CHAPTER V. Ver. 6. Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces; because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased. The lion prowls about in the day, which I have often witnessed in Africa; but the habits of the wolf are different, as it seldom makes its appearance before sunset, after which it comes forth, like other thieves of the night, in search of prey. I never, when moving about in Africa, saw more than one wolf stalking about in daylight, and that was in a most forsaken part, where, to a great extent, the land was absolutely paved with flag-stones, the same as the side pavements in our streets; but when night came, they were constantly howling and hovering around our encampment. The habit of the leopard, also, is to be slumbering in concealment during the day; but the darkness rouses him, and he comes forth seeking what he may devour. It is of the tiger species, and rather smaller. The wolves and leopards should have the boldness to prowl about their cities, as the wild beasts did about our wagons in the wilderness, so that it should be most hazardous for man or beast to venture outside their walls.-CAMPBELL. The rapacious character of the wolf was familiarly known to the ancients, for both the Greek and Latin poets frequently mention it. In the first book of the Georgics, Virgil says, this office was given to the wolf by Jupiter, to hunt the prey. The rapacious wolf, is a phrase which often occurs in the odes of Horace; and Ovid, in one of his Elegies, sings, how the wolf, rapacious and greedy of blood, when pressed by famine, plunders the unguarded fold: his ravenous temper prompts him to destructive and sanguinary depredations. He issues forth in the night, traverses the country, and not only kills what is sufficient to satisfy his hunger, but, everywhere, unless deterred by the barking of dogs or the vociferation of the shepherds, destroys a whole flock; he roams about the cottages, kills all the animals which have been left without, digs the earth under the doors, enters with a dreadful ferocity, and puts every living creature to death, before he chooses to depart, and carry off his prey. When these inroads happen to be fruitless, he returns to the woods, searches about with avidity, follows the track of wild beasts, and pursues them in the hope that they may be stopped and seized by some other wolf, and that he may be a partaker of the spoil. "To appease hunger," says Buffon, "he swallows indiscriminately every thing he can find, corrupted flesh, bones, hair, skins half tanned and covered with lime;" and Pliny avers, that he devours the earth on which he treads, to satisfy his voracious appetite. When his hunger is extreme, he loses the idea of fear; he attacks women and children, and even sometimes darts upon men; till, becoming perfectly furious by excessive exertions, he generally falls a sacrifice to pure rage and distraction. He has been accordingly joined with the lion in executing punishment upon wicked men; and it is evident from his character and habits, that he is well adapted to the work of judgment: "The great men," said Jeremiah, "have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds; wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them." The rapacious and cruel conduct of the princes of Israel, is compared by Ezekiel to the mischievous inroads of the same animal: "Her princes in the midst thereof, are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain." The disposition of the wolf to attack the weaker animals, especially those which are under the protection of man, is alluded to by our Lord in the parable of the hireling shepherd: "The wolf catches them and scatters the flock;" and the apostle Paul, in his address to the elders of Ephesus, gives the name of this insidious and cruel animal, to the false teachers who disturbed the peace, and perverted the faith of their people: "I know this, that after my departing, shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock." Ovid gives him the same character in his fable of Lycaon.-PAXTON. Ver. 8. They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour's wife. The same term is used in the East to denote a similar thing. It is said, "Listen to that evil man, he is always neighing." "O that wicked one, he is like the horse in his phrensy." "The men of that family are all neighers." Heathenism is ever true to itself; impurity is its inseparable companion.-Roberts. CHAPTER VI. Ver. 1. O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Beth-haccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction. The methods by which the besieged in time of war endeavoured to defend themselves and their families were various. When the enemy approached, they gave notice to their confederates to hasten their assistance. In the day, this was done by raising a great smoke; in the night, by fires or lighted torches. If the flaming torch was intended to announce the arrival of friends, it was held still; but on the approach of an enemy, it was waved backwards and forwards, an apt emblem of the destructive tumults of war. In allusion to this practice, the prophet Jeremiah calls to the people of Benjamín and Judah; "Gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoah, and set up a sign of fire in Beth-haccerem; for evil approaches out of the north, and great destruction.”— PAXTON. In Beth-haccerem there might possibly be a very high tower. Kimchi observes that the word signifies a high tower, for the keepers of the vines to watch in. If it were so, it was a very proper place to set up the sign of fire in, to give notice to all the surrounding country. It was usual with the Persians, Grecians, and Romans, to signify in the night by signs of fire, and by burning torches, either the approach of an enemy, or succour from friends. The former was done by shaking and moving their torches; the latter by holding them still.-Burder. Ver. 2. I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman. A passage of D'Arvieux will account for that surprise, which he supposes the daughters of Jerusalem would notwithstanding feel, upon seeing the swarthiness of the person which Solomon had chosen for his spouse, as it shows the attention usually paid by the great men of the East to the complexion of their wives, as well as the great tanning power of the sun in Palestine. "The princesses, and the other Arab ladies, whom they showed me from a private place of the tent, appeared to me beautiful and well-shaped; one may judge by these, and by what they told me of them, that the rest are no less so; they are very fair, because they are always kept from the sun. The women in common are extremely sunburnt, besides the brown and swarthy colour which they naturally have," &c. Naturally, he says, though this most permanent swarthiness must arise from the same cause with that temporary tanning he speaks of, or otherwise the Arab princesses would have been swarthy, though not sunburnt, being natives of the country, which yet, he affirms, they were not. It is on this account, without doubt, that the prophet Jeremiah, when he would describe a comely woman, describes her by the character of one that dwelleth at home. The delicate, and those that are solicitous to preserve their beauty, go very little abroad: it seems it was so anciently, and therefore the prophet uses a term to express a woman of beauty, which would not be very applicable to many British fine ladies.-HARMER. Ver. 20. To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt-offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me. The sweet-smelling reed grows in the deserts of Arabia. It is gathered near Jambo, a port_town of Arabia Petrea, from whence it is brought into Egypt. Pliny says it is common to India and Syria. This plant was probably among the number of those which the queen of Sheba | interpreters is unfounded. It is more natural to suppose, presented to Solomon; and what seems to confirm the opinion is, that it is still very much esteemed by the Arabs on account of its fragrance. It is likely the sweet cane of Jeremiah, who calls it prime, or excellent, and associates it with incense from Sheba. "To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country?" And, in allusion to the same plant, Isaiah complains in the name of Jehovah, "Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money." In the book of Exodus, it is called "sweet calamus," and is said to come "from a far country;" which agrees with the declaration of ancient writers, that the best is brought from India.-PAXTON. Ver. 24. We have heard the fame thereof; our hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, and pain as of a woman in travail. When a person is hungry, or weary, or when he hears bad news, it is said, "His hands have become weak." "His hands have turned cold."-ROBERTS. CHAPTER VII. Ver. 34. Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride; for the land shall be desolate. It was the custom in the East, even in modern times, to conduct the bride and bridegroom through the streets, with the loudest demonstrations of joy. Rauwolf found this custom also prevalent in Aleppo. "When a Turkish woman is going to be married, and the bridegroom is conducted to her house, their relations and friends, who are invited to the wedding, as they go along through the streets cry with such a loud voice, which they gradually raise as they advance, that they can be heard from one street to the other." When the prophet paints a period of public distress, he says among other things, "The voice of the bride and the bridegroom shall no longer be heard." Thus, in Persia, no marriages are celebrated during Lent, (the month of Ramadan,) and the solemnities of mourning in memory of Hossein; because every thing must then be still and mournful. (Olearius.)-ROSENMULLER. CHAPTER VIII. Ver. 7. Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle, and the crane, and the swallow, observe the time of their coming but my people know not the judgment of the LORD. See on Ps. 104. 17. Some interpreters imagine, that by the phrase, "the stork in the heaven," the prophet means to distinguish between the manner of her departure, and that of other migrating birds. The storks collect in immense numbers, and darken the air with their wide-extended squadrons, as they wing their flight to other climes; while many other birds of passage come and go in a more private and concealed manner. But, if this was the prophet's design, he ought not to have introduced the crane, or our translators should have found another sense for the term which he uses; for the crane is seen pursuing her annual journey through the heavens equally as the stork, and in numbers sufficient to engage the public attention. When Dr. Chandler was in Asia, about the end of August, he saw cranes flying in vast caravans, passing high in the air, from Thrace as he supposed, on their way to Egypt. But, in the end of March, he saw them in the Lesser Asia, busily engaged in picking up reptiles, or building their nests. Some of them, he assures us, built their nests in the ruins of an old fortress; and that the return of the crane, and the beginning of the bees to work, are considered there as a sure sign that the winter is past. The first clause of that verse then, equally suits the stork and the crane; and by consequence, the conjecture of these that the prophet alludes to the impression which the atmo sphere makes upon these birds, and the hint which instinct immediately suggests, that the time of their migration is come. As soon as they feel the cold season approaching, or tepid airs beginning to soften the rigours of winter, in the open firmament of heaven, where they love to range, they perceive the necessity of making preparations for their departure, or their return. The state of the weather is the only monitor they need to prepare for their journey, -their own feelings, the only guides to direct their long and adventurous wanderings. But it is most probable that the prophet by these words, "in the heaven," which by the structure of the clause he seems to apply exclusively to the stork, as a peculiar trait in her character, intends to express both the astonishing rapidity of her flight, when she starts for distant regions, and the amazing height to which she soars. She is beyond almost any other, a bird "in the heaven," journeying on the very margin of ether, far above the range of the human eye. From the union of the stork and the crane in the same passage, from the similarity of their form and habits of life, Harmer thinks it by no means improbable, that the Hebrew word hasida signifies both these, and, in one word, the whole class of birds that come under the prophet's description. But that respectable writer has no foundation for his opinion; the stork and the crane, although they resemble each other in several particulars, belong to different families, and are distinguished in Hebrew by diffe rent names. The return of these birds to the south, marked the approach of winter, and the time for the mariner to lay up his frail bark; for the ancients never ventured to sea during that stormy season. Stillingfleet has given a quotation from Aristophanes, which is quite appropriate. The crane points out the time for sowing, when she flies with her warning notes to Egypt; she bids the sailor hang up his rudder and take his rest, and every prudent man provide himself with winter garments. On the other hand, the flight of these birds towards the north, proclaimed the approach of spring. The prophet accordingly mentions the times appointed for the stork in the plural number, which is probably used to express both the time of her coming and of her departure. No doubt is entertained about the meaning of the second term; it is universally allowed to denote the turtle; and as the voice of the turtle and the song of the nightingale are coincident, it seems to be the prophet's intention to mark out the coming of a bird later in the spring than the hasida, for, according to Chardin, the nightingale begins to be heard some days later than the appearance of the stork, and the termination of winter.-PAXTON. marks out the beginning of spring, as the stork indicates Should a husband be fond of roving from his house, and remaining in other places, his wife says, "The storks know their time and place, but my husband does not know." "In the rain neither the Koku nor other birds will depart from their nestlings: but my husband is always leaving us." "Ah! my wicked son! would that he, as the stork, knew his appointed time and place!"-ROBERTS. Ver. 17. For behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the LORD. See on Eccl. 10. 11. Ps. 58. 5, 6. and Is. 11. 8. The East Indian jugglers ascribe it to the power of a certain root that they touch venomous serpents without danger, and are able to do with them whatever they please. This is confirmed by one of the best-informed and most judicious observers, Mr. Kaempfer, a German physician, who practised his profession from the year 1682, for twelve years, in several countries in Asia. In his instructive work, written in Latin, in which he has recorded the greater part of his observations, a separate chapter is dedicated to the arts of the East India charmers of serpents, the substance of which we will add here. man, infuses, by its bite, a most deadly poison into the wound. Those who are bit by it are immediately seized with fits and oppression, and expire in convulsions, unless speedy assistance is given; at least they hardly escape mortification, in the injured part, and the cure of which is difficult, if antidotes are applied too late. This serpent, which belongs to the class of vipers, is from three to four feet long, and of a middling thickness; its skin is scaly, and beautifully striped, rough, dark brown, and belly white. When provoked, this viper has the peculiar property of puffing up the skin on both sides of the neck, and extending it like a fillet, which, on the reverse side, shows like a pair of spectacles, distinctly marked with a white colour, the circles of which are visible in the skin, which is spread round the head; thus, with its body raised, and extended jaws, displaying two rows of sharp teeth, it darts upon the enemy with surprising swiftness. That this formidable animal should be brought, by singing, to make, before spectators, movements resembling a dance, is incredible to those who hear it, and an agreeable and astonishing sight to those that witness it. But if we examine this serpent dance more closely, and learn how these animals are taught, we shall find every thing very natural: I will first describe the dance, as it is called. "A charmer of serpents, who intends to display his art, before he does any thing, takes a piece of a certain root, of which he always carries some in the scarf which he wears round his waist, in his right hand, which he closes firmly; this root, according to his declaration, defends him against all attacks from serpents, so that he can do any thing with them without being endangered upon this, he throws the serpent upon the ground out of the vessel in which he carries it about, and gently irritates it with a stick, or with the clinched fist in which he holds this root. The provoked animal, resting on the point of its tail, raises up its whole body, and darts upon the fist, which he holds out to him, with extended jaws, from which the hissing tongue is protruded, and with flaming eyes. The charmer now begins his song, at the same time moving his fist backward and forward, up and down, according to the time. The serpent, with its eyes constantly directed towards the fist, imitates its movements with its head and whole body, so that without quitting its place, and resting on its tail, it extends its head two spans long, and moves to and fro, together with the body, in beautiful undulations, which is called dancing: this, however, does not last longer than half a quarter of an hour; for, exhausted by the erect position, and movements to the time, the serpent throws itself upon the ground and escapes: to avoid this, the charmer breaks off his song a little before, when the serpent lays itself quietly upon the ground, and suffers itself to be brought back to its receptacle. "The question now is, how it is effected, that the serpent follows the motion of the hand which is held before it? whether by the secret power of the root held in it? or by the song of the charmer? These people, indeed, affirm that this effect is produced by both. The root, say they, causes the serpent to do no harm, and the song makes it dance. They, therefore, bring this root to the spectators to purchase, and do not much like to let any one approach a dancing serpent without having previously secured himself with it; but that others may not be able to discover what root it is, they cut them only in very small pieces, which in taste and external appearance resemble the sarsaparilla, but are only a little stronger. But we must not believe that the root makes the serpent harmless, and that the song makes it dance. I threw two pieces of the root, which I had purchased for a trifle from a charmer, to a serpent which was quietly lying on the ground after the dance was finished; but it did not cause it to move, nor did it show any sign of aversion. But no person of sense in our days, probably, can believe that serpents are so charmed by the song, that they dance; and David, in the well-known passage in the Psalms, does not appear to say this. In short, according to my conviction, it is only fear, by which this species of serpents, which is more docile than any other, is taught to follow the motions of its master's hand, which is held before it, and so makes movements with its body resembling a dance. I myself saw how a Hindoo of the Bramin tribe, who lived in a suburb of Nagapatam, instructed such a serpent to dance in a few days, by means of a stick and a basin, which he held before it: they are ren dered harmless by employing the poison-bags at the root of the canine teeth of the upper jaw, which is done by provoking them, and making them bite a cloth, or some other soft and warm body, and repeating this for some days successively."-BURDER. Ver. 20. The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. Has a man lost a good situation, it is said, "His harvest is past." Is a person amassing much money, it is said, "He is gathering in his harvest."-ROBERTS. CHAPTER IX. Ver. 1. Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! : People in the East, on their journeys to other towns or countries, are obliged to travel through the most lonely wilds. Hence the native sovereigns, or opulent men, erect what are called rest-houses, or choultries, where the travellers or pilgrims reside for the night. It is in the wilderness where the devotees and ascetics live retired from men there, either for life, or for a short period, they perform their austerities, and live in cynical contempt of man. When a father is angry with his family, he often exclaims, "If I had but a shade in the wilderness, then should I be happy I will become a pilgrim, and leave you." Nor is this mere empty declamation to alarm his family; for numbers in every town and village thus leave their homes, and are never heard of more. There are, however, many who remain absent for a few months or years, and then return. Under these circumstances, it is no wonder, when a father or husband threatens his family he will retire to the kātu, i. e. wilderness, that they become greatly alarmed. But men who have been reduced in their circumstances become so mortified, that they also retire from their homes, and wander about all their future lives as pilgrims. "Alas! alas! I will retire to the jungle, and live with wild beasts," says the broken-hearted widow. "Oh for a lodge in some vast wilderness, Some boundless contiguity of shade." (Cowper.)—ROBERTS. Ver. 8. Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait. The circumstance related by Mr. Mungo Park, in the following extract, might possibly have its parallel in the conduct of the ancients; and if it had, clearly accounts for such figures as that used by the prophet: "Each of the negroes took from his quiver a handful of arrows, and putting two between his teeth, and one in his bow, waved to us with his hand to keep at a distance." (Travels in Africa.)-BURder. Ver. 17. Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come: 18. And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters. The custom of hiring women to weep at funerals, who were called by the Romans præficæ, has been preserved in the East to this day. J. H. Mayer, one of the latest travellers who visited Egypt and Syria in 1812 and 1813, makes the following observations. "I here found the mourning women, who are several times spoken of in the Bible, and of whom I could not form a proper notion. This ancient custom has been retained here to this day. I have often seen the ceremony, but most clearly and nearest here, in Medini, an Egyptian village. Fifteen or twenty women, dressed in dark, with a black or dark-blue handkerchief round their heads, assemble before the house of the deceased; one of them beats a talourine, the others move in a circle, keeping time to the instrument, singing at the same time the praises of the deceased; in the space of a minute they clasp their hands twenty or thirty times together before their face, and then let them drop to the knee. The constant violent motion changes the ceremony into a dance; every moment a piercing cry, almost like a whistle, is heard from one of the attendants. The mourning continues seven days, during which the nearest female relation, accompanied by mourning women, visit the grave of the deceased, and as they march along, alternately utter this shrill and piercing cry."-ROSENMULLER. Immediately after death the people of the house begin to make a great lamentation: they speak of the virtues of the deceased, and address the body in very touching language. The female relations come together, and beat their breasts. Their long hair is soon dishevelled: they sit down on the floor around the corpse, put their arms on each others' shoulders, and in a kind of mournful recitative bewail the loss of their friend. age? My lion, my arrow, my blood, my body, my soul, my third eye! gone, gone, gone. Ah! who was so near to his mother? To whom will she now say, son? What! gone without assisting us in our old age? Ah! what will thy betrothed do? I hoped thou wouldst have lived to see our death. Who will now perform the funeral rites for us? Who will light up the pile? Who will perform the annual ceremonies? To the bats, to the bats, my house is now given." The daughter over the body of her mother says, "Alas! what shall I do in future? We are like chickens, whose mother is killed. Motherless children are beaten on the head. We are like the honeycomb hanging on the trees, at which a stone has been thrown: all, all are scattered." She says to the females who are coming to mourn over her mother, "I am the worm which has to eat a dead body. Though you should give me a large vessel full of water, it will not quench my thirst so well as a few drops from the hand of my mother! My mother has gone, and left us for the streets. Who lulled me to repose? Who bathed me near the well? Who fed me with milk? Ah! my father also is dead. Why have you gone without seeing the splendour of my bridal day? Did you not promise to deck me for the festive scene? What! am I to be alone that day? Ah! my mother, how shall I know how to conduct myself? When I am married, should my husband use me ill, to whom shall I go? Who will now teach me to manage household affairs? Ah! there is nothing like a mother! How many pains, how many difficulties, have you had with me? What have I done for you? Alas! alas! had you been long sick, I might have done something for you. Ah! you told me disobedience would be my ruin. You are gone: why did I not obey you? My fate, my fate! my mother, my mother! will you not look at me? Are you asleep? You told us you should die before our father. My mother, will you not again let me hear your voice? When I am in pain, who will say, fear not, fear not? I thought you would have lived to see the marriage of my daughter. Come hither, my infant, look at your grandmother. Was I not nursed at those breasts? You said to my father, when you were dying, 'Love my children.' You said to my husband, Cherish my daughter.' Ah! did you not bless us all? My mother, my mother, that name I will not repeat again." I have sometimes been not a little affected to hear their exclamations. See the wife bending over the dead body of her husband; listen to her lamentations:-" Ah, how many years have we been married, and lived happily together? never were we separated, but now! Alas, my king, my kingdom, my master, my wealth, my eyes, my body, my soul, my god. Shall I make an offering to Brama, because thou art taken away? Now will your enemies rejoice, because your are gone. Did the gods call for you? are you in Siva's mount? Though I saw you die, I am still alive. When shall I again see the light of your beautiful countenance? O when again shall I behold his noble mien? how can I look upon that face which was once like the full-blown lotus, but now withered and dry. When shall I again see his graceful bearing in the palanquin. Alas! my name is now the widow. When will my aged father again say to you, son-in-law? Do the eyes which saw the splendour of my bridal day witness this deadly scene? In future, by whom will these children being out for me. How often she used to say, 'My son, my defended? When I am sick, who will go for the far-famed doctor? When my children cry, to whom shall I complain? When they are hungry, to whom will they say, father? Ah! my children, my children, you must now forget that pleasant word.” Hear the daughter over her father.-"My father, had I not my existence from you? Who had me constantly in his arms, lest I should fall? Who would not eat except I was with him? Who fed me with rice and milk? When I was dejected, who purchased me bracelets? Who purchased the beautiful jewel for my forehead? O! my god, you never could bear to look in my withered face. Who will now train my brothers? Who procured me the tali? (husband.) To whom shall I go when my husband is angry? Under whose shade shall my husband and children now go? To whom will my children now say, grandfather? In whose face will my mother now look? Alas! my father, my father, you have left us alone." Listen to the son over his father:-"From infancy to manhood you have tenderly nursed me. Who has given me learning? Who has taught me to conduct myself with discretion? Who caused me to be selected by many? Who would not eat if I had the headache? Who would not allow me to be fatigued by walking? Who gave me the beautiful palanquin? Who loved to see his son happy? Whose eyes shone like diamonds on his son? Who taught me to prepare the fields? who taught me agriculture? Ah! my father, I thought you would have lived to partake of the fruits of the trees I had planted. Alas! alas! I shall now be called the fatherless son." Hear the aged father over the body of his son :-" My son, my son, art thou gone? What! am I left in my old The son says to the mourning women, "Ah! was she not the best of mothers? Did she not conceal my faults? Can I forget her joy when she put the bracelets on my wrists. O! how she did kiss and praise me, when I had learned the alphabet. She was always restless while I was at school, and when I had to return, she was always look son, come and eat;' but now, who will call me?" Then, taking the hand of his deceased mother into his own, he asks, and are the worms to feed on this hand which has fed me?" Then, embracing her feet, "Ah! these will never more move about this house. When my great days are come, in whose face shall I look? Who will rejoice in my joy? When I go to the distant country, who will be constantly saying, 'Return, return? Ah! how did she rejoice on my wedding day. Who will now help and comfort my wife? If she did not see me every moment, she was continually saying, 'My son, my son.' Must I now apply the torch to her funeral pile? Alas! alas! I am too young for that. What! have the servants of the funeral house been anxious to get their money? Could they not have waited a few years? What do those bearers want? Have you come to take away my mother?" Then, lying on the bier by her side, he says, "Take me also. Alas! alas! is the hour come? I must now forget you. Your name must never again be in my mouth. I must now perform the annual ceremony. O life, life! the bubble, the bubble!" Listen to the affectionate brother over the body of his sister:-"Were we not a pair? why are we separated? Of what use am I alone? Where is now my shade? I will now be a wanderer. How often did I bring you the fragrant lotus? but your face was more beautiful than that flower. Did I not procure you jewels? Who gained you the bridegroom? Have I not been preparing to make a splendid show on your nuptial day? Alas! all is vanity. How fatal is this for your betrothed. For whose sins have you been taken away? You have vanished like the goddess Lechimy. In what birth shall we again see you? How many suiters waited for you? You have poured fire into my bowels: my senses have gone, and I wander about like an evil spirit. Instead of the marriage ceremonies, we are now attending to those of your funeral. I may get another mother, for my father can marry again: I may acquire children; but a sister, never, never. Ah! give me one look: let your lotus-like face open once-one smile. Is this your marriage ceremony? I thought one thing, but fate thought another. You have escaped like lightning: the house is now full of darkness. When I go to the distant town, who will give me her commissions? To whom shall we give your clothes and jewels? My sister, I have to put the torch to your funeral pile. You said, 'Brother, we will never part; we will live together in one house :' but you are gone. I refused to give you to the youth in the far country; but now whither have you gone? To whom shall I now say, I am hungry? Alas! alas! my father planted cocoa, mango, and jack trees in YOUR name, but you have not lived to eat the fruit thereof. I have been to tell them you are gone. Alas! I see her clothes: take them away. Of what use is that palanquin now? Who used to come jumping on the road to meet me? If I have so much sorrow, what must have been that of your mother for ten long moons? Whose evil eye has been upon you? Who aimed the blow? Will there ever again be sorrow like this? My belly smokes. Ah, my sister, your gait, your speech, your beauty, all gone: the flower is witheredthe flower is withered. Call for the bier; call for the musicians." Husbands who love their wives are exceedingly pathetic in their exclamations: they review the scenes of their youth, and speak of their tried and sincere affection. The children she has borne are also alluded to; and, to use an orientalism, the man is plunged into a sea of grief. What, the apple of my eye gone? My swan, my parrot, my deer, my Lechimy? Her colour was like gold, her gait like the stately swan, her waist was like lightning, her teeth were like pearls, her eyes like the kiyal fish, (oval,) her eyebrows like the bow, and her countenance like the full-grown lotus. Yes, she has gone, the mother of my children. No more welcome, no more smiles in the evening when I return. All the world to me is now as the place of burning. Get ready the wood for my pile. O! my wife, my wife, listen to the voice of thy husband."ROBERTS. CHAPTER X. Ver. 5. They are upright as the palm-tree, but speak not; they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good. From the first clause, it is evident that he alluded also to the shape of their gods. Before the art of carving was carried to perfection, the ancients made their images all of a thickness, straight, having their hands hanging down and close to their sides, the legs joined together, the eyes shut, with a very perpendicular attitude, and not unlike to the body of a palm-tree; such are the figures of those antique Egyptian statues that still remain. The famous Greek architect and sculptor Daedalus, set their legs at liberty, opened their eyes, and gave them a freer and easier attitude. But according to some interpreters, and particularly Mr. Parkhurst, the inspired writer sometimes gives it a more honourable application; selecting it to be the symbol of our blessed Redeemer, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree. The voice of antiquity ascribes to the palm, the singular quality of resisting a very great weight hung upon it, and of even bending in the contrary direction, to counterbalance the pressure. Of this circumstance, Xenophon takes notice in his Cyropedia; και δη πιεζομενοι οι φοινικές υπο βαρους ανω κυρτουνται ; “ and indeed, palm-trees when loaded with any weight, rise upward, and bend the contrary way." The same observation was made by Plutarch. It has been already observed, that the Hebrew name of the palm-tree is Thamar; and in the Old Testament, we meet with a place in Canaan called Baalthamar, in honour, it is probable, of Baal or the sun, for many ages the object of universal veneration among the Orientals; and who had been worshipped there by the Canaanites under this attribute, as supporting the immense pressure of the celestial fluid on all sides, and sustaining the various parts and operations of universal nature in their respective situations and courses. The symbol of this support, stolen and perverted as usual from the sacred ritual, appears to have been a palm-tree, which was also the symbol of support among the Greeks and Egyptians. With how much greater propriety is it the appointed symbol of him who sustained the inconceivable pressure of divine wrath for his people, and was so far from being utterly depressed under such a load of sin and punishment, that he successfully endured all that the law and justice of his Father demanded, rose victorious over death and the grave; and shall for ever, as these interpreters suppose, flourish like the palm-tree, and grow or spread abroad like the cedar in Lebanon !" Hence in the outer temple, (the symbol of Jehovah incarnate,) palmtrees were engraved on the walls and doors between the coupled cherubs. And for this reason, the prophetess Deborah is supposed to have fixed her dwelling under a palm-tree, emblematically to express her trust, not in the idolatrous Ashtaroth or Blessers, at that time the abomination of Israel, but in the promised Messiah, who was to be made perfect through sufferings. At the feast of tabernacles, the people of Israel were to take branches of palmtrees; at once to typify Jehovah's dwelling in our nature, and the spiritual support which, by this means, all true believers derive from him; and also, to ascribe to him as the Creator and Preserver of all things, in opposition to Baal or the sun, the honour of sustaining the operations of nature in producing and ripening the fruits of the earth. The feast of tabernacles was also the feast of ingathering; and every person in the least acquainted with the customs of oriental nations knows, that the palm was among idolaters the chosen symbol of the sun, and consecrated to that luminary; and that the temples erected to his honour through all the regions of the East, were surrounded with groves of palm-trees, whose leaf, resembling in shape the solar beam, and maintaining a perpetual verdure, might continually remind the adoring suppliants of the quickening influence and sustaining energy of their favourite deity.-PAXTON. CHAPTER XII. Ver. 2. Thou hast planted them; yea, they have taken root: they grow; yea, they bring forth fruit thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins. Does a man who has been elevated in society by another, cease to respect his patron; it is said, "Ah, my lord, the tree which you planted has taken root:-in his mouth you are near; but in his heart you are afar off."-ROBERTS. Ver. 8. My heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest; it crieth out against me: therefore have I hated it. 9. My heritage is unto me as a speckled bird; the birds round about are against her; come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour. See on 1 Sam. 13. 18. Ver. 9. My heritage is unto me as a speckled bird, the birds round about are against her; come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour. Dr. Boothroyd, "Ravenous birds." The context confirms this rendering, and also the marginal reading, “talons." Considering the NUMEROUS birds of prey in the East, it is no wonder that there are so many allusions in the scriptures to their ravenous propensities. Of a ferocious man it is said, "That fellow is in every place with his talons." "What! wretch, have you come hither to snatch with your talons ?" "Alas! alas! how many has this disease snatched away in its talons ?"" True, true, even my own children have now got talons."-ROBERTS. Ver. 10. Many pastors have destroyed my vine |
