loved's humiliation, the Scribes and Pharisees, the Priests and Elders, were notorious for smiting ' and wounding,' discouraging and persecuting such as sought the Beloved'. Whether, or how far, after-times have seen the like boisterous conduct in watchmen, I need not stop at present to enquire. The keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. -I should be willing to think that the change of appellation here indicates some change in behaviour, and is more than ornamental tautology. There is a passage in the 8th chapter which perhaps may throw some light on this: We have a little sister— "if she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of 'silver.' Obscure as this is, it speaks something favourable to the little sister of the Gentile church. And if the keepers of the walls may be thought to have any relation that way, St Paul will give us the application, where he says,

* remaineth the same veil untaken

Until this day away in reading

the Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ; for even to this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart: but when their heart shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be * taken away.' There is certainly a strong semblance of analogy here; and as St Paul has evidently allegorized Moses' real veil 3, it is warrant

enough

This rabble who know not the law are accursed,' St John vii. 49. 'Thou wast altogether born in sin, and dost thou teach us?' and they excommunicated him, St John ix. 34.

2 2 Cor. iii. 14, 15, 16.

3 These were types, TUT, I Cor. x. 6. 11. to the christian scheme.

enough for me to adapt the spouse's poetical veil to the same purpose. There is a similarity of both language and circumstances between the poet and the apostle; Her heart was turning to the Lord'— My bowels were moved towards him. Then was her veil taken off. The apostle attributes this operation to the SPIRIT'; the poet to the keepers of the walls, parallel to the apostle's ministers of the Spirit.

VER. 8.-1 charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my Beloved, that you tell him, I am sick of love. [This has been explained already in both its parts.]

VER. 9.—What is thy Beloved more than another Beloved, O thou fairest among women? What is thy Beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us?

It is not necessary that these enquirers should be considered as present, or actually putting the question in person. This is a piece of poetic art to usher in the beautiful description of the Beloved that follows to the end of the chapter.

VER. 10.-My Beloved is fair and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.

Fair,, tzahh, not properly fair, as applied under

another

1 Ver. 17.

2 Ver. 6.

It

another word to the spouse in the former verse. occurs but seldom', and is variously rendered, mostly to a good sense, candidus, white, fair, in the sense of candid or candour. White and ruddy, , adum, from adm, man, or man coloured *. That passage in the Lamentations of Jeremiah 3 is most apposite to our purpose, and seems to be almost a copy of the Song. Her Nazarites * were -6 purer than snow, they were whiter (, tzahu) than milk, they were more ruddy (8 admu) than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire The prophet's joyful retrospect, contrasted with the melancholy change in the immediately following verse, will throw light on the fair one's painting, and direct to the meaning in both.

6

The chiefest among ten thousand.-The chiefest, , ragul, vexillatus, standard-bearer, (on the margin of our Bibles), but properly, the word being passive with the vau in the third order, standarded,' or 7, bannered,' like knight-banneret, invested with that dignity after, and for, some victory or great action, and more honourable than standardbearer.' Among ten thousand, ɔ, merabbe, año μvριάδων. prawy. I know the Lexicons countenance this ren

dering

1 Isaiah xviii. 4. xxxii. 4. lviii. 11. Jerem. iv. 11. Lament. iv. 7.

2 See above in chap. iii. 6.

4 St Matth. ii. 23.

-3 Chap. iv. 7.

5 Psalm li. 7. lxviii. 14. Isaiah i. 18.

6 His belly overlaid with sapphires, Song v. 14.

7 It is so rendered Psalm xx. 5. and Song ii. 4. banner,' which is the same with standard.' See Numbers, ch. ii.

dering, but give no reason for it. Why the specific number of ten thousand should be pitched upon, has never been accounted for. When this precise number occurs in historical narration, as it does about twenty times, it is always expressed by the word for ten, oshr and alp, a thousand, oshr, alp, or alpim: Whereas the word here used, rabbe, is only found in enigmatic speech, or poetic rapture'. The root is 7, rab, and is of extensive import in the sense of greatness, great in dignity, in quality, in character. The other Hebrew word for great, gedal, conveys the idea of quantity, bulk, or magnitude, and answers to our big. There are many places in scripture, where rab cannot signify many:' as where it is said, The elder, rab, shall serve the younger;' which St Paul, in his quotation of it, has properly rendered μs, the greater *.' And in most of those places where it is translated, what I own it can sometimes bear, by MANY, this radical sense of greatness would be found equally agreeable to the context. Indeed there are some places where the sense of many' takes away from the beauty, perhaps from the de

sign,

As in Numbers x. 36. Deut. xxxii. 30. xxxiii. 2. 17. 1 Sam. xviii. 7. David his ten thousands,' Psalm iii. 7.

2 Gen. xxv. 23.

3 Rom. ix. 12.

4 Job xxxiii. 12. God (27, irbe) is 'greater than man.' Psalm xlviii. 2., the city of Melk rab, the great king.' Prov. xxvi. 10. 27, rab, the great,' we read the great God, who formed all things." Isaiah xix. 20. He shall send them a Saviour, (271, verab), and a 'great one, lxiii. 1. rab, mighty to save.'

sign of the passage'. But there is one character of Jehovah, under this word, most remarkably frequent in the mouths of the holy men of those old times; and when we read multitude of mercy,' the original is, rab hhashd, magnus misericors, the great merciful one, the prince of mercy 3.' If this therefore be the true sense of rab, its derivative, rabbe, must carry the same sense, greatness ;' and, when necessarily denoting number, be‹ great ' number,' or, as we say, 'a great many :' And so the description here will be, insignitus, elevatus a, vel præ majestate, raised, elevated, by, or with majesty. I have been at the more pains with

the

I See above on ch. ii. 3. Ezekiel's ot≈ rab, and on ch. iii. 9. 10. Solomon's rab iuotz.

2 Psalm v. 8. lxix. 14. lxxxvi. 5. ciii. 8, &c.

3 The Psalmist, Psalm xvi. 10, as explained by St Peter, Acts ii. 31. and by St Paul, Acts xiii. 35. attributes this word (ó, holy) to Christ; and under the same word, bhashd, Isaiah exhibits a gracious promise, ch. lv. 3. which St Paul, Acts xiii. 35. applies to Christ,' I ⚫ will give you the sure mercies of David.' Joined, therefore, as it so currently is, to rab, rab-bhashd will lead to an idea which cannot but be peculiarly comfortable to every christian, above even the consolation of the ordinary rendering, and would be in New Testament style, væigXg8, for Christ's sake.' To confirm still farther this primary sense of rab, let it be observed, that it is used to denote the chief of any office, as Rabsbakeh, chief cup-bearer, Rabsaris, chief chamberlain, Nebuzaradan-rab, captain of the guard, literally, chief butcher, Rabchabl, Janah i. 6. shipmaster, chief ropeman. And to put the matter entirely out of doubt, the well-known title of Rabbi, of such high importance among the Jewish people in our Saviour's time, and to this day, might be thought sufficient to settle the point.

'God hath highly exalted him,' Philip. ii. 8. 9. 'Sat down on the right hand, as μsyahwσuvns, (our word rabbe) of the majesty on high, Heb. i. 3.