תמונות בעמוד
PDF
ePub

is not sufficient to say with our translators, that when the daughter of Pharaoh went down to the flood, her maidens walked along by the river-side. The word which expresses their motion is always used by the sacred writers to describe the action of the chorus; as the Psalmist explains it in these words.

HURDIS on Psalm and Prophecy, p. 68.

No. 1003. lxviii. 25. The singers went before.] The same custom prevailed also amongst the Gentiles in their solemn processions: for both before and after, as well as during the time of their libations and sacrifices, they sang hymns in praise of their respective deities: and when they celebrated the supposed advent of their gods at particular times, it was with the greatest demonstrations of joy, with dancing, music, and songs. (See Callimachus, Hy. in Apol, v. 12.) On this account they employed persons to compose these sorts of hymns; and that the singing of them might be performed with greater harmony and dignity, they chose for this religious service persons trained up to, and well skilled in, vocal music. For this employment they brought up children of both sexes, who marched in procession at their great festivals. See Ho race, Carm. Sec. and Catullus, Carm. Sec.

CHANDLER'S Life of David, vol. ii. p. 82.

No. 1004. lxviii. 30. Rebuke the company of the spear-men.] Literally, Rebuke the beast of the reeds, or canes. This in all probability means the wild-boar, which is considered as destructive to the people of Israel, Psalm 1xxx. 13. That wild-boars abound in marshes, fens, and reedy places appears from LE BRUYN, who "we were in a large plain full of canals, marshes, and bull-rushes. This part of the country is infested by a vast number of wild-boars, that march in troops,

gays,

and destroy all the seed and fruits of the earth, and pursue their ravages as far as the entrance into the villages. The inhabitants, in order to remedy this mischief, set fire to the rushes which afford them a retreat, and destroyed above fifty in that manner: but those that escaped the flames spread themselves all round in such a manner, that the people themselves were obliged to have recourse to flight, and have never disturbed them since for fear of drawing upon themselves some greater calamity. They assured me that some of these creatures were as large as cows.' ." Travels, vol. ii. p. 62. See also Apollonius, lib. ii. 820. Virgil Æn. x. Ovid. Metain. viii. Scripture Illust. Expos. Index.

No. 1005. lxix. 21. In my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.] The refreshing quality of vinegar cannot be doubted; but a royal personage had reason to complain of his treatment in having this only presented to him to quench his thirst, when it was only made use of by the meanest people. Pitts (p. 6.) tells us, that the food that he and the rest had when first taken by the Algerines was generally only five or six spoonfuls of vinegar, half a spoonful of oil, a few olives, with a small quantity of black biscuit, and a pint of water, a day. The juice of lemons is what those of higher life now use, and probably among the higher orders the juice of pomegranates might be used, to produce a grateful acidity. HARMER, vol. i. p. 395.

1

No. 1006.-lxxii. 9-11. His enemies shall lick the dust.] In Mr. Hugh Boyd's account of his embassy to the king of Candy in Ceylon, there is a paragraph which singularly illustrates this part of the Psalm; and shews the adulation and obsequious reverence, with which an eastern monarch is approached.

[blocks in formation]

Describing his introduction to the king, he says, "The removal of the curtain was the signal of our obeisances. Mine, by stipulation, was to be only kneeling. My companions immediately began the performance of theirs, which were in the most perfect degree of eastern humiliation. They almost literally licked the dust; prostrating themselves with their faces almost close to the stone floor, and throwing out their arms and legs; then rising on their knees, they repeated in a very loud voice a certain form of words of the most extravagant meaning that can be conceived:-that the head of the king of kings might reach beyond the sun; that he might live a thousand years, &c."

Compare this with the passage of Scripture now referred to. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him, and his enemies shall lick the dust, i. e. the wild unconquered Arabians shall be brought to abject submission. This is beautifully emblematic of the triumph of Christ over those nations and individuals, whom it appeared impossible for the Gospel to subdue. The kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him; all nations shall serve him.

No. 1007. lxxii. 16. They of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.] The rapidity with which grass grows in the East is the idea here referred to. "When the ground there hath been destitute of rain nine months together, and looks all of it like the barren sand in the deserts of Arabia, where there is not one spire of green grass to be found, within a few days after those fat enriching showers begin to fall, the face of the earth there (as it were by a new resurrection) is so revived,

and as it were so renewed, as that it is presently covered all over with a pure green mantle." Sir THOMAS ROE'S Voyage to India, p. 360.

No. 1008.-lxxv. 8. For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them.] At entertainments when they drank healths, it was usual to drain the vessels they drank out of as far as the sediment. So Theocritus:

-I'll drink

Till to the lees the rosy bowl I sink. Idyl. vii. 86. FAWKES.

And Horace:

Nec poti fæce tenus cadi.

B. iii. Od. 15.

See also Isaiah li. 17, 22.

No. 1009.-lxxx. 17. Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand.] If we would understand the genuine import of this phrase, we must attend to a custom which obtained in Judea and other eastern countries. At meals the master of the feast placed the person whom he loved best on his right hand, as a token of love and respect: and as they sat on couches, in the intervals between the dishes, when the master leaned upon his left elbow, the man at his right hand, leaning also on his, would naturally repose his head on the master's bosom; while at the same time the master laid his right hand on the favourite's shoulder or side, in testimony of his favourable regard. See also John xxi. 20.

PIRIE's Works, vol. iii. p. 90.

No. 1010. civ. 26. There go the ships; there is that

leviathan whom thou hast made to play therein.] The terms of the original Hebrew are here so very strong, that we cannot doubt of the author's intention to couch a figurative sense under the literal and more obvious acceptation of his expressions. Leviathan is unquestionably the prince and people of Egypt, exhibited under the apt emblem of their own crocodile. It is not unusual with the sacred writers to allude to that country under this formidable image. Compare Isaiah xxvii. 1. with Ezek. xxix. 3. If therefore it be here said literally of the great and wide waters to which the Psalmist is pointing, there ships shall make procession, that leviathan thou hast fashioned to perform the actions of his feast therein, the author must intend to speak of the rejoicings of the Egyptians at the height of their flood, rather than of the sports of the leviathan, of which natural history affords no proof. The very term here applied is used to express the action of the multitude when Aaron celebrated the Egyptian feast of the golden calf, and they rose up to dance and sing before it. It is also used to denote the gestures of the triumphal procession of the Hebrews, the motions of the women who sung with timbrels, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands. That the Egyptians did anciently make processions by water to their temples, Herodotus bears witness. The feast of Bubastis, which is mentioned by him as the greatest of the Egyptian feasts, commenced with a procession by water. He says that "both men and women embark together, a vast multitude of each in every vessel; some of the women being furnished with crotala, play with them, while some of the men perform on the pipe, during the whole of the voyage. The remainder both of women and men sing and clap hands. This they particularly do when they draw near to any city. The women also at such times call upon the female inhabi

« הקודםהמשך »