The tabernacles were broken up, and only_Helon's Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Volume 2 (of 2) A picture of Judaism, in the century which preceded the advent of our Savior.

and fillets testified that they had been. The pilgrims were preparing

for their departure, and exchanging their farewell salutations. Many

took leave of Jerusalem never to behold it again. The autumn wind blew

chill, and where a solitary tabernacle still remained as a monument of

the festival, its green was changed to an autumnal yellow. The circle of

the Jewish feasts was closed, the half year of harvest was at an end,

and the dark and rainy season of winter was fast approaching, when no

pilgrim’s song was heard on the roads to Jerusalem; a winter which to

many would prove the winter of death.

The companies of travellers arranged themselves for their departure.

Selumiel and his family, with Myron and Iddo, took the road by Bethany

to Jericho. As they passed through the hollow between the southernmost

and the middle summit of the mount of Olives, Helon thought of the tears

which he had shed on that spot at Pentecost, when he exclaimed, “The

path of obedience is difficult.” Now returning a happy husband, with the

peace of God in his heart, he was inclined to say, “Easy is the path of

obedience to him who walks in it with faith.” They halted at noon at the

Oasis, beneath the palms, and arrived late in the evening at Jericho. On

the following day the Galileans crossed the Jordan on their return home.

Helon, Sulamith, and Myron began to make preparations for their

departure to Alexandria, from which they were to fetch the mother of

Helon. When they were about to begin their journey symptoms of the

plague showed themselves at Jericho. This is the most terrific of all

diseases, as rapid in its operation as the leprosy is slow, and

producing an equally miserable death. Those who are seized with it are

suddenly attacked by pains in the head and loins; the speech becomes

inarticulate, and not unfrequently is lost altogether, as well as the

sense of hearing. The eyes become dull and heavy; lethargy succeeds, the

strength is prostrated, fever, delirium, and melancholy seize the

sufferer, and he commonly dies on the third day, unless a plague-boil

preserves him for a miserable existence. If the disease spreads, all

intercourse is at an end. The streets, the fountains, and the houses are

heaped with dead; infected persons are abandoned by their nearest

relatives; and despair and licentiousness walk hand in hand. The people

call the plague the arrows of God.

As the plague commonly rages most destructively on its first breaking

out, Selumiel considered this circumstance as a divine warning to

withdraw from Jericho with his whole family, and go into Egypt.

Preparations were speedily made, friends and household were commended to

Jehovah, and the city of palms abandoned as if a curse were upon it.

They hastened by Bethel, Gibeon, and Lydda, to Joppa, where Helon’s host

was requested to procure for them, as speedily as possible, an

opportunity of sailing to Alexandria in a Phœnician ship.

Helon looked from the heights of Joppa to the hills of Judah, and

blessed the beloved land which had been to him not only a land of

promise but a land of fulfilment. The image of his pious mother, all

whose expectations he was about to accomplish and surpass, her joy at

seeing him again, and the prospect of returning to the land of her

fathers and visiting the grave of her husband, her blessing bestowed on

him and Sulamith—all these things occupied his mind with delightful

anticipations.

His host seemed uneasy. Helon supposed he might apprehend that they had

brought infection with them, and might communicate it, and he hastened

to set him at ease on this point. His host shook his head in answer to

Helon’s assurances, and looked sorrowfully at him. At length he said,

“It is not to myself but thee that my grief relates. Collect all thy

firmness; in vain dost thou go to Alexandria to bring back thy mother.

She is dead! The tidings of the death of Elisama and the rumour of thy

wife’s unfaithfulness reached her together, and her heart broke with its

double weight of sorrow.”

Sulamith uttered a piercing shriek, and Myron wept in grief and shame.

Helon felt what an affectionate child feels when bereaved of a mother,

but he knew that the hand of Jehovah guided him; that the Lord woundeth,

but also healeth; that his ways are not our ways, nor his thoughts our

thoughts. “Comfort me, O Jehovah,” he exclaimed, his eyes raised to

heaven, “comfort me as one is comforted by his mother!” Then seating

himself in a corner he gave vent to those tears which soften the anguish

of the heart to a tender sorrow.

It was determined, notwithstanding this intelligence, that they should

continue their voyage to Alexandria, where Helon’s presence was

necessary. Selumiel with his wife, his son, his daughter-in-law, and his

grandson, Helon, Sulamith, Sallu, and Myron, embarked on board a

Phœnician vessel. They ran swiftly along the coast, and Jamnia,

Ashdod, Ascalon, Gaza, and Raphia were soon left behind. The mind of

Helon was as clear and calm as the mirror in which the sea reflected the

bright blue heavens. His grief for the death of his mother had only

increased his trust in the Divine compassion, which had bestowed on him

that perfect peace of mind, which neither in death nor life sees any

thing to fear. One morning they were watching the broad red dawn

announcing the approach of day. All were in an unusual frame of mind.

Helon, full of tranquil joy, was relating to his friends, as they sat

around him on the deck, the course of Divine Providence with respect to

him in the year that was just completed, and how it had conducted him to

that true peace which he had sought in vain before: “I could call upon

the whole world,

Praise Jehovah, all the world,

Serve Jehovah with joy!

Come into his presence with rejoicing,

Confess that Jehovah is God.

He has made us and we are his,

His people and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,

His courts with songs of praise.

Bless him, praise his name!

For Jehovah is good, his mercy is everlasting,

And his faithfulness from generation to generation.—Ps. c.

“And through all the vicissitudes of my life, in calamity and in death,

these words shall be my comfort, which the last of the prophets spoke,

when the oracle of prophecy was about to be closed in silence:

The Lord whom ye seek will come speedily to his temple,

And the Angel of the Covenant whom ye desire,

Behold he cometh, saith Jehovah of Hosts.”[172]

-----

Footnote 172:

Mal. iii. 1.

-----

While he thus spoke, delightful anticipations of futurity seemed to take

possession of his soul. All who sat around him were silent; for the

power of his faith seemed to communicate itself, by an indescribable

operation, to their minds. All at once, confused voices exclaimed

throughout the ship, A storm, a storm! The heavens grew black with

clouds, the tempest rose, and the waves beat on every side of the ship.

They endeavoured to avoid the shore, which was rocky and produced

breakers which threatened every moment to overwhelm the vessel. The

Phœnician mariners called on their gods, the children of Israel

prayed to Jehovah. Helon stood in the midst of threatening waves and

terrified men, tranquil and full of confidence. At once the ship

received a violent shock, and sprung a leak. Their efforts were in vain.

Sulamith flew to Helon’s arms, and each repeated to the other passages

from the Psalms. All hope of safety was at an end, and sounds of terror

and lamentation were heard on every side. Suddenly, the ship struck

violently upon a rock and went to pieces. The crew sunk, and no one

could bid another farewell. Helon supported himself for a short time

upon a plank, and looking round saw Sulamith and her father sink. Alone,

and scarcely conscious, he struggled for a few moments with the stormy

waves. One of tremendous height came rolling onward; Helon exclaimed

amidst the uproar of the elements,

“The Angel of the Covenant—

Behold he cometh, saith Jehovah of Hosts,”

and was buried in the waters.

After an hour the storm had ceased. And the storms of this world, too,

had ceased for those who had found death in the waves, and life in the

bosom of their God.

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

[Illustration]

BOOK III.

Page 7.—_The staircase from the roof to the outer court._] See Bishop

Pearce on Mark ii. 4. Matt. xxiv. 17. Shaw’s Travels, p. 210, 214. The

bishop supposes the staircase to have gone immediately into the street,

but Shaw says that he never observed an instance of this.

Page 11.—_The termination of the Kedron._] The author means by this

expression the point where the Kedron, after skirting Jerusalem on the

east, turns off towards the Dead Sea. See what was said in the note on

p. 244, vol. i. of the locality of Siloah, and its identity with Gihon.

The valley of the Son of Hinnom, in which Tophet was a high place, (2

Kings xxiii. 10. Jer. vii. 31.) appears to have been on the _southern_

side of Zion and without the city. If it had been, as some suppose, the

same with the Tyropœon, which separated Acra from Zion, it would have

been within the city, which is incredible, considering its pollution.

What the author afterwards (p. 12) calls the valley of Siloah, appears

to be the western end of the Tyropœon, at the eastern end of which

was the fountain Siloah.

Page 14.—_Sepulchres of the kings._] See in Maundrell, p. 76, the

description of their still magnificent remains. “For what reason they go

by this name is hard to resolve, since it is certain that none of the

kings of Israel or Judah were buried here, unless it may be thought

perhaps that Hezekiah was buried here, and that these were the

sepulchres of the sons of David. 2 Chron. xxxii. 33.”

Page 15.—_Golgotha._] This spot, called also Calvary, according to the

common opinion of travellers, is included within the present city of

Jerusalem. See the plan in Shaw’s Travels, p. 277.

Page 16.—_Castle of Baris._] Baris בירה is an appelative, signifying a

tower, (Joseph. Ant. x. 11.) used as a proper name of the castle which

John Hyrcanus built, (Jos. Ant. xviii. 6.) as the royal residence. It

was afterwards enlarged by Herod and called Antonia. (Jos. Ant. xv. 14.)

In the text, “north-east corner of the temple” has been inadvertently

substituted for north-west, which was its real position.

Page 19.—_The crowing of the cock._] It has been asserted, on the

authority of the Rabbins, (see Lightfoot on Matt. xxvi. 34.) that no

cocks were kept in Jerusalem; but this appears to have been a later and

groundless tradition, (Kuinoel. Matt. xxvi. 74.) to exalt the purity of

the Holy City. For the same reason they said that no gardens were

allowed within the walls, Lightfoot, Matt. xxvi. 36.

Page 19.—_Confines of Judah and Benjamin._] See Reland, 840. It is

sometimes spoken of in Scripture as included in the territory of

Benjamin; Judges i. 21. Sometimes of Judah; Josh. xv. 63. The Rabbins

say that the boundary line passed through the temple. Josephus (Ant. v.

1. 22.) reckons it to belong to Benjamin.

Page 20.—_A beautiful plain._] “Jerusalem is surrounded by precipices on

the south-east, east, and west, having only a small level towards the

south, and a larger one to the north, which forms the summit of the

mountain over which is the road to Jaffa.” Travels of Ali Bey, ii. 240.

Page 21.—_Absalom’s pillar._] A monument, in part of the valley of

Jehoshaphat, which passes by the name of the pillar of Absalom, is

represented by Pococke, vol. ii. p. 22. It is cut out of the rock, and

the front is adorned with Ionic columns. It is probably a sepulchre of

much later origin.

Page 23.—_Modes of threshing._] See Russell’s Aleppo, i. p. 76. Lowth on

Isaiah, xxviii. 27, 28. Fragments to Calmet, No. xlviii.

Page 25.—_Anathoth._] “Civitas sortis Benjamin, sacerdotibus separata,

in tertio ab Ælia milliario: de qua Hieremias propheta.” Hieronymus in

locis.

Page 28.—_Elisama had neither kindred nor even acquaintance in

Anathoth._] The author appears to have forgotten what he had said, vol.

i. p. 16.

Page 28.—_Emmaus._] This is not the Emmaus mentioned Luke xxiv. 13., but

a town afterwards called Nicopolis. See Reland, 146. The Emmaus of the

gospel history was a village, and nearer to Jerusalem. Rama, too, must

not be confounded with the town of this name now called Ramla, about

three leagues from Joppa, on the road to Jerusalem. Pococke, ii. 4. The

ruins of Modin are said to be still visible on the top of a high

mountain to the south of the road from Joppa to Jerusalem, (Richardson,

ii. 26.) but I am not aware that any modern traveller has explored them.

Page 31.—_Lydda._] It is still known by the name of Loudd. It lies about

a league east-north-east of Rama, and in the same fertile plain. Poc.

ii. 4.

Page 31.—_Ono._] See Lightfoot’s Works, ii. 320. Reland, Cat. sub. voce.

It was three miles from Lydda. 1 Chron. viii. 12. From a passage quoted

by Lightfoot it appears to have abounded in figs. Sharon was a

continuation of the great plain of Sephela mentioned before. The whole

coast of Palestine, from Carmel to the limits of Egypt, is level. “Pro

campestribus in Hebræo _Saron_ ponitur. Omnis regio circa Lyddam,

Joppen, et Jamniam apta est pascendis gregibus.” Hieronym. ad Jes. lxv.

1 Chron. xxvii. 29. Reland, 370.

Page 32.—_The servants were treated as the chief persons._] The genius

of the Mosaic law was considerate of the comfort of servants, who were

to join in the festive meal made upon the unsacrificed portions of the

free-will-offerings, Deut. xii. 18. and in the feast of Pentecost, Deut.

xvi. 11. But I am not aware of any direct authority for representing it

as a Jewish custom to make a feast for the servants, in which they were

treated as the chief persons. Yet it is not probable that our Lord (Luke

xii. 37.) would have represented the master as girding himself and

waiting on the servants whom he wished to reward for their fidelity, if

such a thing were wholly unknown. Bishop Pearce, in his note on this

passage, explains it of the custom of the bridegroom’s waiting on the

company as a servant, which he says was common not very long since in

our own country. It would still remain to be explained how the servants

came to be included in the company on which he waited. The Roman

Saturnalia, however, may show that such an inversion of the customary

relations of life was not altogether foreign to ancient manners.

Page 34.—_Flight of locusts._] Blumenbach’s Nat. Hist. Art. _Gryllus

migratorius_. The epitome of Livy, lib. lx. mentions a pestilence as

breaking out in Africa, about this time, in consequence of the

putrefaction of a vast swarm of locusts. According to other accounts

nearly a million of persons perished. Oros. v. 11. Prid. Conn. An. 125.

Of their devastations, see Shaw, 187. who illustrates almost every

particular in the description of Joel, from his own experience.

Hasselquist, 444. Bryant’s Plagues of Egypt, p. 133-152.

Page 36.—_Joppa._] The author supposes this name to be derived from the

Hebrew יפה _beautiful_. Under the name of Jaffa, this port is celebrated

in the history of the middle ages, and in that of the late war. Josephus

speaks of the badness of the anchorage, (Bell. Jud. iii. 8. 3.) and

modern travellers confirm the account.

Page 37.—_One of the towers of Jerusalem can be discerned._] Ιόππη—ἐν

ὕψει ἱκανῶς, ὤστε ἀφορᾶσθάι φασιν ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα, την τῶν

Ιουδάιων μητρόπολιν. Strabo, lib. xvi. 759. This circumstance is not

confirmed by modern travellers. Pococke, ii. 3. “Joppa stood upon and

under a hill, from whence, as Strabo relates, but impossible to be true,

Jerusalem might be discerned; having an ill haven, defended on the south

and west with eminent rocks, but open to the fury of the north.” Sandys,

p. 118. Yet Josephus relates, (Bell. Jud. v. 4.) and in this he could

hardly be mistaken, that the sea was visible from one of the towers of

Jerusalem.

Page 39.—_Grecian story of Andromeda._] “Est Joppe ante diluvium, ut

ferunt condita: ubi Cephea regnasse eo signo accolæ adfirmant, quod

titulum ejus, fratrisque Phinei veteres quædam aræ cum religione plurima

retinent. Quinetiam rei celebratæ carminibus ac fabulis servatæque a

Perseo Andromedæ clarum vestigium, belluæ marinæ ossa immania

ostendunt.” Pomp. Mela, i. 11.

Page 40.—_A Nazarite._] See Lightfoot on Luke i. 15. 1 Cor. xi. 14.

Jennings’s Jew. Ant. i. 415. Mich. Mos. Law, § 143.

Page 41.—_Maresa._] See Josephus, Ant. xiii. 10. 2. Its capture by Judas

Maccabæus is mentioned, Ant. xii. 7. ad fin. It was at Maresa that Asa

defeated the Ethiopians. 2 Chron. xiv. 10. Jerome and Eusebius place it

at two miles from Eleutheropolis. Cellarius, iii. 13. p. 359.

Page 41.—_Destruction of Samaria._] See Jos. Ant. xiii. 10. 3. Prid.

Conn. An. 109. Antiochus Cyzicenus, who commanded the Egyptian

auxiliaries, had fallen into an ambuscade, and lost many of his men.

Callimander, whom he had left in command, was defeated and killed.

Page 43.—_Gazera._] This place, called also Gezer, or Gadara, (to be

distinguished from Gadara in the Peræa mentioned in the New Test.) is

several times spoken of by Josephus in connection with Joppa. Ant. xiii.

9. Reland, 778, 801. Strabo mentions it in connection with Ascalon and

Ashdod, xvi. p. 759. It was the western boundary of the portion of

Ephraim. The root of the word (גדר) denoting an enclosed place, gave

rise to several names of towns; among others the Phœnician Γάδειρα,

Cadiz.

Page 44.—_The five cities of the Philistines._] Gath, Ekron, Ascalon,

Gaza, and Ashdod, (Azotus.) Jos. Ant. vi. 1.

Page 44.—_Eleutheropolis._] Though scarcely mentioned in the times of

the Old or New Testament, it became afterwards a place of considerable

importance, and the episcopal see of _Palestina prima_. Epiphanius was

born there. Reland, 749.

Page 45.—_Institution of genealogists._] Michaelis supposes that the

שטרים (called _officers_ in our translation, Josh. xxiii. 1, 2.)

mentioned Exod. v. 10. were the genealogists of the Israelites. Mos.

Law, § 51. Of the division into families (משפחות), houses of the fathers

(בתי אבות), and heads of the houses (ראשיבתאבות), see Numb. i. 2. Jos.

vii. 14. 16. 17. Mich. § 46. Lowman, Heb. Gov. chap. v. Thus in the

affair of Achan, first the _tribe_ of Judah is taken, then the _family_

of Zerah, then the _house_ of Zabdi, and lastly the _individual_ Achan.

Josh. vii. 16. The political institutions of the Jews, the right to

landed property, &c. all depended on birth; and the keeping of accurate

genealogies was of the very first necessity. Josephus, c. Ap. i. 7.

describes the means which were taken to preserve the registers and to

repair any mutilations or imperfections which might have been occasioned

by political disturbances.

Page 46.—_Their number was seventy-one._] There were twelve princes and

fifty-eight heads of families. Num. xxvi. The supreme ruler for the time

being, under Jehovah, would naturally preside. Whether the princes and

heads were elective is doubtful. See Lowman, p. 77. The assembly of

Israel at Shechem by Joshua, (xxiv. 1, 2.) is an example of such a

_Diet_ as the text mentions.

Page 48.—_Lachish._] Rehoboam is said (2 Chron. xi. 9.) to have _built_

Lachish, but it is evident from the connection that this means

_fortified_: for he is said to have built Hebron and other cities, which

were in existence long before. So when Solomon is said to have built

Tadmor or Palmyra, the meaning probably is not that he founded, but that

he fortified and garrisoned it. Michaelis, Mos. Law, § 23.

Page 48.—_The grove of terebinths._] In the valley of Elah. 1 Sam. xvii.

2, 3. Dr. Clarke, iv. 421. describes it as being three miles from

Bethlehem, on the road to Jaffa.

Page 56.—_Aduffes._] The _Aduffe_ (a word which through the Spanish and

the Arabic appears to be connected with the Hebrew תף) is formed of a

circle of metal, over which a skin is stretched, and hung with bells at

the circumference. Mich. Mos. Law, § 197, note. Russell’s Aleppo, i.

152. where it is called _Diff_.

Page 56.—_Jewish army._] In the times of the Maccabees the Jews, who had

frequently served in the armies of the Grecian kings, appear to have

adopted the Grecian armour and discipline, as far as they could. But we

have few details of their military system in Josephus or the Apocrypha.

Their triumphs had been celebrated from early times with dance, song,

and sacrifice, and continued to be so under the Maccabees, 1 Macc. xiii.

51. iv. 34. Jos. Ant. xii. 7. 5. Judith xv. xvi. and probably in this

respect, _mutatis mutandis_, they imitated the heathens. So at least our

author presumes.

Page 57.—_Military engines._] The battering ram (כר) (Ezek. xxi. 22.)

and other engines (xxvi. 9.) are said to have been used by the

Babylonians, and the use of them might be learnt by the Jews. Uzziah is

said (2 Chron. xxvi. 14.) to have constructed machines for throwing

darts and stones. Calmet, Mil. des Héb. Diss. i. 237. Under the

Maccabees they appear to have been in common use. 1 Macc. xiii. 43.

Page 59.—_New moon._] Of the annunciation of the new moon and the fraud

of the Samaritans, see Lightfoot, Works, i. 950. “The Bairam,” or feast

which succeeds the fast of Ramadan, “is announced at Aleppo by the

castle guns, as soon as a declaration on oath has been made of the

appearance of the new moon. The person who bears this testimony commonly

comes from one of the villages.” Russell, i. 189.

Page 60.—_Sid or Ijar._] See the note, vol. i. p. 260, respecting the

Jewish calendar.

Page 61.—_Being cut off from the people._] It is probable that in all

cases where this is denounced as the punishment for violations of the

Levitical law, it was supposed that they were committed presumptuously;

and the omission of purification from forgetfulness would not have

entailed the punishment. Mich. Mos. Law, § 249. Comp. 2 Chron. xxx. 18.

“Quidquid de pœnâ excisionis statuendum fuerit, certius nihil est

quam eam nec a Talmudicis nec a Karæis inter humanas aut forenses

pœnas censeri, sed pro divinitus tantum infligencâ accipi.” Selden de

Synedr. p. 95. This is not probable.

Page 62.—_Touching a grave._] According to the law respecting impurities

contracted by this means, (Num. xix. 19.) there should have been a

purification on the third day.

Page 64.—_Share of the priests._] See Deut. xviii. 1-5. Lev. vii. 28-38.

Num. xviii. 8-20.

Page 66.—_Removal of the Nazarite’s vow._] Numb. vi. 13-21. comp. Acts

xxi. 24. Reland, Ant. Heb. 287. Id. 328. of the sacrifices which might

or might not be eaten. Of the court of the Nazarites, Lightfoot, Works,

i. 1092. As these sacrifices were expensive, it appears to have been a

usual act of pious benevolence, to “be at charges” for poorer Nazarites.

So Josephus (Ant. xix. 6.) relates, that Agrippa, on his coming again to

his government, caused many Nazarites to be shaved. If the Apostle

Paul’s vow was really a Nazarite’s, which many doubt, it should seem as

if it sometimes extended only to seven days, the term during which,

according to the original law, he remained unclean by funereal

defilement, while his vow was upon him.

Page 78.—_Gazith._] According to Reland, Ant. Heb. p. 104, half of this

hall was in the court of the priests, half in the Chel. (See vol. i. p.

253.) The reason for this division was, that the court of the priests

was within the precincts of the sanctuary, in which no one was allowed

to _sit_, except kings of the family of David. The Sanhedrim sat

therefore in the part which was not in the court of the priests. See

Maimon. de Æd. Templi, vii. 6. Lightfoot, Works, i. 2005. It is said to

have been built by Simeon Ben Shetach, a little later than the time of

John Hyrcanus.

Page 79.—_The Sanhedrim._] When Moses found the burden of judging the

people too great for him, (Numb. xi. 16.) he appointed seventy men,

elders of the people, to assist him. In the succeeding times of the

judges and kings, the traces of this institution disappear; but after

the captivity a great council (Synedrium) was formed, on the model and

consisting of the same number as this, uniting the political functions

of the diet and the juridical duties of Moses’s judges. Lowman, Heb.

Gov. ch. ix. Mich. Mos. Law, § 50. Seventy was a favourite number, Jos.

B. J. ii. 20. 5.

Page 80.—_Scrutiny of the priests._] Reland, Ant. Heb. 184. Maim. de

Rat. ad. Templi. c. vi.

Page 82.—_Clad in black._] Josephus (Bell. Jud. v. 5. 7.) says, those

who were excluded from the priesthood for bodily defects, wore _common

garments_.

Page 83.—_Sacerdotal robes._] Lightfoot, Works, i. 2049. Of the position

of the vestry, see Reland, 104. The girdle was hollow like a purse: this

is what is meant by being like a serpent’s skin.

Page 85.—_The unction was imputed to him._] “Sacerdotes gregarii semel

modo in solitudine adspersi fuere, uti Judæi tradunt, sic ut vi

unctionis illius vel adspersionis posteri eorum consecrati censerentur.”

Reland, Ant. Heb. 148.

Page 90.—_Behold thou delightest in the truth in secret things._] Such

is the turn which the author gives to the words, which in our version

are rendered, “Behold thou desirest truth in the inward parts; and in

the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.” The whole connection

is unfavourable to this interpretation, for David is evidently praying

for moral purity. “Truth in the reins” is, probably, sincerity in

virtue; and wisdom, in the book of Proverbs, is often used in the same

sense. It may be observed here, once for all, that the author appears to

put into the mouth of the old man of the temple, his own opinions

respecting the typical nature of the ordinances and sacrifices of the

law. Into this much controverted question the translator does not

consider himself called upon to enter. Every reader will judge according

to his own interpretations of the language of Scripture.

Page 99.—_Carrying the shewbread into the sanctuary._] Reland, Ant. Heb.

225. who, however, represents only eight priests as engaged in this

office. So Lightfoot, Works, i. 1082.

Page 100.—_The nightly watch of the priests and Levites._] Maim, de Æd.

Templi, c. viii. Fasc. Hist. et Phil. Sacr. vi. 69. Lightfoot, i. 941.

Page 101.—_Casting lots._] Lightfoot, i. 942. Reland, 198.

Page 102.—_Sloping ascent to the altar._] The altar of burnt-offering

was not to be ascended by steps, (Exod. xx. 26.) but by an inclined

plane. Of the men of the station (אנשי מעמד), see Reland, p. 186. Of the

priests who resided constantly in Jerusalem. Lightfoot, i. 917.

Page 103.—_The sun had risen._] It is commonly supposed that nine in the

morning and three in the afternoon were the hours respectively of

morning and evening sacrifice, as they were the two principal hours of

public prayer. Lewis, Ant. i. 501. Josephus, however, represents the

morning sacrifice as offered, πρωὶ, which, according to the common use

of the word, (Larch. Herod, ii. 173.) must mean in the earliest of the

morning, and this was the time of private morning prayer. Jos. Ant. v.

Page 109.—_The sacerdotal order is the most exalted in the world._] The

priesthood was the Jewish aristocracy. Ὥσπερ δὴ παρ’ ἑκάστοις ἄλλη τίς

ἐστι εὐγεναιας ὑποθεσις, οὕτως παρ’ ἡμῖν ἡ τῆς ἱερωσύνης μετουσία

τεκμηρίον ἡστι γένους λαμπρότητος. Jos. Vit. i.

Page 111.—_Only a sixth part._] “Quælibet sacerdotum curia dividebatur

in familias septem, ex quibus unaquæque unum hebdomadæ diem obibat

altaris munia.” Crenius, Fasc. Hist, et Phil. Sacr. vii. 795.

Page 116.—_Jehovah our righteousness._] “Laudant qui in scriptis

Rabbinorum Messiam Jovam nuncupari contendunt, _Echa R._ ad Thren. i.

16. fol. 59. 2. _Quodnam est nomen regis Messiæ? R. Abba f. Cahana

dixit, Jova est nomen ejus, sec. Jer. xxiii. 6._ יהוה צדקנו (ubi tamen

hoc nomine symbolico Israelitæ insigniuntur et Jer. xxxiii. 15.

Hierosolymæ id ipsum nomen tribuitur) _quod dixit R. Levi, Bonum est

civitati si nomen habet quod rex et regi si nomen habet quod Deus ejus,

sec. Ezech. xlviii. 35._ Etiam Justi qui Dei favore perfruuntur, Dei

nomine insigniuntur, Bava Bathra, fol. 75. 2. _Tria sunt quæ nomine

ipsius Dei veniunt, nimirum Justi, Jes. xliii. 7. Messias, Jer. xxiii.

6. Hierosolyma, Ezec. xlviii. 35._ Quo autem sensu Messias in Rabbinorum

scriptis nuncupetur _Jehovah Zidkenu_ docet R. Albo in Sepher Ikkarim

(v. Schoettgen. Hor. Heb. ii. 200.) _Scriptura nomen Messiæ vocat

Jehovah Zidkenu, quia mediator Dei est, per quem justitiam a Deo

accipiemus._ Kimchi: _Israelitæ vocabunt Messiam hoc nomine Jehovah

Zidkenu, quia temporibus ejus justitia Dei nobis firma et stabilis erit,

quæ nunquam recedet._” Kuinoel ad Joh. i. 1.

Page 125.—_Covert of the sabbath._] See Lightfoot, i. 2028. 2 Kings xvi.

18.

Page 125.—_Distance of Jericho from Jerusalem._] Ἀπέχει δὲ Ἱεροσολύμων

μὲν σταδιόυς ἑκατὸν πέντήκοντα, τοῦ δὲ Ιορδάνου ἐξήκοντα. Jos. Bell.

Jud. iv. 8. The view from the Mount of Olives is described by most

travellers in the Holy Land.

Page 128.—_The Therapeutæ._] Philo, who is the only ancient author who

speaks of the Therapeutæ, says, (de Vit. cont. Op. 892.) that there were

many of them in all parts of Egypt; but that their favourite residence

was a hill near the lake Mareotis. The Therapeutæ were, according to

him, the contemplative Essenes. Op. 889. They were great allegorists;

Ἐντυγχάνοντες τοῖς ιἑρωτάτοις γράμμασι, φιλοσοφοῦσι, την πάτριον

φιλοσοφίαν ἀλληγοροῦντες. They were called Therapeutæ, ἄπο τοῦ

θεραπεύειν τὸ Ὀν, p. 890. The account of the Essenes and the other

Jewish sects, the Pharisees and Sadducees, may be seen in Philo, Op.

876. Joseph. Bell. Jud. ii. 8. Ant. xiii. 5. xviii. 1. or Prideaux,

Conn. An. 107. who has translated great part of what Josephus says.

Page 132.—_A dreary waste._] “After some hours travel you arrive at the

mountainous desert into which our blessed Saviour was led, to be tempted

by the devil. A most miserable, dry, barren place it is, consisting of

high rocky mountains, so torn and disordered as if the earth had here

suffered some great convulsion, in which its very bowels had been turned

outward. On the left hand, looking down in a deep valley as we passed

along, we saw some ruins of small cells and cottages, which they told us

were formerly the habitations of hermits, retiring hither for penance

and mortification. And certainly there could not be found in the whole

earth a more comfortless and abandoned place for that purpose. From the

top of these hills of desolation, however, we had a delightful prospect

of the mountains of Arabia, the Dead Sea, and the plain of Jericho.”

Maundrell, p. 80. The reader will observe with what propriety this

region has been chosen for the scene of the parable of the good

Samaritan. See Buckingham, 292.

Page 134.—_Valour of the Essenes._] Philo (Op. 877.) represents them as

holding war in the utmost abhorrence, and never fabricating any

instrument which could be employed in it. Josephus praises (Bell. Jud.

ii. 8. 10.) the constancy which they displayed in the Roman war, but it

was in enduring torture. He speaks of them, however, as carrying swords

for their defence against thieves; and Philo mentions that the

Therapeutæ united for mutual protection, if their settlements were

attacked. Op. 893.

Page 138.—_Oasis of the Essenes._] It is placed in this neighbourhood on

the authority of Pliny, who represents them as living near the Dead Sea,

on the western side, but at such a distance as to avoid the effects of

the pestilential effluvia. N. H. v. 17.

Page 138.—_The books of doctrine and the names of the angels._]

Συντηρήσειν ὁμοίως τάτε τῆς αἱρέσεως αὐτῶν βιβλία καὶ τὰ τῶν ἀγγέλων

ὀνόματα. Jos. Bell. Jud. ii. 17. Thus rendered by Prideaux, “to preserve

with equal care the books containing the doctrine of their sect, and the

names of the _messengers_ by whose hands they were written and conveyed

to them.”

Page 140.—_Seated themselves at table._] This was the primitive custom

of the Jews, (as of the heroic times of Greece, Athen. lib. i. p. 11.)

See Gen. xxvii. 19. 1 Sam. xx. 5. 24, Amos ii. 8. is the first passage

of Scripture in which the recumbent posture is mentioned.

Page 141.—_No women were to be seen._] “Gens sola, et in toto orbe

præter ceteras mira sine ullâ feminâ, omni venere abdicatâ, sine

pecuniâ, socia palmarum. In diem ex æquo convenarum turbâ renascitur,

large frequentantibus quos vita fessos ad mores eorum fortunæ fluctus

agitat. Ita per seculorum millia, incredibile dictu gens æterna est in

qua nemo nascitur.” Plin. N. H. v. 17.

Page 149.—_The garden of God, the plain of Jericho._] See the

description in Josephus, B. J. iv. 8. Huds. Ὡς οὐκ ἀν ἁμαρτεῖν τινα

ἔιποντα, θεῖον εἶναι τὸ χωρίον, ἐν ᾧ δαψιλῆ τὰ σπανιώτατα καὶ καλλίστα

γεννᾶται. Other particulars respecting the city and the region which

surrounds it may be found in Reland, 829. Most modern travellers to the

Holy Land also describe it. See Maundrell, p. 80. seq. Pococke, ii. 31.

Epiphanius describes Jericho as having a circuit of twenty stadia. It is

generally supposed that the village of Rihhah, about three miles from

the Jordan, marks the site, as it evidently bears the name of Jericho.

But Rihhah has no ruins, such as might have been expected on the site of

so considerable a city. Hence it has been thought that the ancient

Jericho stood nearer the mountains, at a place where many broken shafts

and other traces of buildings are visible, and at the distance of six

miles from the Jordan. Buckingham, 295.

Page 158.—_Chiefly inhabited by priests._] This circumstance serves

still further to illustrate the local propriety of the parable of the

good Samaritan.

Page 161.—_Bethabara._] Βηθαβαρὰ בית עברה denotes a place of passage.

John i. 28. Engeddi was called, from its palms, Hazazon Thamar, 2 Chron.

xx. 2. It was a large village. Pliny, who calls it the second town in

Judæa after Jerusalem, (v. 17.) must have confounded it with Jericho. It

was about three hundred stadia from Jerusalem.

Page 161.—_Balsam shrubs._] Pliny N. H. xii. 25. ii. 672. Hard. “Omnibus

odoribus præfertur balsamum, uni terrarum Judæa concessum, quondam in

duobus tantum hortis utroque regio, altero jugerum xx non amplius,

altero pauciorum. Opes Judæis ex vectigalibus opobalsami crevere, quod

in his tantum regionibus gignitur. Est namque vallis quæ continuis

montibus velut muro quodam ad instar castrorum clauditur. Spatium loci

ducenta jugera nomine Hierichus dicitur. In ea sylva est et ubertate et

amœnitate insignis; palmeto et opobalsamo distinguitur. Arbores

opobalsami formam similem piceis arboribus habent, nisi quod sunt

humiles magis et in vinearum morem excoluntur. Hæ certo anni tempore

balsamum sudant” Justin, xxxvi. 4. The balsam tree appears to be a

native of Arabia Felix, (see Bruce’s Travels, v. 19-24.) and, according

to Josephus, the queen of Sheba brought it into Judæa, Λέγουσι δ’ ὅτι

καὶ τὴν τοῦ ὀποβαλσάμου ῥιζαν, ἥν ἔτι καὶ νῦν ἡμῶν ἡ χώρα φέρει, δόυσης

ταῦτης τῆς γυναικὸς ἔχομεν. Ant. viii. 6. Various ancient authors

describe the shrub. See Dr. T. M. Harris’s Nat. Hist, of the Bible,

published at Boston, N. A. Beneath the desolating sway to which

Palestine is subject, the balsam has disappeared from the plain of

Jericho. Pococke, 32. Volney, Voy. en Syrie, ii. 187. Arabia now

supplies what is imported under the name of Balsam of Mecca.

Hasselquist, 293.

What is _now_ called the rose of Jericho is a species of _thlaspi_,

according to Pococke. Mariti describes it as a small plant, having a

number of stems which diverge from the earth; they are covered with few

leaves but loaded with flowers, which appear red in the bud, but turn

paler as they expand, and at length become white entirely. The flowers,

he says, have a great resemblance to those of the elder, but have no

smell. This can hardly be the plant of which Wisdom says, (Eccles. xxiv.

14.) “I was exalted like a palm-tree in Engaddi, and a rose plant in

Jericho.”

Page 162.—_The Dead Sea._] Of the ancient geographers, Strabo has given

the fullest account of the Dead Sea, but strangely confounding it with

the lake of Sirbonis, (xvi. p. 763. 4.) He particularly mentions the

tradition of the country, that the cities had been destroyed by an

earthquake and an eruption of sulphur and fire. It is not surprising

that where there was so much to astonish, imagination should have

exaggerated even the real wonders of the scene. What is mentioned in the

text is agreeable to the observations of the latest travellers, except

that it does not appear that those dark clouds of smoke rise from the

surface, which the author has described, p. 133. What has given rise to

the account has probably been the exhalations which often hang in a

dense cloud over the stagnant waters. Volney, i. 182. 3. Irby and

Mangles, p. 447. By far the most accurate account of the Dead Sea, is

that which is given by the authors last referred to, in their

unpublished Travels in Syria. Hitherto it had scarcely been explored by

an European traveller on the southern side, and consequently its extent,

in that direction, had been very much overrated. Including what they

call its _back-water_, a shallow bay forming a prolongation of it on the

south, (p. 454) it cannot exceed, they say, thirty miles at the utmost,

though the ancients have assigned to it a length of from seventy-five to

eighty. Nor is it possible that it should anciently have extended much

further than it now does; because at the distance of about eight or ten

miles to the south of the present limit of the backwater, a range of

cliffs completely closes the valley of the Ghor, (p. 454.) This is

therefore the utmost extent that the lake can have had in ancient times.

The saltness and bitterness of the water mentioned in the text does not

arise from a mixture of naphtha and asphaltes, but from the large

quantities of the muriates of magnesia, soda, and lime, which it

contains, amounting to a fourth part of the weight, according to Dr.

Marcet’s analysis. Phil. Trans. 1807, p. 296. Hence the great specific

gravity of the water, which has been exaggerated as if the human body

could not sink in it. Tac. Hist. v. 6.

Page 162.—_Apples of Sodom._] Wisdom x. 7. (where, however, the land is

only described as “bearing fruit that never comes to ripeness.”) Tac.

Hist. v. 7. Jos. Bell. Jud. iv. 8. “_Poma Sodomitica_, are the fruits of

the _Solanum Melongena_, Linnæi; these I found in plenty about Jericho,

in the vales near Jordan, not far from the Dead Sea. It is true they are

sometimes filled with a dust, yet this is not always the case, but only

when the fruit is attacked by an insect (_tenthredo_) which turns all

the inside into dust, leaving the skin only entire, and of a beautiful

colour.” Hasselquist, p. 287.

Page 164.—_Ceremonies of circumcision._] These are described from the

practices of the modern Jews; see Buxtorf. cap. ii. p. 79.

Page 166.—_Every guest found in the fore-court a splendid caftan._]

Comp. Matt. xxii. 11. the parable of the wedding garment; it has been

reasonably concluded that so severe a punishment would not have been

inflicted on the man who was not in a wedding garment, if it had not

been offered to all the guests.

Page 167.—_Mashal._] This name the Hebrews gave to those sententious and

figurative maxims of moral wisdom of which the Proverbs of Solomon are a

specimen. See Lowth, Prel. 24. Samson’s wedding affords an example of

such “wit-trials” as are here described, Judges xiv.

Page 176.—_Reckoning of the days from the Passover._] See Maimonides,

ap. Cren. Fasc. vi. 477.

Page 179.—_The Galileans._] Josephus (Bell. Jud. iii. 3.) describes the

extent and the fertility of Galilee. Lightfoot, Works, vol. ii. p. 78,

has collected from the Rabbins several instances of the false

pronunciation of the Galileans. Wetstein on Matt. xxvi. 73. The contempt

in which they were held by the learned inhabitants of Jerusalem is

sufficiently known from the New Testament.

Page 184.—_Insult offered to Hyrcanus by the Pharisees._] This

circumstance is related by Josephus, (Ant. xiii. 10.) The reason alleged

by the Pharisees, if it were their real motive, was honourable to them.

Οὐ γάρ ἐδοκει λοιδορίας ἕνεκα θανάτῳ ζημιοῦν· ἄλλως τε καὶ φύσει πρὸς,

τὰς κολάσεις ἐπιεικῶς ἔχουσιν οἱ Φαρισαῖοι.

Page 186.—_Azereth._] See Lightfoot, “of the Pentecost, עצרת,” Works,

vol. ii. p. 970. Josephus, Ant. iii. 10. 6. This name is given to other

festivals in Scripture, but never to this, except by the Rabbins. It is

not said in Scripture that the law was given on this day, but it is

inferred by calculation of the time. The Israelites came out of Egypt on

the fifteenth of Nisan, and they reached the foot of Sinai on the new

moon of the third month from their departure, (Exod. xix. 1.) adding the

fifteen remaining days of Nisan to twenty-nine of Siv, the first day of

Sivan would be the forty-fifth from their departure. Five days more

elapsed, (Exod. xix. 3. 7, 8. 11.) before the law was actually given.

Jennings’s Jew. Ant.

Page 195.—_Rama._] This, which signifies _high_, was a name borne by so

many places in Palestine, that it is difficult to discriminate them.

Reland, p. 581, 964, supposes that the Arimathea of the New Testament

was near Lydda. 1 Macc. i. 34.

Page 197.—_Lebona._] Now Leban, on the road from Jerusalem to Naplosa.

Maundrell, p. 63.

Page 199.—_Sichem._] Of its position see Buckingham, p. 63. Reland makes

Sichem or Sichar (John iv. 5.) to be ten miles from Shiloh, and forty

from Jerusalem, p. 1007. The town of Neapolis, called by the inhabitants

Mabortha, (Jos. Bell. iv. 8.) was built so nearly on the site of Sichem,

that it is generally spoken of as the same. The name is retained in the

modern Naplosa or Nablous. Dr. Clarke bears testimony to the romantic

beauty of the situation, (iv. 268.) Maundrell, p. 62, supposes that the

city may have anciently extended nearer to Joseph’s well, as a mile

seems a great distance to come to draw water. Mr. Buckingham, however,

says that there are traces of sepulchres _between_ the well and the

city, which must have been without the walls. Travels, p. 543.

Page 200.—_Moreh._] Like Mamre, it was celebrated for its terebinths,

(Deut. xi. 30.) and the two places have sometimes been confounded

together.

Page 203.—_The Samaritans._] A remnant of this people, escaping the

persecutions of the emperor Justinian, (Gibbon, viii. 323.) has still

continued to inhabit Sichem, and to celebrate their festivals on mount

Gerizim. Basnage, vii. c. 25, 26. Had the despot effected his purpose of

exterminating or converting them, Revelation would have been deprived of

the evidence which their copy of the Pentateuch furnishes of the general

integrity of the Mosaic writings. This invaluable document was first

brought into Europe about 1640 A. D. About forty of them still remain at

Naplosa. Jowett’s Christian Researches, p. 425. No ancient authority

supports the Samaritan reading of Gerizim for Ebal, Deut. xxvii. 4.

Josh. viii. 30. Had the Jews corrupted the reading out of hatred to the

Samaritan worship, they would have made Gerizim the Mount of Cursing,

Deut. xxvii. 12.

Page 204.—_Well may Shechem be called Sychar._] שכר, _Sicar_, signifies

in Hebrew to be intoxicated, and שקר to lye. Isaiah xxviii. 3. The Jews,

even in their most serious compositions, delighted in this play on

words. Isaiah x. 30.

Page 206.—_Samaria._] Dr. Richardson’s Travels (ii. p. 414) contain the

fullest account which any modern traveller has given of the present

state of Samaria. There are still many magnificent remains of the

buildings erected by Herod when he raised it from its ruins and named it

in honour of Augustus, Sebaste. Jos. Ant. xv. 8. 5. The historian

relates its destruction by Hyrcanus, Ant. xiii. 10. 4.

Page 206.—_A tribe of wandering shepherds._] Compare the picture of the

Bedouin Arabs in Volney (Voyage en Syrie, i. 235, 239, 40.) Clarke, vi.

248. and of the Turkmans, Russell, i. 388.

Page 211.—_Route of the Tyrian commerce._] The remains of this paved

road leading towards Tyre are still distinctly visible along the coast.

See Irby and Mangles, Travels, p. 197.

Page 211.—_Megiddo._] Called Μαγδόλος by Herodotus, ii. 159. in his

narrative of the victory of Pharaoh Necho.

Page 211.—_Turris Stratonis._] It is uncertain from, whom this town

received its name. Herod occupied ten years in restoring and beautifying

it, and forming the harbour; and gave it, in honour of Augustus, the

name of Cæsarea. Jos. Ant. xvi. 5. Bell. Jud. i. 21. It was called

Καισάρεια Σεβαστή (Augusta) and ἐπι τῇ θαλασσῇ, to distinguish it from

Cæsarea Philippi or Paneas, near Dan. It was to Cæsarea Augusta that

Paul was sent when his life was threatened by the Jews. Acts xxiii. 23.

From the account of Josephus it should seem as if it had had no harbour

before Herod formed one; for he observes, that the whole coast from Dan

to Joppa was without a harbour. Bell. Jud. i. 21.

Page 213.—_The purple dye._] The manner of making it is fully described

by Pliny, N. H. lib. ix. 60. seq. “Two shell-fish were employed to

furnish it, the _murex_ and the _purpura_; the former gave a dark blue

colour; the latter a brighter tint, approaching to scarlet. The liquor

is contained in a sort of pouch, which occupies the middle part of the

shell; the shells are carefully broken, so as to preserve the part

entire; they are sprinkled with salt, and the mucilage which they form

is put into a leaden caldron and heated; the fleshy particles are

gradually drawn off and the liquor left pure. The purple tint was given

by the mixture of the two juices.” Swinburne’s Travels in Sicily, ii.

64, 65.

Page 213.—_Acco._] It received the name of Ptolemais from one of the

kings of Egypt. In the middle ages, when it became celebrated in the

history of the crusades, it resumed its original name, slightly altered,

and is now called Acre. It lies on the northern side of the promontory

of Carmel. See Maundrell, p. 54.

The Τυρίων κλίμαξ, which, according to Josephus, (Bell. Jud. ii. 10.)

was one hundred stadia north of Ptolemais, appears to have been the

_White Cliff_ in which the chain of Antilibanus terminates, and it

probably derived its name from the road described by Egmont and Heyman,

ii. 232. Maundrell erroneously places it to the north of Berytus, (p.

35.) It is so steep, says Mr. Buckingham, (p. 58) as “in some places to

render _steps_ necessary:” hence the name κλίμαξ.

Page 215.—_Lebanon._] “Præcipuum montium Lebanum erigit, mirum dictu

tantos inter ardores opacum fidumque nivibus.” Tac. Hist. v. 6. לבן

signifies in Hebrew _white_. Libanus and Antilibanus are described by

Strabo, xvi. 755. Reland, lib. i. c. 47. The part of the chain

Antilibanus, which was called Hermon by the Israelites, was called

Sirion by the Sidonians, and Shenir (the Sannir or Sannin of the Arabs)

by the Amorites, Deut. iii. 9. They are sometimes distinguished from

each other (Cant. iv. 8.) as different points of the same mountain

chain. Some geographers have placed another Hermon in Galilee, near

Tabor, (see Reland’s and Pococke’s maps) from Ps. lxxxix. 12. where,

however, Tabor and Hermon seem to be conjoined, as having each witnessed

a signal display of Jehovah’s power. Josh. xi. 17. Judges iv. See

Lightfoot, ii. 369.

Page 215.—_Dan._] Josephus (Ant. v. 3. viii. 8.) speaks of Dan as

situated in the great plain of Sidon, and near Libanus and the source of

the Lesser Jordan. Lightfoot and Reland suppose that the _Lesser_ is the

Jordan before it reaches the lake Samochonitis. This seems not probable.

Page 218.—_Tyre._] In the description of Tyre, v. 6, the islands of

Chittim are Greece, Macedonia, Italy, and its dependent islands, Sicily,

Corsica, Sardinia, &c. Comp. Gen. x. 4. Dan. xi. 30. 1 Mace. i. 1. viii.

5. It is not wonderful that the Jews, knowing chiefly the southern parts

of Greece, Italy, Gaul, and Spain, which are so deeply indented by the

sea, should call them _isles_. Box, of extraordinary size, was produced

in Corsica, Plin. N. H. lib. xvi. 28. The prophet here describes some

extraordinary luxury in the equipment of a Tyrian vessel, not the

ordinary construction of their ships. V. 7. Elisha is Hellas, Greece.

Laconia was celebrated for its purple as well as many of the islands

adjacent to the Peloponnesus:

——nec Laconicas mihi

trahunt honestæ purpuras clientæ.—Hor. Od. ii. 18.

See Bochart Geogr. Sacr. lib. iii. c. 4. It seems singular that Tyre, so

renowned for its own purple, should be represented as buying it from

Greece. Perhaps the fine linen or byssus of Elis, dyed purple, is meant.

Arvad is the Aradus of the ancients, on the coast of Phœnice. V. 9.

Gebal is the Byblos of the Greeks, another seaport of Phœnice, still

called Djebel. V. 11. Who the Gammadæans were is unknown; some consider

the word as meaning _guards_. See Rosenmüller in loc. V. 12. Tarshish is

generally agreed to be Tartessus in the south of Spain, celebrated for

its metallic riches. V. 13. The Tibarenians and Moschians (Tubal and

Meshech) inhabited the southern shores of the Pontus Euxinus.

Cappadocia, of which Tibarenia was a part, furnished many slaves to

other parts of the world; “Mancipiis dives eget æris Cappadocum rex.”

Hor. Epist. i. 6. Bochart, G. S. iii. 12. V. 14. Togarmah is Armenia,

which furnished an annual tribute of 20,000 colts to the kings of

Persia. Strabo, xi. p. 529. V. 15. Dedan is supposed by Bochart, iv. 6.

and Michaelis, Spic. Geogr. 201. to be Daden on the Persian gulf, and

the ivory and ebony to have been brought from India or Ethiopia. V. 16.

For ארם (Syria) the author has adopted the reading אדם, Edom, or Idumea.

V. 17. The narrow and rocky country of Tyre was “nourished” (Acts xii.

20. 1 Kings v. 9. 11.) from the abundance of corn in Judæa, especially

in Galilee. Minnith was on the other side Jordan; Pennag is unknown. It

is supposed by Newcome to be the grain called _panic_. V. 18. Chalybon

was the Greek name of the modern Haleb or Aleppo, whose wine was

celebrated as the best of Asia in ancient times, ὁ Περσῶν βασίλευς τὸ

Χαλυβῶνιον μόνον οἴνον ἕπινεν. Ath. i. c. 51. p. 28) and still much

esteemed. Russell’s Aleppo. V. 19. Nations of southern Arabia seem to be

meant by the names in this verse. V. 20. Dedan here mentioned is not the

same as that in v. 15, but an Idumean tribe. Isaiah xxi. 13. Gen. xxv.

3. V. 21. Kedar denotes an Arabic tribe, (Is. lx. 7.) celebrated for its

pastoral riches. V. 22. Sheba is the Sabæans; Rama, a town on the

Persian gulf, the Rhegma of Ptolemy; the wares which they are said to

bring must have been imported by them from India. V. 23. Haran, Cane,

and Eden, appear all to be places in Arabia; the meaning of

_Chilmedians_ is not ascertained. I have illustrated this passage at

some length from its importance in the history of the Tyrians, a people

by whom we have benefited so much, and yet of whom we know so little.

Page 221.—_Damascus._] See the description of the _Ager Damascenus_ in

Volney, Voyage en Syrie, ii. 158. Egmont and Heyman, ii. 255.

Page 222.—_The lake Phiala._] Φιάλη, _patera_, a round, or oval and

shallow vessel for drinking or libation, was a name given by the

ancients to other lakes from their form, especially those which are the

first receptacle of the waters of a river after issuing from their

source, Reland, p. 265. There can be little doubt that the lake of

Phiala is that which is described by Captains Irby and Mangles, p. 387.

“We saw close to us a very picturesque lake, apparently perfectly

circular, of little more than a mile in circumference, surrounded on all

sides by sloping hills, richly wooded. The singularity of this lake is,

that it has no apparent supply or discharge, and its waters appeared

perfectly still, though clear and limpid.” Ἐκ μὲν οὐν τῆς περιφερέιας

ἐτύμιως Φιάλη κέκληται τροχοειδὴς οὖσα λίμνη· μένειν δὲ ἐπὶ χέιλους αὐτη

ἀιει τὸ ὑδως, μήτε ὑπονοστοῦν μήτε ὑπερχεόμενον. Jos. Bell. Jud. iii. 9.

Josephus makes the lake Phiala to be one hundred and twenty stadia from

Cæsarea or Paneas, towards the Trachonitis, or north east; it also

agrees with the lake mentioned by Captains Irby and Mangles. The

apparent source of the Jordan at Banias, described with some

exaggeration perhaps by Josephus, Bell. Jud. i. 21. Ant. XV. 10. 3. as

in a mountain of immense height and itself unfathomable, is thus spoken

of by Seetzen. “The copious source of the river of Banias rises near a

remarkable grotto in the rock, on the declivity of which I copied some

ancient Greek inscriptions dedicated to Pan and the nymphs of the

fountain. The ancients gave the name of source of the Jordan to this

spring: but in fact it appears that the preference is due to the spring

of the river Hasberia, which forms the largest branch of the Jordan. The

spring of Tel-el-kadi, which the natives take for the source of the

Jordan, is that which least merits the name.” Yet the Tel-el-kadi, an

hour and a quarter north-east from Paneas, appears from Burckhardt, p.

42, to be the real Lesser Jordan of Josephus. It not unfrequently

happens that the smaller branch gives its name to the united stream, as

in the case of the Yorkshire Ouse, which is very small compared with the

waters of the Swale and Ure, whose names are lost in it. Whether the

fountain of Paneas have really that subterraneous communication with the

lake Phiala, of which Josephus Speaks, must be left to be ascertained by

future travellers. The experiment of throwing substances into the lake

which the spring casts up, is said by Josephus to have been made (Bell.

Jud. iii. 9. 7.) by Philip, tetrarch of Trachonitis. Our author

therefore speaks of it by a _prolepsis_. The Hasberia, which rises to

the north-west of Paneas, joins the stream from that place, about an

hour and a half below the town. Burckhardt, p. 38.

Page 223.—_The lake Samochonitis._] Josephus, Bell. Jud. iii. 9. 7. iv.

1. Reland, 262. It is now called Houle,[173] Burckhardt, p. 37. Pococke,

ii. p. 73, says of it: “The waters are muddy and esteemed unwholesome,

having something of the nature of a morass. After the snows are melted,

it is only a marsh through which the Jordan runs. The waters, by passing

through the rocky bed towards the sea of Tiberias, settle, purify, and

become very wholesome.”

-----

Footnote 173:

Is this name a vestige of _Ulatha_, which Josephus (Ant. xv. 10. 3.

xvii. 2, 3.) places near Paneas, and between Galilee and Trachonitis?

-----

Page 224.—_The leprosy._] Of this disorder and the Mosaic regulations

respecting it, see Michaelis, Mos. Law, 209. Jos. Ant. iii. 11.

Page 227.—_Bethsaida._] The name בית צידין implies a residence of

fishers, Reland, p. 653. According to Josephus, Ant. xviii. 2. the same

Philip who ascertained the real source of the Jordan, greatly enlarged

this fishing village, and changed its name from Bethsaida to Julias, in

honour of the daughter of Augustus. The old name however seems to have

kept its ground: for we never find the place called Julias in the New

Testament. According to Pococke, some ruins of it are to be found at a

place called Telouy. He mentions, however, a large village, still

bearing the name of Baitsida, about two miles west of the lake of

Gennesareth, and near the southern extremity, which he supposes to be

the Bethsaida of the gospels, while he regards the ruins of Telouy as

marking the site of the Bethsaida of the Gaulonitis, ii. 68.

Page 227.—_Magdela._] מגדל, signifying a tower, gave rise to the names

of many places in Palestine, Megiddo, Migdol, Magdela, &c. There is a

place which now bears the name of Magdol, a little to the north of

Tiberias; but the Magdala of the New Testament (Matt. xv. 39.) appears

to have been on the eastern side of the lake. Pococke, ii. 71.

Lightfoot, from the Talmudical writers, fixes it to the vicinity of

Gadara, or Omkeis, which is on the eastern side.

Page 227.—_Lake of Gennesareth._] Josephus (Bell. Jud. iii. 9.) makes

its length to be one hundred stadia, its breadth forty. Pococke thinks

its real length is about fourteen or fifteen miles. Clarke estimated its

breadth at six miles. “The water was as clear as the purest crystal;

sweet, cool, and most refreshing to the taste. Swimming to a

considerable distance from the shore, we found it so limpid that we

could discern the bottom covered with shining pebbles.” Clarke, v. 224.

Strabo, xvi. p. 755, mentions the aromatic plants of the shore; but

Burckhardt, p. 319, says he did not observe any of them.

Page 227.—_Capernaum._] Its situation is not accurately known; it is

commonly supposed to be _Telhoum_, (Burckhardt, p. 319) between the

Jordan and Tabegha. The plain of Gennesareth, (Pococke, ii. 71.) which

adjoins the lake on its western side, by its fertility, corresponds very

well with the description which Josephus (Bell. Jud. iii. 9.) gives of

the environs of the fountain of Capernaum. The name signifies the

_beautiful town_, (בפר נאה) an appellation which it must well have

deserved, according to the description which Josephus gives of the plain

of Gennesareth. Παρατείνει δὲ τὴν Γεννησὰρ ὁμώνυμος χῶρα, θαυμαστὴ φύσιν

τε καὶ κάλλος·—θιλοτιμίαν ἄν τις εἴποι τῆς θύσεως βιασαμένης εἰς ἔν

συναγαγεῖν τὰ μάχιμα καὶ τῶν ὡρῶν ἀχαθὴν ἔριν ἑκάστης ὥσπερ

αντιποιουμένης τοῦ χωρίου· καὶ γὰρ ου μόνον τρέφει παρὰ δόξαν τὰς

διαφόρους ὁπώρας ἄλλὰ καὶ διαφυλάσσει· τὰ μὲν γε βασιλικώτατα, σταφυλήν

τε καὶ σῦκον, δέκα μησὶν αδιαλείπτως χορηγεῖ· τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς καρποὺς δὶ

ἔτους ὅλον περιγηράσκοντας αὐτοῖς. This plain may perhaps be that which

Burckhardt describes (p. 319) as lying at the southern foot of the

mountain which stretches down to the lake. It may be objected that

Tel-houm is not in this plain; but it is evident that Josephus speaks of

a larger plain, thirty stadia in length, while Burckhardt describes only

a part of it, which he occupied twenty minutes in crossing. The position

which the author assigns to Chorazin, on the eastern side, is very

doubtful. No traveller has hitherto been able to identify it. Jerome

places it two miles from Capernaum; and Dr. Richardson says, that the

natives, when he inquired for the ruins of Capernaum, told him that it

and Chorazin were near.

Page 228.—_Tabor._] The author (misled perhaps by the absurd prints in

Maundrell’s Travels) has rather fancifully described Tabor as resembling

a pillar; its real form is that of a truncated cone. Hence its name

טבור, _umbilicus_. See the view in Pococke, ii. pl. v. He says the

ascent is about two miles by a winding route, and the top of it half a

mile long and a quarter of a mile broad. Mr. Buckingham ascended it,

with great exertion, in half an hour. Others reckon the ascent at four

miles. Both Maundrell (p. 115) and Pococke speak of the magnificence of

the view from the summit. Egmont and Heyman mention its abounding in

game. (Travels, ii. 26.) I know not on what authority it is said that

the exhalations of the Dead Sea may be seen from it. The rivulet

mentioned as discharging itself into the sea of Tiberias, appears to be

that called Serrar by Egmont and Heyman, ii. 27. Mariti, ii. 126. But

Mr. Buckingham (p. 108) says, the Ain el Sharrar forms the Kishon; nor

is it probable, from the nature of the country, that a stream should

flow from the same point into the Mediterranean and the lake of Galilee.

There was a town on mount Tabor called Atabyrium, (Polybius, v. 70.)

which was taken by Antiochus. The mountain was very strongly fortified

by Josephus, when he commanded in Galilee, (Bell. Jud. ii. 20.) and

numerous traces of the works are still visible. Pococke, ii. 64.

Burckhardt, p. 332.

Page 229.—_Nazareth._] “Nazareth,” says Dr. Richardson, “stands in a

vale, resembling a circular basin encompassed by mountains: it seems as

if fifteen mountains met to form an enclosure for this delightful spot;

they rise round it like the edge of a shell, to guard it from

intrusion.” Travels with Lord Belmore, ii. 434. It does not stand, nor

do the words of the Evangelist imply it, (Luke iv. 29.) on the summit of

a hill, but on the side. Yet we should expect that the “brow” there

spoken of should be nearer to Nazareth than two miles, (Pococke, ii.

63.) or a mile and a half, (Richardson, ii. 441.) and Buckingham (p. 99)

mentions a precipice just above the town.

Page 231.—_Scythopolis._] It is uncertain for what reason the Greeks

gave the name of Σκυθοπόλις to Bethshan, unless from some event

connected with the incursion of the Scythians mentioned by Herod, i.

104. who spread themselves to the confines of Egypt, in the middle of

the seventh century before Christ. The present name is Bysan: many

remains of the ancient town of Su are still visible, from which

Burckhardt estimates its ancient circumference at three miles, (p. 343.)

Here he crossed the Jordan. From Bethshan to near Jericho, the western

bank of the Jordan is very barren, and there are no remains of cities on

it, (345 note.) Herod built a city to the north of Jericho, and thus

produced an increase of cultivation in the surrounding country, before

desert. Jos. Ant. xvi. 5. 3. The great plain of Esdraelon begins near

Bethshan, and extends across to Carmel. Egmont and Heyman, ii. 28. Jos.

Ant. xii. 8. 5. The boundaries of Galilee are laid down by Josephus, and

its fertility and populousness described, Bell. Jud. iii. 3. Vit. 45.

Page 233.—_The gate with its pious inscriptions._] The Jews of the

present day, to avoid profaning the word of God by public exposure,

write the passages of the law on parchment, (called Mezuzoth) and

enclose it in the door-post. Leo of Modena, P. i. c. 2.

Page 237.—“_He giveth it to his beloved in sleep._”] “Perennem et

solidam felicitatem dat suis quasi in somno,” Dathe, i. e. without

thought or labour on their part.

Page 241.—There are allusions in many passages of Scripture to parts of

the nuptial ceremonies; as Gen. xxiv. xxxiv. 8. Judges xiv. Isaiah lxii.

10. Esther ii. 8-12. Tobit viii. 19. 1 Maccab. ix. 37. Matth. ix. 15.

xxii. xxv. John ii. 1-10. Ps. xix. 5. Jer: vii. 34. But the

circumstances by which our author has filled up his description, are

chiefly taken from the accounts of nuptial ceremonies among the nations

of the east at the present day. See Russell’s Aleppo, i. 281; 436. ii;

48. 79. Harmer, iii. 295. Calmet’s Dict. Art. _Marriage_, Fragments to

Calmet, Nos. xlix. clvii. clxiii. Calmet’s Dissert. vol. i. 277.

The lifting of the bride over the threshold appears to be a Greek rather

than an Oriental custom; at least I do not remember to have seen it

mentioned in the authors who have described Oriental marriages. Nor is

it very probable that a Gentile, as Myron was, should have been allowed

to take part in so sacred a ceremony. Besides these companions, the New

Testament alludes to one, the paranymph or friend of the bridegroom,

(John iii. 29.) who stood at the door of the nuptial chamber.

Page 245.—These benedictions are those (much abridged) which the Jews

still employ at marriages. See Calmet.

Page 251.—_The Orphici of Thrace._] Of the Orphic and Pythagorean

discipline, see Herod, ii. 81. and Valckenaer on Euripid. Hipp. 956. The

Tomyri of Dodona were the priests of Jupiter, Strabo, 1. vii. p. 506.

They were the same probably as the Selloi, whose rigid mode of life is

alluded to by Homer, II. xvi. 233. Ἀπθὶ δὲ Σελλοὶ, Σοὶ ναίους’ ὑποθῆται

ἀνιπτόποδες χαμαιεῦναι. Soph. Trach. 1168. Heyne, Excurs. ad Il. loc

cit. A fragment of the Cretans of Euripides, preserved by Porphyry,

shows that the Curetes, priests of Idæan Jupiter, led a life very

similar to the Essenes. Καὶ Κουρήταν Βόκχος ἐκλήθην, ὁσιωθέις. Πάλλευκα

δ’ ἔχων εἴματα, θεύγω Γένεσίν τε βροτῶν καὶ νεκροθήκης Οὐ χριμπτόμενος·

τήν τ’ ἐπψύχων Βρῶσιν ἐδεστῶν πεθύλαγμαι.

Page 251.—_Worship of the earlier Samaritans._] When Salmanassar had led

captive the inhabitants of the kingdom of Israel, he supplied their

place by colonies from Babylon and other places, (2 Kings xvii.) who

brought with them their various idols. From this people and the

Israelites left in the land, sprung the Samaritans, who, if the Jews may

be believed, joined the worship of Jehovah with that of idols. Selden,

de Dis Syris, p. 327. Addit. p. 285.

Page 253.—_Insult to the beard._] The Scriptures contain proofs of the

susceptibility of the Hebrews on the subject of an indignity offered to

their beards, 2 Sam. x. 1-5. “The Arabs,” says Niebuhr, “never shave off

their beard. In the mountains of Yemen, where strangers are seldom seen,

it is a disgrace to appear shaven: they supposed our European servant

had committed some crime, for which we had punished him by cutting off

his beard.” I am not aware, however, that the cutting off the hair was a

judicial punishment among the Jews, unless Nehemiah xiii. 25. Isaiah 1.

6. should be thought to refer to it. The effect produced upon Elisama,

by Myron’s action, will hardly be thought to be exaggerated when

compared with the following passage from D'Arvieux’s account of the

Arabs: “The Arabians have so much respect for their beards that they

look upon them as sacred ornaments; nothing can be more infamous than

for a man to be shaved; they make the preservation of their beards a

capital point of religion, because Mahomet never cut off his. Among them

it is more infamous for any one to have his beard cut off, than among us

to be publicly whipped or branded with a hot iron. Many men in that

country would prefer death to such a punishment. The wives kiss their

husbands’ beards and children their fathers’, when they come to salute

them: the men kiss one another’s beards when they salute in the streets,

or come from a journey. They admire and envy those who have fine beards.

‘Pray do but see,’ they cry, ‘that beard; the very sight of it would

persuade any one that he to whom it belongs is an honest man.’ If any

one with a fine beard is guilty of an unbecoming action, ‘What a

disadvantage is this,’ they say, ‘to such a beard! How much such a beard

is to be pitied!’ If they would correct any one’s mistakes, they will

tell him, ‘For shame of your beard! Does not the confusion that follows

such an action light on your beard?’ If they entreat any one, or use

oaths in affirming or denying any thing, they say, ‘I conjure you by

your beard, by the life of your beard, to grant me this—or by your beard

this is or is not so,’ They say farther, in the way of acknowledgment,

‘May God preserve your blessed beard! May God pour out his blessings on

your beard!’ And in comparisons, 'This is more valuable than one’s

beard,'” Mœurs des Arabes par M. D'Arvieux, quoted in Fragments to

Calmet, xciii. Niebuhr (Descr. de l'Arabie, p. 26) mentions an Arab who

was so highly offended that a man had even accidentally let fall some of

his spittle on his beard, that it was with great difficulty he could be

prevented from taking sanguinary vengeance for the affront. The reader

who remembers Dr. Clarke’s description (Travels, v. 242.) of the

paroxysm of ungovernable rage produced in an Arab by a blow, will not

think the account in the text hyperbolical. “The Arab, recovered from

the shock he had sustained, sought only to gratify his anger by the

death of his assailant. Having speedily charged his _tophaike_,

(musquet) although trembling with rage to such a degree that his whole

frame appeared to be agitated, he very deliberately pointed it at the

object of his revenge, who only escaped assassination by dodging beneath

the horses, as often as the muzzle of the piece was directed against

him. Finding himself thus frustrated in his intentions, his fury became

ungovernable: his features livid and convulsed, seemed to denote

madness: no longer knowing what he did, he levelled his _tophaike_ at

the captain of Djezzar’s guard.”

Page 254.—_Ramoth Gilead._] It was fifteen miles to the westward of

Philadelphia or Amman. (Reland, p. 474, Burckhardt, p. 358.) Its site,

therefore, must be near that of Szalt, (Burckhardt, p. 347) perhaps El

Meysera, which stands on the Zerka, the Jabok of Scripture, and near the

mountains which are still called Djebal Djalaad (Gilead.) Or if the

words of Jerome, (Loc. Heb.) “juxta fluvium Jabbok,” should be thought

not necessarily to imply that it was _on_ the Jabbok, the site of the

ruined towns Djelaad and Djelaoud on mount Gilead itself, (Burckhardt,

348.) will suit the elevated position implied in the name Ramoth. The

Arnon is now called Modjet. See Burckhardt’s map. Mr. Buckingham

supposes Ramza (which is not upon the Zerka, nor on mount Gilead) to be

Ramoth. Travels, p, 337.

Page 255.—_Dromedaries._] The camel is the heavy beast of burden; the

dromedary is used on all occasions which require great expedition.

Shaw’s Travels, 167. The Arabs represent their speed as many times

exceeding that of the fleetest horse.

Page 256.—_The Goël._] The Jewish law respecting homicide and the

avenger of blood, has been fully discussed by Michaelis, § 131-136, who

has well illustrated the humanity and wisdom of the Mosaic legislation,

especially as contrasted with the precepts of the Koran. What is said in

the text of the practice of the east, applies in modern times, at least,

chiefly to the Bedoween Arabs. See Niebuhr, Descr. p. 28.

It may be observed, that Goël denoted the next of kin, not merely in his

character of avenger of blood, but as having the right of redemption of

an estate; (Mich. §. 137.) which may seem to make the etymology given in

the text doubtful.

Page 259.—_The balm of Gilead had been applied externally and

internally_.] The balm of Mecca is at this day used internally in

Palestine, according to Hasselquist; but I am not aware of any proof

that it was so anciently. “Les Hébreux ne parlent jamais des remèdes,

quand il s’agit de maux internes, de fièvres, de langueurs, de peste, de

douleurs de tête ou d’entrailles, mais seulement lorsqu’il y a blessure,

ou fracture, ou meurtrissure.” Calmet sur la Médecine des Hébreux, Diss.

vol. i. p. 331. That the Levites practised medicine, is probable from

the analogy of other sacerdotal castes, and from their being appointed

to decide in cases of leprosy: in their forty-eight cities they would be

sufficiently dispersed throughout the country to serve as physicians to

the people.

Page 261.—_Customs of mourning._] That it was usual in mourning to cover

the lower part of the face, appears from Ezek. xxiv. 16. where the

prophet is forbidden to adopt the customary marks of grief. “Forbear to

cry, make no mourning for the dead, _bind the tire of thine head upon

thee_, and put on thy _shoes upon thy feet_, and _cover not thy lips_,

and _eat not the bread of men_.” It appears from Addison’s account of

the Jews in Barbary, (Harmer, iii. 382.) that they still muffle the

lower part of the face in mourning. Probably the object was the same as

that of the muffling the lower part of the leper’s face, (Lev. xiii.

45.) to give an indistinct and lugubrious sound to the voice. Geier de

luctu Hebræorum, 259. The same passage of Ezekiel shows that it was

customary to lay aside the turban, (Harmer, iii. 386. Baruch vi. 31.)

and go barefoot in mourning, (Judith x. 4.) “Habebis calceamenta in

pedibus quæ lugentes solent abjicere: unde et David, Abassalon filium

fugiens et penitens super nece Uriæ, nudis pedibus incedit.” Hieronym.

in Ezek. loc. cit. 2 Sam. xv. 30. The laying aside the sandals was a

mark of humiliation, as well as sorrow; hence in times of public

calamity the Romans practised a solemn supplication, called

_nudipedalia_. “Cum stupet cœlum et aret annus nudipedalia

denunciantur, magistratus purpuras deponunt.” Tert. de Jej. 16. Geier,

p. 306. The rending of garments, beating the breast, strewing ashes on

the head, and putting on sackcloth, need no illustration.

The Alijah was probably the upper chamber in which the body of Tabitha

(Acts ix. 37.) was laid. Of the hasty interment of the Jews in later

times, the history of Ananias and Sapphira is a sufficient proof. Such

is the present practice of the east. Russell, i. 306.

It is plain, from the New Testament, that the custom of employing hired

mourners prevailed among the Jews in our Saviour’s time; (Matt. ix. 23.

Mark v. 38.) and probably the “mourning women” (Jer. ix. 17.) are to be

understood of hired mourners, such as the Romans called _præficæ_. It is

mentioned (Amos viii. 3.) as a characteristic of a great mortality, that

the dead should be _cast forth in silence_. Males seem also to have been

employed as mourners. Amos v. 16.

Page 262.—_The body was wrapped in a sheet._] That the arms and feet

were swathed separately, and not fastened to the body or together, is

rendered probable by John xi. 44. where Lazarus, when raised to life, is

represented as _coming forth_ from the sepulchre, before the grave

clothes are taken off. The sheet is the σίνδων, in which, according to

Matt, xxvii. 59. Joseph of Arimathea wrapt the body of our Saviour, on

the evening of the crucifixion, when there was no time for the minute

bandaging with the κειρίαι, mentioned in the history of Lazarus. But

whether both were combined, as mentioned in the text, may be doubted.

The wringing of the hands above the head was a mark of extreme grief.

Jer. ii. 37. Geier, 290.

Page 264.—_Burning was reckoned dishonourable._] “Corpora condere, quam

cremare, e more Egyptio.” Tac. Hist. v. 5. They differed, however, in

this from the Egyptians, that they only _wrapt_ the body in spices, and

did not fill the cavities with them. The burnings mentioned in

Scripture, in connection with royal funerals, appear to have been

burnings of spices, (2 Chron. xvi. 14.) in other cases a mark of a great

mortality, as (Amos vi. 10.) requiring a more expeditious kind of

sepulture. Josephus (cont. Apion. ii. 26.) is referred to as mentioning

the custom of all who met a funeral joining in the lamentation; Πᾶσι δὲ

τοῖς παριοῦσι θαπτομένου τινὸς καὶ συνελθεῖν καὶ συναποδύρασθαι ἐπόησε

νόμιμον. The common reading, however, is περιοῦσι, “survivors of the

family,” which suits the connection better. Of the Hebrew sepulchres a

large account is given in Nicolaus de Sepulchris Hebræorum, Lugd. Bat.

1606. The custom of throwing a sod is introduced from the practice of

the modern Jews. Buxtorf Synagoga, c. 35. p. 502. The annual whitening

of the sepulchres was, according to the Rabbins, a charge of the

magistracy, and performed in the month Adar, (Nicolaus, p. 237) i. e. a

short time before the Passover; a circumstance of which Harmer (iii.

449.) does not appear to have been aware. It is remarkable that the

Mahometans whiten their sepulchres before their great solemnity of

Ramadan.

Page 265.—_The bread of mourning and the cup of consolation._] This

custom is alluded to in Ezek. xxiv. 17. Jer. xvi. 5. 7. 8. “Neither

shall men break bread among them on account of a mourner, to comfort him

over a deceased friend; nor shall men make them drink of the cup of

consolation because of one’s father, or because of one’s mother.”

Blayney’s Translation, and the margin of the common Bible. “The origin

of this custom undoubtedly was, that the friends of the mourner who came

to comfort him; (and that they often came in great numbers we may learn

from John xi. 19.) easily concluding that a person so far swallowed up

of grief as even to forget his bread could hardly attend to the

entertainment of so many guests, each sent in his proportion of meat and

drink, in hopes to prevail on the mourner, by their example and

persuasion, to partake of such refreshment as might tend to recruit both

his bodily strength and his spirits.” Blayney. Geier de luct. Heb. p.

166.

Page 265.—_The mourning lasted seven days._] The shortest term of

mourning appears to have been seven days; (Gen. 1. 10. Jos. Ant. xvii.

8.) many extended it to thirty. Num. xxxiv. 8. Bell. Jud. iii. 8. “At

Aleppo,” says Russell, “the near relations visit the sepulchre on the

third, the seventh, and the fortieth day after the interment. The women

likewise visit the graves on their ordinary garden days. They set out

early in the morning, attended by a small train of females, carrying

flowers and aromatic herbs to bestrew the tomb. The moment they arrive

at the place, they give loose afresh to their sorrow in loud screams

interrupted at intervals by the chief mourner, who, in a lower tone of

voice, recalls the endearing circumstances of past times, or, in a

tender apostrophe to the deceased, appeals to the pains she incessantly

employed to render his life happy: she describes the forlorn condition

of his family now he is gone, and mingles fond reproach with professions

of unalterable affection.” ii. 311.

Page 269.—_The palms._] See the account of the various uses of this tree

(the natives reckon up 360) in Mariti’s Travels, ii. p. 348. Harris’s

Nat. Hist. of the Bible. “A considerable part of the inhabitants of

Egypt, Arabia, and Persia subsist almost entirely upon its fruit; they

boast also of its medicinal virtues. Their camels feed upon the

date-stone; and from the leaves they make couches, baskets, bags, mats,

and brushes; from the branches, cages for their poultry, and fences for

their gardens; from the fibres of the boughs, thread, ropes, and

rigging; from the sap is prepared a spirituous liquor, and the body of

the tree furnishes fuel.” Clarke, v. 409. Notwithstanding their being

wholly destitute of lateral branches, and of great height, they are

climbed with ease by the prominences of the bark, which form a kind of

natural ladder. “The _terebinth_,” says Mariti, (iii. 29.) “has leaves

of a figure much like that of the olive. The flowers are like those of

the vine, and grow in bunches; they are of a purple colour, and produce

no fruit. The fruit grows among the branches; they are of the size of

juniper berries, hang in clusters, and contain each a small seed, of the

size of a grape-stone: they are of a ruddy purple colour and are

remarkably juicy.” The _pistachio_, is the בטן of the Hebrews, (Gen.

xliii. 11.) still called _bouttoum_ in the Holy Land. (Burckhardt, 346.)

Harris’s N. H. of the Bible, Art. _Nut._ It was found, if not

exclusively, at least in the highest perfection, in Syria and Palestine;

(Bochart, Geogr. Sacr. lib. i. c. 10. Op. iii. 387.) and is reckoned by

Jacob (Gen. xliii. 11.) among the choice fruits of the land which his

sons were to carry down as a present into Egypt.

Page 269.—_The balsam was scraped from the tree._] “Balsamum, modica

arbor: ut quisque ramus intumuit si vim ferri adhibeas, pavent venæ:

fragmine lapidis aut testa aperiuntur.” Tac. Hist. v. 6. This was the

most precious kind of the balsam, called _opobalsamum_; that expressed

from the seeds, _carpobalsamum_; that obtained by crushing and boiling

down the shoots, _xylobalsamum_.

Page 275.—_The simoom._] Dr. Clarke (iv. 252.) says of the simoom, as

experienced by him in Palestine, “Its parching influence pervaded all

places alike, and coming as from a furnace, it seemed to threaten us all

with suffocation. The author was the first who sustained serious injury

from the fiery blast, being attacked by giddiness accompanied with

burning thirst, headach, and frequent fits of shivering ensued, and

these ended in violent fever.” Notwithstanding the respectable

authorities for its deadly effects in the desert, the accurate

Burckhardt (Travels in Nubia, p. 189) says, “I inquired, as I had often

done before, whether my companions had often experienced the Semoum,

which we translate by the poisonous blast of the desert, but which is

nothing more than a violent south-east wind. They answered in the

affirmative; but none had ever known an instance of its having proved

fatal. I have been repeatedly exposed to the hot wind in the Syrian and

Arabian deserts, in Upper Egypt and Nubia. The hottest and most violent

I ever experienced was at Suakin, yet even there I felt no particular

inconvenience from it, although exposed to all its fury in the open

plain. For my own part I am perfectly convinced that all the stories

which travellers, or the inhabitants of the towns of Egypt and Syria,

relate of the Semoum are greatly exaggerated, and _I never could hear of

a single well-authenticated instance of its having proved mortal either

to man or beast._ I never observed that the Semoum blows close to the

ground, as commonly supposed, but always observed the whole atmosphere

appear as if in a state of combustion: the dust and sand are carried

high into the air, which assumes a reddish, or bluish, or yellowish

tint, according to the nature and colour of the ground from which the

dust arises.”

Page 277.—The law respecting the water of jealousy will be found Num. v.

11-31. and the Rabbinical traditions in Lightfoot, Works, i. 982. Jos.

Ant. iii. 11. 6. To many readers it will doubtless appear a harsh and

unequal institution, authorizing one party to impose upon the other an

oath of purgation, to be taken under circumstances very painful to the

feelings, to remove a suspicion which might originate in unreasonable

jealousy. But it must be remembered, that the idea of equality between

the parties in the conjugal relation never entered into the minds of the

ancients, least of all of the Orientals; and that the jealous husband

would often have taken the law into his own hands and put the suspected

wife to death, if this mode of satisfying his doubts had not been

prescribed by the legislator. The Mosaic law did not undertake, by a

perpetual miracle, to create in a barbarous age and in the bosom of the

east, a people characterised by the refined humanity and respect for the

rights of human nature which the influence of Christianity and centuries

of improvement have produced in modern Europe, but to soften and elevate

as far as possible the national character. Regarded in this light, the

Mosaic law of the water of jealousy will be considered like the

institution of the cities of refuge, as a humane appointment, to

moderate an evil which it was impossible to eradicate. Michaelis (Mos.

Law, § 263.) has shown how well the whole ceremony was adapted to strike

terror into a guilty person, and prevent all but the most abandoned and

hardened from attempting to perjure themselves—so that it would rarely

happen that divine interposition would be called for to punish the

crime. It does not appear from the law in the book of Numbers, what was,

to be the punishment of the woman, if, under the influence of conscience

and apprehension, she made confession. The Rabbins say that she was to

be divorced; (Lightfoot, ubi supra) they also tell us that the

punishment sometimes did not follow the drinking of the water for two or

three years. It seems more probable, however, that it was the intention

of the lawgiver, whatever the practice might be, that the woman, if she

confessed, should be punished in the usual way as an adultress. See v.

31. We are told by the Rabbins that the use of this test was abolished,

when the Sanhedrim lost the power of life and death. Such an _ordeal_

was indeed very abhorrent from the Roman jurisprudence. Lightfoot,

Works, ii. 111.

It may be observed, that the law does not require the husband to put the

offering of jealousy into the wife’s hand, as represented in the text,

but into the priest’s.

Page 291.—_Blowing of trumpets._] The object for which this was

appointed is not well ascertained, and various fanciful reasons are

given by the Jews. Reland, Ant. Heb. p. 509. Perhaps it was nothing more

than to mark the commencement of the civil year.

Page 297.—_A goat for a sin-offering._] The directions for sin-offerings

are found, Lev. iv. Num. xv. 22. From these passages it appears, that

these offerings were prescribed in the case of sins of ignorance;

unintentional, and at the time unobserved, violations of the Levitical

law. The sacrifice of Helon in the text, appears to be represented by

the author as a voluntary expression of remorse for his unjust conduct;

a purpose very foreign from the design of the sin-offerings spoken of in

the passages above quoted. It may also be observed, that the law takes

no notice of the case of a priest incurring guilt: perhaps he might be

included under the general term ruler.

Besides sin-offerings, (called הטאת) trespass-offerings אשם were also to

be presented, Lev. v. vi. xiv. 12, 13. xix. 20. 22. Num. vi. 11, 12.;

chiefly in cases of the breach of some social duty, and in addition to

the penalties provided against the offence, but also for Levitical

defilement and sins of ignorance. They differed chiefly in this, that a

sin-offering was sometimes made for the whole congregation; a

trespass-offering only for individuals; a bullock was never sacrificed

for a trespass-offering, and the blood of the latter was sprinkled at

the bottom of the altar, not dropped on the horns. Jennings’s Jew. Ant.

ii. 332. Lightfoot, Works, i. 929. &c.

Page 302.—The ritual for the day of atonement will be found, Lev. xvi.

xxiii. 27-32. Num. xxix. 7-11. What is described in the text beyond the

warrant of these passages, is derived from Rabbinical authority. See the

treatise Joma יומא i. e. _the_ day κατ’ ἐξοχὴν) in Surenh. Mischna, ii.

206. et seq. Lightfoot, i. 961. It is doubtful whether a substitute were

chosen to fill the place of the high-priest; for Josephus (xvii. 6. 4.)

mentions an instance in which, having incurred pollution just before the

day of atonement, it was necessary to create another for the rites of

this day. As the high-priest had on this day to perform the office of a

common priest, for which his splendid robes of ceremony would have been

inconvenient, he went through this part of his duties in the ordinary

sacerdotal dress of byssus, i. e. probably at this time cotton. The word

by which the material of the priest’s dress is described in the Mosaic

law is שש or בד, בוץ (byssus) not occurring in any of the books of

Scripture before the captivity. As the Jewish ritual was formed in so

great a degree upon that of Egypt, where the priests certainly wore

linen garments, in a country early celebrated for its flax, (Exod. ix.

31.) it is probable that the garments of the priests were directed by

the law to be made of this material, but that when the use of cotton was

learnt, it was substituted for linen. This appears to have been the case

in Egypt also; for Herodotus (ii. 81.) describes the priests as wearing

κιθῶνας λινεόυς, but the mummies as being swathed, σινδόνος βυσσίνης

τελαμῶσι (85.) while Pliny (N. H. xix. 1.) says, “Superior pars Ægypti,

in Arabiam vergens, gignit _fruticem quem gossypion_ vocant; _vestes

inde sacerdotibus_ Ægypti gratissimæ.”

Page 306.—_He hurled the goat down._] It does not appear that the goat

was to be thrown from the rock for the purpose of destroying it, but to

be turned into the wilderness, (Jos. Ant. iii. 10. 3.) as an emblem of

the sin of the people, pardoned and removed from sight. This is the

obvious etymology of the name עו אול, _caper abitus_, or _scape goat_,

as our translation renders it. The desert of Zuk appears to have no

existence but in Rabbinical geography.

Page 307.—_His meil._] The meil (מעיל)of the high-priest was worn

immediately over his linen vest or tunic, and had bells and pomegranates

round the borders; it had no sleeves, and sat close round the neck. The

dress of the ordinary priests and the high-priest is described by

Josephus, (Ant. iii. 7.) who also unfolds the spiritual meaning of every

part.

Page 314.—_The Feast of Tabernacles._]—The law for its observance is

found Exod. xxiii. 16. (where it is called “the feast of ingathering at

the end of the year.”) Lev. xxiii. 33-43. Deut. xvi. 16. Jos. Ant. iv.

8. 12. It was one of the greatest of all the Jewish festivals. Jos. Ant.

viii. 4, The treatise entitled _Succah_ in the Mishna, (Surenh. ii.

259.) contains the traditions of the Rabbins. See Lightfoot, i. 974.

Reland, p. 477. It was at once a memorial of the wandering in the

desert, and a thanksgiving for the close of harvest.

The Jews, both in ancient and modern times, (Jos. Ant. iii. 10. xiii.

13. 5.) have interpreted the command in Lev. xxiii. 40. “And ye shall

take unto you the boughs of _goodly trees_,” to mean branches of the

citron. They make them into a bundle with the other boughs there

mentioned, though it is probable that the goodly trees are pointed out

as the materials of which the booths were to be constructed. Comp.

Nehem, viii. 18. The Samaritans (Basnage, History of the Jews, vii. c.

26.) and the Karaite Jews (Reland, 485.) appear to understand the words

of the law in this sense.

Page 317.—_Drawing of water from Siloah._] This was evidently practised

in our Saviour’s time; who, according to his usual custom of making

passing events subservient to purposes of instruction, “cried in the

temple on the last the great day of the feast, If any man thirst, let

him come unto me and drink.” John vii. 37. Which words, according to the

Evangelist, referred to the effusion of the Holy Spirit. It is probable

that the custom originally alluded to the rain: for, according to the

Mishna, they began to pray for rain after the Feast of Tabernacles, and

continued to do so till the Passover. Surenhus. ii. 356. It is doubtful

whether the drawing the water were performed, as here represented, on

every day of the festival: from the Evangelist we should rather conclude

that it was only on the last. The Rabbinical traditions are discordant.

Page 319.—I know not on what authority it is related that the people

showered their leaves and fruit on the high-priest; and I suspect that

it may have originated from a misapprehension of a passage in Josephus,

(Ant. xiii. 13. 5.) in which the Jews are said to have done this as a

mark of their displeasure against their high-priest Alexander. Another

instance is mentioned in the Talmud, in which the people testified in

the same way their displeasure against some one who had performed his

office carelessly, Lightfoot, i. 976.

Page 321.—_Dancing at the Feast of Tabernacles._] See Lightfoot, i. 978.

and comp. 2 Sam. vi. 14.

Page 329.—_Prophecies which pointed to Judæa for their accomplishment._]

“Percrebuerat Oriente toto vetus et constans opinio, esse in fatis ut eo

tempore Judæa profecti rerum potirentur.” Suet. Vesp. 4. Tac. Hist. v.

13. Jos. Bell. Jud. vi. 5. 4,

Page 330.—_Submitting to circumcision._] That among the Jews themselves

there was a variety of opinion respecting the necessity of circumcision,

is evident from the story of Izates, (Jos. Ant. xx. 2.) who was first

converted by a Jew who advised him to neglect this rite, as a

non-essential of Judaism, and afterwards was induced to submit to it by

a more rigid missionary.

Page 331.—_The tribunal which sat in the gate of Nicanor._] According to

the Rabbins, two tribunals sat in the temple, one in the gate of

Nicanor, another beside the entrance to the court of Israel. Mishna,

Surenh. v. 332.

Page 333.—_The Dionysian festivals of the Greeks._] The remark of Myron,

respecting the similarity of the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles to the

Dionysia, is founded on a passage of Plutarch, Probl. Symp. iv. Prob.

vi. vol. iii. p. 745, ed. Wyttenb. 8vo. The similarity is certainly

striking, and, according to the reasoning which was once commonly

applied to such coincidences, would be regarded as a proof that the

rites of the heathens were derived from the Jews. In the present state

of historical criticism, such a supposition would be thought improbable,

especially as none of all the circumstances in which the similarity

appears, is found in the institution of the festival by Moses, nor even

in the account of the first celebration of it after the captivity.

Page 336.—_The last day of the Feast._] It is doubtful whether “the

great day of the feast” (John vii.) were the seventh or the eighth.

Jennings (Jew. Ant. ii. 228.) supposes that the Feast of Tabernacles

lasted seven days, and that the eighth was the Feast of Ingathering.

Page 338.—_Day of rejoicing in the law._] Josephus represents it as an

injunction of Moses, that the law should be read every sabbath; (c.

Apion. ii. 17.) but this is only true of the practice of the Jews in

later times, after the establishment of synagogues.

THE END.

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London: Printed by A. Applegath, Stamford-street.

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Footnotes

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Transcriber’s Note

There a number of minor errors in the ‘Notes and Illustrations’ at the

end of the text.

The page references are sometimes in error, but in this version that

is immaterial, and were left as printed.

The world ‘all’ on p. 175 was damaged (see below), and was restored

based upon a different printing.

On p. 356, the endnote referencing p. 57 refers to Ezekiel xxxi. 22.

The word ‘battering ram’ occurs later, in verse 27.

The brief Hebrew phrases cannot always be exactly confirmed by modern

sources. They have been retained as printed, using those sources only to

confirm those characters which seem ambiguous.

In order to faciliate text searches, differences in spelling between the

text and the endnotes, were resolved by amending the notes.

Errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and

are noted here. The references are to the page and line in the original.

The following issues should be noted, along with the resolutions.

39.22 at his insinuation, that——[”] Added.

40.2 “How long since was he here[./?] Replaced.

175.16 The sabbath and the new moon, [all] the Restored.

solemnities

178.15 accompanied by more than [ /a] thousand human Restored.

voices.

199.12 On the no[r]thern and southern sides Inserted.

202.14 the lofty side of Ebal or Geri[ri]zim Removed.

217.12 for your religion and your people as [?/.] Replaced.

240.3 than the praises of a virtuous wife.[”] Added.

257.5 to the imp[r]ecations which the judges Restored.

257.11 The judges did not immedia[t]ely decide Restored.

322.23 between the spectator and [t]he temple Restored.

building

375.11 The lake Sam[a/o]chonitis. Replaced.

Helon's Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Volume 2 (of 2) A picture of Judaism, in the century which preceded the advent of our Savior. · 第 9 / 9 章

The tabernacles were broken up, and only the scattered leaves, flowers,