when at Gondar, was witness to a scene in a great measure similar to the
devouring of Jezebel by dogs. He says, “The bodies of those killed by
the sword were hewn to pieces, and scattered about the streets, being
denied burial. I was miserable, and almost driven to despair, at seeing
my hunting dogs, twice let loose by the carelessness of my servants,
bringing into the court yard the heads and arms of slaughtered men, and
which I could no way prevent but by the destruction of the dogs
themselves.” He also adds, that upon being asked by the king the reason
of his dejected and sickly appearance, among other reasons, he informed
him, “it was occasioned by an execution of three men, which he had
lately seen; because the hyænas, allured into the streets by the
quantity of carrion, would not let him pass by night in safety from the
palace; and because the dogs fled into his house, to eat pieces of human
carcasses at their leisure.” This account illustrates also the readiness
of the dogs to lick the blood of Ahab, 1 Kings xxii, 38; in conformity
to which is the expression of the Prophet Jeremiah, xv, 3, “I will
appoint over them the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear.”
2. The dog was held sacred by the Egyptians. This fact we learn from
Juvenal, who complains, in his fifteenth satire,
_Oppida tota canem vencrantur, nemo Dianam._
“Thousands regard the hound with holy fear,
Not one, Diana.”
GIFFORD.
The testimony of the Latin poet is confirmed by Diodorus, who, in his
first book, assures us that the Egyptians highly venerate some animals,
both during their life and after their death; and expressly mentions the
dog as one object of this absurd adoration. To these witnesses may be
added Herodotus, who says, that when a dog expires, all the members of
the family to which he belonged worship the carcass; and that, in every
part of the kingdom, the carcasses of their dogs are embalmed, and
deposited in consecrated ground. The idolatrous veneration of the dog by
the Egyptians is shown in the worship of their dog-god Anubis, to whom
temples and priests were consecrated, and whose image was borne in all
religious ceremonies. Cynopolis, the present Minieh, situated in the
lower Thebais, was built in honour of Anubis. The priests celebrated his
festivals there with great pomp. “Anubis,” says Strabo, “is the city of
dogs, the capital of the Cynopolitan prefecture. These animals are fed
there on sacred aliments, and religion has decreed them a worship.” An
event, however, related by Plutarch, brought them into considerable
discredit with the people. Cambyses, having slain the god Apis, and
thrown his body into the field, all animals respected it except the
dogs, which alone ate of his flesh. This impiety diminished the popular
veneration. Cynopolis was not the only city where incense was burned on
the altars of Anubis. He had chapels in almost all the temples. On
solemnities, his image always accompanied those of Isis and Osiris.
Rome, having adopted the ceremonies of Egypt, the emperor Commodus, to
celebrate the Isiac feasts, shaved his head, and himself carried the dog
Anubis.
3. In Matt. vii, 6, we have this direction of our Saviour: “Give not
that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before
swine, lest they,” the swine, “trample them under their feet, and,” the
dogs, “turn again and tear you.” It was customary, not only with the
writers of Greece and Rome, but also with the eastern sages, to denote
certain classes of men by animals supposed to resemble them among the
brutes. Our Saviour was naturally led to adopt the same concise and
energetic method. By _dogs_, which were held in great detestation by the
Jews, he intends men of odious character and violent temper; by _swine_,
the usual emblem of moral filth, he means the sensual and profligate;
and the purport of his admonition is, that as it is a maxim with the
priests not to give any part of the sacrifices to dogs, so it should be
a maxim with you not to impart the holy instruction with which you are
favoured, to those who are likely to blaspheme and to be only excited by
it to rage and persecution. It is, however, a maxim of _prudence_ not of
_cowardice_; and is to be taken along with other precepts of our Lord,
which enjoin the publication of truth, at the expense of ease and even
life.
DORT, _Synod of_. See SYNODS.
DOVE, יונה. This beautiful genus of birds is very numerous in the east.
In the wild state they generally build their nests in the holes or
clefts of rocks, or in excavated trees; but they are easily taught
submission and familiarity with mankind; and, when domesticated, build
in structures erected for their accommodation, called “dove-cotes.” They
are classed by Moses among the clean birds; and it appears from the
sacred as well as other writers, that doves were always held in the
highest estimation among the eastern nations. Rosenmuller, in a note
upon Bochart, derives the name from the Arabic, where it signifies
_mildness_, _gentleness_, &c. The dove is mentioned in Scripture as the
symbol of simplicity, innocence, gentleness, and fidelity, Hosea vii,
11; Matt. x, 16.
The following extract from Morier’s Persian Travels illustrates a
passage in Isaiah: “In the environs of the city, to the westward, near
the Zainderood, are many pigeon houses, erected at a distance from
habitations, for the sole purpose of collecting pigeons’ dung for
manure. They are large round towers, rather broader at the bottom than
the top, and crowned by conical spiracles, through which the pigeons
descend. Their interior resembles a honey-comb, pierced with a thousand
holes, each of which forms a snug retreat for a nest. More care appears
to have been bestowed upon their outside than upon that of the
generality of the dwelling houses; for they are painted and ornamented.
The extraordinary flights of pigeons which I have seen alight upon one
of these buildings afford, perhaps, a good illustration for the passage
in Isaiah lx, 8: ‘Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to
their windows?’ Their great numbers, and the compactness of their mass,
literally look like a cloud at a distance, and obscure the sun in their
passage.”
The first mention of the dove in the Scripture is Genesis viii, 8,
10–12, where Noah sent one from the ark to ascertain if the waters of
the deluge had assuaged. She was sent forth thrice. The first time she
speedily returned; having, in all probability, gone but a little way
from the ark, as she must naturally be terrified at the appearance of
the waters. After seven days, being sent out a second time, she returned
with an olive leaf plucked off, whereby it became evident that the flood
was considerably abated, and had sank below the tops of the trees; and
thus relieved the fears and cheered the heart of Noah and his family.
And hence the olive branch has ever been among the forerunners of peace,
and chief of those emblems by which a happy state of renovation and
restoration to prosperity has been signified to mankind. At the end of
other seven days, the dove, being sent out a third time, returned no
more; from which Noah conjectured that the earth was so far drained as
to afford sustenance for the birds and fowls; and he therefore removed
the covering of the ark, which probably gave liberty to many of the
fowls to fly off; and these circumstances afforded him the greater
facility for making arrangements for disembarking the other animals.
Doves might be offered in sacrifice, when those who were poor could not
bring a more costly offering.
DOWRY. See BRIDE.
DRACHMA. The value of a common drachma was sevenpence, English. A
didrachma, or double drachma, made very near half a shekel; and four
drachmas made nearly a shekel.
DRAGON. This word is frequently to be met with in our English
translation of the Bible. It answers generally to the Hebrew תן, תנין,
תנים; and these words are variously rendered _dragons_, _serpents_,
_sea-monsters_, and _whales_. The Rev. James Hurdis, in a dissertation
relative to this subject, observes, that the word translated “whales,”
in Gen. i, 21, occurs twenty-seven times in Scripture; and he attempts,
with much ingenuity, to prove that it every where signifies the
crocodile. That it sometimes has this meaning, he thinks is clear from
Ezekiel xxix, 3: “Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the
great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers.” For, to what could
a king of Egypt be more properly compared than the crocodile? The same
argument he draws from Isaiah li, 9: “Art thou not he that hath cut
Rahab, [Egypt,] and wounded the dragon?” Among the ancients the
crocodile was the symbol of Egypt, and appears so on Roman coins. Some
however have thought the hippopotamus intended; others, one of the
larger species of serpents.
DRAUGHTS, stupifying potions. At the time of execution, they gave the
malefactor a grain of frankincense in a cup of wine, in order to stupify
and render him less sensible of pain. This custom is traced to the
charge of the wise man: “Give strong drink to him that is ready to
perish, and wine to those that be of heavy hearts,” Prov. xxxiv, 6. The
prophet makes an allusion to the powerful effects of this stupifying
draught, in that prediction which announces the judgments of God upon
the empire of Babylon: “Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and
cause all the nations to whom I send thee to drink it. And they shall
drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send
among them,” Jer. xxv, 15, 16. The Jews, according to the custom of
their country, gave our Lord wine mingled with myrrh at his crucifixion.
See CROSS.
DREAMS. The easterns, in particular the Jews, greatly regarded dreams,
and applied for their interpretation to those who undertook to explain
them. The ancient Greeks and Romans had the same opinion of them, as
appears from their most eminent writers. We see the antiquity of this
attention to dreams in the history of Pharaoh’s butler and baker, Gen.
xl. Pharaoh himself, and Nebuchadnezzar, are instances. God expressly
condemned to death all who pretended to have prophetic dreams, and to
foretel futurities, even though what they foretold came to pass, if they
had any tendency to promote idolatry, Deut. xiii, 1–3. But the people
were not forbidden, when they thought they had a significative dream, to
address the prophets of the Lord, or the high priest in his ephod, to
have it explained. Saul, before the battle of Gilboa, consulted a woman
who had a familiar spirit, “because the Lord would not answer him by
dreams, nor by prophets,” 1 Sam. xxviii, 6, 7. The Lord himself
sometimes discovered his will in dreams, and enabled persons to explain
them. He informed Abimelech in a dream, that Sarah was the wife of
Abraham, Gen. xx, 3, 6. He showed Jacob the mysterious ladder in a
dream, Gen. xxviii, 12, 13; and in a dream an angel suggested to him a
means of multiplying his flocks, Genesis xxxi, 11, 12, &c. Joseph was
favoured very early with prophetic dreams, whose signification was
easily discovered by Jacob, Gen. xxxvii, 5. God said, that he spake to
other prophets in dreams, but to Moses face to face. The Midianites gave
credit to dreams, as appears from that which a Midianite related to his
companion; and from whose interpretation Gideon took a happy omen,
Judges vii, 13, 15. The Prophet Jeremiah exclaims against impostors who
pretended to have had dreams, and abused the credulity of the people:
“They prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my
word, let him tell it faithfully, saith the Lord,” Jer. xxiii, 25, 28,
29. The Prophet Joel promises from God, that in the reign of the
Messiah, the effusion of the Holy Spirit should be so copious, that the
old men should have prophetic dreams, and the young men should receive
visions, Joel ii, 28.
DRESS. See HABITS.
DROMEDARY. This name answers to two words in the original, בכר, and
feminine בכרה, Isa. lx, 6; Jer. ii, 24; and אחשתרנים, Esther viii, 10,
“young dromedaries;” probably the name in Persian. The dromedary is a
race of camels chiefly remarkable for its prodigious swiftness. The most
observable difference between it and the camel is, that it has but one
protuberance on the back; and instead of the slow solemn walk to which
that animal is accustomed, it will go as far in one day as the camel in
three. For this reason it is used to carry messengers where haste is
required. The animal is governed by a bridle, which, being usually
fastened to a ring fixed in the nose, may very well illustrate the
expression, 2 Kings xix, 28, of turning back Sennacherib by putting a
hook into his nose; and may farther indicate his swift retreat.
DUST, or ashes, cast on the head was a sign of mourning, Josh. vii, 6:
sitting in the dust, a sign of affliction, Lam. iii, 29; Isaiah xlvii,
1. The dust also denotes the grave, Gen. iii, 19; Job vii, 21; Psalm
xxii, 15. It is put for a great multitude, Gen. xiii, 16; Numbers xxiii,
10. It signifies a low or mean condition, 1 Sam. ii, 8; Nahum iii, 18.
To shake or wipe off the dust of a place from one’s feet, marks the
renouncing of all intercourse with it in future. God threatens the Jews
with rain of dust, &c; Deut. xxviii, 24. An extract from Sir T. Roe’s
embassy may cast light on this: “Sometimes, in India, the wind blows
very high in hot and dry seasons, raising up into the air a very great
height, thick clouds of dust and sand. These dry showers most grievously
annoy all those among whom they fall; enough to smite them all with
present blindness; filling their eyes, ears, nostrils, and mouths too,
if not well guarded; searching every place, as well within as without,
so that there is not a little key-hole of any trunk or cabinet, if it be
not covered, but receives this dust; add to this, that the fields,
brooks, and gardens, suffer extremely from these terrible showers.”
2. In almost every part of Asia, those who demand justice against a
criminal throw dust upon him, signifying that he deserves to lose his
life, and be cast into the grave; and that this is the true
interpretation of the action, is evident from an imprecation in common
use among the Turks and Persians, “Be covered with earth!” “Earth be
upon thy head.” We have two remarkable instances of casting dust
recorded in Scripture: the first is that of Shimei, who gave vent to his
secret hostility to David, when he fled before his rebellious son, by
throwing stones at him, and casting dust, 2 Sam. xvi, 13. It was an
ancient custom, in those warm and arid countries, to lay the dust before
a person of distinction, and particularly before kings and princes, by
sprinkling the ground with water. To throw dust into the air while a
person was passing, was therefore an act of great disrespect; to do so
before a sovereign prince, an indecent outrage. But it is clear that
Shimei meant more than disrespect and outrage to an afflicted king,
whose subject he was: he intended to signify by that action, that David
was unfit to live, and that the time was at last arrived to offer him a
sacrifice to the ambition and vengeance of the house of Saul. This view
of his conduct is confirmed by the behaviour of the Jews to the Apostle
Paul, when they seized him in the temple, and had nearly succeeded in
putting him to death: they cried out, “Away with such a fellow from the
earth, for it is not fit that he should live; and as they cried out and
cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air, the chief captain
commanded him to be brought into the castle,” Acts xxii, 23. A great
similarity appears between the conduct of the Jews on this occasion, and
the behaviour of the peasants in Persia, when they go to court to
complain of the governors, whose oppressions they can no longer endure.
They carry their complaints against their governors by companies,
consisting of several hundreds, and sometimes of a thousand; they repair
to that gate of the palace nearest to which their prince is most likely
to be, where they set themselves to make the most horrid cries, tearing
their garments, and throwing dust into the air, and demanding justice.
The king, upon hearing these cries, sends to know the occasion of them:
the people deliver their complaints in writing, upon which he informs
them that he will commit the cognizance of the affair to such a one as
he names; and in consequence of this, justice is usually obtained.
EAGLE, נשר, Exod. xix, 4; Lev. xi, 13. The name is derived from a verb
which signifies to _lacerate_, or _tear in pieces_. The eagle has always
been considered as the king of birds, on account of its great strength,
rapidity and elevation of flight, natural ferocity, and the terror it
inspires into its fellows of the air. Its voracity is so great that a
large extent of territory is requisite for the supply of proper
sustenance; and providence has therefore constituted it a solitary
animal: two pair of eagles are never found in the same neighbourhood,
though the genus is dispersed through every quarter of the world. Its
sight is quick, strong, and piercing, to a proverb. In Job xxxix, 27,
the natural history of the eagle is finely drawn up:--
Is it at thy voice that the eagle soars?
And therefore maketh his nest on high?
The rock is the place of his habitation.
He abides on the crag, the place of strength.
Thence he pounces upon his prey.
His eyes discern afar off.
Even his young ones drink down blood;
And wherever is slaughter, there is he.
Alluding to the popular opinion that the eagle assists its feeble young
in their flight, by bearing them up on its own pinions, Moses represents
Jehovah as saying, “Ye have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I
bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself,” Exod. xix, 4.
Scheuchzer has quoted from an ancient poet, the following beautiful
paraphrase on this passage:--
_Ac velut alituum princeps, fulvusque tonantis
Armiger, implumes, et adhue sine robore natos
Sollicita refovet cura, pinguisque ferinæ
Indulget pastus: mox ut cum viribus alæ
Vesticipes crevere, vocat se blandior aura,
Expansa invitat pluma, dorsoque morantes
Excipit, attollitque humeris, plausuque secundo
Fertur in arva, timens oneri, et tamen impete presso
Remigium tentans alarum, incurvaque pinnis
Vela legens, humiles tranat sub nubibus oras.
Hinc sensim supra alta petit, jam jamque sub astra
Erigitur, cursusque leves citus urget in auras,
Omnia pervolitans late loca, et agmine fœtus
Fertque refertque suos vario, moremque volandi
Addocet: illi autem, longa assuetudine docti,
Paulatim incipiunt pennis se credere cælo
Impavidi: tantum a teneris valet addere curam._
[And as the king of birds, and tawny armour-bearer of the Thunderer,
cherishes with anxious care his unfledged, and as yet feeble young, and
gratifies their appetite with rich prey: presently when their downy
wings have increased in strength, a milder air calls them forth, with
expanded plumage he invites them, and receives them hesitating on his
back, and sustains them on his shoulders, and with easy flight is borne
over the fields, fearing for his burden, and yet with a moderated effort
trying the rowing of their wings, and furling with his pinions his
curved sails, he glides through the low regions beneath the clouds.
Hence by degrees he soars aloft, and now he mounts to the starry heaven,
and swiftly urges his rapid flight through the air, sweeping widely over
space, and in his gyrations bearing his offspring to and fro, teaches
them the art of flying:--but they, taught by long practice, gradually
begin to trust themselves fearlessly on their wings: So much does it
avail to train the young with care.]
2. When Balaam delivered his predictions respecting the fate that
awaited the nations which he then particularized, he said of the
Kenites, “Strong is thy dwelling, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock,”
Num. xxiv, 21; alluding to that princely bird, the eagle, which not only
delights in soaring to the loftiest heights, but chooses the highest
rocks, and most elevated mountains, as desirable situations for erecting
its nest, Hab. ii, 9; Obad. 4. What Job says concerning the eagle, which
is to be understood in a literal sense, “Where the slain are, there is
he,” our Saviour turns into a fine parable: “Wheresoever the carcass is,
there will the eagles be gathered together,” Matt. xxiv, 28; that is,
Wherever the Jews are, who have corruptly fallen from God, there will be
the Romans, who bore the eagle as their standard, to execute vengeance
upon them, Luke xvii, 37.