V. 6. Those who are dearest to God, and children of promise, are sometimes called to bear strange and oppressive burdens.

V. 7. A spirit rightly disposed is peculiarly inquisitive as to all the particulars requisite to acceptable worship.

V. 10. One of the greatest triumphs of faith is to be willing to resign up our dear children when God revokes the boon of their lives.

V. 11. In the very crisis of the trial of his servants, when their faith meets with its sorest conflict, the Lord interposes his seasonable help for their deliverance.

V. 12. The main scope of the Divine temptations towards the saints is to elicit evidence of their being supremely ruled by his fear. No greater demonstration of this than to be willing to part with our dearest comforts and treasures for his sake.

V. 14. It is good to perpetuate the memory of signal mercies in connection with the places in which they have occurred. To those who humbly trust in the providing faithfulness of Jehovah, he will convert their mounts of obedience into mounts of consolation, and that so uniformly that it shall become proverbial.

V. 19. The Lord's tempted ones, after their severest conflicts, are returned in peace to the ordinary routine of the duties of life.

CHAPTER XXIII.

At what age and in what place did Sarah die? v. 1, 2.

Sarah

Old.' Heb. The lives of Sarah were,' &c. is the only woman mentioned in Scripture whose age

is expressly recorded.—' Kirjath-Arba;' i. e. the city of the four; so called, according to the Jews, from a tradition that four illustrious men, viz. Adam, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were buried at this place. A more accurate clew, however, to the origin of the name is afforded us, Josh. 14. 15, And the name of Hebron before was Kirjath-Arba; which Arba was a great man among the Anakims.'-The same is Hebron; inserted, not by Moses, but by some one in after times, as the place was not called Hebron' till after his death. Hebron,' at present called El Hhalil,' the friend, from its having been the residence of Abraham, the friend of God, is situated in the hillcountry in the south part of Canaan, on the ridge of mountains which runs southward from Jerusalem. The town, containing at present a mingled population of Arabs, Turks, and Jews, stands upon a declivity, surmounted by a strong castle. The streets are

winding, and the houses unusually high. It has a manufactory of glass lamps, which are exported to Egypt. A temple is erected over what is said to be the burying place of Abraham and Sarah, but the local features of the modern Hebron are so much at variance with the sacred history, that nothing can be gathered from them illustrative of its ancient topography. It is computed to be 27 miles S. W. of Jerusalem.

What is to be understood by the phrase, 'Abraham came to mourn for Sarah?'

'Came; Heb. 'went in;' i. e. into Sarah's tent, which was distinct from his own.

Gen. 24. 67.

Weep for her; Heb. 'weep her ;' i. e. lament or bewail her. What followed his mourning? v. 3, 4.

This denotes the

'Stood up from before his dead.' moderation of his mourning, and the comparative ease with which, from a principle of piety, he was enabled to subdue his emotions, and to rise up and engage in the active duties of life. Sons of Heth ;' i. e.

Hittites. Abraham's proposition to purchase a field for a burying place was a token of his faith in the promise of the future possession of this land by his posterity; for the procuring of a sepulchre of one's own was regarded as a sign of the confirmation of a man's right and title to the land in which it is situated. This doubtless is the import of the following passage; Is. 22. 16, What hast thou here, and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, as he that heweth him out a sepulchre on high, and that graveth a habitation for himself in a rock;' i. e. hast taken possession as though the land of Israel were thine own.

What was the ancient mode of burial?

From the Heb. ' Keber,' sepulchre, is derived, by a common transposition of letters, the German Grab,' and from this comes our Eng. Grave.' The predominant import of the original is a subterranean vault or grotto, generally excavated by human art, used as a place of deposit for the dead. Tombs of this description were almost universally made use of as places of interment for the rich and noble, while the inferior classes were usually buried in the public cemeteries, which resembled the grave-yards of modern times. The subterranean chambers above mentioned were often cut out of the solid rock, and closed by a huge stone for a door. They consisted of one or more rooms, with a range of narrow cells or niches running along their sides, wide enough for the reception of a single coffin, or sarcophagus, (i. e. a flesh-consumer, from the bodies wasting away in them by time,) and in some cases long enough for two or three. The technical name applied to these sepulchral caverns by travellers is Crypta. They are found all over Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. What answer was given by the sons of Heth? v. 5, 6.

Mighty Prince;' Heb. Prince of God.' The name of God is frequently affixed to words to give intensity

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of meaning, or to denote excellence of the superlative degree in the subject spoken of. Thus Ps. 36. 6, 'Great mountains; Heb. ' mountains of God.' Gen. 30, 8, Great wrestlings; Heb. wrestlings of God.' 1 Sam. 14. 15, Very great trembling; Heb. 'trembling of God.' Ps. 80, 10, Goodly cedars;' Heb. 'cedars of God.' Acts 7, 20, (Moses) was exceeding fair; Gr. fair to God.' Here the Gr. of the Sept. renders mighty prince,'' a king of God,' and the Chal. a prince before the Lord.' So in 1 Chron. 24. 5, the priests who in our translation are termed 'governors of the house of God,' are in the original called 'princes of God;' i. e. eminent and honorable rulers.'In the choice of our sepulchres ;' i. e. in the best of our sepulchres.'

What did Abraham reply? v. 7-9.

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'Bowed down ;' or, did obeisance ;' the same word as that often rendered worship,' importing an act of respectful reverence. Gr. worshipped the people of the land.' Chal. the same. If it be your mind ;' Heb. if it be with your soul.' Soul' often occurs in the sacred writings in the sense of will, desire, prevailing inclination. Thus, Ps. 27. 12, Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies.' Heb. ' unto the soul.' Deut. 21. 14, Go whither she will.' Heb. ' go according to her soul.' Ps. 105. 22, To bind his princes at his pleasure; Heb. at his soul;' Gr.' if ye have it in your souls;' Chal. 'if it be the pleasure of your soul. Hear me;' i. e. gratify me; comply with my wishes in this particular. See note on Gen. 16. 2. Macpelah ;' i. e. cave of doubleness. The reason of the appellation is not certainly known; perhaps the cave might have contained two separate chambers, both used as a place of sepulture. Gr. and let him give me the double cave which is in part of his field.'

How was the proposition received by Ephron ? v. 10, 11.

In the audience;' Heb. ' in the ears.'-Bargains used anciently to be entered into and solemnly confirmed in the gates of cities from the ease of procuring witnesses, as written documents were then but little in Vogue.

What did Abraham say in return, and what was the final result? v. 12-16.

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But if thou wilt give it.' The words italicized are not in the original. The sense of the passage may be, if thou art he (Ephron) of whom I spake,' v. 8. He had before heard his name, but was unacquainted with his person, and not aware till now of his being present.Shekels.' The Heb. word comes from Shakal,' to weigh, from which is derived, by transposition of letters, the Eng. scale,' an instrument of weighing. It is so called from the fact that the value of money was anciently reckoned by weight. For this reason the word shekel' is at once the name of a weight and of a coin. The value of the Jewish shekel' was not far from fifty cents, American money. The price therefore that Ephron set upon his field may be fixed at about two hundred dollars. It could not therefore have been a very small tract which in that age should bring so considerable a sum. In fact, the legitimate sense of the original word for 'field' is that of an extensive tract of country, answering rather to a modern township or county than to a single farm. Current money with the merchant;' Gr. allowed or approved of merchants;' Chal. which was taken for merchandise in any country.'

By whom was the contract witnessed? v. 17, 18.

Were made sure; Heb. 'stood, or stood up;' i. e. were made stable, sure, confirmed. This purchase thus ratified was a prophetical pledge to Abraham that his posterity should inherit that land; in the same manner as Jeremiah's buying his uncle's field, and having the contract confirmed before witnesses,