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"Arise, and take up thy couch," that is, thy mattress,

THI

the quilt spread under thee, "and go unto thine house," Luke v. 19, 24; Mark ii. 4, 11.

The place of honour on the duan, is the corner; which will explain that passage in the prophecies of Amos, which runs thus: "Thus saith the Lord; As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear; so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed, and in Damascus in a couch," Amos iii. 12. The " corner of a bed," therefore, means the place of honour; the most easy, voluptuous, indulging station of the duan.

In the book of Esther, i. 6, we read of beds made of "gold and silver," which may receive illustration from modern Asiatic furniture. Forbes, in his "Oriental Memoirs," says: "The divan, or hall of audience, as also the room for receiving guests in private houses, is generally covered with a Persian carpet;

round which are placed cushions of different shape and size, in cases of gold and silver kincob, or of scarlet cloth embroidered; these are occasionally moved into the courts and gardens, and placed under the shahmyanah for the accommodation of company." The bed decked with "tapestry" coverings, and with "carved works," mentioned in the book of Proverbs, vii. 16, may also receive illustration from the pen of the traveller. Du Tott, describing one to which he was conducted to repose upon, says, "Fifteen mattresses of quilted cotton, about three inches thick, placed one upon another, formed the ground work, and were covered by a sheet of Indian linen, sewed on the last mattress. A coverlet of green satin, adorned with gold embroidery, in embossed work, was in like manner fastened to the sheets, the ends of which, turned in, were sewed down alternately. Two large pillows of crimson satin, covered with the like embroidery, in which there was no want of gold or spangles, rested on two cushions of the sofa, brought near to serve for a back, and intended to support our heads. The taking of the pillows entirely away would have been a good resource, if we had had any bolster; and the expedient of turning the other side upwards having only served to show they were embroidered in the same manner on the bottom, we at last determined to lay our handkerchiefs over them, which, however, did not prevent our being very sensible of the embossed ornaments underneath." This extract may also serve to show

the degree of luxury to which the Hebrews had arrived in the time of the prophet Amos, who describes them as reposing on "beds of ivory," and stretching themselves upon their couches, Amos vi. 4.

There is only one passage in which the bed is introduced figuratively to which we would allude, and that is very emphatic and interesting. The prophet Isaiah, in describing the blessedness of the righteous in death, speaks of the grave in which they repose as a bed. "He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness," Isa. lvii. 2. Yes, to the righteous the grave is a bed, in which he sweetly reposes, alike free from care and pain, from sin and sorrow.

There is a calm for those who weep,
A rest for weary pilgrims found;
And while the mouldering ashes sleep

The soul, of origin Divine,

Low in the ground;

God's glorious image, freed from clay,
In heaven's eternal sphere shall shine,

A star of day.

MONTGOMERY.

BEDSTEAD, OG'S.

Although the many passages of Scripture in which the "bed' occurs refer to the duan, there is one in which "bedstead" is mentioned, that appears to point out that article. This occurs in the book of Deuteronomy, where Og, the king of Bashan, is said to have possessed a "bedstead of iron," nine cubits long, and four cubits broad, Deut. iii. 11. It is true,

various commentators have respectively contended that the Hebrew eres was not a bedstead, but a coffin, or a cradle, or a duan; but others have concluded, and the text seems to convey the idea, that it was a bedstead. Some of the early commentators stumbled at the term," iron bedstead;" but that that metal, as well as other metals, was employed for such a purpose, we have the testimony of profane, as well as sacred history. We have seen that the Persians had beds of gold and silver, Esth. i. 6. This appears to have been a privilege of royalty in that country. Alexander found the coffin of Cyrus deposited on a golden bedstead; and when the Parthians ruled Persia, in later times, golden bedsteads were used by royalty. Beds of silver and gold are also mentioned by Herodotus and Diodorus Šiculus, who found them in the temple; and beds of brass and iron were discovered by the Thebans, when they took Platæ. The Romans, moreover, brought from Asia beds of brass and gold; and we have iron bedsteads among ourselves, which many prefer to wood.

But the reader must not understand that an oriental bedstead resembles any of the various kinds which we use. Their bedsteads consist of a platform raised on posts and beams, two or three feet above the ground; and the platform for supporting the bedding is not of sacking, but of wood, or of whatever material the other parts of the bedstead is made. It is boarded up at the sides, head, and foot, to retain the bedding, as in a trough. Sometimes the strong leaf

stems of the palm-tree are applied to the purpose of making bedsteads, in the East; but, for the most part, they are made of wood. They are not longer, in proportion to the human figure, than those with which we are acquainted.

Of the length of Og's bedstead, it has been observed, that, "the cubit of a man,' ," which is mentioned in the text, "means the popular measure, being the length of the arm from the top of the middle finger to the elbow, or about eighteen inches. Og's bedstead was, therefore, thirteen feet, six inches long, and six feet broad; or, if we take, with some, the larger measurement of the cubit, fifteen feet and a half long, by six feet, ten inches broad. Therefore, taking Maimonides' reckoning, that a bed is usually a third part longer than a man, Og would be six cubits high, that is, either nine feet high, or, at most, ten feet and a half. The allowance of six cubits, or thereabouts, is very probable; for the height of Goliath was six cubits and a span, and he also was of the race of the old giants of Palestine. We thus see that the sacred books, in their highest statements concerning gigantic statures, speak with a moderation of which there is no example in the most ancient books of any nation, and particularly of no oriental nation." This latter truth is particularly applicable to the uninspired books of the Hebrews. Thus, for instance, some of the rabbins, with their usual tendency to marvel, tell us that Og's bedstead was but a cradle, in which he was nursed; and that his full-grown

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