i.e. myrrh. And the original Syriac term was equally well translated by either of these words. As to the word rendered wormwood, the disagreeable effects attributed to this plant do not accord with the wormwood of Europe, since that is rather a salutary herb, than a mortal poison; which character it has in the Chaldee version, "wormwood of death." Possibly, therefore, the true wormwood may not be designed, but some plant allied to it, either in form or appearance; in taste, or in qualities; or which, if it be of the same class, differs by its more formidable properties. Wormwood causes "bitterness in the belly," Rev. x. 9, 10. but I do not find deadly effects attributed directly to wormwood in Scripture: perhaps the Chaldee interpreter may have rather exceeded in his version. CHAPTER XXXII. VERSE 13. Thou shalt suck honey out of the rock: i.e, the country abounds in wild bees, which, hiving in the rocks, furnish honey. See the instance of Jonathan, 1 Sam. xiv. 25. Hasselquist says, between Acra and Nazareth “great numbers of wild bees breed, to the advantage of the inhabitants." Maundrell observes of the great salt plain near Jericho, "that he perceived in it, in many places, a smell of honey and wax, as strong as if he had been in an apiary ;" p. 66, 86. See the wild honey of John the Baptist, Matth. iii. 4; Mark i. 6. Oil out of the flinty rock; i.e. the olive-trees grow in the crevices of rocks, and these yield oil. Hasselquist tells us, p. 117. that "he ate olives at Joppa, which were said to grow on the mount of Olives, near Jerusalem; and that, independent of their supposed holiness, they were of the best kind he tasted in the Levant." That Syria abounded in oil is evident, from its being exported into Egypt, Hosea xii. 1. and we find William of Tyre, in the time of the crusades, describing Syria-Sobal as all thick set with olive-trees, making prodigious woods, that covered the country, and afforded subsistence to the inhabitants, N.B. It may be queried, whether as this production, oil, is yielded by a vegetable, a tree; whether the former production, honey, be not meant for what is yielded by a tree also? To support this idea, we remark, that the honey of the palm-tree is in no little esteem in the East; and we find a distinction in Solomon's Song between the firm honey, and the flowing honey. Besides palm honey, the Jews mention honey of the fig-tree. Vegetable honeys might now, perhaps, be referred to the class of sugars, which we know are yielded by several vegetables besides the sugar cane. Gall is not a vegetable juice. A plant bearing berries, formed, somewhat at least, into clusters resembling those of the vine, is what we want can it be hemlock? of which there are, the cicuta major, and cicuta aquatica, which is a very noxious plant. Hasselquist, speaking of the wild grape of Scripture, labrusca, observes, "Isaiah says, chap. v. 4. what could I do more for my vineyard than I have done, yet it produced wild grapes? I believe the prophet here means to speak of the solanum incanum, deadly nightshade, seeing it is common in Egypt, in Palestine, and throughout the East. Moreover, the Arabs give it a name which agrees perfectly with his expression; they call it aneb-il-dib, wolf's grape. The prophet could not have chosen a plant more opposite to the vine, for it grows in vineyards, and does infinite damage to them: therefore, it is carefully rooted out. It resembles the vine, by the creepers which it produces." This is the nearest approach to the vegetable intended by Moses, which is hitherto discovered; but why attribute particularly to Sodom and Gomorrha a species of plant which grows in many places throughout the East? I conceive, therefore, that if the wild grape may be the deadly nightshade, which grows in our own hedges, and is occasionally eaten by children to their great danger; yet that the grape of Sodom is a plant growing in the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea, and named from its native soil. I shall therefore add, from Hasselquist," that he found at Jericho, the solanum fructicosum quadripedale, caule et foliis spinosis, the nightshade." Also, that fruit of the Solanum Melongana of Linnæus, called "the Poma Sodomitica the apple of Sodom, is the fruit of the Solanum Melongana of Linnæus, called by others mad apple. It is found in great quantities near Jericho, in the vallies near the Jordan, in the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea." If this fruit causes madness, if it grows near the city of Sodom, and retains the name of Sodomitica: may it be the vegetable intended by Moses? does it sufficiently resemble the vine to be compared to it? We are not bound to take, strictly, the word rendered grape, or the word vine, to signify only a grape vine: it is a word common to many kinds of plants. To distinguish the true vine, Moses adds its description, "the wine vine," Numb. vi. 4. CHAPTER XXXIII. VERSE 13. On the comparison of Joseph to a bull, observe, that if the reem, to which he is also assimilated inbut to one creature; whereas, he is evidently meant stantly after, be a bull, the comparison would refer to be compared to two creatures: this is no slight argument for two very distinct animals: 1st, the Their grapes are grapes of gall, w RUSH, their wild bull; 2d, the reem. See, on Job xxxix. RHIclusters are bitter, mararat. VERSE 32. NOCEROS, Plate I. VERSE 19. They shall suck the abundance of the seas, i.e. fishes of various kinds, perhaps especially including It will be remarked, that the language of poetry is always of an elevated, or a metaphorical kind; when a poet affirms a thing even in direct terms, we shell fish and treasures hid in the sand; i.e. some are to qualify his affirmation if we would reduce his say, they shall make glass, which is procured from language to common speech, and design it to be strictsand; and which, say Pliny and Tacitus, was firstly understood. When Moses says, Israel shall suck made from the sand of the river Belus, in Judea. honey out of the rock, we are not to suppose that an That the river Belus, which ran at the border of the Israelite taking a piece of rock into his mouth might tribe of Zebulon, yielded sand very proper for mak- suck honey out of it; that it would melt in his mouth; ing of glass, may be granted, without affirming that or that the flinty rock would dissolve in oil, at comglass was first made here. Vide Strabo, lib. xvi. mand. That Zebulon may suck the abundance of Pliny, lib. v. cap. 19; Tacitus, Hist. lib. v. Jose- is understood, though omitted by the bard; and so the seas, or treasures hid in the sand, previous labour phus, de Bell. lib. ii. cap. 9. of other images and ideas, which the animated strains of poetry do not stop to explain, or to account for. Let no one think this remark superfluous, since we know those who take Scripture expressions literally, and suppose that the Holy Land flowed with milk and honey; and since these rapidities of poetry often occasion great perplexity to the calmly investigating naturalist, who wishes to obtain information on an article mentioned, and neither to attribute to it qualities above or below its fair and just estimation and properties. VERSE 25. Thy shoes shall be iron and brass. This verse informs us that shoes clouted, as the old English expression is, were used as early as the days of Moses. We know that the Roman soldiers used brazen or copper soles to their shoes, and clouted shoes, i.e. shoes well coated with iron, were anciently part of a soldier's dress in this country; from which, shoes well filled with nails, &c. for strength, are now called clouted. CHAPTER II. VERSE 6. JOSHUA. RAHAB hid the spies under stalks of flax. This sense of the word is generally admitted. As the order of the original is peculiar, in flax of wood, or woody stalks, some have thought hemp to be the plant intended, as its stem is most woody. Alpian remarks, in Deg. lib. xxxii. leg. 55. that under the name of wood, some countries comprehended thorns, thistles, and other stemmy plants: especially in Egypt; where reeds and rushes, and the plant papyrus, were used as wood for burning. I appre hend the Hebrews did the same. VERSE 18. Bind this line of scarlet thread in the window by which thou didst let us down. It is probable that this line was something more considerable than a mere line; as well from being distinguished from a distance, when hung in the window, as for its use in lowering the men. Le Clerc, therefore, would render this tissue of scarlet thread; and in the Chaldee, the root signifies a weaver: perhaps our window curtains may explain the idea. CHAPTER III. VERSE 4. THE PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN. those particularities which require acquaintance with 1 It is necessary to account in some such manner, for the occasional swelling of the Jordan; because, no modern traveller, that I know of, has seen it in the state of overflowing, though some have been there at such times of the year as it anciently did overflow; Chron. xii. 55. is mentioned as a proper time," the for Mr. Maundrell was there, March 30, which, i first month." That worthy traveller observed, that Jordan has two banks, "the first, and outermost, as far as it may be supposed the river does, or did overflow. After having descended the outermost bank, you go about a furlong on the level strand, before The depth of this river, at this time, is among you come to the immediate bank of the river." Now, as the river certainly formed the outermost bank by its inundations, this bank is a lasting testimony, that it sometimes overflows; as we find it extends a furlong, at least, on this side, add an equal extent on the other side, together with the breadth of the river, "about twenty yards," for the quantity of water passed over by the Israelites, under Joshua. In proportion as the swelling of Jordan was rare, and the security of the Canaanites was increased by it, the passage of the river by Israel was a more illustrious instance of Divine interposition. CHAPTER V. VERSE 2. For what we have observed on the circular stones which composed the sacred precincts of Gilgal, vide on Judges iii. 9. the Plate. We shall only notice, at present, the operation of circumcision performed in this place. The instruments were charbuth tjerim, rendered by the LXX, knives of cutting stone; by our margin, knives of flint this rendering indeed assumes that flint was the kind of stone used for cutting, which, perhaps, may be doubted; but that the knives, or cutting instruments, were of stone, of some kind, can be no doubt. The great number of stone hatchets and knives found in Britain, and occasionally even the manufactories where they were made, leaves no room to question whether, apart from the use of iron, stones might not be sufficiently sharpened to answer the purposes of that metal. I presume, therefore, to take for certain, that the ancient stone knives of our own country, were similar to those of the East; and this adds one to the similarities observable between peoples so distant. Another inference is, that as iron was forbidden to be used in forming the altar of God, because it was a sacred utensil, so perhaps the use of iron was forbidden in this circumcision, because it was a sacred service. Nevertheless, we see with what instruments rough stones might be chipped, and cut into a certain degree of form, without the use of iron tools; that is to say, by employing the harder kinds of sharpened stones in that labour. N.B. This removes some objections to the great antiquity of certain Druid erections in Britain, which have evident traces of some kind of cutting tool having been used to diminish the asperities of their surfaces. After these remarks it is hardly necessary to refer to what writers of antiquity have hinted, on the use of knives not made of iron, in circumcision. The Romans called these cutting stones testa, samia testa. With such a knife, says Arnobius, contra Gentes, lib. v. p. 94. Atys emasculated himself; and Ovid, de Fast. lib. iv. v. 237. calls such an instrument saxum acutum, a sharp stone. Ille etiam saxo corpus laniavit acuto..... Ah pareant! Dicebat adhuc, onus inguinis aufert, Pliny, lib. xxxv. cap. 12. says the same of the priests of Cybele. See also Exod. iv. 25. CHAPTER VI. VERSE 20. most striking of the miracles attending the entrance The falling of the walls of Jericho is among the of Israel into the promised land. So far as it is miraculous, a naturalist has nothing to say on it: there is no harm, however, in hinting that the shouts of the people could never effect such an event; because, whatever may be the force of aerial vibrations produced by the voice, &c. in a confined vessel, such pand themselves where they found the least resistvibrations in the open atmosphere would surely exance; and this would never be, where the walls of air offered no impediment. The choice of secJericho impeded their passage, but where the free ondary causes would probably determine on an earthquake. CHAPTER X. VERSE 11. The miraculous prolongation of the daylight, which followed the command of Joshua, has been the subject of our investigation in another place, [vide FRAG MENT, No. 154,] where we endeavoured to shew, that it was not the body of the sun, but the solar light which stayed: nor the body of the moon, but the brightness of its rays, then near the full, which assisted the hero of the sacred tribes; that the time of year was the summer solstice, and that the miracle consisted in producing, by a peculiar refraction of the air, that degree of light so far south as Judea, which in Scotland, in Sweden, in Greenland, is a necessary result of natural causes, not once only, but every year. We ought, however, to notice the quantity of hail stones which fell at this time; "great stones from heaven," the atmosphere; which drove in the faces of the enemy, and not only dismayed but destroyed them; and that in greater numbers than fell by the sword of Israel. We may be dispensed with from proving that such an occurrence is not incredible; as we have many instances of armies suffering more from the violence of the elements than from their enemies and as this battle was fought by night, if the hail storm was by night also, it would be doubly distressing to a flying army. That hail kills animals we have proofs almost yearly in our own country; that it may kill men, and in great numbers, is easily inferrible; the height at which it may be generated, is unknown to us: and this is all that requires admission, to justify the idea of its being fatal by its size and velocity. CHAPTER XVIII. VERSE 9. ANTIQUITY OF MAPS. The agents sent by Joshua, went and passed through the land, and described it by cities into seven parts in a book. The awkwardness of this phraseology, describing into seven parts, is sufficient to justify the notion that it does not express the true sense of the passage. In fact, I apprehend, we have here mention of a map of the country, drawn on a considerable scale, shewing every city, and its boundaries, on seven sheets, which, united together, formed a book. To justify this idea we must examine the terms of the passage. The word used to signify "describing," or delineation, is cuteb; now this, Levit. xix. 28. expresses the making of marks in a certain form, or after a certain pattern; a representation of flowers, figures, or places; i.e. the outlines of such things; "ye shall not make any cutebuth; 'print any marks,' Eng. Tr. on your flesh." This could never mean, ye shall not make lines of writing, inscriptions, on your flesh; but must refer to a pattern, or delineation, made by puncture, of flowers, trees, &c. in short, a kind of tattowing. But this word cuteb, evidently and beyond controversy means the delineation of the plan of a house, Ezek. xliii. 11. " the figure of the house, its elevation, and the disposition of it, its plan; the goings out, the entrances in, and all the forms thereof, and all the DELINEATIONS thereof; vide Ezek. iv. 1..... shalt thou make them know, and, cuteb, draw, delineate to their eyes." It is clear, that to describe by writing the forms of the elevation, plan, apartments, ornaments, doors, door cases, passages, &c. of a great house, is an utter impossibility: not to say, that to write before the eyes, literally to the eyes of spectators, is a strange expression; whereas, to delineate, or portray, before their eyes, the very forms of the things designed, is an easy procedure, an easy sense of the word, and an easy mode of conveying information. It needs no proof, that the same word which describes the delineation of the parts of a house, may describe the delineation of the parts of a country, i.e. a map; and this sense agrees perfectly with the occasion. "The men departed, and went over the land, surveyed it, and delineated it, to the very cities, in seven divisions, on a sepher, book, letter, MAP." This explains the order given by Joshua, verse 4. "describe it according to the inheritance;" which we know was the annual custom in Egypt, after the waters of the Nile had subsided; when each cultivator took his land, as allotted to him by measurement. The antiquity of maps being thus established at the days of Joshua, we may extend our inquiries somewhat further back. That Abraham dwelt in Egypt we know; that he taught to the Egyptians mathematical sciences, as arithmetic, astronomy, and geometry, is asserted by Josephus, Antiq. lib. i. cap. 18. Without affirming that he taught them, we content ourselves with concluding that he knew them. No doubt, he was instructed in them by Shem; and if so, it will follow, that both Abraham and Shem might have delineations, i.e. maps of the countries through which they travelled; and moreover, this might be one mean of ascertaining the division of the earth among the sons of men; and of determining the Land of Promise to Abraham and his posterity, which was a well known fact, Gen. xii. 1; xvii. 18; Josh. ii. 9. The inference of the cultivation of arts and sciences, in the early periods of time, has great influence on many particulars only hinted at, in various parts of Scripture. By what means geographical delineations were made, we do not know; but we have now reason to think, that most of the arts which are known to us were not unknown to the early ages; and this art of delineation, in conjunction with that of writing, is necessary to be admitted, in order to form a just estimate of the advantages and privileges, the means of knowledge and of grace, imparted to those whose history we peruse for edification and example. Vide on the Babylonian bricks, Gen. xi. For a conjectural suggestion on the still deeper antiquity of maps, vide on Gen. xli. 5. JUDGES. CHAPTER V. VERSE 20. THE stars in their courses fought against Sisera. We have elsewhere supposed, that the river Kishon, being swollen by a heavy rain, which had fallen during the night, a frequent occurrence as we learn from Maundrell, might prove fatal to many of the soldiers of Sisera; besides this, if, after the clouds were dispersed, the sky became clear again, and a bright starlight night followed, which we often see in our own country; then the light of these stars might embolden the fugitives to attempt fording the stream; but the rapidity of the current soon demonstrated the fatal consequences of their imprudence; or, the twinkling of the stars might induce these Syrians to attempt crossing the river at improper places, which proved destructive to many. Both these suppositions might be true; and in either, or in both of these senses, the stars might fight against Sisera, by contributing to mislead, and so to destroy his army. To recur to any notions of judicial astrology on this text, is to do it unnecessary violence. Josephus, Antiq. lib. v. cap. 5. supposes a tempest, which beat full in the faces of the enemy; and consequently was at the backs of the Hebrews. This is very reconcileable with our notion hinted above. The word rendered courses, is an astronomic term, which Le Clerc renders orbits: this is not amiss; but taking courses in an astronomical sense, it is quite as proper and expressive. CHAPTER VI. VERSE 19, &c. After having witnessed the miracle of fire issuing from a rock, merely on its being struck with the end of a walking stick, Gideon must, no doubt, have been well satisfied in his own mind, that he was commissioned by an authority, and directed by a power, that would not desert him. I think it probable, therefore, that the miracle of the dew on the fleece, was a kind of public testimony, to satisfy his officers, who, we find, in the preceding verse, were come up to meet him, from Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali. Thus understood, we see the reason of its repetition with an opposite variation; for, if there were any of his adberents who suspected deception in the first instance, when the threshing floor was dry, and the fleece was ringing wet with dew, they might be convinced by the contrary effect, when the fleece was dry, and the threshing floor was wetted with dew. The terms of this history are very express for the fact narrated. The word as sephel, rendered bowl, "a bowl full of water," occurs also, chap. v. 25. Jael brought to Sisera "butter;" it should be thick cream; "in a sephel adirim," a capacious bowl; literally, a bowl of capacities, a bowl of containings, plural; i. e adapted to contain a great quantity. For this sense of Adir, vide FRAGMENT, No. 145. In the Mishnah, Bava Bathra, cap. 4. this word denotes a wash-hand basin; LXX, λexαvv. According to Atheneus, “a brazen vase like a kettle, with a handle on ach side," a porridge pot. And the consideration hat the food offered to Sisera was fluid like cream, ot solid like our butter, leads rather to the renderng of bowl than dish. We infer, that this sephel was no diminutive vessel, which Gideon filled with he expressed dew, but a bowl of considerable diensions. So also, we read of the counterpart mirale, that the dew was upon the whole earth. To unerstand properly the nature of these miracles we hould consider the open area, and extent of threshfloors in the East, their exposure, size, &c. for hich, see FRAGMENT, No. 48, with the Plate. We have no need to enlarge on the nature of dew; to observe that it falls in still, quiet weather; that it is easily dissipated, or directed by wind, &c. The reader will observe for himself, that whatever objections might be started against one of these miracles, they are obviated by the other. CHAPTER VIII. VERSE 16. And Gideon took the elders of the city, and THORNS of the wilderness, and BRIERS, and with them he taught the men of Succoth. These thorns of the wilderness, are the kutj of Gen. iii. 18. but the briers are denoted by a word different from that there used, barkanim. 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 LXX preserve 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 barkanim was 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 Hasselquist, whose name and properties somewhat resemble those which are required in the barkanim of this passage. "Nabca paliurus Athenei, Alpin. Egypt. 16, 19. the nabka of the Arabs. There is every appearance 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 supple and pliant, and its leaf of a deep green like that of the ivy. Perhaps the enemies of Jesus Christ chose this plant, in order to add insult to punishment, by employing a plant approaching in appearance, that which was used to crown emperors and generals." I am not sure whether somewhat of the same ideas did not 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, i.e. to beat them severely; yet in verse 16. it is said he taught, made to know, perhaps, made to be known by wearing them, as at once insult and punishment. The change of words deserves notice: 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, of the Arabs might be the na-barkan of this passage, the idea of its employment is remarkably coincident in the two instances. [Query, Was the wearing of this plant as a punishment, indicative of treason, or rebellion? was it therefore worn by the men of Succoth, and by the supposed King of the Jews? John xix. 2.] |