to invade, as being totally different from every thing they had experienced in Egypt, or in the Desert of Arabia. This image, therefore, though known to all poets, and adopted by most, may be accounted peculiarly familiar, local in a manner, to the Hebrews; and of consequence we cannot wonder at its frequent introduction into their compositions. The prophet seems to have depicted the face of nature exactly as it appeared to him, and to have adapted it to the figurative description of his own situation, when from the banks of Jordan, and the mountains at the head of that river, he pours forth the tempestuous violence of his sorrow with a force of language and an energy of expression which has been seldom equalled:

66

Deep calleth unto deep, in the voice of thy cataracts;
All thy waves and thy billows have gone over me.'

It may not be improper to remark in this place, that though this metaphor is so usual in all the other sacred writers, whenever an occasion presents itself of introducing it, the author of Job, in the whole of that poem, which from the nature of the subject presented excellent opportunities of employing it, has not more than twice,+ and then but slightly, made the least allusion to it. Nature, indeed, presented a different aspect to the author, whoever he was, of that most noble poem, if, as many learned men conjecture, it was composed in some part of Arabia-for which, I confess, there is great appearance of argument from that famous simile in which he compares his friends with the perfidious brook; a comparison manifestly taken from the rocky parts of Arabia, and adorned by many images proper to that region.

Finally, there is a species of imagery, derived also from natural objects, altogether peculiar to the Hebrews. Among the mountains of Palestine, the most remarkable, and consequently the most celebrated in the sacred poetry, are Mount Lebanon and Mount Carmel: the one, remarkable as well for its height as for its age, magnitude, and the abundance of the cedars which adorned its summit, exhibiting a striking and substantial appearance of strength and majesty; the other, rich and fruitful, abounding with vines, olives, and delicious fruits, in a most flourishing state both by nature and cultivation, and displaying a delightful Psal. xcii. 8. † See Job xxii. 11. xxvii. 20.

E

Job vi. 15-20.

appearance of fertility, beauty, and grace. The different form and aspect of these two mountains is most accurately defined by Solomon, when he compares the manly dignity with Lebanon, and the beauty and delicacy of the female with Carmel. Each of them suggests a different general image, which the Hebrew poets adopt for different purposes, expressing that by a metaphor, which more timid writers would delineate by a direct comparison. Thus Lebanon is used by a very bold figure for the whole people of the Jews, or for the state of the church;† for Jerusalem; for the temple of Jerusalem;§ for the king of Assyria || even, and for his army; for whatever, in a word, is remarkable, august, and sublime:¶ and in the same manner, whatever possesses much fertility, wealth, or beauty, is called Carmel.** Thus too, by the fat rams, heifers, and bulls of Basan,++ by the wild beast of the reeds,‡‡ or lion of Jordan, are denoted the + Isa. xxxiii. 9. xxxv. 2.

*Cant. v. 15. vii. 5.

§ Zech. xi. 1.

Isa. xxxvii. 24.; Jer. xxii. 6. 23. Isa. x. 34. Isa. xi. 13. See Ezek. xxxi. ** See as above, and Isa. x. 18.; Mic. vii. 14.; Jer. iv. 26. †† Psal. xxii. 13.; Ezek. xxxix. 18.; Amos iv. 1.

Psal. Ixviii. 31. Chaiah Kaneh, "The wild beast of the reeds," is a periphrasis for "the lion ;" and that by no means obscure, if we bestow upon it a little attention. The lions make their dens very commonly among the reeds. Innumerable lions wander about among the reeds and copses on the borders of the rivers in Mesopotamia." Am. Mar. lib. xviii. c. 7. This is so familiar to the Arabs, that they have a particular name for the den or haunt of a lion, when it is formed among the reeds. Bochart. Hierog. Par. I. lib. iii. c. 2. The river Jordan was particularly infested with lions, which concealed themselves among the thick reeds upon the banks. Johan. Phocas, Descrip. Loc. Sanct. c. 23. See also, Maundrel's Travels, Jerome upon these words of Zechariah, xi. 3. "The voice of the roaring of young lions, for the pride of Jordan is spoiled." "With the river Jordan, (says he), which is the largest in Judea, and near which there are many lions, the Prophet associates the roaring of those animals, on account of the heat of the climate, the vicinity to the desert, the extent of that vast wilderness, the reeds and the deep sedge which grow about it.' Hence, in Jer. iv. 7, the lion is said to go forth Me-sobechou (from his thicket); and, xlix. 19. "to ascend from the overflowing of Jordan."—In this place, therefore, (Psal. lxviii. 31.), the wild beast of the reeds, the herd of the strong, and the calves, are the lions, the bulls, and the beasts wantoning about, or, in plain terms, the fierce and insolent tyrants; of whom, by a continuation of the metaphor, the Prophet adds, "each of them eagerly" (for there is that force in the distributive in the singular number, and in the conjugation Hithpael)" striking with their feet, and disturbing the silver, or perhaps desirable, rivers; that is, destroying and laying waste the pleasant places of Judea. This very image is adopted by Ezekiel, xxxii. 2. and again xxxiv. 18, 19. in which places the verb raphas thrice occurs in that sense: see also Dan. vii. 19. But whether rutz be spoken of the motion of the river, as in the Latin currere, (Virg. Georg. i. 132.), so as to signify the river, is not altogether so plain.

insolent and cruel tyrants of the Gentiles. In this and other imagery of the same kind, though the sacred writers presume to attempt what would not be allowed in the Greek and Latin poets, yet they cannot be accused of any deficiency in perspicuity or elegance, especially if it be remembered that the objects which furnished them with this imagery were all familiar, or, if I may be allowed the expression, indigenous to the Hebrews.

In a word, we may generally remark upon this head, that all poetry, and particularly that of the Hebrews, deduces its principal ornaments or imagery from natural objects: and since these images are formed in the mind of each writer, and expressed conformably to what occurs to his senses, it cannot otherwise happen but that, through diversity of situation, some will be more familiar, some almost peculiar to

"This word (retzi) seems in the Arabic to convey the idea of water. For there is a verb ruz, to afford plenty of drink; or to contain stagnant water, as a fish-pond, or valley; and the noun rutz, a quantity of water lying in the bottom of a lake or cistern."-H.

A gentleman of great learning and genius has furnished me with another explication of this passage, which perhaps will attract the attention of the learned reader.

This learned man interprets the whole verse in this manner: Consume the wild beast of the reed; the multitude of those who are strong in the calves of the nations; who excite themselves with fragments of silver: disperse the people who delight in war." The wild beast of the reed is the hippopotamus, which lives among the reeds of the Nile: Under this metaphor the people of Egypt is properly delineated, which of itself opens the way to the explication of the whole verse. For the Egyptians are indeed alluded to through the whole of the passage: they were remarkable for the worship of calves, and that of Isis and Apis in the form of an ox; and for their religious dances before these idols to the music of timbrels. The Chaldee runs thus: "The assembly of the strong, who put their trust in the calf-idols of the nations."-" Strong in the calves of the nations," is a phrase analogous to that, Eph. vi. 10. " Be strong in the Lord," and is an Hebraism. The manner of dancing in the worship of the Egyptian idols is confirmed from Exod. xxxii. 6. 19.; also both it and the use of the timbrel, Herod. lib. ii. The word is totally different from D, which is also found in Prov. vi. 3. where the Vulgate renders it hasten thee, or better, excite thee, since it is in Hithpael. In the Chaldee it means to trample; in the Syriac to dance; in the Arabic to spurn; whence in this place, " excite or stimulate themselves to dancing."-" With fragments of silver," (so literally); that is, with the small pieces or lamina of metal round the timbrel, which produce the jingling noise when the instrument is beaten. The timbrel was formerly a warlike instrument: "The Queen calls forth the band with warlike timbrels," Virg. Whence Propertius also opposes the Egyptian timbrel to the Roman trumpet in the battle of Actium, (lib. iii. ix. 43.) If we consider it in this light, it will serve much to clear up what follows: "Disperse the people who delight in war." Thus we have not only a clear description of the Egyptians, but one that agrees admirably with the context: "Princes, come out of Egypt," &c.-Author's Note.

certain nations; and even those which seem most general, will always have some latent connexion with their immediate origin, and with their native soil. It is the first duty of a critic, therefore, to remark, as far as is possible, the situation and habits of the author, the natural history of his country, and the scene of the poem. Unless we continually attend to these points, we shall scarcely be able to judge with any degree of certainty concerning the elegance or propriety of the sentiments: the plainest will sometimes escape our observation; the peculiar and interior excellencies will remain totally concealed.*

* We must not omit noticing, in this place, those images which are derived from rivers and fountains, and the earth recreated with rain; which are indeed used by our poets, but more frequently by the orientals. For the scarcity of water, and the extreme heat of the summer, together with the wonderful fertility of the soil when watered, render this a more elegant and jocund comparison in the East than with us. In spring and summer, if the east wind continues to blow a few days, the fields are in general so parched that scarcely a blade of any thing green remains; many rivers and streams are dried up, the others are rendered briny, and all nature seems at the point of dissolution. After a plentiful shower, however, the fields revive beyond all expectation, the rivers resume their course, and the springs pour forth more delicious water. Mahomet makes use of this idea frequently, as figurative of the resurrection ; and in this he shows himself no less of a philosopher than a poet. Dr Russel has described this regeneration of nature in most lively colours in his Natural History of Aleppo, a book which every man ought to read, who wishes not only literally to understand the oriental writers, but to feel them. Indeed, for want of this, many similes appear to us bold and unusual, which among the orientals have a proper and distinct signification. Caab, an Arabic poet, who was contemporary with Mahomet, in one of his poems compares the teeth of a young lady when she smiled to wine mixed with water, in which remained bubbles of yesterday's rain. In Isaiah there are many allusions of this nature, the favourable or adverse state of the nations being frequently expressed by this image, which many commentators have attempted to explain with more exactness than a poetical idea will bear. They have taken what the poet meant figuratively, sometimes in a literal sense; and at other times they have explained every thing in a mystical manner, and have pretended to define what is meant by the water, who are those that are thirsty, &c. &c. intermingling many very pious reflections, but utterly foreign to the subject, and such as never once entered the mind of the poet. For it certainly was not the intention of the prophet to write enigmas, but to illustrate and adorn the beautiful figure which he introduces. Thus, ch. xxxv. 6, 7. speaking of the happy state of Palestine, at the time that Idumea was laid waste and subdued :

"The desert, and the waste, shall be glad;

And the wilderness shall rejoice and flourish :
For in the wilderness shall burst forth waters,

And torrents in the desert:

And the glowing sand shall become a pool,
And the thirsty soil bubbling springs :
And in the haunt of dragons shall spring forth
The grass, with the reed, and the bulrush."

It is however to be remarked, that the level ground suffers most from the intolerable heat, and that the deserts are almost destitute of water. He amplifies the same image in a different manner in ch. xxxv. 17. celebrating the return of the Israelites from the Babylonian exile:

"The poor and the needy seek for water, and there is none;

Their tongue is parched with thirst:

I Jehovah will answer them;

The God of Israel, I will not forsake them.

I will open in the high places rivers;
And in the midst of valleys, fountains:
I will make the desert a standing pool;
And the dry ground streams of waters.
In the wilderness I will give the cedar;

The acacia, the myrtle, and the tree producing oil:
I will plant the fir-tree in the desert,
The pine and the box together."

This is admirable painting, and displays a most happy boldness of invention :
The trees of different kinds transplanted from their native soils to grow toge-
ther in the desert; the fir-tree and the pine, which are indigenous to Lebanon,
to which snow, and rain, and an immense quantity of moisture, seem almost
essential; the olive, which is the native of Jerusalem; the Egyptian thorn,
indigenous to Arabia-both of them requiring a dry soil; and the myrtle,
which flourishes most on the sea-shore. The same image occurs, ch. xxxiii.
18-20. but placed in a different light. The poet feigns in this place, that
the wild beasts of the desert, and the dragons themselves, which had been
afflicted with thirst, pour forth their nocturnal cries in thankfulness to God
for sending rain upon the desert. See also ch. xxxiv. 3, 4. Sometimes in
the district of Jerusalem, which by nature is a very dry soil, and in which
there are few streams, an immense flood is seen to burst forth, and with irre-
sistible violence fall into the Dead Sea, so that its water, which is more salt
than that of any other sea, is rendered sweet. Gihon seems to have afforded
the basis of the above description; a rivulet which proceeds from Sion, when
perhaps some uncommon flood had prodigiously increased it. If I am not
mistaken, David was the first who made use of this bold figure, but with such
a degree of modesty as becomes the author who first introduced it, Psal. xlvi.
2-6. I suspect something of the kind indeed to have happened about the
time of his composing that Psalm, for it is usual in earthquakes for some
streams to be entirely drained, while others overflow.
their ardour for novelty, have gone far beyond him.
with this figure the picture of the golden age, ch. iii. 18. :

"The mountains shall drop down new wine,
And the hills shall flow with milk,

But his imitators, in Thus Joel intermingles

And all the rivers of Judah shall flow with water,
And a fountain shall flow from the house of Jehovah,
And shall water the valley of Shittim."-M.