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animals. The wilder animals, however, have mostly disappeared. Hasselquist, a disciple of Linnæus, who visited the Holy Land in 1750, mentions, as the only animals he saw, the porcupine, the jackal, the fox, the rock-goat, and the fallow-deer. We know, however, that formerly the antelope, the hart, and the hind were common in the country. Captain Mangles describes an animal of the goat species as large as the ass, with long, knotty, upright horns, some bearded, and and their colour resembling that of the gazelle: the Arabs call them meddu or neddu. The Syrian goat has very long ears, which are more than once alluded to in the sacred writings; and the large tail of the sheep is scarcely less remarkable. Burckhardt mentions wild boars and ounces as inhabiting the woody parts of Mount Tabor. The horse does not appear to have been generally adopted till after the return of the Jews from Babylon. Solomon was the first monarch who collected a numerous stud of the finest horses that Egypt or Arabia could produce.* In the earlier times, the wild ass was deemed worthy of being employed for the purposes of royal state as well as convenience. See Judg. v. 10, x. 3, 4, xi. 13, 14; 1 Kings iv. 24. The breed of cattle reared in Bashan and Gilead were remarkable for their size, strength, and fatness.

V.-1. The common name for a bird, in the Hebrew Scriptures, is tzephur, a rapid mover, or hurrier; a name very expressive of that volatile creature. A more general and indefinite name is ouph, a flier; but under this term is comprehended every thing that flies, whether bird or insect. It is often translated forl in the English Bible. A bird of prey is called oith, a rusher, from the impetuosity with which it rushes upon

its prey.

2. It might naturally be supposed, that the Hebrew legislator, who had issued the strictest injunctions relative to animals clean and unclean, would have given some directions equally strict respecting birds; a class of creatures as much distinguished among themselves, by their qualities and modes of living, as are the several species of beasts. But here the characteristics derived from the feet failed; nor was it easy to fix upon marks which should, in every instance, guide the learned and the unlearned, the country rustic and the more intelligent citizen. Hence there is not in the Mosaic institutes any reference to the conformation, as the means of distinguishing birds into clean and unclean, lawful and unlawful; a list of exceptions forms the sacred directory, and

* See Michaëlis on the Laws of Moses, vol. ii., pp. 431-514.

certain kinds are forbidden, without a word concerning those that are allowed. Those living on grain do not appear to be prohibited; and as these are the domesticated kinds, we might almost express it in other words that birds of prey, generally, are rejected; i. e., those with crooked beaks and strong talons, whether they prey on fowls, on animals, or on fish; while those which eat vegetables are admitted as lawful. So that the same principle is admitted, to a certain degree, among birds as among beasts. The excepted birds are divided into three classes, according as they occupy the air, the land, or the water; thus:

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These are the unclean birds, constituting the list of exceptions, so far as they have been identified; though it must not be concealed that there is some doubt as to certain ones amongst them.

3. The eagle, the vulture, the cormorant, the bittern, the stork, the owl, the pigeon, the swallow, the crane, and the dove, were familiar to the Hebrews, ancient and modern. Hasselquist enumerates the following from his own observation: the vulture, two species, one seen near Jerusalem, the other near Cana in Galilee; the falcon, near Nazareth; the jackdaw, in numbers, in the oak-woods

Taylor's Expository Index to the Holy Bible, p. 56.

near Galilee, the green wood-spite, at the same place; the bee-catcher, in the groves and plains between Acra and Nazareth; the nightingale among the willows at Jordan and olive-trees of Judea; the field-lark, every where; the goldfinch, in the gardens near Nazareth; the red partridge, and two other species; the quail, and the quail of the Israelites; the turtle-dove, and the ring-dove. Game is abundant; partridges in particular being found in large coveys, so fat and heavy that they may easily be knocked down with a stick,* wild-ducks, widgeons, snipes, and waterfowl of every description, abound in some situations.†

VI.-1. There are but few references to the subject of Ichthylogy in the sacred writings. The reasons are obvious: the Jews being an agricultural people, fish formed no considerable part of their food; nor could they furnish any striking objects of comparison or illustration to the sacred writers, as was the case with quadrupeds and birds. The well-known biblical appellations of fish are dag and taninim: the former being expressive of their amazing fecundity; the latter, of their rapid motion. In Gen. i. 21, the word taninim, rendered "great whales" by the English translators, seems used to describe fish of the largest description, and not any particular species. From Neh. xiii. 16, we learn that, during the administration of this zealous patriot, the Tyrians brought fish in considerable quantities to Jerusalem, for purchasing which on the sabbath-day, Nehemiah reproved the Jewish elders. As the people of Tyre were remarkable for their skill in maritime affairs, it is impossible to say how far their fisheries might extend; but from Le Bruyn,‡ we ascertain, that fish in large numbers, and of excellent qualities, were to be procured in the neighbourhood of their own city. Nor should we omit to notice, in justification of John xxi. 11, that the Sea of Tiberias was well stocked with fish of a very large size. Hasselquist, and Egmont, and Heyman,§ notice the charmud or harmud, which is common to this lake and the hill, and which weighs nearly thirty pounds.

2. With regard to fish as an article of food, Moses has a very simple law: "All that have scales and fins are clean; all others unclean." Upon this distinction, Mr. Taylor observes, that fishes' fins are analogous to the feet of land

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mals; and as the sacred legislator had given directions for separating animals according to their hoofs and claws, so he directs that fishes, which had no clear and distinct members adapted to locomotion, should be unclean. Those which had fins were to be clean, provided they also had scales.

3. Though fish was the usual food of the Egyp tians, we learn from Herodotus,¶ and Chæremon, as quoted by Porphyry,** that their priests abstained from fish of all sorts. Hence we may see how distressing was the infliction which turned the waters of the river into blood, and occasioned the death of the fish (See Exod. vii. 18-21). Their sacred stream became so polluted as to be unfit for drink, for bathing, and for other uses of water to which they were superstitiously devoted (See Exod. ii. 4, vii. 15, viii. 20), and themselves obliged to nauseate what was the usual food of the common people, and held sacred by the priests.++

VII. Of reptiles we have not much information in the Scriptures; there are some general or incidental allusions, but too scanty to furnish any materials for extended disquisition.

1. The Hebrew word nachash appears to be used by the Hebrew writers as a general term for the whole serpentine genus. The primitive meaning of the word from which this appellation is derived signifies to view, observe attentively, &c.; and so remarkable are serpents for this quality, that “a serpent's eye" became a proverb among the Greeks and Romans, who applied it to those who view things sharply or acutely. An ingenious writer, speaking of the supposed fascination of the rattlesnake's eye, says, "It is, perhaps, more universal among the poisonous serpents than is supposed; our common viper has it."‡‡ The craft and subtlety of the serpent are noticed in Scripture as qualities by which it is distinguished above every other beast of the field, Gen. iii. 1. Of its prudence and cunning, many instances are adduced; though it is but reasonable to suppose, that, in common with the rest of the animal creation, it has materially suffered in these respects from the effects of the curse.

2. Calmet enumerates eleven kinds of serpents, that were known to the Hebrews:— 1. EPHE, the viper.

2. CHEPHIR, a sort of aspic.

Lib. ii., c. 37.

** De Abstinentia, lib. iv.

Harris' Nat. Hist., p. 123; Carpenter's Scripture Natt

ral History, p. 417, fifth edition.

‡‡ Watson's Animal World Displayed, p. 284, cited by Parkhurst

i

3. ACTHUB, the aspic.

4. PETHEN, a similar reptile.

5. TZEBOA, a speckled serpent.
6. TZIMMAON.

7. TZEPHO or TZEPHONI, a basilisk.
8. KIPPOS, the acontias.

9. SHEPPIPHON, the cerastes.
10. SHACKAL, the black serpent.
11. SARAPH, a flying serpent.

of asps; the viper's tongue shall slay him, Job xx. 14. The venom of asps is the most subtle of all; it is incurable, and if the wounded part be not instantly amputated, it speedily terminates the existence of the sufferer. To these circumstances Moses evidently alludes, in his character of the heathen: "Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps," Deut. xxxiii. 33. See also Rom. iii. 13. To tread upon the asp is attended with extreme danger; and to express in the strongest manner the safety which a godly man enjoys under the protection of his heavenly Father, it is promised that he shall tread with impunity upon the adder and the dragon, Ps. xci. 13. No person of his own accord approaches the hole of these deadly reptiles, for he who gives them the smallest disturbance is in extreme danger of pay

the prophet Isaiah, predicting the conversion of the Gentiles to the faith of Christ, and the glorious reign of peace and truth in those regions, which, prior to that period, were full of horrid cruelty, declares, "The sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea,” Isaiah xi. 6—9. In the glowing descriptions of the golden age, with which the oriental writers, and the rapturous bards of Greece and Rome, entertained their contemporaries, the wild beasts grow tame, serpents resign their poison, and noxious herbs their deleterious qualities: all is peace and harmony, plenty and happiness.+

3. The prophet Isaiah mentions the viper among the venomous reptiles which, in extraordinary numbers, infested the land of Egypt, ch. xxx. 6. In illustrating the mischievous character of wicked men, and the ruinous nature of sin, he thus alludes to this dangerous creature again: "They hatch cockatrice' eggs, and weave the spider's web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth; and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper." The cocka-ing the forfeit of his rashness with his life. Hence trice here, says Paxton, undoubtedly means the viper; for the egg of one creature never produces, by any management, one of a different species. When the egg is crushed, the young viper is disengaged, and leaps out prepared for mischief. It may be objected, that the viper is not an oviparous, but a viviparous animal; and that, consequently, the prophet must refer to some other creature. But it is to be remembered, that although the viper brings forth its young alive, they are hatched from eggs perfectly formed in the belly of the mother. Hence Pliny says of it, "The viper alone, of all terrestrial animals, produces within itself an egg of an uniform colour, and soft like the eggs or roe of fishes." This curious natural fact reconciles the statement of the sacred writer with the truth of natural history. If by any means the egg of the viper be separated from the body, the phenomenon which the prophet mentions, may certainly take place.* Father Labat took a serpent of the viper kind, and ordered it to be opened in his presence. In its womb were found six eggs, each the size of a goose's egg, and containing from thirteen to fifteen young ones, about six inches long, and as thick as a goose quill. They were no sooner liberated from their prison-house, than they crept about, and put themselves into a threatening posture, coiling themselves up, and biting the stick with which he was destroying them.

4. The Hebrew Pethen is variously translated in our version; but interpreters generally consider it as referring to the asp. Zophar alludes to it more than once in his description of a wicked man: "Yet his meat in his bowels is turned; it is the gall of asps within him: he shall suck the poison

* Illustrations of Scripture, vol. i., p. 336.

5. The incantation of serpents is one of the most curious and interesting facts in natural history. This wonderful art, which soothes the wrath and disarms the fury of the deadliest snake, and renders it obedient to the charmer's voice, is not an invention of modern times, for we discover manifest traces of it in the remotest antiquity. It is asserted that Orpheus, who probably flourished soon after letters were introduced into Greece, knew how to still the hissing of the approaching snake, and to extinguish the poison of the creeping serpent. The Argonauts are said to have subdued by the power of song the terrible dragon that guarded the golden fleece; and Ovid ascribes the same effect to the soporific influence of certain herbs and magic sentences. It was the custom of others to fascinate the serpent by touching it with the hand. Of this method Virgil takes notice, in the seventh book of the Æneid.

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But it seems to have been the general persuasion, sense of hearing is much more acute than the of the ancients, that the principal power of the sense of vision. Unable to resist the force of charmer lay in the sweetness of the music. Pliny truth, others maintain that the adder is deaf, not says, accordingly, that serpents were drawn from by nature, but by design; for the Psalmist says, their lurking-places by the power of music; Seneca she shutteth her ear, and will not hear the voice held the same opinion. The wonderful effect of the charmer. But the phrase, perhaps, means which music produces on the serpent tribes, is no more than this, that some adders are of a confirmed by the testimony of several respectable temper so stubborn, that the various arts of the moderns. Adders swell at the sound of a flute, charmer make no impression; they are like crearaising themselves up on the one half of their tures destitute of hearing, or whose ears are so body, turning themselves round, beating proper completely obstructed that no sounds can enter. time, and following the instrument. Their head, The same phrase is used in other parts of Scripnaturally round and long like an eel, becomes ture to signify a hard and obdurate heart: "Whoso broad and flat like a fan.* The tame serpents, stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also many of which the Orientals keep in their houses, shall cry himself, but shall not be heard," Prov. are known to leave their holes in hot weather, at xxi. 13. It is used in the same sense of the the sound of a musical instrument, and to run righteous by the prophet: "That stoppeth his upon the performer.+ Dr. Shaw had an oppor- ears from the hearing of blood, and shutteth his tunity of seeing a number of serpents keep exact eyes from seeing evil," Isai. xxxiii. 15. He retime with the dervises in their circulatory dances, mains as unmoved by the cruel and sanguinary running over their heads and arms, turning when counsels of the wicked as if he had stopped his they turned, and stopping when they stopped; ears.|| and Chateaubriand relates a very extraordinary instance of the power of the flute over a rattlesnake that entered their encampment. But on some serpents, these charms seem to have no power; and it appears from Scripture that the adder sometimes takes precautions to prevent the fascination which he sees preparing for him; "for the deaf adder shuts her ear, and will not hear the voice of the most skilful charmer," Ps. lviii. 5, 6. The same allusion is involved in the words of Solomon: "Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment, and a babbler is no better," Eccles. x. 11. The threatening of the prophet Jeremiah proceeds upon the same fact: "I will send serpents (cockatrices) among you, which will not be charmed; and they shall bite you," Jer. viii. 17. In all these quotations, the sacred writers, while they take it for granted that many serpents are disarmed by charming, plainly admit that the powers of the charmer are in vain exerted upon others. To account for this exception, it has been alleged, that in some serpents the sense of hearing is very imperfect, while the power of vision is exceedingly acute; but the most intelligent natural historians maintain that the reverse is true. The

* Chardin.

Greaves' Travels.

VIII. Of the insect tribes mentioned in the Bible, we may notice, amongst the wingless ones, the scorpion, the spider, the flea, and the louseall hideous and revolting in their appearance and habits; amongst the winged classes, the zimb, or dog-fly, the hornet, the gnat, the moth, the bee, the ant, and the locust are the most prominent. Insects, as well as reptiles, were prohibited generally by the inspired lawgiver of the Hebrews, Lev. xi. 20. The only exception was in favour of those winged insects which, in addition to four walking legs, have also two longer springing legs, for the purpose of leaping from off the earth. This provision embraces locusts, which are declared to be clean in all the four stages of their existence, and are a common article of food in the East to this day, as they were in the time of John the Baptist. See Matt. iii. 4, &c. The immense numbers in which these insects collect, and migrate from one place to another, are referred to in the Scriptures, especially in Judg. vi. 5, vii. 12; Ps. cv. 34; Jer. xlvi. 23; Nah. iii. 15; Joel ii. 3-10; and various travellers have authenticated the fact.§

|| Harris' Natural Hist. of the Bible.

§ See Shaw's Travels, p. 256, olio; Volney's Travels, vol. i., chap. i., s. 5, p. 188. See also Harris' Nat. Hist. of the Bible, Beauties of Christianity, quoted in Scripture Natural p. 251, &c.; Carpenter's Script. Nat. Hist., p. 485, &c.; and History. Fragments to Calmet, No. xliv.

PART VI.

ARTS, SCIENCES, AND DOMESTIC USAGES.

THERE are several topics pertaining to biblical | be arranged under any of the preceding chapters archæology, or what are usually termed historical of this work, but which are of too much concircumstances, immediately connected with the sequence to be wholly omitted. To these we shall art of interpretation, that could not with propriety | devote the following chapters.

CHAPTER I.

ARTS.

State of the Arts amongst the Antediluvians; under Moses;, Cain was a husbandman, as was also Noah, who, and in the later periods of the Hebrew Commonwealth.

1. We know but little of the state of the arts amongst the ancient Hebrews, and still less of them as they existed amongst their ancestors before the flood. There are but few direct intimations upon the subject in the sacred writings; and what are there, are for the most part so general or so vague, as to lead us but little beyond the bare fact itself.

2. Man, by his sin, having caused alienation and consequent absence from God, and being driven out of Eden, became the subject of want. Hence the invention of arts, his ingenuity and labour being necessary to supply his wants, and render his degraded condition tolerable. A careful reader of the Mosaic account of the antediluvian world will be disposed to think that mankind had, at that period, made nearer approaches towards civilization-which consists in an appropriation of the arts and sciences to the conveniences, comforts, and enjoyments of life-than is generally supposed. There is no doubt that the inhabitants of the old world possessed a knowledge of agriculture, architecture, metallurgy, music, engraving, writing, and probably of weaving. They were governed by laws, both civil and religious; such as right of property and relationship, freedom of person, the observance of the sabbath, marriage, &c. With regard to agriculture, the fact is certain. Man was made to dress and till the earth (Gen. ii. 15);

besides, understood the planting of vineyards (Gen. ix. 20), and the method of fermenting the juice of the grape, for it is said that "he drank of the vine," which produced inebriation, ver. 21. Pasturage is an occupation coeval with the birth of man. Adam had dominion over cattle (Gen. i. seq.); Cain and Noah, in their agricultural pursuits, must have included pasturage; and Abel seems to have been exclusively occupied as "a keeper of sheep." From the circumstance of the early postdiluvian patriarchs constantly migrating from place to place, there is good reason to think that pasturage occupied so much of their attention as to form their almost exclusive employment. The "golden age" of the heathen world was said to be under the government of "shepherd-kings ;" and it may be reasonably supposed, that in the world before the flood the same occupation ranked high. In fact we find this intimated in Gen. iv. 20, where it is said, that "Jabal was the father of such as have cattle," or whose occupation was pasturage, which would include all its branches, as shepherd, swine-herd, cow-herd, &c. In proof of the fact, that the antediluvians had made some advancement in architecture, we may refer to the building of a city by Cain (Gen. iv. 17); and to the construction of that extraordinary and stupendous vessel in which the world was saved during the deluge, by Noah. Nor can we look at the circumstances connected with the building of

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