one shall be salted or preserved by that very fire which torments him. Salt is the emblem of barrenness: "All places," as Pliny observes, "where salt is found, are barren and produce nothing." Deut. xxix. 23, "The whole land thereof shall be brimstone, and burning salt; it is not sown, nor bears, nor any herb grows therein, like the overthrow of Sodom," &c. The land surrounding the Dead Sea is strongly impregnated with acrid salt, and produces no plants: the very air is loaded with it, and cannot suit vegetation, "whence," says Volney, "that aspect of death which reigns around the lake.” See Judges ix. 45, and Zeph. ii. 9; Ezek. xlvii. 11; Jer. xvii. 6. The passage in Ezekiel seems to be applied allegorically, meaning, that some shall reject the Gospel, and some receive it without obeying it. And so in Ps. cvii. 34, according to the original, "a fruitful land into saltness." Salt is the symbol of hospitality; see Ezra iv. 14, "Now, for as much as we are maintained from the king's palace," literally, "we are salted with the salt of the palace." Salt, being a wholesome and necessary ingredient in human diet, has always been, and still is, among the Eastern nations the symbol of hospitality and friendship; see Mede's Works, p. 370; Herbelot, Harmer, Cudworth, &c. cited by Parkhurst, Heb. Lex. p. 380. Diogenes Laertius, in his Life of Pythagoras, tells us that, concerning salt, it was his maxim that it ought to have its place upon our tables as a memento of justice and integrity, it being preservative of whatever it lays hold upon, and made out of the purest materials, water and the sea. See Levit. ii. 13, where God prescribes that salt shall always constitute a part of the offerings made to him. Salt, on account of its use in preserving food, and rendering it palatable, was anciently made the emblem of wisdom and virtue. In allusion to this, Paul ordered the Colossians, ch. iv. 6, to season their speech with salt, that it might be preserved from the corruption, condemned in Eph. iv. 29. Macknight thinks the Apostle might possibly refer to those elegant turns in conversation which from the Athenians took the name of attic salt. Salt is the emblem of peace; Mark ix. 50, where the copulative may be considered as exegetical :— "Have salt in yourselves, that is, have peace one with another." Being used at meals, and in sacrifices, it became a sort of bond of union, and hence a symbol of peace. Isidore says, Λιαν θαυμαζω, κ. τ. λ. "I wonder very much how it happens, that robbers, who brandish their naked swords and arm themselves against those who have never injured them, after partaking of their salt, cease to be robbers." SAND, as being an aggregate body of countless particles, is naturally employed as the symbol of multitudes. Considered as the barrier of the sea merely, it is the symbol of hope and safety, such as the shipwrecked mariner experiences when he reaches the shore. God graciously promised Abraham that his posterity should be without number, as the sand; Gen. xxii. 17; xxxii. 12. And the quantity of corn which Joseph collected B b in Egypt is compared to the sand of the sea; Gen. xli. 49. And Hosea, speaking of the restoration from captivity, ch. i. 10, says, "Yet shall the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, Which cannot be measured or numbered.” Horace calls Archytas "Maris et terræ numeroque carentis arenæ Jeremiah, v. 22, beautifully describes the power of God, as displayed in his making the sand a boundary to the ocean,— "Will ye not fear me, saith Jehovah, Will ye not tremble at my presence? Who have appointed the sand a bound to the sea, Sand, as symbolizing a multitude, is used by Pindar and others. And in Euripides, ἀναρίθμητοι, the numberless, are the common people who are of no account. And Homer employs the same, Il. 2, 307, and II. 9, 385. Sand is a well-known characteristic of extensive desarts. See Strabo, b. 16, p. 522; and Lucian, Opp. T. 2, p. 841. SCORPION is explained by the Oneirocritics, of a wicked enemy, or mischievous contemptible person. For the scorpion is constantly shaking his tail to strike, and the torment caused by his sting is very grievous." Hence Ezekiel, c. ii. 6, compares the wicked Israelites to scorpions. And the author of the book of Ecclesiasticus, in ch. xxvi. v. 7, compares a man that hath a shrew to his wife, to one that taketh hold of a scorpion. Scorpions, as well as locusts, hurt only for five months; Rev. ix. 10. The scorpion, on some coins of Hadrian, is said to denote Africa, either in reference to that country as the birth-place of multitudes of these creatures, or to the wiles and subtilties of the Carthaginians, as being pernicious, and as engaging in wars. It is understood by divines to be an emblem of the evil spirit, as in Luke x. 19, where serpents and scorpions, and all the power of the enemy are mentioned, in connexion with Satan falling from heaven, and with the subjection of the spirits or demons to the Apostles. SEA, in the Hebrew language, is any collection of waters, as in Gen. i. 10, " The collections of waters he called seas." So likewise what St Matthew calls Oaxaca, sea, ch. viii. 24, is by Luke viii. 23, called A, a lake. The Colchi also, as by the name of sea. stands for the ocean. Bochart proves, called lakes And An, lake, in Hesiod (Theog. v. 365). A sea, clear and serene, denotes an orderly collection of men in a quiet and peaceable state. A sea troubled and tumultuous, denotes a collection of men in motion and war. Either way, the waters signifying people, and the sea being a collection of waters-the sea becomes the symbol of people, gathered into one body politic, kingdom, or jurisdiction, or united in one design. And therefore, the Oneirocritics say, in ch. 178, "If any dream he is master of the sea, he will be en tire successor in the whole kingdom." And again, "If a king see the sea troubled by a wind from a known quarter, he will be molested by some nation from that quarter. But if he see the sea calm, he will enjoy his kingdom in peace." And in the same chapter, the sea and deep are interpreted of a great king. Agreeably to this, in Dan. vii. 2, the great sea agitated by the four winds, is a comprehension of several kings or kingdoms in a state of war; one kingdom fighting against another to enlarge their dominions. See under Fishes. In Ps. lxv. 7, these two are classed together, shewing the analogy :— "Who stilleth the noise of the seas, The noise of their waves, And the tumults of the people." In Jer. li. 42," The sea is come up over Babylon." Here the sea is put metaphorically for a numerous army, and the overspreading of waters, for the invasion and conquest of the country. In Isa. lx. 5, " The riches of the sea shall be poured in upon thee," is explained by the next line. "And the wealth of the nations shall come to thee;" meaning the inhabitants of the islands, and their devotedness to the gospel. Rev iv. 6," Before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal ;" an allusion to that which was in the temple of old, 1 King's vii. 23, and seems to denote the purity that is required in all who make a near approach to the presence of God. |