAiM, 2 Chron. iii. 6. To these, Buxtorf adds three others : (1.) DTlD kethem, pure gold of the circulating medium, (2.) 1V3 BETZER, gold in the treasury. (3.) Vin cHARUTz, choice, fine gold. Arabia had formerly its golden 62 In the books of Ezra and Daniel it is written nm ; and once in Isai. xiv. 4, where the prophet, introducing the Jews singing their song of triumph after their return from Babylon, very properly and beautifully uses a Chaldee word, and pro- bably the very same as the Babylonians applied to their superb and opulent capital. Parkhurst, Heb. Lex. in verb. GOL mines. " The gold of Sheba," Psalm Ixxii. 15, is, in the Septuagint and Arabic versions, the gold of Arabia. Sheba was the ancient name of Arabia Felix. Mr. Bruce, however, places it in Africa, at Azab. The gold of Opliir, so often mentioned, must be that which was procured in Arabia, on the coast of the Red Sea We are assured by Sanconiathon, as quoted by Eusebius, and by Herodo- tus, that the Phoenicians carried on a considerable traffic with this gold, even before the days of Job, who speaks of it, chap. xxii. 24. But Mr. Good contends that the original ^''D^^? auphir, in this place, which is generally rendered •' Ophir," with gold added to it to give it a sense, is a direct Arabic verb from apher or afr, and signifies" tojiow," ''rush," ** pass on." " Whoever considers the Hebrew of the 24th and 25th verses," says Chappellow, ** must be inclined to think that there is the figure ;j«ra- nomasia, as the rhetoricians call it ; a near affinity both in letters and sound." Then shall thou heap up, as the dust [aphar], treasure [betzer]. Then shall it flow [auphir] as the treasure [betzer] of the brooks ; And then shall the Almighty be thy trea- sury [betzereca]. That this is no unusual way in scripture expression, in the Old and New Testament, is very certain, as Bp. Sanderson has remarked, 1st. Sermon ad Aulam, page 2. Two instances, amongst several to which he refers, are very particular. Isai. xxiv. 18, where the prophet, ex- pressing the variety of God's inevit- able judgments under three several appellations, the fear, the pit, and the snare, uses three words, agreeing with each other in letters and sound, pachad, pachath, pach : and Rom. xii. 3, where the apostle, exhorting men not to think of themselves too high- ly, sets it off with exquisite elegancy, thus : Mr] virfQ^povtiv irao o ^n (ppo- veiv, aWa (ppoveiv eig to aioippovuv. On the method of working gold among the ancients, and of forming various vessels and ornaments from GOP 155 it, see Goguet, part ii. book ii. cli. 5. art 2. p. 158, V^ol. ii. GOPHER. 133 ^yy etse gopher. Gopher wood. Occurs only Genesis vi. 14. The wood of which the ark was built. There are various opinions about it. The LXX render it ^vXa reTpayoJva, squared timbers; Eben Ezra, Onkelos, Jonathan, and most of the Rabbins, cedar; Jerom, in the Vulgate, " Ugna levigata," planed wood, and elsewhere, " Ugna bitu- minata,'^ pitched wood ; which last is adopted by Delgado, a learned London JewK Kimchi translates it, wood most proper tofoat; Junius, Tremellius, and Buxtorf, a kind of cedar called by the Greeks ke^oc- XaTT] ; Avenarius and Munster,/>irte ; Castalio, turpentine. Pelletier pre- fers the opinion of those who sup- pose that the ark was made of cedar. His reasons are, the great plenty of it in Asia, whence Herodotus and Theophrastus relate that the kings of Egypt and Syria built whole fleets of it ; the incorruptibility of the wood ; and the common tradition prevailing throughout the East, that remains of the ark are yet found on Mount Ararat. The Mahometans explain it by the word ** sag,^' which is understood to be the Indian plane- tree^*. And Dr. Geddes^^ appre- hends that the Syrian translator has given the true meaning in the word aplV, rendered in the Polyglott by the Latin word " vimen," signifying, in general, a twig, or rod, wicker of any kind. In Arabia, the same word signifies a chest, coffer, or basket made of twigs, particularly of palm- tree leaves : and, indeed, all the first vessels of capacity, whether coffer, ark, or ship, seem to have been composed of the same mate- rials. He conceives, therefore, that the ark of Noah was a large coflTer formed of twigs, like basket-work, and covered over with bitumen, within and without, to keep out the 63 The Hebrew word gaphar signifies to pitch or datih -icith pitch. Gophrith, which signifies hiiumeti, is not much unlike it. e» Herbelot. p. 675. 65 Critical Remarks, Vol. i. p. 67. 156 GOU water. He does not presume abso- lutely to determine of what wood it was constructed, but thinks it must have been of osier, which, as we learn from Columella, was the prin- cipal of the wicker kind. It is cer- tain, that not only baskets, but boats were made originally of such twigs, and particularly of osier^ ; and even those wliich were externally covered with skins, had ribs of that wood on account of its pliability ^7. On the other hand, the learned ]Mr. Fuller, in his Miscellanies, 1. iv. c. 5, has shewn that the wood of which the ark was built, was un- doubtedly that which the Greeks call KV7rapLTn, and a sixth had at first the same reading, which, in the elder editions, was the textual reading in ch. xxii. 32, and which 1 am apt to think is the true original reading. But what is the precise meaning of TTKl or ]1;m, it is not easy to determine." Dr. Geddes, Cr. Rem. in loc. 168 HEN HEN them, driving it away with a courage and strength truly wonderful !" •' It does not appear," says Mi- chaelis^'*, " that the Israelites were accustomed to the breeding of poul- try ; for, in the history of the Patri- archs, where so much is said on rural economy, not a word do we find concerning poultry, not even in the laws relating to offerings. Nay, great as is the number of other ani- mals mentioned in i|, the Hebrew Bible does not so much as furnish a name for them ; unless, perhaps, in a book written about the commence- ment of the Babylonish captivity, and even there, through tlie mis- takes of transcribers, it is rendered almost undiscoverable. I entertain a suspicion, (of which, however, I cannot here enter fully into the grounds,) that in Jerem. xvii. 11, in- stead of "131 we should read 33-i, and translate, * the hen hatches and clucks with the chickens of eggs not her own.' Sometimes the hen steals the eggs of a bird of a different spe- cies, hatches them, and clucks with the chickens as if they were her own : but if they are not of the gal- linaceous kind, but ducks or such like, they soon forsake their suppo- sititious mother. To a hen of this thievish cast, the miser who accu- mulates wealth bj unjust means, may be compared. His riches take wings and flee away. This expla- nation, however, is not incontro- vertible ; and if here the prophet had not our domestic poultry in his view, in no passage of the Old Tes- tament is mention made of them, nor do we find them among the Jews, until after their subjection by the Romans." See Partridge. [The original country of the com- mon poultry fowl, is India, where it is called the jungle-bird. Aristo- phanes calls the cock, the Persian bird. They are supposed to have been brought to this country by the Phenicians, and Julius Caesar men- tions them as a food forbidden to the Britons.] 93 Anthol. lib. i. tit. 87, ed. Bosch, p. I 94 Comment, on Laws of Moses, V, ii. 344. I p. 386, transl. Michaelis, Quest. No. xlii. is in- clined to think it the henbane, " hy- oscyamus.'' See Gall. HEN. OPNIS. Matth. xxiii. 37, and Luke xiii. 34. [and com- pare 2 Esdras i. 30.] [The Vulgate renders the word in Matth. xxiii. 37, avis; but, in Luke xiii. 34, gallina, which is sup- ported by the Syriac Version in both places.] In these passages, our Saviour ex- claims, ** O Jerusalem, Jerusalem ! how often would I have gathered thy children together, even a« a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not." The metaphor here used is a very beau- tiful one. When the hen sees a bird of prey coming, she makes a noise to* assemble her chickens, that she may cover them with her wings from the danger. The Roman eagle was about to fall upon the Jewish state. Our Lord expresses a desire to guard them from threatened ca- lamities. They disregarded his in- vitations and warnings; and fell a prey to their adversaries. The affection of the hen to her brood is so strong as to become pro- verbial. There is a beautiful Greek epigram in the Anthologia, which affords a very fine illustration of this passage ^^. It has been thus trans- lated : ** Beneath her fostering wing, the hen de- fends Her darling offspring, while the snow de- scends; And through the winter's day, wnmoved defies The chilling fleeces and inclement skies ; Till, vanquishM by the cold and piercing blast. True to her charge she perishes at last." Plutarch, in his book " De Philo- storgia,'' represents this parental at' tachment and care in a very pleasing manner. " Do we not daily observe with what care the hen protects her chickens'? giving some shelter under her wings, supporting others upon her back ; calling them around her, and picking out their food ; and if any animal approaches, that terrifies H I N HERON. ns}3N anapha. Occ. Levit. xi. 19, and Deut. xiv. 18. HIN 169 This word has been variously un- derstood. Some have rendered it the kite, others the woodcock, others the curlew, some the peacock, others the parrot, and others the crane. The root S3N anap«, signifies to breathe short through the nostrils, to snuff, as in anger ; hence to be angry ; and it is supposed that the word is sufficiently descriptive of the heron, from its very irritable disposition. Bochart, however, thinks it the mountain falcon ; the same that the Greeks call avoirea, mentioned by Homer, Odys. i. o20^ and this bears a strong resemblance to the Hebrew name. HIND. hVm ajalah. It is a lovely creature, and of an elegant shape. It is noted for its swiftness and the sureness of its step, as it jumps among the rocks^*. David and Habakkuk both allude to this character of the hind. " The Lord maketh mj feet like hind's feet, and causeth me to stand on the high places^." I'he circum- stance of their standing on the hgli places, or mountains, is applied to these animals by Xenophon®^. Solomon has a very apposite com- parison, Prov. V. 19, of connubial attachment, to the mutual fondness of the stag and hind. " Let the wife of thy bosom be as the beloved hind and favourite roe." It is well known that the males of the gazelle kind are remarkably fond of their females at the time when the natural pro- pension operates ; and, though at other seasons weak and timid ani- mals, they will then, at the hazard of their lives, encounter any danger rather than forsake their beloved partners. Our Translators make Jacob, pro- phesying of the tribe of Naphtali, Gen. xlix. 21, say, '* Naphtali is a hind let loose, he giveth goodly words." Interpreters pretend that this prediction relates to Barak, who was of that tribe, who had not the courage to oppose the army of Sisera without the assistance of Deborah, though she assured him that God had commanded him to do it, and promised him success; but jet gave goodly words in the song which he sung after obtaining the victory. But, as this prophecy regarded the whole of the tribe, it could not be accomplished in the person of an in- dividual: besides, it was not he that composed the song, but the pro- phetess Deborah, who was of the tribe of Ephraim. Nor do we find it any where recorded of Naphtali, Occ. Gen. xlix. 21 ; 2 Sam. xxii. 34; Job xxxix. 1 ; Psalm xviii. 33; xxix. 9; Prov. v. 19; Cantic. ii. 7; iii. 5 ; Jer. xiv. 5 ; Habak. iii. 19. The mate or female of the stag. 95 2 Sam. xxii. 34; Cantic. ii. 8, 9; viii. 14. 96 Psalm xviii. .33; Hab. iii. 19. 9^ ETTtirXOITftV ?S eyjJYTU Taf XUVaf, TOtf /U£V EN TOI2 OPE21N E2TI12A2 EAAiv \_mane'\. It is certain, the mane shews the beauty of a horse. Xeuophon, De Re Eqjiestr. says, " the gods have given the horse, for the sake of ornament, a mane and 'd foretop." To which may be added, that nothing is more common among the poets, in describing a horse, than to make particular mention of his mane, flowing luxuriantly on his neck and shoulders y shaken, and parted by every blast of wind. 16 That is, is it to be ascribed to thee, that the horse hath such particular motions ; leaping and prancing in tiie same manner with the locusts? It is a common saying among the Arabians, the horse acts the lo- custs, i. e. he leaps and jumps from place to place as they do. See Bochart and Schul- tens. 17 So Jerem. viii. 16, " The snorting of his horses was heard : the whole land 1 HORSE. 175 He advanceth boldly against the clashing host. He niocketh at fear, and trembleth not ; Nor turncth he back from the sword. Against him rattleth the quiver, The glittering spear, and the shield. With rage and fury he devoureth the ground. And is impatient when the trumpet sound- eth. At the full blast of the trumpets, he crieth, ahah ! He scenteth the battle afar off, The thunder of the chieftains, and the shouting. ** Every word of this," says M. RoUin*^, *' would merit an explica- tion, in order to display the beauties of it ; but I shall take notice only of the latter, which give a kind of un- derstanding and speech to the horse. " Armies are a long time before they are set in battle array; and are sometimes a great while in view of one another without moving. All the motions are marked by particular signals ; and the soldiers are ap- pointed to perform their various duties by the sound of a trumpet. This slowness is importunate to the horse. He is ready at the first sound of the trumpet. He is very impatient that the army must so often have notice given to it. He murmurs against all these delays ; and, not being able to continue quietly in his place, nor to disobey orders, he strikes the ground per- petually with his hoof; and com- plains in this way, that the warriors lose their time in gazing upon one another. He swalloweth the ground ivith fierceness and rage. In his im- patience, he considereth as nothing all such signals as are not decisive, and which only point out some cir- cumstances to which he is not at- tentive; neither belleveth he that it is the sound of the trumpet. But when it is earnest, and the last blast calls to battle, then the whole coun- trembled." The description which Suidas extracts from an ancient writer, is exactly the same. ** The noise of the arms and the horses was such, tliat xaTaxaovrcf e^s- ■c^^)^<^(rov^o, they who heard it were terri- fied." Bochart gives us several quotations of the same kind, relating to the war- horse. IS Belles Lettres, v. ii. p. 328, " On the elegance of the Sacred Writings." tenance of the horse is changed. One would conclude that he distin- guishes by his smell, that the battle is about to begin, and that he heard the orders of the general distinctly, and answers the confused cry of the army by a noise that discovers his joy and courage. He saith among the trumpets, ha! ha! andhesmelloth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.'* If the reader compares Homer's and Virgil's admirable descriptions of the horse, he will find how vastly superior this is to them both. In the " Guardian,'* No. 86, is a very ingenious critique on this fine passage of Job; and Bochart has filled fifty quarto pages with his il- lustrations and remarks. I shall add the poetical version of Mr. Scott. ** Hast thou with prowess till'd the martial horse? Thou toned his throat with roaring thun- der's force ? Light as the locust in the field he bounds; His snorting with majestic terror sounds. Ardent for fame, and glorying in his might. He paws, he stamps, impatient for the tight : The ground he swallows in his furious heat. His eager hoofs the distant champaign beat : he scarce believes that the shrill tnimpet blows; He neighs exulting, as the blast still grows; Trembling with rapture, when the shouts from far, And thur.der of the chiefs arouse the war : Deriding death, he rushes undiSiHay'd Where flames with horrid wheel the slaughtering blade. Where quivers clang, and whizzing arrows fly, And spears and javelins lighten in his eye." Horses were very rare among the Hebrews in the early ages. The patriarchs had none ; and after the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, Jehovah expressly forbad their ruler to procure them. Deut. xvii. 16. " He shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the peo- ple to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses; for- asmuch as the Lord hath said. Ye shall henceforth return no more that way." As horses appear to have been generally furnished by Egypt, God prohibits these, 1. Lest there should be such commerce with Egypt as might lead to idolatry. 2. Lesl; i76 HORSE. tlie people might depend on a well appointed cavalry, as a means of se- curity, and so cease from trusting in ihe promised aid and protection of Jehovah. And 3. That they might not be tempted to extend their do- minion by means of cavalry, and so get scattered among the surrounding idolatrous nations, and thus cease, in process of time, to be that distinct and separate people which God in- tended they should be ; and without which the prophecies relative to the Messiah could not be known to have their due and full accomplishment. " In the time of the Judges, we find horses and war chariots among the Canaanites; but still the Israelites had none ; and hence they were ge- nerally too timid to venture down into the plains, confining their con- (juests to the mountainous parts of the country. In the reign of Saul, it would appear, that horse-breeding had not yet been introduced into Arabia ; for, in a war with some of the Arabian nations, the Israelites got plunder in camels, sheep, and asses, but still no horses. David's enemies brought against him a strong force of cavalry into the field : and in the book of Psalms, the horse commonly appears only on the side of the enemies of the people of God. And so entirely unaccustomed to the management of this animal had the Israelites still continued, that, after a battle, in which they took a considerable body of cavalry pri- soners, (2 Sam. viii. . 4,) David caused most of the horses to be cut down, because he did not know what use to make of them. Solomon was the first who established a cavalry force : and compared to what is usual now, it was a very inconsiderable one. 1 Kings x. 26. He also car- ried on a trade in Egyptian horses for the benefit of the crown . 2 Chron. ix. 28. At this period, Egypt was still the native country of the best horses : none were yet bred in Ara- bia, else would not the Phoenician kings have purchased horses at se- cond-hand from Solomon, at his own price, but have rather got them di- rectly from Arabia themselves. It is remarkable too, that one horse cost him as much as another, name- ly, one hundred and fifty shekels ; (1 Kings X. 29.) which sheAvs that the qualities of horses had not yet been noticed with the eyes of ama- teurs. Even at the time when Je- rusalem was conquered, and first destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, Ara- bia seems not to have bred horses ; for the Tyrians brought theirs from Armenia. Arabia, therefore, could hardly have been, as BufFon sup- poses, the original and natural cli- mate of horses ; but must have had its breed only at a late period from other countries. *' Under these circumstances, it is not wonderful that tlie Mosaic law should take no notice of an animal which we hold in such high estima- tion. To Moses, educated as he was in Egypt, and, with his people, at last chased out by Pharaoh's ca- valry, the use of the horse for war and for travelling was well known : but, as it was his object to establish a nation of husbandmen, and not of soldiers for the conquest of foreign lands ; and as Palestine, from its situation, required not the defence of cavalry, he might very well de- cline introducing among his people the yet unusual art of horse-breed- ing. A great deal of land that might be applied to the production of hu- man food, is requisite for the main- tenance of horses in every country. But in those days, riding was less frequent, and traveUing in carriages almost unknown, the roads not being adapted to it, so that journeys were generally performed on foot; and when riding was necessary, the camel was always at hand. In the sterile regions of Arabia, this contented creature, which requires but very little provender, and may be brought to drink but once in four days, is vastly preferable to a horse. And those who wished to proceed more at their ease, made use of the ass, which, in a moun- tainous country, is much surer footed : than a horse ; and in southern cli- HORSE. 177 mates, is so much more nimble and spirited than in northern, that, ac- cording to M. Maillet, (in his de- scription of Egypt,) a horse in that country must gallop to keep pace with him at a trot'^." Solomon, having married a daugh- ter of Pharaoh, procured a breed of horses from Egypt; and so greatly did he multiply them, that he had four hundred stables, forty thousand stalls, and twelve thousand horse- men. 1 Kings X. 26; 2 Chron. ix. 25. Horses were conducted to foreign markets in strings ; a circumstance favourable to those interpreters who would refer the whole passage, 1 Kings X. 28 ; and 2 Chron. i. 16, to horses instead of linen yarn, which seems rather to break the connexion of the verses. Some are therefore inclined to read : " And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, even strings of horses : (literally drawings out, prolongations :) the king's mer- chants received the strings (i. e. of horses), in commutation (exchange or barter). And a chariot, or set of chariot horses (i. e. four), came up from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a single horse for one hundred and fifty." And these he sold again, at a great profit, to the neighbouring kings. As the whole context seems applicable to horses, rallier than to linen yarn ; so, this idea, while it strictly maintains the import of the words, preserves the unity of the passage ^^. It seems that the Egyptian horses were in high repute, and were much used in war. When the Israelites were disposed to place too implicit confidence in the assistance of ca- valry, the prophet remonstrated in these terms : •* The Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses are flesh, not spirit." Isai. xxxi. 3. Bishop Lowth observes, that" the shoeing of horses with iron plates 19 Michaelis's Commentaries on the Laws of Moses, article 166, vol. ii. p. 394. Smith's transl. 20 Scripture Illustrated in addition to Calmet, v. iii. nailed to the hoof, is quite a modern practice, and was unknown to the ancients ; as appears from the silence of the Greek and Roman writers, especially those that treat of horse medicine, who could not have passed over a matter so obvious, and of such importance, that now the whole sci- ence takes its name from it, being called by us, farriery. The horse- shoes of leather and of iron, which are mentioned, and the silver and the gold shoes with which Nero and Poppaea shod their mules, used oc- casionally to preserve the hoofs of delicate cattle, or for vanity, were of a very different kind ; they enclosed the whole hoof, as in a case, and were bound or tied on. For this reason, the strength, firmness, and solidity of a horse's hoof were of much greater importance with them, than with us, being esteemed one of the first praises of a fine horse. For want of the artificial defence to the foot, which our horses have, Amos (vi. 12) speaks of it as a thing as much impracticable to make horses run upon a hard rock, as to plough up the same rock with oxen. These circumstances must be taken into consideration, in order to give us a full notion of the propriety and force of the image by which the prophet Isaiah (v. 28) sets forth the strength and excellence of the Babylonish cavalry, which made a great part of the strength of the Assyrian army." " The hoofs of their horses," says he, " shall be counted as flint." A quality which, in times when the shoeing of horses was unknown, must have been of very great importance. The value of a solid hoof is inti- mated in several places in the writ- ings of Homer; and A'irgil mentions it as an indispensable requisite in a good breed of horses; Georg. iii. V. 68. " et solido graviier sonat ungula cornu.^* As the eastern heathens who wor- shiped the sun, in^agined that he rode along the sky in a chariot drawn by fleet horses, to communicate his light and warmth to the world, they K3 178 HOK coiisecrated to him the finest steeds and chariots. With these thej rode to the eastern gates of their cities, as the sun arose, to pay their homage. The Jews at one time became in- fected with this species of idolatry. We read, 2 Kings xxiii. Jl, that Jo- siah took away the horses from the court of the temple, which the kings of Judah, his predecessors, had con- secrated to the sun. Bochart, Hieroz. vol. i. devotes one hundred and seventeen pages to an explication of all those pas- sages in Scripture, in which the horse is mentioned, and displays a profun- dity of learning and ingenuity on the subject ; and Michaelis has an- nexed to his " Commentaries on the Laws of Moses," " a disser-tation on the most ancient history of horses and horse-breeding, in Palestine and the neighbouring countries." HORSE-LEECH, npiby alakah; Arab, alak ; from a root which sig- nifies to adhere, stick close, or hans fast 2». Occurs Proverbs xxx. 15, only. A sort of worm that lives in the water; of a black or brown colour; which fastens upon the flesh, and does not quit it till it is entirely full of blood. Solomon ^ys, ** the horse-leech hath two daughters, give, give." This is so apt an emblem of an in- satiable rapacity and avarice, that it has been generally used by different writers to express it. Thus Plau- tus, Epidic. act. ii. makes one say, 21 Some etymologists deduce the Latin name Hirudo, from hccreo, to stick. Ho- race, Ar. Poet, says, " Non missiira cutem, nisi plena cruoris, hirudo." Like leeches stick, nor quit the bleeding wound, 'Till off they drop, with skins full, to the ground. Barnston. HUS I speaking of the determination to get money, ** I will turn myself into a horse-leech, and suck out their blood ;" and Cicero, in one of his letters to Atticus, calls the common people of Rome, " horse-leeches of the treasury." Solomon, having mentioned those that devoured the property of the poor, as the worst of all the generations which he had specified, proceeds to state the in- satiable cupidity with which they prosecuted their schemes of rapine and plunder. As the horse-leech had two daughters, cruelty and thirst of blood, which cannot be satisfied ; so, the oppressor of the poor has two dispositions, rapacity and ava- rice, which never say they have enough, but continually demand ad- ditional gratifications. Bochart, however, Hieroz. v, iii, p. 783, thinks that the translators have been mistaken in confounding allukah with allakah, which indeed signifies a horse-leech, whereas the former means what we call destiny, or the necessity of dying ; to which the ancient Rabbins gave two daugh- ters, Eden or Paradise, and Hades or Hell : the first of which invites the good, the second calls for the wicked. This interpretation seems strengthened by the observation, Prov. xxvii. 20, " Hell and destruc- tion (that is, Hades and the grave,) are never satisfied." HUSKS. KEPATION. Occurs Luke xv. 16. The husks of leguminous plants, so named from their resemblance to Kepag, a horn. Bochart suggests, that the Kspana were the husks or fruit of the ceratonia siliqua or carob- tree, a tree very common in the Levant ^■^. We learn from Colu- mella, that these pods aflforded food for swine : and they are mentioned as what the prodigal desired to eat, when reduced to extreme hunger. [I'he modern Greeks still call this 22 Called in Spain algaroba, garofero, ca- robbe, or locust. See Dillon's Travels in Spain, p. 360, note. Ceratonia, carogue, and St. John's bread. Millar. — Ceratonia siliqua. Lin. Spec. Plant. 1513. H Y .^ fruit by the same name, and sell them in the markets. They are given to swine, but are not rejected as food even by men. See Hartley's Res. in Greece, p. 241.] The fruit is very common in Pa- lestine, Greece, Italy, Provence, and Barbary. It is suffered to ripen and grow dry upon the tree. The poor feed upon it, and the cattle are fat- tened by it. The tree on which it grows is of a middle size, full of branches, and abounding with round leaves of an inch or two in diameter. I'he blossoms of it are little red clusters, with yellow stalks. The fruit itself is a flat cod, from six to fourteen inches in length, one and a half broad ; composed of two husks, separated by membranes into seve- ral cells, wherein are contained fiat seeds. The substance of these husks, or pods, is filled with a sweetish kind of juice. HY^NA. nnv tseboa; in the Syro-hexapl. of Aquila, Tsabu ; in Arabic, Dzuba, [Russell's Aleppo, vol. ii. p. 186,] Dubba, [Shaw's Trav. p. 173, ed. 4to ] and Dsabuon, [Bochart, Hieroz, v, ii. p. 163] 23. 'YAINA, Ecclus. xiii. 18. This word does not occur in our version of the canonical books of the Old Testament; but is found in Ec- clesiasticus xiii. 18. There are, however, several passages in which the animal is supposed to be referred to. These I shall proceed to explain, after describing the animal itself. The hyaena is a kind of ravenous wolf, in Arabia, Syria, and Africa. It is a little bigger than a large mastiff dog, which it resembles in many respects. Its colour is gray, and streaked transversely with black. The hair is harsh, long, and rather shaggy. •23 « liyeena dicitur Arabiais T'sahc, qiwd quotjtie no/neri ejus Hebraicum fuisse videtur. y)Il)i forte dictm fuit, quod pellis ejus striis subalhis et infuscis distincta sit. Kam y2,^ colorandi et tingendi notionem habet : et ani- MALIA vel a vocis sono, vel a colore et forma externa, vel ab aconomia et moribus, ?iomina sua apud Veteres reperisse constat,'* Tysch- stn, Physiologus Syriis, p. 26. In the Ethiopic, the Hyana is called " Zibee :" and *' Gib," in tiie Amharic. H Y .E 179 This animal is silent, savage, and solitary ; cruel, fierce, and un tamea- ble. It is continually in a state of rapacity; for ever growling, except when devouring its food. Its eyes then glisten, the bristles on its back stand erect, and its teeth appear ; which, altogether, give it a most frightful aspect ; and the terror is heightened by its terrible howl, which, it is said, is sometimes mis- taken for that of a human voice in distress. For its size, it is the most ferocious, and the most terrible of all quadrupeds. Its courage is equal to its ferocity. It defends itself against the lion, is a match for the panther, and frequently over- comes the ounce. Caverns of the mountains, the clefts of the rocks, and subterraneous dens, are its chief lurking places. Its liking to dog's flesh,or, as it is commonly expressed, its aversion to dogs, is particularly mentioned by Mr. Bruce. This ani- mosity between the two animals, though it has escaped'the notice of modern naturalists, appears to have been known to the ancients in the East : Bochart has quoted several striking authorities. In Ecclesiasti- cus, ch. xiii. 18, it is asked, " What agreement is there between the hy- ajna and the dog 1" A suflficient proof that the antipathy was so well known as to be proverbial. In 1 Sam. xiii. 18, Q^y"iavn ^:, ** the valley of Zeboim,'' Aquila, Sym- machus, and Theodotion render, LISTI- NGS, Rev. xviii. 12. The first time that ivory is men- tioned in Scripture is, in the reign of Solomon. If the forty-fifth Psalm was written before the Canticles, and before Solomon had constructed his royal and magnificent throne, then that is the first mention of this com modity. It is spoken of as used in decorating those boxes of perfume, whose odours were employed to ex- hilarate the king's spirits. It is probable that Solomon, who traded to India, first brought thence elephants and ivory to Judea. " For the king had at sea a navy of Thar- shish, with the navy of Hiram : once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold and silver, and ivory." 1 Kings x. 22 ; ^ Chron. ix. 21. " India mittit ebur, molles sua thura Sabai." It seems that Solomon had a throne decorated with ivory, and inlaid with gold ; the beauty of these materials relieving the splen- dour, and heightening the lustre of I VO each other, 1 Kings x. 18. 'Ivory is here described as b"F3 fU^ saiEN gedul, great toothy which clearly shews that it was imported in the whole tusk. " It was, however, ill described as a tooth," says the Author of " Scrip- ture Illustrated ;" " for tooth it is not, but a weapon of defence, not unlike the tusks of a wild boar, and for the same purposes as the horns of other animals. This has prompted Ezekiel to use another periphrasis for describing it ; and he calls it ]\y m^lp kerenutii SCHEN, homs of teeth. This, however, is liable to great objection, since the idea of horns and of teeth, to those who have never seen an elephant, must have been very confused, if not contra- dictory. Nevertheless, the combi- nation is ingenious; for the defences which furnish the ivory, answer the purposes of horns; while, by issuing from the mouth, they are not un- aptly allied to teeth." Several of the ancients have expressly called these tusks horns, particularly Varro, de Ling. Lat. lib. vi. says of them, " Quos dentes multi dicunt, sunt cor- nua:" what many people call teeth, are horns. The LXX render the two Hebrew words by odovrag tXe- (pavTLvovc ) andthe Vulgate, " dentes eburneos." The Targum, however, in Ezekiel, separates m3~ip and ]\r, explaining the former word by horns of the rock-goats, and the latter, by elephant's teeth^^. Cabinets and wardrobes were or- namented with ivory, by what is called marquetry. Psalm xlv. 8. " Quale per art em Inclusjim huxo ant Oricia terebintho Lucet ebur." ViRG. JEn. X. V. 13531. These were named " houses of ivory," probably because made in the form of a house or palace ; as the silver ^aoi of Diana, mentioned Acts xix. 24, were in the form of 30 See Michaelis, Geogr. Hebr. Exter. pars i. p. 204. 31 See also Athenjeus, 1. ii. Lucan, Phar- sal, 1. X. V. 119. Horat. Carm. 1. ii. Od. 17, V. 1. Ovid Met. I. ii. v. 3. her temple at Epliesus ; and as we have now ivory models of the Chi- nese pagodas or temples. In this sense I understand what is said of the ivory house which Ahab made, 1 Kings xxii. 39 ; for the Hebrew word translated " house," is used, as Dr. Taylor well observes, for " a place, or case, wherein any thing lieth, is contained, or laid up." Ezekiel gives the name of house to chests of rich apparel, ch. xxvii. 24. Dr. Durell, in his note on Psalm xlv. 8, quotes places from Homer and Euripides, where the same ap- propriation is made. Hesiod makes the same. Op. et D. v. 96. As to dwelling-houses, the most, I think, we can suppose in regard to them is, that thej might have ornaments of ivory, as they sometimes have of gold, silver, or other precious ma- terials, in such abundance, as to de- rive an appellation from the article of their decoration ; as the emperor Nero's palace, mentioned by Sueto- nius, in Nerone, c. 31, was named ** aurea,^' or golden, because " lita auro," overlaid with gold. This method of ornamenting buildings, or apartments, was very ancient among the Greeks. Homer, Odys. iv. v. 72, mentions ivory as employed in the palace of Menelaus at Lacedae- mon. X^vju r' , YiKsxT^a t£, kou a^yy^s, y\ 5' sXe^avrog. Above, beneath, around the palace, shines The siunless treasure of exhausted mines; The spoils of elephants the roof inlay. And studded amber darts a golden ray. And Bacchylides, cited by Athe- neeus, lib. ii. says, that in the island Ceos, one of the Cy clades, the houses of the great men, xpucw c' eXecpavTL re fiapfiaipovaLV, glister with gold and ivory. Lucan, in his descrip- tion of the palace of Cleopatra, Pharsal. 1. x. v. 119, observes, that " Ebur airia vestit,'' ivory overlays the entrances. And that the Ro- mans sometimes ornamented their apartments in like manner, seems IVORY. evident from Horace, Carm. 185 Ode xviii. v. 1. " Non ebur, neque aureum Mea renidet in domo lacunar." Nor ivory, nor golden roof Adorns my house. And no doubt, when Ovid. Metam. 1. ii. V. 3, said of the palace of the sun, ** Cujiisehurnitidumfastigia summa tegehat" Its lofty roof shining with ivory bright, his idea was taken from some an- cient palaces or temples. So, in modern times. Lady M. W. Mon- tague, affirms. Let. xxxix. v. ii. p. 146, that in the Haram of the fair Fatima of Constantinople, which she had seen, " the winter apartment was wainscoted with inlaid work of mother-of-pearl, ivory of different colours, and olive wood." Our marginal translation in Can- tic. V. 13, renders the Hebrew words, " towers of perfumes," which Har- mer. Outlines, p. 165, says, may mean vases in which odoriferous per- fumes are kept. Amos vi. 4, speaks of beds, or sofas of ivory. So we read in Ho- mer, Odyss. xix. v. 55, of KKtcrirjv- diviorrjv eXecpavri tzai apyvpw, a couch wreathed with ivory and silver : and Odyss. xxiii. v. 199, of \ex^S daidaWiov xpucw re Kai apyvpio rjd' eXeipavTi, variegating a bed with gold, silver, and ivory. If we might trust to the Chaldee interpreter, the knowledge of ivory would be much more ancient than we have supposed it : for this autho- rity informs us, that Joseph placed his father Jacob on a bed of ivory. " I would not altogether reject this interpretation (says the Author of Scripture Illustrated,) for ivory might be known in Egypt, either from Ethiopia, or by the caravans from the central parts of Africa ; or it might be procured from India by means of trading vessels or trading merchants; and certainly, its beauty and ornament would well become the residence of the Nazir, or Lord 186 J /VC Steward of the royal household of the Egyptian Pharaohs." In Ezek. xxvii. 6, the benches of the I'yrian ships are said to be '♦ made of ivory." The meaning is, ornamented. The author of *' Frag- ments in continuation of Calmet," No. ccxvii. asserts, that *' shrines" must be intended. On Rev. xviii. 12, see Kypke, Obs. sacr. tom. ii. p. 461, for some observations concerning the value which the ancients set upon ivory, and the various uses to which they applied it. IVY. KIDSOS. Lat.Hedera. Occ. 2 Maccab. vi. 7. In this passage, we are informed that " the Jews were compelled to go in procession to Bacchus, carry- ing ivy." The feasts of this heathen J UN god were celebrated by frantic vo- taries crowned with ivy. JACINTH. YAKINeOS. Occ. Rev. xxi. 20; and, as an adjective, ch. ix. 17. The name of a gem, or precious stone ^^ of a violet colour, arising from an admixture of red and blue. The hyacinth of Pliny ^'^ is now thought to be the amethyst of the moderns ; and the amethysts of the ancients are now called garnets. In the Alexandrian version, by this Greek word, are translated the Hebrew n^'2r\ tecelet, in Exod. xxv. 4 ; xxvi. 4 ; xxviii. 31 ; Numb. iv. 6, 9, 11 ; 2 Chron. ii. 7, 14, and iii. 14 ; rendered in our version " blue ;" and urrn tacash, ** badger's skins," in Numb. iv. 6, 8, 10, and Ezek. xvi. 10 ; and in both instances, a colour or tincture ^* is intended. 32 '* Hyacinthus lapis hahens purpureum, et c&ndenm cohrem, ad modum illius foris." Vet. Diet, in Diet. Piiil. Martini eitatus. " Hyacinthus ex nominis sui ftore vacatur." Isiodorus, lib. xvi. eap. 9. 33 *' Ille emicans in amethysto fulgor vio- laceus, dihitus est in hyacintho." Piin. N H. lib. xxxvii. c. 9. 34 Among the laws of Gratian, Valerian, and Theodosius, is this curious one : " Fu- JASPER. HDUr^ jASPEir. Exod. xxviii. 20 ; xxxix. 13 ; and E/ek. xxviii. 13. lASHIS, Rev. iv. 3, and xxi. 11,18, 19. The Greek and Latin name Jaspis, as well as the English Jasper, is plainly derived from the Hebrew, and leaves little room to doubt what species of gem is meant by the original word. The jasper is usually defined, a hard stone, of a bright, beautiful green colour ; sometimes clouded with white, and spotted with red or yellow. JUNIPER. Dm ROTHEM. Occ. 1 Kings xix. 4, 5 ; Job xxx, 4; and Psalm cxx. 4^^. As the Arabic word ratam, which answers to the Hebrew rothem, candcE atque distrahende purpura, vel in serico, vel in lana, qua blatta vel oxyblattea atqm hyacinthina dicitur ,facultatem nulhis possit habere privatus. Sin autem aliquis snpra- dicti muricis vellus vendiderit, fortunarum suarum. et capitis sciat se subiturum esse dis- crimen." 35 See Joh. Stengel, " De Junipero Bib- lico." Biblioth. Brem. Class, vii. fasci. 5.. p. 856. seems to be explained by the Spanish word retama, probably first intro- duced into Spain by the Moors; and that word is known to signify broorriy Celsius, (Hierob. t. i. p. 247) thinks it clear, that it must be the plant referred to, in the places above. I. In 1 Kings xix. 4, where our translators say of Elijah, that " he lay and slept under a Juniper-tree," the Septuagint version retains the word pa9a[x ; and in verse 6, simply has (}>VT0V ** a plant ;" in Job xxx. 4, pi^ag ^uXwj/, roots of wood ; in Psalm cxx. 4, av9paKag eprifiiKovg, coals of the desert. From these variations it should appear that they did not know the true tree in question. And Josephus, not venturing to designate the tree under which Elijah rested, says barely, " under a certain tree." Antiq. lib. viii. c. 7. That it was not likely to be the juniper, Celsius strongly contends ; the shade of which was considered as noxious. " 'Solet esse gravis cajitantibus umbra ; Juniperi gravis umbra" ViRG. Eccl. X. v. 75. But Virgil speaks of the broom, as supplying browse to the cattle, and shade to the shepherds. •" salices, humilesque genist^^_^^,i,,j.jj4^^^;, >:r-^ and incapable of being tamed, it attacks all sorts of animals ; nor is man himself exempted from its fury. In this circumstance, it differs from the lion and the tiger, unless they are provoked by hunger, or by as- sault. Its eyes are lively and con- tinually in motion ; its aspect is cruel, and expressive of nothing but mischief. The ears are round, short, and always straight; the neck is thick. The feet are large ; the fore ones have five toes, the hind but four; and both are armed with strong and pointed claws: it closes them like the fingers of the hand, and with them tears its prey as well as with the teeth. Though it is exceed- ingly carnivorous, and devours great quantities of food, it is' neverthe- less gaunt. It is very prolific; but having for its enemy the panther and the tiger, who are more strong and alert than itself, great num- bers of the species are destroyed by them ''3. Probably, these animals were ^ti- 43 Voyages de Desmarchais, torn. i. p. 202. LEV merous in Palestine ; as we find places with a name intimating their having been the haunts of Leopards. Nimrah, Numb, xxxii. 3 ; Beth-Nim- rah, V. 36 ; and Josh. xiii. 27 ; and •* waters of Nimrah," Isai. xv. 6 ; and Jerem. xlviii. 34; and ** moun- tains of leopards," Cantic. iv. 8. Nimrod might have his name from this animal. " He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; wherefore it is said, even as I^mrod the mighty hunter before the Lord ;'V Gen. x. 9. It is supposed, however, that his predations were not confined to the brute creation. Dr. G eddes remarks, that the word " hunter" expresses too little. He was a freebooter in the worst sense of the word ; a law- less despot. " Proud Nimrod first the bloody chase be- gan, A mighty hunter— and his prey was man." Isaiah, describing the happy state of the reign of Messiah, ch. xi. 6, says, " the leopard shall lie down with the kid." Even animals shall lose their fierceness and cruelty, and become gentle and tame. Jeremiah, v. 6, mentions the artful ambuscades of this animal ; and in ch. xiii. 23, alludes to his spots : " Can a Cushite change his skin, or a leopard his spots 1 Then may ye prevail with them to do good who are habituated to do evil." Habak- kuk, i. 8, refers to its alertness. LEVIATHAN. ]n^t>. Occ. Job iii. 8 ; xli. 1 ; Psalm Ixxiv. 14; civ. 26; Isai. xxvii. 1. The old commentators concurred in regarding the whale as the animal here intended'**. Beza and Diodati ^i Theod. Hasseus, in a very ingenious work, " Disquisitio de Leviathane Jobi et Ceto Jonag," Brem. 1723, attempts to prove that the Leviathan is the Omis of Pliny, the Physeter macrocephalus, or Velphiniis rostro fnir.sum repando, of LinnvKus. The learned Schnltens, in his Commentary upon this chapter of Job, contends that the animal is the dragon or serpent, of a monstrous size, &c. Wesley on Job, quotes Cartwrijiht as athrming, " Antiqiwrum ple- riqzie turn per Behemoth, turn per Leviathan LEV 193 were among the first to interpret it the crocodile; and Bochart has since supported this last rendering with a train of argument which has nearly overwhelmed all opposition, and brought almost every commentator over to his opinion'*^. It is very certain that it could not be the whale, which does not inhabit the Mediterranean ; much less the rivers that empty themselves into it ; nor will the characteristics at all apply to the whale. " The crocodile, on the contrary, is a natural inhabitant of the Nile, and other Asiatic and African rivers ; of enormous voracity and strength, as well as fleetness in swimming; attacks mankind and the largest animals with most daring impetuosity ; when taken by means of a powerful net, will often over- turn the boats that surround it ; has, proportionally, the largest mouth of all monsters whatever ; moves both its jaws equally, the upper of which has not less than forty, and the lower than thirty-eight sharp, hut strong and massy teeth; and is fur- nished with a coat of mail, so scaly and callous as to resist the force of a musket ball in every part, except under the belly. Indeed, to thh Diabolum intelligunt." Mercer says, ** Nos. tri collegerunt hanc descriptionem Leviathanis ad Satanam pertinere." And, " Multa in Leviathanis descriptione nulli alii qvam Di- abolo, aut saltern non adeo proprie cov- gruunt.** 45 Bochart,Hieroz. torn. iii. p. 737—774. ed Rozenmuller. See also Schenchzer, Phys. Sacr. Chapellow, Heath, Scott, and Good, and more particularly, " Remarks, Critical and Philological, on Leviathan, described in the 41st chapter of Job," by Rev. VV. Vansittart, Oxf. 1810. L 194 LEVIATHAN. animal the general character of the leviathan seems so well to apply, that it is unnecessary to seek further/''*^ Mr. Vansittart observes, that " the main proof that the leviathan is the crocodile of the Nile, arises chiefly from some particular circumstances and contingencies attending the cro- codiles of Egypt, and of no other country : and if these circumstances are such, that we can suppose the Hebrew writer drew his ideas from them in his description of Leviathan, they will aftbrd an almost certainty that leviathan represents the croco- dile of the Nile." He then proceeds by quoting a passage from Herodo- tus, where the historian describes that animal, and relates the pecu- liarities attendant upon him in parts of Egypt ; remarking, that " some of the Egyptians hold the crocodile sacred, particularly the inhabitants of Thebes, and others bordering upon the lake Moeris, who breed up a single crocodile, adorn him with rings and bracelets, feed him with the sacred food appointed for him, and treat him with the most honour- able distinction." With much in- genuity, he proceeds to illustrate this description in the book of Job, and to consider it as strongly indi- cating the peculiarities of the The- baic crocodile. It would occupy too much room to detail his remarks : some of them will be inserted in the course of the following comment; but he states this as the result of the whole. ** The chapter introduces two speakers in the shape of dia- logue, one of whom questions the other in regard to such and such circumstances relating to leviathan ; and this continues till the twelfth verse; at which the description of leviathan commences. The dialogue is professed to be between the Al- mighty Jehovah and his servant Job. But whether it is Jehovah himself, or some one representing 46 " The Book of Job literally trans- lated," &c. by J. M. Good, 8vo. Lond. 1812, p. 479. him, is not to be inquired in this place. As it is, the person appears extremely well acquainted with the crocodile, as he does also with the other animals described in the o9th and 40th chapters. The other per- son of the dialogue appears to be one well knowing the worship paid to the crocodile: and the eleven first verses are an exposure of the folly of making an animal of a savage na- ture, and one whose head could be pierced with fishnooks, a god. Of these eleven verses, the "first six appear to relate to the mode of treatment received by the crocodile in the places where he was wor- shiped ; the remaining five to his treatment at Tentyra, and wherever he was considered as a destructive animal. At the twelfth verse, the description of leviathan commences, and is divided into three parts, and classed under the different heads of (1.) inn his parts; (2.) m-1^33 IDl great might; (3.) IDiy vn his well- armed make. Of these the first and the third describe him as truly as a naturalist would do. The second or middle part magnifies him as a god. If, then, this second part be in ho- nour of the crocodile as a god, then the person speaking it must be either an inhabitant of Egypt, a worship- per of that animal, or one well ac- qucdnted at least with his worship :" or, perhaps, the whole chapter may be altogether an argument, founded on the idolatrous homage paid to this creature. I cannot say that I am convinced by the reasonings and inferences of Mr. Vansittart, though I consider them as entitled to much considera- tion. Under the article " Dragon," I have adduced authorities to shew that the ]n than is the Crocodile; if so, '>^b LEVI, must mean some cha- racteristic. In the article just re- ferred to, it is suggested that it may mean ** jointed," or " lengthened out:'' Parkhurst says, ** coupled ;" it may also mean " tied," and " associated.'* In this latter sense it may strengthen LEVIATHAN. 195 the suggestion of Mr. Vansittart, that the trained crocodile is meant as distinguished from the one un- subdued*''. I now proceed to give a corrected version of the description contained in the 41st chapter of Job, with ex- planations and references to the crocodile. Behold leviathan ! whom thou leadest about with a hook 4*. Or a rope which thou fixest upon his snout49. It is no easy matter, says Mr. Scott, to fix the precise meaning of the se- vieral terms here used: they seem, however, to denote in general the instruments made use of, partly for the taking him alive in the water, and partly for governing him when brought to land. Herodotus ex- pressly asserts, 1. ii. 70, that one of the modes by which this creature was occasionally taken, in his time, was by means of a hook, ayKKTTpov, which was baited with a dog's chine, and thrown into the midst of the river ; the crocodile, having swal- 47 I have in my possession an ancient medal, bearing on one side the heads of Aug. Caesar and M. Agrippa; and on the other, a crocodile chained to a tree, with the words Col. Nem. [Colonia Nemausus] a province of Gaul, with which those princes were rewarded after the conquest of Egypt. 48 ( ^^ir'nn ) Septuag. «?«? . " l con- ceive," says Mr. Vansittart, " that this verb signifies leading about, rather than drawing oiit ; and that leading about levia- than is meant) instead of dragging him out of the water. Hence, perhaps, leading about ono of the tame crocodiles. The word f<'r forcibly drawing out leviathan with a hook, Ezek. xxix. 4, is ■)"'nbyn from the root nbj;. 49 ** A rope." The original word signifies a reed or rush, growing upon the banks of the Nile. Hence some imagine that it al- ludes to the stringing leviathan upon it, as boys frequently string fish upon a rush, or twig of a tree, which they pass thronuh the gillSk Schultens would render it, " a rope made of reeds;" as the Egyptians at this day make ropes of rushes, and proba- bly from time immemorial did so. Pliny, I. xix. c- 3, informs us, that the Greeks at first made their ropes of rushes. The an- cient Britons learned the same manufac- ture of the Romans ; and our English sailors call old rope "junk," from its Latin name, juncm, a bullrush. lowed which. Was drawn on shore and despatched. Hast thou put a ring in his nose, Or pierced his cheek through with a clasp ? This has been usually supposed to refer to the manner of muzzling the beast, so as to be able to lead him about, by a hook or ring in the nostrils, as is threatened Pharaoh, under tlie emblem of the crocodile, Ezek. xxix. 4. But Mr. Vansittart thinks the words here used expres- sive of ornaments**^; and says: "This second verse may be considered as expressive of leviathan led about, not as a sight, but in his state of divinity ; and the KpiKog, a gold ring or orna^ ment worn at the nose ; for, in the Eastern countries, nasal rings are as frequent as any other ornament whatever." The commentators and lexicographers, not dreaming of ap- plying Herodotus's account of the Thebaic crocodile to the illustration of leviathan, have imagined only large rings for the purpose of cliain- ing leviathan. Herodotus says, the ears and fore feet were the parts from which the ornaments were sus* pended. But as the ears do not appear capable of bearing ear-rings, from their lying extremely flat upon the lower jaw, perhaps they were 50 (mnn.) LXX.^sKUoviarmilfa. This word signifies Jibula, as well as spina ; see Robertson ; and Jibula is an ornament of dress. Where V^T\ is used for a fish-hook, or a strong iron hook, for the purpose of drag- ging any one violently, or restraining him, it is generally rendered by a strong word suited to the occasion, and not a word usually adapted to ornaments: thus Ezek. xix. 4, where Israel, under the figure of a young ravaging lion, is caught in a net, and carried fettered (a-nnn) into Egypt, the LXX render it tv kyi^am, and the Vul- gate, catenis, not armilla, as above. ■"FeXXjov is usually the rendering for T'rav, bracelet. It occurs frequently in this sense, and answers to the latin armilla. Biel has been anxious to prove that it means an iron ring, or hook, or bit ; because he thinks something of restraint is best adapted to the sense : but its general acceptation is the bracelet, KOcy.Q^ rvK X^fOf- omamentum mantis. See Trommius and Biel. (Hpn) TpuTZTio-fjf ; the LXX use this word for boring the ear of a slave. (rnb) Xa^Of, Vulg. maxilla; the flesh that covers and wraps over the jaw. L2 196 LEVIATHAN. put upon other parts ; or the histo- rian, hearing that the sacred croco- dile was adorned with ornaments, fixed them naturally upon the ears and fore feet, as ear-rings and neck- laces were the most usual ornaments of the Greeks. Very likely the or- naments were not always put upon the same parts, but varied at differ- ent times ; and that, in the time of the Hebrew writer, the nose and the lips received the ornaments, which, in the days of the Greek historian, were transferred to the ears and fore feet. The exact place of the ornaments is, however, of no mate- rial consequence ; it is sufficient for our purpose to know, that ornaments were put upon the sacred crocodile, and that he was treated with great distinction, and in some degree con- sidered as a domestic animal. The three verses immediately following speak .of him as such; as entering into a covenant of peace, being re- tained in subjection, &lc. Has he made many supplications to tliee? Has he addressed thee with flattering words? Hast thou (in return) made a league with him. And received him into perpetual service? The irony here is very apparent. The sacred poet shows a wonderful address in managing this deriding figure of speech in such a manner as not to lessen the majesty of the Divine Being into whose mouth it is put. Hast thou played with him as a bird ? Wilt thou encage him for thy maidens ? Shall thy partners spread a banquet for him, And the trading strangers bring him por- tions 5i? Job is here asked how he will dispose of his captive. Whether he will retain him in his family for his own amusement, or the diversion of his maidens ; or exhibit him as a 51 leading strangers. D^DJ^DD canonim, Canaanites. The word is used as traffick- ers, Isai.xxiii. 6; Hoseaxii.7; and Zeph. i. 11. The LXX render it cs xau t>iv ov^av a^f>r)K70g XfTTITI jU£V ya? TE KM (poXlO-l 'rr£e i.«^ impenetrable as to his back and tail." And Diodorus Siculus, p. 41. sect. 35. to 5e trw^a 5avfJMg-w; VTTO ty.^ )T» 5ja<{>cpov. " His body is protected'by nature in a most extraordinary manner; for his whole skin is impenetrable with scales of a wonderful hard texture." 59 Tyndal has rendered this distich nearly verbally: . , , ♦' Hys neesynge is lyke a glistrynge fyre, And hys eye* lyke the niomynix^ *hyne." 198 LEVIATHAN. Schultens remarks, that amphi- bious animals, the longer time they hold their breath under water, re- spire so much the more strongly when they begin to emerge ; and the breath confined for a length of time, effervesces in such a manner, and breaks forth so violently, that they appear to vomit forth flames. The eyes of the crocodile are small, but they are said to be ex- tremely piercing out of the water ^^. Hence, the Egyptians, comparing the eye of the crocodile, when he first emerged out of the water, to the sun rising from out of the sea, in which he was supposed to set, made the hieroglyphic of sunrise. Thus Horus Apol. says, lib. i. § 66, ** When the Egyptians represent the sunrise, they paint the eye of the crocodile, because it is first seen as that animal rises out of the water." From out of his mouth issue flashes : Sparks of fire stream out 6'. From his nostrils bursteth fume. As from the rush-kindled oven^"^. His breath kindleth coals ; Raging fire spreadeth at his presence. Here the creature is described in pursuit of his prey on the land. His mouth is then open. His breath is thrown out with prodigious vehe- mence : it appears like smoke ; and 60 Herodot. Euterpe. Ixviii. So Pliny, 1. ii. c. 25. ** Hebetes oculos hoc miimal di- et tur habere in aqiiUy extra acerrima visus " 61 Bishop Stock renders it with a strange mingling of figures— " Out of his mouth march burning lamps, Sparks of fire do fling themselves.** 62 Our common version is—" as from a seething pot or caldron," which is fol- lowed by Chappellow, Stock, and Good. The word "m rendered " seething-pot," is translated " kettle," 1 Sam. ii. 14 ; " caldron," 2 Chron. xxv. 13; " basket,'' 2 Kings X. 7, and Jer. xxiv. 1, 2; and *' pot," Psalm Ixxxi. 6. And ]?2JK agmon, here rendered " caldron," and in the 2d verse of the chapter, " a hook," is elsewhere correctly translated a " rush,'* or " bull- rush." Now, rect)llecting that the Egyp- tians heated their baking places with dry rushes, as they did their kilns with stubbie ; the comparison of the mouth of the croco dile belching out vapour apparently ig- nited, to the smoke and fire issuing from an oven or furnace, is much more perti- nent than to the vapour of a boiling pot. is heated to that degree as to seem a flaming fire. The images which the sacred poet here uses, are indeed very strong and hyperbolical; they are similar to those at Psal. xviii. 8. " There went a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured : coals were kindled by it." Ovid, Metaph. viii. does not scruple to paint the enraged boar in figures equally bold. " Fulmen ab ore venit,frondesque adjiatibus ardent " Lightning issueth from his mouth, and boughs are set on fire by his breath. Silius Italicus, 1. vi. V. 208, has a correspondent description. In his neck dwelleth might; And DESTRUCTION exulteth before him 63. Might and destruction are here personified. The former is seated on his neck, as indicating his power, or guiding his movements ; and the latter as leaping and dancing before him when he pursues his prey, to express the terrible slaughter which he makes. The flakes of his flesh are compacted to- gether. They are firm, and will in no wise give way. His heart is as hard as a stone, Yea, as hard as the nether mill-stone. These strong similes may denote not only a material, but also a moral hardness, his savage and unrelenting nature, ^lian calls the crocodile, " a voracious devourer of flesh, and the most pitiless of animals." U his rising, the mighty are alarmed; Frighted at the disturbance which he makes in the water64. 63 In our version, " and sorrow is turned into joy before him." The very reverse is the fact. 64 The original of this passage has been strangely understood by translators. Thus the Vulgate, " territi purgabuntnr** their fears are so great that they exonerate them- selves; and Junius and fremellius, " metu confractionum se purgant ;** which is ren- dered, in sufliciently delicate terms in our common version, " by reason of breakings they purify themselves." The literal ren- dering of "iNiann" omu'D miskbarim ji- THATAU, is, '* they are confounded at the tumults." But the question is, What are the tumults referred to? Regarding the plural termination Of DmwD as a dis- LEVIATHAN. 199 The sword of Ihe assailant is shivered at the onset, As is the spear, the dart, or the harpoon. He regardeth iron as straw. Copper as rotten wood. The arrow cannot make him flee. Sling-stones he deometh trifling. Like stubble is the battle-axe reputed <55 ; Aad he laugheth at the quivering of the javelin. These expressions describe, in a lively manner, the strength, courage, and intrepidity of the crocodile. Nothing frightens him. If any one attack him, neither swords, darts, nor javelins avail against him. Tra- vellers agree that the skin of the crocodile is proof against pointed weapons. His bed is the splinters of flint Which the broken rock scattereth on the mud 86. This clause is obscure, and has been variously rendered. The idea seems to be, that he c^n repose himself on sharp pointed rocks and stones with as little concern as upon mud. He maketh the main to boil as a caldron : He snuffeth up the tide as a perfume. Behind him glittereth a pathway ; The deep is embroidered with hoar^^. tinct word, tT ^QU'O, we have a clear and satisfactory answer; for the passage will then run, " the tumult of the water," or " sea." 65 ** Battle-axe,"— onr version ** darts," and Bp. Stock, " clubs." Mr. Chappellow observes : " When words are found but once in the Bible, as nmn tothach is, it will be a difficult matter to ascertain their true meaning ; especially those relating to instruments or weapons which the ancients used either in war or in any mechanic business. We can only learn from tlience what they were in general intended for ; but not their particular form or compo- sition. This observation will, I am in- clined to think, hold good with regard to the CHANiTH, MASSAO, and sHiRjAH, in the 26th verse. To which let me add, that SHIRJAH being mentioned the last of the three, it may suggest some instrument of greater moment than the other two : for if JAH is sometimes joined to a word to en- large the sense, this may possibly be the ca«e here." V. i. p. 564. 66 Bp. Stock renders this, *• Underneath him are splinters of the potter. Which the breaking rock scattereth on the mud." 67 The word nU'n signifies '*to embroider, or work in tapestry." It furnishes, says Mr. Good, *' a beautiful and truly oriental To give a further idea of the force of this creature, the poet describes the effect of his motion in the water. When a large crocodile dives to the bottom, the violent agitation of the water may be justly compared to liquor boiling in a caldron. When swimming upon the surface, he cuts the water like a ship, and makes it white with foam ; at the same time, his tail, like a rudder, causes the waves behind him to froth and sparkle like a trail of light. These images are common among the poets. Thus Homer, Odyss. 1. xii. v. 235, as translated by Pope — tumultuous boil the waves; They toss, they foam, a wild confusion raise, Like waters bubbling o'er the (iery blaze." He hath not his like upon earth, Even among those made not to be daunted. He looketh upon every thing with haughti ness; He is king over all the sons of the fierce. Mr. Good observes, that all the interpreters appear to have run into an error in conceiving, that " the sons of pride or haughtiness, in the original ^TTU; ^2n, refer to wild beasts, or monsters of enormous size ; it is far more confounding to the haughti- ness and exultation of man, to that undue confidence in his own power which it is the very object of this sublime address to humiliate, to have pointed out to him, even among the brute creation, a being which he dares not to encounter, and which laughs at all his pride, and pomp, and pretensions, and compels him to feel in all these respects his r) of the Indian Periplus is supposed to be sandal wood.] 75 [" In Num. xxiv. 6, the tree itself is intended, which, though foreign, the He- brew poet might speak of, as our poets would of the palm : in the other passages, the wood, as a perfume, is intended." Ge- seniuy's Lex.] LIG the fleet which Solomon sent to Ophir might bring some of this wood among oth«r rarities, yet, the books of the Psalms, of Proverbs, and of Songs, were composed before the setting out of that fleet. It may likewise be questioned, whether that fleet brought any of that wood to Judea ; because it is so rare and pre- cious, even in the Indies, that one pound of it costs as much as three hundred weight of the best frankin- cense ; as Garsias declares. Nor yet is it to be supposed, though this wood had been common in Judea in David's and Solomon's time, that they would have mixed it with myrrh and cinnamon ; for the agal- loch or Indian lign-aloe, is so odo- riferous and so agreeable, that it stands in no need ot any composition to increase or moderate its perfume. Yet, there is another kind of wood, called the Si^rian aloe^ or of Rhodes and of Candia, called otherwise as- palatha, which is a little shrub co- vered with prickles ," of the wood of which, perfumers (having taken off the bark) make use to give a con- sistency to their perfumes, which otherwise would be too thin and liquid. Cassiodorus observes, that this is of a very sweet smell, and that in his time they burned it be- fore the altars instead of frankin- cense. Levinus Lemnius says, that it resembles very much the agalloch, or Indian lign-aloe. All which con- siderations make it probable, that ahalim should have been rendered the aspalatha. See At,oe. [It is the yellow sanders-wood of India (santalum flavum), which is highly prized by the natives, that is supposed to be the aloes-tree of the ancients. It has a pleasant smell, and is an aromatic bitter. With the powder of this wood, which is merely the heart of the tree, a paste is prepared, with which the Hindoos, Persians, Arabians, Chinese, and Turks anoint themselves. It is likewise burned in their houses, and gives a fragrant and wholesome smell. It yields, on distillation, a fragrant essential oil, which thickens LIL ^203 into the consistence of a balsam. At all events, it appears to resemble, in many of its qualities, the aloes- wood.] LIGURE. DU'b LESCHEM, Occ. Exod. xxviii. 19 ; andxxxix. 12, only. A precious stone of a deep red colour, with a considerable tinge of yellow. Theophrastus and Pliny describe it as resembling the car- buncle, of a brightness sparkling like fire. The generality of the Hebrew ^ lexicographers, and most of the an- * cients, critics, and commentators, whom we find reckoned up in a very learned article upon the ligure, in Martinus's lexicon, suppose that to be the leschem ; and the Septua- gint, Josephus, and Jerom, so render it, and their authority is decisive. LILY. ]WW SHUSHAN. Occ. 1 Kings vii. 19, 22, 26; 2 Chron. iv. 5 ; Cantic. ii. 2, 16 ; iv. 5 ; V. 13 ; vi. 2, 3 ; vii. 2 ; Ho- sea xiv. 5. KPINON. Matth. vi. 28 ; and Luke xii. 27. A well-known sweet and beautiful flower; which furnished Solomon with a variety of charming images in his Song, and with graceful orna- ments in the fabric and furniture of the Temple. The title of some of the Psalrrs, '* Upon Shushan, or Shoshanim'^^y* 76 Psalm xlv. Ix. Ixix. and Ixxx. 204 LILY. probably means no more, than that the music of these sacred composi- tions was to be regulated by that of some odes, which were known by those names or appellations. By " the lily of the valley," Cantic. ii. 2, we are not to understand the humble flower generally so called with us, the lilium convallium, but the noble flower which ornaments our gardens, and which, in Palestine, grows wild in the fields, and espe- cially in the valleys. Pliny reckons the lily the next plant in excellency to the rose ; and the gay Anacreon compares Venus to this flower. In the East, as with us, it is the emblem of purity and moral excellence. So the Persian poet, Sadi, compares an amiable youth to " the white lily in a bed of narcissuses," because he surpassed all the young shepherds in goodness 77. As in Cantic. v. 13, the lips are compared to the lily, Bishop Patrick supposes the lily here instanced to be the same which, on account of its deep red colour, is particularly called by Pliny, '* rubens lilium," and which, he tells us, was much es- teemed in Syria. Such may have been the lily mentioned in Matth. vi. 28—30; for the royal robes were purple. ** Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin ; and yet, 1 say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." So Luke xii. 27. The scarcity of fuel in the East, obliges the inhabit- ants to use, by turns, every kind of combustible matter. The withered stalks of herbs and flowers, the ten- drils of the vine, the small branches of rosemary, and other plants are all used in heating their ovens and bag- nios. We can easily recognise this practice in that remark of our Lord, Matth. vi. 50, " If God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe 77 Forskal gives to the Arabic sii.fann, the Liimsean liaitie. Pancratium, which is a kind of narcissus. you, O ye of little faith!" The grass of the field, in this passage, evidently includes the lilies of which he had just been speaking, and by consequence herbs in general ; and in this extensive sense, the word XOQTog is not unfrequently taken. Those beautiful productions of na- ture, so richly arrayed, and so ex- quisitely perfumed, that the splen- dour even of Solomon is not to be compared to theirs, shall soon wither and decay, and be used as fuel. God has so adorned these flowers and plants of the field, which retain their beauty and vigour but for a few days, and are then applied to some of the meanest purposes of life : will he not much more take care of his servants, who are so precious in his sight, and designed for such im- portant services in the world ? This passage is one of those of which Sir Thomas Brown says, " the vari- ously interspersed expressions from plants and flowers, elegantly advan- tage the significancy of the text." Mr. Salt, iu his Voyage to Abys- sinia, p. 419, says : " At a few miles from Adowa, we discovered a new and beautiful species of amaryllis, which bore from ten to twelve spikes of bloom on each stem, as large as those of the Belladonna, sprmging from one common receptacle. The general colour of the corolla was white, and every petal was marked with a single streak of bright purple dovra the middle. The flower was sweet-scented, and its smell, though much more powerful, resembled thst of the lily of the valley. This superb plant excited the admiration of the whole party ; and it brought imme- diately to my recollection the beau- tiful comparison used on a particular occasion by our Saviour, " I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." And Sir J. E. Smith^^ ob- serves: " It is natural to presume, the Divine teacher, according to his usual custom, called the attention of 78 Considerations respecting Cambridge, quoted in the Monthly Repository, for Oc- tober, 1819. p. wr. LIL liis hearers to some object at hand ; and as the fields of the Levant are overrun with the Amaryllis Lutea, whose golden lilaceous flowers in autumn afford one of the most bril- liant and gorgeous objects in nature, the expression of ' Solomon in all his glory not being arrayed like one of these,' is peculiarly appropriate. I consider the feeling with which this was expressed, as the highest honour ever done to the study of plants ; and if my botanical conjec- ture be right, we learn a chronologi- cal fact respecting the season of the year when the Sermon on the Mount was delivered." [Pococke supposes the tulip to be referred to. " I saw," he says, " many tulips growing wild in the fields (in March); and any one who considers how beautiful those flowers are to the eye, would be apt to con- jecture, that these are the lilies to which Solomon, in all his glory, was not to be compared."] The lily is said to have been brought originally from Persia, whose chief city was called Shushan, and one of its provinces, Susiana, from the plenty of these beautiful flowers growing there naturally. Souciet affirms, that the lily men- tioned in Scripture is the crown imperial or Persian lily. Mr. Beckmann"^^ informs us, that " the roots of the magnificent Fri- tillaria Imperialis were, about the middle of the sixteenth century, brought from Persia to Constanti- nople, and were carried thence to the emperor's garden at Vienna, from whence they were dispersed all over P^urope. This flower was first known by the Persian name tusac, until the Italians gave it that of Corona Imperiale^^. I have some- where read, that it has been ima- gined, that the figure of it is to be found represented on coins of Herod, and tlmt on this account it has been considered as the lily so much cele- brated in the Scripture." It appears from Cantic. v. 13, 79 History of Inventions, V. iii. p. 5. w ClHsius, Hist. Plant, i. p. 128. L I M 205 that the lily there spoken of was red, and distilled a certain liquor. There are crown-imperials with yel- low flowers, but those with red are the most common ; they are always bent downwards, and disposed in the manner of a crown at the ex- tremity of the stem, which has a tuft of leaves at the top. At the bottom of each leaf of this flower, is a certain roscid humour, appearing in the form of a pure drop of water. This is what the spouse in the song alludes to : " His lips are like lilies dropping sweet-scented myrrh." " Moisten'd with sweets and tinged with ruddy hue. His lips are lilies dropping honey-dew." LIME. l^W SEED. Occ. in Deut. xxvi. 2, 4; Isai. xxxii. 12 ; Amos ii. 1. A soft, friable substance, obtained by calcining or burning stones, shells, or the like. From Isai. xxxiii, 12, it appears that it was made in a kihi lighted with thorn bushes ; and from Amos ii. 1, that bones were some- times calcined for lime. The use of it was for plaster, or cement ; the first mention of which is in Deuter- onomy xxvii., where Moses directed the elders of the people, saying : " Keep all the commandments which I command you this day. And it shall be on the day when you shall pass over Jordan unto the land which the Lord your God giveth you, that you shall set up great stones, and plaster them with plaster ; and shall write upon them all the words of this law, &c." Upon this passage, the learned Michaelis^* has the fol- lowing remarks. *' The book of the law, in order to render it the more sacred, was deposited beside the ark of the co- venant. The guardians of the law, to whom was intrusted the duty of making faithful transcripts of it, were the priests. But Moses did not account even this precaution suflficient for the due preservation of his law in its original purity ; for 81 "Commentaries on the Laws of Moses ;" translated by Dr. Smith. V. i. pp. 355—358. 206 LIME. he commanded that it should be- sides be engraven on stones, and these stones kept on a mountain near Sichem, in order that a genuine exemplar of it might be transmitted even to latest generations. " In his ordinance for this pur- pose, there are one or two particu- lars that require illustration. He commanded that the stones should be coated over with lime ; but this command would have been quite absurd, had his meaning only been, that the laws should be cut through this coating ; for after this unneces- sary trouble, they could by no means have been thus perpetuated with such certainty, nor have nearly so long resisted the effects of wind and weather, as if at once engraven in the stones themselves. Kenni- cott, in his Second Dissertation on the printed Hebrew text, p. 77, sup- poses that they might have been cut out of black marble, with the letters raised, and the hollow intervals be- tween the black letters filled up with a body of white lime, to render them more distinct and conspicuous. But even this would not have been a good plan for eternizing them ; be- cause lime cannot long withstand the weather, and whenever it began to fall off in any particular place, the raised characters would, by a variety of accidents, to which writ- ing deeply engraved is not liable, soon be injured and become illegible. No one that wishes to write any thing in stone, that shall descend to the most remote periods of time, will ever think of giving a prefer- ence to characters thus in relief. And besides, Moses, if this was his meaning, has expressed himself very indistinctly ; for he says not a word of the colour of the stone, on which, however, the whole idea turns. *' I rather suppose, therefore, that Moses acted in this matter witli the same view to future ages, as is re- lated of Sostratus, the architect of the Pharos, who, while he cut the name of the then king of Egypt in the outer coat of lime, took care to engrave his own name secretly in the stone below, in order that it might come to light in after times, when the plaster with the king's name should have fallen off. In like manner, Moses, in my opinion, commanded that his laws should be cut in the stones themselves, and these coated with a thick crust of lime, that the engraving might con- tinue for many ages secure from all the injuries of the weather and at- mosphere, and then, when by the decay of its covering it should, after hundreds or thousands of years, first come to light, serve to shew to the latest posterity whether they had suffered any change. And was not the idea of thus preserving an in- scription, not merely for hundreds, but for thousands of years, a con- ception exceeding sublime 1 It is by no means impossible, that these stones, if again discovered, might be found still to contain the whole en- graving perfectly legible. Let us only figure to ourselves what must have happened to them, amidst the successive devastations of the coun- try in which they were erected. The lime would gradually become irregularly covered with moss and earth ; and now, perhaps, the stones, by the soil increasing around and over them, may resemble a little mount ; and were they accidentally disclosed to our view, and the lime cleared away, all that was inscribed on them three thousand five hun- dred years ago would at once become visible. Probably, however, this discovery, highly desirable though it would be, both to literature and religion, being in the present state of things, and particularly of the Mosaic law, now so long abrogated, not absolutely necessary, is reserved for some future age of the world. What Moses commanded, merely out of legislative prudence, and for the sake of his laws, as laws, God, who sent him, may have destined to answer likewise another purpose ; and may choose to bring these stones to light, at a time when the laws of Moses are no longer of any authority in any community whatever. Thus LIN much is certain, that no where in the Bible is any mention made of the discovery of these stones, nor indeed any further notice taken of them, than in Josh. viii. 30 — 35, where their erection is described ; so that we may hope they will yet be one day discovered." On the contrary. Dr. Geddes con- siders this as ''mere fancy ;" observ- ing, that " the end of the inscription was, undoubtedly, that it might be at all times legible to every Israelite. To cover it over with plaster, would be to lock it from the sight of the people, and to render it a useless, dumb monitor. Others suppose, that the writing was upon the plaster it- self; and this I should deem more probable, if a writing of that kind were durable, w'hen exposed to the winds and weather; which, when done in fresco, I am told it is. But it is a question, if the Israelites un- derstood painting in fresco : and stones would naturally occur to the legislator as the most proper mate rial for preserving his injunctions. The Greek of Venice has a word which, perhaps, the best of all ex- presses the meaning of the original, TiravuxTSLc Tavrovg ev rt Tavt{j : by which, I conceive, is not meant that the stones were to be plastered over with plaster, as our translation has it, but that they were to be cemented together with mortar." LINEN. Cloth made of flaxen thread. Lat. linum ; Anglice, line, a thread, or cord. Lipsius, in his notes on Tacitus, Annal. ii. says : " Nolim erres, dis- tincta genera vestium olim Byssina, Bombycina, et Serica. Byssina e lino, Bombycina e verme, Serica ex arbo- rum lana confectce.*^ According to Virgil, serica is the product of a worm, and is called " vellera serum," the cocoon of the silkworm. " Fine linen," BY2S0S, is men- tioned Luke xvi. 19, and Rev. xviii. 12. From Pollux, Onomastic, vii. c. 17, sect. 75, we learn that r) Bv(T(toc \ivov Ti eidog irap' Ivdoig, byssus is LIO 207 a species of flax from India. Pliny, 1. xix. c. 1, says: " Huic lino (abes- tino) principatus in toto orbe. Proii- mus byssino, mulierum maxime deiiciis circa Elim in Achaia genito:'* and Pausanias, Eliac. 1. i. Qavpiacai d' avTig ev ry HXeiq, rrjv Buccov. — H da Bvnf^ CHARGAL. (8) pb** JELEK. (9) s*! " Da7is qvelgve endroit que se jettent ces expeces d'armees, elles ne laissent rien apres elles ; elles conxument meme en pen d'henres le travail et le revenn de toute une anme. Ces petits tmimaux devorent tout ce qn'il y a de verdure 4ans les champs; Us pelent, Us rongent. Us ^corcherit tout. Ih sont meme si voraces, que lorsqu'il ne leur reste plus rien a. mayiger. Us se dichirent entre eux, et se divorent les uns les auires." Scheuchzer, torn. ii. p. 62. 212 LOCUST. Dy^D SOLAM. (10) bvbV TSELTSAL. From what he has written, and from various other sources ^^, I shall en- deavour to give an explanation of each of these names, with the aim to identify the several species, and to elucidate the passages of Scripture in which they are mentioned. (1.) nmx ARBEH. Occurs Exod. X. 4, 12, 13, 14, 19 ; Levit. xi. 22 ; 1 Kings viii. S7 ; 2 Chron. vi. 28 ; Psalm Ixxviii. 46 ; cv. 34 ; cix. 23 ; Prov. XXX. 27 ; Joel i. 4 ; ii. 25 ; and translated "Grasshopper," Jud. vi. 5 ; vii. 12 ; 1 Kings viii. S7 ; Job xxxix. 20; and Jer. xlvi. 23. See Grasshopper. This is probably the general name, including all the species. If under- stood of a single kind, it must be without doubt the *' gryllus grega- riiis" of Forskal, or the common gre- garious locust, which the Arabs call ^^{^a djerad; and which, the Jews who dwell in Yemen assured Mr. Forskal, is the same with the He- brew rrmN. Is it not probable that the fable of the HARPIES originated from the plunderings of the locust tribes 1 The name 'Aprrvia is not dissimilar to the Hebrew miN arbeh, the generic name of the locusts. CtLiCNO re- sembles the Syriac ^fDy'7D solhamo, and the Hebrew DybD salam : Acho- J.OE may be deduced from bDH achal, to devour; and aello from biyy HAH0L^°. (2.) n'13 GOB, or *nia gobai. Isai. xxxiii. 4; Amos vii. 1; and Nah. iii. 17, only. Bochart derives it from the Arabic Nna " e terra emergere ;'' Castel fur- nishes another root, the Arabic n?<5 " secuit." ""nia, wliich is the reading of many MSS., is formed, says Hou- bigant, as ^lU' captivity, and signifies a swarm of locusts. 89 Roseninnller,note in Bocharti Hieroz. torn. iii. Oi'dmanii Verniischte Sainmlun- {;en, Fasc. ii. part 2. Tysclisen Comment, de Locustis quanun in V. T. mentio lit, Kostoch. 1787. Lndolphus, De Locustis, append. Hist. iEthiop. Hasdeus,de Jndaica terra depopulatio per Gazam, Arbe, Jelek, et Ciiasil, ad vat. Joel, illustr. 1724. yo See Ciericus, diss, de stat. sal. sub. fineni, appendix in Com. Genes. This is supposed to be the locust in its caterpillar state; so called either from its shape in general, or from its continually hunching up its back in moving, says Parkhurst ; who adds, to explain these passages : " I would observe that it is in their caterpillar state that the locusts are the most destructive, marching di- rectly forward, and in their way eating up every thing that is green and juicy ; that in and near the Holy Land, they are in this state in the month of April, which corre- sponds to the beginning of the spring- ing up of the latter growth after the king^s feedings (Amos vii. 1), which was in March : and in the beginning of June, rtlp DVl in the time of cool- ing (Nah. iii. 17), when the people are retired to their cool summer houses, or country seats, the cater- pillar-locusts of the second brood are settled in X\\e fences, whither the pa- rent-locusts had retired to lay their eggs." But for the further illustration of these particulars I must request the reader attentively to peruse Dr. Shaw's Travels, p. 187, 2d edition, and compare it with Harmer's Ob- servations, V. i. p. 225, &c. and V. ii. p. 466, &c. Increase tliyself as the locust, increase thy- self as the numerous locust: Multiply thy merchants more than the stars of heaven. Yet the locust hath spoiled, and hath flown away. Thy crowned princes are as the numerous locust, And the captains as the gobai. Which encamp in the hedges in the cold day. The sun riseth, they depart: and their place is not known. Nah. iii. 16, 17. Your spoil shall he gathered as the cuAsih gathereth: As the D''n3 goeim run to and fro, so shall they run and seize it. Isai. xxxiii. 4. (3.) on gazam. Occurs Amos iv, 9; and Joel i. 4; ii. 25, only, and in our translation is rendered, *' the palmer worm." Bochart says, that this is a kind of locust, which, furnished with very sharp teeth, gnaws off, not only grass and grain, and the leaves of trees, 'but even their bark and more tender LOCUST. ns branches. But Michaelis, agreeing with the LXX translation, Kafnrr], and the Vulgate, " eruca,'^ thinks it means the cuterpillar, which might • have its name from the sharp sickle Avith which its mouth is armed, and with which it cuts the leaves of trees to pieces ; and which, beginning its ravages long before the locust, seems to coincide with the creature men- tioned in Joel i. 4. Tychsen thinks it "the " Gryllus cristatus" of Lin- naeus. (4.) n^n CHAGAB. Occurs Levit. xi. 22; ;Numb. xiii. 34; 2 Chron. vii. 13 ; Eccl. xii. 5 ; and Isai. xl. 22. See the article Grasshopper. Tychsen supposes it the *' Gryllus conmatus" of Linnaeus. (5.) bn3n chanamal. Psalm Ixxviii. 47. Bochart, following some of the Rabbins, would render this a species of locust. In our translation it is rendered " hail ;" but the word for hail in Exod. ix. which is here re- ferred to, is "ni. As bn^rr is found only in Psalm Ixxviii. 47, its signifi- cation is uncertain. The French word Chenille bears some resem- blance to it. (6.) b'Dn cHAsiL. Occ. Deut. xxviii 38 ; Psalm Ixxviii. 46 ; Isai, xxxiii. 4 ; 1 Kings viii. 37 ; 2 Chron. vi. 28; Joel i. 4; ii. 25. This has been variously rendered. Paulns, in Clav. Psalmorum, p. 197, thinks it the *'eruca, qua; ex nympha, (s. larva) prorepserit ;" Oedman. Fasc. ii. c. vi. p. 138, that it is the *' cimex Mgyptius ;'* and Tychsen, that it is the *' Gryllus verucivprus,' Linn. Sys. Nat. t. i. p. iv. p. 2067. See Caterpillar. (7.) b3"in cnARGOL. Occ. Levit. xi. 22, only. Rosenmuller, in his notes to Bo- chart, suggests that this may be the " Gryllus owos," or " papus" of Lin- naeus. See Beetle. (8.) pV JELEK. Occ. Psalm cv. 34; Jer. Ii. 27; Joel i. 4; ii. 25; and Nah. iii. 15. See Canker- worm. Oedman, Fasc. ii. c. vi. p. 126, takes it for the •* Gryllus cristatus," Linn. Sys. Nat. t, i. p. 4 p. 2074 ; and Tychsen, for the ** Gryllus h(t- matopus, — horripilansJ" (9.) uvbo solam. Occ. Levit. xi. . 22, only, where it is rendered, *' the bald locust." A kind of locust, probably so called from its rugged form, as represented in Scheuchzer'sPhys. Sacr. tab. ccl. fig. i. Tychsen is persuaded that it is the " Gryllus eversor." (10.) bvbV TZALTZAL. OcC. Deut. xxviii. 42, only. Michaelis, Suppl. Lex. Hebr., de- fines this the '* Gryllus talpifarmis.'* Oedmann, Fasc. ii. p. 140, opposes this ; and Tychsen insists that it must intend the " Gryllus stridulus'' of Linn. t. i. p. 14, p. 2078, and that its very name imports this. Most of the ancient versions, says Dr. Geddes, favour some such mean- ing ; yet he is inclined to think that it is not an animal, but a particular sort of blight that principally affects trees; and therefore follows the LXX, who render it Epiavj3r]^^, and the Vulgate '* rubigo^^.'' II. These insects come into the catalogue of animals permitted for food; Levit. xi. 20—22. *' All fow^l that creep, going upon all four, shall be an abomination unto you. Yet these ye may eat ; of every flying creeping thing that goeth upon all four, which have legs above their feet, to leap withal upon the earth." The author of ** Scripture Illus- trated," remarking the obscurity of this rendering, *' fowl-going on all four; flying-creeping; legs above 91 Suidas, however, says, that the word means, a little animal which is born in the fruit, and destroys it : Sxi^jSjov t» ev tw ciTf ysvofjievov: but he adds, that some consider^ it only as a malady that harbours in the seeds, and corrupts the fruit : riveg vo33 ciNNiM. Occ. Exod. viii. 16, 17, 18, and Psalm cv. 31. It is needless to describe this little contemptible insect. \'arious as are the antipathies of mankind, all seem to unite in their dislike to this animal, and to regard it as their natural and most nauseous enemy. JosEPHus, the Jewish Rabbis, and most of the modern translators, ren- der the Hebrew word here lice ^ ; and Bochart^*' and Bryant*^ have laboured hard to support this inter- pretation. The former endeavours to prove that the 0^33 in Exod. viii. may mean lice in the common acceptation of the term, and not gnats as others have supposed; 1. Because the creatures here men- tioned sprang from the dust of the earth, and not from the waters. 2. Because they were both on men and cattle, which cannot be spoken of gnats. 3. Because their name comes from the radix I'D, which signifies to make^Vm.^x, establish, which can never agree to gnats, jiies, &c. which are ever changing their place, and are almost constantly on the wing. 4. Because n33 kinnah is the term by which the Talmudists express the term louse, &c. To which may be added, that if they were winged and stinging insects, as Jerom, Origen, and others have supposed, the plague of flies is unduly anticipated; and 8 Journal de Physique, Oct. 1783. The Rhamnus Lotus Lhmat. '■^ Josephu?, Antiq. 1. ii. c. 14. Chald. Targuni. Montanus, Munster, Vatablus, Junius and Tremellius. 10 Hieroz. torn. ii. p. 455. •I On the Plagues of Egypt, p. 56, et seq. LOU 219 the next miracle will be only a repe- tition of the former. Mr. Bryant, in illustrating the propriety of this miracle, has the following remarks. " The Egyptians affected great external purity ; and were very nice both in their persons and clothing ; bathing and making ablutions continually. Uncommon care was taken not to harbour any vermin. They were particularly solicitous on this head ; thinking it would be a great profanation of the temple which they entered, if any animalcule of this sort were con- cealed in their garments. The priests, says Herodotus, are shaved, both as to their heads and bodies, every third day, to prevent any louse or any other detestable creature be- ing found upon them when they are performing their duty to the gods. The same is mentioned by another author, who adds, that all woollen was considered as foul, and from a perishable animal ; but flax is the product of the immortal earth, aflfords a delicate and pure covering, and is not liable to harbour lice. We may hence see what an abhorrence the Egyptians shewed towards this sort of vermin, and what care was taken by the priests to guard against them. The judgements, therefore, inflicted by the hands of Moses were adapted to their prejudices. It was, conse- quently, not only most noisome to the people in general, but was no small odium to the most sacred order in Egypt, that they were overrun with these filthy and detestable vermin." Mr. Harmer supposes, that he has found out the true meaning in the word tarrentes, mentioned by Vina- sauf, who, speaking of the expedition of king Richard I. to the Holy Land, says : " While the army were march- ing from Cayphus to Caesarea, they were greatly distressed every night by certain worms called tarrentes, which crept on the ground, and oc- casioned a very burning heat by most painful punctures ; for, being armed with slings, they conveyed a M 2 220 LOUSE, poison, which quickly occasioned those who were wounded by them to swell ; and was attended with the most acute pain." Dr. Adam Clarke remarks, that the circumstance of these insects being in man and in beast, agrees so well with the nature of the acarus sanguisugus, commonly called " the tick," that he is ready to conclude that this is the insect meant. This animal buries both its sucker and head equally in man or beast ; and can with very great difficulty be ex- tracted before it is filled with the blood and juices of the animal on which it preys. When fully grown, it has a glossy black oval body. Not only horses, cows, and sheep are infested with it in certain coun- tries, but even the common people, especially those who labour in the fields, in woods, &c. ** I know (continues he) no insect to which the Hebrew term so properly applies. This is the Jixed, established insect, which will permit itself to be pulled in pieces rather than let go its hold; and this is literally nnnam CHHI BAADAM UBA-BFHEMAH, IN man and IN beast, burying its trunk and head in the flesh of both." On the other hand, Dr. Geddes says, that those who think that lice were meant, ought not to have so confidently appealed to the Syriac and Chaldee versions as being in their favour ; for Nnbp or Nnnbp, which are the words they use, are without sufficient authority trans- lated pediculus in the Polyglott*^ and by Buxtorf. From Bar-Bahlul, the prince of Syrian lexicographers, we learn that the Syriac NDbp is an animalcule hurtful to the eyebrows, ** animalcula palpebris inimica ." Nor is it to be doubted that the Chaldee, being the same word, has the same meaning'^. So Walton: *' Bestiola est exigua, ladens cuteni, penetrans 12 That is, by the translator of the Syriac and Thargura; for the translator of Onkeios, renders KHObp by " ciniphes." 13 The Samaritan D-D^p belongs to the same class. per nares, aures, iiemque oculos. Non igitur pediculus, illis partibus vix, aut ne vix infensus unquam.^' Philo, who must have been well acquainted with the insects of Egypt, describes it nearly in the same manner : " A small but most troublesome animal, which hurts not only the surface of the skin, but forces its way inwardly by the nostrils and ears, and even insinuates itself into the pupils of the eyes, if one be not very heed- ful »'*." " Indeed, the authority of the Septuagint alone is to me (says Dr. Geddes) a stronger proof that not lice, but gnats, aKvicpeg, is the ge- nuine meaning of D^D2, than that of all the Rabbinical commentators to- gether, with Josephus at their head, and with the collateral aid of both Arabs, Pers. and Gr. Ven., although the Arabs are at best but dubious, evidence on the question ^^. Nor of small avail is the testimony of Jerom, who, both here and in the Psalms, follows the Septuagint, and renders sciniphes ; which he would hardly have done, if his Hebrew masters, to whom he sometimes gave too much credit, had told him that the word had a different meaning." '^ To 5g (JZov, De Vita Mosis, 1. i. p. ii. p. 97, ed. Mangey. The description given by Origen, who also resided in Egypt, is to the same purport : *' Hoc animal pennis quidem suspenditur per aere volitans, sed ita subtile est et imminutum, ut oculi visum, nisi acute cernentis, ejjugiat:' corpus tamen cum insiderit acerrimo terebrat stimulo, ita ut quern volitantem videre qvis non valeat, sen- tiat stimulantern.^' Homil. iv. in Exod. et interpret. Rufini, torn. ii. p. 141, ed. Bened. Augustinus, de convenientia decern pracepto- rum et decern plagarum, ait, " Ciniphes nata; sunt in terra JEgypti de limo, miisctE minutis- simcE, inqinetissime et inordinanter volantes, non permittentes homines quiescere, Dum abigunter, iterum irruunt." 15 The Arabic word is bOp, too generical a term to restrict the meaning to lice, as it denotes several other animalcules of the insect kind ; as the curious reader may see by turning to Golius or Castell. Certain it is, that by the Arabic translator of the Psalms, who made his version from the Greek, the same word is used to express d caret spinis, et folio simile oley ors. Job iv. 19, and WW]; oisis, Job xiii. t^8 ; xxvii. 18 ; Psalm vi. 7 ; xxxi. 9, 10 ; xxxix. 11; Isai. 1. 9; Hosea v. 12. The moth is properly a winged insect, flying by night, as it were a night butterfly ; and may be distin- guished from day butterflies by its antenncB, which are sharp at the points, and not tufted. But as this creature, like others, undergoes a transformation, in our translation of the Scripture, it is spoken of in its grub state, during which, it eats garments, &c. made of wool. The clothes-moth is the Tinea Argentea ; of a white, shining, sil- ver, or pearl colour. It is clothed with shells, fourteen in number, and these are scaly. Albin asserts this to be the insect that eats woollen stuffs ; and says, that it is produced from a gray speckled moth, that flies by night, creeps among woollens, and- there lays her eggs, which, after a little time, are hatched as worms, and in this state they feed on their ha- bitation, till they change into a chry- salis, and thence emerge into moths. " The young moth, or moth- worm, (says the Abbe Pluche,) upon leaving the egg which a papilio had lodged MOT upon a piece of stuff" commodious for her purpose, finds a proper place of residence, grows and feeds upon the nap, and likewise builds with it an apartment, which is fixed to the groundwork of the stuff" with several cords and a little glue. From an aperture in this habitation, the moth- worm devours and demolishes all about him ; and, when he has cleared the place, he draws out all the fasten- ings of his tent; after which he carries it to some little distance, and then fixes it with the slender cords in a new situation. In this manner, he continues to live at our expense, till he is satisfied with his food, at which period he is first transformed into the nympha, and then changed into the papilio.'' This account of the insect will help us to understand several pas- sages in Scripture. I. Mr. Harvey conjectured that the comparison in Jobiv. 19, was to that of a house whose fragility was such, that it would he crushed or overset by a moth flying against it ; but it seems rather to imply, either the wasting or consuming eflPect of a moth's corroding, or the ease and indifference with which we crush the insect. Mr. Good makes these remarks upon the passage : " The comparison of man, on account of his littleness, his feebleness, and his shortness of life, to a worm, or an insect, is common in the sacred writings; but in no other part of them, nor in any other writings whatsoever, is the metaphor so ex^ tensively applied or so admirably supported. The passage, indeed, has not been generally understood in its full import ; but it has enough, under every translation, to challenge a comparison with every attempt at the same kind in the Greek or Ro- man poets." II. From the change of person, and for other reasons, we must sup- pose that the verse in our transla- tion of Job xiii. 528, is to be trans- posed, and placed after the second verse in the next chapter ; and read in this connexion. MOTH. 231 Man, born of a woman, Few of days, and full of trouble, Springeth up as a flower, and is cut down— Flitteth as a shadow, and remaineth not— VVasteth away like that which is decayed, .As a garment vvhich the moth consumes. This perishing condition of a moth- eaten garment, as also of the insect itself, is referred to in Isai. li. 6- *' The earth shall wax old as doth a garment ; and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner." The word p KIN here means some kind of in- sect living in the garment : it is translated " louse," in Exod. viii. III. He who buildeth his fortunes by methods of injustice, is by Job, ch. xxvii. 18, compared to the moth, which, by eating into the garment wherein it makes its habitation, de- stroys its own dwelling. The struc- ture referred to is that provided by the insect, in its larva or caterpillar state, as a temporary residence during its wonderful change from a chrysa- lis to a winged insect. Mr, Scott has thus happily rendered the pas- sage : " Wretch, as a moth that ravages the looms. Weaves its frail bower, and as it weaves consumes." IV. In Psalm vi. 7, the word ren- dered in our translation, " con- sumed," is, according to the original, moth-eaten. This may be an appli- cation of the figure allowable in the oriental style; or, as applied to the eyes, may refer to a disease or con- sumption of the eye, mentioned by travellers in the East, occasioned by little insects. The same remark must apply to Psalm xxxi. 9. V. The declaration in Psalm xxxix. 11, is a reference to the corroding effects of the moth-worm, and con- tains an instance of that assimila- tion of words of which the Orientals are fond. When thou with rebukes dost correct man36, [u>^K ais] Thou makest his beauty to consume like a moth, [ir-j;] CIS. VI. The devastations of this crea- ture are mentioned in Isai. I. 9. All of them shall wax old as a garment: The moth shall consume them. 36 A man of distinction. And more particularly in ch. li. 8. The moth shall consume them like a gar- ment. And the worm shall eat them like wool. The latter word here, DD sas, is the proper name of the moth itself in its papilio state, properly so called from Its agility. So the Septuagint render it '2r]roQ, and the Vulgate tinea: and hence is derived Srjc, and NDD, used in the Greek and Syriac of Matth. vi. 19, 20. The ingenious Abbe Pluche, comparing the papilios in general with the cater- pillars from which they spring, re- marks : *' The caterpillar, which is changed into a nymph, and the pa- pilio that proceeds from it, are two animals entirely different : the first was altogether terrestrial, and crawl- ed along the ground : the second is agility itself ■''^." VII. In Matth. vi. 19, 20, is this injunction : " Lay not up for your- selves treasures upon earth, where moth [2H2] and rust [BPQ2I2J do corrupt — but, lay up for your- selves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt.'' The treasures here specially in- tended were garments : for it was customary for the opulent in Asiatic countries, where their fashions in dress were not fluctuating like ours, to have repositories full of rich and splendid apparel. These were, from their nature, exposed to the depre- dations of the moth. Fabricated of perishing materiajs, they were liable to be prematurely consumed, or taken away by fraud and violence. The moth here mentioned, and in Luke xii. 83, is, undoubtedly, the same as that last described in Isai. li. 8 ; and Mr. Wakefield says, that he believes that the word Bpuxrit;, never means rust : ioq and €iipw£ are the terms used in that sense by Greek authors. On this account, some have supposed Bpuxjig to mean a species of worm, and others have thought this phrase to be a hebraism > not uncommon in the New Testa- 37 Nature Displayed, vol. i. p. 34, Eng. 1 transl. 232 MO U ment, for a devouring moth ^^. This last construction is very plausible, particularly as Luke mentions only the moth : but in the paragraph above, we find the devouring effects of the insect alluded to, in two dis- tinct states. In Isai. 1. 9, Aquila has BpuxTig, for the Hebrew word rendered moth, and Theodotion, (ti]q. Vlll. In the book of Ecclesiasti- cus, ch. xix. 3, we read lirjreg Kai (TKu)\r]K£g K\r]QOvojJir] jemim in the wilderness. But the word rendered found, does not signify to invent or discover some new thing. It is used more than four hundred times in the Bible J and always signifies to find a thing which exists already, or to en- counter with a person or an enemy ^^ For example, as when it is said of the tribes of Judah and Simeon, that they found or encountered with Adojii Beseck, at Beseck, and fought against him. Jud. i. 5. And of Saul, that the archers found him, and he was sore wounded. 1 Sam. xxxi. 3. And of the prophet, who went from Judah to Bethlehem, that a lion found, or met, him in the way, and slew him. 1 Kings xiii. 24. It does not follow that every thing which happens in feeding of asses, should relate to those animals, or to their production : besides, there is no reference here to horses or mares, without which mules cannot be pro- duced. Nor is it probable that the way of engendering mules was so known in the land of Edom, where Anah lived, since we read nothing of these animals till David's time, as we have observed before, which was more than seven himdred years after. It is therefore much more likely that the Samaritan version has the true sense of the original, in rendering Emeans, who were neigh- bours of the Horites, Gen. xiv. 5 ; and likewise the Chaldee paraphrase, in translating it giants ; because the Emeans or the Emines were as tall as the Anakims, and passed for giants as well as they ; as Moses observes, Deut. ii. 10. It seems also, that the Septuagint, Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, mean to express the same. And this version we are ad- ^ Bat Bate and Geddes declare, that NV?3 never signifies to fight, but to meet icith, to come up with. MUS vocating, is not exposed to the diffi- culties which the other translations labour under. And it is a much more remarkable circumstance, and more proper to give a character of distinction to Anah, that he met and combated such formidable people as the Emeans were, who perhaps lay in ambush for him in the wilderness, than to observe, with the Latin Vul- gate and some others, that he dis- covered hot springs, or that he had invented the production of mules, which should be looked upon rather as an effect of chance, than of art or reason. This has induced some of the Jewish Babbies'*^ to abandon the opinion of a great many of their doctors, and to follow the Chaldee paraphrase. The word WDl reches, rendered ** mules" in Esther viii. 10, 14, and '* dromedaries" in 1 Kings iv. 28^ may mean a particular breed of horses. Jackson, in his Account of Morocco, p. 40, describes " the desert horse," a peculiarly fine breed, and remarkably swift ; which, he says, is called by the Arabs, Er-reech. In 2 Sam. viii. 4 ; 1 Chron. xviii. 4 ; and 2 Sam. x. 18, 131 recheb, means chariot. MUSTARD. 2INAni. Matth. xiii. 32 ; xvii. 20 ; Mark iv. 31 ; Luke xiii. 19; and xvii. 6. Our Lord compares the kingdom of 46 R. Salomon, Nachmanidis, Jacob Aben- danah, and Aaron Codraita. For further elucidation of this subject, see the very learned Note of Dr. Adam Clarke on Genesis xxxvi. 24. Bryant's Observa- tions on Passages of Scripture. MUS heaven to ** a grain of mustard seed, which a mantookand sowed in the earth, which indeed is the least of all seeds, hut, when it is grown, is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.^' Matth. xiii. 31, 32. This expression will not seem strange, says Sir Thomas Browne, if we recollect that the mustard seed, though it be not sim- ply and in itself the smallest of seeds, yet may be very well believed to be the smallest of such as are apt to grow unto a ligneous substance, and become a kind of tree. He ob- serves, likewise, that the parable may not ground itself upon generals, or imply any or every grain of mus- tard, but point at such a pecuhar grain as, from its fertile spirit and other concurrent advantages, has the success to become arboreous. The expression also, that it might grow into such dimensions that birds might lodge on its branches, may be literally conceived, if we allow for the luxuriancy of plants in Syria above our northern regions. And he quotes upon this occasion, what is recorded in the Jewish story, of a mustard-tree that was to be climbed like a fig-tree. The Talmud also mentions one whose branches were so extensive as to cover a tent'*''. Without insisting on the accuracy of this, we may gather from it, that we should not judge of eastern ve- getables by those which are familiar to ourselves. Scheuchzer describes a species of mustard which grows several feet high, with a tapering stalk, and spreads into many branches. Of tins arborescent, or tree-likevegetahle, he gives a print ''^ ; and Linnaeus mentions a species, whose branches were real wood, which he names, sinapis erucoides. [Mr. Frost, in a recent publication, ''7 See on this subject, Lightfoot's Heb. and Talm. Exeicit. in loc. Tremell. in loc. Raphe). Annot. ex Herodot. p. 163, and Doddridge's Fam. Expos. « Phys. Sacr. torn. viii. p. 59. Tab. DCLXXXIIl. M Y R 235 contends, that the sijiapi of the N. T. does not signify any species of the genus now designated sinapis, but the Phytolacca dodecandra or kokkon sinapeos, which ** grows abundantly in Palestine ; has the smallest seed of any tree;" (which will not apply to the sinapis erucoides ;) " and ob- tains as great altitude as any other tree in that country of which it is a native." It is of the same genus as the Phytolacca decandra, or V'irginian poke-weed; of the natural order, Holoracea', Linn. Jussieu ranks it under Atriplices.^ MYRRH, -nn mur. Exod.xxx.23; Esth.ii.l2; Psalm xlv. 8; Prov. vii. 17; Cantic. i. 13; iii. 6 ; iv. 6, 14 ; v. 1, 5, 13. SMYPNA, Matth. ii. 11; and John xix. 39; Mark xv. 23; and Ecclus. xxiv. 15. A precious kind of gum issuing by incision, and sometimes sponta- neously, from the trunk and larger branches of a tree growing in Egypt, Arabia, and Abyssinia''^. Its taste is extremely bitter; but its smell, though strong, is not disagreeable ; and among the ancients, it entered into the composition of the most costly ointments : as a perfume, it appears to have been used to give a pleasant fragrance to vestments, and to be carried by females in little caskets in their bosoms ^^. The Magi, who came from the East to worship our Saviour at Beth- lehem, made him a present of myrrh among other things, Matth. ii. 11. Mention is made, Mark xv. 23, of wine mingled with myrrh, oiFered to Jesus at his passion, to take from him, as some suppose, the too quick sense of pain. The ancient Jewish writers tell us, that a little frankin- cence in a cup of wine (agreeably to Prov. xxxi. 6) used to be given to criminals when going to execution, -JS A description of the tree may be found in Pliny, N. H. 1. xii. c. 15. Pomet, Hist, des Drogues, p. 1. p. 252 ; and in the Jast vohnne of Bruce's Travels, with a draw- ing. 50 See Mrs. Francis's poetical Translation of Solomon's Song, p. 11, note; and Good's Sacred Idylls, p. 75. 236 M YR with the design of alleviating the anguish, by stupifying the feeling of pain : and this mixture, under the name of " the cup of trembling," or " malediction," appears to be alluded to in the Chaldee Targum on Psalm Ixxv. 9; Ix. 5; Isai. li. 17, 22; and Jer. XXV. 15, 17, 28. But Our Lord refused it, and resolved to meet death in all its horrors ; and thus has he taught mankind to bear trials and sufferings without having re- course to any expedient for blunt- ing the natural sensibility. Some think this the same with the wine mingled with gall, mentioned by Matthew, xxvii. 34 ; but others con- sider them as two distinct mixtures or potions^'. Matthew, writing in Syriac, made use of the word in MAR, which signifies gall, or any bitter ingredient ; and his translator mistook it for ira mur, myrrh. Ad- mitting this, the narrative of the two Evangelists will be reconciled, and the prophecy, Psalm Ixix. 21, fulfil- led; " they gave me gall to eat, and in my thirst, vinegar to drink : " for the whole tenor of that Psalm seems to be a continued prophecy of the sufi[erings of Christ, as w€ll as of that judicial blindness, ruin, and dispersion which fell on the im- penitent Jews ^2. The drink presented by one of the soldiers, Matth, xxvii. 47, seems to have been presented with friendly views, after his declaration, ** I thirst.'* It was probably some of the drink which the soldiers had brought with them, to supply their wants while they guarded the pri- soners under the cross. It was given to him in a sponge fastened to a reed, which John specifies to be the stalk of a plant called hyssop. Jesus, we are told, received this liquor, that is, sucked it from the sponge put to his lips, for his hands were nailed to the cross. It was previously to this that the vinegar mingled with gall, meaning sour wine 51 Edwards's Exercitations,and J. Jones's Illustration of the four Gospels, p. 574. 52 See Ant. Univ. Hist. V. x. c. 11, note z. p. 601. M YR mixed with a bitter herb, which Mark calls myrrh, was offered him ; and which on tasting he refused to drink. See Gall. Myrrh is mentioned, John xix. 39, among the articles brought by Nico- demus to embalm the body of Jesus. That this gum was among the prin- cipal ingredients for embalming the dead, we have the authority of He- rodotus, 1. ii. c. 86, and others. II. The myrrh, iDlb loth, men- tioned Genesis xxxvii. 25, and xliii. 11, Celsius concludes, from the af- finity of names in Arabic, to be the gum called " ledum,'' or" ladanuni;" and Ursinus supports this rendering by unanswerable proofs. This is collected from the " cistus labda- niferus," a beautiful and fragrant shrub. Dioscorides says, that it was pulled off the beards of goats ^3, who feed upon the leaves of the plant : the viscous juice by degrees collects and hardens into little lumps upon the hair. M. Tournefort, in his Voyage to the Levant, describes the method of gathering this gum in Candia. He says, that it is brushed ofif the shrub in a calm day, by thongs of leather tied to poles, and drawn over the tops of the shrubs: to these straps it adheres, and from them it is afterwards scraped oflT and made into cakes. MYRTLE. DirrHADAs. Occ. Nehem. viii. 15 ; Isai. xli, 19; Iv. 13; Zech. i. 8, 9, 10. A shrub, sometimes growing to a small tree, very common in Judea. It has a hard woody root, that sends forth a great number of small flexible branches, furnished with leaves like those of box, but much less, and more pointed ; they are soft to the touch, shining, smooth, of a beau- tiful green, and have a sweet smell. The flowers grow among the leave^, and consist of five white petals dis- posed in the form of a rose : they have an agreeable perfume and an ornamental appearance. They are succeeded by an oval, oblong berry, adorned with a sort of crown made 53 Comp. Herodot. lib. iii. c. 112. edit. Gale ; and Plin. Nat. Hist. 1. xii. c. 17. NET up of the segments of the calix these are divided into three cells containing^ the seeds. NET 237 Savary, describing a scene at the end of the forest of Plantanea, says : " Myrtles, intermixed with laurel roses, grow in the valleys to the height of ten feet. Their snow- white flowers, bordered with a pur- ple edging, appear to peculiar ad- vantage under the verdant foliage. Each myrtle is loaded with them, and they emit perfumes more ex- quisite than those of the rose itself. They enchant every one, and the soul is filled with the softest sensa- tions." The myrtle is mentioned in Scrip- ture among lofty trees, not as com- paring with them in size, but as contributing with them to the beauty and richness of the scenery. Thus Isai., xli. 19, intending to describe a scene of varied excellence, ** I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, and the shittah-tree, and the myrtle, and the oil-tree." That is, 1 will adorn the dreary and barren waste with trees famed for their stature and the grandeur of their appear- ance, the beauty of their form, and the fragrance of their odour. The Apocryphal Baruch, speaking of the return from Babylon, expresses the protection afforded by God to the people by the same image : " Even the woods and every sweet-smelling tree shall overshadow Israel by the commandment of God." Ch. v. 8. The feminine form HDin hadas- SAH, is the original Hebrew name of Esther. Esth. ii. 7. The note of the Chaldee Targum on this passage declares, •* they call her Hadassah, because she was Jwst, and those that are just are compared to myrtle." N NARD. See Spikenard. NETTLES. We find this name given to two different words in the original. The first is blin charul^**, Job XXX. 7 ; Prov. xxiv. 31 ; and Zeph. ii. 9. It is not easy to deter- mine what species of plant is here meant. From the passage in Job, the nettle could not be intended, for a plant is referred to large enough for people to take shelter under. iTie following extract from Denon's Travels may help to illustrate the text, and shew to what an uncom- fortable retreat those vagabonds must have resorted. " One of the incon- veniences of the vegetable thickets 54 Hence is derived our English word c/mrl. of Egypt is, that it is difficult to re- main in them, as nine-tenths of the trees and plants are armed with in- exorable thorns, which suffer only an unquiet enjoyment of the shadow which is so constantly desirable, from the precaution necessary to guard against them." Celsius and Scheuchzer are in- clined to render it the " Paliurus." This may suit the idea in Job, but is not so well adapted to the refer- ence in the two other places. II. The u;iD''p KEMOSH, Prov. xxiv. 31 ; Isai. xxxiv. 13 ; and Hosea ix. 6, is by the Vulgate rendered " ur- tica,^' which is well defended by Celsius ; and very probably means the nettle. 238 N IT NIGHT-HAWK. DonnxACHMAs. Occ. Levit. xi. 16, and Deut. xiv. 15**. That this is a voracious bird, seems clear from the import of its name ; and interpreters are generally agreed to describe it as flying by night. On the whole, it should seem to be the *' strix orientalis,'' which Hasselquist thus describes: " It is of the size of the common owl, and lodges in the large buildings or ruins of Egypt and Syria, and sometimes even in the dwelling-houses. The Arabs settled in Egypt call it Massasa and tire Syrians, Banu. It is extremely voracious in Syria; to such a de- gree, that if care is not taken to shut the windows at the coming on of night, it enters the houses and kills tiie children : the women, there- fore, aire very much afraid of it." NITRE. IDD NETHER. Occ. Prov. XXV. 20, and Jerem. ii. 22. This is not the same that we call nitre, or saltpetre, but a native salt of a different kind, distinguished among naturalists by the name of natrum. The natrum of the ancients was an earthy alkaline salt. It was found in abundance separated from the water of the lake Natron in 55 " Nomen avis impure, de quo id unnm dncere lectores velim, dubitandum esse, nee quidquam certi nos habere, donee aliqua nova lux ex Arabia, nee ex lexicis, h&c enim silent, nee ex libris, sed ex vsu quotidiano lingiuB vernaeula, et plebejcB adfulgeat : cui si periit vocabulum, a.ternum ignorabimus, nan magno nostra damno." Michaelis, Suppl. Lex. Hebr. NUT Egypt. It rises from the bottom of the lake to the top of the water, and is there condensed by the heat of the sun into the hard and dry form in which it is sold. The salt thus scummed off, is the same in all re- spects with the Smyrna soap-earth. Pliny, Matthiolus, and Agricola have described it to us : Hippocrates, Galen, Dioscorides, and others, men- tion its uses. It is also found in great plenty in Sinde, and in many other parts of the East ; and might be had in any quantities. The learned Michaelis*^ plainly demonstrates, from the nature of the thing and the context, that this fossil and natural alkali must be that which the Hebrews called nether. Solomon must mean the same, when he compares the effect which unseasonable mirth has upon a man in aflfliction , to the action of vinegar upon nitre, Prov. xxv. 20. For vinegar has no effect upon what we call nitre, but upon the alkali in question has a great effect, making it rise up in bubbles with much effervescence*''. It is of a soapy nature, and was used to take spots from cloths, and even from the face. Jeremiah al- ludes to this use of it, ii. 22. See Soap-earth. NUTS. D'2tOn BATANIM. Occ. Gen. xliii. 11, only. I. This word is variously rendered by translators. The LXX render it, " turpentine." Onkelos, the Syriac, and the Arabic, not understanding it, have left it untranslated. Two towns seem to have been named from this fruit, Josh. xiii. 26; xix. 25. There is a species of Terebinth which bears a kind of small nut, which some prefer to the pistachio ; and some think it superior to the almond. [Theophrast. Hist. iv. 5.] The name of this is, in Arabic, heten, which has considerable resemblance to the Hebrew word. From this 56 Comment. Reg. Getting. 1763, and Nov. act. erud. an, 1767. p. 455. 57 Watson's Chem. Essays, v. 1. p. 130. See also Shaw's Travels, p. 479. ed. 4to. OAK nut is extracted an oil, which, having neither taste nor smell, is used by the orientals as a menstruum for the extraction of the odoriferous parts of jasmins, roses, &c. by infusion ^^. With this is composed a fragrant unguent, with which those who love perfumes anoint the head, the face, and the beard ^^^ O A K 239 The tree grows on Mount Sinai and in Upper Egypt. The Arabs call it festuck and ban. On the other hand, Bochart, Cel- sius, Dr. Shaw, and others^", are of ^ Balanus myrepsica, or glans ungtceri- taria. 59 Hasselquist. Comp. Levit. viii. 12; Psalm xxiii. 5; civ. 15: cxxxiii. 2; cxli. 6,9. 60 Aben Ezra, R. Nathan, Mercer, Munster, Pagninus, Arias Montanus, and Scheuch- zer. " Pistacia esse mullis probarunt Bo- chartus in Geogr. S. P. 11. 1. 1. c. io. et Celsius Hierobot. torn. 1. p. 24. quibus ad opinion, that the pistachio-nut is here meant. This tTee grows to the height of twenty-five or thirty feet. The bark of the stem and the old branches is of a dark russet colour, but that of the young branches is of a light brown ; . these are furnished with winged leaves, composed sometimes of two, and at others of three pair of lobes, terminated by an odd one : these lobes approach towards an oval shape, and their edges turn backward. The flowers come out from the side of the branches in loose bunches or catkins. To these succeed the nuts, which are of the size and shape of hazel nuts, only they are a little angular, and higher on one side than on the other. They are covered with a double shell, the outermost of which is membraneous, dry, thin, brittle, and reddish when ripe ; the other is woody, brittle, smooth, and white. The kernel is of a pale greenish colour ; of an oily, sweetish taste, and quite agreeable to the palate. II. The n3>{ AGuz, mentioned Cantic. vii. 11, should have been specified, says Dr. Shaw, and called '' wall-nuts :" the Arabic jews, or, as Forskal spells it, djaiiz, being the same. In Persic, they are also called guz, goz, and kews. See Meninski Lexic. 4068. stipulator Michaelis in Suppl. p. I. p. 171. Plinius N. H. 1. xiii. c. 10. " Syria prater hanc pecuHares habet arbores. In nucvm genere pistacia not a. Prodes.se adverstis ser- pentium traduntur morsiig, et potu et ciio." Sic quoque Dioscorides, I. i. c. 17. Rosea- muUer, in Gen. xliii. 11. o OAK. One of the largest, most durable, and useful of forest trees. It has been renowned from remotest an- tiquity, and held in great veneration, particularly among idolatrous na- tions. Celsius judges that the Hebrew words mentioned in the note^', do all signify the terebinthus jvAaica, 61 «p^x AIL, Gen. xiv. 6. Wb^H ailim, Isai. i. 29. Q^bK alim, Isai. Ivii. 5. pb^K Anx)N, Josh. xix. 43; 1 Kings iv. 9. "JlbK ALOxN, translated " plain" in the following places: Gen. xii.6; xiii. 18; xiv, 13; xviii. 1; Deut. xi. 30; Josh. xix. 33; Judges iv. 240 OAK. the terebinth : but that pbN allon, signifies an otik^"^, and is derived .from a root denoting strength. That different trees are meant by these diflerent words, is certain from Gen. XXXV. 4, 8 ; Isai. vi. 16 ; and Hos. iii. 13 J and probably they signify the trees he mentions. The terebinth, says Mariti, (Trav. V. ii. p. 114,) is an evergreen of mo- derate size, but having the top and branches large in proportion to the body. The leaves resemble those of the olive, but are of a green colour intermixed with red and purple. The twigs that bear them, always terminate in a single leaf. The flowers are like those of the vine, and grow in bunches like them : they are purple. The fruit is of the size of juniper-berries, hanging in clusters, and each containing a single seed of the size of a grape stone. They are of a ruddy purple, and re- markably juicy. Another fruit, or rather excrescence, is found on this tree, scattered among the leaves, of the size of a chestnut, of a purple colour, variegated with green and white. The people of Cyprus say, that it is produced by the puncture 11 ; ix. 6, 37 ; 1 Sam. x. 3. nbx alah, Gen. XXXV. 4; Josh. xxiv. 26; Jud. vi. 11, 19; 1 Sam. xvii. 2, 19; xxi. 10; 2 Sam. xviii. 9, 10, 14; 1 Kings xiii. 14 : 1 Chron. X. 12; Isai. i. 30; vi. 13, where it is trans- lated " Teil-tree;" Ezek. vi. 13; Hos. iv. 13, rendered *' Elms." 6a Gen. XXXV. 8; Jos. xix. 33; Isai. ii. 13; vi. 13; xliv. 14; Hosea iv. 13; Amos ii. 9; and Zech. xi. 2. of a fly : on opening them, they ap- pear full of worms. Ihe wood is hard and fibrous. A resin or gum distils from the trunk. The tree abounds near Jerusalem, and in Cy- prus. In Gen. xii. 6, it is said, that " Abraham passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh." Dr. Geddes re- marks : " I very much doubt if ever pb^{ signify a plain; whereas it cer- tainly signifies a tree of some sort or other^*^ : and it is my fixed opinion, that it is that species called tere- binthus, which lives to a very great age, and seems to have been held in as great veneration in the East, as the common oak was among the Greeks, Romans, Germans, Gauls, and Britons^*. The terebinth under which Abra- ham entertained three angels, Gen. xviii. 1, 2, &c., is very famous in an- tiquity. Josephus, I)e Bell. 1. iv. c. 7, says, that, six furlongs from Hebron, they shewed a very large terebinth, which the inhabitants of the country thought to be as old as the world itself. Eusebius assures us, that, in his time, the terebinth of Abraham was still to be seen, and that the people, both Christians and Gentiles, held it in great veneration, as well for the sake of Abraham as of the heavenly guests he entertained under it. St. Jerom says, that this terebinth was two miles from Hebron. Sozomen (Hist. 1. ii. c. 4) places it fifteen stadia from this city ; and an old itinerary puts it at two miles. These varieties might make one doubt whether the tree of which Josephus speaks were the same as that of Eusebius, Jerom, and Sozo- men. The terebinth of Jacob,Gen. xxxv. 4, where he buried the gods that his people had brought out of Mesopo- 63 Some translators, from a similarity of sound, have rendered p'?X alon, by alnvs, the alder-tree. 64 See also Michaelis's Spicileginm Geogr. pars ii. p. 16. [The Armenians plant the terebinth over the graves of their friends, as the Turks do the cypress.] OAK tamia, was behind the city of She- chem, and was very different from that where Abraham had set up his tent near Hebron ; yet they have very absurdly been confounded to- gether. It is thought to have been under the same terebinth that Joshua, ch. xxiv. V. 6, renewed the covenant with the Lord ; and that Abimelech, the son of Gideon, was made king by the Shecheraites. Jud. ix. 6. Dr. Geddes suggests, that Gen. xlix. 21, may be rendered : ** Naph- tali is a spreading terebinth, pro- ducing beautiful branches." The vicinity of the lot of Naphtali to Lebanon, and its being perhaps itself a woody country, may have suggest- ed this allusion. See Hind. This seems confirmed by the re- mark respecting wisdom in Ecclesi- asticus xxiv. 16 : *' As the turpentine- tree [repsl^ivOoQ] I stretched out my branches, and my branches are the branches of honour and grace." That the oak grew in Palestine, we have the testimony of the author of Cod, Middoth, c. iii. § 7, who speaks of oaken plank for the tem- ple of Solomon ; and of Radzivil, Peregr. Hierosolym. p. 61, who men- tions oaks as growing in the valley near Gethsemane. Bishop Lowth thinks, that neither the oak nor the terebinth will answer to Isai. i. 29, 30, from the circum- stance of their being deciduous ; for the prophet's design seems to re- quire an evergreen : " otherwise the casting of its leaves would be nothing out of the common established course of nature, and no proper image of extreme distress and total deser- tion, parallel to that of a garden without water, that is, wholly burnt up and destroyed. An ancient^-', who was an inhabitant and a native of this country, understands it, in like manner, of a tree blasted with uncommon and immoderate heat^^." Upon the whole, he chooses to make it the ilex ; which word Vossius de- rives from the Hebrew alath ; that, 65 Ephraem. Syr. in loc. edit. Assemani. 66 Cottip. Psalin i. 4; Jerern. xvii. 8. OIL 241 whether the word itself be rightly rendered or not, the propriety of the poetical image might at least be pre- served. By the ilex is meant the quercus ilex, commonly called the evergreen oak^'^. The leaves are from three to four inches long, and one broad near the base, gradually lessening to a point. They are of a lucid green on the upper side, but whitish and downy on the under; and are entire, standing on pretty long foot- stalks. These remain on the tree, retaining their verdure through the year, and do not fall till they are thrust off by young leaves in the spring. It bears an acorn smaller than those of the common oak, but similarly shaped. OCHRE, niirs. A fossil earth, of a chalky nature. Bishop Lowth translates the Hebrew word, improperly rendered *' line " in our version of Isai. xliv. 13, red- ochre. It may be of the kind found in the island of Ormus in the Persian gulf, whence it is by some called •* Persian earth." This is of a fine purple, or glowing red colour, of a tolerably compact and hard texture. OIL. ]Ki^ SHEMEN. Occurs frequently. The invention or use of oil is of the highest antiquity. It is said that Jacob poured oil upon the pillar which he erected at Bethel, Gen. xxviii. 18. The earliest kind was that; which is extracted from olives. Before the invention of mills, this was obtained by pounding them in a mortar, Exod. xxvii, 20 ; and sometimes by treading them with the feet in the same manner as were grapes. Deut. xxxiii. 24 ; Micah vi. 15. Whether any previous prepa- ration was made use of, in those an- cient times, to facilitate the expres- sion of the juice, we are not informed ; but it is certain, that mills are now used for pressing and grinding the olives (according to Dr. Chandler) which grow in the neighbourhood 67 Ilex, Lin. gen. plant. 158. Aquifolivm. Tourn. insl. R. H. 600, tab. 371. N 242 OIL. of Athens. These mills are in the town, and not on the spot in which the olives grow ; and seem to be used in consequence of its being found that the mere weight of the human body is insufficient for an effectual extraction of the oil^^. The oil, when expressed, is deposited in large earthen jars, sunk in the ground of the areas by the houses : that for daily use is kept in cruises. The Hebrews used common oil with their food, in their meat-offer- ings, for burning in their lamps, &c. As vast quantities of oil were made by the ancient Jews, it be- came an article of exportation. The great demand for it in Egypt, led the Jews to send it thither. The prophet Hosea, xii. 1, thus upbraids his degenerate nation with the ser- vility and folly of their conduct : '* Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind : he daily increaseth falsehood and va- nity : and a league is made with Assyria, and oil carried into Egypt." The Israelites, in the decline of their national glory, carried the produce of their olive-plantations into Egypt, as a tribute to their ancient oppres- sors, or as a present to conciliate their favour, and obtain their assist- ance in the sanguinary wars which they were often compelled to wage with the neighbouring states. There was an ointment, very pre- cious and sacred, used in anointing the priests, the tabernacle, and fur- niture^^. This was compounded of spicy drugs ; namely, myrrh, sweet cinnamon, sweet calamus, and cas- sia, mixed with olive oil. Maimo- nides pretends to tell us the manner of making this mixture. " Each of these four species," saith he, " was pounded separately ; then they were all mixed together, and a strong de- coction of them made with water ; which, being strained from the ingre- dients, was boiled up with the oil, till the water was all evaporated''''." 63 Harmer's Obs. V. iii. p. 172. 69 Exod. XXX. 23, 24, 25. 70 De apparutu templi, c. i. sec. 1, apnd The holy anointing oil, to be used for the consecration of the priests and other religious purposes, Exod. XXX. 23 — 25, was compounded of the following ingredients. Shekels. Pure myrrh, iMl in mor deror 500 Sweet cinnamon, DU^n ]t03p kinnemon bosem . . . 250 Sweet calamus, UWi Hip ka- neh bosem 250 Cassia, mp kiddah . . . 500 Olive oil, nn ^nur shemen zait 1 hin. Dr. Adam Clarke makes the fol- lowing computation : lbs. oz. dwts. gr. 500 shekels of the first and lastmake 48 4 12 21|^ 250 of the cinnamon and casssia . . 24 2 6 10|f But it must be observed, that the word shekel is not used in the original ; so that some have supposed the ge- rah was the weight intended. The shekel, indeed, seems supplied by verse 24. " According to the shekel of the sanctuary." These words, however, probably denote only a correct or standard weight. The difficulty is, that so great a quantity of drugs, put into so small a quantity of oil (between five and six quarts), would render the mixture rather a paste than a liquid. To remove this difficulty, some have supposed that the drugs were pre- viously steeped, and their oil drawn from them, which oil was mixed with the pure oil of olives ; others think, that recourse was had to pressure, to force out an oil strongly impregnated; others think, that the mass was distilled ; and some, that the value of the ingredients was in- tended, as five hundred shekel-worth of one kind, and two hundred and fifty shekel-worth of others ; but all agree, that sixty-two pounds of aro- Crcnii fascic. sext. p. 84, et seq. Comment, in Mishn. tit. clierith, c. i. sec. 1, tom. v. p. 237, edit. Surcnh. Hotting, de Leg. Hebr. 107. Schikard, Jus. Reg. Hebr. Theor. iv. p. 63. 1 L matics to twelve pounds of oil is not according to modern art, and seems contradictory to the exercise of art in any state of practice. The adoption of gerahs instead of shekels would give a proportion of 35f oz. of drugs to 123 oz. of oil, or 05 to 1. In common, 1 02. of drugs to 8 of oil is esteemed a fair proportion. After all, it may be the best to substitute proportional parts, as in the usual preparations of apothe- caries, after whose manner it was di- rected that the ingredients should be compounded ; this proportion to be ascertained bj the shekel of the sanctuary, or the standard weight. Where so many sacrifices were offered, it was essentially necessary to have some pleasing perfume to counteract the disagreeable smells that must have arisen from the slaughter of so many animals, the sprinkling of so much blood, and the burning of so much flesh, &c. Ac- cordingly, direction was given for the composition of a holy perfume of the following ingredients. Stacte, vpl NATAPH ; probably the prime kind of myrrh. Onyclia, nbnu/ shecheleth. Galbanura, nDl'7n chelbonah. Incense (pure), npT HDlb lebonah As there is no mention of oi/ to be used with those drugs, the compo- sition was probably of a dry kind, to be burnt in the censer, or occa- sionally sprinkled on the flame of the altar. There is an allusion to the ingre- dients of this sacred perfume in Ecclesiasticus xxiv. 14. *• I yielded a pleasant odour like the best myrrh, as galbanum, and onyx, and as the fume of frankincense in the taber- nacle." The use of aromatics in the East may be dated from the re- motest antiquity. " Ointment and perfume," says Solomon, " rejoice the heart." They are still intro- duced, not only upon every religious and festive occasion, but as one OLI 243 essential expression of private hos- pitality and friendship. II. The OIL-TREE, Isai. xli. 19, ]nw XV ETz scHEMEN, though Under- stood by our Translators of the olive, 1 Kings vi. 23, 31, 00, and Nehem. viii. 15, cannot mean the olive, which has another appropriate name ; but must intend some luxuriant and handsome tree. Jackson, in his Account of Moroc- co, mentions " forests of the argan- tree, which produces a kind of olive, from the kernel of which the Shel- lucks express an oil, much superior to butter for frying fish ; it is also employed economically for lamps, a pint of it burning nearly as long as double that quantity of olive-oil." OLIVE-TREE, nn zait. Occurs very often. EAAIA, Matth. xxi. 1 ; Rom. xi. 17, 24 ; James iii. 12. ATPIEAAIOS, Oleaster, the wild olive, Rom xi. 17, 24. Tournefort mentions eighteen kinds of olives ; but in the Scrip- ture, we read only of the cultivated and wild olive. The cultivated olive is of amoderate height, thriving best in a sunny and warm soil. Its trunk is knotty ; its bark is smooth, and of an ash colour ; its wood is solid, and yellowish; its leaves are oblong, and almost like those of the willow, of a dark green colour on the upper side, and a whitish below. In the month of June, it puts forth white flowers, growing in bunches, each of one piece, and widening toward the top, and dividing into four parts. After this flower suc- ceeds the fruit, which is oblong and plump. It is first green, then pale, and when quite ripe, becomes black. Within it is enclosed a hard stone, filled with oblong seeds. The wild- oliv?, or oleaster, is of a smaller kind. Canaan much abounded with olives^'. It seems that almost every proprie- tor, kings, or subjects, had their olive-yards 7^. 71 Deut. vi. 11; viii. 8; xxviii.46. 72 1 Cliron. xxvii. 28; 1 Sam. viii. 14; Nehem. v. 11. N2 244 ONI The olive-branch was, from most ancient times, used as the symbol of reconciliation and peace "7^. On the method of grafting olives, see the passages quoted by Wetstein, in Rom. xi. 17, 19, 23. See Oil. ONION. bik'n BATZAL. Occ. Numb. xi. 5, only. A well-known garden plant with a bulbous root. Onions and garlics were highly esteemed in Egypt ; and not without reason, that country being admirably well adapted to their culture. The allium cepa, by the Arabs called basal, Hasselquist thinks one of the s])ecies of onions for which the Israelites longed. He would infer this from the quantities still used in Egypt, and their goodness. " Whoever has tasted onions in Egypt (says he), 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 northern, and other parts, they are hard, and their coats are so compact that they are difficult of digestion. Hence they cannot in any place be eaten with less prejudice, and more satis- faction,. than in Egypt." The Egyptians are reproached 73 From EXa»a, olive, comes the Greek word EXoiof, which signities mercy. O NI with swearing by the leeks and onions of their gardens '^. Juvenal, Sat. XV., ridicules these superstitious people who did not dare to eat leeks, garlick, or onions, for fear of injuring their gods. '* Quis nescit, Volusi Bythynice, qnalia de- meiis ^".gyptus portenta colat ? Porrum et cepe nefas tiolare aut frangere monu. O sanctas gentes quihus hac naacuntur in hortis Kumina !" How Egypt, mad with superstition grown, Makes gods of monsters, but too well is known. 'Tis mortal sin an onion to devour; Each clove of garlic has a sacred power. Religious nation, sure, and blessM abodes, Where every garden is o'errun with gods ! So Lucian, in his Jupiter Trajeed. tom. ii. p. 233, where he is giving an account of the different deities worshiped by the several inhabitants of Egypt, says : Jlr]\ovant)TaiQ de KpofifjLvov: those of Pelusium worship the onion. Hence arises a question, how the Israelites durst venture to violate the national worship, by eating those sacred plants'? We may answer, in the first place, that, whatever might be the case of the p]gyptians in later ages, it is not probable that they were arrived at such a pitch of su- perstition in the time of Moses ; for we find no indications of this in He- rodotus, the most ancient of the Greek historians : 2dly, the writers here quoted appear to be mistaken in imagining these plants to have been really the objects of religious worship. The priests, indeed, ab- stained from the use of them and several other vegetables ; and this might give rise to the opinion of their being reverenced as divinities ; but the use of them was not prohi- 7* " Allium cmpasque inter Deos in jure - jurando habet Egyptv^." IMin. N. H. 1. xix . C.6. " Vtlia Niliacis veneraritur ilnsaila in hortis, Porrum et cepa Deos imponere nubibus ausi." Prudentius, 1. ii. contra 6ymm. p. 250. Clem. Recogn. 1. v. Hieron. in Esai. 1. xiii. c. 46, fol. 151. Minut. Felix, c. xvii. p. 145, ed. Davis, et. nota. ON Y bited to the people, as is plain from the testimonies of ancient authors, particularly of Diodorus Siculus. ONYCHA. nbnu; SHECHELETH. Occ. Exod. XXX. 34. ONY^J, Ecclus. xxiv. 15. A fragrant gum, or perfume. The Hebrew word nbrru; occurs no where in the Bible, but in the place referred to above. The Arabic version renders it ** ladanum." He- rodotus affirms that drug to be much used by the Arabians in perfumes ; and, according to Pliny, N.H.I, xii. c. 17, who mentions its fragrant smell, it was the extract of an herb called ** ladan'* These and other arguments Bochart offers, to support the Arabic version. But the Sep- tuagint, the Vulgate, and the gene- rality of interpreters, render it ** onycha," though they are not agreed what that is. Dioscorides describes it to be the produce of a shell-fish, found in some lakes in India. Rumphius, in his Rarities of Amboyna, 1. ii. c. 17, describes the odoriferous onyx, to which he gives the name of the Hebrew word em- ployed in this passage. He informs us, that this shell is the covercle of the purpura, and of the whole class of the murex ; adding, that in the Indies, this onyx serves as the basis of the principal perfumes. He de- scribes ten kinds of these shells, and gives as synonymes to his No. X., " Unguis odoratus, onyx marina, Blatta Byzantina: Arab. Adfar-al- tibi," Forskal, in his " Materia Medica Cahirina,*' describes it thus : ** Unguis odoratus (opercula cochlece.), Dafr. el asrit. Nigritis fumigato- rium est.'' But, as India was too distant for drugs to be brought from thence to Judea or Arabia"^^, where the Israelites then were, and as the context and etymology''^ seem to require some vegetable substance, 75 [This objection if of no weight, as there is stron? reason to believe that a commerce with India by way of the Per- sian Gulf and Arabia, was carried on from the earliest times. See Spices.] 76 In SyriacJiniT is to drop, to distil; and KnbnU' is a tear, distillation. It must O N Y 245 their opinion seems most probable, who take it for the gum of some aromatic plant growing in Arabia; and perhaps it is the bdellium, which is a fragrant gum, smooth and shining like a man's nail, which the Greeks call onyx, and is by some authors named ** bdella onyx,'' to distinguish it from bdellium of another kind. In Ecclesiasticus, it is mentioned with the other odoriferous ingre- dients in the holy incense, by the name of 07iyx. ONYX. onursHOHEM. Occ. Gen. ii. 12 ; Exod. xxv. 7 ; xxviii. 9, 20; xxxv. 27; xxxix. 6; 1 Chron. xxix. 2; Job xxviii. 16; Ezek. xxviii. 13. A precious stone, so called from the Greek ovo^, the nail, to the colour of which it nearly approaches. It is first mentioned with the gold and bdellium of the river Pison in Eden ; but the meaning of the Hebrew word is not easily determined. The Sep- tuagint render it in different places, the sardius, beryl, sapphire, emerald, &c. Such names are often ambi- guous, even in Greek and Latin, and no wonder if they be more so in He- brew. It is certain that Arabia abounded with precious stones of all sorts, as appears from Ezek. xxvii. 22, where the prophet, enumerating the chief commodities in which the Arabian merchants from Sheba and Raamah trafficked with Tyre, men- tions spices, precious stones, and gold, agreeable to what Moses says of the bdellium, gold, and onyx of Havilah. And it may be observed, that the same prophet, v. 23, mentions Eden as one of the countries in the neigh- bourhood of Sheba, which directs us to seek for the situation of Paradise in those parts. In Exod. xxviii. 9, 10, a direction is given, that two onyx-stones should be fastened on the ephod of the high priest, on which were to be graven the names of the children of Israel, like the engravings on a signet ; six therefore mean something that exudes, and cannot mean a shell, which is a friable substance. 246 OSP of the names on one stone, and six on the other. Dr. Adam Clarke remarks : " So signets or seals were in use at that time, and engraving on precious stones was then an art ; and this art, which was one of the most elegant and ornamental, was carried, in ancient times, to a very high pitch of perfection, particularly among the ancient Greeks ; such a pitch of perfection as has never been rivalled, and cannot now be even well imi fated. And it is very likely that the Greeks themselves borrowed this art from the ancient Hebrews, as we know it flourished in Egypt and Palestine, long before it was known in Greece." In 1 Chron. xxix. 2, onyx-stones are among the things prepared by David for the temple. The author of " Scripture Illustrated" observes upon this passage, that " the word onyx is equivocal, signifying, 1st, a precious stone or gem ; and 2dly, a marble called in Greek, onychites, which Pliny, N. H. 1. xxxvii. c. 6, mentions as a stone of Caramania. Antiquity gave both these stones this name, because of their resem- blance to the nail of the fingers. The onyx of the high priest's pectoral was, no doubt, the gem onyx; the stone prepared by David was the marble onyx, or rather onychus: for one would hardly think that gems of any kind were used externally in such a building, but variegated mar- ble may readily be admitted'^." Onyx-stones are sometimes found of a large size. In the cathedral church at Cologne in Germany, there is one exceeding a palm, or hand's breadth 78. ORYX. See Ox. OSPREY. n>3TV AZANIAH. Occ. Levit. xi. 13, and Deut. xiv. 12. 77 [Onyx, like bdellium, seems to have been the name both of an odoriferous gum or unguent dhecheleth, oyiycha), and of a gem or precious stone, as well as of a semi- transparent marble (vnychites), probably alabaster. See Alabaster.] 78 Lee's Temple, p. 298. Boetius, de Gem, 1. ii. c. 92. p. 243. OST Generally supposed to be the black eagle; and there are good reasons —-^^'^///^,y//i /jii' for referring it to the Nisser-Tokoor described by Mr. Bruce. OSSIFRAGE. DID PERES. Occ. Levit. xi. 13, and Deut. xiv. 12. Interpreters are not agreed on this bird : some read, vulture, others, the black eagle, others, the falcon. The name Peres, by which it is called in Hebrew, denotes to crush, to break ; and this name agrees with our ver- sion, which implies " the bone- breaker:" which name is given to a kind of eagle, from the circumstance of its habit of breaking the bones of its prey, after it has eaten the flesh ; some say also, that he even swallows the bones thus broken. Onkelos uses a word which sig- nifies naked, and leads us to the vul- ture : indeed, if we were to take the classes of birds in any thing like a natural order in the passages here referred to, the vulture should follow the eagle as an unclean bird. The Septuagint interpreter also renders, vulture ; and so do Munster, Schind- ler, and the Zurick versions. OSTRICH. n^y^JONEHOrJAANAH. In Arabic neamah ; in Greek (TTpaOo- Ka^rfKoQ, the camel-bird ; and still in the East, says Niebuhr, it is called '* thar edsjammel," the camel- bird. Occ. Levit. xi. 19; Deut. xiv. 15 ; Job XXX. 29 ; Isai. xiii. 2J ; xxxiv. 13; xliii. 20 ; Jer. 1. 39 ; Lament. iv. 3; and Mic. i. 8. CSDl RiNONiM. Job xxxix. 13. The first name in the places above quoted is, by our Translators, gene- rally rendered " owls." " Now, it should be recollected," says the author of * Scripture Illus- trated,' " that the owl is not a desert bird, but rather resides where ha- bitations are not far off, and that it is not the companion of serpents; whereas, in several of these passages, the JONEH is associated with deserts, — dry, extensive, thirsty deserts, — and with serpents, which are their natural inhabitants. " Our ignorance of the natural history of the countries where the ostrich inhabits, has undoubtedly perverted the import of the above passages; but let any one peruse them afresh, and exchange the owl for the OSTRICH, and he will imme- diately discover a vigour of descri]> tion, and an imagery much beyond what he had formerly perceived." The Hebrew phrase HDyn ni bath JONEH, means, *' the daughter of vo- ciferation," and is understood to be the female ostrich; probably so called from the noise which this bird rnakes79. It is affirmed by travel- lers of good credit, that ostriches make a fearful screechinoj lament- 79 Comp. Mic. i. 8. In Lament, iv. 3, not only the Keri and Cotnplutemian edi- tion, but more than fifty of Dr. Kennicott's codices read Q''DyD ; and this reading, (not the common printed one CSy ""3, which seems to make no sense,) is no doubt the true one. Parkhurst. " There can be no stronger instance of THE NECESSITY OF ACQUAINTANCE WITH NA- TURAL HJSTOaY IN INTERPRETING THE SCRIP- TURES than these passages." Scr, lllustr. 247 Dr. Shaw, Trav. p. OSTRICH. able noise ^^. 455, ed. 4to. w^ho was an ear-witness to the noises which ostriches some- times make, has these remarks : " During the lonesome part of the night, they often make very doleful and hideous noises; which would sometimes be like the roaring of a lion, at other times it would bear a nearer resemblance to the hoarser voice of other quadrupeds, particu- larly the bull and the ox. I have often heard them groan as if they were in the greatest agonies." — " How gloomy is it then, and even terrible, (to use the expression of Sandys,) to travellers who penetrate with timorous apprehensions into the immensity of these deserts, where every living being, man notexcepted, is an object of dread and danger !" The ostrich is generally thought to be the largest, at least it is one of the tallest birds in the world ; being full seven, and sometimes eight feet in height, from the top of the head to the ground, and about four from the back to the ground. When the neck is stretched out in a right line, it measures six feet from the head to the rump, and the tail about a foot more. Each of the wings is a foot and a half long without the feathers, and with the feathers three feet. The plumage is generally black and white, though it is said to be sometimes gray. The largest feathers, which are at the extremi- ties of the wings and tail, are usually- white ; and the small feathers on the back and belly are a mixture of black and white. This bird has no feathers on the sides of the thighs, nor under the wings. That half of the neck which is next to the body, is covered with smaller feathers than 80 Pocock, Comment, on Mic. i. 8, D^Dj;" JONEH, and D*3D"1 rinonim, names by which the ostrich is known in the Holy Scriptures, may very properly be deduced from HDj; onah and p") ronan; words which the lexicographers explain by " ex- clatnare," or " clamare fortiter ;" for the noise made by the ostrich is loud and so- norous. As in Exod. xxxii. 18. It is not the vcice of them that shout jyTj}} for mastery. '248 OSTRICH. those on the belly and back, and, like them, are a mixture of white and black. These feathers are pe- cuhar to the ostrich. Other birds have several sorts ; some of \<^hich are soft and downy, and others hard and strong : but almost all the fea- thers of an ostrich are as soft as down, and utterly unfit to serve for flying, or to defend it against ex- ternal injury. The webs on the feathers of other birds, are broader on one side than on the other ; but in those of the ostrich, the shaft is exactly in the middle. As the wings are not large enough in proportion to the body, to raise it from the ground, they serve as sails or oars to cut through or impel the air, and add great swiftness to their feet, wliich are shod with a horny sub- stance, enabling them to tread firm- ly, and to run a great while with- out hurting themselves. The head aid the upper part of the neck of this animal are covered with very fine white shining hairs ; with small tufts in some places, consisting of about ten or twelve hairs, which grow from a single shaft about the thickness of a pin. The wings are furnished with a kind of spur, re- sembling the quill of a porcupine, which is of a horny substance, hollow, and about an inch long. There are two of these on each wing, the largest of which is at the extremity of the bone of the wing, and the other about afoot lower. The neck appears proportion ably more slender than that of other birds, from its not being covered all over with fea- thers. The bill is short, and shaped somewhat like that of the duck. The external form of the eye re- sembles that of a man, the upper eyelid being furnished with eye- lashes which are longer than those on the lid below. The tongue is very short and small. The thighs, which are large and plump, are covered with a flesh-coloured skin which appears greatly wrinkled. Some of them have a few scattered hairs on their thighs, and others are entirely without. The legs are covered with scales ; and the ends of the feet are cloven, having two very large toes on each, which are also covered with scales. The toes are of unequal sizes ; that on the inside is the largest, and is about seven inches long, including the claw, which is three quarters of an inch in length, and nearly the same in breadth. The other two have no claws, and do not exceed four inches in length. Ostriches are inhabitants of tha deserts of Africa and Arabia, where they live chiefly upon vegetables ; leading a social and inoffensive life, the male consorting with the female with connubial fidelity. Their eggs. are very large, some of them measur- ing above five inches in diameter, and weighing twelve or fifteen pounds. These animals are very prolific, lay- ing forty or fifty eggs at a clutch. Of all animals, this is the most voracious. It will devour leather, grass, hair, stones, metals, or any thing that is given to it : but those substances which the coats of the stomach cannot operate upon, pass whole. It is so unclean an animal as to eat its own ordure as soon as it voids it. This is suflicient reason, were others wanting, why such a fowl should be reputed unclean, and its use as an article of diet prohi- bited. " The ostrich (says M. Buffon) was known in the remotest ages, and is mentioned in the most ancient books. It is frequently the subject from which the sacred writers draw their comparisons and allegories. In still more distant periods, its flesh seems to have been used for food, for the Legislator of the Jews prohibits it as unclean. It occurs also in Herodotus, the most ancient of the profane historians, and in the writings of the first philosophers who have treated of the history of nature. How, indeed, could an ani- mal so remarkably large, and so wonderfully prolific, and peculiarly suited to the climate, as the ostrich , OSTRICH. 249 remain unknown in Africa, and part of Asia, countries peopled from the earliest ages, full of deserts indeed, but where there is not a spot which has not been traversed by the foot of man ? '* The family of the ostrich, there- fore, is of great antiquity. Nor, in the course of ages, has it varied or degenerated from its native purity. It has always remained on its pa- ternal estate ; and its lustre has been transmitted unsullied by foreign intercourse. In short, it is among tlie birds, what the elephant is among the quadrupeds, a distinct race, widely separated from all the others by characters as striking as they are invariable." This bird is very particularly de- scribed in the book of Job, xxxix. 13 — 18. An amended version of the passage, with remarks, will con- clude this article. ** The wing of the ostrich-tribe is for flapping." The word which our English Bible renders peacock, is, says Mr. Scott, one of the Hebrew names of the os- trich. The peacock was not kno\vn in Syria, Palestine, or Arabia, before the reign of Solomon, who first im- ported it. It was originally from India. Besides, the ostrich, not the peacock, is allowed on all hands to be the subject of the following parts of the description. And while the whole character, says Mr. Good, precisely applies to the ostrich, it should be observed, that all the Western Arabs, from Wedinoon to Senaar, still denominate it ennim, with a near approach to the Hebrew name here employed. Neither is the peacock remarkable for its wing, but for the beauties of its tail: whereas, the triumphantly expanded, or, as Dr. Shaw turns it, the quiver- ing expanded wing, is one of the cha- racteristics of the ostrich. *♦ When I was abroad," says this entertaining writer, ** I had several opportunities of amusing myself with the actions and behaviour of the ostrich. It was very diverting to observe with what dexterity and equipoise of body it would play and frisk about on all occasions. In the heat of the day, particularly, it would strut along the sunny side of the house with great majesty. It would be perpetually fanning and pridingitself with its quivering expanded wings, and seem at every turn to admire and be in love witli its own shadow. Even at other times, when walking about or resting itself on the ground, the wings would continue these fan- ning and vibrating motions, as if they were designed to mitigate and assuage that extraordinary heat wherewith their bodies seem to be naturally affected^'. Mr. Vansittart, however, thinks that the text speaks of the wing or feathers of the ostrich as a desirable thing to he possessed and exulted in, and would render it, ** The wing of the ostrich is to be desired ^2/' Xhe feathers of the ostrich were in all probability as much esteemed an- ciently as they are now. Pliny, N. H. 1. X. c. 1, speaks of them as used to ornament helmets : ** conos bellicos galeasque adornantes penno'," " But of the stork and falcon for flight." Mr. Good remarks, that ** our com- mon translation, with great singu- larity, renders m^DPi hasideh, " os- trich," which even Junius and Tre- mellius translate "cicoma," or stork ; although they render the term nv3 NESSEH, ** ostrich", which our com- mon translation renders ** feathers." Nesseh, indeed, as a noun singular, may be feather, if it be a radical term of itself ; but if, as the greater number of both ancient and modern interpreters concur in believing it to be, a derivative from p nezz, it will import a large Arabian bird of some kind or other, though the kind has been very unnecessarily made a subject of doubt. The writers of the Septuagint, not fully compre- 81 See al»o Mr. Good's learned note upon the passage, p. 462. 82 Observations on select Places of the Old Testament, 8vo. Oxford, 1812. N3 2oO OSTRICH. bending the meaning of either of the words, have merely given the Hebrew names in Greek, aaida kui VB(T(ja. Junius and Tremellius, and Piscator, have rendered nVD nesseh, ostrich, as they have CiDT rennim, peacocks. St. Jerom has translated NESSEH, '* accipiter,'' hawk or falcon : the Chaldee commentary coincides with Jerom ; and hence Tyndal makes it " the sparrow-hawk." It may possibly be this, as the " falco nissus' is said to be found in some parts of Africa, as well as of Europe. Naz is used generically by the Ara- bian writers to signify both falcon and hawk ; and the term is given in both these senses by Meninski. There can be little doubt that such is the real meaning of the Hebrew word, and that it imports various species of tlie falcon family. ** The argument drawn from Na- tural History advances from quadru- peds to birds; and of birds, those only are selected for description, which are most common to the country in which the scene lies, and, at the same time, are most singular in their properties. Thus, the ostrich is admirably contrasted with the stork and the eagle, as affording an instance of a winged animal totally incapable of flying, but endued with an unrivalled ra- pidity of running, compared with birds whose flight is proverbially swift, powerful, and persevering. Let man, in the pride of his wis- dom, explain or arraign this dif- ference of construction 1 Again, the ostrich is peculiarly opposed to the stork, and to some species of the eagle, in another sense, and a sense adverted to in the verses immedi- ately ensuing ; for the ostrich is well known to take little care of its eggs, or its young; while, not to dwell upon the species of the eagle just glanced at, the stork has ever been, and ever deserves to be held in proverbial repute for its parental fondness." It may be remarked, that " the eagle spreading abroad her wings, and taking her young upon them," is mentioned Deut. xxxii. 11, as an, example of care and kindness. So that this passage may imply, that the wings of the stork, however won- derful for their plumage, are neither adapted for the flying of the pos- sessor, nor for the shelter of her young; and so are peculiarly dif- ferent from those of all other birds, and especially those most remark- able for their flight and other par- ticulars. " She leaveth her eggs on the ground. And warnieth them in the dust; And is heedless that the foot may crush them. Or the beast of the field trample upon them." As for the stork, " the lofty fir- trees are her house ;" but the im- provident ostrich deposits her eggs in the earth. She builds her nest on some sandy hillock, in the most barren and solitary recesses of the desert ; exposed to the view of every traveller, and the foot of every wild beast. Our Translators appear by their version, which is confused, to have been influenced by the vulgar error, that the ostrich did not herself hatch her eggs by sitting on them, but left them to the heat of the sun ; pro- bably understanding STyn tazob, as of a total dereliction ; whereas the original word Qnnn tehammem sig- nifies actively, that she heateth them, namely, by incubation. And Mr. Good, who also adopts this opinion, observes, that there is scarcely an Arabian poet who has not availed himself of this peculiar character of the ostrich in some simile or other. Let the following suffice, from Na- wabig, quoted by Schultens : " Est qui omittat pietatem in propinquos, alienis benefaciens, Ut strut hio desert t ova sua, et ova aliena incubat." There are who, deaf to nature's cries, On stranger tribes bestow their food : So her own eggs the ostrich flies. And, senseless, rears another's brood. This, however, does not prove that she wholly neglects incubation, OSTRICH. 251 but that she deserts her eggs, which may be because frighted away. The fact is, she usually sits upon her eggs as other birds do ; but then she so often wanders, and so far in search of food, that frequently the eggs are addle by means of her long absence from them. To this ac- count we may add, when she has left her nest, whether through fear or to seek food, if she light upon the eggs of some other ostrich, she sits upon them, and is unmindful of her own. Leo African us says, they lay about ten or a dozen at a time : but Dr. Shaw observes, that by the repeated accounts which he had re- ceived from his conductors, as well as from Arabs of different places, he had been informed that they lay from thirty to fifty. He adds: " We are not to consider this large collec- tion of eggs as if they were all in- tended for a brood. They are the greatest part of them reserved for food, which the dam breaks, and disposeth of according to the num- ber and cravings of her young ones." This special reservation of some of the eggs, is mentioned by ^lian, Hist. 1. xiv. c. 7 ; and is confirmed by Vaillant, Trav. V. ii. p. 42?. Mr. Barrow, " Travels in South- ern Africa," p. 89, says : " Among the very few polygamous birds that are found in a state of nature, the ostrich is one. The male, distin- guished by its glossy black feathers from the dusky gray female, is gene- rally seen with two or three, and frequently as many as five of the latter. These females lay their eggs in one nest to the number of ten or twelve each, which they hatch all together, the male taking his turn of sitting on them among the rest. Between sixty and seventy eggs have been found in one nest ; and if in- cubation has begun, a few are most commonly found lying round the sides of the hole, having been thrown out by the birds, on finding the nest to contain more than they could conveniently cover. The time of incubation is six weeks. For want of knowing the ostrich to be polyga- mous, an error respecting this bird has slipt into the Systema NaturcBf where it is said that one female lays fifty eggs." ** She hardeneth herself for that which is not hers : Her labour is vain, without discrimination.' * Mr. Vansittart, in his remarks upon this clause, shews, that it is not intended to indicate any want of care for her young ; but, as the eggs are set upon by several female os- triches, alternately, the young are the joint care of the parent birds without discrimination. The He- brew word rT'irpn HicsHiAH, occurs but once, besides in this place, throughout the Old Testament, and that is Isaiah Ixiii. 17, where the prophet refers to God's casting off his people, and taking strangers in their place, and is exactly what is ap- plicable to this passage in Job. " On the least noise (says Dr. Shaw) or trivial occasion, she for- sakes her eggs, or her young ones : to which perhaps she never returns ; or, if she does, it may be too late either to restore life to the one, or to preserve the lives of the others. Agreeably to this account, the Arabs "meet sometimes with whole nests of these eggs undisturbed : some of them are sweet and good ; others are addle and corrupted ; others again have their young ones of different growth, according to the time, it may be presumed, they have been forsaken of the dam. They (the Arabs) often meet with a few of the little ones no bigger than well-grown pullets, half starved, straggling and moaning about, like so many dis- tressed orphans for their mother. In this manner the ostrich may be said to be hardened against her young ones as though they were not hers ; her labour, in hatching and attend- ing them so far, being vain, without fear, or the least concern of what becomes of them afterwards. This want of affection is also recorded, Lam. iv. 3 : " The daughter of my people is become cruel, like ostriches 252 OSTRICH. in the wilderness ;" that is, by appa- rently deserting their own, and re- ceiving others in return. Hence, one of the great causes of lamentation was, the coming in of strangers and enemies into Zion, and possessing it. Thus, in the l,^th verse of this chap- ter, it is said, " The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jeru- salem ;" and in ch. v. ver. 2, " Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens." Mr. Vansittartadds: The phrase, " her labour is vain," wants an ex- planation ; because, while eggs are laid, and young ostriches produced, it can never be correct : and if the mother did even drive her young ones from her, still it could not be said, that her labours had not been successful ; because, while there was a young brood remaining, it would be evident that she had been prosper- ous. Now, labour in vain, as it ap- pears to me, must either be that which is not productive, or else what profits not the person who labours, or otherwise what profits another who does not labour. And this, I think, is the case with the ostrich in the interpretation here suggested; and is moreover the true signification of the phrase pnb. This phrase oc- curs Levit. xxvi. 16, ** Ye sow your seed in vaiii, for another shall reap it," not yourselves. Likewise, Isai. Ixv. 21, 22, 23 : " They shall build houses, and inhabit them ; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit ; they shall not plant, and another eat ; they shall not labour in vain ;" that is, profit- less for themselves, and for the good of others. And again, Isai. xlix. 4, •* Then I said, I have laboured in vain ; I have spent my strength for nought and in vain ;" that is, when Israel had departed from the worship of Jehovah, and had been given up to the service of the gods of the na- tion, and consequently to their ad- vantage, and not his own. It is in this sense that I wish to understand the Hebrew word, which is not a forced signification, and is moreover the exact peculiarity and property of the ostrich intended to be marked. The phrase " without fear," or " without solicitude," " without ma- ternal discrimination," implies that she appears to be without any ap- prehension or concern for those be- longing to herself, more than for those of another. " Because God hath made her feeble of in- stinct. And not imparted to her understanding." Natural affection and sagacious instinct are the grand instruments by which Providence continues the race of other animals : but no limiis can be set to the wisdom and power of God. He preserves the breed of the ostrich without those means, and even in a penury of all the ne- cessaries of life. ** Those parts of the Sahara (the desert) which these birds chiefly frequent, are destitute of all manner of food or herbage ; except it be some few tufts of coarse grass, or else a few other solitary plants of the laureola, apocynum, and some other kinds, each of which is desti- tute of nourishment, and, in the Psalmist's phrase, even withereth before it is plucked. So that, con- sidering, the great voracity of this camel bird, it is wonderful, not only how the little ones, after they are weaned from the provision I have mentioned, should be brought up and nourished ; but even how those of fuller growth, and much better qualified to look out for themselves, are able to subsist®^." ** Yet at the time she haughtily assumes courage. She scorneth the horse and his rider." Dr. Durell justifies this transla- tion by observing, that the ostrich cannot soar as other birds, and there- fore the words in our version, when she lifteth up herself, cannot be right ; 33 Dr. Shaw, Trav. p. 451, ed. 4to. OST besides, the verb NlD occurs only in this place, and in Arabic it signifies, to take courage, and the like. *' Notwithstanding the stupidity of this animal, its Creator hath am- ply provided for its safety, by en- dowing it with extraordinary swift- ness, and a surprising apparatus for escaping from its enemy. They, when they raise themselves up for flight, laugh at the horse and his rider. They afford him an oppor- tunity only of admiring at a distance, the extraordinary agility and the stateliness likewise of their motions, the richness of their plumage, and the great propriety there was in as- cribing to them an expanded quiver- ing wing. Nothing certainly can be more entertaining than such a sight; the wings, by their rapid but unwearied vibrations, equally serv- ing them for sails and oars ; while their feet, no less assisting in con- veying them out of sight, are no less insensible of fatigue^*." " In running, the ostrich has a proud, haughty look; and, even when in extreme distress, never appears in great haste, especially if the wind be favourable with it^*." Xenophon, in his Anabasis, men- tioning the desert of Arabia, states, that the ostrich is frequently seen there; that none could take them, " the horsemen who pursued them soon giving it over ; for they escaped far away, making use both of their feet to run, and of their wings, when expanded, as a sail to waft them along." I conclude this article with a po- etical version, partly from Dr. Young and Dr. Scott. Didst thou the ostrich clothe with plumes so fair? Which, nor with falcon's, nor the stork's compare ; Who heedless roaming, or by fear subdued, Feels not a parent's fond solicitude. While far she flies, her scatter'd eggs are found Without an owner on the sandy ground ; o w .X3? 1-^ Cast out at fortunVV 41^ at mercy lie, ') And borrow light Von%^n indulgent sky. Unmindful she that\|j»^e unhappy tread May crush her young irV^eir/ie^lec^edJ)ed As far she wanders for n^ - • '^ "^ Or on her way adopts somi And these without discriminati( _^^ Offered attendance, not instinctive care? Yet when her sudden enemy she sees. Uprising, with the favouring gale, she flees. And skims along the plain with rapid speed, And scorns alike the hunter and his steed. OWL. There are several varieties of this species, all too well known to need a particular description. They are nocturnal birds of prey, and have their eyes better adapted for dis- cerning objects in the evening, or twilight, than in the glare of day. 84 Dr. Shaw. [See also Mod. Trav. vol. XK. p. 187.] 85 Naturalist's Cabinet, v. iii. p. 22. Under the preceding article, I have shewn that what our Transla- tors, in several places, have rendered " owls," is an appellation of the os- trich. I shall now examine the other passages. I. DID cos. Levit. xi. 17; Deut. xiv. 16 ; and Psalm cii. 6. In our version, rendered, " the little owl." Aquila, Theodotion, Jerom, Kimchi, and most of the older interpreters, are quoted to justify this rendering. M. Michaelis, Quest. No. c. p. 211, at some length supports the opinion that it is " the horned owl." Bo- chart, though with some hesitation, suspected it to be the onocrotalus, a kind oi pelican; because the Hebrew name signifies " cup," and the peli- can is remarkable for a pouch or hag under the lower jaw ; but there are good reasons for supposing that bird 254 OWL to be the nup kaath of the next verse. Dr. Geddes thinks this bird " the cormorant ;" and as it begins the hst of water- fowl, and is men- tioned always in the same contexts with HNp, confessedly a water-bird, his opinion may be adopted. II. i^w:" YANsupii. Levit. xi. 17 ; Deut. xiv. 16; and Isai. xxxiv. 11. In the first two places, our Transla- tors render this, *' the great owl," which is strangely placed after •' the little owl," and among water-birds. " Our Translators," says the Author of Scripture Illustrated, " seem to have thought the owl a convenient bird, as we have three owls in two verses^." Some critics think it means a species of night-bird, be- cause the word may be derived from ^lU^a NESHEPH, which signifies the twi- light, the time when owls fly about. " But this interpretation," says Park- hurst, '* seems very forced ; and since it is clearly mentioned among water-fowls, and the LXX have, in the first and last of those texts, ren- dered it by IBT2, the Ibis, I feel dis- posed to adopt that bird here ; and think the evidence strengthened by this, that in a Coptic version of Levit. xi. 17^, it is called IP or HIP, which, with a Greek termina- tion, would very easily make ipig. In the Samaritan version, according to the order of the words, '^bMf, sha- LAC, " the cormorant" of our trans- lation, is rendered ''3''^< ibi ; and f]Wy YANSUPH by nmn barberi, perhaps the 7ropvpiog : but I think it most likely that the order has been changed, and that the ibis is the bird here intended." See Ibis. III. TlSp Kippoz, which occurs only in Isai. xxxiv. 15, and is in our version rendered, " the great owl," Bochart thinks to be that species of serpent which is called in Greek 86 Again, in Isai. xxxiv. 11, 13, 14, 15, four different words are rendered 07vl.f, meaning, iiowever, the ibis (or bittern), the ostrich, the lilitli, and the acontias. 87 Viil. Chr. Scholzii Lexic. ^gypt. Lat. Oxonii, 1775. 4to. p. 155. Georgi. Fraam. Evang. S. Job. Coptic. Romse. 1789. 4to. p. cxl. pr^ef. OX aKovnag, and in Latin, jfacu/ws, from the violence with which it leaps or darts on its prey ^^. But the prophet's hints respecting making a nest, and laying and hatching eggs, are con- trary to this construction ; for, though some serpents are oviparous, and may be thought to make nests to receive their eggs, yet we know of no ser- pent that hatches them, warms them by incubation, and forwards them by parental attention. These ac- tions are certainly those of a bird^^. As the creature is represented as the tenant of desolate places, I see no sufficient reason for rejecting our translation, and therefore retain " the great owl." IV. n"'b''b LiLiTH, Isai. xxxiv. 14, in our version, the " screech-owl." The root signifies " night ;" and as undoubtedly a bird frequenting dark places and ruins is referred to, we must admit some kind of owl. " A place of lonely desolation, where The screeching tribe and pelicans abide. And the dun ravens croak mid ruins drear. And moaning owls from man tlie furthest hide." OX. ipn bacre; Arab, hxkerrey and biikar. See Meninski Lexic. [A red species of buffalo is called in Africa, bogra (or bekker) el weish."] X The male of horned cattle of the beeve kind, at full age, when fit for the plough. Younger ones are called " bullocks." 8^ Hieroz. v. iii. p. 194. edit. Rosen- mnlUr. ^'•^ Scripture Illustrated, in Ipc. p. 172. ox. 255 Under the article " bull," I as- serted that the Jews never castrated any of their animals ; grounding that declaration on Levit. xxii. 24 ; and yet quoted a passage from Dr. Adam Clarke, who thinks that oxen were castrated animals. This was also the opinion of Le Clerc. But Michaelis, in his elaborate work on the Laws of Moses, vol. ii. p. 400, article clxviii., has proved that castration was never practised. The rural economy of the Israel- ites led them to value the ox as by far the most important of domestic animals, from the consideration of its great use in all the operations of farming^*'. In the patriarchal ages, the ox constituted no inconsiderable por- tion of their wealth. Thus Abraham is said to be very rich in cattle. Gen. xxiv. 35. This is also remarked of Jacob, Gen. xxx. 43. And of Job it is declared, that " his substance was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she- asses, and a very great household ; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the East." Job i. 3. Men of every age and country have been much indebted to the labours of this animal. So early as in the days of Job, who was probably the contemporary with Isaac, " the oxen were ploughing, and the asses feeding beside them," when the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away. In times long posterior, when Elijah was commis- sioned to anoint Elisha, the son of Shaphat, prophet in his stead, he found him ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen, 1 Kings xix. 19. For many ages, the hopes of oriental husbandmen depended entirely on their labours. This was so much thQ case in the time of Solomon, that he observes, in one of his Pro- verbs, " Where no oxen are, the crib is clean (or rather empty) ; but 90 See some interesting remarks on this subject, in Micliaelis's Commentaries on the Laws of Moses, v. ii. p. 388. Dr. Smith's translation. much increase is by the strength of the ox.'' Prov. xiv. 4. The ass, in the course of ages, was compelled to bend his stubborn neck to the yoke, and share his labours ; but still, the preparation of the ground, in the time of spring, depended chiefly on the more powerful exer- tions of the latter. When this animal was employed in bringing home the produce of the harvest, he was regaled with a mix- ture of chaff, chopped straw, and various kinds of grain, moistened with acidulated water. Such is the meaning of that prediction, Isai. xxx. '24, " The oxen likewise, and the young asses that ear the ground, shall eat clean provender^', which hath been winnowed with the shovel, and with the fan." When the Lord returns to bless his repenting people, so rich and abundant shall be the produce of their fields, that the lower animals which toil in the ser- vice of man, and have assigned for their usual subsistence the most or- dinary food, shall share in the gene- ral plenty, and feed on provender, carefully separated from all oiFensive matter and adapted to their taste. But among the Jews, this animal was best fed when employed in treading out the corn ; for the divine law, in many of whose precepts the benevolence of the Deity conspicu- ously shines, forbad to muzzle him, and by consequence to prevent him from eating what he would of the grain he was employed to separate from the husk. This allusion is in- volved in the address of the prophet Hosea, ch. x. 11, to the ten tribes, in which he warns them that the abundance and tranquillity which they had so long enjoyed, should not exempt them from the punish- ments due to their multiplied crimes. Despising the frugal and laborious life of their ancestors, they had be- come slothful and voluptuous, like an ox that declines to bend his neck any longer to the yoke, and loves the easier employment of treading 91 Bisiiop Lowth renders it, mented niaslin." * well-fer- ^256 OX out the corn, where he riots without restraint on the accumulated boun- ties of heaven : " Ephraim is as an heifer tliat is taught" (or has be- come nice and delicate), *' and loveth to tread out the corn ; but I passed over upon her fair neck. I will make Ephraim carry me." This latter clause gives the image of a husbandman mounting his bullock, to direct it over the corn, and per- haps to prevent or restrain the feed- ing. The ox was also compelled to the labourofdragging the car tor waggon. The number of oxen commonly yoked to one cart, appears to have been two. Comp. Numb. vii. 3, 7, 8j I Sam. vi. 7, and 2 Sam. vi. 3, 6. The wild-ox, INH theo, Deut. xiv. 5, is supposed to be the oryx of the Greeks, which is a species of large stag. It is rendered oryx by Jerom ; and Aquila uses the same term in translating Isai. li. 20, where the Hebrew word is n^n thoa, in our version ** wild-bull," which is pro- bably the same word, with the mere transposition of the two last letters. The prophet says (as translated by Bp. Lowth) : They are cast Thy sons lie astounded. down; At the head of all the streets, like the oryx taken in the toils. Many interpreters, besides the English translators, are disposed to consider the Hebrew words here named as intending the buffalo or some species of the wild ox. But Aben Ezra asserts, that no wild bull is to be found in Judea and the sur- rounding countries. Three varieties of that animal are natives of a cold climate. The buffalo, it is admit- ted, is bred in southern latitudes; but, in ancient times, seems to have been confined to the remotest parts of the East. No mention is made of it, at least, by any writer before the Christian era ; for the (5ov^a\oQ or (iovjSaXig of the an- cient Greeks, was the name of a wild goat. Besides, the wild bull was not taken in a net j but, accord- ing to the ancients, in a deep pit ; for he is too furious and powerful an animal to be detained by a snare, as referred to in Isaiah ; but every variety of the deer, and consequently the oryx, it was the custom to hunt with nets and dogs. This statement renders it extremely probable, that the Hebrew word theo, or thoa, was a name given to the oryx, the white goat of the desert ^2. jt may be the bekkar el wash, described by Dr. Shaw 93. The oryx inhabits the solitudes of Africa, on the confines of Egypt ; from whence it might easily make excursions into the deserts which border on the land of Canaan. It seems, indeed, according to the au- thorities quoted by Bochart, Hieroz. lib. iii. p. 971, to have been properly an Egyptian animal, and familiarly known to the inhabitants of that country : but its character and ha- bits must have been well known to the people of Israel, who sojourned for many years in Egypt, and spent their time chiefly in tending their flocks and herds in the pastures of Goshen, where they probably had many opportunities of meeting it, and many reasons, perhaps, to re- member its strength and intrepidity. After their deliverance from the Egyptian yoke, they settled in a neighbouring country, and had oc- casional intercourse with Egypt. These facts will account for the mention of this animal in their sa- cred writings, and for their allusions to its manners. 92 Paxton, Illustr. of Scr. vol. i. p. 614. 93 [The bogra el weish is described by Capt. Lyon, as " a red buffalo, slow in its motions, having large horns, and of the size of a cow." He distinguishes it from the white buffalo, which is " of a lighter and more active make, very shy and swift, and not easily procured." A third species, of which immense herds are found in the mountains to the east of Sockna, is called the Wadan. This is of the size of an ass, having a very large head and horns, a short, reddish hide, and large bunches of hair hanging from each shoulder, to the length of eighteen inches or two feet : they are very fierce. Lyon's Africa, p. 76.] PALM-TREE. 257 PALM-TREE, nnn tamar. Occurs, first Exod. xv. 27 ; a afterwards frequently. This tree, sometimes called the date-tree, grows plentifully in the East. It rises to a great height. The stalks are generally full of rug- ged knots, which are the vestiges of the decayed leaves : for the trunk of this tree is not solid, like other trees, hut its centre is filled with pith, round which is a tough bark full of strong fibres when young, which, as the tree grows old, hardens and becomes ligneous. To this bark the leaves are closely joined, which in the centre rise erect, but after they are advanced above the vagina which surrounds them, they expand very wide on every side the stem, and, as the older leaves decay, the stalk advances in height. The leaves, when the tree has grown to a size for bearing fruit, are six or eight feet long, and very broad when spread out, and are used for cover- ing the tops of houses, &c. The fruit, which is called date, grows below the leaves in clusters : and is of a sweet and agreeable taste. The learned Ksempfer, as a botanist, an antiquary, and a travel- ler, has exhausted the whole subject of palm-trees. " The diligent na- tives (says Mr. Gibbon) celebrated, either in verse or prose, the three hundred and sixty uses to which the trunk, the branches, the leaves, the juice, and the fruit were skil- fully applied." The extensive import- ance of the date-tree (says Dr. E. D. Clarke^*) is one of the most curious subjects to which a traveller can direct his attention. A considerable part of the inhabitants of Egypt, of Arabia, and of Persia, subsist almost entirely upon its fruit. They boast also of its medicinal virtues. Their camels feed upon the date stone. From the leaves they make couches, baskets, bags, mats, and brushes ; from the branches, cages for their poultry, and fences for their gardens ; from the fibres of the boughs, thread, ropes, and rigging ; from the sap is prepared a spirituous liquor ; and the body of the tree furnishes fuel : it is even said, that from one variety of the palm-tree, the phcenix farini- feruy meal has been extracted, which is found among the fibres of the trunk, and has been used for food. In the temple of Solomon were pilasters made in the form of palm- trees. 1 Kings vi. 29. It was under a tree of this kind, that Deborah dwelt between Ramah and Bethel. Judges iv. 5. To the fair, flourish- ing, and fruitful condition of this tree, the Psalmist very aptly com- pares the votary of virtue : Psalm xcii. 12, 13, 14. The righteous shall flourish like a palm- tree. Those that are planted in the house of Je- hovah, In the courts of our God, shall flourish j In old age they shall still put forth buds. They shall be full of sap and vigorous 95. 94 Travels, part ii. sect. ii. p. 302. 95 In Mr. Merrick's Annotations, p. 194, is a very ingenious illustration of this pas- sage. 258 PALM-TREE. The palm is crowned at its top with a large tuft of spiring leaves, about four feet long, which never fall oflF, but always continue in the same flourishing verdure. The tree, as Dr. Shaw was informed, is in its greatest vigour about thirty years after it is planted ; and continues in full vigour seventy years longer, bearing all this while, every year, about three or four hundred pounds weight of dates. The trunk of the tree is remark- ably strait and lofty. Jeremiah, ch. X. 5, speaking of the idols that were carried in procession, says, they were upright as the palm-tree. And for erect stature and slenderness of form, the spouse, in Cantic. vii. 7, is compared to this tree. How framed, O my love, for delights! Lo, thy stature is like a palm-tree. And thy bosom like clusters of dates. On this passage, Mr. Good ob- serves, that ** the very word Tamar, here used for the palm-tree, and whose radical meaning is strait or upright, (whence it was afterwards applied to pillars or columns, as well as to the palm,) was also a general name among the ladies of Palestine, and unquestionably adopted in ho- nour of the stature they had already acquired, or gave a fair promise of attaining." A branch of palm was a symbol of victory, and was carried before con- querors in the triumphs ^^: to this, allusion is made Rev. vii. 9 ; and for this purpose were they borne before Christ in his way to Jerusalem, John xii. 13. From the inspissated sap of the ■^ tree, a kind of honey, or dispse, as it is called, is produced, little inferior to that of bees. The same juice after fermentation, makes a sort of wine, much used in the East^^, Jt is once mentioned as wine. Numb, xxviii. 7; (Comp. Exod. xxix. 40 ;) and by it is intended the strong drink, 96 Aul. Gel. Noct. Att. 1. iii. c. 6. Alex. ai Alex. Genial, dier. I. v. c. 8. »7 piin. 1. 14, sec. 19, and 1. 13. c. 9, et Philostratus, apoU. 2. Isai. V. jl; xxiv. 9^K Theodoret and Chrysostom, on these places, both Syrians, and unexceptionable witnesses in what belongs to their own country, confirm this declara- tion. " This liquor (says Dr. Shaw), which has a more luscious sweetness than honey, is of the consistence of a thin sirup, but quickly grows tart and ropy, acquiring an intoxicating quality, and giving, by distillation, an agreeable spirit, or ardky, ac- cording to the general name of these people for all hot liquors, extracted by the alembic." Its Hebrew name is nDtr siKER, the St/ctpa of the Greeks ; and from its sweetness, probably, the saccharum of the Ro- mans. Jerom informs us^^, that in Hebrew, " any inebriating liquor is called Sicera, whether made of grain, the juice of apples, honey, dates, or any other fruit." See Sugar. Herodotus, Hist. " Clio,'' § 193, in his account of Assyria, says : " The Palm is very common in this coun- try, and generally fruitful. This they cultivate like fig-trees, and it produces them bread, wine, and honey. The process observed is this : they fasten the fruit of that which the Greeks term the male tree to the one which produces the date ; by this means the worm which is contained in the former, entering the fruit, ripens and prevents it from dropping immaturely. The male palmsbearinsectsintheirfruit,inthe same manner as the wild fig-trees.'* Upon this subject, the learned and industrious Larcher, in his notes upon Herodotus, has exhausted no less than ten pages. The ancients whom he cites are, Aristotle, Theo- phrastus, and Pliny ; the moderns are Pontedera and Tournefort, which last he quotes at considerable length. The Amcenitates Exotica; of Kaemp- fer will fully satisfy whoever wishes to be more minutely informed on one of the most curious and inter- ns See the Notes of Bishop Lowth, and Shaw's Trav. p. 143. ed. 4to. 99 Epist. ad Nepotianum de Vita Cleri- corum : et in Isai. xxviii. 1. PALM-TREE. 259 esting subjects which the science of natural history involves. This tree was formerly of great value and esteem among the Israel- ites, and so very much cultivated in Judea, that, in after times, it became the emblem of that country, as may be seen in a medal of the emperor Vespasian upon the conquest of Ju- dea : it represents a captive woman sitting under a palm-tree, with this inscription, J UDExiCAPT A. And upon a Greek coin, likewise, of his son Titus*, struck upon the like oc- casion, we see a shield suspended upon a palm-tree, with a figure of Vic- tory writing upon it. Pliny also calls Judea *' palmis inclyta," renowned for palms. Jericho in particular was called " the city of palms," Deut. xxxiv. 3 ; and 2* Chron. xxviii. 15; because, as Josephus^, Strabo^, and Pliny'' have remarked, it anciently abound- ed in palm-trees. And so Dr. Shaw, Trav. p. 343, remarks, that though these trees are not now either plen- tiful or fruitful in other parts of the Holy Land, yet, there are several of them at Jericho, where there is the convenience they require of being often watered ; where likewise the climate is warm, and the soil sandy, .or such as they thrive and delight in. Tamar, a city built in the desert by Solomon (1 Kings ix. 18 ; comp. Ezek. xlvii. 19; xlviii. 28), was probably so named from the palm- trees growing about it ; as it was afterwards by the Romans called •* Palmyra," or rather " Palmira," on the same account, from Falma, a palm-tree. It is otherwise named "imn TADMOR, which seems a cor- ruption of the former appellation. 2 Chron. viii. 4. Josephus, Antiq. 1. viii. c. 6. § 1. tells us, that after Solomon had built several other 1 Vaillant Numism. Imp. Rom. Gr. p. 21. Scheuchzer, Phys. Sacr. on Exod. xv, 27. Vol. ii. p. 99. Tab. clvii. and on Job xxxix. V. 18. vol. 6. Tab. DXXIV. ■■' Antiq. I. iv. c. 6. § 1. and 1. xv. c. 4, $ 2. and De Bell. Jud. 1. i. c. 6. § 6. 3 Lib. xvi. p. 1106. ed. Amstel. * Nat. Hist. 1. v. c. 14. and 1. xiii. c. 4 and 9. cities, ** he entered the desert which is above Syria, and, taking posses- sion of it, erected there a very large city, distant two days journey from Upper Syria, one from the Eu- phrates, and six from Babylon ; and that the reason of his building at such a distance from the inhabited parts of Syria was, that no water was to be met with nearer, but that at this place were found both springs and wells." And this account agrees with that of the late learned tra- veller Mr. Wood, who describes Palmyra as watered with two streams, and says, the Arabs even mention a third now lost among the rubbish. Josephus adds, that " So- lomon having built this city, and surrounded it with very strong walls, named it GAAAMOPA, Thadamora, and that it was still so called by the Syrians in his time, but by the Greeks " Palmira." Mr. Parkhurst, after quoting this passage, makes these remarks : " With all due de- ference to such learned men as may dissent from me, I apprehend that Palmira was a name first imposed, not by the Greeks, but by the Romans. There is no Greek word from whence this appellation can probably be derived; but Palmira from Palma, is the very oriental name translated into Latin ; and as the warm climate of this city, and its enjoying the benefit of water in the desert, make it highly probable that its Hebrew and Latin names refer to the palm-trees with which it once abounded, so Abul Feda^, a learned oriental geographer, who flourished in the fourteenth century, expressly mentions the palm-tree as common at Palmyra even in his time. I cannot find that this city is ever mentioned by any of the old Greek writers, not even by that ac- curate geographer Strabo; nor in- deed in the Roman history is any notice taken of it, till Appian, in the fifth book of his civil wars, 5 For an account of whom, see the Arabic authors mentioned atthe end of Prideaux's Life of Mahomet, p. 153; and Herbelot, Biblioth. Orient, in Aboulfeda. 260 PAL speaks of Mark Antony as attempt- ing to plunder it 6. But for a fur- ther account of the ancient history and present state of tliis once noble and powerful city, I with great plea- sure refer the reader to Mr. Wood's curious, learned, and magnificent work, entitled ' A Journey to Pal- myra,' and shall only add, that the Arabs of the country, like the Sy- rians in Josephus's time, still call it by its old name Tadmor ; and that Mr. Bryant tells us^, he was assured by I\Ir. Wood, that ' if you were to mention Palmyra to an Arab upon the spot, he would not know to what you alluded, nor would you find him at all better acquainted with the history of Odanatus and Zenobia. Instead of Palmyra, he would talk of Tedmor ; and in lieu of Zenobia, he would tell you that it was built by Salmah Ebii Doud, that is by Solomon the son of David.' " As the Greek name for this tree signifies also the fabulous bird called the phoenix, some of the fathers have absurdly imagined that the Psalmist, xcii. 12, alludes to the latter ; and on his authority have made the phoenix an argument of a resurrec- tion. Tertullian calls it a full and striking emblem of this hope ^. Celsius, in the second volume of his Hierobotanicon, has devoted one hundred and thirty -five pages, replete with learning, to a description of the palm-tree, and an elucidation of the passages of scripture where it is mentioned ; and Hiller, in his Hiero- phyticon, has thirty-eight pages. PALMER-WORM, on gazam. Occurs Joel i. 4 ; and Amos iv. 9. Bochart says, that it is a kind of locust, furnished with very sharp teeth, with which it gnaws off grass, 6 Comp. Prideaux, Connect, part ii. book vi. anno 41. 7 New System of Mythol. v. i. p. 214. 8 •* Plenissimwn atqv£ firmissimum hujus spei specimen," De ress. c. 13. See also Clement, ad Coriuthos. id const, apost. 1. 5. c. 8. Cyril, catec. 18. Epiph. in aneor. sec. 80. id phys. c. 11. Ambros. de fid. ress, &c. 1 rather think, however, that the Greek name <^^iv»x») was from Phcenicia, because they tirst became acquainted with the tree from that country. PAP corn, leaves of trees, and even their bark. The Jews support this idea by deriving the word from Tia guz or TT3 GAZAZ, to cut, to shear, or mince. Notwithstanding the unanimous sen- timents of the Jews that this is a locust, yet the LXX read Kap,7rrj, and the Vulgate, eruca, a caterpillar ; which rendering is supported by Fuller, Miscel. Sacr. 1. v. c. 20. Michaelis agrees with this opinion, and thinks that the sharp cutting teeth of the caterpillar, which, like a sickle, clear away all before them, might give name to this insect. Ca- terpillars also begin their ravages before the locust, which seems to coincide with the nature of the crea- ture here intended. PANNAG. 333. Occurs Ezek. xxvii. 17, only. Some have thought this to be the name of a place ; and perhaps the original of Phoenicia. Luther, Hou- bigant, Taylor, Dathe, and many others suppose the name to mean balsam. Mr. Dimock^ conjectures it to be the Jig. Others are inclined to suppose it the valuable plant which Dioscorides and Pliny have described by the name of " panax,'* from which was made a composition serviceable in many diseases ; whence panacea became the name of a uni-. versal medicine '^. But, as the Syriac renders by a word which signifies millet, which panic resembles, Bp. Newcome translates by this latter word, from the similarity of its sound to 333. The panic was sometimes used for food. The Massilians, when besieged by Caesar, " panico vetere omnes alebajitur." B. C. IL 32. Though, according to Galen,itisdry and affords not much nutriment, it might be useful in voyages, because it could be preserved for a long time. PAPER-REED. nd3 goma. Occ. Exod. ii. 3; Job viii. 11 j Isai. xviii. 2 ; xxxv. 7. For a particular description of this plant, I refer back to the article Bull-rush. — When the outer skin, 9 Rev. Henry Dimock,in a learned serm. on Matth. v. 18. Oxford, 1783. I i» Hiller's Hierophyt. part ii. p. 52. PAP or bark, is taken off, there are several films or inner pellicles, one within another. These, when separated from the stalk, were laid on a table, artfully matched and flatted together, and moistened with the water of the Nile, which, dissolving the glutinous juices of the plant, caused them to adhere closely together. They were afterwards pressed, and then dried in the sun ; and thus were prepared sheets or leaves for writing upon in characters marked by a coloured liquid passing through a hollow reed. Plin. N. H. 1. XXX. c. 12. Herodo- tus, I. xi'*. This formed the most ancient books; and from the name of the plant is derived the word paper. " Papyrus, verdant on the banks of Nile, Spread its thin leaf, and waved its silvery style ; Its plastic pellicles invention took, To form the polish'd page and lettered book, And on its folds with skill consummate taught To paint in mystic colours sound and thought." Mr. Bruce, in the Appendix to his Travels, has furnished a very particular and interesting account of the papyrus, its ancient uses, &c., with a beautiful engraving of the plant. In Isai. xix. 7, the word rendered in our version *' paper-reeds," is " In the 16th volume of the Archaeo- logia, part 2d, 1812, are some particulars of the Egyptian papyrus, and the mode adopted for unfolding a roll of the same, by W. Hamilton, Esq. from which I ex- tract the following account of the manner in which the paper was manufactured : " On an inspection of the paper, it is plainly perceived to be composed of the inner filaments of the papyrus plant, split into very thin layers; the coarser and thicker ends of these threads being cut off, equal in length to the breadth of the paper which was to be made, were laid parallel and close to each other; a coat of gum, or some other gluey substance, was then laid upon this substratum, and over that were laid transversely the finer and thinner shreds of the same reed. The whole mass was then amalgamated by a regular pres- sure or beating : from the fragile nature of the material, I should think the former mode most likely." The plant is called " El Babir," whence the papynis, and our word paper. PAR 261 miy HAROTH, and means a meadow, a low, naked, open tract of land, near a river. In Judges xx. So, it is translated " meadows." PARTRIDGE, nipkra orKOPA. Occurs 1 Sam. xxvi. 20 ; and Jer. xvii. 11. IIEPAI^J, Ecclus. xi. 31. In the first of these places, David says, ** the king of Israel is come out to hunt a partridge on the moun- tains:" and in the second, ** the partridge sitteth (on eggs), and pro- duceth (or hatcheth) not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be con- temptible." This passage does not necessarily imply that the partridge hatches the eggs of a stranger, but only that she often fails in her at- tempts to bring forth her young. To such disappointments she is greatly exposed from the position of her nest on the ground, where her eggs are often spoiled by the wet, or crushed by the foot. So he that broods over his ill-gotten gains, will often find them unproductive ; or if he leaves them, as a bird occa- sionally driven from her nest, may be despoiled of their possession. As to the hunting of the partridge, which. Dr. Shaw observes, is the greater, or red-legged kind, the doc- tor says : " The Arabs have another, though a more laborious method of catching these birds ; for, observing that they become languid and fa- tigued after they have been hastily put up twice or thrice, they imme- diately run in upon them, and knock them down with their zerwattys, or 262 PAR bludgeons as we should call them." Precisely in this manner Saul hunted David, coming hastily upon him, putting him up incessantly, in hopes that at length his strength and re- sources would fail, and he would be- come an easy prey to his pursuer. Bochart thought the bird men- tioned by the prophet to be of the snipe or woodcock kind ; that bird, however, haunts the marshes, not the mountains. Our author adds : ** Observing that BufFon makes a separate species of the bartavella, or Greek partridge, I shall offer that as the proper bird in these passages. " To the red partridges, and prin- cipally to the bartavella, must be re- ferred all that the ancients have related of the partridge. Aristotle must needs know of the Greek par- tridge better than any other, since this is the only kind in Greece, in the isles of the Mediterranean, and, ac- cording to all ajppearance, in that part of Asia conquered by Alexander. Be- lon informs us, that * the bartavella keeps ordinarily among rocks; but has the instinct to descend into the plain to make its nest, in order that the young may find at their birth a ready subsistence : it lays from eight to sixteen eggs :' is capable of con- nexion with the common hen ; and has also another analogy with the common hen, which is, to sit upon (or hatch) the eggs of strangers for want of its own. Fhis remark is of long standing, since it occurs in the sacred books. Now if, in the ab- sence of the proper owner, the bar- tavella partridge sits on the eggs of a stranger, when that stranger re- turns to the nest, and drives away the intruder before she can hatch them, the partridge so expelled re- sembles a man in low circumstances, who had possessed himself for a time of the property of another, but is forced to relinquish his acquisi- tion before he can render it profit- able ; which is the simile of the prophet, and agrees too with the other place in which the bird is mentioned." PEA Dr. Shaw also mentions the me- thod of catching by means of a decoy ; and observes; "This may lead us into the right interpretation of Ecclesias- ticus xi. 30, which we render • like as a partridge taken (or kept) in a cage, so is the heart of the proud ;' but should be, like a decoy partridge in a cage." Forskal mentions a partridge whose name in Arabic is kurr; and La- tham says, that in the province of Andalusia in Spain, the name of the partridge is churr: both taken, no doubt, like the Hebrew, from its note. PEACOCK. D^Oin thoukiim. Occurs 1 Kings x. 22 j and 2 Chron. ix. 21. A bird distinguished by the length of its tail, and the brilliant spots with which it is adorned; which displays all that dazzles in the spark- ling lustre of gems, and all that astonishes in the rainbow ^^. Bochart has shewn, that the He- brew word here means peacocks; and that this rendering is justified by the Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic, and Latin versions *^ ; and is so under- stood by most of the learned men among the Jews. On the other hand, Huet^^ Reland•^ and Older- 12 The following is the description of Tertullian. ** Quanquam et Pavo pluma vestis, et quidem de cataclistis : imo omni conchylio pressior, qua colla fiorent : et omni patagio inauratior, qua terga fulgent : et onmi syrmate solutior, qua cauda jacent. Multicolor et discolor et versicolor. ISJunqiiam ipsa, quando alia. Toties deniqm mutanda, quoties movenda." De Pallio, c. iii. 13 So the LXX according to the Alexan- drian manuscript, ramwy. 14 In Comment, de Navig. Salomonis, c. vii. § 6. 15 Diss, de Terra Ophir. Miss. Dis. vi. PEA mann'^, would render it " parrots," and to this, Mr. Harmer''^ is in- clined. Haseus ^^ gives a new ex- plication to the word, supposing it to be the same with succiim, inha- bitants of caves or caverns, and to mean the long-tailed monkey. But the evidence in favour of 'peacocks seems to me to preponderate. The peacock is a bird originally of India ; thence brought into Persia and Media. Aristophanes mentions " Persian peacocks ;" and Suidas calls the peacock, " the Median bird." From Persia, it was gradu- ally dispersed into Judea, Egypt, Greece, and Europe. If the fleet of Solomon visited India, they might easily procure this bird, whether from India itself, or from Persia; and certainly, the bird by its beauty was likely to attract attention, and to be brought among other rarities of natural history by Solomon's emissaries, who would be instructed to collect every curiosity in the countries they visited. '* Let any one (says Mr. Parkhurst) atten- tively survey the peacock in all the glorious display of the prismatic co- lours of his train (mille trahens varios adverso sole colores), and he will not be surprised that Solomon's mari- ners, who cannot be supposed igno- rant of their master's taste for Na- tural History, should bring some of these wonderful birds from their southern expedition." " The Peacock view, still exquisitely fair. When clouds forsake, and when invest the air; His gems now brightened by a noontide ray; He proudly waves his feathers to the day. A strut, majestically slow, assumes. And glories in the beauty of his plumes IV [In Forbes's Oriental Memoirs, it is stated, that the Indian peacock devours serpents.] PEARL. A hard, white, shining body ; usually roundish, found in a shell-fish resembling an oyster. 16 Dis. de Ophir. et Tars. sec. i. $ 23. 17 Obs. V. ii. p. 413. 18 Biblioth. Brem. cl. ii. 19 Devon's Poetical Paraphrase of Job, p. 33. PEA 263 The Oriental pearls have a fine polished gloss, and are tinged with an elegant blush of red. I'hey are esteemed in the East beyond all other jewels. We find this word but once in our common translation of the Old Tes- tament, namely, Job xxviii. 18, an- swering there to the Hebrew word U'^nj GABisH, the meaning of which is very uncertain. The word signifies " hail," large hailstones, Ezek. xiii. 11, 13, and xxxviii. 22 ; and, when applied to precious stones, should seem to refer to a kind resembling hail, in form, or in clearness, or in both : this leads to crystal, rather than to any other ; accordingly, the LXX so render it. The word D"*D^39 PENiNiM, in the same verse, and in Prov. iii. 15; viii. 11; xx. 15; xxxi. 10 ; and Lam, iv. 7, translated ** ru- bies," undoubtedly signifies pearls. The learned Bochart, in an elaborate dissertation on this subject, main- tains this rendering, and remarks, that hence the words Uivva, ttivvl' voQ \i9og, TTivviKov, pinna, are re- tained, in Greek and Latin, either for the pearl oyster, or the pearl itself. Mr. Bruce mentions a shell- fish, which retains the name " pin- na,'' from which is obtained a most beautiful pearl 2<^. He remarks, that " it is tinged with an elegant blush of red." '* Upon the maturest con- sideration, I have no doubt that the pearl found in this shell is the penim, or peninim rather, for it is always spoken of in the plural, to which allusion has often been made in Scripture. And this, derived from its redness, is the true reason of its name. On the contrary, the word pinna has been idly imagined to be derived from penna, a feather, as being broad and round at the top, and ending at a point, or like a quill below. The English translation of the. Scriptures, erroneous and inac- curate in many things more material, translates this peninim by rubies, without any foundation or authority, but because they are both red, as 20 Travels, Vol. vi. p. 276, ed. 8vo. 264 PEL are bricks and tiles, and many other things of base and vile materials. The Greeks have translated it lite- rally pina, or pirma, and the shell they call pinnictis; and many places occur in Strabo, ^lian, Ptolemy, and Theophrastus, which are men- tioned as famous for this species of pearl. I should imagine also, that by Solomon saying it is the most precious of all productions, he means that this species of pearl was the most valued or the best known in Judea. For, though we learn from Pliny, that the excellence of pearls was their whiteness, yet we know that pearls of a yellowish cast are those es- teemed in India to this day, as the peninim or reddish pearl was in Judea in the days of Solomon." II. In the New Testament, pearls are several times mentioned, where the Greek word is fiapyapLTtjg, PELICAN. mpKAATu^i. Occ. Levit. xi. 18 ; Deut. xiv. 17 ; Psalm cii. 7 ; Isai. xxxiv. 11 ; and Zeph. ii. 14. A very remarkable aquatic bird, of the size of a large goose. Its colour is a grayish white, except that the neck looks a little yellowish, 21 As nap KAATH, signifies to vomit up) the name is supposed to be very descrip- tive of the pelican, who receives its food into the pouch under its lower jaw, and, by pressing it on its breast with its bill, throws it up for the nourishment of its j'oung. [The proper name of this bird in Arabic, is djimmel el bahar, the river-camel. It is also called sarcarry water-carrier ; con- nected with which appellation is the legend , that once, when Mohammed was oppressed with thirst, water was brought to him by a pelican.] PEL and the middle of the back feathers are blackish. The bill is long, and hooked at the end, and has under it a lax membrane, extended to the throat, which makes a bag or sack, capable of holding a very large quantity. Feeding her young from this bag, has so much the appearance of feeding them with her own blood, that it caused this fabulous opinion to be propagated, and made the pelican an emblem of paternal, as the stork had before been chosen, more justly, of filial affection. The voice of this bird is harsh and dissonant; and, some, say, re- sembles that of a man grievously complaining. David compares his groaning to it. Psalm cii. 7. On this passage Mr. Merrick remarks, that •' the Hebrew word riNp kaath, which occurs several times in scrip- ture as the name of a bird, is here translated by the Septuagint, Apol- linaris, the Vulgate, and Jerom, tlie pelican ; but elsewhere, by the last of them, the onocrotalus ; which is called so by the Greeks, and by the the Arabians the water camel, from its loud and harsh noise. Sir George Wheeler, in his journey into Greece 22, describes, from his own inspection, a bird which we, as he says, call the pelican, and the mo- dern Greeks, toubana ; and which Mr. Spon thought the onocrotalus. It may, I imagine, have that name from the word rslSa, the same in modern Greek with the Latin tuba, with reference to the noise it makes ; as the bittern is observed by Bochart to be called in Italian, on the same account, trombone, from the sound of a trumpet. Bochart thinks that the onocrotalus may rather be the cos, which occurs in the verse of the Psalmist ; and, consequently, that some other bird is meant by kaath. But, as his explanation of the word cos does not seem sufficiently sup- ported, I see no necessity for depart- ing from the ancient versions above mentioned." Mr. Merrick has there- fore retained the word pelican in his 22 Page 304. PEL translation of the passage, and says, that he does it with the more confi- dence, as it has in our language been applied, by writers of great note, to the onocrotalus. That it was an- ciently so applied, (which circum- stance may perhaps reconcile Je- rom's different versions of kaath,) is allowed by Bochart himself^^, who quotes Oppian's Exeutica, of which a Greek paraphrase is extant, for the use of the word. Mr. Ray, in his Nomenclator Classicus, says, that the onocrotalus is now acknowledged to be a far different bird from the bittern, with which some moderns have confounded it, and to be that which we call in English the peli- can 2*. Hasselquist gives an account of this bird under the name of pele- canus onocrotalus'^^. Professor Mi- chaelis thinks the same^^. If the name pelican strictly means the spoonbill, (which, as we may collect from this learned writer's words, is the opinion of foreign naturalists,) and not the onocrotalus, it may be necessary to obviate a difficulty raised by Bochart, who thinks that the bird mentioned by the Psalmist ought to be a clamorous bird, but finds no account of noise made by the pelican. Dr. Hill says, that the spoonbill is as common in some parts of the Low Countries, as rooks are in England, and makes more noise. I would also just observe that, though a considerable number of ancient interpreters, above quoted, give us the pelican in this text in Psalms, M. Michaelis seems mistaken in adding to their authority that of Aquila : neither Montfaucon's Hex- apla nor Trommius directs us to any text in which Aquila has translated the word kaath. As the kaath seems to be a water bird, it may be asked, why it is said to inhabit the desert, which may be supposed destitute of 23 Hieroz. p. 2. 1. 2. c. 20. 24 See likewise Sir T. Brown's Vulg. Er. 5. 1. Willoughby, Ornith. b. 3. sec. 2. c. 1. •^ Trav. p. 208. quoting Lin. Syst. Nat. p. 132. n. 1. ■■* Recueil des Questions, &c. Q. 100. P H CE 265 water? To this Bochart answers, that all deserts are not so ; as three lakes are placed by Ptolemy in the inner parts of Marmarica, which are extremely desert ; and the Israelites are said to have met with the waters of Marah and the fountains of Elim in the deserts of Arabia, Exod. xv. 23, 27. We may add, that, in a passage of Isidore^, the pelican is said to live in the solitudes of the river Nile : which circumstance well agrees with Dr. Shaw's supposition^", that the prophet Amos might with sufficient propriety call the Nile a river of the wilderness '^^. And it may be further remarked, that it appears from Damir, quoted by Bo- chart, that the onocrotalus does not always remain in the water, but sometimes retires far from it. And, indeed, its enormous pouch seems to be given it for this very reason, that it might not want food for itself and its young ones when at a dis- tance from the water. PHCENIX. The expression of Job, xxix. 18, *' Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand," — has been understood by some of the ancient interpreters to be an allusion to the phcenix, which is said to live several hundred years, and to expire in a funeral pile, prepared by itself, of frankincense, and myrrh, and other aromatics, from whidi arises another phoenix. The Jewish rabbins, who are fond of fabulous explications, were the first to pro- pose this interpretation^" ; and some of the Christian fathers adopted it. Thus,Tertullian quotes it (DeResur. c. xiii.) as an image of the resur- rection ; as does also Epiphanius (Physiologo, c. xi.). See also the Apostolical Constitutions, 1. v. c. 7 ; Greg. Nazianz. Carm. 3 ; Origen. 27 Lib. 12. c. 7. quoted in Martinns's Lexic. Philolog. 28 Trav. p. 288, and 290. ed. 28. ■29 See Merrick's Annot. on Psalrn cii. 30 See R. Osaja in Beresciiit Rabba ; Midras Samuel, sect. xii. Fomarius in iibr. Tsemach. and S. .Tarchi, whom the autlior of the Tigurin version t'oilow8. o 266 PHclesiasticus, xiv. 9 ; and was the principal orna- ment of the stately columns of So- lomon's temple. A section of the apple gives a fine resemblance of a beautiful cheek. Cantic. iv. 3. The PRE inside is full of small keraels, reple- nished with a generous liquor. In short, there is scarcely any part of the pomegranate which does not de- light and recreate the senses. ** Wine of the pomegranates," Can tic. viii. 1, may mean, either wine acidulated with the juice of pomegranates, which the Turks about Aleppo still mix for this pur- pose ^^ : or rather wine made of the juice of pomegranates, of which. Sir John Chardin sajs, they still make considerable quantities in the East, particularly in Persia ^^. POPLAR. rT2lb LIBNIH. Occ. Gen. xxx. 37, and Hosea iv. 13. PUL 269 The white poplar, so called from the whiteness of its leaves, bark, and wood. In both the above places, the Vulgate interprets it poplar ; in the latter, the LXX and Aquila ren- der it \iVKriQy white (i. e. poplar), but in the former, it is rendered pa[3dov arvapaKLvrjv, a rod ofstyrax, by the LXX ; and Michaelis adopts this. PRECIOUS STONES. The fol- lowing enumeration of the precious stones, is extracted from an ancient English poet, principally on account of its reference to passages of Scrip- ture. 38 Russell, Nat. Hist, of Aleppo, p. 107. 39 Harmer's Obs. V. i. p. 377. ** 'Tis thHs rapacious misers swell their store ; To diamonds diamonds add, and ore to ore : Turquoises next, their weaker minds sur- prise. Rich, deeply azured, like Italian skies. Then are the fiery rubies to be seen40. And emeralds tinctured with the rainbow's green 41, Translucent beryl^'i, flame-eyed clirysolite^. And ■yar^^ywyi', refresher of the sight 44. With these the empurpled amethyst com- bines 45, And topaz, vein'd with rivulets, mildly shines." Harte. PULSE. >bp KALI. Occ. Levit. xxiii. 14; Ruth ii. 14 ; 1 Sam. xvii. 17 ; and 2 Sam. xvii. 28. A term applied to those grains or seeds which grow in pods, as beans, peas, vetches, &c. from *jis PirjL, a bean. The Vulgate renders this hali, in 2 Sam. xvii. 28, "J'rixum cicer,*' '* parched peas." j\ow Dr. Shaw informs us, that the cicer garavan^-os, or chich-pea, are in the greatest re- pute after they are parched in pans or ovens; then receiving the name of lehlebby. This seems to be of the greatest antiquity, for Plautus, Bacch. act iv. seen, v., speaks of it as very common in his time : ** Tarn frictum ego ilium reddam^ quam fric- tum est cicer.'* And Horace, Be Art. Poet. 249, men- tions it as the food of the poorer Romans : *' Si quid fricti ciceris probat, et nucit emptor." The like observation we meet with in Aristophanes, speaking of a country clown, who was avOpaiciiliiov ToifpsfiivOov, parching cicers. II. In Daniel i. 12, 16, the word rendered " pulse," D^yiT zeroim, may- signify seeds in general. Various kinds of grain were dried and pre- pared for food by the people of the 40 " Nazarites more ruddy than rubies." Lam. iv. 7. 41 ** A rainbow in sight, like an emerald." Rev. iv. 3. 42 Dan. X. 6 ; Rev. xxi. 20. 43 Ezek. xxviii. 44 Rev. xxi. 20. 45 Ex. xxviii. 19w 270 PUR East, as wheat, barley, peas, &c. ; of the nature and preparation whereof some curious remarks may be seen in Harmer's Observations, Vol. i. p. 271. PURPLE. p3"lN ARGAMAN. Occ. Exod. XXV. 4, and elsewhere frequently. nOPYPA, Mark xv. 17, 20 ; Luke xvi. 19 ; John xix. 2, 5; and Rev. xvii. 4 ; xviii. 12, 16. This is supposed to be the very precious colour extracted from the purpura or murex, a species of shell- fish ; and the same with the famous Tyrian dye, so costly, and so much celebrated in antiquity ^^. The pur- ple dye is called in 1 Maccab. iv. 23, ♦• purple of the sea," or sea pur- ple ; it being the blood or juice of a turbinated shell-fish, which the Jews call iiibn CHALsoN. See Blue and Scarlet. Among the blessings pronounced by Moses upon the tribes of Israel, those of Zebulon and Issachar (Deut. xxxiii. 19), are, " they shall suck of the abundance of the seas, and of the treasures hid in the sand." Jonathan Ben Uzziel explains the latter clause thus : ** From the sand are produced looking-glasses, and glass in general ; the treasures, the method of finding and working which, was revealed to these tribes." Seve- ral ancient writers inform us, that there were havens in the coasts of the Zebulonites, in which the sand proper for making glass was found. The words of Tacitus are remark- able : " £t Belus amnis Judaico mari illahitur, circa ejus os lectce arena admixto nitro in vitrum exco- quuntur." The river Belus falls into the Jewish sea, about whose mouth those sands mixed with nitre are col- lected, out of which glass is formed^''. But it seems much more natural to 46 See this largely described, and the manner of dyeing with it, in Fliny, N. Hist. 1. 9. c. 60—65, ed. Bipont. Goguet, Orig. of Laws, Arts, &c. V. ii. p. 98. Jswinburne, in his Travels through the Sicilies, gives a particular account of this dye. Sect. 31. 1' Stnibo, 1. xvi. Plin. N. H. 1. xxxvi. c. 26. TaciU Hist. I. v., c. 7. P YG explain the treasures hid in the sand, of those highly valuable murices and purpura', which were found on the sea-coast, near the country of Zebu- lon and Issachar, and of which those tribes partook in common with their heathen neighbours of Tyre, wha rendered the curious dyes made from those shell-fish so famous among the Romans by the names of" Sarranum ostrum," and " Tyrii colores." In reference to the purple vest- ment, Luke xvi. 19, it may be ob- served, that this was not appro- priately a royal robe. In the earlier times, it was the dress of any of higher rank. Thus all the courtiers were styled by the historians, " pur- purati.'' This colour is more pro- perly crimson than purple ; for the LXX, Josephus, and Philo, con- stantly use TTopcpvpav, to express the Hebrew p3^^<, by which the Talmudists understood crimson : and that this Hebrew word was not the Tyrian purple, but brought to that city from another country, appears from Ezek. xxvii. 7'*^ The purple robe put on our Sa- viour, John xix. 2, 5, was according to a P.oman custom; the dressing of a person in the robes of state, being the investiture of office : and the robe was brought by Herod's or the Ro- man soldiers, scoffingly, as though it had been the " pict(e vestes'* usually sent by the Roman senate. In Acts xvi. 14, Lydia is said to be " a seller of purple." Mr. Harmer styles purple, " the most sublime of all earthly colours, having the gaudiness of red, of which it retains a shade, softened with the gravity of blue." PYGARG. iwn dishon. Occ. Deut. xiv. 5, only. The word pygarg is from the Sep- tuagint, TTvyapyog, which signifies white buttocks. Dr. Shaw in his Descr. of Barbary, says : " Besides the common gazelle or antelope, 48 For curious information respecting the purple dye of the ancients, I refer to Goguet, Vol. ii. p. 98—103. QUA (which is well known in Europe,) this country likewise produces an- other species, of the same shape and colour, though of the bigness of our roebuck, and with horns sometimes two feet long. This, the Africans call Lidmee; and it may, I presume, be the Strepsichoriis and Addace of the ancients. Bochart, from the sup- posed whiteness of the buttocks, finds a great affinity between the Addace I have mentioned and the QUA 271 Dison, which our translation ren- ders * pygarg,' after the Septuagint and Vulgate versions." [The Arabic translators consider a species of wild goat to be intended. Geseaius sup- poses the word to be derived from Vn, to spring or leap ; and supposes a species of gazelle or antelope to be referred to. The animal next mentioned in the text, rendered wild ox by our translators, is probably the oryx. See Ox.] Q QUAIL, -bw sELAv. [OprvK. Josephus. OprtJyofjLTjTpa. LXX.] Occ. Exod. xvi. 13; Numb. xi. 31, 32 ; and Psalm cv. 10. A bird of the gallinaceous kind. Hasselquist, mentioning the quail of the larger kind, says : " It is of the size of the turtle-dove. I have met with it in the wilderness of Pales- tine, near the shores of the Dead Sea and the Jordan, between Jordan and Jericho, and in the deserts of Arabia Petrasa. If the food of the Israelites was a bird, this is certainly it ; being so common in the places through which they passed." It is recorded, that God gave quails to his people in the wilderness upon two occasions. First, within a few days after they had passed the Red Sea, Exod. xvi. 3—13. The second time was at the encampment at the place called in Hebrew, Kibroth Hattaavah, the graves of lust. Numb, xi. 32 ; Psalm cv. 40. Both of these happened in the spring, when the quails passed from Asia into Europe. They are then to be found in great quantities upon the coast of the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. God caused a wind to arise, that drove them within and about the camp of the Israelites : and it is in this that the miracle consisted, that they were brought so seasonably to this place, and in so great number as to fur- nish food for above a million of per- sons for more than a month. The Hebrew word shalav, signifies a quail, by the agreement of the an- cient interpreters. And the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic languages call them nearly by the same name**^. The Septuagint and most of the Com- mentators, both ancient and modern, understand it in the same manner; and with them agree Philo (de Vita Mosis, 1. 1) ; Josephus (Antiq. 1. iii. c. i. § 12) ; Appollinaris, and the Rabbins. But Ludolphus^^ has en- deavoured to prove that a species of locust is spoken of by Moses. Dr. Shaw^* answers, that the holy Psalmist, in describing this particu- lar food of the Israelites, by calling the dimm3.]s feathered fowls, entirely confutes this supposition. And it should be recollected, that this mi- 49 For the Arabic name salria, see Her- belot. Bibl. Orient, p. 477, and Sale's Koran, c. ii. p. 11, V. i. edit. 8vo. note. 50 Comment, ad Hist. .Ethiop. p. 168. 51 Trav. p. 189, 2d edit. ?72 RAM racle was performed in compliance with the wish of the people that they might hdive Jiesh to eat. But, not to insist on other argu- ments, they are expressly called iNir SHEER, |/?es/<, Psalm Ixxviii. 27, which surely locusts are not: and the Hebrew word is constantly ren- dered by the Septuagint, oprvyofirj- rpa, a large kind of quail, and by the Vulgate, " coturnices," quails. Com. Wisd.xvi.2; xix. 12 ; Numb. xi. 31, 32 ; and Psalm cv.40. As to Numb. xi. 31, observe, that D^DDND KEAMATHAYiM should be rendered, not " two cubits high," but, as Mr. Bate translates it, " two cubits dis- tant, i. e. one from another; for quails do not settle, like the locusts, one upon another, but at small dis- tances." *' And (says Mr. Park- hurst) had the quails lain for a day's journey round the camp, to the great height oitwo cubits, upwards of three feet, the people could not have been employed two days and a night in gathering them. The spreading them round the camp, was in order to dry them in the burning sands for use, which is still practised in Egypt *2^" s'i [Mohammed, speaking of the miracle in the Koran, uses the Arabic terra salva, which is explained by one of his commen- tators as the same as the samatii (in Persian aamavah) the quail. Niebuhr, without being aware of this, states, that he heard much talk in Arabia of two species of birds which are highly valued by the Arabs, called the salva and the iumana. The former he understood to be a bird of pas- sage of the rail species. The mmana, which has obtained that name from its re- markable obesity, is either the same bird as the sdav or salva^ or of the same genus. RAM I shall subjoin another authority which Ludolphus himself was de- sirous of consulting, as it is produced by Mr. Maundrell, in his Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem. Ludol- phus, when Mr. Maundrell visited him at Jb'rankfort, recommended this to him as a subject of inquiry when he should come to Naplosa (the an- cient Sichem), where the Samari- tans live. Mr. Maundrell accord- ingly asked their chief priest, what sort of animal he took the selavim to be : he answered, that they were a sort of fowls ; and by the descrip- tion, Mr. Maundrell perceived that he meant the same kind with our quails. He was then asked, what he thought of locusts, and whether the history might not be better ac- counted for, supposing them to be the winged creatures which fell so thick about the camp of Israel. By his answer it appeared that he had never heard of any such hypothe- sis^^. The [imaginary] difficulties which encumber the text, supposing these to be quails, led Bishop Patrick also to imagine them to be locusts. But his opinion is ably confuted by Har- mer, Obs. Vol. iv. p. 567 ; as is that of Ludolphus by Paxton, in " Illus- trations of Scripture," Vol. ii. pp. 84-101. Josephus, who renders the word by the Greek term ofrjj, remarks that the Arabian gulf is peculiarly favourable to the breed- ing of these birds. Pliny and others men- tion their astonishing numbers; and Dio- dorus describes the manner in which they were caught near Rhinocorura, in terms similar to those of the sacred historian.] 53 Merrick, Annot. in Psalm cv. 40. R RAMS-SKINS, RED. dVn my □"•mNO OROTII EYLIM MEADAMIM. Occ. Exod. XXV. 5. Dr. Adam Clarke, in his note on this place, observes, that '* this phrase is literally, the skins of red ram€ ;" &nd adds : — " it is a fact, at- tested by many respectable travel- lers, that in the Levant, sheep are often to be met with that have red or violet coloured fleeces : and al- most all ancient writers speak of the same thing. Homer, Odyss. 1. ix. V. 425, describes the rams of Polyphemus, as having a violet co- loured fleece. RA V *' Strong were the rams with native purple fair, Well fed, and largest of the fleecy care." Pope. ** Pliny, Aristotle, and others, men- tion the same : and from facts of this kind, it is very probable, that the fable of the golden Jieece had its origin." Without pretending to dispute these authorities, I am rather dis- posed to understand the original as referring to skins tanned or coloured in dressing, RAVEN, my oreb. Chald. orba. Syr. croac ^^. Lat. corvus. Occ. Gen. viii. 7; Levit. xi. 15; Deat. xiv. 14 ; 1 Kings xvii. 4. 6 ; Job xxxviii. 41 ; Psalm cxlvii. 9 ; Prov. XXX. 17 ; Cantic. v. 11 ; Isai. xxiv. 11. KOPaS, Luke xii. 24, only. RA V 273 A well-known bird of prey. All the interpreters agree, that oreb sig- nifies the raven, from orehy evening, on account of its colour. M. Mi- chaelis, in proposing a question re- specting certain birds, says of the oreb : " J/ ei>t decide, que c'est le cor- beau ; il seroit done superflu de le de- mander. Mais je desirerois plus de certitude sur le nom Syriaque des cor- beaux." — One can hardly doubt that it is taken from the note of this bird. I. On the decrease of the waters of the flood, so that the tops of the mountains became visible, Noah sent forth out of one of the windows of the ark, a raven, a bold adven- 54 Anglice croak. Mr. Forskal mentions a raven, ghoreb, which lives on carrion. This being the oreb of the Hebrews, shews the pronunciation of tliat word. turous bird, by way of experiment, to see whether the waters were sunk or abated. Forty days the violent rain had continued ; and he might think this therefore a likely time for the waters to run off again. In the original text, in the Samaritan, the Chaldee, and the Arabic, it is said that the raven returned to the ark ; but the Greek interpreters, the Syriac, the Latin, and most of the eminent fathers and commentators say, that he did not return any more. Here are great authorities on both sides ; but the latter reading, thougli so contrary in sense to the other, yet, in the Hebrew, is not very dif- ferent in the form of the letters *^ and appears to be the better reading of the two. For, if the raven had returned, what occasion had Noah to send forth a dove? or why did he not take the raven back into the ark, as he did afterwards the dove ? or why did he not send forth the same raven again, as he did afterwards the same dove again ! It is not improperly expressed in our Translation, that ** the raven went forth to and fro," flying hither and thither, " until the waters were dried up from off the face of the earth." He found, perhaps, in the higher grounds, some of the carcasses of those who had perished in the deluge ^. II. Many have thought that the prophet Elijah was, in his retirement, fed by this bird. But a writer in the Memoirs of Literature, for April, . 1710^7^ shews from many authors, ^ " ?ii^egue scripturd multnm differtint mun Kl!;^ et :i^Mr i&>\ Nam van et jod in veteribus manttscriptis litters svnt tarn similes, tit sapissii^fie permutentur. Et lamed a tsade fere solo d^nu differt ; quod tsade dextrtim habet et derhissus, lamed sinistrum et elatius, Sciunt quid velim, qui Rabbino- rum lectioni a^suevervnt. Hinc igitur, nisi fallor, diverse lectionis et versionis horum verboritm vera est origo." Bochart, Hieroz. pars post. lib. ii. c. 13. col. 212. Tom. ii. p. 803. edit. RosenmuUer. 56 Bp. Newton's Diss. v. ii. p. 114. 57 See also H. Von der Hart, ih a work entitled, " Renards de Samson, Machoire d'Ane, Corbeaux d'Ellie, &c. Heimst. 1707.?' This opinion was tirst advocated 3 274 RAVEN. that there was in the country oi Bethshan, in Decapolis, by the brook Cherith or Carith, a little town called Aorabi or Orbo : Judges vii. 23; and Isai. x. 6. And he therefore explains the word orebim, which in 1 Kings xvii. 4, we trans- late " ravens/^ of the inhabitants of that village, some of whom, he con- tends, daily carried bread and flesh to Elijah, who had retired to and lay hid in a cave in the neighbourhood. And he supports this interpretation by the opinions of Chaldee, Arabic, and Jewish writers. On the other hand, Scheuchzer vindicates the commonly received opinion. He introduces his exami- nation of this piece of history with the following remark : " Two sorts of critics are apt to occasion displea- sure to the orthodox ; those who re- ducing the miracles of Holy Scripture to a mere nothing, deny or diminish the power of God over the opera- tions of nature, to varj them at his pleasure ; and those who, desirous of discovering the truth, and with the utmost veneration for truth when discovered, seek new explications of things, and depart from received in- terpretations : the latter often meet with stronger blame than they de- serve, a severity even to injustice." — He proceeds to state, that he does not think the orebim of the Hebrew means the inhabitants of a town called Oreb, nor a troop of Arabs called Orbim, but the birds, ravens. The Editor of Calmet,in the Ap- pendix, under the article " Elijah," has some pertinent observations on this subject. ** We ought to con- sider," says he, " 1. That Ahab sought Elijah with avidity, and took an oath of every people, no doubt also in his dominions, that he was not concealed among its inhabitants ; his situation therefore required the utmost privacy, even to solitude. 2. That when the brook Cherith by Rabbi Jehudah, and afterwards by J. F. Schmidt, Dissert. Elias corvorum alumn. Altorf. Nov. 1718, and is solidly refuted by Rekud, Piila^stina, p. 194. was dried up, the prophet was ob- liged to quit his asylum, which he needed not to have done, had a people been his suppliers, for they could have brought him water as well as food. " Let us now suppose for a mo- ment, that Elijah was concealed in some rocky or mountainous spot, where passengers never strayed ; and here a number of voracious birds had built their nests, on the trees which grew around it, or on the pro- jections of the rocks, &c. These flying every day to procure food for their young, the prophet availed himself of a part of what they brought; and while they, obeying the dictates of nature, designed only to provide for their ofi*spring, divine providence directed them to pro- vide at the same time for the wants of Elijah ; so that what he gathered, whether from their nests, what they dropped, or brought to him, or oc- casionally from both means, was enough for his daily support. And the orebim furnished him bread (or flesh) in the morning ; and bread (or Jlesh) in the evening. But I rather think, there being a good many of them, some might furnish him bread (i. e. grain), and others flesh ; and vice versa, at dift'erent times ; so that a little from each made up his soli- tary, but satisfactory meal. To such straits was the exiled prophet driven, and such was the dependence of this zealous man of God ! " As to God's commanding the Orebim, it is a mode of speech used where vocal commands were not employed." 111. It has been said, that when the raven sees its young newly hatched, and covered with a white down, or pen-feathers, it conceives such an aversion for them, that it forsakes them, and does not return to its nest till after they are co- vered with black feathers. It is to this, they say, the Psalmist makes allusion when he says, Psalm cxlvii, 9., The Lord giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry; And Job xxxviii. 41. Who provideth for the raven his food ? When his young ones cry unto GOD, wandering for want of meat. But those who have more diligently ex- amined the nature of birds, are not agreed about this fact, which indeed has too much the air of a fable to be credited without good proofs. Vos- sius says*^ that it is the extreme voracity of the joung ravens that makes the old ones sometimes for- sake their nests, when they find themselves not able to satisfy them. Others will have it, that this pro- ceeds only from the forgetfulness of the old ravens, that they think no longer of returning to their nests, in order to feed their young. Others imagine, that Job and the Psalmist allude to what is said by some na- turalists*^, that the ravens drive out their young ones early from their nests, and oblige them to seek food for their own sustenance. The same kind providence which furnishes support to his intelligent offspring, is not unmindful of the wants, or in- attentive to the desires of the meanest of his creatures. " Lo, the young ravens, from their nest ex- iled. On hunger's wing attempt the aerial wild ! Who leads their wanderings, and their feast supplies? To God ascend their importuning cries 60." Christ instructs his disciples, from the same circumstance, to trust in the care and kindness of Heaven. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, neither have storehouse, nor barn ; and God feedeth them. How much better are ye than the fowls. Luke xii. 24. The blackness of the raven has long been proverbial. It is alluded to in Can tic. v. 11. Solomon, speaking of the peculiar regard and veneration due to the worthy persons and salutary instruc- 58 Voss. de idol. 1. 3. c. 84. and Vales, de sac. phil c 55. 5» Plin. 1. 10. c. 12. iElian, I. 11. c. 49. Arist. 1. 2. c. 41. 60 Scott. RAVEN. 275 tions of parents, observes, that an untimely fate and the want of decent interment may be expected from the contrary: and that the leering eye which throws wicked contempt on a good father, and insolent disdain on a tender mother, shall be dug out of the unburied, exposed corpse by the ravens of the valley, and eaten up by the young eagles. Prov. XXX. 17^^ It was a common punishment in the East, and one which the orientals dreaded above all others, to expose in the open fields the bodies of evil doers, that had suffered by the laws of their offended country, to be devoured by the beasts of the field and the fowls of heaven. The wise man insinu- ates, that the raven makes his first and keenest attack on the eye ; which perfectly corresponds to his habits, for he always begins his banquet with that part. Isidore says of him, " Primo in cadaveribus oculum petit;'* and Epictetus, Oi /iter KOQaKtQ tiov Tere\evTi]KOT(ov rag o^OaXfiaQ Xu- ixaivovrai, the ravens devour the ei/es of the dead. Many other testimonies might be adduced ; but these are sufiicient to justify the allusion in the proverb. The raven, it is well known, de- lights in solitude. He frequents the ruined tower or the deserted habi- tation. In the prophecy of Isaiah, xxxiv. 11, it is accordingly foretold, that the raven, with other birds of similar dispositions, should fix his abode in the desolate houses of Edom. ** The cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl and the raven shall dwell in it : and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emp- tiness." The prophet Zephaniah, ii. 14, in like manner, makes the raven croak over the perpetual desolations of Nineveh. " Both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it ; their voice shall * Hie prior in cadaveribus oculum petit. *' Isiodor. orig. I. 12. c. 7. * Effbssos oculos vorat corttis." Catui. ep. 105. v. .'». n6 REE sing in the windows ; desolation shall lie in the thresholds." In the Septuagint and other versions, the Hebrew word for " desolation" [cho- reb] is rendered raven. The mean- ing is, that in those splendid palaces, where the voice of joy and gladness was heard, and every sound which could ravish the ear and subdue the heart, silence was, for the wicked- ness of their inhabitants, to hold her reign for ever, interrupted only by the scream of the cormorant and the croaking of the raven ^^. REED. pDnN AGMON. KaXa- fiog. Occ. Job xl. 21 ; xli. 2, 20; Isai. ix. 14; xix. 15; Iviii. 5; Matth. xi. 7; and several times in the New Testament. A plant growing in fenny and watery places ; very weak and slen- der, and bending with the least breath of wind. Cora. Matth. xi. 7 ; Luke vii. 24. Thus, in 1 Kings xiv. l5, it is threatened : " The Lord shall smite Israel as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of the good land which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their idol groves, pro- voking him to anger." The slen- demess and fragility of the reed is mentioned 2 Kings xviii. 20 ; Isai. xxxvi. 6 ; and is referred to in Matth. xii. 20, where the remark, illustrating the gentleness of our Saviour, is quoted from the prophecy of Isaiah, xlii. 3. — The Hebrew word in these places, however, is n'sp ka- NEH, as also in Job xl. 21 ; Isai. xix. 6 ; XXXV. 7 ; and Ezek. xxix. 6. See Cane. [The Greek word KaXafjLOQ, like the Hebrew kujieh, is a generic term, used with considerable latitude, as denoting any stalk of grain, reed, or vegetable pipe. One species] was used for writing^, and hence called 62 Paxton, Illustr. v. 2. p. 37. 63 « Arundines tenues, intus cav(Cy extus glabm,fiixco ruhentes, quibus Turca et Maun pro calamis srriptoriis utuntw, pennarimi an- REE " Calamus Scriptorivs,'' and answers to the word in our translation ren- dered " pen :" as 3 John, verse 13, *' I have many things to write unto thee, but I will not with pen (icaXajLta) and ink." The Alexandrian manu- script is (Txoivog, juncus. So, in Jerem. viii. 8, KaXajjiog, in the LXX, answers to the Hebrew word ^v oiTH. In the third book of Macca- bees, it is remarked, that the writers employed in making a list of the Jews in Egypt, produced their reeds quite worn out. This usage was common among the ancients. Thu& Persius, Sat. iii. " Inque manus charta, nodosaqve venit arun- do." The English word pen comes from the Latin penna ; but the use of quills for writing is a modern inven- tion. The first authentic testimony of their being applied to this use, is in Isiodorus, who died in A. D. 636. The long stalk of the reed was also used for a measuring rod ^. Comp. Rev. xi. 1 ; xxi. 15, 16, with Ezek. xl. 5. Also for a balance, Isai. xlvi. 6, probably after the man- ner of the steel-yard, whose arm or beam was a graduated reed. [A calamus rod or reed was put into the hand of our Lord, as a mock sceptre. Matth. xxvii. 29 ; Mark xv. 19.] A reference to this article enables •me to correct two passages in the book of Job, to which our English version does not do justice. The first is the second verse of chapter xii. ; where the word is translated '** hook," but means a thong or rope of rushes. The passage should have been rendered thus : Say, canst thou tie up his mouth with « rush-rope. And bore his jaw through with a thorn 'f The muzzle was to secure his mis- chievous jaws, and the thorn to make it fast, and prevent its slipping oflT, serinarum usum ignorantes : Syringes sen Fistularis Dioscoridis." Rauwolf, Hodoep. p. i. c. 8. p. 97. 64 " Altitudine 6 vel 8 ulnar, excresciint." Forskal. RIC by pinning it to his cheeks. Thus the Greek word (T')(olvoq, which properly signifies a bull-rush, is also used for a rope^^; and the Latin word juncus, a bull-rush, ajungendo, from joining, for the same reason. We even retain the word in English, Junk, an old rope. And Hasselquist observes, that of the leaves of one sort of reed, which grows near the Nile, the P^gyptians now make ropes. " They lay them in water, like hemp, and then make good and strong cables of them, which, with the bark of the date-tree, are almost the only cable used in the Nile." The second instance is in the 20th verse, where the word is rendered '* caldron." It should be. Out of his nostrils issueth smoke. And the rushes are kindled before it6<>. See Bull-rush, Cane. RICPl ( Oryza Sativa. ) A plant very much resembling wheat in its shape and colour, and the figure and disposition of its leaves ; but it has a thicker and stronger stalk. Its seed is extremely farinaceous. It thrives only in low, damp, and marshy lands, when they are even a little overflowed. It has been wondered why rice, which, as Dr. Arbuthnot observes, is *' the food of two thirds of man- kind," should never have been enu- merated among the grains of Scrip- ture ; especially as it is cultivated in most Eastern countries, and at present so much abounds in Egypt. A passage, however, in Isai. xxxii. 20, according to Sir John Chardin's manuscript note on the place, exactly answers to the manner of planting rice ; for they sow it upon the water : and before sowing, while the earth is covered with water, they cause the ground to be trodden by oxen, horses, and asses, who go mid-leg deep ; and this is the way of preparing the ground for sowing. As they sow 65 Hence our English word, skein. 66 Ovid did not scruple to describe the enraged doar in figures equally bold : " Fulmen ab ore venit , frondesque ah fiatihus ardent" ROE 277 the rice on the water, they trans- plant it in the water^^, Xhis will explain Eccles. xi. 1. Dr. Shaw supposes that the word nrJDD cussEMETH, translated rye, Exod. ix. 31, should have been ren- dered rice. The same word is ren- dered ^tc/j^s, Ezek. iv. 9. But the LXX, Theodotion, and Aquila, ren- der it zea or spelt; and this Park- hurst considers as its true mean- ing. ROE. nv TSEBi^^ Arab, dsabi. Chald. tabitha. Persic, zcebejat [Me- ninski, 3168]. Occ. Deut. xii. 15, 22 ; xiv. 5 ; XV. 22; 1 Kings iv. 23; 1 Chron. xii. 8 ; 2 Sam. ii. 18 ; Prov. vi. 5; Cantic. ii. 7, 9, 17; iii. 5; iv. 5; vii. 3; viii. 14; Isai. xiii. 14. A0PKA2, Ecclesiasticus, xxvii. 20. A small animal of the deer kind, being only three feet four inches long, and somewhat more than two feet in height. The horns are from eight to nine inches long, upright, round, and divided into three branch- es. The body is covered with long hair : the lower part of each hair is ash colour ; near the end is a narrow bar of black, tipped with ash colour. The ears are long ; the insides of a 67 Harmer*s Obs. i. v. i. p. 280. Lowth's Isaiah, notes. 68 [In the Sichuana language, spoken by the numerous tribes of the interior of Southern Africa, the spring-bok (antelope pygarga) is called tzebi, the Hebrew name. It is the swiftest and most beautiful of all the South African species.] 278 ROE. pale yellow, and covered with long hair. The chest, belly, legs, and inside of the thighs are of a yellowish white; the rump of a pure white. The tail is very short. The form of the roe-buck is ele- gant, and its motions light and easy. It bounds seemingly without effort, and runs with great swiftness. When hunted, it endeavours to elude its pursuers by the most subtle artifices : it repeatedly returns upon its former steps, till, by various windings, it has entirely confounded the scent. The cunning animal then, by a sud- den spring, bounds to one side ; and, lying close down upon its belly, per- mits the hounds to pass by, without offering to stir. They do not keep together in herds, like other deer, but live in separate families. The sire, the dam, and the young ones associate toge- ther, and seldom mix with others. It may, however, be questioned, whether this animal was a native of those southern countries : Pliny says, that it was not^^. The Greek name, dorcas, may as well be understood of the gazelle, or antelope, which is very common all over Greece, Syria, the Holy Land, Egypt^^, and Bar- bary. It may be further urged, that the characteristics attributed to the dor- cas, both in sacred and profane his- tory, will very well agree with the gazelle. Thus Aristotle describes it to be ** the smallest of the horned animals," asit certainly is, beingeven smaller than the roe. It wss cele- brated as having fine eyes; and they are so to a proverb. The damsel whose name was Tahiiha, which is by inter- pretation, Dorcas, spoken of Acts ix. 06, might be so called from this parti- cular feature and circumstance. Asa- 69 Jn Jifricam ant em nee esse apros, nee cervos, nee capreas, nee ursos." Lib. viii. c. 58. 70 [** In passing by the pyramid called Pharaoh's Seat, we saw six gazelles at some distance from us. There are a great number in these deserts. This animal is the antelope of the Scriptures." Davison's papers in Walpole's " Memoirs relating to Turkey," p. 360.] hel, likewise, is said, 2 Sam. ii. 18, to be as swift of foot as the tzebi; and few creatures exceed the antelope in swiftness. This animal also is iu great esteem among the eastern na- tions for food; its flesh having a sweet musky taste, which is highly agreeable to their palates ; and there- fore might well be received as one of the dainties at Solomon's table. 1 Kings iv. 23. If, then, we lay all these circum- stances together, they will appear to be much more applicable to the gazelle or antelope, which is a quad- ruped well known and gregarious, than to the roe, which was either not known at all, or else very rare in those countries. Its exquisite beauty probably gave it its name, which signifies loveli- ness'^^. When the Arabians intend to de- scribe a beauty, they make use of several similitudes. They compare her face to the mild majesty of the moon, &c. &c. Amongst others, a most remarkable and common ex- pression of this kind is, when they compare her eyes to those of a rock- goat, which is a very common animal in Syria and Palestine. Hasselquist thinks this comparison more remark- able, because Solomon, in his Can- ticles'7^ uses some, taken from the same animal ; and he concludes that we have every reason to suppose the doe of the royal lover, the rock-goat "^^ The beauty of the animal, its being common in the countries where So- lomon wrote his ^Dooks, and, finally, the custom, which has continued to this day the same, are all circum- stances which help to confirm us in this opinion. The ancient method of catching this animal was by a net or snare. VV hen entangled in the toils, it would use every exertion to escape before 71 And the word is actually translated " beauty," 2 Sam. i. 19, and Ezek. vii. 20; " beautiful," Isai. iv.2; ** goodly," Jer. iii. 19; and " pleasant," Dan. viii. 9. 72 He here confounds Cantic. ii. 9, with Prov. V. 19. 73 See also Good's Sacred Idylls, p. 83. RO S the pursuer arrived. Similar efforts are recommeuded by Solomon, Prov. vi. 5, to the man who has rashly en- gaged to be surety for his neighbour. ** Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler." The snare is spread ; the adversary is at hand ; instantly exert all thy powers to obtain a discharge from that in which you are entangled: a moment's hesitation may involve thee and thy family in irretrievable ruin ! The word translated " roe," Prov. V. 19, Bochart supposes to be the t6ex, which has been described under the article Goat. See Antelope and Hind. ROSE, nbvirr habetzeleth. Occurs Cantic. ii. 1, and Isai. XXXV. 1, only. ROS 279 The rose, so much and so often sung by the poets of Persia, Arabia, Greece, and Rome, is, indeed, the pride of the garden for elegance of form, for glow of colour, and for fra- grance of smell. Tournefort mentions fifty-three kinds, of which the Damascus rose and the rose of Sharon are the finest. The beauty of these flowers is too well known to be insisted on ; and they are at this day much admired in the East, where they are extremely fragrant''^. In what esteem the rose 74 Harmcr's Outlines, p. 236, 239. Jones Poes. Asiat. Comment, p. 102, 113, and 1.3(). Good's Sacred Idylls, p. 77. was held among the Greeks, may be learned from the fifth and fifty-third odes of Anacreon. Among the an- cients, it occupied a conspicuous place in every chaplet ; it was a principal ornament in every festive meeting, and at every solemn sacri- fice. And the comparisons in Ec- clesiasticus, xxiv. 14, and 1. 8, shew that the Jews were likewise much delighted with it. The rose-hud, or opening rose, seems in particular to have been a favourite ornament. The Jewish sensualists, in Wisd. ii. 8, are introduced, saying: ** Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and oint- ments; and let no flower of the spring pass by us. Let us crown ourselves with rose-buds before they are withered'^." From the Targum, R. David, and the Arabic, Celsius, Hierob. V. i. p. 488, concludes that the flower spoken of in Canticles and Isaiah, is the NARCISSUS. The Author of Scrip- ture Illustrated has the following remarks. ** The LXX and Jerom, instead of rose, render, * the flower of the fields,' but the Chaldee calls this flower, Ja?'de?i, rose; and is followed by most western interpreters : cir- cumstances seem to determine this to be the wild-rose, the uncultivated flower, which thereby corresponds to the lily in the next verse. But besides this rose, Scheuchzer refers to Hiller, Hierophyt. p. 2, who ra- ther seeks this flower among the bul- bous-rooted plants ; remarking that the Hebrew word rendered '* rose," may be derived from nnn chabab, he has loved, and bvn batjel, a bulb (or onion), bulbous root of any flower : and he declares for the asphodel, whose flowers resemble those of the lily. It is a very beautiful and odo- riferous flower, and highly praised by two of the greatest masters of Grecian song. Hesiod says, it grows commonly in woods ; and Homer (Odys. i. V. 24) calls the Elysian fields "meads filled with asphodel;" words which agree with the senti- 75 Harmer, Obs. V. iii. p. 188, illustrates this passage. 280 RUE ment of the Hebrew here, if we take Sharon (as seems perfectly proper) for the common field. " I am the asphodel of the meadows (or woods) ; the lily of the valleys," or places not cultivated as a garden is. I prefer, however, the derivation from chabah, to hide, and tjel, to shade, which denote a rose not yet blown, but overshadowed by its calyx ; if to this we add the idea of a wild rose, we approach, I presume, to the strength of the term : <* I am a wild rose flower, not fully blown ; but enclosed as yet" (partly alluding to her enclosing veil). She compares herself not to the full-blown rose, but to the bud with its beauties shaded and concealed ; the finest emblem in nature of modesty and unassuming excellence. " A little attention to the context (says Bp. Percy 7^) will convince us that she does not here mean to extol the charms of her person, but rather the contrary. The bridegroom had just before called her fair; she, with a becoming modesty, represents her beauty as nothing extraordinary, as a mere common wild flower. This he, with all the warmth of a lover, denied, insisting upon it, that she as much surpassed the generality of maidens, as the flower of the lily does that of the bramble : and she "returns the compliment." In the East Indies, an extract is made, called •* attar of roses," w^hich is very costly. It is doubtless the most admirable perfume in vegetable nature ; as a single drop imparts its fragrance throughout the room or dwelling, and suppresses other less agreeable odours. RUBY. D"'2^33 PENINIM. Occ. Job xxviii. 18; Prov. iii, 15; viii. 10; xx. 15; xxxi. 10; and Lam. iv. 7. The ruby is a beautiful gem, of a red colour, with a mixture of purple : but the word here used means pearls. See Pearl and Sardius. RUE. nHPANON. Occurs Luke xi. 42, only. 7« New Transl. of Sol. Song, p. 58. RYE A small shrubby plant, common in gardens. It has a strong, unplea- sant smell, and a bitterish, pene- trating taste. RUSH. Nm GOMA. Occ. Exod. ii. 3; Job viii. 11; Isai. xviii. 2; xxxv. 7. A plant growing in the water at the sides of rivers, and in marshy grounds "^^^ It may be the plant mentioned by Lobo, Voyage d'Abyssinie, p. 5l, where, speaking of the Red Sea, he says : " Nous ne Vavons pas jamais vue rouge, que dans les lieux ou il y a beaucoup de Gou^mon." '* II y a beaucoup de cette herbe dans la Mer Rouge," See Bull-rush. RYE. DDDD CUSSEMETH. " For a particular description, see Good'* ' Transl. of Job, p. 82. SAL Occ. Exod. ix. 32 ; Isai. xxviii. So ; and P^zek. iv. 9. In the latter place, it is rendered " fitches." The word seems derived from DDD CASAM, to have long hair ; and hence, though the particular species is not known, the word must mean some bearded grain. The Septuagint calls it oXvpa: the Vulgate, far, and Aquila, ^ea, which signifies the grain called spelt ; and some sup- S A L 281 pose that rice is meant ^^. See Fitches. 78 Jerom, in his Comment on Ezekitl, tom. iii. p. 722, says : " Quam nos liciam iyiterpretati mmus, -pro quo in Hebreo dicitvr chasamin ; Septvaginta Theodotioque posue- ruyit cXufav, quani alii avenam, alii sigalani putant. Aquil(E autem prima editio et Sym- machus C^a?, sive ^«af, inierpretati sunt : quas nos vel far, lel gent Hi Italia; Panno?ii- aque sermone spicam speltamque dicimus" J1?3D3 esse speltam, satis eerie efecit Cel- sius, Hierob. p. ii. p. 98—101. Rosenmul- ler, in loc. s SAFFRON. DD-I2CARC0M; Arab. zafran ; Vers, kerkem. Occ. Cant. iv. 14, only. An early plant growing from a bulbous root, whence arise stalks bearing a blue flower; in the middle of which flower are three little golden threads, which are what is called saffron among druggists. The flower is more generally known by the name crocus, which is similar to what it is called in Hebrew. SALT. nbn. Melach. Occ. Gen. xix. 26 ; Levit. ii. 13, and elsewhere frequently. *AAA2, Matth. v. 13; and elsewhere several times in the New Testament. A substance well known. It is found sometimes as a fossil, but the common sort is produced from eva- porated sea water. For its season- ing and preserving qualities, it has in all ages been distinguished. God appointed that salt should be used in all the sacrifices offered to him : Every oblation of thy meat of- fering, shalt thou season with salt ; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offerings; with all thy offerings thou shalt offer salt. Levit. ii. 13. Upon this passage Dr. A. Clarke remarks : ** Salt was the op- posite to leaven, for it preserved from putrefaction and corruption, and sig- nified the purity and persevering fidelity that are necessary in the worship of God. Every thing was seasoned with it, to signify the pu- rity and perfection that should be extended through every part of the divine service, and through the hearts and lives of God's worshippers. It was called • the salt of the covenant of God,' because, as salt is incor- ruptible, so was the covenant and promise of Jehovah. Among the heathens, salt was a common ingre- dient in all their sacrificial offerings ; and as it was considered essential to the comfort and preservation of life, and an emblem of the most per- fect corporal and mental endow- ments, so it was supposed to be one of the most acceptable presents the\^ could make unto their gods, from whose sacrifices it was never ab- 282 SALT. sent. That inimitable and invalu- able writer, Pliny, has left a long chapter on this subject, the seventh of the thirty-first book of his Natural History. He there observes, * So essentially necessary is salt, that without it human life cannot be pre- served, and even the pleasures and endowments of the mind are ex- pressed by it ; the delights of life, repose, and the highest mental se- renity, are expressed by no other term than sales, among the Latins '^^. It has also been applied to designate the honourable rewards given to soldiers, which are called salariiy salaries. But its importance may he further understood by its use in sacred things^ as no sacrifice was offered to the gods without the salt-^ cake.' " Salt is the symbol of wisdom, Col. iv. 6 ; ofpeiyetuity and incorruption, Numb, xviii. 19; 2 Chron. xiii. 5; of barrenness and sterility, Judges ix. 45 ; Zeph. ii. 4. It is likewise the emblem of hospitality ; and of that ^fidelity which is due from servants, friends, guests, and domestics, to those that entertain them, and re- ceive them at their tables : it is used in this sense, Ezra iv. 14, where maintenance from the king^s table should have been translated, salted with the salt of the palace, as it is in the Chaldee. Salt is reckoned among the prin- cipal necessaries of man's life, Ecclus. xxxix. 26, and 31. And it is now a common expression of the natives in the East Indies, " I eat such a one's salt,^' meaning, I am fed by him. But this is not all ; for salt, among the Eastern nations, anciently was, as it still is, a symbol of hospitality fOidi friendship, and that for very ob- vious reasons. Hence, to have eaten of a man's salt, is to be bound to him by the ties oi friendship. The learned Jos. Mede observes (works, p. 370, fol.), that in his time, " when the emperor of Russia would shew ex- traordinary grace and favour unto any, he sent him bread and salt from 7i> Hence sains, health. his table ; and when he invited Baron Sigismund, the emperor Fer- dinand's ambassador, he did it in this form : ' Sigismund, you shall eat our bread and salt with us.' " So Tamerlane, in his Institutes, men- tioning one Share Behraum, who had quitted his service, joined the enemy, and fought against him, " at length (says he), my salt which he had eaten, overwhelmed liim with remorse ; he again threw himself on my mercy, and humbled himself be- fore me." [Gent. Mag. for 1779, p. 604.] And, what comes still nearer to the case in Ezra, a modern Persian monarch upbraids an un- faithful servant : *' I have then such ungrateful servants and traitors as these to eat my salt." See Harmer's Obs. V. iv. p. 458, &c. To what height the Mahometans sometimes carry their respect for salt as a symbol of hospitality and friendship, may be seen in Herbe- lot'^s Bibl. Orient, art. Jacoub Ben Laith. We see from Ezekiel xvi. 4, that it was customary to rub new-born children with salt. Jerom and The- odoret thought that they did this to dry up the humidity, and to close the pores which are then too open. Galen [de sanit. 1. xi. c. 77] says, that salt hardens the skins of children, and makes them more firm, Avicenna acquaints us, that they bathed children with water in which salt had been dissolved, to close up the navel, and harden the skin. Others think, it was to hinder any corruptions that might proceed from cutting off the navel-string. Although salt, in small quantities, may contribute to the fertilizing of some kinds of stubborn soil, yet, according to the observations of Pliny (Nat. Hist. 1, xxxi. ch. 7), •* all places in which salt is found, are barren, and produce nothing." The effect of salt, where it abounds , on vegetation, is described by burn- ing, Deut. xxix, 22, or 23 : " The whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt of burning, &c." Thus M. Vol- SAL ney, Voyage en Syrie, torn. i. p. 282, speaking of the borders of the As- phaltic Lake, or Dead Sea, says : •* The true cause of the absence of vegetables and animals is the acrid saltness of its waters, which is infi- nitely greater than that of the sea. The land surrounding the lake, being equally impregnated with that salt- ness, refuses to produce plants ; the air itself, which is by evaporation loaded with it, and which moreover receives vapours of sulphur and bitu- men, cannot suit vegetation ; whence that dead appearance which reigns around the lake." So, a salt landy Jer. xvii. 6, is the same as the parched places of the wilderness, and is descriptive of bar- renness; as saltness also is. Job xxxix. 6 ; Psalm cvii. 34. Comp. Ezek. xlvii. 11 ; Zech. ii. 9. Thus Virgil, Georg. ii. lin. 238 : *' Salsa autemtellus, et qua perhibetnr amara, Fmgihus infelix, ea nee mansuescit arandoJ The soil where bitter salts abound. Where never ploughshare meliorates the ground. Hence the ancient custom of sow- ing an enemy's city, when taken, with salty in token of perpetual desolation. Jud. ix. 43. Thus, in after times (An. 1162), " the city of Milan was burned, razed, sown with salt, and ploughed, by the exasperated empe- ror, Frederick Barbarossa." [Com- plete Syst. Geog. V. i. p. 822.] The salt used by the ancients was what we call rock or fossil salt ; and also that left by the evaporation of salt lakes. Both these kinds were impure, being mixed with earth, sand, &c. and lost their strength by deliquescence. Maundrell, describ- ing the Valley of Salt, says ; *♦ On the side towards Gibul there is a small precipice, occasioned by the con- tinual taking away of the salt ; and in this you may see how the veins of it lie. I broke a piece of it, of which that part that was exposed to the sun, rain, and air, though it had the sparks and particles of salt, yet it had perfectly lost its savour: the inner part, which was connected with the SAP 283 rock, retained its savour, as I found by proof." Our Lord says to his dis- ciples, Matth. V. 13, " Ye are the salt of the earth ; but if the salt have lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted ? It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men." This is spoken of the mineral salt men- tioned by Maundrell, a great deal of which was made use of in offerings at the temple ; such of it as had be- come insipid,was thrown out to repair the roads, and prevent slipping in wet weather. The existence of such a salt, audits application to such a use , Schoettgenius has largely proved in his Horae Hebraicae, vol. i. p. 18. The salt unft for the land, Luke xvi. 34, Le Clerc conjectures to be that made of wood ashes, which easily loses its savour, and becomes no longer serviceable. ** Effatos cinerem immundum jactare per agros," ViRG. Georg. i. v. 81. SAPPHIRE. n>SD sapiiir. Occ. Exod. xxiv. 10 ; xxvii. 18 ; Job xxviii. 6, 16 ; Can tic. v. 14 ; Isai. liv. 11; Ezek. i. 26 ; x. 1 ; xxviii. 13. SAH^EIPOS, Rev. xxi. 19, only. That this is the sapphire, there can be no doubt. The Septuagint, the Vulgate, and the general run of com- mentators, ancient and modem, agree in this«o. The sapphire is a pellucid gem. In its finest state, it is extremely beautiful and valuable, and second only to the diamond in lustre, hard- ness, and value. Its proper colour is pure blue. In the choicest speci- mens, it is of the deepest azure ; and in others, varies into paleness, in shades of all degrees between that and the pure crystal brightness of water, without the least tinge of colour, but with a lustre much superior to the crystal. 80 [Some learned writers, however, have considered the lapis lazuli, which, in its perfect state, is one of the most beautiful of minerals, as the sapphire of the ancients. It is found in the mountains of Oude, in the Hindoo Coosh, and the Beloot-tau.] •284 S A R The Oriental sapphire is the most beautiful and valuable. It is trans- parent, of a fine sky colour^', some- times variegated with veins of a white sparry substance, and distinct separate spots of a gold colour. Whence it is that the prophets de- scribe the throne of God like unto sapphire. Ezek. i. 26; x. 1. Isai. liv. 11, 12, prophesying the future grandeur of .Jerusalem, says: Behold I lay thy stones in cement of ver- milion, And thy foundations with sapphires; And I will make thy battlements of rubies, And thy gates of carbuncles ; And the whole circuit of thy walls shall be of precious stones. ** These seem (says Bp. Lowth) to be general images to express beau- ty, magnificence, purity, strength, and solidity, agreeably to the ideas of the eastern nations ; and to have never been intended to be strictly scrutinized, or minutely and parti- cularly explained, as if they had each of them some precise moral or spiritual meaning." Tobit (ch. xiii. V. 16, 17), in his prophecy of the final restoration of Israel, describes the New Jerusalem in the same oriental manner. " For Jerusalem shall be built up with sapphires and emeralds and precious stones ; thy walls and towers and battlements with pure gold. And the streets of Jerusalem shall be paved with beryl and carbuncle and stones of Ophir." Compare also Rev. xxi. 18—21. SARDINE. 2APAIN0S. Occ. Rev. iv. 3. I'he sardius of the next article. SARDIUS. OTi^oDEM. Occ. £xod. xxviii. 17 ; xxxix. 10 ; and Ezek. xxviii. 13. 2APAI0S, Rev. xxi. 20. A precious stone of a blood-red colour. It took its name from Sar- dis, where the best of them were found. This is the rendering of the Septuagint, Syriac, Arabic, and Sa- maritan versions ; of Josephiis, On- kelos, and the Targums ; and the best modern commentators adopt it. *' " Sereni enim cceli et lucidissimi habet coiorem." Boet. SAT SARDONYX. s.apaony;s;. Occ. Rev. xxi. 20, only. A precious stone, which seems to have its name from its resemblance partly to the sardius, and partly to the onyx. It is generally tinged with black and blood colour, which are distinguished from each other by circles or rows, so distinct that they appear to be the effect of art. [It is supposed to have resembled the sardius in colour and the onyx in kind. The red carnelion is probably intended by the word.] SATYR. Q^TV^ SEiRiM. Occ. Isai. xiii. 21, and xxxiv. 14. A name given by the ancients to a fantastic being, partly human, and part beast. They . are represented as having horns on their heads, crooked hands, shaggy bodies, long tails, and the legs and feet of goats. They were imagined to dance in all sorts of uncouth and lascivious pos- tures. It seems probable that some large sort of monkey or baboon that had been seen in the woods, gave the first occasion to feign these demi-gods. Pliny most evidently means some sort of ape under the name of satyr. He says^^ satyrs are found in some mountains of In- dia ; they are nimble, running some- times upon all fours, sometimes erect like men, and they are so swift that it is difficult to overtake them, except they are old or sick. Satyrs are spoken of in our English translation of Isai. xiii. 21 ; xxxiv. 14; but it has been often and deci- sively proved, that goats are there intended ®3. The English versions of 1550 and 1574 have it, " and apes shall daunce there." In the delineation of the Mosaic pavement at Praeneste, given by Barthelemy [Mem. de VAcad. des Inscriptions, xxx. p. 534], is repre- sented an ape, or rather baboon, 82 L. 7. c. 2. and 1. 8. c. 54. 83 See Spencer, de Leg. hebr. 349. Vi- tringa on Rev. xviii. 2, cited by Wetstein on Matth. iv. 24. Lowman on Rev. xviii. 2. Farmer on Demoniacs, p. 329, and on Miracles, p. 250. SC A whose name, according to the Abbe, should be read catypoc, satyrus. Doederlein is of the opinion that the Hebrew means a species of ape called ** maimon" or '* mermon." They are said to be shaggy like goats, and to resemble them in ap- pearance. SCARLET, nvb^n tolaat. Occurs Gen. xxxviii. 28 ; Exod. XXV. 4, and elsewhere frequently. This tincture or colour is expressed by a word which signifies wotm-co- lour ; and was producedfrom a worm, or insect, which grew in a coccus, or excrescence of a shrub of the ilex kind ^''j which Pliny calls '* coccus scolecius," the wormy beri'y. Diosco- rides speaks of it as " a small dry twig, to which the grains adhere like lentiJes :" but these grains, as a great author observes on Solinus, " are within full of little worms (or mag- gots), whose juice is remarkable for dying scarlet, and making that fa- mous colour which we admire, and the ancients adored s^. We retain the name in the cochi- neal, from the opuntia of America**^ ; but we improperly call a mineral colour vermilion, which is derived from vermiculus. The shrub on which the insect is found, is some- times called the " kermez-oak," from kermez, the Arabic word both for the worm and the colour; whence carmasinus, the French cramoisi, and the English crimson. The word scarlet, in our language, may be de- rived from sar or sarra, Tyre, and lac, or lacca NDb ; making sar-lac, i. e. " sarra lacca,^' sive color rubrus Tyrius ^. M Plin. N. H. 1. ix. c. 65; 1. xxi. c. 22. 85 Pansanias (in Phociis) gives a par- ticular account of the coccus, and the co- lour extracted from it. See also Diosco- rides, 1. iv. c. 48. I refer also to a Memoir of M. Maupertuis in the Memoirs of the French Academy for 1731. And the Annual Register for 1780, p. 100, Nat. Hist. 86 UUoa, Voyages,!, v. c. 2. p. 342, note. 87 « Per KD^'^D nihil alivd esse inteUigen- dum quam xDblD sarlaca, atque sic esse scribendum, et emendandum locum Jarchii KD1D insertd tantum litera b. Forsan male nostrm editiones KDID cum dmbus api- S C A 285 All the ancient Greek and Latin writers agree, thatkermes, (called by the latter coccum, perhaps alsococcws, and often granum,) were found upon a low shrubby tree, with prickly leaves, which produced acorns, and belonged to the genus of the oak ; and there is no reason to doubt that they mean coccum ilicis, and that low evergreen oak, with the prickly leaves of the holly ( aquifolium ), which is called at present in botany, quercus ilex. This assertion appears more entitled to credit, as the an- cients assign for the native country of this tree, places where it is still indigenous, and produces kermes. That the kermes-oak still grows and produces kermes in the Levant, Greece, Palestine, Persia, and India, is sufficiently proved by the testi- mony of modern travellers. Bellon and Tournefort saw kermes collected in the island of Crete or Candia ^^ ; the former also saw them between Jerusalem and Damascus ^^ and he informs us, that the greater part of them was sent to Venice. The following is the opinion of Professor Tyschen on the article Kermes, communicated to Professor Beckman, and inserted in his " His- tory of Inventions," &c. vol. ii. p. 185. ** The word kermes, karmes, and, with the article, al kermes, is at pre- sent, in the East, the common name of the animal which produces the dye, as well as of the dye itself. Both words have, by the Arabs and cibus {"). Braunins de Vest. Sacerd. 1. i. c. XV. p. 300. [Our word scarlet is more probably derived from the ^ rabic yxqjier- lot, softened by the Spaniards into escar- lata, which signifies little worms, i. e. the kermes insect. Roderick, archbishop of Toledo, who finished his history of Spain in 1243, is thought to have coined the Latin word scarlatum, to express this co- lour. Dillon's Trav. p. 21.] !^s Bellonii Itinerar. i. 17. p. 23. Voyage dn Levant par Tournefort, i. p. 19. S9 Bellon. ii. 88. p. 145. See also Voyage de la Terre Sainte du P. Royer RecoUet. i. 2. and Voyage de Monconys, i. p. 179, Ed. Brown's Merkwurdige liiesen, aus dem Englischen ubersebzt, Nurnberg, 1750, 4to. p. 145. Mariti, Reisen durch Cypem, Hyrien und Palestina, Altenburg, 1777, 8vo. p. 155. 286 SCARLET. the commerce of the Levant, been introduced into the European lan- guages. Kermes, Span, al charmes, ai quermesy or more properly alker- mes, alkarmes. Ital. cremesino, &c. *' To what language the word originally belongs, cannot with cer- tainty be determined. There are grounds for conjecturing several de- rivations from the Arabic : for ex- ample, karasa, extremis digit is tenuit, which would not ill agree with ovv^; and karmis signifies imhecil- lus ; but this word may be derived from the small insect, as well as the insect from it. As all these deriva- tions, however, are attended with grammatical difficulties, and as the Arabians, according to their own account, got the dye and the word from Armenia, it appears rather to be a foreign appellation, which they received with the thing signified, when they overran Upper Asia. Ibn Beithar, in Bochart, Hierozoicon, ii. p. 625, calls kermes an Armenian dye; and the Arabian lexicogra- phers, from whom Giggeus and Cas- tellus made extracts, explain the kindred word karmasal, coccineus ver- miculatiis, as an Armenian word. " This dye, however, was undoubt- edly known to the Hebrews, the Phoenicians, and the Egyptians, long before the epoch of the Arabians in the East. Among the Hebrews, the dye occurs, though not clearly, under other names ; tola schani, or simply, tola, in their oldest writer, Moses. Tola is properly the worm ; and, ac- cording to the analogy of kermes, worm- dye, scarlet. The additional word schani signifies either double- dyed, or, according to another de- rivation, bright, deep, red dye. For both significations, sufficient grounds and old authorities might be quoted ; but the former is the most usual, and, on account of its analogy with dil3a(pov, seems to be the most pro- bable. " But was the coccus known so early? Is not tola, the worm-dye, perhaps the same with purple, be- cause the ancients made no distinc- tion between vermis and snail? I believe not. For purple, the orien- tals have a particular name, arg«ma?j, argevan, which is accurately distin- guished from tola, and is often added to it as something distinct. All the ancients therefore translate the He- brew word tola by kokkoq, kermes, zehori, and nehorito (deep red, bright dye) ; which words they never put for argaman. As the Phoenicians traded at so early a period with Spain and other countries, where the kermes are indigenous, it may be readily comprehended how that dye was known in Palestine about and before the time of Moses. " It must have been known also in Egypt about the same epoch; for when Moses, in the wilderness, required scarlet to ornament the tabernacle, it could have been pro- cured only from that country. Whe- ther kermes be indigenous in Egypt, I do not know. On the word Ka- \aivov, quoted by Bochart from Hesychius as Egyptian, the abbre- viation of which, lata, in the Ethiopic language, signifies scarlet, I lay no great stress, because it cannot be proved, 1st, That the word is origi- nally Egyptian, as it occurs several times in the Greek writers and in various significations; or 2ndly, That it signifies scarlet dye, because the ancients explain it sometimes by purple, sometimes by sea-colour. See Bochart, 1. c. p. 730. If the word be Egyptian, it signifies red dye in general, rather than defines purple colour. At any rate, there is in Coptic for the latter, a peculiar word, scadschi, or sajihadschi. The latter is explained by Kircher (Pro- drom. Copt. p. b37), mercator pur- purcE, vermiculus coccineus, piirpura ; which is altogether vague and con- tradictory. The Arabic lexicogra- pher, whom he ought to have trans- lated, gives a meaning which ex- presses only purple ware. ** If one might venture a suppo- sition respecting the language of a people whose whole history is almost bare conjecture, I would ask, if the Coptic dholi was the name of scarlet in Egypt. The lexicographers ex- plain it by a worm, a moth ; but in those passages of the translation of the Bible which I have compared, another word is always used, when allusion is made to worms which gnaw or destroy. Was dholi the name of the worm that yields a dye ? As dholi sounds almost like the He- braso-Phcenician tola, we might fur- ther conjecture, that the Egyptians received both the name and the thing signified from the Phanicians. But this is mere opinion. The fol- lowing conclusions seem to be the natural result of the above observa- tions. ** 1st. Scarlet, or the kermes dye, was known in the East in the earliest ages, before Moses, and was a dis- covery of the Phoenicians in Pales- tine, but certainly not of the small wandering Hebrew tribes. " 2d. Tola was the ancient Phoe- nician name used by the Hebrews, and even by the Syrians ; for it is employed by the Syrian translator, Isaiah, chap. i. ver. 18. Among the Jews, after their captivity, the Aramaean word zehori was more common. '* 3d. This dye was known also to the Egyptians in the time of Mo- ses; for the Israelites must have carried it along with them from Egypt. " 4th. The Arabs received the name kermes, with the dye, from Armenia and Persia, where it was indigenous, and had been long known ; and that name banished the old name in the East, as the name scarlet has in the West. For the first part of this assertion, we must believe the Arabs. " 5th. Kermes were perhaps not known in Arabia ; at least, they were not indigenous, as the Arabs appear to have had no name for them. " 6th. Kermes signifies always red dye; and when pronounced short, it becomes deep red. I con- sider it, therefore, as a mere error of the translation when, in Avicenna, SCARLET. 287 iii. Fen. 21, 13, kermesiah is trans- lated purpureitas. It ought to be coccineum.'' The following remarks of M. Go- guet upon this curious subject, are too important to be overlooked. " Opinions are divided as well as to the sense of the Hebrew word, as to the coccus by which the Septua- gint and Vulgate have translated it. Some think that it is crimson ; others, that it is scarlet. By adopting the translation of the Septuagint and the Vulgate, which I believe right, it is easy to shew that the colour called coccus by the Greeks and Ro- mans, is scarlet, very dififerent from crimson. The examination of the materials proper for the one and the other colour, ought to decide the question. " Crimson, properly so called, is of a deep red, and is made with cochineal, an ingredient absolutely unknown to antiquity. Scarlet is of a lively and bright red. To make this dye, they use a sort of little reddish grains, which they gather from a kind of holm-oak, a dwarf tree common in Palestine, in the Isle of Crete, and many other coun- tries ^'^. They find on the leaves and on the bark of this shrub, little nuts or bladders about the size of juniper berries. These excrescences are occasioned by the eating of little worms^^ The Arabians have given them the name of * kermes.' — Let us apply these principles to the question in hand. ** It is certain, that the ancients had a red colour much esteemed, called coccus which they distinguish- ed from the purple. I'he coccus dif- fered from the purple, as well by its preparation, as by its shade and the eflfect of the colour. Purple, as 90 P. Roger, Voyage de la Terre Sainte, 1. 1. c. 2. Moneony's Voyage, part i. p. 179. Belon. Obs. 1. 1. c. 17. 1. 2. c. 88. Acad, des Scien. 1714. Mem. p. 435. An. 1741. Mem. p. 50. »i Exod. XXV. 4. Plin. 1. ix. c. 65. Quinctil. Inst. Or. 1. 1. c. 2. At Rome, scar- let was allowed to every body, but the purple was reserved for the highest dig- nities. 288 SC A we have seen, was of a deep red ap- proaching to coagulated blood, and was dyed with a liquor of certain shell-fishes. The coccus, on the con- trary, was of a gay red, lively, bright, approaching to the colour of fire ^2. This dye was made with a sort of little grains, which they gathered on the holm-oak ^^. The ancients even called these, the frtdts of the holm- oak^^. Neither were they ignorant that these pretended fruits enclosed worms ^^. After this exposition, it clearly appears that the colour named coccus by the ancients, was our scar- let. The Septuagiut and Vulgate having translated by that word the Hebrew term used by Moses to de- sign a red colour, other than purple, it follows that they believed he meant the scarlet. But, indepen- dently of the authority and consi- deration which these interpreters deserve, the etymology of the terms of the original text proves the truth of the sentiment which I propose. We see there plainly intended, a dye made with worms. *• But I do not think that this colour was as brilliant as that which we now call scarlet. I even doubt whether the ancients could approach towards it. Let us not forget, that, before chemical discoveries, the art of dyeing must have been very im- perfect. Without the preparations which chemistry affords, we could not dye stuffs fine scarlet. This is the most bright and beautiful colour in dyeing, but one of the most diffi- cult to bring to lis point of perfec- tion." In Exod. XXV. 4 : xxviii. 8. et al. 9i Plin. N. H. 1. ix. c. 65. p. 528. 1. xxi. c. 22. p. 240. 93 Theophrast. Hist, plant. 1. iii. c. 16. Plin. 1. xvi. c. 12. Dioscorid. 1. iv. c. 48. Paiiss. 1. 10. c. 36. 94 ripjvtJ xofTTov. Plut. in Thess. p. 7. Plin. 1. xvi. c. 12, calls these little grains " cus- culia," from the Greek kotxvKKsiv, which signifies to cut little excrescences; be- cause in effect they cut and scrape these small grains oflF the bark and leaves of the tree. 95 *• Coccum ilicis celerrime in vetmiculum ie mtitans." Plin. 1. xxiv. c. 4. SCO nybin tolaat, the woryn, or colouring matter, is joined with '>'2W shani, which signifies " to repeat," or " double," and implies that, to strike this colour, the wool or cloth was twice dipped ; hence, the \ ulgate renders the original, " coccum his tinctum," scarlet twice dyed. And that this was usual among the £m- cients.is certain from many passages which might be quoted. Thus Ho- race, 1. ii. od. xvi. V. 35. Te bis Afro Murica tincta Vestiunt lana" The wool with Afric's purple double-dyed. And again, Epod. xii. v. 21. " Muricibm Tyriis iterata v'ellera laim." The wools with Tyrian purple double dyed. And Pliny, N. H. 1. ix. c. 16, men- tions " dibapha Tyria ;" called di- bapha, he says, because it was twice dyed (" bis tincta'), at a great ex- pense. The word rendered " scarlet," in Dan. v. 7, 16, 29, should be purple. The scarlet mentioned in the New Testament, Matth. xxvii. 28 ; Hebr. ix. 19 ; and Rev. xvii. 3, 4, is kok- KLvog, or coccus-colour^^. See Red and Purple. SCORPION. mpyoKRAB. Occ. Deut. viii. 15; 1 Kings xii. 11, 14; 2 Chron. x. 11, 14; and Ezek. ii. 6. 2K0Pni0S, Luke X. 9; xi. 12; Rev. ix.3; and Eccle- siasticus xxvi. T ; xxxix. 30. It has been remarked, that the name is formed of two words, which signify to kill one's father, and hence means " the father-killer ;" and both Pliny and Aristotle inform us, that 96 This is a crimson approaching to the purple. Hebr. ybin xoxxivov, cramosimim. To illustrate Matth. xxvii. 28, comp. Philo in FJaccum, where Carobas, a mock king of Egypt, is dressed in this colour. In John xix. 2, the Syriac gives N31J"1N, which answers to the Hebrew )?231K, and is rendered by the Greeks, as the LXX, •7ro^(^pov ; yet the colour p3"lK, is tiie same, or nearly that expiessed by yblTI and a-DTT, LXX xojcxjvov. Thus Isai. i. 18; the Septuagint renders uiq <^m%wv, Lat. Vulgate, " coccinum." SCORPION. 289 it is the character of the scorpion to destroy its own parents. But Park- hurst derives the name from py, to press, squeeze, and n, much, greatly, or np, near, close. Calmet remarks, that " itjixesviolently on such persons as it seizes upon, so that it cannot be plucked off without difficulty;" and Martinus, Lex, Etymol, in Nepa, declares: ** Habent scorpiiforjices seu furcas tanquam brachia, quibus re- tinent quod apprehendunt, postquam caud(E aculeo punxerunt,''' Scorpions have pincers or nippers, with which they keep hold of what they seize, after they have wounded it with their sting. The word ctkreb, in the plural ukraban, is found in the lexicon of Meninski (3256 and 3297), as the name of the scorpion ; the Arabs still retain the name ; and there is no difficulty in determining the ani- mal. The scorpion, el-akerb, is gene- rally two inches in length, and re- sembles so much the lobster in form, that the latter is called by the Arabs, " akerb d^el bahar," the sea-scorpion. It has several joints or divisions in its tail, which are supposed to be indicative of its age : thus, if it have live, it is considered to be five years old. The poison of this animal is in its tail, at the end of which is a small, curved, sharp-pointed sting, similar to the prickle of a buck- thorn tree : the curve being downwards, it turns its tail upwards when it strikes a blow. The scorpion delights in stony places and in old ruins. Some are of a yellow colour, others brovvm, and some black. The yellow pos- sess the strongest poison, but the venom of each affects the part wounded with frigidity, which takes place soon after the sting has been inflicted. Dioscorides, ]. vii. c. 7, thus describes the effect produced : " Where the scorpion has stung, the place becomes inflamed and harden- ed ; it reddens by tension, and is painful by intervals, being now chilly, now burning. The pain soon rises high, and rages, sometimes more, sometimes less. A sweating suc- ceeds, attended by a shivering and trembling ; the extremities of the body become cold ; the groin swells ; the hair stands on end ; the visage becomes pale ; and the skin feels throughoutthe sensation of perpetual prickling, as if by needles." This description strikingly illustrates Rev. ix. 3, 4, 5, 10; — " and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man^'^." Some writers consider the scor- pion as a species of serpent, because the poison of it is equally powerful : so the sacred writers commonly join the scorpion and serpent together in their descriptions. Thus Moses, in his farewell address to Israel, Deut. viii. 15, reminds them, that God "led them through the great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions." We find them again united in the commission of our Lord to his dis- ciples, Luke X, 19 : ** I give you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy." Also, in his directions concerning the duty of prayer, Luke xi. 11, 12. " If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone 1 or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?" The scorpion is contrasted with an egg, on account of the oval shape of its body. The body of the scor- pion, says Lamy^^, is very like an 97 For an account of the scorpion, see Pliny, N. H. 1. xi. c. 25. Tertullian, in liis book called ** Scorpiacum," has well described the scorpion: see also Schench- zer, Phys. Sacr. tab. cccxxxiii. 98 Apparat. Bibl. b. iii. c. 2, § 8. 290 SER egg, as its head can scarcely be dis- tinguished; especially if it be a scorpion of tlie white kind, which is the first species mentioned by -^lian, Avicenna, and others. Bo- chart has produced testimonies to prove that the scorpions in Judea were about the bigness of an egg. So the similitude is preserved be- tween the things asked and given. The Greeks have a proverb, avTi TrepKrjQ, (TKopTnov, instead of a perch (or fish), a scorpion^^. Celsius^ and Hiller^ conjecture that, in 1 Kings xii. 11 ; 2 Chron. X. 11 ; and Ezek. ii. 6, a thorn is spoken of, whose prickles are of a venomous nature, called by the Ara- bians, ** scorpion thorns." But, in the first of these places, the Chaldee reads whip ; and we know that the ancients used the word scorpion to express a whip armed with points. Isiodore says^, ** If it be smooth, it is a rod ; if it has either knots or points, it is called a scorpion." Cer- tain machines used in war were also called scmyions ; and are mentioned 1 Maccab. vi. 51 '*. Akrabbim, Numb, xxxiv. 4 ; Josh, XV. 3 ; and Judges L 36 ; was so named from being the haunt of scor- pions. The place was afterwards called Acrabatane. See 1 Maccab. V. 3. In Ptolemy, we find a city in Mesopotamia called Akraba, not far from Charran, and a region on the Tigris named Acabene, for which Bochart proposes to read Acrabene ; all of them alluding to the number of scorpions with which they were infested. SERPENT. \rm nachash. Occurs first Gen. iii. 1 ; and after- wards frequently. This word, says the learned Ga- 99 Erasm. chiliad. 1 Hierobot. p. ii. p. 45. 2 Hieropiiyt. c. 42. 3 Orig. 1. V. c. 25. 4 These aie described by Tertnllian, at the beginning of the book, '* Scorpiacum ;" by Vegetius, I. iv. c. 22; Justus Lips, 1. iii. Poliorcet. dial. iii. and Pliilo de telorum construe tione, inter Vet, Mathemat. Op. p. 73. SER taker ^, is in the Hebrew a general term, common to all living crea- tures, in water or on land, that glide along, in one or on the other, with a wriggling kind of motion, without the use of feet or fins. Dr. Adam Clarke, in his Note on Gen. iii. 1, has the following re- marks. " The word, according to Buxtorf and others, has three mean- ings in Scripture. (1.) It signifies, to view or observe attentively, to divine or use enchantments, because in them the augurs viewed attentively certain omens, &c. ; and under this head, it signifies to acquire knowledge by experience. (2.) It signifies brass, brazen, and is translated in our Bible, not only * brass,' but ' chains,' * fet- ters,' * fetters of brass,' and in se- veral places, * steel ;' see 2 Sara, xxii. 35 ; Job xx. 24 ; Psal. xviii. 34 ; and in one place at least, ' fil- thinisss,' or fornication, Ezek. xvi, 36. (3.) It signifies a serpent, but of what kind is not determined. In Job xxvi. 13, it seems to mean the hippopotamus. In Eccles. x. 2, the creature, of whatever kind, is compared to the babbler : * Surely the serpent (nachash) will bite with- out enchantment ; and a babbler is no better.' In Isai. xxvii. 1, the crocodile or alligator seems particu- larly meant by the original. And in Isai. Ixv. 25, the same creature is meant as in Gen. iii. 1 ; for in the words, * and dust shall be the ser- pent's meat,' there is an evident allusion to the w^ords of Moses. In Amos ix. 3, the crocodile is evi- dently intended. * Though they be hid in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, wmn, HA-NACHASH, and he shall bite them.' No person can suppose that any of the snake or serpent kind can be intended here ; and we see from the various acceptations of the word, and the different senses which it bears in various places in the Sacred Writings, that it appears to be a sort of general term, confined to no one sense." 5 Annot. in Isai. xxvii. 11. SERPENT. II. The Jiery serpent, S"1W sarapii, mentioned Numb. xxi. 6, 8 ; Deut. viii. 15 ; Isai. xiv. 29 ; and xxx. 6 ; was so called, probably from the burning sensation which its bite oc- casioned. Plutarch thus speaks of a similar kind of reptiles^ : " The inhabitants of the country round the Red Sea, were tormented in such a manner as was never heard of till that time. Little dragons bit their arms and legs: and if you touched them ever so lightly, they fixed themselves to the flesh, and their bite was intolerably painful, and like fire 7." The Hebrew origi- nal signifies also a winged serpent : and we are told that such were very common both in Egypt and Arabia ^. The learned Bochart describes them as short, spotted with divers colours, and with wings resembling those of the bat. He quotes a number of ancient and modern authors to prove, that they are the same with the iiydra of the Greeks or Latins. The heathen writers concur in testifying that the deserts wherein the Israelites journeyed produced serpents of so venomous a kind, that their biting was deadly, beyond the power of any art then known to 6 Lib. viii. de fest. 9, 9. 7 Such a serpent is described, Virgil, Georg. iii. v. 425—440. s Herodotus says, he had seen them, and went to the city of Buto for that purpose. I. ii. c. 75, 76. He in another place gives a particular description of them, 1. iii. c. 107—110; and Pausanias says, that a phy- sician brought into Ionia a scorpion, which had wings like those of the grasshopper. Herodotus, Hist. " Euterpe," § 75, says: ** There is a place in Arabia, near the city Buto, which I visited for the purpose of obtaining information conceraing the winged serpents. I saw here a prodigious quantity of serpents' bodies and ribs, placed on heaps of different heights. The place itself is a strait betwixt two moun- tains ; it opens upon a wide plain, which communicates with Egypt. They affirm, that in the commencement of every spring, these zv-inged serpents fly from Arabia to- wards Egypt, but that the Ibis here meets and destroys them. The Arabians say, that in acknowledgment of this service, the Egyptians hold the Ibis in great reverence, which is not contradicted by that people." 291 cure it^. The ancients observed in general, that the most sandy and barren deserts had tlie greatest num- ber, and the most venomous of ser- pents. Diodorus, 1. iii. p. 128, makes this remark more particu- larly concerning the sands of Africa ; but it was equally true of the wil- derness through which the Israelites journeyed. Some writers have sup- posed that the serpents that bit the Israelites were of the flying kind. Herodotus, 1. iii. c. 109, informs us that Arabia produced this sort : but Moses does not hint that they were flying-serpents ; he calls them ha NECHASHIM HASERAPIM, Numb. Xxi. 5. Had he meant flying-serpents, he would have said, nachashim serapim MENOPEPiM, for so they are described where they are mentioned in the Scriptures. See Isai. xiv. 29 ; xxx. 6. Strabo, Geogr. 1. xvi. p. 778, has taken notice of a kind of ser- pents in or near the parts where the Israelites journeyed, which might be called jiery from their colour ; and both Diodorus and he were of opinion, that the bites of these were incurable ; of which sort, probably, were those which assaulted the Is- raelites. Professor Paxton ^° remarks, that the original term SDiyn meopheph does not always signify flying with wings ; it often expresses vibration, swinging backwards and forwards, a tremulous motion, a fluttering; which is the motion of the darting serpent. He also observes, that the phrase will bear another interpreta- tion, which, perhaps, approaches still nearer the truth. The verb Siy ouPH sometimes means, to sparkle, to emit coruscations of light. In this sense, the noun TMVTy theepha frequently occurs in the Sacred Vo- lume. Thus in Job xi. 17, Zophar says, " The coruscation, n^vT^, shall be as the morning." The word may, therefore, refer to the ruddy 9 Strabo, Geogr. 1. xvi. p. 759. Herodot. 1. iii. c. 109. Diodor. 1. iii. p. 128. 10 Illustrations, V. i. p. 358. P2 292 SERPENT. colour of the serpent, and express the sparkling of the blazing sunbeam upon its scales, which are extremely brilliant. I have a little enlarged upon this serpent called saraph, because it was by such that the Israelites were so grievously bitten in the wilderness '^ An imitation of one of these, formed of brass, was by Moses erected on a pole, that those who should be bitten by the saraphim might look up to it and be healed. The serpent thus raised up for the security and the salvation of the people, Christ informs us, was a representation of his crucifixion, and an allusion to its restorative design. John iii. 14. The Author of the Book of Wis- dom (ch. xvi. 5) gives a most beau- tiful turn to the means of deliverance appointed by God, namely, looking up to the brazen serpent, that the offending Israelites might be healed of the wounds made by these fiery serpents : " For when the horrible fierceness of beasts came upon these (thy people), and they perished with the stings of crooked serpents, thy wrath endured not for ever : but they were troubled for a small sea- son, that they might be admonished, having a sign of salvation to put them in remembrance of the com- mandment of thy law. For he that turned towards it was not saved by the thing that they saw; but by thee, that art the Saviour of all. And in this, thou madest thine ene- mies confess that it is thou that de- liverest from all evil ; for them, the bitings of grasshoppers and flies killed, neither was there found any remedy for their life, for they were worthy to be punished by such : but thy sons, not the very teeth of ve- nomous dragons overcame ; for thy mercy was ever by them, and healed " Numb. xxi. 9; Isai. vi. 2; xiv. 29; XXX. 6. See further on the subject of flying serpents, Bochart, de an. sacr. p. ii. 1. 3, c. 13. Cicero, de nat. deor. J. i. Mela, 1. iii. c. 9. Lucan, 1. 6, and 9. So- linus, c. 32. Am. Marcel, c. 22. ^lian, I. ii. c. 38. Josephus, Antiq. 1. ii. c. 10. them. For they were stung, tliat they should remember thy words, and were quickly saved, that not falling into deep forgetfulness, they might be continually mindful of thy goodness." The learned Michaelis, Qusest. 83, recommended it to the gentle- men who travelled into Arabia at the expense of the king of Den- mark, to inquire after the existence and nature oi Jlying serpents. He remarks: " Although modern natu- ralists have not communicated any satisfactory information respecting flying serpents, yet they are so often spoken of by the ancient writers of nations near to the equator, who may be better acquainted with the nature of serpents than we are, that I dare boldly recommend further inquiries to travellers respecting the existence of such. If there be any, and if they have been seen by wit- nesses deserving of credit, I beg every information, name, &c.'' Ac- cordingly, M. Niebuhr, one of these learned travellers, in his *' Descrip- tion de I'Arabie," p. 156, speaks thus : " There is at Basra a sort of serpents, which they call, * Heie sur- suriCy * Heie thiare,' They com- monly keep upon the date-trees ; and, as it would be laborious for them to come down from a very high tree, in order to ascend another, they twist themselves by the tail to a branch of the former, which, making a spring by the motion they give it, throws them to the branches of the second. Hence it is that the modem Arabs call them, flying ser- pents, * heie thiare.' I know not whether the ancient Arabs, of whom M. Michaelis speaks, saw any other flying serpents. Admiral Anson also speaks of the flying serpents that he met with at the island of Quibo, but which were without wings." Thus far M. Niebuhr. The words in Anson's voyage are these : ** The Spaniards too informed us, that there was often found in the woods a most mischievous serpent, called SER * the flying snake,' which, they said, darted itself from the boughs of trees, on either man or beast that came within its reach, and whose sting they beHeved to be inevitable death 12." Mr. Parkhurst, after quoting the account given by Nie- buhr, says : " On the whole, I ap- prehend that the Jiery flying serpent mentioned in Isaiah, was of that species which, from their svoift^ dart- ing motion, t\\Q Greeks called acontias, and the Romans,JacM/MS ; of which, see more in Bochart, Hieroz. V. iii. p. 411 ; and to these the term seems as properly applicable in Hebrew, as volucer, which Lucan applies to them in Latin,jacwZi(/ue volucres^^." See Drought. The serpent was worshiped in Chaldea, and among several of the oriental nations. In the Egyptian language, it was called oub, and was the same in the Chaldee dialect : hence, the Greek ocpig. Thus we read, Levit. xx. 27, " A man or a woman that hath a familiar spirit, Pi^'ia OBOTH, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death." So XX. 6 ; Deut. xvii. 11 ; 1 Sam. xxviii. 3, 7, 9 ; 2 Kings xxi. 6 ; xxiii. 2-4 ; 12 Voyage, p. 308, ed. 1748. The description of Pliny, N. H. 1. viii. c. 23, is observable. " Jaculum ex arborum ramis vibrari, nee pedibus tantum cavere ser- Tpentes, sed et missili volare tormento'* 13 See other authorities in " Scripture Illustrated," p. 540. [Mr. Pennant de- scribes a species of jaculus, among the In- dian reptiles, called the whip snake, from its resemblance to the lash of a whip. Its colour is a beautiful green. Concealing itself with the more ease on that account among the branches of trees, it darts on the cattle grazing below, generally aiming at the eye. It does not often attack man, but rather glides from his approach. The Hindoos have the same notion of its being a flying serpent that the Arabs have. It is the delmtulla (i. e. oculis infestus) of Ceylon, the volucer serpens of Lucan, and probably, adds Mr. Pennant, the fiery flying serpent of the Hebrews. This author mentions another species under the name of " the burning serpent ;" so called from its pro- ducing by its bite the sensation of raging fire. This is, perhaps, the same as the lefah of Shaw ; a viper so called from lefak, to burn ; or the torrida dipsas. See Pen- nant's Hindoostan, vol. i. pp. 101, 197 ; ii. p. 279. Shaw's Trav. p. 179.] SHE 293 and 2 Chron. xxxiii. 6. The wo- man at Endor, who had a familiar spirit, is called ** a mistress of on," niN, and it is interpreted, " Pytho- nissa.^' Kircher says, that obion is still, among the people of Egypt, the name of a serpent. It is said that Jotham, king of Israel, built much on the wall of ophel, i. e. the serpent god ^^. See Asp. [The ser- pent is the form under which the Cnuphis (Ihh-Nufi, Cneph) or Aga- tho-dcEtnon of the Egyptian pantheon was worshiped by the inhabitants of the Thebaid. In India, the royal serpent or boa, which attains tlie enormous length of forty feet, is still treated with divine ho- nours; and similar homage is ren- dered to the hooded snake f coluber naja or coluber di capello), called by the natives naag or nagao (a word approaching to the Hebrew wac/i«,s/i J, and nella pamboo, the good serpent ; and which makes a conspicuous ap- pearance on the sculptures at Elora, Salsette, and Elephanta. The ser- pent is still worshiped also in the kingdom of Dahomey.] SHEEP, rtw SEH. Occurs frequently ; and )Ny tsan, a general name for both sheep and goats, considered collectively in a flock. Arab. zain. A well known animal. The be- nefits which mankind owe to it, are very numerous. Its fleece, its skin, its flesh, its tallow, and even its 14 For an account of this species of ido- latry, consult Vossius, de Orig. Idol. I. 1. i. c. 5. Bryant's Mythol. V. i. p. 420—490, and Dimock, " Observations on the Ser pent," annexed to his critical and expla- natory notes on Genesis, &c. London, 1804, 4to. It is a curious coincidence, that the African negroes denote those whom they conceive to possess the power of enchant- ment, particularly the power of inflicting disease and death, '* Obi men and women." They may, perhaps, have borrowed the word from the Moors, who use a corrupt Arabic. " The appalling mysteries of Obi's spell." Montgomery's W. Indies. See Dallas's History of the Maroons among the Mountains of Jamaica. Also, Dr. Moseley's Treatise on Sugar. 294 SHE horns and bowels, are articles of great utility to human life and hap- ^^4^^. SHI eaten separately, but mixed with the lean meat in many of their dishes, and often also used instead of butter. A reference to this part is made in Exod. xxix. 22, and Levit. iii. 9, where the fat and the tail were to be burnt on the altar of sacrifice. Mr. Street considers this precept to have had respect to the health of the Israelites; observing, that " bilious disorders are very fre- quent in hot countries; the eating of fat meat is a great encouragement and excitement to them ; and though the fat of the tail is now considered as a delicacy, it is really unwhole- some." The conclusion of the 17th verse, " ye shall eat neither fat nor blood," justifies this opinion. The prohibition of eating fat, that is, of fat unmixed with the flesh, the omentum or caul, is given also, Levit. vii. 23. SHITTIM, SITTIM, SITTAH. wow, now. Occ. Exod. XXV. 5, 10, 13, 23, 28 ; xxvi. 26, 32, 37 ; xxvii. 1, 6 ; XXXV. 7, 24 ; xxxvi. 20, 31, 36 ; xxxvii. 1, 4, 10, 15, 25, 28; xxxviii. 1, 6 ; Deut. x. 3 ; and Isai. xli. 19. What particular species of wood this is, interpreters are not agreed. The LXX render, affrj-rrra ^vXa, in- coiTwptible wood. piness. Its mildness and inofFen- siveness of manners have designated it as the pattern and emblem of meekness, innocence, patience, and submission. It is a social animal. The flock follow the ram as their leader ; who frequently displays the most impetuous courage in their de- fence : dogs, and even men, when attempting to molest them, have often sufl^ered from his sagacious and generous valour. There are two varieties of sheep found in Syria. The first, called the " Bidoween sheep," diiFers little in appearance from the large breed among us, except that the tail is somewhat longer and thicker. The second is much more common, and is more valued on account of the extraordinary bulk of its tail, which has been remarked by all the Eastern travellers •^. The carcass of one of these sheep, without including the head, feet, entrails, and skin, weighs from fifty to sixty pounds, of which the tail makes up fifteen pounds. Some of a larger size, fattened with care, will sometimes weigh one hun- dred and fifty pounds, the tail alone composing one third of the whole weight '^. It is of a substance be- tween fat and marrow, and is not 15 Ovis platyura. Lin. Syst. Nat. p. 97. „a«f 'Sll\'c&Jr-,''p,S."l;cr!''o"„ F"-' - ">« "everts of Arabia, and Exod. xxix. 22, and plate. is like white-thorn, as to its colour St. Jerom says, the shittim wood SHI and leaves : but the tree is so large as to furnish very long planks. The wood is hard, tough, smooth, and extremely beautiful. It is thought that this wood is the black acacia, because that, it is said, is the most common tree growing in the deserts of Arabia ; and agrees with what the Scriptures say of the shittim wood^^. The acacia vera grows abundantly in [Upper] Egypt, in places far from the sea ; in the mountains of Sinai, near the Red Sea, and in the deserts ' ^ It is of the size of a large mulber- ry-tree. The spreading branches and larger limbs are armed with thorns, which grow three together. The bark is rough. The leaves are oblong, and stand opposite each other. The flowers, though some- times white, are generally of a bright yellow : and the fruit, which resem- bles a bean, is contained in pods like those of the lupin ^^. ** The acacia-tree (says Dr. Shaw) being by much the largest and most common tree in these deserts [Arabia Petraea], we have some reason to conjecture, that the shittim wood was the wood of the acacia ; especially as its flowers are of an excellent smell, for the shittah-tree is, in Isai. xli. 19, joined with the myrtle and other fragrant shrubs ^°." — It may be remarked of the two Hebrew names, that one is feminine, the other mas- culine. Mr. Bruce observes, that ** the acacia seems the only indige- nous tree in the Thebaid. The male is called the saiel ; from it proceeds the gum Arabic on incision with an axe. This gum chiefly comes from Arabia Petraea, where these 17 The Ttvfnvov 5ev5fovofDio8corides, which is the acacia vera. " Ex JEgypto super lore Sues defertur, et potissima pars est lignorum ad naves struendas." Forskal. p. Ivii. [In Coptic, it is called sont, i. e. hard. The Arabs call it char ad. It is the Thebaic or Egyptian thorn of travellers.] 18 Prosp. Alpinus, Belon. observat. 1. ii. c. 56, and 80. iEtius, 1. iv. c. 11. 19 From the unripe pods, the acacia vera succus of the ancients was expressed. Mur- ray, App. Med. ii. 412. The seeds yield a reddish dye. Jackson's Marocco. 20 Trav. p. 444. SIL 295 trees are most numerous. But it is the tree of all deserts, from the north- most part of Arabia to the extremity of Ethiopia; and. its leaves are the only food for camels travelling in those desert parts^'. SILK, ^mn MESHi. Occurs Ezek. xvi. 10, 13, only. The word " silk" appears several times in our common translation, cua- swering to a word in the original which I have explained under the article Flax. The term used in this place of Ezekiel, is supposed to be derived from nii'n, which signifies, to draw with a gentle hand, and there- fore to mean " silk of the finest thread, drawn out with care and nicety '^^." Castel and Houbigant de- rive it from the Arabic '■U'l, to paint, and suppose it to mean the " pictcK vestes'' of the ancients. Parkhurst observes: ** I meet with no evidence that the Israelites in very early times (and to these Ezekiel refers) had any knowledge of silk, much less of the manner in which it was formed ; the word, therefore, I think, means some kind of Jine linen or cotton cloth, so denominated from the Jine- ness with which the threads were drawn out." — From the expression in the prophet, it seems to mean simply A VEIL, a mesh of fine reticu- lated threads ^3. In the Septuagint, it is rendered TQixaTTTOv, which may be under- stood of a net, worn by the vmmen over their hair. Symmachus trans- lated it by onevdvfia, a head-dress ; and Aquila, by avOsfjiov, Jiourished work. As the word which is rendered ** silk" in our version, more probably meant cotton, or rather muslin, it is doubtful whether silk is mentioned expressly in the Scripture, unless, 21 Trav. vi. p. 93. In Prosper Alpinus, there is a description and engraving of the tree. 22 Taylor's Hebr. Cone. Hence, perhaps, our English word " mesh," a net. 23 *' Errant, judice Braunio, gui putant his signijicari ?.GVicnm, cujus usum optimis argu- mentis prohat fuisse ignotum antiqnis Jde- breis." Lamy de Tabernaculo, p. 481. 296 SI L perhaps, in Isaiah xix. 9, where we find the Hebrew word mpnw seri- KOTH, from piw yellowish, tawny ; which is generally the natural colour of raw silk ; hence the Latin sericum : or it may be from the Seres, a nation whence the Greeks and Romans first obtained the article silk^*. Calmet remarks, that the ancient Greeks and Romans had but little know- ledge of the nature of silk. They imagined that a kind of spider spun it out of its own bowels, and wound it with its feet about little rods or branches of trees, and that these threads of silk were unravelled again by sprinkling the coils with water. Pliny, N. H. c. xvii., says: * Seres lanijicio sylvarum nohiles perfusam aquadependentes sylvaremcanitiem 2^.' The Seres communicated their silk to the Persians, from whom it passed to the Greeks, and from them to the Romans. But the Persians and orientals for a long time kept the secret of manufacturing it among themselves." Silk was first brought into Greece after Alexander's conquest of Persia, and came into Italy during the flou- rishing times of the Roman empire ; but was long so dear in all these parts as to be worth its weight in gold. At length the emperor Jus- tinian, who died in the year 565, by means of two monks, whom he sent into India for that purpose, procured great quantities of silkworms' eggs to be brought to Constantinople, and from these have sprung all the silk- worms and all the silk trade that have been since in Europe 2^. See Flax. 24 " Sericum dictum, qiiia id Seres primi miserunt. Vermicvli enim ibi nasci perhihen- tur a quibtis hac circum arhoresfila ducuntur. Vermes autem ipsi Grace ^oixSrjxeg ncminan- tur" Isiodor. I. xix. c. 27. 25 ** Apud Indos et Seras sunt quidem in arboribus vermes, et hombyces appellantur, qui in aranearum morem, tenuissima fila de- ducunt, Unde est sericum: nam lanam at bo- ream non possumus accipere, quia ubique procreatur." Servius, in Virg. Georglc. 1. ii. V. 120. 26 For further satisfaction on this subject the reader may consult Piideaux, Connect, part ii. book 8. note at the end. Vossius, SNA SILVER. PlDD KESEPH. Occurs first, Gen. xx. 16 ; and afterwards frequently. APryPION. 1 Pet. i. 18; Acts iii. 4 ; and xx. SS. A well known metal, of a white shining colour : next in value to gold. It does not appear to have been in use before tlie deluge ; at least, Moses says nothing of it : he speaks only of the metals brass and iron ; Gen. iv. 22. But in Abraham's time, it was become common, and trafiic was carried on with it ; Gen. xxiii. 2, 15. Yet it was not then coined, but was only in bars or ingots ; and in commerce was always weighed. SNAIL. We find this word twice in our translation of the Bible. The first is the rendering of the Hebrew word i3Dn CHOMET, Levit. xi. 30, where a kind of Lizard is spoken of. The other is Psalm Iviii. 8, bibiu; sabelul, which the LXX and Vulgate render wax ; but which Bochart has amply- demonstrated, from the most ancient Jewish writers, to be the snail. Park- hurst is of opinion, that the name may be deduced from the pecuhar manner in which snails thrust them- selves forward in moving, and from the force with which they adhere to any substance on which they light. The All-wise Author of nature, not having furnished them feet and claws to creep and climb, has compensated them in a way more commodious for their state of life, by the broad thin skin along each side of the belly, and the undulating motion observ- able there: by the latter they creep; by the former, assisted by the glu- tinous slime emitted from their body, they adhere firmly and securely to all kinds of superficies, partly by the tenacity of their slime, and partly by the pressure of the atmosphere ^. De Orig. et Progr. Idol. lib. iv. c. 90, from whom the above particulars are taken. Harris's Voyages, vol. i. p. 506, and the Encyclopedia Brit, article Indfa, No. 24. Gibbon's Rome, v. 4. p. 71, and Robert- son's India, note xxiii. p. 235. 27 Derhani's Phys. Theol. so A Thus the snail appears to waste itself by its own motion, every undulation leaving something of its moisture behind ; and in the same manner the actions of wicked men prove their destruction. They may, like the snail, carry their defence along with them, and retire into it on every appearance of danger ; they may confidently trust to their own resources, and banish away the fear of evil ; but the principles of ruin are at work within them, and although the progress may be slow, the result is certain 28. SOAP. n'i:i BORiTir. Occurs Jer. ii. 22; and Mai. iii. 2. Some purifying or cleansing herb, or composition. In Jeremiah, the LXX render it by Uoiav, or Uoav, the herb; Jerom and the Vulgate by '* herbam Borith,'^ the herb borith. In Malachi, the LXX translate by Iloia TrXvvovriov, the herb of the washers; Vulgate, by " herbafullo- num," the herb of the fullers. With respect to the herb borith, says M. Goguet, Orig. of Laws, &c. V. i. p. 132, " I imagine it is sai- worth [salt-wort]. I'his plant is very common in Syria, Judea, Egypt, and Arabia. They bum it and pour water upon the ashes. This water becomes impregnated with a very strong lixivial salt, proper for taking stains or impurities out of wool or clothes." Michaelis, however, Sup- plem. ad Lex. Hebr. p. 230, thinks nnn means, not the herb or plant kali, but the alcaline or lixivial salt, procured from the ashes of that and other plants ; though he owns that, in Jer. ii. 22, it may be also rendered, soap made of such salt. But he sup- poses the alcaline salt itself to be 28 Paxton's Illustrations of the Holy Bible, V. i. p. 335. 29 The plant is called " usnen" by the Arabs. It is the " Salsola Kali," described by Forskai, Flor. vEgypt. Arab. p. 54, or rather the " Su&da monoica," which, in page 70, he thus describes. " H and Bereshith Rabba, sect. 91, ren- der it wax. The LXX render it Ovpiapa, perfumes ; Aquila says, storax. The Syriac version puts resin ; Kimchi, a desirable thing ; Jarchi, a composition of aromatics, Bochart supports his opinion, that this word signifies storax, by observ- ing, 1. That this drug is abundant in Syria, according to Pliny, 1. xii. c. 25 ; whence it is brought even now. Artemidorus says it abounds in Phcenicia ; Josephus, 1. xv. c. 23, says in Galilee. 2. It is among the most famous aromatics. 3. Pliny says, that the Arabs collect the sto- rax, which they burn in their houses to correct ill smells. 4. Moses joins with this necoth, resin, honey, and myrrh ; which agree with the nature of the storax ^S which is the resin 31 " Constat scilicet ex Camus, apud Arabes n''DD esse e numero twv 'IN'ntt', quod nomen generate est, quo omnia dentifricia designan- tur, quv. The verse will then stand thus : ^epiav myfia (TfivpvrjQ Kai aXorjQ, wcfei Xirpag EKA2TQN. i.e. Nicodemus ^ow^/jt a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a pound EACH. This emendation, how- ever, is omitted in the folio edition : for eKtt'^og is not each, applied to two tilings, but to more, except in Alexandrian Greek. Dr. Markland proposes to read eKartpojv, where, the ep being abbreviated, it became SKarov. Airpag he puts in the geni- tive. This makes the sense the same as is suggested by the critic in Wet- stein. In confirmation of this reading, the learned doctor observes, that if St. John had written tKarov, as in the present copies, the participle would have been ayiov, not (pepcjv. Dr. Owen, however, very justly supports the present reading, and observes, that " if Jifty pounds of each be thought too much, one pound of each might be thought too little. Could 34 Vincent's Periplus, vol. i. App. pp. 3—48. See also Mod. Traveller, vol. vii. p. 66, for a comparative table of ancient and modern exports from India. 35 Demonst. part 3. p. 65. ed. fol. 36 4to. p. 471. SPI the trifling act of bringing two pounds of spices be deemed either a fit token of JS icodemus's regard, or a fit object of the evangelist's notice? That great quantities of spices were ex-* pended by the Jews at funerals, is evident from what we read in 2 Chron. xvi. 14. In the Talmud (Massecheth Semacoth VIII.) it is said, that not less than eighty pounds of spices were used at the funeral of Rabbi Gamaliel the elder. And at the funeral of Herod, Josephus-''' informs us, that the procession was followed by five hundred of his do- mestics carrying spices, apwfiaTO- 0opoi, that is, in the language of St. John, apiofxara (pepovrtg." This note is much to the purpose: it well illustrates the fact recorded, and at the same time justifies the use of the word (bipiov, objected to by Mark- land3^ ^ SPIDER. \ynDy AccHABis. Occ. Job viii. 14, and Isai. lix. 5, only. An insect well known ; remark- able for the thread which it spins, with which it forms a web of curious texture, but so frail that it is exposed to be broken and destroyed by the slightest accident. To the slender- ness of this filmy workmanship. Job compares the hope of the wicked. This, says Mr. Good, was " doubt- less a proverbial allusion ; and so exquisite, that it is impossible to conceive any figure that can more fully describe the utter vanity of the hopes and prosperity of the wicked.'* ** Deceiving bliss! in bitter shame it ends; His prop a cobweb, which an insect rends.** So Isaiah says: " They weave the web of the spider ; of their webs no garment shall be made : neither shall they cover themselves with their works." An ingenious illustration of this passage is furnished in ** Illustra- tions of the Holy Scriptures," by Rev. J. Paxton, vol. i. p. 309. 37 Antiq. lib. xvii. sec. 3. 38 See Bower's Crit. Coni. and Obs. on the N. Test. 3d edit. 4to. 1782. SPIDER. 301 " Weak and unstable as the spider's web are all the professions and works of the hypocrite. The filaments which compose the flimsy texture in which she dwells, are finely spun, and curiously woven ; but a single touch dissolves the fabric : equally frail and evanescent are his wisest and most elaborate contrivances. She fabricates her web, to be at once a covering to herself, and a snare to her neighbour ; and for the same odious purposes he assumes the garb of religion : but the deceit- ful veil which he throws over the deformity of his character can remain only for a short time ; like the spi- der's web, it shall soon be swept away, and his loathsome form ex- posed to every eye. Like her, he shall perish in the ruins of the habi- tation which he constructed with so much care, and where he reposed in fatal security." The greater part of modern inter- preters, among whom are to be num- bered our own Translators, suppose this insect intended by Solomon in these words : *' The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces." Prov. xxx. 28. But the wise man uses a diflferent word from the common name of this creature, n^DDU; SHEMAMAH ; and subjoins a description, which, in one particular, is by no means applicable to it ; for, although several ancient writers have given fingers to the spider, not one has honoured her with hands. An ancient poet has accordingly taught her to say : " Nulla mihi maniis est, pedibus tamen omnia fiunt." Had Solomon intended to describe the spider, he would not have merely said, " she taketh hold with her hands," but, she spins her thread, and weaves her toils ; circumstances assuredly much more worthy of no- tice ; nor would he have said that she takes up her abode in kings' palaces, when she more frequently constructs her dwelling in the cabins of the poor, where she resides in greater security and freedom. The opinion of the celebrated Bochart, that the newt, a small species of lizard, is meant, seems in every re- spect entitled to the preference^. This reptile answers to the descrip- tion which the royal preacher gives of her form and habits: nature has furnished her with claws resembling hands, and taught her to aspire to the superior accommodations which the palace of an eastern monarch affords. Bellonius makes mention of this kind of lizard, which creeps into the walls of houses, and catches flies, and which is called by the Greeks, samiamaton, a name very near the Hebrew \^rd here used'*^. Pliny speakes of the stellio as being in doors, windows, and chambers'*' ; and St. Austin makes mention of it as a domestic animal ^2. '* A num- ber of little gray lizards" (lacerta agilisy Lin.), says Sonnini'*^, " love to approach the habitations of men. They are to be seen on the walls, and even in the houses. This species is common all over Egypt. It is there called * bourse.' It is an animal which is sacred both among the Turks and the Egyptians ; and the veneration which they entertain for them, doubtless is connected with the exercise of that hospitality which is now generally adopted in the East. They are unwilling to injure harm- less and innocent animals which approach man with confidence, and which seem to take up their abode with him solely for the purpose of purging his habitation of the swarm of insects which constantly torment him in those countries, where the exces- sive heat renders them more numer- ous and more troublesome than in other places'*'*." 39 Bochart, Hieroz. V. ii. p. 510. ■10 Apud diatt-ric. Antiq. bibl. p. 470. 41 Nat. Hist. 1. xxx. c. 10. « Confess. I. x. c. 35. « lYav. V. iii. p. 288. 44 My nephew, Mr. Charles A. Tufts, in- forms me, that at Mobile, a species of small lizard is sometimes seen in considerable numbers in the houses, particularly those 302 SPIKENARD. SPIKENARD. TiD NARD. By this was meant a highly aro- matic plant growing in the Indies, called " iiardostachysy" by Diosco- rides and Galen ; from which was made the very valuable extract or unguent, or favourite perfume, used at the ancient baths and feasts, — ** unguentum nardinum," '* unguen- tumnardi spicatct'^^." This, it appears from a passage in Horace, was so valuable, that as much of it as could be contained in a small box of pre- cious stone, was considered as a sort of equivalent for a large vessel of wine, and a handsome quota for a guest to contribute at an entertain- ment, according to the custom of antiquity : •* Nardo vinum merebere. Nardi parvus ojiyx eliciet cadttm." Sir William Jones remarks : '• The very word nard occurs in the Song of Solomon ; but the name and the tiling were both exotic : the Hebrew lexicographers imagine both to be Indian; but the word is, in truth, Persian. The Arabs have borrowed the word nard, but in the sense of a compound medicinal ointment." [The Indian nard or spikenard is supposed to be the species of valerian known by the Hindoos under the name of Jatamansi. The Persian name is khus- tah, the Arabic, sumbul. It is indi- •which are bnilt with logs, and which afford crevices for the hirkine-places of this liarm- less but disgusting visitant. ■*» Salraasius in SoJiu. p. 750. genous in Bootan and Nepaul. The odour resembles that of the violet.] Dioscorides mentions the " Nardus Syriaca/' as a species different from the " Indica ;" whence it is probable, that there was in that country a nard, though it might have been less fra- grant and costly than the Indian. The plant called ** nard," or " spikenard," has been made the subject of inquiry by two learned men. Dr. Gilbert Blane, F. R. S.^^ and Sir William Jones ''7. These interesting memoirs are inserted in the volume of '* Scripture Illus- trated ;" and the ingenious Author of that work remarks from them, that the nard, twice named in C antic, iv. 13, 14, means two varieties, the Syrian or Arabian plant, and the Indian nard, or true spikenard; and that the latter word merely wants some discriminating epithet, answer- ing to spike, which transcribers, not understanding, have dropped ; or that a different mode of pronunciation distinguished the names of these two plants, when mentioned in dis- course [they are also differently pointed in the printed copies], II. St. Mark, xiv. 3, mentions " ointment of spikenard very precious,'' which is said to be worth more than three hundred denarii ; and John, xii. S, mentions a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly — the house was filled with the odour of the ointment — it was worth three hun- dred denarii. It is not to be sup- posed that this was a Syrian pro- duction, but the true utar of Indian spikenard ; an unguent containing the very essence of the plant, and brought at a great expense from a remote country. The Author of " Scripture Illus- 46 See Philos. Transactions, Vol. Ixxx. p. 284. 47 Asiatic Researches. See also " Bota- nical Observations on the Spikenard of the ancients, intended as a supplement to the late Sir William Jones's papers, by William Roxburgh, M. D." [See Asiat. Researches, vol. iv. pp. 108, 457, 733; Vincent's Periplus, App. 37 ; Phil. Trans, 1790. Ixx. 284.] STA trated" adds : " I would query whe^ ther there might not be, in the an- swer of our Lord, some allusion to the remoteness of the country from whence this unguent was brought : * Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached, through the whole world shall be her memorial.' As much as to say, * this unguent came from a distant country, to be sure, but the gospel shall spread to a much greater distance, yea, all over the world ; so that in India itself, from whence this unguent came, shall the memorial of its application to my sacred person be mentioned with honour.' The idea of a far country, connected with the ointment, seems to have sug- gested that of * all the world.' " SPONGE. snorrOS. Lat. S})ongia. Occ. JMatth. xxvii. 48; Mark xv. 06 ; John xix. 29. A submarine substance of animal origin, like the corallines; being the fabric and habitation of some species of worms. Upon a nice inspection, sponge appears to be composed of fibres implicated in a surprising man- ner, and surrounded by thin mem- branes, which arrange them in a cellular form. This structure, no less than the constituent matter of sponge, renders it the fittest of all bodies to imbibe a great quantity of any fluid, and upon a strong pressure to part with almost the whole quan- tity again. STACTE. St)3 NATAPH. Occurs Exod. xxx. 34, only. A gummy, odoriferous substance, that distils in amber-coloured drops from a resinous tree, by some sup- posed the myrrh"*^. The diiFerence between the stacte and gum myrrh seems to be, that the latter was ob- tained by incision, and the former oozed spontaneously 4^. Dioscorides 48 Cocquius, Phytologia Sacr. c. xiv. sect. 2. p. 222. 49 Athenaeus Deip. 1. xvii. Bazil, in Psalm iv. So Pliny, N. H. 1. xii. c. 15, speaking of the trees whence myrrh is produced, says, " sudant autem sponte prius- quam incidantuTy stacten dictum ^ cut nulla prafernir." ST O 303 speaks of it as a finely smelling per- fume ; and Euripides mentions its being burnt on the altar of the gods. STEEL. nu;in3 nechushah. Occ. Job XX. 24, and Jer. xv. 12. Why this should be rendered " steel," instead of copper, in our common version, I know not. It is often put as a metal distinct from iron ; and in two other verses in Job [xxviii. 2; xl. 18], as well as in various other places, is rendered " brass." See Brass, Copper. STORK, mvn chasidah. [Or KHASiDA ; i. e. (avis J pia, Heklek or hegleg is the name commonly given to the stork by Arabian authors. In Barbary, it is called bcl-arje. See Shaw's Travels.] Occ. Levit. xi. 19; Deut. xiv. 8; Job xxxix. 13; Psalm civ. 17; Jer, viii. 7 ; Zech. v. 9. A bird similar to the crane in size, with the same formation as to the bill, neck, legs, and body, but rather more corpulent. The colour of the crane is ash and black ; that of the stork is white and brown. The nails of its toes are also very pecu- liar ; not being clawed, like those of other birds, but flat, like the nails of a man. It has a very long beak, and long red legs. It feeds upon ser- pents, frogs, and insects, and on this account might be reckoned by Moses among unclean birds. As it seeks for these in watery places, nature has provided it with long legs ; and as it flies away, as well as the crane and heron, to its nest with its plun- der, therefore its bill is strong and 304 STORK. jagged, the sharp hooks of which enable it to retain its slippery prey. It has long been remarked for its love to its parents, whom it never forsakes, but tenderly feeds and cherishes when they have become old and unable to provide for them- selves. The very learned and judi- cious Bochart*^ has collected a va- riety of passages from the ancients, wherein they testify this curious particular, that the stork is eminent for its performance of what St. Paul enjoins^*, children's requiting their parents. Its very name in the Hebrew language, chasidu, signifies mercy or piety : and its English name is taken, if not directly, yet secondarily, through the Saxon, from the Greek word storgty which is often used in our language for natural affection. *' The stork's an emblem of true piety; Because, when age has seized and made his dam Untit for flight, the grateful young one takes His mother on his back, provides her food. Repaying thus her tender care of him. Ere he was tit to fly." Beaumont. The reader may find a number of testimonies to the same purport in Scheuchzer's Physica Sacra : to which it may not be amiss to add what follows, from " the Inspector," No. 171, a periodical paper, ascribed to that eminent naturalist. Sir John Hill. The writer, after having re- marked the high antiquity and con- tinued tradition of the opinion, that young storks requite their parents by tending and supporting them when grown old, proceeds thus : " Among those who have given their relation without the omnments or the exag- geration of poetry or fable, is Bur- cherodde, a Dane : his account is the most full and particular of all, and he appears a person of gravity and fidelity. He tells us, he relates what he has seen. * Storks build (says he) in the prefecture of Eyderstede, in the southern part of Jutland : and 50 Hieroz. 1. ii. c. 19, p. 82, V. 3. 51 1 Tim. v. 4. ** Ciconia etiam grata, peregrina, hospita. Pie tad cultrix, gracilipes, crotalistria." Patson. men may be taught by looking upon them. They are large birds, like herons, of a white colour, with black wings and red feet. In a retired part of Eyderstede, some leagues from Toningen, towards the German sea, there are clusters of trees. Among these they build ; and if any creature comes near them in the nesting sea- son, which lasts nearly three months, they go out in a body to attack it. The peasants never hurt them, and they are in no fear of them. ** * The two parents guard and feed each brood, one always remain- ing on it, while the other goes for food. They keep the young ones much longer in the nest than any other bird ; and after they have led them out of it by day, they bring them back at night ; preserving it as their natural and proper home, " * When they first take out the young, they practise them to fly ; and they lead them to the marshes and to the hedge-sides, pointing them out the frogs, and serpents, and lizards, which are their proper food : and they seek out toads, which they never eat ^^, and take great pains to make the young distinguish them. In the end of autumn, not being able to bear the winter of Denmark, they gather in a great body about the sea- coasts, as we see swallows do, and go off together: the old ones leading, the young ones in the centre, an d a second body of the old behind. They return in spring, and betake themselves in families to their several nests. The people of Toningen and the neigh- bouring coasts, gather together to see them come ; for they are super- stitious, and form certain presages from the manner of their flight. At this time, it is not uncommon to see several of the old birds, which are tired and feeble with the long flight, supported at times on the backs of the young : and the peasants speak of it as a certainty, that many of these are, 52 This circumstance is countenanced by Linnaeus, who, mentioning the food of the stork, expressly says, that though they eaj frogs, they avoid toads. when they return to their hornet laid carefully in the old nests, and cherished by the young ones which they reared with so much care the spring before.* *' If the account this gentleman gives be singular (says Sir John), it is in no part unnatural. We see in- numerable instances of what we call instinct ; and who shall say that this is too great for credit 1. Who shall lay dowTi the laws to determine where the gifts of a Creator to his creatures shall stop, or how they shall be limited?" The word m'^DU chasida, says Mr. Merrick, in his Commentary on Psalm civ. 17, is variously rendered by the ancient interpreters: but Bo- chart observes, that the bird called by this name appears from Scripture to be a bird of passage ; a circum- stance which belongs to none of the birds which the ancient versions suppose to be thus named, except the kite ^3 and the stork. Professor Michaelis*'* says, that the word is generally translated the stork; but adds, that this translation is found- ed on the authority of the Jews of the tenth century, and on that of the illustrious author of the Hie- rozoicon : but these writers them- selves, says he, have been led by an arbitrary etymology to this inter- pretation, which is not, perhaps, to be met with in any of the ancient versions. To which we may answer, that this interpretation is certainly of earlier date than the tenth cen- tury ; since Olympiodorus, in his Commentary on Job, (a work old enough to be mentioned by Anas- tasius Sinaita, who lived about the year 680 ^^) mentions, though with disapprobation, some interpreters who affirmed the chasida to be the stork ^"^^ f^^ Michaelis thinks, that this text of the Psalms, as for the stork, the fir-trees are her house, makes against the stork ; as, though it be true that this bird sometimes builds on trees, yet it generally chooses to 53 The Jx7»vof. ^^ Recueil des Quest, p. 411. 55 See Fabriciiis Biblioth. Gr. 56 Bochart, Hieroz. p. ii. 1. 2, c. 28, sec. 3. STORK. 305 build on the tops of houses. Yet the same learned gentleman very judiciously proposes, that it be in- quired whether, as, in the eastern countries, the roofs of houses are flat and inhabited, this very circum- stance may not oblige them to build elsewhere. The following passage from Dr. Shaw's Travels '^'^ may, at first, seem to determine the ques- tion. " The storks breed plentifully in Barbary every summer. They make their nests with dry twigs of trees, which they place upon the highest parts of old ruins or houses, in the canals of ancient aqueducts, and frequently (so familiar are they by being never molested) upon the very tops of their mosques and dwell- ing-houses. The^V and other treesy when these are wanting, are a dwell- ing for the stork.'' Here we see the storks building their nests upon the tops of the eastern houses : but, as Dr. Shaw has just before informed us, that the Mahometans account it profane to kill, or even to hurt or molest them, (to which we may add, from Hasselquist^^, that those per- sons among the Turks who own a house where storks have nested, are supposed to receive great blessings from heaven, and to be free from all misfortunes,) their access to the roofs is free and undisturbed ; which might not be the case in Judea, where no such superstition appears to have prevailed. That they sometimes build on trees, is allowed by M. Mi- chaelis himself, and confirmed by J. H. Michaelis in his Commentary on the Psalms ^^. It may be still more to our purpose to observe, that Olympiodorus (who cannot well be supposed to have borrowed the idea from this Psalm, as he does not allow the chasida to be the stork) affirms, in the place above referred to, that the stork lays its eggs, not on the ground, but on high trees. Bochart quotes also an Arabic writer, 57 Travels, p. 411, ed. 4to. 58 Travels into the East, p. 32. 59 " Sic ipsemei in Germania non mio loco nidulantes ciconias in aids et Sttpius aridis quercubv^ vidi," 306 STORK. who says that this bird builds its nest in some very lofty place, either on the top of a tower or tree^". A passage which he quotes from Varro, as it distinguishes the stork's man- ner of building from that of the swal- low, seems greatly to favour our in- terpretation^'. Aldrovandus affirms of the black stork, that they are wont to make their nest on trees, particularly on Jir-trees^'^. And Strahlenberg speaks of storks^^ that frequent great forests. The word agyst, continues Mr. Merrick, which he mentions as the Russian name of one kind of stork, does not seem so remote from the Hebrew name, but that it might possibly be derived from it; and it may, on inquiry, lead to the discovery of some other name of that bird, in languages akin to the Russian, which approach still nearer to it. Besides, the Psalmist does not say, that the chasidah makes its nest on the fir-trees, but that the fir-trees are its house ; which may mean no more (to borrow the expression of Mr. Harmer, Obs. V. iv. p. 175) than that ** there they rest, there they sleep, after the wanderings of the day are over." And Doubdan, as cited by the same author, posi- tively affirms, that the prodigiously numerous storks which he saw be- tween Cana and Nazareth, in Pa- lestine, did " in the evening rest on trees ;" that is, they roosted there. Jackson, in his Account of Morocco, p. 64, says: " They are considered as sacred birds, and it is sacrilegious to kill one ; for, besides being of the greatest utility in destroying ser- pents and other noxious reptiles, they are also emblematical of faith and conjugal affection, and on that account are held in the highest esti- mation. They build their nests, which 60 *« Negue nidum sumit nisi in loco celso, puta in pharo, out in arbore.!' 61 Advena volucres pullos facient, in agro cico7ii(B, in tecto hirundines." Varro, de re rustica, 1. iii. c. 5. 6'i " in arboribus nidulari, presertim in abietibus." 63 Descrip. of the N. and E. parts of Eu- rope and Asia, p. 447. are curious, on the top of some old tower or castle, or on the terraces of uninhabited houses, where they con- stantly watch their young, exposed to the scorching rays of the sun. They will not suffer any one to ap- proach their nests." I have already remarked, that it is a bird of passage. It is spoken of as such in Scripture, Jer. viii. 7 : " The stork knoweth her appoint- ed time," &c. " Who bid the stork, Columbus like, ex- plore Heavens not its own, and worlds unknown before 1 Who calls the council, states the certain day? Who forms the phalanx, and who points the way V Pope. Bochart has collected testimonies to the migration of storks, ^lian, 1. iii. c. 13, says, that in summer time they remain stationary, but at the close of autumn they repair to Egypt, Libya, and Ethiopia. " For about the space of a fortnight before they pass from one country to an- other (says Dr. Shaw), they con- stantly resort together, from all the adjacent parts, in a certain plain; and there forming themselves, once every day, into a douwunne, or coun- cil (according to the phrase of these eastern nations), are said to deter- mine the exact time of their de- parture, and the place of their future abodes." These particulars are thus recited by " the Poet of the Seasons :" " The stork-assembly meets; for many a day Consulting deep and various, ere they take Their arduous voyage through the liquid sky. [chose, And now their route design'd, their leaders Theirtribes adjusted, clean'd their vigorous wings. And many a circle, many a short essay, Wheel'd round and round, in congregation full The figured flight ascends ; and riding high The aerial billows, mixes with the clouds." Thomson. the Milton also has described flight of these birds : " Part loosely wing the region, part, more wise. In common, ranged in figure, wedge their way, SU G Intelligent of seasons, and set forth Their airy caravan, high over seas Flying, and over lands, with mutual wing Easing their flight." SUGAR. The inspissated juice of the cane. We are not certain [how early] the granulated form of the sap was known. Under the word ** cane," we have shewn that the knowledge of the plant was as old among the Jews as the time of Moses. It is agreed, that our sugar is a term borrowed from the Arabic. The Saracens or Arabians propa- gated the cane in their conquests. Shekar, I'DW, as a noun, is used nine- teen times, and uniformly translated '* strong drink." The etymology may make it not only the (jiKspa and sicera of the Greeks and Latins, but also the saccharum. It is uniformly coupled with wine, and used without any separate verb. See Levit. x. 9 ; Deut. xiv. 26 ; xxix. 6 ; Jud. xiii. 4, 7, 14 ; 1 Sam. i. l5. It is men- tioned Numb. vi. 3, both with and without wine ; but the verse seems to imply, that the repetition of the fermentation is only to render the command more emphatical, as it is in the same manner repeated with respect to the wine. It is possible, that they might have a kind of beer made by fermenting the sirup of the cane^"* ; but, perhaps, more pro- bable, that they used it to sweeten their wine, as we put honey into cider, to encourage people to drink freely. The texts quoted above will then be rendered, ** wine and sugar," or sweetened wine. In Solomon's time, and afterwards, the wine and sweet cordials seem generally to have been used sepa- rately, as we may conclude iVom the phraseology; they having usually their separate verbs. [Compare Prov. XX. 1 ; xxxi.4, 6 ; Isai. v. 11, ^ [In fact, the sirup of the cane is still exported from India, under the name of jaghery (the same word, apparently, as shegary or saccary), which is also given to the fermented juice of the cocoa-nut or date. The Arabs call their date-wine by a similar name, sakar'\. SWA 307 22 ; xxiv. 9 ; xxviii. 7 ; xxix. 9 ; Ivi. 12.] The only place after So- lomon, in which I find it used simply, as joined with wine, is in Micah ii. 11. See Calamus. Strabo speaks of canes from which honey is made. I do not know that saccharum is used by any author prior to Pliny and Dioscorides. See Salmas. Exercit. Plin. V. ii. [Pliny says : ** Arabia produces saccaron, hut the best is in India : it is a honey collected from reeds, a sort of wliite gum, brittle between the teeth ; the largest pieces do not exceed the size of a hazel-nut, and it is used only in medicine." Lib. xii. c. 8. In the Periplus ascribed to Arrian, sugar is described as jitfXt KaXdfiivov TO Xeyofisvov craicxapij honey from canes called sacchari.] SWALLOWS. DID SIS. Our translators of the Bible have given this name to two different Hebrew words. The first, Tni de- ROR, in Psalm Ixxxiv. 3, and Prov. xxvi. 2, is probably the bird which Forskal mentions among the migra- tory birds of Alexandria, by the name of dururi ; and the second, "lisy OGUR, Isai. xxxviii. 14, and Jer. viii. 7, is the crane: but the word DID SIS, in the two last places rendered in our version, " crane," is really the Swallow. So the Septuagint, Vul- gate, and two ancient manuscripts, Theodotion, and Jerom render it; and Bochart and Lowth follow them. Bochart assigns the note of this bird, for the reason of its name, and in- geniously remarks, that the Italians about Venice, call a swallow, " zi- 308 SWA zalla'^ and its twittering, " zizil- lare/ ' " Kegulus, atque merops, et rubra pectore Progne, Consimili modulo zinzulare scitmt." . It is said that the goddess Isis was changed into a swallow: and it is worthy of remark, that thirteen of Dr. Kennicott's codices in Jere- miah read D'DT isis, as five more did originally. The swallow being a plaintive bird, and a bird of passage, perfectly agrees with the meaning of Isaiah and Jeremiah. The annual migration of the swal- low has been familiarly known in every age, and perhaps in every re- gion of the earth. Anacreon, in one of his odes, addresses her thus : " Friendly swallow, thou indeed, coming annually, buildest thy nest in the summer, but in winter disap- pearest." And Aristotle, 1. viii. c. 12, remarks in the sober language of history : " Both the swallow and tlie turtle leave us, to spend the winter in other climes." The swal- low, says ^lian, announces the most delightful season of the year : she remains in the northern latitude six months ; and the thrush and the turtle only three. Mr. Jago wrote an exquisitely beautiful Elegy on the flight of swallows, from which I extract the following stanzas : ** Observe yon twittering flock, my gentle maid. Observe, and read the wondrous ways of heaven. With us, thro* summer's genial reign they stayed, And food and sunshine to their wants were given. ** But now, by secret instinct taught, they know The near approach of elemental strife ; Of blusterina: tempests and of chilling snow. With every pang and scourge of tender life. '* Thus warn'd, they meditate a speedy flight ; For this, even now they prune their vi- gorous wing ; For this each other to the toil excite. And prove tlieir strength in many a sportive ring. SWI ** No sorrow loads their breast, or dims their eye To quit their wonted haunts, or native home ; Nor fear they launching on the boundless sky. In search of future settlements to roam. " They feel a power, an impulse all divine. That warns them hence ; they feel it, and obey; To this direction all their cares resign. Unknown their destined stage, unmark'd their way." SWAN. nnu'Dn thinsemeth. Occ. Levit. xi. 18 ; and Deut. xiv. 16. The Hebrew word is very am- biguous, for, in the first of these places, it is ranked among water- fowls; and by the Vulgate, which our version follows, rendered "swan." In the 30th verse, the same word is rendered " mole," and ranked among reptiles. Some translate it, in the former place, " tlie bat," which they justify by the affinity that there is between the bat and the mole. The LXX in the former verse render it Trop^vptwj/a, the porphyrion, or purple bird, probably the Jiamingo ; and in the latter, " Ibis." Parkhurst shews that the name is given, from the creature's breath- ing in a strong and audible manner; and Michaelis, Quest, cci. learnedly conjectures, that in v. 18, and Deut. xiv. 16, it may mean the goose, which, every one knows, is remarkable for its manner oi breathing out or hissing when approached. SWINE. I'ln CHAzm. Occ. Levit. xi. 7 ; Deut. xiv. 8 ; Psalm Ixxx. 13 ; Prov. xi. 22 ; Isai. Ixv. 4 ; and Ixvi. 3, 17. And XOI- POS, Matth. vii. 6 ; viii. 30 ; Mark V. 14 ; Luke viii. 33 ; xv. 15. The plural of hog 6^. In impurity and grossness of manners, this animal stands almost unrivalled among the order of quadrupeds ; and the mean- ness of his appearance corresponds to the grossness of his manners. He has a most indiscriminate, voracious, 65 Szvine is formed from sow, as line from CO'U). SWINE. 309 and insatiable appetite. His form is inelegant. His eyes are diminutive and deep sunk in his head. His carriage is mean and sluggish. His unwieldy shape renders him no less incapable of swiftness and spright- liness, than he is of gracefulness of motion. His appearance also is drowsy and stupid. He delights to bask in the sun, and to wallow in the mire. The flesh of this animal was ex- pressly forbidden the Jews by the Levitical law ; undoubtedly on ac- count of its filthy character, as well as because the flesh, being strong and difficult to digest, afforded a very gross kind of aliment, apt to produce cutaneous, scorbutic, and scrophulous disorders, especially in hot climates. Maimonides, More Nevochim,partiii. c. 8, says : " The principal reason wherefore the law prohibited the swine, was because of their extreme filthiness, and their eating so many impurities. For it is well known with what care and precision the law forbids all filthi- ness and dirt, even in the fields and in the camp, not to mention the cities: now had swine been permitted, the public places and streets and houses would have been made nuisances." — So Novatian, c. iii. de cib. Judaic. " Cum suem cibo prohibet assumi, reprehendit om- nino C(Enosam, luteam, et gaudentem vitiorum sordibus vitam, bonum suum non hi generositate animi, sed in sola came ponentem." And Lac- tantius, 1. iv. Instit. c. 17. " Cum Judcuos abstinere Deusjussit a suibus, id potissimum voluit intelligi, ut se a peccatis et immunditiis ahstinerent . Est enim lutulentum hoc animal ac immundum,necunquamc(Blumaspicit, sed in terra toto et corpore et ore pro- jectum,ventri semper etpabulo servit." — " Interdixit ergo ne porcina came vescerentur^ i. e. ne vitam porcorum imitarentur, qui ad solam vitam mor- tem nutriuntur ; ne ventri ac volup- tatibus servientes, ad faciendam jus- titiam inutiles essent ac morte affice- rentur. Item ne foedis libidinibus immergerent se, stent sus, qui se in- gurgitat c(tno : vel ne terrenis serviant simulacris, ac se Into inquineniJ' Tacitus tells us, that the Jews ab- stained from the flesh of swine in consideration of a leprosy by which they had formerly suffered, and to which this animal has a disposi- tion. Plutarch, de hide, affirms that those who drink of the milk of the sow become blotchy and lep- rous: and ^licui, 1. x. c. 16, quotes from Manetho, that whoever drinks sow's milk, is quickly covered with scabs and leprous itches. Michaelis observes, that throughout the whol6 climate under which Palestine is situated, and for a certain extent both south and north, the leprosy is an en- demic disease ; and with this disease, which is preeminently an Egyptian one, the Israelites left Egypt so ter- ribly overrun, that Moses found it necessary to enact a variety of laws respecting it. That the contagion might be weakened, and the people tolerably guarded against its influ- ence, it became requisite to prohibit them from eating swine's flesh alto- gether ^s^ The prophet Isaiah, Ixv. 4, charges his degenerate people with eating swine's flesh, and having a broth of abominable things in their vessels. They had not yet neglected to bring their sacrifices to the altar of Jeho- vah ; but they no longer served their God in sincerity and truth : ** He that killeth an ox, is as if he slew a man ; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck ; he that ofFereth an oblation, as if he ofl'ered swine's blood ; he that burneth in- cense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations." Isai. Ixvi. 3. Con- duct so contrary to their solemn en- gagements, so hateful in the sight of the Holy One, though long endured, was not always to pass with impu- nity. " They that sanctify them- 66 Commentaries on the Lavs^s of Moses. Art. 203, V. ii. p. 230, Smith's translation. 3iO SWINE. selves, and purify themselves in the gardens, behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and tlie mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the Lord." Isai. Ixvi. 17. Such a sa- crifice was an abomination to the Lord, because the eating of the blood was prohibited, and because the sa- crifice consisted of swine's flesh ; and, to aggravate the sin of the trans- gressor, such a sacrifice is compared with the killing of a human victim, or the immolation of a dog ; both of which Jehovah regarded Avith ab- horrence. To these precepts and tbreatenings, which were often sup- ported by severe judgments, may be traced the habitual and unconquer- able aversion of that people to the use of swine's flesh; an aversion which the most alluring promises and the most cruel sufferings have been found alike insufficient to sub- due. In such detestation was the hog held by the Jews, that they would not so much as pronounce its name, but called it " the strange thing :" and we read in the history of the Maccabees, that Eleazer, a principal scribe, being compelled by Antiochus Epiphanes to open his mouth and receive swine's flesh, spit it forth, and went of his own accord to the torment, choosing rather to suff'er death than to break the law of God, and give offence to his nation ^'^. It is observed, that when Adrian rebuilt Jerusalem, he set up the image of a hog in bas-relief, upon the gates of the city, to drive the Jews away from it, and to express the greater contempt for that mise- rable people. It was avarice, a contempt of the law of Moses, and a design to supply the neighbouring idolaters with vic- tims, that caused whole herds of swine to be fed on the borders of Galilee. Whence the occasion is plain of Christ's permitting the dis- order that caused them to fling them- 67 2 Maccab. vi. 18, and vii. I. I selves headlong into the lake of Genezareth. Matth. viii. 32; ^^ In vindication of this transaction, which some have objected to as not conformable to the benevolent in- tention displayed by Jesus in his other miracles, Mr. Farmer (•* Essay on Daemoniacs," p. 294), observes : " It was a just punishment of the owners. For though Josephus calls Gadara, near which this miracle was wrought, a Greek city (Antiq. xvii. 11, 4; and elsewhere, Bell. Jud. ii. 18, 1, a city of the Syrians), and though it was a part of the province of Syria, yet, during the reign of Herod, it had belonged to Judea, on which country it bordered, and was no doubt, in part, inhabited by Jews, who probably owned the swine : for to that people Christ's personal mi- nistry was confined, and on their territory he then stood. Now the Jews were prohibited, as Grotius observes, by the laws of Hyrcanus, from keeping swine, (which laws, how- ever, sufficiently intimate the pre- valence of the practice,) and by the laws of Moses from using them for food. Their breach of the former restriction naturally led to the vio- lation of the latter. Our Lord, though he declined acting as a ma- gistrate, yet, as a prophet, he might be commissioned by God to punish them either for this or any other crime. And there was the greater propriety in this act of punishment, as they were not subject to the juris- diction of the Jewish sanhedrim, living under heathen government. The disposition they discovered upon this occasion, in being more impress- ed with the loss of their substance than with the miracle wrought for their conviction, shews how well they deserved correction; as the miracle itself served to manifest Christ's own regard to the law of God." We read, Matth. vii. 6, " Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, 68 For an explication of this, see Bp. Pearce, " Miracles of Jesus vmdicated." Works, v. ii. p. 350. ed. 4to. S Y C neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you." There is a similar maxim in the Talmudical writings : " Do not cast pearls before swine :" to which is added, by way of explanation, ** Do not ofter wisdom to one who knows not the value of it, but pro- fanes its glory." Another prover- bial expression occurs 2 Pet. ii. 22. " It has happened unto them accord- ing to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire." — This is in part a quotation from Pro v. xxvi. 11. Gataker takes these two proverbs to have a poetical turn, and to have been a distich of iambics. Horace has a plain reference to both, lib. i. Ep. 2. V. 26., where, speaking of the travels of Ulysses, he says, that if he had been conquered by the charms of Circe, '* Vixisset canis immundus, vel arnica luto sus.'* He had lived like an impure dog, or a sow fond of the mire. Blackwall remarks ^^ that this proverb with great propriety and strength marks out the sottishness and odious manners of wretches en- slaved to sensual appetites and car- nal lusts ; and the extreme difficulty of reforming vicious and inveterate habits. SYCAMINE. SYKAM1N02. Arab, sokam. Occ. Luke xvii. 6. This is a different tree from the ** sycamore" mentioned Lukexix.4. Dioscorides, 1. i. c. 181, p. 144, ex- pressly says, that this tree is the mulberry; though he allows that some apprehend that it is the same with the sycamore ; and thus Galen, lib, ii. de Alimentis,?ind Aihenddus, 1. ii. Galen has afterwards a se- parate chapter on the sycamorus, which he speaks of as rare, and mentions as having seen at Alex- andria in Egypt. The Greeks name 69 Sacred Classics, v. ii. p. 82. S Y C 311 the morns the sycamine. Grotius says, the word (rvKafxivog has no connexion with (rvKerj, the jig-tree , but is entirely Syrian TTSpU', Hebr. D''72pur. It should seem, indeed, to be very similar to the mulberry. as not only the Latin, but the Syriac and the Arabic render it by morus: and thus Coverdale's, the Rheims, and Purver's English trans- lations render it by the " mulberry ;" and so it is in Bp. Wilson's Bible. Hiller, Hierophyt. v. i. p. 250, and Celsius, Hierobot. v. i. p. 288, with much learning prove it to be the morus; and Warnekros'^^ contends, that by the ^vKafiivoc of the an- cients, and in Luke xviii. 6, we are to understand the mulberry; and takes notice of several mistakes of the learned on this subject. [Dr. Sibthorpe states, that, in Greece, the white mulberry-tree is called fiovQia ; the black mulberry-tree avKafiivia]. SYCAMORE, mnpu; shikmot, □""TSpU^ SHIKMIM. Occ. 1 Kings x. 27; 1 Chron. xxvii. 28; 2 Chron. i. 15; Psalm lxxviii.47 ; Isai.ix. 9; Amos viii. 14. SYKOMQPAIA. Luke xix. 4. ' A large tree, according to the de- scription of Theophrastus, Diosco- rides, and Galen, resembling the mulberry-tree in the leaf, and the 70 Historia Naturalis Sycamori ex veterum botanicorum monument is et itinerariis de- lineatio ; in Repert. Lit. Bihl. et orientalis ah Eithhornio edit. X. xi. p. 224. 312 SYCAMORE. fig in its fruit ; hence its name, com- pounded of avKE?) Jig, and jjLopog mulberry : and some have fancied that it was originally produced bj ingrafting the one tree upon the other. Its fruit is palatable. When ripe, it is soft, watery, somewhat sweet, with a little of an aromatic taste. These trees are very common in Palestine, Arabia, and Egypt ; grow- ing large, and to a great height ; and though the grain is coarse, are much used in building. To change syca- mores into cedars, Isai. ix. 10, means, to render the buildings of cities and the state of the nation much more magnificent than before. Dr. Shaw remarks, that " as the grain and texture of the sycamore is remark- ably coarse and spongy, it could therefore stand in no competition at all with the cedar for beauty and ornament." We meet with the same opposition of cedars to sycamores, 1 Kings X. 2J7, where Solomon is said to have made silver as the stones, and cedars as the sycamores of the vale, for abundance. " By this mashal, or figurative and sententious speech,'* says Bp. Lowth, " they boast (in this place of Isaiah) that they shall easily be able to repair their present losses, suffered per- haps by the first Assyrian invasion under Tiglath-Pileser, and to bring their aflfairs to a more flourishing condition than ever." The wood of this tree is very du- rable. *' The mummy chests," says Dr. Shaw (Trav. pp. 376 and 436), " and whatever figures and instru- ments of wood are found in the cata- combs, are all of them of sycamore, which, though spongy and porous to appearance, has notwithstanding continued entire and uncorrupted for at least three thousand years." From its value in furnishing wood for various uses, from the grateful shade which its wide-spreading branches afforded, and on account of the fruit, which, Mallet says, the Egyptians hold in the highest esti- mation, we perceive the Joss which the ancient inhabitants of Egypt must have felt, when " their vines were destroyed with hail, and their sycamore-trees with frost." Psalm Ixviii. 47. Mr. Norden, in his Travels into Egypt and Nubia (v. i. p. 79), has given a particular account of the tree and its fruit. ** The sycamore," says he, " is of the height of a beech, and bears its fruit in a manner quite different from other trees : it has them oh the trunk itself, which shoots out little sprigs, in the form of grape-stalks, at the end of which grow the fruit close to one another, almost like clusters of grapes. The tree is always green, and bears fruit several times in the year, without observing any certain seasons; for I have seen some sycamores that have given fruit two months after others. The fruit has the figure and smell of real figs, but is inferior to them in the taste, having a disgust- ful sweetness. Its colour is a yellow, inclining to an ochre, shadowed by a flesh colour. In the inside it re- sembles the common fig, excepting that it has a blackish colouring with yellow spots. This sort of tree is pretty common in Egypt : the peo- ple, for the greater part, live upon its fruit, and think themselves well regaled when they have a piece of bread, a couple of sycamore figs, and a pitcher of water. " — Ihis account, in several things, agrees with what Pliny, N. H. 1. xiii. c. 7, and Solinus, Polyhistor. c. 45, relate of this tree and its fruit. Very likely there TAR might be many of these trees in Judea. David appointed a particu- lar officer, whose sole duty it was to watch over the plantations of syca- more and olive-trees. 1 Chron. xxviii. 28. And being joined with the olive, the high estimation in which it was held, is intimated ; for " the olive is considered as one of the most precious gifts which the God of nature has bestowed on the oriental nations." There seem to have been great numbers of them in Solomon's time. See 1 Kings x. 27. And in the Talmud, they are mentioned as growing in the plains of Jericho, One curious particular in the cul- tivation of the fruit, must not be passed over. Pliny (j\. H. 1. xiii. c. 7), Dioscorides (1. 1. c. 143), and Theophrastus (Hist. I. iv. c. 2) ob- serve, that the fruit must be cut or scratched, either with the nail or with iron, or it will not ripen ; but four days after this process, it will become ripe. To the same purpose Jerom, on Amos vii. 14, says, that without this management the figs are exces- sively bitter. ** Sycamori agrestes af- ferunt feus, qui£, si non vellicentur, ajnarissimascariculasfaciunt." These testimonies, together with the LXX and Vulgate version, are adduced to settle the meaning of the word Dbl in Amos vii. 14, which must signify, scraping, or making incisions in the sycamore fruit ; an employment of Amos before he was called to the prophetic office. Hasselquist, Trav. p. 261, de- scribing the " Ficus Sycamorus,'* or scripture sycamore, says : * It buds the latter end of March, and the fruit ripens in the beginning of June. TAR 313 At the time when the fruit has ar- rived to the size of an inch diameter, the inhabitants pare off a part at the centre point. They say, that with- out this paring it would not come to maturity." The figs thus prema- turely ripened, are called djumeiz h(Edri, that is, precocious sycamore In Luke xix. 4, the crvKOfiwpaLav is rendered in the Arabic version, " giumus'/' by which name the tree is described by Leo, 1. ix. of his de- scription of Africa, as having a fruit in taste like a fig, but which grows, not on the branches, but on the stem of the tree. So Celsius, 1. iii. c. 18. This account perfectly suits that of the Egyptian fig in botanical au- thors ^2. As the sycamore is a large spread- ing tree, sometimes shooting up to a considerable height, we see the reason why Zaccheus climbed up into a sycamore-tree to get a sight of our Saviour. This incident also furnishes a proof that the sycamore was still common in Palestine ; for this tree stood to protect the travel- ler by the side of the highway. 71 For other authorities and particulars, see Bochart, Hieroz. v. i. p. 277; Calmet's Dictionary, in " Sycamore " and ** Fig ;" Scheuchzer, Phys. Sacr. on 1 Kings x. 27, and Tab. cccclxiv. Shaw's Trav. p. 435. Harmer's Obs. v. ii. p. 309. The tree is represented, with its fruit, plate xxxviii. of Norden. Pococke's Trav. v. i. p. 205. A very copious and learned account of this tree has been given by Warnekros, '* Historia naturalis sycamori ex veterum ho- tayiicorum monumentis et itineriis conscrip- ta ;" ip Eichornii Repertorium, Theil. xi. 224; xii. 81. 7^ That which in this country we call " sycamore," and which the aborigines called *' sugamug,'* is quite a different tree. TARE. zizANioN. Occ. Matth. xiii. 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 36, 38, 40. It is not easy to determine what plant or weed is here intended, as the word zizunia is neither mentioned in any other part of Scripture, nor in any ancient Greek writer. Some Greek and Latin fathers have made u?e of it, as have also Suidas and Phavori- Q 314 TAR nus : but it is probable that they have all derived it from this text. As this gospel was first written in Syriac, it is probably a word belong- ing to that language. Buxtorf, in his Rabbinical Lexicon, gives seye- ral interpretations, but at last con- cludes with submitting it to the de- cision of others. In a treatise in the Mishna, called " Kilayim," which treats expressly of different kinds of seeds, a bastard or degenerate wheat is mentioned by the name of D^3"it zoNiM, which the very sound, in pro- nouncing, proves to be the same as the zizanion ; and this may lead to the true derivation of the word, that is, from the Chaldee ]t, a kind or species of grain ; whence the cor- rupt Hebrew or Syriac N3M, which, in the ancient Syriac version, an- swers to the Greek Zi^avia, Matth. xiii. 25, et seq. In Psalm cxliv. 13, the words ]T b^f n^ mizzan al zan, are translated, " all manner of store ;" but they properly signify, from spe- cies to species. Might not the Chaldee word p3 IT zuNiN, and the Greek word Zil^aviov, come from the Psalmist's )TaT ZANZAN, which may have sig- nified a mixture of grain of any kind, and be here used to point out the mixing bastard or degenerate wheat among the good seed- wheat? Min- tert says, that "it is a kind of plant, not unlike com or wheat, having at first the same sort of stalk, and the same viridity, but bringing forth no fruit, at least none good :" and he adds, from John JMelchior, torn, i, p. m. 272 : Zi^aviov does not signify every weed in general which grows among corn, but a particular seed, known in Canaan, which was not unlike wheat, but, being put into the ground, degenerated, and as- sumed another nature and form. Parkhurst, and Dr. Campbell, ren- der it, ** the darnel ;" " lolium teniu- lentum." Lin. The same plant is called zizanion by the Spaniards; as it appears to be the zuvan of the Turks and Arabs. " It is well known to the people at Aleppo (says M. Forskal). It grows among corn. If THI the seeds remain mixed with the meal, they occasion dizziness to those who eat of the bread. The reapers do not separate the plant ; but after the threshing, they reject the seeds by means of a van or sieve." Other travellers mention, that, in some parts of Syria, the plant is drawn up by the hand in the time of harvest, along with the wheat, and is then gathered out, and bound up in sepa- rate bundles. In the parable of the tares, our Lord states the very same circumstances. They grew among the grain ; they were not separated by the tillers, but suffered to grow up together till the harvest ; they were then gathered from among the wheat with the hand, and bound up in bundles 73. TARSHISH. See Beryl. TEIL-TREE. This word is found in our translation of Isai. vi. 13, where it answers to the Hebrew nbN ALAH, which in all other places is rendered " oak." The teil is the linden-tree. It is very common in Syria and Palestine. Its leaf resembles that of the laurel, and its flower that of the olive. THISTLJ]. A well-known trou- blesome plant. There are several kinds of thistles 73 See other illastrations in Scheuchzer, Phys. Sacr. on Matth. xiii. Michaelis, Quest. XV. and Campbell's Note. THI in the East ; and probably more than one kind is referred to in the Scrip- ture. The Talmud'^'' mentions abun- dance of thistles (carduus) as grow- ing in a valley not far from Bethle- hem. I. The word Tin dardar, which occurs in Gen, iii. 18, and Hosea X. 8, Bate^^, tracing from a Hebrew root which signifies round, thinks to be " so named from its round form, and being encircled on all sides with prickles ; or from its seeds being encircled in a downy sphere, on which it easily rolls." The LXX render it rptjSoXoc ; and St. Paul uses the same word, Hebr. vi. 8, where in our version it is rendered ** briers." The tribulus, briers, which answers to the Hebrew word dardar, is the name of certain prickly plants, Di- oscorides, 1. iv. c. 15, distinguishes two kinds ; one terrestrial, whose leaves are like those of the purslain, but smaller, which extends its lesser branches on the earth, and which has along its leaves, stiff and hard thorns : the other kind is the aquatic, the tribuloides, which, says Tourne- fort, is common enough in the waters. Dr. Shaw, Specim. Phytograph, No. 97, pronounces the dardar of the Hebrew^s, and the tribulus of the ancients, to be the Fagonia Arabica ; iongissimis aculeis armuta, II. The word rendered " thistle," in the beautiful parable, 2 Kings xiv. 9, and in 2 Chron, xxv. 18, is mn CHOACH, which I have mentioned under the article Thorn. III. The thistle. Job xxxi. 40, is in the original, nu^Nl baseh, which, upon the authority of Hasselquist, modern critics concur in rendering the " night-shade ;" a plant very common in Egypt, Palestine, and the East. ** And it must be observed (says Mr. Good), that the Arabic bys, which is one of the terms for night-shade, in some degree supports 74 Tract. Schevi, c, ix. Beth-JSetopha. Ezra ii. 22. 75 Crit. Hebr. See also Parkhurst, Hebr. Lex. THO 315 this opinion. If this be the plant, it is probably that species of sola- num which is essentially denomi- nated pubescens (hoary night-shade) ; though several other species of this genus are also indigenous in the East. In other parts of the Bible, however, nu'Nl appears to import a weed not only noxious, but of sl fetid smell ; which character hardly ap- plies to any species of night-shade ; and, in truth, the verb itself, U^N3, in its primary signification, bears the same meaning, viz. to stink"^^. The Septuagint translate it Barog, the blackberry bush; Castalio, ebulus, the dwarf elder ; Syramachus, areXefT- ^oprjra, plants of imperfect fruit ; the Chaldee,"'n"irT,m)xions/jer6s generally. It is rendered " wild grapes" in Isai. V. 2, 4. See Grapes, wild. Sec. ii. IV. Tlie author of the Book of Wisdom, ch. v. 14, by a most ex- pressive comparison, has illustrated the immense difference between the fate of bad men and of the righteous, by declaring that the hope of the ungodly is " like thistle down, blown away by the wind." V. The word for thistle, in Matth. vii. 16, is rpL(3o\oQ , and in Heb. vi. 8, the same word is translated ** brier." *' Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles ?" Galen, de curat, has a passage very similar : 'O yecjpyoQ ovk av ttote dv- vrjrrairo Troirjcrai rev jSarov tK^^peiv iSorpw : The husbandman would never be able to make the thorn produce grapes. Campanella has borrowed the passage for illustrat- ing the maxim, " Ens nullum aliis dare posse, quod ipsum in se nan habet." ** Nu7iquam lucem vidimus gignere tenebras, nee calorem frigus, nee spinam lenire, nee grave levare : nee coiligunt de tribulis feus, ait Messias"^"^ .'* THORN. A general name for several kinds of prickly plants. So little was known of the natural history of the East, when our version 76 Hence, perhaps, our English word base, vile, offensive. 77 De sensu rerum, 1. i. c. 1, init. Q 2 316 THORN. of the Bible was made, that it was impossible for the translators to as- certain the varieties designated by appropriate words in the original ; and they seem to have been content with rendering them by the familiar names of plants and shrubs armed with prickles or spines. Referring to the articles Bramble, Brier, Net- tle, and Thistle, I shall here endea- vour to arrange in some order the information I have been able to col- lect on this intricate subject. Denon has these remarks in his Travels. *' One of the inconveniences of the vegetable thickets of Egypt is, that it is difficult to remain in them, seeing that nine-tenths of the trees and plants are armed with in- exorable thorns, which suffer only an unquiet enjoyment of the shadow which is so constantly desirable, from the precaution necessary to guard against them." It is no wonder, therefore, that among so many kinds of thorns, we are embarrassed in identifying those mentioned in Scrip- ture. " Quid exemptajuvat spinis de pluribus una f' I. In the curse denounced against the earth, Gen. iii. 18, its produce is threatened to be " thorns and thistles," nni W KUTz vedardar; in the Septuagint, aKavOag Kai rpi- ^oXovQ. St. Paul uses the same words, Heb. vi. 8, where the last is rendered " briers :" they are also found, Hosea x. 8. The word kutj is put for thorns, in other places, as Exod. xxii. 6; Judges viii. 7; Ezek. ii. 6 ; xxviii. 4 ; but we are uncer- tain whether it means a specific kind of thorn, or may be a generic name for all plants of a thorny kind. In the present instance, it seems to be general for all those obnoxious plants, shrubs, &c. by which the labours of the husbandman are im- peded, and which are only fit for burning. If the word intends a par- ticular plant, it may be the rest- harrow'^'^, a pernicious prickly weed, which grows promiscuously with the large thistles in the uncultivated grounds, and covers entire fields and plains, in Egypt and Palestine. From tlie resemblance of the He- brew DARDAR to the Arabic word dardagi, Scheuchzer supposes the cnicus to be intended, (the cnicus si/lvestris spinosior tricephalos of Bau- hin,) the tribiilus and tricephalos both referring to the same peculiarity of the plant. II. For the word T»nu; shamir, see the article Brier. III. nin CHOAcii, from its etymo- logy, must be a kind of thorn, with incurvated spines, like fishhooks, similar to those of the North Ame- rican witch hazeP^. Celsius says, that the same word, and of the same original in Arabic, is the black thorn, or sloe-tree ^^. Prunus spinosa, Lin* IV. D"'T'D siRiM. It is impossible to determine what plants are in- tended by this word. Meninski, Lexic. 2795, says, that serhin, in the Persic language, is the name of a tree bearing tliorns. In Eccles. vii. 7, and Nahum i. 10, they are men- tioned as fuel which quickly bums up ; and in Hosea ii. 6, as obstruc- tions or hedges. It may be the Ly- cium Afrum. V. pbD sillon ^^ Mentioned Joshua xxiii. 13 ; Ezek. ii. 6 ; and xxviii. 24. An explanation is sug- gested under the article Brier, which may be further illustrated by the 7S Ononis spinosa. Hasselquist. 79 In 2 Kings xiv. 9; 2 Chron. xxv. 18; and Job xxxi. J4, it is rendered thistle ; 2 Chron. xxxiii. 11; Prov. xxvi.9; Cantic. ii. 2; and Hosea ix. 6, thorn; Job xli. 2, hook ; 1 Sam. xiii. 6, thicket ; and Isai.xxxiv. 13, bramble, 80 Hierobot, part i. p. 477. 81 nine o-iXXoi et c-iKKaivetv, Comicorum more convitiis illudere, ut putat Avenarius. THORN. 317 following epigram on a tyrant, in the Antliol. 1. ii. c. 43. ©aTTOV -crcjJio-Ei ixehi xavfla^o;, v) yaXa xww\{/, As well might honey be extracted from the scarab{£us, or milk from the einips, as good obtained from such a scorpion as you. From the vexatious characters, however, ascribed to this thorn, in the places just referred to, compared with Numb, xxxiii. 55, and Judges ii. 3, I am disposed to think it the KANTUFFA as described by Bruce. VI. By DOW siccHiM, Numbers xxxiii. 55, may be intended goads, or sharp-pointed sticks, like those with which cattle were driven. VII. The n^U' scAjiTH, Isai. v. 6, and x. 17, must mean some noxious plant that overruns waste grounds. VIII. The word D"'3V tzinnim, oc- curs Numb, xxxiii. 55 ; Josh, xxiii. 13 ; and Isai. v. 5. It seems, from its application, to describe a bad kind of thorn. Hiller supposes it to be the vepris^'^. Perhaps it is the Rhamiius paliurus, a deciduous plant or tree, a native of Palestine, Spain, and Italy. It will grow nearly to the height of fourteen feet, and is armed with sharp thorns, two of which are at the insertion of each branch, one of them straight and up- right, the other bent backward ^^ IX. D"'3p^l BARKANiM, translated briers, Judges viii. 16. ** There is no doubt but this word means a sharp, jagged kind of plant : the difficulty is to fix on one where so many offer themselves. The Sep- tuagint preserves the original word. We should hardly think Gideon went far to seek these plants. The thorns are expressly said to be from the wilderness, or common hard by; probably the harkanim were from the same place. In our country, this would lead us to the blackberry- bushes on our commons ; but it might not be so around Succoth. There is a plant mentioned by Has- «2 Hierophyt. pars 1. c. 9. $ I. 83 See a description of the plant, with an engraving, in Alpinus, de Plantis iEgypti, p. 21. selquist, whose name and properties somewhat resemble those which are required in the barkanim of this passage ; — Nabca paliurus Athena:if (Alpin. ^gypt. 16, 19,) the Nabka of the Arabs. There is every ap- pearance that this is the tree which furnished the crown of thorns which was put on the head of our Lord. It is common in the East. A plant more proper for this purpose could not be selected ; for it is armed with thorns, its branches are pliant, and its leaf is of a deep green, like that of ivy. Perhaps the enemies of Christ chose this plant, in order to add insult to injury, by employing a wreath approaching in appearance that which was used to crown em- perors and generals. I am not sure whether somewhat of the same ideas mightnot influence Gideon ; at least, it is remarkable, that though, in verse 7, he threatens to thresh the flesh of the men of Succoth with thorns, that is, to beat them severe- ly; yet, in verse 16, it is said, he taught (made to know), perhaps made to be known, by wearing them. The change of words deservesnotice ; and so does the observation that he slew the men of Penuel, which is not said of the men of Succoth. If the Nabka ( Nabaka) might be the na- barkan of this passage, the idea of its employment is remarkably coin- cident in the two passages®^." X. p''[r\ CHEDEK ; mentioned only Prov. XV. 9, and Micah vii. 4. Cel- sius and Ray make it the Solanum po- miferumfructa spinoso ; but I am in- clined to think it may be the Colutea spinosa of Forskal, p. 131, which is called in the Arabic, fcet/dad, of which there is an engraving in Russel, Nat. Hist, of Aleppo, tab. 5. XI. nsiD siRPAD. Hiller calls it the ruscus. Occurs only once, Isai. Iv. 13, where, by the Septuagint, it is rendered Kovv^av, which would direct us to the Conyza major vulga- ris of Bauhin. Parkhurst says, it must mean 84 Scr. Illustr. p. S2.— Rhamnju spina Christi. Lin. 318 TH O some kind of wide- spreading thorn. See Bru R. XII. ^MTl CHARUL. Job XXX. 7 ; Prov. xxiv. 31 ; and Zej^h. ii. 9. Perhaps the paUnrus, a thorny shrub, growing sometimes to a considerable height in desert and uncultivated places. See Nittifs. XIII. The word □"'Yivy: notzutzim, in Isai. vii. 18, is not a plant, though translated thorns, but a place ; and means lowlands or meadows. XIV. V^"Sfy2 NA.Azuz. This word is twice found, Isai. vii. 19, and Iv. 13. It may be the veprelum, i^ubus spinosus. XV. In the New Testament, the Greek word translated " thorn," is AKANBA; and it occurs Matth. vii. 16; xiii. 7; xxvii. 29; John xix. 2; and Heb. vi. 8. The note of Bishop Pearce on Matth. xxvii. 29, is as follows; " The word uKavOiov may as well be the plural genitive case of the word aKavQoQ, as of aKavQt] : if of the latter, it is rightly translated, •* of thorns," but the former would sig- nify what we call bear's-foot, and the French, hranche ursine. This is not of the thorny kind of plants, but is soft and smooth. Virgil calls it * mollis acanthus,' Eel. iii. 45 ; Georg. iv. lo7. So does Pliny (Epist. V. 6). And Pliny the elder (oNat. Hist. xxii. 22, p. 277, ed. Hard.) says, that it is lavis, smooth ; and that it is one of those plants that are cultivated in gardens. I have somewhere read, but cannot at present recollect where, that this soft and smooth herb was very com- mon in and about Jerusalem. I find nothing in the New Testament con- cerning this crown which Pilate's soldiers put on the head of Jesus, to incline one to think that it was of thorns, and intended, as is usually supposed, to put him to pain. The reed put into his hand, and the scarlet robe on his back, were meant only as marks of mockery and con- tenipt. One may also reasonably judge by the soldiers being said to plat this crown, that it was not com- TH Y posed of such twigs and leaves as were of a thorny nature. I do not find that it is mentioned by any of the primitive Christian writers as an instance of the cruelty used to- wards our Saviour before he was led to crucifixion, till the time of Ter- tullian, who lived after that event at the distance of above one hundred and sixty years. He indeed seems to have understood uKavOwv in the sense of thorns, and says ( De Corona MUitar. sect. xiv. ed. Pamel. Frand. 1597): ' Quale, oro te, Jesus Christus sertum pro utroque sexu subiit ? Ex spinis, opinor, et tribulis.' The total silence of Polycarp, Barnabas, CI. Romanus, and all the other Christian writers whose works are now extant, and who wrote before Tertullian, in particular, will give some weight to incline one to think that this crown was not platted with thorns. But, as this is a point on which we have not sufficient evidence, I leave it almost in the same state of uncer- tainty in which I found it." The reader may see a satisfactory ac- count of acanthus in Quincy's Eng- lish Dispensatory, part ii. sect. 3. ed. 8. 1742. Dr. Adam Clarke, after quoting this note, observes, that " the spe- cies of acanthus described by Virgil and the two Plinys as 'mollis' and * lavis,' soft and smooth, is no doubt the same as that formerly used in medicine, and described by Quincy and other pharmacopaists; but there are other species of the same plant that are prickly, and particularly those called * acanthus spinosus,' and the ' hicif alius ;' the latter of which is common in both the Indies. But I do not conceive that this kind was used, nor indeed any other plant of a thorny nature, as the Roman sol- diers who platted the crown, could have no interest in adding to our Lord's suflTerings. Though they smote him with the rod, yet, their chief object was to render him ri- diculous, for pretending, as they ima- gined, to regal authority." THYINE. eYIN02. THY Occurs Rev. xviii. 12. The Thya-tree, or Thyoji. A tree TI N 319 which rises with a strong woody trunk to the height of thirty feet or more. The bark, when young, is smooth, and of a dark brown colour ; but, as the tree grows old, becomes cracked and less and less smooth. The branches are produced irregu- larly on every side, standing almost horizontally, and crossing each other nearly at right angles. The younger branches only are garnished with leaves, which are placed imbricatim over each other, like the scales of fish. The flowers are produced from the side of the young leaves, pretty near the footstalk. These are suc- ceeded by oblong cones of a beauti- ful gray colour, having scales which end in acute reflexed points, con- taining one or two oblong seeds. The leaves have a rank, oily scent, when bruised. The wood of this tree is hard, re- ceives a fine polish, and is a valuable article. Theophrastus (Hist. Plant, v. 5) says, that " it resembles the cypress in its boughs, leaves, stalk, and fruit ; and that its wood never rots." It was in high esteem among the hea- then, who often made the doors of their temples, and the images of their gods, of this wood^^. See Algum. Jackson, in his Account of Ma- ss For other particulars, see Celsius, Hi- erobot. V. ii. p. 22. Plin. N. H. 1. xiii. c. 16. Salmasius in Solin. c. xlvi. p. 667, et rocco, p. 73, says, that " besides producing the gum sandrac.the wood of the thyais invaluable, being some- what like cedar, having a similar smell, and being impenetrable to the worm. The roofs of houses and the ceilings of rooms are made of this wood." TIN. binn bedil. Occurs Numb. xxxi. 22 ; Isai. i. 25; Ezek. xxii. 18, 20; xxvii. 12. A well-known coarse metal, harder than lead. Mr. Parkhurst observes, that" Mo- ses, in Numb. xxxi. 22, enumerates all the six species of metals." — " Sil- ver, of all the metals, suflfers most from an admixture of tin, a very small quantity serving to make that metal as brittle as glass. The very vapour of tin has the same effect as the metal itself, on silver, gold, and copper, rendering them brittle." Hence we may see the propriety of the denunciation of Jehovah by the prophet Isaiah, ch. i. 25 : for, having at the 22d verse compared the Jew- ish people to silver, he declares at V. 25, " I will turn ray hand upon thee, and purge away thy dross, and remove all yb'ni thy particles of tin. Here, Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion have fcacrdtrcpor coi;, and the Vulgate, " sianmim tuum,'" thy tin; but the LXX, avoixovg^ wicked ones. This denunciation, how- ever, by a comparison of the pre- ceding and following context, ap- pears to signify, that God would, by a process of judgement, yurify those among the Jews uho were capable of purification, as well as destroy the reprobate and incorrigible, ('omp. Jer. vi. 29, 30 ; ix. 7 ; Mai. iii. 3 ; Ezek. xii. 18, 20. In Ezek. xxvii. 12, Tarshish is mentioned as furnishing bni ; and Bochart proves from the testimonies of Diodorus, Pliny, and Stephanus, that Tartessus in Spain, which he supposes to be the ancient Tarshish, anciently furnished tin. in Homol. Hyl. Jatr. c. 67. Wesseling in Died. Sic. V. c. 46. p. 667. Wetsteiu, N. T. ii. p. 828. 320 TOR In Ecclesiasticus xlvii. 18, Solo- mon is said to have gathered gold as KacraiTEpov, tin, and to multiply silver as lead. TOPAZ. rniDD pitdah. Occurs Exod. xxviii. 17; xxxix. 10; Job xxviii. 19; Ezek. xxviii. 13. TOnAZION, Rev. xxi. 10. A precious stone of a pale, dead green, with a mixture of yellow ^^; and sometimes of fine yellow like gold. It is very hard, and takes a fine polish. We have the authority of the Septuagint and Josephus for ascer- taining this stone. The oriental topazes are most es- teemed. Those of Ethiopia were celebrated for their wonderful lustre, Job xxviii. 19^''. TORTOISE. 3V TSAB. Occurs Levit. xi. 29, only. " All who know the tortoise (say,s the Authorof' Scripture Illustrated ) know that it partakes of the nature of the amphibia, too much to be, wi'^h propriety", placed among those crea- tures with whom we here find it associated." Dr. Shaw tells us, that the tzab of this passage is a kind of lizard, called in Arabic, dab, or dhab; it agrees nearly in shape, and in the pointed annuli or scales of the tail, with the " caudiverbera," as it is re- presented by Gesner and Johnston ^®. With this idea the Septuagint agrees ; 86 Plin. Nat. Hist. 1. 37, c. S. " Egregia etiamnum topazio gloria est, suo virenti ge- n&re, et cum reperta est pralata omnibus." 87 Consult Braunins de Vestit. Sacerd. Hebr. 1. ii. c. 9, p. 508. J. de Laet de Gemmis et Lapidibus, 1. i. c. 11. Saimasins et Solin. p. 169, et ad Epiphanium de Gem- mis, c. ii. p. 87 ; Hilier, de Gem. in pec- torali. p. 39. Wetstein. N. T. tom. ii. p. 845. ss Gesner de quadrup. ovip. p. 23. John- ston, hUt. quadr, tab. 79. TRE and Bochart quotes Damir and Avi- cenna in his support. Hasselquist has described the creature under the name of " Lacerta JEgypticE cauda verticillata, squamis denticulatis, pe- dibus pentadactylis," &c. Leo Afri- canus, Descr. Africa;, 1. ix. c. 52, describes a kind of lizard by the name of '* dab,'^ Jackson, in his Account of Ma- rocco, p. 48, says : " The Dub, or Saharawan Lizard, is about eighteen inches long, and three or four inches broad across the back. It is not poisonous. It lays eggs like the tortoise. It is very swift; and, if hunted, will hide itself in the earth, which it penetrates with its nose, and nothing will extricate it but <^iggi"g up the ground." TREES. The Gemara Babyloni- ca, Onkelos in the Chaldee para- phrase, R. Salomon, R. Abahu, Eben Ezra, and several critics, imagine that by nn yy etz uadar, rendered " goodly trees," Levit. xxiii. 40, the citron-tree is intended : my )y etz ABOTH, rendered " thick trees," in the same verse, and in Nehem. viii. 15, and Ezek. xx. 28, according to the Rabbins, the Chaldee para- phrase, the Syriac version, and De- odatus, is the myrtle. Ihe word b^a eshel, or asfl, translated " grove" in Gen. xxi. 33, has been variously translated. Park- Imrst renders it an oak, and says, that " from this word may be derived the name of the famous asylum^ opened by Romulus between two groves of oak at Rom.e." Dionyss. Hal. 1. ii. c. 16. On the other hand, Celsius, Hierobot. V. i. p. 535, Mi- chaelis, Suppl. Lex. Hebr. and Dr. Geddes, render it, the Tamarisk, a lofty and beautiful tree, which grows abundantly in Egypt and Arabia ^^. The same word in 1 Sam. xxii. 6, and xxxi. 13, is rendered " a tree." Jt must be noted too, that, in the first of these places, the common version is rendered equally obscure 83 Tamaris Myrica. Arabis Tharse ; Athel. incolis. Rauwolf, Flora Orientalis, N. 93, page 35. TUR and contradictory, by making ramah a proper name. It signifies hillock or bank. Boothroyd translates it: " Now Saul was sitting on a hill in Gibeah, under a tamarisk-tree." TREES THAT PRODUCED PRECIOUS BALSAMS. Ofthese, there was one in particular, that long flourished in Judea, and is sup- posed to have been an object of great attention to Solomon : it was afterwards translated to Matarea in Egypt, where it continued till about two hundred and fifty years ago. Maillet (let. iii. p. Ill), who gives a description of it, drawn, 1 suppose, from the Arabian authors, tells us, that this shrub had two very differently coloured barks, the one red, the other perfectly green ; that they tasted strongly like incense and turpentine ; and that, when bruised between the fingers, they smelt very nearly like cardamoms. " This bal- sam," he adds, " which was ex- tremely precious and celebrated, and was used by the Coptic priests in their chrism, was produce by a very low shrub; and it is said, that all those shrubs that produce bal- sams are every where low, and do not exceed two or three cubits in height." TURPENTINE. TEPEBIN- eos. Ecclesiasticus xxiv. 16, "As the turpentine- tree I stretched out my branches, and my branches are the branches of honour and grace." The terebinth-tree here spoken of, is described under the article " Oak." TURTLE, nn tur. Gr. rpvyov. Lat. turtur. Occ. Gen. xv. 9; Levit. i. 14; v. 7, 11 ; xii. 6, 8 ; xiv. 22, 30 ; xv. 14, 29; Numb. vi. 10; Psalm Ixxiv. 19 ; Cantic. ii. 12 ; Jer. viii. 7. TPYFQN, Luke ii. 24. We have the authority of the Septuagint, the Targum, and all the ancient interpreters, for under- standing this of the turtle. Indeed, it is one of those evident instances in which the name of the bird is by TUR sn onomatopdia formed from its note or cry. In our version of Psalm Ixxiv. 19, we read : ** O deliver not the soul of thy turtle-dove unto the multitude of the enemies :" but there are no traces of this metaphor of the turtle- dove in any of the old versions, which could not have missed it, at least not all of them, if it had ever been in their copies. The truth is, it is only the blunder of some neg- ligent transcriber, propagated down to us, who look a 1 D for am R, and so wrote inn thy turtle-dove, for -jnin confessing thee ; for so the an- cients translate : " O give not up to beasts, a soul confessing thee ! " This reading is that of the Septuagint and the Syriac ; and Houbigant approves it. The turtle is mentioned among migratory birds, by Jeremiah, viii. 7 : in this it differs from the rest of its family, which are all station- ary. The fact to which the prophet alludes, is attested by A listotle, Hist. An. 1. viii. c. 3, in these words : ** The pigeon and the dove are always present, but the turtle only in sum- mer ; that bird is not seen in win- ter." And in another part of his work, he asserts, that " the dove remains, while the turtle migrates." Varro, and other ancient writers, niake the like statement. Thus So- lomon, Cantic. ii. 12, mentions the return of this bird as one of the in- dications of spring : •* The voice of the turtle is lieard in the grove." Q3 sn VERMILION. V, u VERMILION, -iw sisiR. Occ. Jer. xxii. 14, and Ezek. xxiii. 14, only. MIATOS, Wisdom xiii. 14. So the LXX render in the above places. A very beautiful red colour. Pliny informs us, that *' this, which the Greeks call /iiiXroc, was found in silver mines, in the form of reddish sand, and was much used by the Ro- mans in his time as a paint, and for- merly applied to sacred purposes." Nat. Hist. lib. xxxiii. cap. vii. Bo- chart (vol. i. p. 484) observes, that there is a lake in Africa, called from the Phoenicians, "Sisara;" so named, he thinks, both on account of the ver- milion or red paint ("lunr) for which those parts were famous, and also of the neighbouring river, called likewise in Latin, " rubricatus,'^ red- coloured. Ezekiel, xxiii. 14 — 16, reproving the idolatry of the times, says, that Aholibah " added to her idolatries ; for she saw men portrayed upon the wall, images of Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion, girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, after the manner of the Babylonians, even of Chaldea ; and she doted upon them as soon as she cast her eyes on them." These were the representations of Chaldean deities. In the loth chap- ter of the book of Wisdom is a fine ironical description of these ** vain idols," in which the carpenter is represented as taking " the very refuse of his timber, being a crooked piece of wood and full of knots," and carving it diligently when he hath nothing else to do, and fashioning it into the image of a man, or that of some vile beast, laying it over icith vermilioji and with paint, colouring it red, and covering every spot there- in. " And when he hath made a con- venient room for it, he set it up in a wall, and made it fast with iron; for he provideth for it, that it might not fall, knowing that it was unable to help itself (for it is an image, and hath need of help). Then maketh he prayer for his goods, for his wife and children, and is not ashamed to speak to that which hath no life. For health, he calleth upon that which is weak ; for life, prayeth to that which is inanimate ; for aid, humbly beseecheth that which hath least means to help ; and for a good journey, he asketh of that which cannot set a foot forward; and for gaining and getting good success of his hands, asketh ability of him that is most unable to do any thing." Bp. Lowth observes, that '* the sacred writers are generally large and eloquent upon the subject of idolatry : they treat it with great severity, and set forth the absurdity of it in the strongest light. The pas- sage of Isaiah xliv. 12—20, exceeds any thing that was ever written upon the subject, in force of argument, energy of expression, and elegance of composition. One or two of the Apochryphal writers have attempted to imitate the prophet, but with very ill success : Wisd. xiii. 10 — 19 ; xv. 7, &c. ; Baruch, ch. vi. especially the latter; who, injudiciously dilating his matter, and introducing a number of minute circumstances, has very much weakened the force and effect of his invective. On the contrary, a hea- then author, in the ludicrous way, has, in a line or two, given idolatry one of the severest strokes it ever received. * Olim trvncus eramficulnus, iiiutile lignum ; Cum faber, incertus scamnum faceretne Pri- apum, Maluit esse Deum.' HORAT. 1. i. sat. 8." •* Late a maimed fig-tree trnnk 1 stood, A shapeless, useless block of wood ; When a rough artist, long in doubt Into what shape to carve me out, A bench or a Priapus,— deem'd A god would be the most esteem'd ; And so, for reasons surely wise, into a god he bid me rise." VINE. VINE. ]53 GEPHEN. Occ. Gen. xl. 9, and elsewhere frequently. AMHEAOS, Mattli. xxvi. 29; Markxiv. 25; Luke xxii. 18 ; John xv. 4, 5; James iii. 12; Rev. xiv. 19. A noble plant of the creeping kind, famous for its fruit, or grapes, and for the liquor they afford ^^. Ssf.i4l The vine is a common name, or genus, including several species un- der it ; and Moses, to distinguish the true vine, or that from which wine is made, from the rest, calls it. Numb. vi. 4, the wine vine. Some of the other sorts were of a poison- ous quality ; as appears from the story related among the miraculous acts of Elisha, 2 Kings iv. 39, 41. [See Grapes : Wild Grapes.] The expression of " sitting every man under his own vine," probably alludes to the delightful Eastern ar- bours, which were partly composed of vines. Capt. Norden in like manner speaks of vine-arbours as common in the Egyptian gardens ; and the Pragnestine pavement in Dr. Shaw, gives us the figure of an ancient one. There were in Palestine many excellent vineyards. Scripture cele- brates the vines of Sorek, of Seba- 90 See Celsius, Hierobot. V. ii. p. 400, who has devoted forty-four pages to the illustration of this article. mah, of Jazer, of Abel. Profane authors mention the excellent wines of Gaza, Sarepta, Libanus, Saron, Ascalon, and Tyre. Jacob, in the blessing which he pronounced on Judah, Gen. xlix. 11, says : " Bind- ing his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto tlw? choice vine, he washed his garments in wine, and his clotlies in the blood of grapes ;" to shew the abundance of vines that should fall to his lot. Noah planted the vine after the deluge, and is supposed to have been the first who cultivated it; Gen. ix. 20. Many are of opinion, that wine was not unknown before the deluge ; and that this patriarch only conti- nued to cultivate the vine after that event, as he had done before it : but the fathers think that he knew not the force of wine ; having never used it before, nor having ever seen any one use it. He is supposed to have been the first that gathered the juice of the grape, and preserved it till by fermentation it became a po- table liquor. Before him, men only ate the grapes like other fruit. The law of Moses did not allow the planters of vineyards to eat the fruit before the fifth year. Levit. xix. 24, 25. The Israelites were also required to indulge the poor, the orphan, and the stranger with the use of the grapes on the seventh year. A traveller was allowed to gather and eat the grapes in a vine- yard as he passed along, but he was not permitted to carry any away. Deut. xxiii. 24. The scarcity of fuel, especially wood, in most parts of the East, is so great, that they supply it with every thing capable of burning ; cow- dung dried, roots, parings of fruits, withered stalks of herbs and flowers ; Matth. vi. 21 — 30. Vine-twigs are particularly mentioned as used for fuel in dressing their food, by D'Ar- vieux. La Roque, and others. Eze- kiel says, in his parable of the vine, used figuratively for the people of God, " Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work 1 Or will men take 3U V I N a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon ? Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel." ch. XV. 3, 4. ** If a man abide not in rae (saith our Lord), he is cast forth as a branch [of the vine], and is withered ; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned."* John XV. 6. VINEGAR. )r^n chometz. Occ. Numb. vi. o; Ruth ii. 14; Psalm Ixix. 21; Prov. x. 26; xxv. 20. OSJOS, Matth. xxvii. 48 ; Mark IV. 36 ; John xix. 29, 30. An acid produced by a second fermentation of vinous liquors. The law of the Nazarite was, that he should " separate himself from wine and strong drink, and should drink no vinegar of wine, nor vinegar of strong drink, nor any liquor of grapes." Dr. \. Clarke, in his note on Levit. xi. 9, says, that " the word ^^U/ snECER, from shacar, io inebri- ate, signifies any kind oi fermented liquors. This is exactly the same prohibition that was given in the case of John Baptist, Luke i. 15. oivov Kai tJLKt^a av }ii) iriy, wine and sikera he shall not drink. Any inebriating liquor, says St. Jerora, (Epist.'ad Nepot.) is called Sicera, whether made of corn, apples, honey, dates, or other fruits. One of the four prohibited drinks among the Mahomedans in India, is called " sa- kar,'' (see the Hedaya, v. 4. p. 158,) which signifies inebriating drink in general, but especially date wine. From the original word, probably, we have our term cider or sider, which, among us, exclusively means the fermented juice of apples." Vinegar was used by harvesters for their refreshment. Boaz told Ruth, that she might come and dip her bread in vinegar with his people. Pliny, N. H. 1. xxiii. c. 1, says: " Aceto summa vis in refrigerendo." It made a cooling beverage. It was generally diluted with water. When very strong, it affected the teeth disagreeably, Comp. Prov. x. 26. In Prov. xxv. 20, the singing of VIP songs to a heavy heart, is finely com- pared to the contrariety or coUucta- tion between vinegar and nitre. Un- timely mirth, to one in anxiety, serves only to exasperate, and, as it were, put into a ferment by the intrusion. On the vinegar offered to our Sa- viour on the cross, see the articles Gall and Myrrh. VIPER. nysN ephoeh. Arab. Epha. Pers. mar-iefy. Written by Avicenna, al-ephai, and by Abenbi- tar, ephe^^, Occ. Job XX. 16 ; Isai. xxx. 6 ; lix. 5. EXIANA, Matth. viii. 7; xii. 34 ; xxxiii. 33 ; Luke iii. 7 ; Acts xxviii.3. A serpent famed for the venom- ousness of its bite, which is one of the most dangerous poisons in the animal kingdom. Our translation of Job xx. 16, has, ** The viper's tongue shall slay him ;" and Isaiah speaks of the evil to be apprehended from this venomous reptile. Dr. Shaw (Travels, p. 179) says: " The most common as well as ma- lignant of the serpent tribe, is the leffah. It is about a foot in length : it is not always of the same colour, but varies a little according to the quality of the earth, sand, or rocks where it is found ^2." The torrida dipsas answers very well both to the name and the quality of this serpent, 91 Hence the Greek of ajaii, rendered " vulture" in Job xxviii. 7, is trans- lated " kite," in Levit. xi. 14, and Deut. xiv. 13. See Kite. B Hasselquist, p. 194. w WAX. 33 n DONAGH. Occ. Psalm xxii. 14 ; Ixii. 8 ; xcvii. 5 ; Micah i. 4. The LXX render throughout, Krj- poQ, and the Vulgate " Cera ;" so there is no room to doubt that this is the true meaning of the word. And the idea of the root appears to be, soft, melting, yielding, or the like ; which properties are not only well known to belong to wax, but are also inti- mated in all the passages of Scrip- ture wherein this word occurs. WEASEL, ibn choled. Occurs Levit. xi. 29, only. Most translators and commentators have been content to render the He- brew choled, by weasel ; but Bochart thought it was the mole ; observing, that the Syriac chuleda, the Arabic cJiold, the Turkish chuld, all signify the mole, which is called khuld, at Aleppo^. WEEDS. siDsuPH. This rendering of the Hebrew word occurs only in Jonah ii. 6, of our translation of the Bible ; but the word suph is to be found also in the following places in the original : Exod. ii. 3, 5; xiii. 18; xv. 4; Numb. xiv. 25; xxi.4; Jud»xi. 16; 1 Kings ix. 26 ; Psalm cvi. 7, 9, 22 ; cxxxvi. 13, 14; Isai. xix. 6; and Jer. xlix. 21. According to Park- hurst, as a collective noun, it means plants or weeds which grow on the borders of a river or sea, and are continually swept or brushed by the waves. 9 Russel, V. ii. p. 182. 33^ WHA What is now called the Red Sea, is, in Hebrew, Yam Suph; and it has been thought that this appellation was given it, from the great quan- tity of wg^rfs with which it abounded. See Flag. WHALE, ]n than, and pDn THANNIN. Occurs in our translation, Gen. i. 21 ; Job vii. 12 ; and Ezek. xxxii. 2. KHT02,Matth. xii. 40. The largest of all the inhabitants of the water. It is well ascertained, that the writers of the Bible must have been ignorant of this animal ; as it is never seen near Jerusalem or Egypt, and as they could have no history of Greenland and Spitzbergen. A recent author'", in a dissertation expressly for the purpose, has at- tempted to prove that the crocodile, and not the whale, is spoken of in Gen. i. 21. I shall transcribe his concluding argument. " There yet remains an argument which proves that the crocodile, and not the whale, is to be under- stood in Gen. i. 21. At whatever time Moses wrote the book of Ge- nesis, whether before or after the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, to assure them that the Lord their God was the creator of the crocodile, has a manifest propriety, which is not to be found in the present translation. For he might naturally suppose, should they in- cline to idolatry, one of the first ob- jects of their adoration would be the crocodile, which they had seen wor- shiped in Egypt." And Dr. Geddes'* thinks, that 10 Rev. James Hurdis, " Critical Dis- sertation upon tlie true meaning of tlie Hebrew word translated zvkale, in Gen. i, 21." 8vo. 1790. 11 New translation of Gen. 1. annexed to his proposals, &c. WHA the circumstance of its being an Egyptian divinity, might induce the historian to particularize it, as being but a mere creature, like the rest. The word in Job vii. 12, must also intend the crocodile. It must mean some terrible animal, which, but for the watchful care of Divine Providence, would be very destruc- tive. Our translators render it dragon in Isai. xxvii. 1, where the prophet gives this name to the king of Egypt : He shall slay the dragon that is in the sea. The sea there, is the river Nile, and the dragon, the crocodile. Compare Ezek. xxxii. 2. On this passage Bochart remarks : The ]-Dn is not a whale, as people imagine; for a whale has neither feet nor scales, neither is it to be found in the rivers of Egypt ; neither does it ascend therefrom upon the land; neither is it taken in the meshes of a net : all of which pro- perties are ascribed by Ezekiel to the ]''3n of Egypt. Whence it is plain that it is not a whale that is here spoken of, but the crocodile. See Leviathan. Merrick supposes David, in Psalm Ixxiv. 13, to speak of the tunny, a kind of whale, with which he was probably acquainted : and Bochart thinks, it has its Greek name thunnos from the Hebrew thanot. The last- mentioned fish is undoubtedly that spoken of in Psalm civ. 6. We are told that, in order to pre- serve the prophet Jonah, when he was thrown overboard by the ma- riners, '* the Lord prepared a great fish to swallow him up." What kind of fish it was, is not specified ; but the Greek translators take the liberty to give us the word KtjTog (whale). St. Matthew (xii. 40) makes use of the same word; but we may conclude that he did so in a general sense, and that we are not to understand it as an appropriated term, to point out the particular species of the fish. Naturalists in- form us, that the make of the whale will not permit it to swallow a hu- man body, as the shark and some WH A other of the water animals are known to be capable of doing : and it is notorious, that sharks are a spe- cies of fish common in the Mediter- ranean ^2^ Bochart and Linnaeus suppose it the charcarias^^, or lamia, which has a throat and belly so prodigiously great that it can easily swallow a man without the least hurt. It is much more natural to believe that it was one of these fishes that swal- lowed Jonah, than to multiply mi- racles without necessity, by sup- posing that God, who kept him alive for three days in the belly of the fish, should have brought a whale from the northern coasts, and then enlarge its throat for his reception. Our Lord observes, Luke xi. 30, that Jonas " was a sign to the Nine- vites;^' and it may be well worth remarking, that the fame of the pro- phet's miraculous preservation was so widely propagated as to reach even Greece; whence, as several learned men have observed, was, no doubt, derived the story of Her- cules escaping alive out of a fish's belly, which is alluded to by Ly- cophron, who calls Hercules, TfXTWvof >)ju.aXa\|/6 xafX,*?Of kvwv. That famed t/iree-nig/ited Won, whom of old Triton's carcharian dog, with horrid jaws. Devoured. That is, says Bochart, whom the canis charcarias, or shark, sent by Neptune, swallowed. Thus, the poet not only agrees with the Scripture account of Jonah as to the time his hero remained entombed, but even mentions the very species of fish by which it is most probable that the prophet was swallowed, ^neas Gazaeus, how- ever, calls the fish that devoured Hercules, as the LXX and St. Mat- 12 See Bochart, vol. iii. p. 743. Univ. Hist. V. X. p. 5;>4. Le Pluche Nat. dis- played, V. iii. p. 140. 13 Syst. Nat. v. i. p. 400, No. 12. " Jo- nam prophetam, ut veteres Herculem, trifioc- tem, in hujus ventriculo tridui spado, hasisse verosimile est." WHE 3S3 thew do that which swallowed Jo- nah, KrjTOQ. 'Q(T7rfp fcai 'HpaKXjjc q,^tTai, dLappaysLtrriQ ttjq vecog, ecp' r}Q eirXsi, vtto KHTOYS KaroTTO- 9i]vai Kai dia(Tio^e(T9ai. " As Her- cules also is reported, when he was shipwrecked, to have been swal- lowed by a [Kr)Tog^ whale, and yet to have been saved ^*. The Author of the " Fragments" appended to Calmet, No. cxlv., ex- plains this, not of a living animal, but of B. floating preserver, by which Jonah was saved from drowning. He remarks, that though Tf dag, sig- nifies primarily " a fish,'^ yet, that it also signifies '* a fish-boat," and figuratively •* a preserver :" so that the passage will admit of being ren- dered : " The Lord prepared a large DAG [preserver] to receive Jonah, and Jonah was in the inner part [the belly, or hold] of this dagah, three days and nights ; and then was cast up on the shore ^^." This allusion is adverted to by our Lord, Matth. xii. 40, who says : "As Jonah was in [r^ KoiXig, rov ktjtovq] the hollow cavity of the KHTOS three days and nights, so shall the Son of man be in the heart of the earth ^^." The word " whale" occurs in the translation of Ecclesiasticus,xliii. 25, and in the " Song of the three chil- dren," V. 57 : in both which places, the Greek word Krjrog is used. See Dragon and Fish. WHEAT, n^n chetheh. Occ. Gen. XXX. 14 ; Deut. viii. 8 ; and freq. 2IT0S, Matth. xiii. 25 ; Luke xvi. 7 ; 1 Cor. xv. 37» The principal and most valuable kind of grain for the service of man. See Barley /and Fitches. 14 The reader may see more on this sub- ject in Bochart, Hieroz. V. iii. p. 687. Vossius de orig. Idol. I. ii. c. 15. Grotius de Verit. 1. i. § 16, Hot. 105, and the author of" Fragments in addition to Calmet," in his" Investigations on the Dag of Jonah.'* 15 " Surely it is as rational to think God made use of a ship, called Dag, to pre- serve Jonah, as to suppose that all the laws of nature were suspended, and a number of miracles performed to accomplish the same purpose." 16 Great ships were called " ketos." 334 W H E In the second chapter of Leviti- cus, directions are given for obla- tions, which in our translation are called " meat-offerings;" but as meat medms Jlesh, and all kinds of offerings there specified, were made oi wheat, it had been better to render it wheat en-offerings. Calmet has ob- served, that there were five kinds of these ; simple flour, — oven cakes, — cakes of the fire-plate, — cakes of the frying-pan, — and green ears of corn. The word "il bar, translated ** corn," Gen. xli. 35, and " wheat," in Jer. xxiii. 28 ; Joel ii. 24 ; Amos V. 11 ; and elsewhere, is undoubt- edly the burr, or wild corn of the Arabs, mentioned by Forskal. According to our English version, we read, in Ezek. xvii. 17, that the Tyrian merchants traded in " wheat of Minnith and Pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm." But a late writer'^ supposes m^D minnith, and 3331 PANNAG, to be a corrupt reading ; and would substitute in the room of them zith, uphag. Thie text will then be rendered, " They traded in thy market with wheat, the olive and the Jig, and honey, and oil, and balm." This is a proper detail, he thinks, of the commodities of Ca- naan, and fit subjects of commerce with the merchants of Tyre. But '7 DJmock, Sermon on Ezek. xxvii. ir. 4to. 1783. VV I L I imagine the pannag to be the panic. WILLOW. D^my ARABIM. Occ. Levit. xxiii. 40; Job xl. 22; Psalm cxxxvii.2; Isai.xv.7; xliv.4. A small tree, well known, grow- ing in low and wet places. It is beyond doubt, that the word ARABIM, OREBIM, Or GOREBIM, Sig- nifies willows : all interpreters agree in it, and the LXX translate it so. The Arabs call this tree garabon, which approaches the Hebrew ap- pellation. We read in Ezekiel xvii. 5 : ** He took of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow-tree ; and it grew, and became a spreading vine of low sta- ture, whose branches turned toward him, and the roots thereof under him : so it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot forth sprigs." The Rabbins uniformly agree in in- terpreting the nSVSlf TZAPIITZAPHA of this place, the willow '8. R. Sa- lomon says, it is the species vulgarly n amed selce, [salix] . A vicenna says, the Tziphtzaph is the Childf; which, according to Abu'lfadli, is of the willow kind, named by the Greeks, •» R. David Kimchi. K. Obadias de Bartenora ad Tr. Sncca, c. iii. 3. Maimo- nides, Tr. Sue. c. vii. § 4. R. Ben Melecb. See also Prosp. Alpinus, De Plant. iEgypti, c. xiv. p. 35, and Celsius, Hiero- bot. V. ii. p. 107. W IN Irea. Paul Lucas, in Iliner. Afri- cano, part ii. p. 91, remarks: " Les Arabes le nomment sofsaf, qui signijie en Arahe saule." This brings us again to the willow. The chief dif- ficulty in this interpretation arises from its being called " a vine ;" but the term may imply, a spreading plant, as well as a creeping one. Parkhurst, indeed, thinks nsvsv to be used here adverbially, for very circumspectly ; and Bp. Newcome renders it, ** he set it with much care:" but, in a note on the place, makes this acknowledgment : *' Da- thius justly observes, that the word signifies a willow-tree in Arabic. Golius, p. 1362." The Arabic ver- sion justifies this rendering ; and the opinion of all the ancient Rab- bins confirms it. Rauwolf (Flora Orientalis, No. 33, p. 13), under the Eleagnus, places ** salicis species, in- colis SAFSAF, Theophrasto vera Eleag- 710S dicta." WIN 335 WINE. ]" UN * Occ. Gen. xix. 32, and elsewhere frequently. 0IN02,Matth.ix.l7, and freq. A liquor expressed from grapes. Before the art of distillation was discovered, the wines must have been much inferior, both for exhila- ration and intoxication, to those of modern manufacture. This disco- very was made by the Saracens. The art of refining wine upon the lees was known to the Jews. The particular process, as it is now prac- tised in the island of Cyprus, is de- scribed in Mariti's Travels, ch. 27 and 28. The wine is put imme- diately from the vat into large vases of potters' ware, pointed at the bot- tom, till they are nearly full, when they are covered tight and buried. At the end of a year, what is de- signed for sale is drawn into wooden casks. The dregs in the vases are 19 It seems worthy of remark, that the Hebrew name for wine has been retained, with little variation, in many other lan- guages; as in the Greek, wog, the Latin, tinum, Italian and Spanish, vino, French, vitif Celtic, or Welsh, gwin, Cimbric, uin, Gothic, weiyi, old German, uuin, Danish, vien, Dutch, wiin, and English, wine. put into wooden casks destined to receive w4ne, with as much of the liquor as is necessary to prevent them from becoming dry before use. Casks thus prepared are very va- luable. When the wine a year old is put in, the dregs rise, and make it appear muddy, but afterwards they subside and carry down all the other feculences. The dregs are so much valued that they are not sold with the wine in the vase, unless particu- larly mentioned. The " new wine," or must, is men- tioned Isai. xlix. 26 ; Joel i. 5 ; iv. 1 8 ; and Amos ix. 13, under the name D^oy. The " mixed wine," nonn, Prov. xxiii. 30, and in Isai. Ixv. 11, ren- dered " drink-oflPering," may mean wine made stronger and more ine- briating by the addition of higher and more powerful ingredients, such as honey, spices, defrutum (or wine inspissated by boiling it down), myrrh, mandragora, and other strong drugs ^®. Thus the drunkard is properly described, Prov. xxiii. 30, as one that seeketh " mixed wine," and is mighty to mingle strong drink, Isai. V. 22 ; and hence the Psalmist took that highly poetical and sublime image of the cup of God's wrath, called by Isaiah li. 17, " the cup of trembling," containing, as St. John expresses it. Rev. xiv. 10, pure wine made yet stronger by a mixture of powerful ingredients. Psal. Ixxv. 8. ** In the hand of Jehovah is a cup, and the wine is turbid ; it is full of a mixed liquor ; and he poureth out of it ;" (or rather, he poureth it out of one vessel into another, to mix it per- fectly ;) " verily, the dregs thereof (the thickest sediment of the strong ingredients mingled with it), all the ungodly of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them." " Spiced wine," Cantic. viii. 2. 20 Such were the exhilarating, or rather stupifying ingredients which Helen mixed in the bowl, together with the wine, for her guests oppressed with grief, to raise their spirits ; the composition of which she had learned in Egypt. Homer, Odyss. iv. 20. 336 WOL was wine rendered more palatable and fragrant with aromatics. This was considered as a great delicacy. Spiced wines were not peculiar to the Jews. Hafiz speaks of wines ** richly bitter, richly sweet." The Romans lined their vessels (am- jthorcE) with odorous gums, to give the wine a warm, bitter flavour : and the orientals now use the admix- ture of spices to give their wines a favourite relish. The ** wine of Helbon" (Ezek. xxvii. 18) was an excellent kind of wine, known to the ancients by the name of '* Chalibonium vinuin." It was made at Damascus ; the Persians had planted vineyards there on pur- pose, says Posidonius, quoted by Athenaeus, Deinosoph. 1. i. See also Strabo, 1. xv. and Plutarch de fortun. Atexandr. This author says, that the kings of Persia used no other wine. Hosea, xiv. 7, mentions the wine of Lebanon. The wine from the vineyards on that mount, are even to this day in repute : but some think that this may mean a sweet- scented wine, or wine flavoured with fragrant gums. Of the medicated wine, I have spoken in the articles Gall and Myrrh. WOLF, nw ZEEB. Arab. zee6. M. Majus derives it from the Arabic word zaab or daaba, to fright- en : and hence, perhaps, the German word DIED, a thief ^^. Occ. Gen. xlix. 27; Isai. xi. 6; Ixv. 25 ; Jer. v. 6 ; Ezek. xxii. 27 ; Zeph. iii. 3; Hab. i. 8. AYK02. Matth. vii. 15 ; x. 16 ; Luke X. 3 ; John x. 12 : Acts xx. 29 ; Ecclesiasticus xiii. 17. A fierce, strong, cunning, mis- chievous, and carnivorous quadru- ped ; externally and internally so nearly resembling the dog, that they seem modelled alike, yet have a per- fect antipathy to each other. 21 In the Praenestine pavement, an animal is represented, as if howling, with the mouth half open ; jaws long, and well armed with teeth; bearing the inscription, HIOT, which may be the azybyte or 'zijbt) tlie Ethiopic name plural of the wolf. WOL The scripture observes of the wolf, that it lives upon rapine ; is violent. bloody, cruel, voracious, and greedy ; goes abroad by night to seek its prey; and is a great enemy to flocks of sheep. Indeed, this animal is fierce with- out cause, kills without remorse, and, by its indiscriminate slaughter, seems to satisfy its malignity rather than its hunger. The wolf is weaker than the lion or the bear, and less courageous than the leopard ; but he scarcely yields to them in cruelty and rapaciousness. His ravenous temper prompts him to destructive and sanguinary depre- dations; and these are perpetrated principally in the night. This cir- cumstance is expressly mentioned in several passages of scripture. " The great men (said Jeremiah, v. 6.) have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds ; wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them." The rapacious and cruel conduct of the princes of Israel is compared by Ezekiel, xxii. 27, to the mischievous inroads of the same animal. ** Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, to destroy lives, to get dishonest gain." And Zepha- niah, iii. 3, says : " Her princes with- in her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves ; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow." Instead of protecting the innocent, and re- straining the evil doer, or punishing him according to the demerit of his crimes, they delight in violence and oppression, in blood and rapine ; and so insatiable is their cupidity, that, like the evening wolf, they destroy more than they are able to possess. wo R The dispositions of the wolf to attack the weaker animals, espe- cially those which are under the protection of man, is alluded to by our Saviour in the parable of the hireling shepherd, Matth. vii. 15 : " The wolf catcheth them, and scat- tereth the flock." And the apostle Paul, in his address to the elders of Ephesus, gives the name of this in- sidious and cruel animal to the false teachers who disturbed the peace, and perverted the faith of their people. " 1 know this, that after my departing, shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock." Acts XX. 29. In the sacred writings, the wolf is every where opposed to the sheep and the goats ; as if his cruelty and rage were reserved especially for these creatures. Compare Luke x. 3; Matth. vii. 15; x. 16; Isai. xi. 6; Ixv. 25. The ** valley of Zeboim," 1 Sam. xiii. 18, and J\ehem. xi. 34, probably means, haunts of the Zeeb. Some suppose the name to be derived from a species of serpent which abounded thereabouts ; and in the verse of Sa- muel, the Chaldee renders, " the valley of the serpent.'^ But I rather suppose the wolf or the hyaena to be intended. See Hy^na. WORM. The general name for little creep- ing insects. Several kinds are spoken of in scripture. I. Those that breed in putrefied bodies; nm rimmah, Exod. xvi. 20, 24; Job vii. 5; xvii. 14; xxi. 26; xxiv. 20 ; XXV. 6 ; Isai. xiv. 11 ; and (TKioXrj^, Ecclesiasticus vii. 17; x. 13; 1 Maccab. ii. 62; 2 Maccab. ix. 9; Judith xvi. 15; Mark ix. 44, 46, 48 ; and Acts xii. 23. II. That which eats woollen gar- ments; DD SAS, Isai. li. 8; and (jriQ, Matth. vi. 19, 20 ; Luke xii. 33. III. That which, perforating the leaves and barks of trees, causes the little excrescences called *• kermes," whence is made a crimson dye ; ybin, TiioLA ; Deut. xxviii. 39 ; Job xxv. 6; Psalmxxii. 6; Isai. xiv. 11; xii. W R 337 14 ; ixv. 24 ; Ezek. xvi. 20 ; Jonah iv. 7. IV. The worm destructive of the vines, referred to in Deut. xxviii. 39 ; which is the Pyralis viiancE, or Py- ralisfasciaiia, of Forskal ; the vine- weevil, a small insect extremely hurt- ful to the vines. WORMWOOD, rr^yb laanah. Occ. Deut. xxix. 18; Prov. v. 4; Jer. ix. 15 ; xxiii. 15 ; Lam. iii. 15, 19; Amos V. 7; vi. 12. A>J^I]NeOS. Rev. viii. 11. In the Septuagiut, the original word is variously rendered, and ge- nerally by terms expressive of its figurative sense, for what is offen- sive, odious, or deleterious ; but in the Syriac and Arabic versions, and in the Latin Vulgate, it is rendered wormwood; and this is adopted by Celsius, Hierobot. vol. i. p. 480, who names it the Absinthium Sanio- nicum Judaicum, a plant that Rau- wolf thus describes : " Circa Beth- lehem procenit copiosum Absinthii ge- 7ius,foliis cinereis, quale est nostratis, in quorum vertice semen copiosissimum est, gravis odoris, qui nauseam moveaf etiam valde molestam, gustu acre, sal- sum, amarum. Hanc plantam Arabes ScHEbA vocant. Semen ejus minutissi- mum est, lumbricis necandis utilissi- mnm, quamobrem semen contra vermes mercatoribus nuncupatur^'^." From the passages of scripture, however, where this plant is men- tioned, something more than tlie bitterness of its qualities seems to be intimated, and effects are attri- buted to it, greater than can be pro- duced by the wormwood of Europe. The Chaldee paraphrase gives it even the character of " the worm- wood of death." It may therefore mean a plant allied, perhaps, to the absinthium in appearance and in taste, but possessing more nauseous, hurt- ful, and formidable properties. 22 " Hanc plantam amaram, in Judea et Arabia copiose nascentem,et inter pretum avc- toritate egregie suffidtam, ipsam esse Ehrao- rum nny*?, pro itidiibitato habemus." Cel- sius. R 538 ZACCOUN. ZACCOUN, or ZACCHOM ; a tree so called from ZaccLeus, found in the plain of Jericho. It is thus described by Mariti, Trav. v. ii. p. SS : •' The branches are covered with prickles four or five inches long; the bark knotty and wrinkled, and green on the tree, but yellow when dry. The wood is of the colour of box-wood. The leaves are like those of the olive ; but narrower, sharper, and a more beautiful green. It bears a white, odoriferous flower. Its fruit, which is a kind of acorn, j without a calyx, and enclosed in a pellicle, yields, when squeezed, an oi/, which, for contusions and wounds, is preferred even to the balsam ot Mecca. That of the best quality is obtained by expression, and an in- ferior sort by boiling the pumice after it has been pressed." Perhaps this is the oil mentioned Mark vi. 13 ; Luke x. 33 ; and James V. 14. The tree is probably the Eleagjius, mentioned by Hasselquist (p. ^87). INDEX, Exhibiting a List of the Articles according to the English Translation, followed hy the original Names; and then the modern or scientific Appellation, as nearly as I have been able to identify the Individuals, For THE precious Stones, however, I have retained the Names as found in Theophrastus or Pliny. Adamant Adder Agate Alabaster Algum Almond Almug Aloe Aloe, Lign Amaranthine Amber Amethyst Amianthus Anise Ant Antimony Anubis Ape Apple-tree Ash-tree Asp Ass Badger Balm Balsam-tree Barley Shmir Shephiphon Pethen Achsub Tsepha She bo A\a(3a(TTpov Algum Luz Almugim Olar Ahaloth * Chasmal Ahalmah AvrjOov Nemala Phuph Hanubeh Koph Taphuah Oren Peten Chamor Para Atun Orud Tachash Tzeri Baal-shemen Shoreh LINNi^AN, OR SCIENTIKIC. Smyris [^Lapis, quo annularii etgem- marii utuntur, ad exfoliendas gemmas'\ Coluber cerastes , See Asp Coluber Hannash Asuad. Forskal. Lacerta basiliscus? Achates. Plin Alabaster, P See Almug Amygdalus communis Finns orientalis Aloe Succotrina Agallochum pr(tstantissimum Succinum electricum Amethystus. P Asbestus amianthus .. Anethum graveolens.. Formica Salomonis ., Stibium Simia Diana Arab. Tvffah. Pyrus Maius. Fors- kal /. Arbor Arabica spinosa baccifera ... Coluber batten, Forskal Equus Asinus Onager Equus Hemionus Vitulus marinus Balsamum Judaicum .... Amyris opobalsamum .... Amyris Gileadensis , Holcus Shxir. Forskal., ? H 8 9 9 10 10 12 15 16 17 19 19 21 rs 25 26 28 29 29 29 31 :U0 INDEX. ESGLISU. HEBREW. Barley Shureh iSisman Bat Othelaph Bay-tree ^^srach Bdellium Bedolah Bean Phul Bear Dob Beasts Tziim 1 Achim > Shoarim ) Bee Deburah Beetle Chargol Beeves Bekar Behemoth Behemoth Beryl Tarshish Birds Tsippor Bitter-herbs Mururim Bittern Kephud Black Shakoh,Aish,> Koder 5 Blue Thecheleth Boar Hazir Box-tree Teashur Bramble Atad Brass Nehest Brier Habarkanim Chedek Serebim Sillon, Sillunim Sirpad Samir Brimstone Gophrith Bull Shor, Tor Bullrush Goma Bush Sin ah Calamus Caneh-bosem Calf Ogel Camel Gamal Camphire Copher Cane Kaneh Canker-worm Jalek Carbuncle Bareketh Cassia Kiddah Kesioth Cat EXovpog Caterpillar Chasil Cedar Erez Chalcedony Xa\Ki]da}v Chameleon Thinsemeth Coach Chamois Zamor Chestnut-tree Ormun LISSMM^, OR SCIENTIFIC. Holcus Shair. Holcas durra . Sesamon orientale VespertUio Vampyrus Laurus nobilis Ellipomacrostyla. Hill Faba rotunda. Phaseolus .... Ursus arctos Fer(B Apis mellif era Gryllus onos. Blatta Mgyptiaca BeUucE. Armenta Hippopotamus Beryllus. P Aves Chironia frutescens ? Oiis/lavicans Helix janthina Sus Aper Buxus sempervirens Jasminoides aculeatum ? Nabka paliurus. Jiasselquist Colutea Spiuosa. Forskal Tabanus Boviiius? See Thorn Solarium Cragulans? Carduus Arabicus? Sulphur nativum Bos, Taurus Cyperus Papyrus Rubus sanctus Calamus aromai icus Vitulus Camelus vulgaris Cyprus Al-henna. Lawsonia inermis Calamus ScarabiEus sacer. Bruchus '. Anthrax. Plin Cassia Jistularis Oleum cariophyllon 1 Felis catus Bruchus Cedrus Libani conifer a Lapis chalcedonius. P Laceria chameleon Lacerta guaral Antelope orientalis ? Antelope Gazella Platanus orientalis S2 32 33 34. 34 35 36 36 37 38 39 39 44 44 45 45 46 46 47 47 48 48 49 49 50 60 50 50 50 51 52 53 53 54 57 61 62 62 63 63 63 64 65 65 6T 67 67 68 68 69 INDEX. S41 Chrysolite Chrysoprasus Cinnamon Clay Cock Cockatrice Cockle Cony Copper Coral Coriander Cormorant Corn Cotton Crane Crimson Crystal Cuckow Cucumber Cummin Cypress Date Deer Diamond Dog Dove Dragon Dromedary Drought Eagle Ebony Elephant Elm Emerald Fallow deer Ferret Fig-tree Fir-tree Fish Fitches Flag Flax Flea Flies XpvffoXiOoQ Xpv 165 kal ) 165 Amygdalus sylvestris 166 Tamarix articulata 166 Hyoscyamus reticulatus. Michaelis 167 168 Falco montanus 169 169 See Swine 308 171 Mel 171 INDEX. 343 LIXN^AN, OR SCIENTIFIC. PAGE Tsireah Sus Alakah KipaTiov Tseboa Esob Barzel Schenhabbim Kktctoq YaKivGoQ Jaspeh Rothem Gedi Ajah Dukiphah Ophreth Chatzir Odeshim Nimr Leviathan Ahalim Lescliem Sliushan Kpivov Seed Ari Letaah Arbeh Gob Gazam Chagab Chauamal Chasil Chargol Jelek Solam Tzaltsal Cinnim Maluach Dudaim Man Sis 'EXIVOQ Abatachim Dochan H.dvO(7[JLOV Vespa crabro tiquus caballus Hirudo sanguisuga Ceratonia siliqua Canis Hyena , Hyssopus officinalis Numenius Ibis Thus , Ferrum Ehur _ Hedera helix Hyacinthus. Tbeophrastus Jaspis Mgyptia Spartium ramosissimum? Hacdus , Falco milvusl Upupa epops Plumbum Allium porrum. Cicer lens, Ervum lens Felis Leopardus Crocodilus Africanus Agallochum Amaryllis Lutea. Pancratium, Forskal Fritillaria Imperialis Felis leo Lacerta Nilotica Gryllus gregarius Grylius migratorius Gryllus cristatus Gryllus coronatus Eruca Grylius vermivorus Gryllus onos Bruchus umbellatarum Grylius eversor Gryllus gryllotalpa , Nymph(ta lotus Cynips Halimus, Atriplex maritima fru- ticosa Cucumis dudaim, Atropa man- dragora , Manna Marmor nobile , Pistacia lentiscus Cucumis saliva Holcus dflchna. Eorskai Mentha glabrata 173 174 178 178 179 181 18^ 183 183 184 186 186 186 186 188 189 189 189 191 19^ 192 193 201 203 203 203 205 207 207 210 211 212 212 213 213 213 213 213 213 213 218 219 221 223 224 226 226 227 228 229 344 Mole Moth Mouse Mulberry-tree Mule Mustard Myrrh Myrtle Nard Nettles Night-hawk Niire Nuts Oak Ochre Oil Oil-tree Olive-tree Onion Onycha Onyx Osprey Ossifrage Ostrich Owl Ox Palm-tree Palmer- worm Pannag Paper-reed Partridge Peacock Pearl Pelican Phoenix Pigeon Pine-tree Pitch Pomegranate Poplar Precious stones Pulse Purple INDEX. Clioled Ois Achbar Baca Pered ElVUTTL Mor Loth Hadas Charul Kemosh Tachmas Nether Batanim Aguz Allon Ail Shemen Etz-shemen Zait Batzal Shecheleth Shohem Azaniah Peres Joneh Cos Yansuph Kippoz Lilith Bacre rheo Tamar Gazam Pannag Goma Kra Ibouciim Peninnim Kaath Joneh Etz-shemen Tidaher Zephet Rimmon Libneh linNjEan, or scientific. Talpa JifUropoea Tinea argentea Mus musculus, Mus campestris.,, B(£ca. Forskal Equus hemionos Sinapis orientalis Myrrha. Cistus ladanifera Giimmi cisti ladanifera Myrtus communis — See Spikenard Kantuffa? Bruce. See Thorn ... Urtica verticillala Strix orientalis Salsola kali. Forskal Pistacia vera Nuxjuglans Quercus ballota Pistacia ierebinthus Ilex aquifolium Oleum oliv(E . Olea Europaa Allium cepa Ladanum Onyx. Plin Vultur niger Vultur monachus? Struthio cameLus Strix bubo Tantalus Ibis Strix aluco. Tyschsen.. Strix otus '! Kali Argaman Antelope Oryx Phxnix dactylifera .... Eruca Panicum ^gyptiacian Cyperus Papyrus Tetrao perdix Pavo cristatus Margarita Pelecanus onocrotalus . Columba domestica ... Pinus Halepensis Pinus orientalis Bitumen Asphaltum, Malus Punica Populus alba B.Mu 230 232 233 233 235 235 236 236 302 237 238 238 238 238 239 239 240 241 241 241 243 243 244 245 245 246 246 246 253 2.H 254 254 254 256 257 260 260 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 267 267 268 269 269 269 270 INDEX. 345 Dishon Selav Ghoreb Aomon 'J'sebi Habetzeleth Peninnim Urjyavov Goma Cussemeth Carcom Maleh Saphir Eapdivog ) Odem 3 ^apdovv^ Seirim Tolaat Okrab Nachash Saraph Sell Sbittim Meshi Keseph Chomet Sabelul BoriLh Tsippor Necoth Bosem Sammim Accbabis Sbemamah Nard ^TToyyog Nataph Nechusbah Chasidab Sis rbirisemetb Cbazir Sbikmot Zizanon Alab Dardar LmSMMi, on SCIENTIFIC. Antelope pygarga, Antelope Ster- psichorus Tetrao Coturnix, Hasselquist .... Corvus jEgyptius . . , Calamus sc7^iptorius . Oryza sativa Antilope Dorcas Rosa moschata 270 271 272 273 276 277 277 279 See Pearl 280 280 280 280 281 281 283 Ruta Chalepensis Arundo palustris Triticum spelta Crocus sativus Sal Sapphirus. Plin Sardius lapis. Plin 284 Sardonyx, Plin 284 284 Coccus scolecius. Plin 28.5 Scorpioafer 288 290 291 Oves. Ovisplatyura 293 Acacia vera. Mimosa Nilotica ... 294 295 Argentum 296 Lacerta 296 Limax Iccvis 296 Suctda monoica. Forsk 297 Susscrofa 297 Passer domesticus 298 Gummina 298 Aromata 299 Aranea insidiatrix 300 Lacerta agilis 301 tardus Indica. Valeriana Jata- mansi 302 Spongia iiifundibuliformis 303 Stacte 303 See Brass 303 Ardea Ciconia 303 Saccharum 306 Hirundo domesticus 307 Anas Cygnus. Anas jEgyptiaca ?.. 308 Sas scroja 308 Moras 311 Ficus jEgyptiaca. Ficus Sycomorus 311 Ervum vicioidesl 313 See Oak 314 Fagonia Arabica 314 346 INDEX. ENGLISH. HEBREW. Thistle Choach Baseh Thorn Tpij3oXog Kutj Shamir Choach Sirim Sillon Sicchim Scajith Tzinnim Barkanim Chedek Sirpad Charul Notjutjim Naazus AKavOa Thyine Tin QvtVOQ Bedel Topaz Tortoise Pitdah Isab Turpentine Turtle Tspe/iivOoQ Tur Vermilion Sisir Vine Vinegar Viper Unicom Gepheu Choraetz Ephoeh Reem Vulture Daah Wax Weasel Donagh Choled Weeds Whale Suph Than Wheat Chetheh Willow Arabim Wine lin Wolf Zeeb Worm Rimmah Sas Wormwood Laanah 2!accoun LINN^AN, OR SCIENTIFIC. PAGE See Thorn 314 Solanum 'puhescens 314 Carduus Tribulus 314 Ono7us spinosa 315 See Brier 316 Prunus spinosa 316 Lycium Afrum * 316 See Brier 316 317 Vepris 317 Zizyphus paliurus 317 See Brier 317 Cfllutea spinosa. Forskal 317 Cony za major vulgaris. Bauhin... 317 Kantuffa? Bruce. See Nettles... 318 318 Vepretum, rubus spinosus 318 Acanthus mollis? 318 Thya orientalis 318 Stannum 319 Topazion. Theophr 320 LacertajEgyptiiE cauda verticilUita, Hasselquist 320 321 Columha turtur 321 Miltos ( antiquorum) 322 '. 323 324 Vipera Ephe. Forskal 324 Rhinoceros unicornus 326 Vultur percjiopterus 330 331 Talpa Europcea -.. 331 Alg(E etfuci 331 Cetus JoncE, Charcarias 332 Triticum compositum 333 Salix Babylonica 334 335 Lupus Dib. Forskal 336 337 337 Absinthium sanionieum Judaicum., 337 Eleaernus 338 INDEX OF REMARKABLE PASSAGES. Page Alabaster vase 4 Antimony used in ornamenting the eyes 13 Apis, worship of 56 Apples of Sodom, explained... 161 Arioch, or Ariel, the lion-god., 245 Aurichalcum 76 Baalzebub, the fly-god, wor- shiped 126 Banana-tree 106 Bitter waters of Marah 6 Bora, or Borax, not the Borith of the Hebrews 297 Bottles made of goats' skin ... 152 Byssus of the ancients 79 Calmbac, a mixed metal 76 Camel, proverbs respecting.. 59, 60 Camels' hair raiment 60 Canopy, made of goats' hair ... 151 Cedars on Mount Lebanon, number of 66 Citron-trees and fruit ...• 17 Condiments mixed with bread 112 Copper, vessels of, precious as gold 76 Corinthian Brass 77 Cotton 79, 295 Crane, Rabbinical fable of the 81 Crocodile, worship of the. .194, 201 Cyrus compared to the Eagle.. 101 Dagon Ill Dog, held sacred by the Egyp- tians "86, 124 Dress, transparent 147 Eagle, the Babylonian standard 101 Electron 8 Embalming, drugs for 6 Eyes of women, ornamented with black paint 13 Fiery serpents 291 Fish not eaten by the Egyptian priests Ill Glass, no reference to, in the Old Testament ;. 145 Goat, worship paid to the 149 Golden Calf reduced to powder 55 Hippopotamus, the Behemoth of Scripture 40 Honey of dates 172 Honey-pot 173 Page Horn, symbolic meaning of ... 330 Indigo 46 Ivory-houses 184 Jonah, pathetic expostulation with 157 Lead, inscriptions on ,... 190 Linen 117, 207 Lizard frequenting houses 301 Looking-glasses, mirrors of po- lished copper 77, 146 Mirrors 77, 146 Muslin 295 Natural History of the Bible, difficulty of ascertaining.. 69, 124 Nimrod, a famous hunter 193 Obi, superstition of 293 Onion, worshiped by the Egyp- tians 244 Palm wine and honey 258 Palmyra, a city 259 Papyrus, ancient method of making 261 Paronomasia, instances of 155 171, 227, 231 Phoenix of the ancients 265 Plastered tables of the law ... 206 Praenestine pavement 40 Pythonic spirit 21, 126 Red Sea, whence so called .... 114 Rhinoceros, the, supposed by some writersto be the unicorn 326 Sackcloth 60 Sails, matting used for 120 Semiramis 88 Serpents, eflect of music on ... 2 Serpents, worshiped 293 Sesamum, a kind of grain... 32, 112 Silk not known to the ancient Hebrews 295 Silver not in use before the de- luge 296 Sindon, a garment 121 Solomon's work on Botany .... 181 Sugar-cane 54, 306 Sycamore wood used for mum- my-chests 312 Tamarisk, the 320 Vessels of bulrushes 52 Vulcan, Tubalcain 49 Zimb described 127 PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE PARTICULARLY ILLUSTRATED. Page Genesis iii. 7 106 viii. 8— 12 87 xxxvi. 24 234 xli. 42 121 xlix. 9 209 xlix. 17 1 xlix. 21 169 Exodus viii. 2..... 138 viii. 14 139 ix. 31 32 XV. 25 6 xix. 4 100 xxii. 1 ^1 xxiii. 19 150 xxiii. 28 173 xxviii. 9, 10 24,| xxix. 22 294 XXX. 23—25.. 70,242, 29g xxxii. 20 5i xxxiv. 26 150 Levit. ii. 13 281 iii. 9 294 xi. 20—22 .* 213 xxiii. 14 79 Numb. v. 15 32 xiii. 23 160 xxiv. 6 -.. 201 Deut. xiv. 21 150 xxii. 6 45, 102 xxii. 10 21 xxiii. 18 86 xxvii. 2—4 205 xxxii. 17 16 xxxii.33 96 xxxii. 32, 33 161 xxxiii. 19 270 Judges XV. 4, 5 131 1 Sam. V. 6,7 232 xiv. 27 172 xvi. 20 22 i Sam. 2 Sam. 1 Kings 1 Chron. Job Pa?e xix. 13 151 xxii. 6 320 xxvi. 20 261 V. 23, 24 233 xvii. 4 274 xix. 4 187 2 Kings iv. 39 158 vi. 25 22, 91 viii. 15 152 ix. 30. 12 xix. 26 166 XX. 7 107 xxix. 2 246 iii. 8 200 iv. 10, 11 209 viii. 14 300 xi. 12 24 xii. 2, 20 276,277 xiii. 28 231 xviii. 15 50 xix. 23, 24... 189 xxvii. 18 231 xxviii. 18 78, 263 xxix. 18 265 XXX. 4 , 187 xxxviii. 41 275 xxxix. 9—12 327 xxxix. 13—18 249 xxxix. 19—25 174 xxxix. 27— 30 99 xl. 15 41 xli. 1—34 195 xli. 2, 20 276 vi. 7 231 xxix. 9 170 xxxi. 9 231 xxxix. 11 231 Iviii. 8 296 Iviii. 5 2,3 lix. 6, 14, 15 85 Psalm INDEX Page Psalm Ixiii. 10 130 Ixviii. 14 381 Ixxiv. 19 321 Ixxviii. 24 225 Ixxxiv. 4 298 xci. 13 3, 20 xcii. 10 330 xcii. 12— 14 257 civ. 17 305 cxx. 4 188 cxlvii. 9 274 Prov. V. 19 154, 169 vi. 5 279 vi. 6, 8 10 vi. 11 97 XV. 19 49 XXV. 11 19 XXV. 16 172 XXV. 20 238 xxvi. 3 27 xxvii. 25 165 XXX. 15 178 XXX. 17 275 XXX. 25 10 XXX. 28 301 xxxi. 22 121 Eccles. X. 1 129 X. 11 3 xi. 1 277^ xii. 5 >6, 16C Cantic. i. 15 90 i. 17 il 186 xxvii. 22 299 xxix. 4 Ill ix. 10 w.... 107 xiv. 2 54 i. 2—7 214 ii.2— 10 115 iii. 12 153 vi. 6 148 iv. 6—10 156 ii. 7 91 ii. 11,12 209 iii. 12 107 iii. 16,17 212 ii. 14 46, 275 vii. 12 1 V. 13 281 vi. 19, 20 231 vi. 28—30 204 vii. 6 86,310 viii. 32 310 ix. 17 153 350 Matth. INDEX. IMark Page xii. 20 118 Mark xiii. 31,32 ... 235 Luke xix. 24 69 xxi. 19 107 xxiii. 23 10,83 xxiii. 24 ....... .... 60, 148 xxiii. 37 168 John xxvi. 6y7 4 xxvi. 34 107 Acts xxvii. 29 318 iCor. xxvii. 34 .. .. 141 2 Cor. xxvii. 47 236 1 Pet. xi. 13 107 Rev. xiv. 3 302 /••, rl Page XV. 23 141,235 ix. 58 137 X. 19 289 xi. 12 102 xiii. 34 168 xvi. 34 283 xix. 29 181 xix. 39 6,300 xvii. 16 21 xiii. 12 147 iii. 18 147 i. 3, 4 10 ix. 7, 9 215 CHISWICK PRESS : PRINTED BY C. WHITTINGHAM. 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