a victory which he gained over the Syrians and Edomites, by which the affairs of his people were retrieved, in these words: "Thou hast shewed thy people hard things - - thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee." According to this view, the sense is, Though for a time thou didst resign thy chosen Israel into the hands of their enemies, thou hast now given them a sure pledge of thy almighty protection. The word which we translate banner, Mr. Harmer thinks may perhaps be more properly rendered ensign or standard. The standard of an oriental prince was often a spear overlaid with silver, with sometimes a ball of gold on the top, although it is undeniable that banners were occasionally used in the eastern armies. If the Psalmist means an ensign or standard, then the word which we render displayed, must be translated lifted up; and the clause will run, "Thou hast given thy people an ensign or standard, to be lifted up because of the truth; that is, to be according to thy faithful promise, a sure pledge of the divine protection."

When the king of Syria had obtained security for his life, and assurance of being restored in peace to his throne, he promised in return for such great and unexpected favours, to restore the cities which his father had taken from Israel, and to permit Ahab to make streets in Damascus for himself, as his father had made in Samaria. This extraordinary privilege of making streets in Damascus, has exceedingly puzzled commentators. Some of them suppose the word houtsoth signifies market-places, where commodities were sold, the duties on which should belong to Ahab; others imagine, he meant courts of justice, where the king of Israel should have the prerogative of sitting in

t Harmer's Observ. vol. i, p. 496.

judgment, and exercising a jurisdiction over the Syrians; others think they were a sort of piazzas, of which he should receive the rents; one class of interpreters understand by the word fortifications or citadels; another class attempt to prove, that palaces are meant, which Ahab should be permitted to build as a proof of his superiority.

The privileges, which we know from the faithful page of history were actually granted to the Venetians for their aid, by the states of the kingdom of Jerusalem, during the captivity of Baldwin II. may perhaps explain in a more satisfactory manner these words of Benhadad. The instrument by which these privileges were secured, is preserved in the history of William bishop of Tyre, the historian of the croisades, from which it appears, they were accustomed to assign churches, and to give streets in their towns and cities, with very ample prerogatives in these streets, to the foreign nations who lent them the most eftual assistance. The Venetians had a street in Acre, with full jurisdiction in it; and in what this consisted, we learn from the deed of settlement just mentioned; they had a right to have in their street an oven, a mill, a bath, weights, and measures for wine, oil and honey; they had also a right to judge causes among themselves, together with as great a jurisdiction over all those who dwelt in their street, of what nation soever they might be, as the kings of Jerusalem had over others. The same historian informs us, that the Genoese also had a street, in that city, with full jurisdiction in it, and a church as a reward for their services, together with a third part of the dues of the port. In the treaty of peace granted by Bajazet emperor of the Turks, to Emanuel the Greek emperor, it was stipulated, that the latter should grant free liberty to the Turks to

dwell together, in one street of Constantinople, with the free exercise of their own religion and laws, under a judge of their own nation. This humiliating condition the Greek emperor was obliged to accept; and a great number of Turks, with their families, were sent out of Bythinia to dwell in Constantinople, where a mosque was built for their accommodation. It is not improbable, that the same kind of privileges that were granted to the Venetians, the Genoese, and the Turks, had been granted to the father of Benhadad, by the king of Israel, and were now offered to Ahab in Damascus, in the distressed state of his affairs. The Syrian monarch promised to give his conqueror a number of streets in his capital city, for the use of his subjects, with peculiar rights and privileges, which enabled him to exercise the same jurisdiction there as in his own dominions."

But besides the captives taken in battle, the booty of the conquerors consisted of all the moveable property which belonged to the vanquished, whose right and title, by the law of arms, passed to the former. Homer's heroes no sooner gain a victory, than without delay they seize the armour of the vanquished foe; instances of this kind are as numerous as their combats. But this was rather the privilege of the principal commanders, than of the inferior soldiers, who were not permitted to gather the spoils of the dead till after the battle. "My friends,” cried the prudent Nestor, "Grecian heroes, children of Mars, let no soldier at present, greedy of spoil, linger behind to carry his collected wealth to the ships; but let us put our enemies to the sword, and afterwards at your leisure you shall strip the dead over all the field."

V

" Harmer's Observ. vol. iii, p. 489-492.

Iliad. lib. vi, 1. 70. Potter's Gr. Antiq. vol. ii, p. 106.

These laws of war the primitive Greeks probably borrowed from the orientals, for in the civil war between the houses of Saul and David, when the troops of the former had suffered a complete defeat, Abner, the general of the Benjamites, advised Asahel, an officer of high rank in the victorious army, who had singled him out for his prey, to give up the pursuit, and content himself with the spoils of a meaner foe: "Turn thee aside to thy right hand or to thy left, and lay thee hold on one of the young men, and take thee his armour;"" engage him in single combat, and having killed your victim, strip him on the spot, as you are entitled to do, by your rank and achievements. But the victorious army did not return to rifle the slain till the day after the battle: "And it came to pass, on the morrow, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen on mount Gilboa."

X יי

In Greece," the whole booty was brought to the general, who had the first choice, divided the remainder among those who had signalised themselves, according to their rank and merits, and allotted to the rest equal portions; thus in the Trojan war, when the captive ladies were to be chosen, Agamemnon in the first place, took Astynome, the daughter of Chryses; next Achilles had Hippodamia, daughter to Brises; then Ajax chose Tecmessa, and so of the rest; Achilles therefore complains of Agamemnon, that he had always the best part of the booty, while himself, who sustained the burden of the war, was content with a small pittance."y From the time of David, the Hebrew warriors, as well those who went to the field, as those who guarded the baggage, shared alike; the law is

w 2 Sam. ii, 21.

* 1 Sam. xxxi, 8.

› Potter's Gr. Antiq. vol. ii, p. 107.

couched in these terms: "As his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff." But a more satisfactory account of the mode in which the spoils of vanquished nations were divided among the Hebrews, is recorded in the book of Numbers. The whole booty taken from the Midianites, was brought before Moses, and Eliezer the priest, and the princes of the tribes; they, by the divine command, divided it into two parts, between the army and the congregation; of the army's half they took "one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the beeves, and of the asses, and of the sheep, and gave it unto Eliezer the priest, for an heaveoffering of the Lord ;" and of the congregation's half they took" one portion of fifty, of the persons, of the beeves, of the asses, and of the flocks, of all manner of beasts, and gave them unto the Levites." This law probably continued in force till the captivity; and according to its provisions, were the spoils of succeeding wars distributed; for the regulation which David established, referred only to this question, whether the soldiers, who from weakness were obliged to remain with the baggage, should have an equal share of the booty, with their brethren in arms who had been engaged.

Before the spoils were distributed, the Greeks considered themselves obliged to dedicate a part of them to the gods, to whose assistance they reckoned themselves indebted for them all. This custom also, they borrowed from the orientals; for the Hebrews, in dividing the spoils of Midian, separated a portion for the service of the tabernacle; and the practice, so reasonable in itself, being imitated by the surrounding nations, at last found its way into Greece and other countries of Europe.

2 Numb. xxxi, 26.

a Potter's Gr. Antiq. vol. ii, p. 108.