Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

CHAPTER XXIII. VERSES 8, 9.

1 go forward, but he is not there;
Backward, but I cannot perceive him :
On the left hand, I cannot behold him,
On the right hand, he hideth himself.

This is a clear allusion to the cardinal points of the heavens, and is taken from the position of a man at sunrise looking toward that glorious object. q.d. "I go forward, to the east; or backward, to the west; on the left hand, to the north; on the right hand, to the south." These remarks are drawn from nature : and they seem to be instances of the primitive manner of describing occurrences, situations, &c. by reference to the human body: many such remain among us, but not to be distinguished without diligent

attention.

CHAPTER XXVI. VERSE 5.

Dead things are formed under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof; literally, "the rephaim, in openings under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof: Hades also, is naked before him, and destruction has no covering." Meaning, as I conjecture, that the deluge swept down with its waters into the abyss to which it returned, those who had been the inhabitants of the earth before the flood, but now were destroyed by drowning those abysses, deep as they are, the unseen world, destruction, &c. are all open to the inspection of Deity. Human fossil bones are extremely rare.

CHAPTER XXVIII. VERSE 6.

Sapphires, gold. The Hebrew word saphir is thus rendered with considerable certainty. "A path not known to a bird of prey, vy oith, nor hath the eye of the vulture seen it." The vulture, we said on Levit. xi. 13. was written daiah, and daithah: the bird here mentioned is written aiah. I suspect that this is a generic name for the whole of the falcon genus; and that it is varied, to signify the vulture particularly, from aiah to daiah.

The following verse seems unhappily rendered, "The lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce

lion passed by it ;" literally, "the sons of height," this phrase occurs also, chap. xli. 34. and seems to denote animals whose bulk and prowess is their security; say, for example, the elephant, which roams the forest; the hippopotamos, which ranges in the rivers; the rhinoceros, which wanders amid the stagnant waters these, powerful as they are, have not seen this path: neither has the shachal, or black lion, which in the sandy desert prowls for prey. These ideas keep clear of the impropriety of supposing that the whelps of the lioness are accustomed to straggle so far from their mother, that they could be imagined to discover a path unknown to high flying birds; unknown to their mother herself.

CHAPTER XXVIII. VERSE 18.

No mention shall be made of coral, mox ramoth, or of pearls, w gabish, for the price of wisdom is far above rubies, peninim.

Of the three articles here mentioned, I take for granted, that the word peninim, rendered rubies, signifies pearls; this has been supported not only by the sentiments of the major part of interpreters, but by Mr. Bruce, Travels, vol. v.

:

Gabish, the second word, is very uncertain in signification: this word signifies "hail," large hail stones; 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 rather to crystal, than to any other; accordingly, the LXX so render it. Scheuzer says, he should prefer the diamond: which, perhaps, would be right, if the diamond were known so early; but, that is strongly doubted.

The first word, ramuth, is generally rendered coral; which, if Pliny be correct, was highly esteemed anciently, lib. xxxii. cap. 2. "The Indians value coral, as highly as we value pearls, which come from India. The men esteem these gems, as our women

do Indian pearls. Their priests and predictors attribute to it even something sacred, and affirm that it has the virtue of protecting from dangers those who carry it. So that two things contribute to render it valuable, superstition and beauty." Experience confirms this relation of Pliny: for often in that country a collar of coral sells for a price equal to one of pearls.

VERSE 19.

Topas. Pithdah of Cush. There being several countries known by the name of Cush, to determine this stone we must first determine the country. I very strongly suspect, that the original seat of the Cushites was not far westward of the spot marked for the situation of Paradise, according to major Wilford; vide the map. The reasons for this opinion are too long for this place; but as we know of at least three countries named Cush, the properties of the first of

these, vide Cosн, I. in Dict. seem very strongly to describe a country near mount Caucasus. If this may be, perhaps the pithdah is the lapis lazuli: but major Wilford says, "This country abounds with divers sorts of precious stones, &c. vide Inquiries on Paradise, Gen. ii. 8.

CHAPTER XXX. VERSE 4.

Who cut up mallows by the roots, and juniper roots for their meat.

The roots of the retemim, we observed, if that plant were the juniper, are not, so far as we know, used, or usable, for food. It is certain, however, that in Italy, the stem of the great thistle is eaten as food, and even in France, the stem, i.e. the inner part of the stem, of the Spanish thistle, makes a part of food at some tables. Some plant, whose stem in like manner is eatable, is certainly meant here but of what species we are completely ignorant. N.B. The berries of the juniper are used as food in Lapland, and in other countries to flavour drinks.

The mallow. Very great difficulties are started on this word: the major part of interpreters rather dissent from the mallow. The article in Scheuzer is very long, but on the whole, it should seem to be, a herb of a saltish taste: the Hebrew name, the Syriac name, and the Greek name, all refer to this character of saltness. It grows in salt places, whether near the sea or in the desert. Atheneus says, it is the food of the miserable. It seems to bear some resemblance to kali, or the barilla plant. It should seem that only the tips of it are eaten. We have in our own country one or two plants of a like nature. On some of our shores a sea weed is gathered, and the plumper parts of it are roasted; in which state it is recommended [in Scotland] for the cure of consumptions. We have also the samphire which is a salt plant, gathered from the rocks, which is eaten in several states. The Greek halimus, which answers to the Hebrew malluach, grows, says Hesychius, in dry and desert places; according to Antiphanes, in clefts and openings of the earth. Serapion says, that at Bagdad quantities of this herb are hawked about, those who carry it crying molochia, molochia, which is nearly the Hebrew word. Job says, the malluach is cropped on the shrub; which is what the Arab writers say of their malluch. Belon says it grows in Crete, and in Egypt; as it does in the river Tagus, and elsewhere in Europe.

VERSE 7.

Under the nettles they were gathered together. The nettle is a plant so low, that no vagabonds whatever can assemble under it: the Vulgate always renders, brier, bramble, &c. and Scheuzer says, we must absolutely have recourse to tall shrubs, which are thorny, prickly, and burning. He inclines to the white thorn; but it remains to be de

termined, whether the white thorn grows in Arabia, in the deserts. Dr. Shaw says, "There is no great variety of plants to be met with in these deserts. Those acacias, azarolas, tamarisks, oleanders, laureolas, apocynums, and a few other plants which I have seen, are generally indebted to the cliff of some barren rock, or to the sandy plain, for their support, and to the nightly dews for their nourishment." He mentions many kinds of marine plants; but all growing

under water.

VERSE 29.

I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.

A strange association surely! we have already remarked, that the word rendered owl by our translators is properly the ostrich; described here as "the daughter of screaming." The word rendered dragon, is considered on Lam. iv. 3. plate.

The idea of the passage is, "I am like to wild creatures; 1st, to the tanim, or phoca, which frequent the inhospitable shores of the sea, and are notorious for mourning and whining, and 2dly, to the ostrich of the desert, whose mourning and lamenting is oftentimes of long continuance. Vide Micah i. 8. where the same creatures are associated. In regard to the ostrich, remark, that "during the lonesome part of the night," says Dr. Shaw, "they often make very doleful and and hideous noises. I have often heard them groan as if they were in the greatest agonies."

There can be no stronger instance of the necessity for acquaintance with natural history, in interpreting Scripture than this passage: both creatures being misunderstood in our version.

VERSES 30-SS.

These verses are so obscure, says Scheuzer, that only the interpretations of critics can be more obscure. Montanus is extremely unintelligible; the LXX equally so: their lections the same. Cocceius comments on Job; it might be wished Job himself would come and comment on Cocceius! The general sentiment of this divine is, that "God orders the thunder not to strike the pious, neither his cattle, nor his vegetables." Diodati renders, "He hides the flame in the hollow of his hands, and orders it on whom it shall strike. He declares to it his will, whether it ought to strike cattle, or plants of the ground." I rather incline with Mr. Scott to dismiss the cattle and plants.

"He encloses the lightning in his hands;

Or, gives it commission to strike on the precise mark;
His rolling thunder announceth on that very spot, so struck,
His jealousy and anger, upon iniquity."

This certainly makes a simple and perspicuous sense; if it differs from Mr. Scott a little, it probably

is more strongly attached to the words of the original. The word here rendered a mark, occurs chap. vii. 20. and is so rendered there.

CHAPTER XXXVII. VERSE 18.

Hast thou spread out the sky, strong, as a molten looking glass?

We cannot perceive the allusion of this passage, unless we recollect, that the ancient mirrors were not of glass, but of polished metal; steel, for instance: now, polished steel has much of that brilliant deep blue gray cast, which is very striking in an Arabian sky, of whose depth of tint we are very incompetent judges: in fact, the higher we ascend on mountains, the deeper, the blacker, the sky becomes; so that as Mr. De Saussure informs us, the deepest blue riband was hardly deep enough. We may therefore understand this passage, as speaking of an atmosphere extended, resplendent, clear, brilliant as a mirror, polished with the utmost skill and assiduity. Let some of our Wolverhampton polished steelwork emulate, if it can, the splendour of the deep blue sky. This is not very distant from the rendering of Mr. Parkhurst, and Scott, in loc. who would render" hast thou with him spread out the conflicting ethers [read, rather, etherial layers, strata,] which are strongly resplendent as a molten, metalline, mirror?" This probably is a very apt similitude to an Arabian sky, especially seen by night.

The following words, "the breadth of the waters is straitened," are peculiarly unhappy: for the fact is, that water in freezing is dilated, spread, so as to occupy an increased space, which is estimated as 9 to 8, and we know that this expansive force of frozen water breaks the strongest vases and jugs; it even has burst a bomb of two inch cast iron. Water, then, when frozen, is not straitened. It seems to be better to read with others, "the broad waters are spread out as a solid foundation:" the Vulgate, however, and Theodoret, take it directly contrary: "and the broad waters spread out, liquefy," i.e. when a thaw takes place. This idea is confirmed by the use of the word, in verse 18. "a molten looking glass:” a mirror of metal which has been liquefied.

CHAPTER XXXVIII. VERSES 31, 32.

Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades,
Or loose the bands of Orion?
Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season?
Or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?
For, 1st, pleiades, cimah, and for,
2dly, Orion, cesil; and for,

4thly, Arcturus, oish; vide on chap. ix. 9.

3dly, Massaroth. St. Chrysostom takes this for the zodiac, or belt containing the twelve signs, composed of stars which are passed over by one luminary or other; most noticeably by the moon. As the moon revolving annually, measures the seasons of the year, there is great propriety in connecting the idea of seasons with Massaroth, whose stars in their revOut of the south cometh the whirlwind: and cold olution accompany those seasons. Vide on chap. out of the north.

VERSE 9.

I am afraid we must dismiss both south and north from this passage: for the word, cheder, rendered south, signifies the secret, not to be seen, parts of a house; the private apartments; and the word rendered north, signifies "the dispersers," to scatter, or to blow by wind. Thus understood, we have a most beautiful observation on the unnoticeable origin of whirlwinds, which are collections, com-, binations, crowds of wind rushing at once; and this is contrasted with its direct contrary, a dispersion of particles by means of an insensible current of air.

"From invisible, non-apparent causes the whirlwind collects and
advances;

But from dispersing evaporation cold is produced.
By the breath of God frost is given," &c.

It is certain, says Scheuzer, that, by the "breath of God" here, we must understand the wind; particularly the north, or northeast, which changes rain into hail, &c. Boreas, in Ovid, says,

Induroque nives, et terras grandine pulso, "I harden the snow, I scatter the hail."

ix. 9.

On the subject of oish and his sons, observe further, that as we have found oish to be the northern wain, so the Arab writer Alcamus mentions the stars of the great waggon, of which four compose the wheels, and the three others are its children. We are used to call these the horses which draw the waggon; and the Arabs have names for them under that description; the middle one they name pihal ; and a small star above it the rider: they have a proverb which says, of a person of erring judgment, or wilful blindness, "he can see the rider on pihal, but not the full moon." ""

CHAPTER XXXIX. VERSES 1.
The rock goat. Vide the plate.

[blocks in formation]

VERSES 13, &c.

Peacocks; the ostrich. Vide FRAGMENT, No. 144, also plate of Unclean Land Birds, Levit. xi.

VERSES 26, &c.

The hawk, the eagle. Vide plate of Unclean Air Birds, Levit. xi.

PSALM VII. VERSE 3.

PSALMS.

LEST he tear my soul like a lion. For soul read person: the kind of lion here mentioned is ariah; for which see Gen. xlix. 11, 12.

PSALM VIII. VERSE 4.

All sheep and oxen; yea, and the beasts of the field. Perhaps, rather, 1st, the lesser animals, the flocks, ie. sheep and goats: 2dly, the herd, larger cattle; and, 3dly, the larger creatures of the cultivated field: or, at most, the larger kinds of game, stags, &c. Our version seems to imply, wild, ferocious animals, which apparently are not the creatures intended. The fowl of the air: "tzippor of the heaven;" here the word tzippor is evidently of general import. "The fish of the sea, cleaving paths in the

waters."

PSALM XVIII. VERSE 33.

He maketh my feet like hind's feet, and setteth me

on my high places.

This verse is very nearly repeated, Habakkuk iii. 19. In discussing the subject of the rock goat, or iolim, vide Job xxxix. plate, we observed, that it was twice connected with the uileh rendered hind, or female stag: and we observe, that in this passage, and that of Habakkuk, it is connected with high places which looks as if this aileh was in some degree similar in nature, or locality, to the rock goat; which, we know, delights in high places. What animal can it be? the chamois, or what? Compare Psalm xxix. 9. infra.

[blocks in formation]

usual companions also, as stormy wind, and lightning: for thunder, which is only the noise occasioned by vacuity among the clouds, cannot break a twig, much less destroy cedars of Lebanon: but a thunder storm may, by its concomitants, produce the effects here attributed to it. For "the young unicorn," literally, "son of rheems," which seems to mean, 66 "son of strength," i.e. a strong animal, vide on Job xxxix. plate Rheem. The term son is taken in Hebrew in a variety of senses; not less than twenty are mentioned in the article Son, Supplement to Diction

ary.

There is in verse 9. a remarkable association; the voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests: literally, "strips bare the woody marshes:" but, if the former part of this verse means an animal, the hind, aileh, which is made to miscarry by a thunder storm, then the latter part, by parallelism, should mean an animal also: this would lead us to read, instead of ioruth, my, nby', ioluth, which differs only by the heading of a single letter,,, and then this would be another pas

sage, where the ioleh, or rock goat, is consorted with the aileh. For others, vide on Job xxxix. plate of rock goat.

The voice of the Lord, prodigious thunder, causes the hinds to calve, prematurely;

And even deprives the female ibices, of their expected young.

Something of the propriety of this parallelism seems to have struck Symmachus, who renders, "the voice of the Lord multiplies the fields, and strips the woods; or, makes bare the forests:" but how thunder multiplies either fields, or their productions, is not easy to say this rendering removes the hinds from this passage. The connection of the latter clause of the verse, with the former clauses, is not very clear.

PSALM XXXVII. VERSE 35.

A green bay-tree. This version is adopted in compliance with opinion, rather than conviction; for the original simply signifies, "a native tree," a tree growing in its native soil, not having suffered by transplantation such a tree spreads itself luxuriantly. This is the opinion of Aben-ezra, Jarchi, Kimchi, Jerom, Parkhurst, and English margin.

Whatever therefore might be said on the laurel, or bay-tree, this is not the place for it.

PSALM XXXIX. VERSE 11.

When thou with rebukes dost correct man, [aish, a man of consideration] for iniquity, thou makest his beauty, or desirableness, to crack, or to peel off, to consume away like a moth, osн: surely every man, Adam, is vanity! This refers, no doubt, to some kind of disease: the word rendered to consume, is particularly applied to the leprosy, Job vii. 5. Vide also Psalm lviii. below.

For the osh, vide Job iv. 19. where it is taken for the moth worm. The reasoning there would lead us to consider the present passage as implying, "to be consumed as a moth consumes cloth," &c. otherwise, "consumed as by a worm:" for which, vide the place referred to, ad fin. Compare Hosea v. 12.

PSALM XLII. VERSE 1.

As the hart panteth after the water-brooks: this animal is the ail; for which see Gen. xlix. plate. I think it just worth observing that on the coins of Mithridates, king of Pontus, &c. we find a stag drinking at a brook; from whence I imagine this was esteemed a very expressive Oriental emblem.

PSALM XLIV. VERSE 19.

Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons; and covered us with the shadow of death. The place of dragons appears to be literally, "the muds, or mucky shores, of the Tanim :" for which see Lam. iv. plate. Aquila renders in an uninhabited place, which agrees exactly with what we have remarked, in the place referred to, on the nature and residence of the class of animals denoted in Hebrew by the word tanim.

PSALM XLV. VERSE 9.

Myrrh, aloes, and cassia.

which grows on the Euphrates, one of the rivers of Paradise but if Paradise be further east than that author supposed, it still brings us to an Indian wood. For the ivory palaces, vide FRAGMENT, No. 8.

PSALM LV. VERSES 7, 8, 9.

O that I had wings like a dove! literally, who will give me a wing like the dove! I would fly off, I would dwell for a time: Behold, I would betake myself to a distance, wandering; I would abide, long, in the wilderness, or on the common. I note this passage, partly because we have in the title of the following Psalm, a seeming allusion to the same idea. "To the chief musician. On the dove, silent, in disstances." Is it possible the two titles to these Psalms have changed places? If the title of "the distant dove" could be affixed to this Psalm, the reason would appear in the verses before us. I would but to the wilderness. I should else have illustrated also remark, that this dove does not fly to her nest, it, by the instances of those pigeons, which carry tidings from distant places to their homes, as from Scanderoon to Aleppo: and this appears to have been a very ancient employment of these birds, for among the hieroglyphics in the temples of Egypt, there is the figure of a dove with a letter under its wings.

Sophocles, in dip. Col. utters the same wish as the Psalmist, "O could I cleave the clouds with the same rapidity as doves!" Pliny, lib. x. cap. 36. says doves are swifter than the hawk :

Columba sæpe cum fugissent milvium,
Et celeritate pennæ vitassent necem.

PSALM LVIII. VERSES 5, 6.

Their poison is like the poison of a serpent, NAHASH; they are like the deaf adder, PETEN, that stoppeth her ear, and will not hear the voice of charmers,

1st, For myrrh, vide Gen. xxxvii. 25; Exod. xxx. charming never so wisely. 23; Deut. xxix. 11.

2dly, For cassia, vide Exod. xxx. 24.

3dly, Aloes. On Numb. xxiv. may be seen what we have said on lign aloes: the same uncertainty attends us here as there. The LXX have used three words to render this tree: here they read stacte; in Prov. vii. 17. krokinon, saffron; Cant. iv. 14. aloth. Among the differences of opinion on this word, we hardly dare venture to determine; and whether the wood, or the juice, was used as perfume, they do not appear to us fit for that purpose. The fragrance of the aloë flower is remarked in FRAGMENT, No. 396. It is likely we should refer to some Indian wood, as sandal wood, calambac, or agallochum either the wood itself, or an extract which it furnishes. Wedelius says, that we must understand by alo, xylo-aloë, or wood of Paradise,

1st, For nahash, vide on Gen. iii. 1. 2dly, For peten, vide on Job xx. 14.

For the charming of serpents, besides what is said on this subject in the article Asp, in Dictionary, observe, that it is certain, serpents are charmed in India and in Egypt; i.e. that by some preparations, probably decoctions of herbs, certain persons handle them with impunity. Also, that serpents of the most noxious kinds are taught to raise themselves, and to assume various attitudes, which is called dancing; being at first used to this practice while a flute is sounding, they afterward repeat these motions when provoked by music. Possibly, therefore, the Psalmist may refer to a serpent which being newly caught, will not readily obey the notes of the flute; but, unwilling to rouse itself to activity, continues its apparent slumbers, as if it did not hear the music which

« AnteriorContinuar »