Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

the two sacred cities of Mecca and Medinah," the title was so very agreeable to the sultan that he gave the robe that he had on to the imam. Just thus Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David. HARMER, vol. ii. p. 94.

No. 93.-xx. 5. New moon.] "As soon as the new moon was either consecrated or appointed to be observed, notice was given by the sanhedrim to the rest of the nation, what day had been fixed for the new moon, or first day of the month, because that was to be the rule and measure, according to which they were obliged to keep their feasts and fasts in every month respectively. This notice was given to them in time of peace, by firing beacons set up for that purpose, (which was looked upon as the readiest way of communication,) but in time of war, when all places were full of enemies, who made use of beacons to amuse our nation with, it was thought fit to discontinue it, and to delegate some men on purpose to go and signify it to as many as they possibly could reach, before the time commanded for the observation of the feast or fast was expired."

LEVI'S Rites and Ceremonies of the Jews, p. 25.

No. 94.-xx. 30.

Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman.] In the East, when they are angry with a person, they abuse and vilify his parents. Saul thought of nothing but venting his anger against Jonathan, nor had any design to reproach his wife personally; the mention of her was only a vehicle by which, according to oriental modes, he was to convey his resentment against Jonathan into the minds of those about him. HARMER, vol. ii. p. 492.

No. 95. xxii. 6. Under a tree.] However common it might be for the generality of persons, when travel

ling, to take up with a temporary residence under a tree, it seems extraordinary that kings and princes should not be better accommodated; yet according to eastern customs it is perfectly natural. Thus when Pococke was travelling in the company of the Governor of Faiume, who was treated with great respect as he passed along, they spent one night in a grove of palmHARMER, vol. ii. p. 127.

trees.

No. 96. xxii. 17. The king said unto the footmen.] "In ancient times it was as much a custom for great men to do execution upon offenders, as it is now an usual thing for them to pronounce sentence. They had not then (as we have now) such persons as the Romans called carnifices, or public executioners; and therefore Saul bade such as waited on him to kill the priests, and Doeg, one of his chief officers, did it.”

PATRICK, in loc.

No. 97. xxiv. 12. The Lord judge between me and thee.] Full of reverence as the eastern addresses are, and especially those to the great, in some points they are not so scrupulous as we are in the West. An inferior's mentioning of himself before he names his superior is an instance of this kind. Chardin assures us, that it is customary among the Persians for the speaker to name himself first. Thus David spoke to Saul, even when he so reverenced him, that he stooped with his face to the earth, and bowed himself. (Gen. xxiii. 15. compared with ver. 6. is a similar instance.)

HARMER, vol. ii. p. 41.

No. 98.-xxvi. 20. Hunt a partridge.] The account given by Dr. SHAW, (Travels, p. 236.) of the manner of hunting partridges and other birds by the Arabs, affords an excellent comment on these words: "The

Arabs have another, though a more laborious method of catching these birds; for observing that they become languid and fatigued after they have been hastily put up twice or thrice, they immediately run in upon them, and knock them down with their zerwattys, or bludgeons, as we should call them." It was precisely in this manner that Saul hunted David, coming hastily upon him, and putting him up from time to time, in hopes that he should at length, by frequent repetitions of it, be able to destroy him. HARMER, vol. i. p. 318.

No. 99.-xxxi. 10. They fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan.] After the death of Saul, we are informed that they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan. Capital offences were sometimes punished by throwing the criminal upon hooks that were fixed in the wall below, where frequently they hung in the most exquisite agonies thirty or forty hours, before they expired. The exposure of the body of Saul might be nothing more, than the fixing of it to such hooks as were placed there for the execution of their criminals.

No. 100.-2 SAMUEL i. 2.

And earth upon his head.

In several passages of scripture mention is made of dust strewed on the head, as a token of mourning. Joshua vii. 6. Job ii. 12. or earth, 2 Sam. i. 2. or ropes carried on the head, as a token of submission, 1 Kings xx. 31. The following instance is remarkably analogous to these acts of humiliation: "He then descended the mountain, carrying, as is the custom of the country, for vanquished rebels, a stone upon his head, as confessing himself guilty of a capital crime."

BRUCE'S Travels, vol. ii. p. 650.

No. 101. iv. 12. And David commanded his young men, and they slew them, and cut off their hands and their feet, and hung them up over the pool in Hebron.] In times of tumult and disorder they frequently cut off the hands and feet of people, and afterwards exposed them, as well as the head. Lady M. W. Montague speaking of the Turkish ministers of state (Let. ii. 19.) says, 66 a minister displease the people, in three hours time he is dragged even from his master's arms; they cut off his hands, head, and feet, and throw them before the palace gate, with all the respect in the world, while the sultan (to whom they all profess an unlimited adoration) sits trembling in his apartment." Thus were the sons of Rimmon served for slaying Ishbosheth.

HARMER, vol. ii. p. 272.

No. 102. vii. 18. Sat before the Lord.] PocoCKE (vol. i. p. 213.) has given the figure of a person half sitting and half kneeling, that is, kneeling so as to rest the most muscular part of his body on his heels. This,

he observes, is the manner in which inferior persons sit at this day before great men, and is considered as a very humble posture. In this manner, probably David sat before the Lord, when he went into the sanctuary to bless him for his promise respecting his family.

HARMER, vol. ii. p. 58.

No. 103. viii. 2. Measured them with a line.] These words seem to allude to a custom among the kings of the east, when they were thoroughly incensed against any nation-to make all the captives come together in one place, and prostrate themselves upon the ground, that, being divided into two parts, as it were with a line, their conqueror might appoint which part he pleased, either for life or for death, which was sometimes determined by casting lots.

STACKHOUSE'S Hist. of Bible, vol. i. p. 689, note.

No. 104.-x. 4. Shaved off one half of their beards.] It is a great mark of infamy amongst the Arabs to cut off the beard. Many people would prefer death to this kind of treatment. As they would think it a grievous punishment to lose it, they carry things so far as to beg for the sake of it: By your beard, by the life of your beard, do. God preserve your blessed beard. When they would express their value for a thing, they say, it is worth more than his beard. These things shew the energy of that thought of Ezekiel. (ch. v. ver. 1. 5.) where the inhabitants of Jerusalem are compared to the hair of his head and beard. It intimates that though they had been as dear to God as the beard was to the Jews, yet they should be consumed and destroyed. (Harmer, vol. ii. p. 55.) When Peter the Great attempted to civilize the Russians, and introduced the manners and fashions of the more refined parts of Europe, nothing met with more opposition than the cutting off of their beards, and many of those, who

« AnteriorContinuar »