LECTURE IX.

OF POETIC IMAGERY FROM THE SACRED HISTORY.

The imagery from the sacred history is the most luminous and evident of all-The peculiar nature of this kind of metaphor explained, as used by the Hebrew poets—The order of the topics which commonly furnish them: the Chaos and Creation; the Deluge; the Destruction of Sodom; the emigration of the Israelites from Egypt; the descent of God upon Mount Sinai―This species of metaphor excellently adapted to the sacred poetry, and particularly to the prophetic: not easy to form any comparison between the sacred and profane poetry in this respect.

FOUR distinct classes of imagery having been specified as capable of being introduced in a metaphorical form into the poetry of the Hebrews, the last of these, or that which is suggested by the more remarkable transactions recorded in the sacred history, now remains to be examined. Here, however, since the nature of the subject differs in some degree from the former objects of our investigation, so the manner of treating it must be also different. The principal design of our late disquisition was, by considering the circumstances, customs, opinions, and sentiments of the Hebrews, to facilitate our approach to the interior beauties of their poetry; and, by duly examining the nature of the circumstances, to estimate more properly the force and power of each; to dispel as much as possible the mists of antiquity; to restore their native perspicuity to such passages as appear obscure, their native agreeableness to such as now inspire us with sentiments of disgust, their proper allurement and elegance to those which seem harsh and vulgar, and their original dignity to those which the changeableness of custom has rendered contemptible or mean. In this division of our subject, on the contrary, but little will occur either difficult or obscure; nothing which will seem to require explication or defence all will be at once perspicuous, splendid, and sublime. Sacred history illuminates this class of imagery with its proper light, and renders it scarcely less conspicuous

to us than to the Hebrews themselves. There is, indeed, this difference, that to the Hebrews the objects of these allusions were all national and domestic; and the power of them in moving or delighting the mind was of course proportionably greater; nay, frequently, the very place, the scene of action, certain traces and express tokens of so many miracles lying before their eyes, must have increased the effect. To us, on the other hand, however we may hold these facts in veneration, however great and striking they may be in themselves, the distance of time and place must of necessity render them less interesting.

The manner in which these metaphors are formed is well deserving of observation, and is in fact as follows. In describing or embellishing illustrious actions, or future events of a miraculous nature, the Hebrew poets are accustomed to introduce allusions to the actions of former times, such as possess a conspicuous place in their history; and thus they illuminate with colours, foreign indeed, but similar, the future by the past, the recent by the antique, facts less known by others more generally understood and as this property seems peculiar to the poetry of the Hebrews, at least is but seldom to be met with in that of other nations, I have determined to illustrate this part of my subject with a greater variety of examples than usual. I mean, therefore, to instance in a regular order certain topics or common-places of Scripture, which seem to have furnished, if not all, at least the principal part of these allusions: it will be necessary at the same time to remark their figurative power and effect, and the regular and uniform method pursued in the application of them, which has been already stated as characteristical of the poetical imagery of the Hebrews.

The first of these topics, or common-places, is the Chaos and the Creation, which compose the first pages of the sacred history. These are constantly alluded to, as expressive of any remarkable change, whether prosperous or adverse, in the public affairs-of the overthrow or restoration of kingdoms and nations; and are consequently very common in the prophetic poetry, particularly when any unusual degree of boldness is attempted. If the subject be the destruction of the Jewish empire by the Chaldeans, or a strong denunciation of ruin against the enemies of Israel, it is depicted in exactly the same colours as if universal nature were about to relapse into the primeval chaos. Thus Jeremiah, in that

sublime, and indeed more than poetical vision, in which is represented the impending desolation of Judea:

"I beheld the earth, and lo! disorder and confusion;

The heavens also, and there was no light.

I beheld the mountains, and lo! they trembled ;

And all the hills shook.

I beheld, and lo! there was not a man ;

And all the fowls of the heavens were fled.

I beheld, and lo! the fruitful field (was become) the desert;
And all its cities were thrown down,

Before the presence of JEHOVAH,
Before the fierce heat of his anger.'

And on a similar subject Isaiah expresses himself with wonderful force and sublimity :

"And he shall stretch over her the line of devastation,

And the plummet of emptiness."+

Each of them not only had in his mind the Mosaic chaos, but actually uses the words of the divine historian. The same subjects are amplified and embellished by the prophets with several adjuncts:

"The sun and the moon are darkened,
And the stars withdraw their shining.
JEHOVAH also will thunder from Sion,

And from Jerusalem will he utter his voice;
And the heavens and the earth shall shake.”‡
"And all the host of heaven shall waste away:
And the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll;
And all their host shall wither;

As the withered leaf falleth from the vine,

And as the blighted fig from the fig-tree."§

On the contrary, when he foretells the restoration of the Israelites :

"For I am JEHOVAH thy God;

He who stilleth at once the sea,
Though the waves thereof roar;
JEHOVAH God of Hosts is his name.
I have put my words in thy mouth;

And with the shadow of my hand have I covered thee:

* Jer. iv. 23-26. This image, and that which follows from Joel, the learned Michaelis will not allow to relate to the Mosaic chaos, but supposes them to be no more than a description of some horrible and desolating tempest. Of this the reader must judge for himself.-T.

Isa. xxxiv. 11.

Joel iii. 15, 16.

§ Isa. xxxiv. 4.

To stretch out the heavens, and to lay the foundations of the earth;

And to say unto Sion, Thou art my people.'

"Thus therefore shall JEHOVAH console Sion;

He shall console her desolations:

And he shall make her wilderness like Eden;
And her desert like the garden of JEHOVAH:
Joy and gladness shall be found in her;
Thanksgiving, and the voice of melody."+

In the former of these two last quoted examples, the universal deluge is exactly delineated, and on similar subjects the same imagery generally occurs. Thus, as the devastation of the Holy Land is frequently represented by the restoration of ancient Chaos, so the same event is sometimes expressed in metaphors suggested by the universal deluge: "Behold, JEHOVAH emptieth the land and maketh it waste; He even turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants.

For the flood-gates from on high are opened;
And the foundations of the earth tremble.
The land is grievously shaken;

The land is utterly shattered to pieces;

The land is violently moved out of her place;

* Isa. li. 15, 16. Ragang, "tranquilizing, (or) instantaneously stilling ;” it is commonly rendered clearing, dividing, not only in this but in the parallel places, Jer. xxxi. 35. Job xxvi. 12. I am, however, of opinion, that the meaning of the word has been totally mistaken. It denotes strictly something instantaneous; a cessation of motion, or a sudden quieting,—as when a bird. suddenly lights upon a tree. See Isa. xxxiv. 14. The Septuagint very properly renders it, in the above quoted passage in Job, xatstavos. Consult the Concordance.

"If any doubt can remain concerning this translation of the word Ragang, it will meet sufficient confirmation from the Arabic, in which the same verb implies, to reduce a thing to its former, or a better, state. Whence are derived the following words, Regang, a lake, (as it were a flood of water stopped and confined); Ragiang, to stop or confine a flood of water; Ragangan, stagnant or confined waters."-H.

Concerning the phrase "to stretch out the heavens," consult Vitring. in

loc.-Author's Note.

Ver. 16. To stretch out the heavens.] In the present text it is , to plant the heavens: the phrase is certainly very obscure, and in all probability is a mistake for no. This latter is the word used in ver. 13. just before, in the very same sentence; and this phrase occurs frequently in Isaiah, chap. xl. 22. xlii. 5. xliv. 24. xlv. 12. The former in no other place. It is also very remarkable, that in the Samaritan text, Numb. xxiv. 6. these two words are twice changed by mistake, one for the other, in the same verse."-Bishop Lowth's Isaiah, Notes, p. 356.

† Isa. li. 3.

The land reeleth to and fro like a drunkard;

And moveth this way and that, like a lodge for a night."

These are great ideas; indeed the human mind cannot easily conceive any thing greater or more sublime. There is nothing, however, of this kind more forcible and elevated than that imagery which is taken from the destruction of Sodom, that being the next in order of these topics, and generally applied to express the punishments to be inflicted by the Almighty on the wicked:

"He shall rain live coals upon the ungodly,

Fire and sulphur, and a burning storm:t this shall be the contents of their cup."‡

Isa. xxiv. 1. 18, 19, 20. "Bolekah, senuwσu avrny, (desolateth it), Sept. ; and in the same sense the Jewish commentators: amongst whom R. D. Kimchi, having recourse to the Arabic, says, the word Balokah signifies in that language, a place in which no plant is found to vegetate.”—II.

"The word Melunah properly signifies an abode changed nightly from place to place; and is therefore expressive of the vibrating and unstable situation of the earth. The Sept. is or@gopulaziov the Targ. and Syr. i, a couch for one night; a travelling bed. See Buxtorf, Ler Chald. col. 1670. Kimchi also explains the word in the same manner." H.-Author's Note.

This is an admirable image, and is taken from the school of nature. The wind Zilgaphoth, which blows from the east, is very pestilential, and therefore almost proverbial among the orientals. In the months of July and August, when it happens to continue for the space of ten minutes, it kills whatever is exposed to it. Many wonderful stories are related of its effects by the Arabians, and their poets feign that the wicked, in their place of eternal torment, are to breathe this pestiferous wind as their vital air.-M.

Psal. xi. 6. Pachim, “live coals," aveganas, as it is rendered by the old Translator, Chrys. in loc. Globes of fire, or meteors, such as Pliny calls Bolidas, Nat. Hist. ii. 26. or simply the lightning, seems to be understood. Compare Psal. xviii. 13, 14. Josephus on the Destruction of Sodom, “God assailed the city with his thunderbolts," Antiq. i. 11. Philo on the same, "Lightning fell down from heaven," De Vit. Mos. i. 12. This is certainly more agreeable to the context than snares. The root is Puach, which, though it sometimes means to insnare, yet more frequently means to breathe forth or emit fire, for instance. Ezek. xxi. 31. "In the fire of my wrath I will blow upon thee." The Ammonites are spoken of as thrown into the furnace of the divine wrath: compare ch. xxii. 21. where almost the same words occur, except that the corresponding (and in this case synonymous) verb Napach is made use of, whence Mapnach, a bellows, Jer. vi. 29. In the same sense the verb Puach is introduced, Prov. xxix. 8. "Scorners will inflame a city." So also the Sept. Symmachus, the Syriac; and rightly, as appears from the antithetic member of the sentence, "but wise men will turn away wrath.” From this explication of the root Puach, the word Pach, a coal blown up, is rightly derived; and Piach, (Exod. ix. 8.), embers, in which the fire may yet be excited by blowing.

"The true sense of the word Pachim in this place, burning coals, will easily be confirmed from the use of the verb Puach in the Arabic, to boil a