owner of all the caravans! He is dy- | sometimes, perhaps generally, convey ing for a cup of water-no one gives it ing the idea of a somewhat rough and to him-he offers all he possesses-no forcible projection, yet in this and sev one hears him-they are all dying-eral other instances has undoubtedly though by walking a few hours farther the import of a gentle depositing, laythey might be saved. If the camels ing down, or suffering to repose. Thus are lying down, and cannot be made to Fs. 55. 22, Cast (2) thy burden rise, no one has strength to walk; only upon the Lord;' i. 'e. cause or suffer he tha has a glass of that precious to lie. Jer. 38. 11, 'Let them down liquor lives to walk a mile farther, and, | (3) by cords into the dungeon perhaps, dies too. If the voyages on to Jeremiah;' which expresses not a seas are dangerous, so are those in the violent but a gentle demission. deserts. At sea, the provisions very often fail; in the desert it is worse: at sea, storms are met with ; in the desert there cannot be a greater storm than to find a dry well: at sea, one meets with pirates-we escape-we surrender -we die; in the desert they rob the traveller of all his property and water; they let him live, perhaps, but what a life!-to die the most barbarous and agonizing death. In short, to be thirsty in a desert, without water, exposed to the burning sun without shelter, and no hopes of finding either, is the most terrible situation that a man can be placed in, and one of the greatest sufferings that a human being can sustain: the eyes grow inflamed; the tongue and lips swell; a hollow sound is heard in the ears, which brings on deafness, and the brains appear to grow thick and inflamed: all these feelings arise from the want of a little water. If unfortunately any one falls sick on the road, there is no alternative; he must endure the fatigue of travelling on a camel, which is troublesome even to healthy people, or he must be left behind on the sand, without any assistance, and remain so till a slow death come to relieve him. What horror! No one remains with him, not even his old and faithful servant; no one will stay and die with him; all pity his fate, but no one will be his companion.' (Belzoni's Narrat. pp. 341-343.) T She cast the child. תשלך .Heb tashlëk. The original term, though 16. Sat her down over against him, a good way off, &c. A more finished picture of distress it would be difficult to adduce. The bitter cries and flowing tears of the afflicted mother, with the groans of her famishing son, are heard, and seen, and felt in a manner as though we were present. Had there been any ear to hear, any eye to pity, or any hand to help the sufferers, their cries and tears might have been mingled with hope; but as far as human aid was concerned, their condition was apparently desperate. But in God the fatherless and the friendless find mercy. Lost in the wilderness, outcast from society, ready to perish with hunger and thirst, they meet with the notice of Him who feeds the ravens, and without whom not a sparrow falleth to the ground.-For a vivid description of a heart-rending scene of suffering in the desert very nearly resembling this, see Scripture Illustrations,' p. 29.As it were a bow-shot. 'This,' says Mr. Roberts, 'is a common figure of speech in their ancient writings-'The distance of an arrow-so far as the arrow flies.' -T The common way of measuring a short distance is to say, It is a call off;' i. e. so far as a man's voice can reach. 'How far is he off?' O, not more than three calls;' i. e. were three men stationed within the reach of each other's voices, the voice of the one farthest off would reach to that distance,' 17. God heard the voice of the lad, Although it is no where expressly said that Ishmael put forth his voice either in sobs or groans, yet it 19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water: and she went, filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. 20 And God y was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. x Num. 22. 31. 2 Kings 6. 17, 18, 20. Luke 24. 16, 31. y ch. 28. 15. & 39. 2, 3, 21. z ch. 16. 12. 18. Hold him in thine hand. Heb. strengthen thine החזיקי את ידך בו | -very conceiva ble that he did. Such a supposition, hand upon him. Assist and support however, is not necessarily required by him; do not desert him, but afford evthe purport of the language. His suf- ery necessary aid. Thus by a similar fering and perishing condition had in usage Is. 42. 6, 'I the Lord have called itself a ' voice' which called loudly upon thee in righteousness, and will hold the divine compassion, and which God thine hand (Heb. will could hear, even though we suppose the strengthen upon thine hand), and will lad to have been so overcome with keep thee.' Comp. Note on Josh. 1. 5. hunger, thirst, and weariness, as to be 19. God opened her eyes, and she incapable of any vocal utterance. A saw a well. Not that she had hitherto voice with the sacred writers is some- lacked the use of the outward organs of times equivalent to a meaning, scope, sight, but the well of water had up to or purport. Thus Ex. 4. 8, 'If they this time escaped her notice, and its lowill not believe thee, nor hearken to cality was now unexpectedly made the voice of the first sign;' i. e. regard known to her. Thus of the disciples, the meaning or drift. Ps. 19. 3, 'There Luke 24. 31, 'And their eyes were is no speech nor language where their opened, and they knew him;' previous voice is not heard;' i. e. where their to which it is said, 'their eyes were purport is not intelligible. In like man- holden that they should not know him.' ner God may be said in this case to Thus too it is said Num. 22. 31, that have heard the voice of the lad in as 'The Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, far as he regarded the import of his and he saw the angel of the Lord condition, and pitied and purposed to standing in the way;' i. e. he was enarelieve him.- -The Angel of God bled to see what he had not observed called, &c. That is, the uncreated An- before. By a like metaphorical idiom gel; the Angel-Jehovah ; the same who to open or uncover the ear, (Heb.) appeared to Hagar on a former occa-1 Sam. 9. 15. 2 Sam. 7. 27, is to dission. Gen. 16. 7. -God hath heard close something to any one. the voice of the lad where he is. Heb. DET ER in that where he is; i. e. not merely in the place, but in the condition, in which he is; he hath heard his voice in observing and compassionating the afflictive circumstances to which he is reduced. 20. God was with the lad. That is, prospered him; blessed him in temporal respects. It is a genuine oriental phrase for favouring one and crowning him with prosperity and success in his undertaking. Chal. And the Word of the Lord was for the help of the 21 And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt. a ch. 24. 4. Now all the great external deserts mentioned in the Bible form, collectively, the northern part of this great desertbelt of Arabia. Let us then call this northern portion of the belt one desert. It forms by far the widest portion of the whole belt. For the sake of clearness, we may take as its southern boundary the thirtieth parallel of latitude, from the head of the Red Sea (at Suez) to the head of the Persian Gulf, being a line measuring about seven hundred miles. On this line, as a base, the desert extends northward in a triangular figure, the eastern side of which is formed by the Euphrates, and the western by Egypt, Palestine, and Syr child.' See Note on Josh. 3. 7.-¶ Dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. Not only an adept at the use of the bow and arrow in hunting, but also employing this as his principal | weapon on those occasions when, according to the prediction, ch. 16. 12, his hand began to be against every man, and every man's hand against hini.' The term unquestionably denotes warlike character and practices. It is but another mode of saying that he began to be distinguished for lawless predatory habits, as his descendants have always been. His expulsion from his father's house, and the way of life into which it forced him, would naturally tend to increase any inherent fero-a; the triangle measuring, from its city of temper he may have possessed, and to form and fix that character which was given of him by the Angel before he was born. God brings his predictions to pass, not always, nor generally, by miraculous means, but by the operation and concurrence of natural causes. It would seem that he gradually brought himself to bear, and finally to prefer, that way of living which had at first been obtruded upon him by the strong hand of necessity; and thus the prophecy entered upon its incipient fulfilment. 21. In the wilderness of Paran. 'This is one part of that great desert (external to Canaan) which it will be useful to consider as a whole, to assist in giving an idea of the connection of such of its parts as are mentioned under different names in the Scriptures. For this purpose we must figure the Arabian peninsula as an elevated tableland, encircled by a belt of flat, arid, and sandy ground. The only exception is on the southern coast, where a wall of lofty and wild rocks forms an inclosing rampart to Arabia Felix. base to its apex, about three hundred and fifty miles. But these dimensions limit the proportions of the actual desert, which encroaches considerably in different parts beyond the limits which, for the sake of a general view, we have assigned. This being understood, all the deserts of the Scripture, except those in Canaan itself, or the peninsula of Sinai, are included within this great desert. Indeed, the deserts of Sinai are but extensions of the same desert. The principal extent of this desert, that is, all that lies east or southeast of Canaan, is called by way of eminence, The Desert.' The other deserts are crowded into the western corner of the triangle, having Palestine and the Mediterranean on the north, the peninsula of Sinai on the south, Egypt on the west, and on the east joining the great desert, of which it is but a portion. This corner of the triangle contains 'the wilderness of Shur,'' the wilderness of Paran,' 'the wilderness of Zin' (not Sin), and the wilderness of Edom.' But the two last do not appear to be any other than different names for the 22 And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phichol the chief captain of his b ch. 20. 2. & 26. 26. C host spake unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest: c ch. 26. 28. yet, in this matter, subject himself so entirely to the will of his mother. It is a striking instance of the fixedness of oriental customs. 22. It came to pass at that time, &c. The mention of the present incident seems to be introduced here for the purpose of informing us how it was, that after a roving and unsettled life of sixty years, Abraham was at length favoured with somewhat of a long period of rest. It was indeed the will of Heaven that his lot in the main, even to the close of life, should be that of a sojourner and a pilgrim, but in the country of Abimelech he is blessed for a longer time than usual, with a tranquil abode. This was a well-timed comfort, coming as it did not long after the banishment of Ishmael and Hagar, and affording him the opportunity to whole or part of the wilderness of Paran. Thus, then, we reduce the deserts of this part to two, Shur, and Paran. Shur is mentioned in the Note to ch. 16. 7. The desert of Paran, which still retains its ancient name, extends southward from Palestine into the peninsula of Sinai. It is bounded on the west by the desert of Shur, and on the east by the gulf of Akaba and by the valley (El Ghor and El Araba) which extends between that gulf and the Dead Sea. The reports of modern travellers have only made us acquainted with the southern portion of this desert; that is, the part which is in or borders on the peninsula of Sinai. From the comparison of their accounts, it seems to be a dreary and desolate region, with a soil sometimes sandy, and at other times calcareous, strewed with loose pebbles and flints. The uniform-devote himself more leisurely to the ity of its surface is broken by various rearing of that son in whom not only chains of bills, and by numerous ra- his own but the hopes of the world were vines and glens, as well as by the beds centered. In regard to the conduct of of winter torrents, in which, from the Abimelech on this occasion, we may inequality of the surface, the rain-water observe (1.) The motive which induced collects and gives birth to a vegetation this friendly request; he 'saw that of low shrubs. Coloquintida grows God was with him.' Probably the abundantly in such situations, and is news of the extraordinary birth of Isaac collected by the Arabs for domestic and and of the various incidents which had medicinal uses.' Pict. Bible. His grown out of it, had reached the court mother took him a wife. The business of Abimelech and become a topic of of marriage in the East is generally conversation. This,' he would permanaged by the parents, and more es- haps say to himself, 'is a great man, pecially by the mother. She makes and a great family, and will become a the selections of partners for her chil- great nation; the blessing of heaven dren, and arranges all the preliming attends him. It is our wisdom thereries, except the settlement of the dow fore to take the earliest opportunity to ry, which is left to the father. put ourselves on good terms with him.' shews a peculiar deference to estab-In proposing this he was acting more lished usages that one living so wild for his interest than he was aware of, a life as Ishmael, one who was em- for God in blessing Abraham had promphatically a son of the desert, shouldised to 'bless them that blessed him, It d 23 Now therefore swear unto | I have done unto thee, thou shalt me here by God, that thou wilt do unto me, and to the land not deal falsely with me, nor with wherein thou hast sojourned. my son, nor with my son's son: 24 And Abraham said, I will but according to the kindness that swear. d Josh. 2. 12. 1 Sam. 24. 21. They seem to attach supernatural consequences to such an act, and to believe that the Almighty would resent having his name made subservient to earthly purposes. Their most solemn oath is, By God, and in God, and through God.'' Pict. Bible. 23. That thou wilt not deal falsely with me, &c. Heb. 3pwn be if thou shalt lie unto me. An elliptical mode of speech in which an imprecation is to be understood; the complete sentence standing somewhat thus, 'If thou doest so, woe be unto thee,' or, 'The Lord will avenge the perjury.' The sense therefore is, 'Swear to me and to curse them that cursed him.' In making a covenant, therefore, with Abraham he was virtually making a covenant with the God of Abraham. (2.) The solemnity with which he wished the friendship to be confirmed; 'Swear unto me by God.' With this request Abraham complied though we cannot suppose that he needed to be sworn not to deal falsely; but as posterity was concerned, the more solemn the engagement the better. But why should covenants, promises, oaths, be necessary in the commerce of human life? It is, alas, for no other reason than that men are false, treacherous, and perfidious. The manners and cus-here by God, who, if thou violatest this toms of past times only serve to convince us, that in every age the corruption of man has been so great upon the earth, that ordinary obligations will not bind; that without the sanctions of religion neither the sense of honour or justice or interest will avail to preserve men in a course of rigid integrity. No other argument is necessary to prove that our nature is depraved than the necessity of solemn appeals to the Deity, making 'an oath for confirmation an end of all strife.'-'Among the Arabs of the present day, the name of God is heard in almost every sentence they speak and it is not seldom invoked to give weight to the most mendacious assertions. But there is no peo-ed up their hands against me in the tell, ple who, with more fearfulness and awe, shrink, even in a just matter, from appealing to that great Name in a solemnly administered oath. Most Arabs would much rather lose a small sum than venture to swear in the name of God, however truly they might swear. compact, will avenge it, that according a field in the desert; or, in case that 1 or mine should fly to them for refuge, if they did not protect us at the risk of their lives, their families, and their fortunes, or, as they emphatically expressed it, to the death of the last male child among them.' |