he had seen a merchant who had made the voyage from Gades to Ethiopia. The Portuguese under Vasco de Gama, near three hundred years ago, recovered this navigation, after it had been intermitted and lost for many centuries. 18.-shall disappear] The ancient versions, and an ancient MS, read, plural. 19-21. into caverns of rocks-] The country of Judea, being mountainous and rocky is full of caverns; as it appears from the history of David's persecution under Saul. At Engedi, in particular, there was a cave so large, that David with six hundred men hid themselves in the sides of it; and Saul entered the mouth of the cave without perceiving that any one was there: 1 Sam. xxiv. Josephus (Antiq. lib. xiv. cap. 15.; and Bell. Jud. lib. i. cap. 16.) tells us of a numerous gang of banditti, who, having infested the country, and being pursued by Herod with his army, retired into certain caverns, almost inaccessible, near Arbela in Galilee, where they were with great difficulty subdued. Some of these were natural, others artificial. "Beyond Damascus," says Strabo, lib. xvi., "are two mountains called Trachones; [from which the country has the name of Trachonitis;] and from hence, towards Arabia and Iturea, are certain rugged mountains, in which there are deep caverns; one of which will hold four thousand men." Tavernier (Voyage de Perse, Part II. chap. 4.) speaks of a grot, between Aleppo and Bir, that would hold near three thousand horse. "Three hours distant from Sidon, about a mile from the sea, there runs along a high rocky mountain ; in the sides of which are hewn a multitude of grots, all very little differing from each other. They have entrances about two feet square: on the inside, you find in most or all of them a room of about four yards square. There are of these subterraneous caverns two hundred in number. may, with probability at least, be concluded that these places. were contrived for the use of the living, and not of the dead. Strabo describes the habitations of the Troglodyte to have been somewhat of this kind:" Maundrell, p. 118. The Horites, who dwelt in Mount Seir, were Troglodytes, as their name D imports. But those mentioned by Strabo were on each side of the Arabian Gulf. Mohammed (Koran, chap. xv. and xxvi.) speaks of a tribe Arabians, the tribe of Thamud, "who hewed houses out of the mountains, It to secure themselves." Thus, "because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains and caves, and strongholds;" Judges vi. 2. To these they betook themselves for refuge in times of distress and hostile invasion: "When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait, (for the people were distressed); then the people did hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits;" 1 Sam. xiii. 6. and see Jer. xli. 9. Therefore, "to enter into the rock; to go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth," was to them a very proper and familiar image to express terror and consternation. The Prophet Hosea hath carried the same image further, and added great strength and spirit to it: Chap. x. 8. "They shall say to the mountains, Cover us; And to the hills, Fall on us.' Which image, together with those of Isaiah, is adopted by the sublime author of the Revelation, (chap. vi. 15, 16.), who frequently borrows his imagery from our Prophet. 20.-which they have made to worship-] The word ", for himself, is omitted by an ancient MS, and is unnecessary. It does not appear that any copy of LXX has it, except MS Pachom. and MS 1. D. II.; and they have Sauros D, plural. Ibid.-to the moles-] They shall carry their idols with them into the dark caverns, old ruins, or desolate places, to which they shall flee for refuge and so shall give them up and relinquish them to the filthy animals that frequent such places, and have taken possession of them as their proper habitation. Bellonius, Greaves, P. Lucas, and many other travellers, speak of bats of an enormous size as inhabiting the great pyramid. See Harmer, Observ. vol. ii. 455. Three MSS express л, the moles, as one word. CHAPTER III. I. Every stay and support.-] Heb. "the support masculine, and the support feminine;" that is, every kind of support, whether great or small, strong or weak: "Al kanitz, wal-kanitzah; the wild beast, male and female: proverbially applied both to fishing and hunting; i. e. I seized the prey, great or little, good or bad. From hence, as Schultens observes, is explained Isa. iii. 1. literally the male and female stay; i. e. the strong and weak, the great and small." Chappelow, note on Hariri, Assembly I. Compare Eccles. ii. 8. The two following verses, 2, 3. are very clearly explained by the sacred historian's account of the event, the captivity of Jehoiachin by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon: "And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths; none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land:" 2 Kings xxiv. 14. 4. I will make boys their princes-] This also was fully accomplished in the succession of weak and wicked princes, from the death of Josiah to the destruction of the city and temple, and the taking of Zedekiah, the last of them, by Nebuchadnezzar. 6. —of his father's house.] For , the ancient interpreters seem to have read '92 : του οικείου του πατρος αυτου ; LXX: domesticum patris sui; Vulg. which gives no good sense. (But LXX, MS 1. D. II. for one, has oxov.) And, his brother, of his father's house, is little better than a tautology. The case seems to require, that the man should apply to a person of some sort of rank and eminence; one that was the head of his father's house (see Josh. xxii. 14.); whether of the house of him who applies to him, or of any other; " ' . I cannot help suspecting, therefore, that the word UN has been lost out of the text. .ראש בית אביו Ibid.-saying-] Before now, garment, two MSS (one ancient), and the Babylonish Talmud, have the word; and so LXX, Vulg. Syr. Chald. I place it, with Houbigant, after now. Ibid -take by the garment.] That is, shall entreat him in an humble and supplicating manner. "Ten men shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew; saying, Let us go with you; for we have heard that God is with you:" Zech. viii. 23. And so in Isaiah, chap. iv. 1. the same gesture is used to express earnest and humble entreaty. The behaviour of Saul towards Samuel was of the same kind, when he laid hold on the skirt of his raiment; 1 Sam. xv. 27. The preceding and following verses shew, that his whole deportment, in regard to the prophet, was full of submission and humility. Ibid. And let thy hand support] Before Ta MS. adds ; another MS. adds in the same place p 772, which latter seems to be a various reading of the two preceding words, making a very good sense; "take into thy hand our ruinous state." Twenty-one MSS., and three editions, and the Babylonish Talmud, have TT, plural. 7. Then shall he openly declare-] The LXX. Syr, and Jerom. read ", adding the conjunction: which seems necessary in this place. Ibid. For in my house is neither bread nor raiment.] "It is customary through all the East," says Sir J. Chardin, "to gather together an immense quantity of furniture and clothes; for their fashions never alter." Princes and great men are obliged to have a great stock of such things in readiness for presents, upon all occasions. "The kings of Persia," says the same author, "have great wardrobes, where there are always many hundreds of habits ready, designed for presents and sorted.” Harmer, Observ. ii. 11. and 88. A great quantity of provision for the table was equally necessary. The daily provision for Solomon's household, whose attendants were exceedingly numerous, was proportionably great: 1 Kings iv. 22, 23. Even Nehemiah, in his strait circumstances, had a large supply daily for his table; at which were received an hundred and fifty of the Jews and rulers, beside those that came from among the neighbouring heathens: Neh. v. 16, 18. This explains the meaning of the excuse made by him that is desired to undertake the government: he alleges, that he has not wherewithal to support the dignity of the station, by such acts of liberality and hospitality as the law of custom required of persons of superior rank. See Harmer's Observations, i. 340. ii. 8. 8.-the cloud] This word appears to be of very doubtful form, from the printed editions, the MSS., and the ancient versions. The first jod in, which is necessary according to the common interpretation, is in many of them omitted: the two last letters are upon a rasure in two MSS. I think it should be , as the Syriac reads; and that the allusion is to the cloud in which the glory of the Lord appeared above the tabernacle. See Exod. xvi. 9, 10. xl. 31-38. Numb. xvi. 41, 42. 10. Pronounce ye-] The reading of this verse is very אמרו,or both ; נאסר read אמרו dubious. The LXX for Andalusv Tov dization, bei duogorog uly - כי לא מוב לגו and ;נאסר EOTI. Perhaps, for 1728, the true reading may be 172N, bless ye: or DN, say ye, blessed is. Vulg. and an ancient MS. read, in the singular number, ", comedet. 12. Pervert] w, swallow. Among many unsatisfactory methods of accounting for the unusual meaning of this word in this place, I choose Jarchi's explication, as making the best sense. "Read 1, confound. Syr." Dr JUBB. "Read 1, disturb, or trouble." SECKER. So LXX. 13. his people] y, LXX. 14. my vineyard], LXX, Chald. Jerom. 15. And grind the faces] The expression and the image is strong, to denote grievous oppression, but is exceeded by the prophet Micah: Hear, I pray you, ye chiefs of Jacob; And their bones they dash in pieces; And chop them asunder, as morsels for the pot; And as flesh thrown into the midst of the cauldron." Micah iii. 1-3. In the last line but one, for N, read, by the transposition of a letter, ND, with the LXX, and Chald. 16. And falsely setting off their eyes with paint] Heb. falsifying their eyes. I take this to be the true meaning and literal rendering of the word; from p. The Masoretes have pointed it, as if it were from pv, a different word. This arose, as I imagine, from their supposing that the word was the same with PD, Chald. intueri, innuere oculis; or that it had an affinity with the noun p', which the Chaldeans, or the Rabbins at least, use for stibium, the mineral which was commonly used in colouring the eyes. See Jarchi's comment on the place. Though the colouring of the eyes with stibium be not particularly here expressed, yet I suppose it to be implied: and so the Chaldee paraphrase explains it; "stibio linitis oculis." This fashion seems to have prevailed very generally among the eastern people in ancient times; and they retain the very same to this day. |