24 And it shall come to pass, | shall be stink; and instead of a that instead of sweet smell, there girdle, a rent; and instead of cessary. This is now done by females calamity and grief. ¶ Instead of sweet of Eastern nations. Shaw informs us smell. Hebrew bōsěm, aromathat, "In the Levant looking-glasses tics, perfumes, spicy fragrance; such are a part of female dress. The Mooras they used on their garments and ish women in Barbary are so fond of persons. No one ever enters a comtheir ornaments, and particularly of pany without being well perfumed, and their looking-glasses, which they hang in addition to various scents and oils, upon their breasts, that they will not they are adorned with numerous garlay them aside, even when, after the lands, made of the most odoriferous drudgery of the day, they are obliged flowers." Roberts. "The persons of to go two or three miles with a pitcher the Assyrian ladies are elegantly clothor a goat-skin to fetch water." Bur-ed and scented with the richest oils der. In Egypt, the mirror was made and perfumes. When a queen was to of mixed metal, chiefly of copper, and be chosen to the king of Persia, inthis metal was so highly polished that stead of Vashti, the virgins collected in some of the mirrors discovered at at Susana, the capital, underwent a Thebes the lustre has been partially purification of twelve months duration, restored, though they have been buried to wit: six months with oil of myrrh, in the earth for many centuries. The and six months with sweet odours.' mirror was nearly round, inserted in a The general use of such precious oil handle of wood, stone, or metal, whose and fragrant perfumes among the anform varied according to the taste of cient Romans, particularly among the the owner. The cuts on the following ladies of rank and fashion, may be inpage will give an idea of the ancient ferred from these words of Virgil: form of the mirror, and will show that Ambrosiaeque comae divinum vertice odorem they might be easily carried abroad as Spiravere :Aen. i. 403. an ornament in public. Comp. Wilkinson's Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, vol. iii. p. 384-386. And the fine linen. Anciently the most delicate and fine garments were made from linen which was obtained chiefly from Egypt. See Note Luke xvi. 19. And the hoods. Or, turbans. ex And the veils. This does not differ probably from the veils worn now, cept that those worn by Eastern females are large and made so as to cover the head and the shoulders-so that they may be drawn closely round the body, and effectually conceal the person. Comp. Gen. xxiv. 65. 24. And it shall come to pass. The prophet proceeds to denounce the judgment or punishment that would come upon them for their pride and vanity. In the calamities that would befall the nation, all their ornaments of pride and vainglory would be stripped off; and instead of them they would exhibit the marks, and wear the badges of From her head the ambrosial locks breathed divine fragrance.'" Paxton. TA stink. This word properly means the fetor, or offensive smell which attends the decomposition of a deceased body. It means that the bodies which they so carefully adorned, and which they so assiduously endeavoured to preserve in beauty by unguents and perfumes, would die and turn to corruption. ¶ And instead of a girdle. Girdles were an indispensable part of an Oriental dress. Their garments were loose and flowing, and it became necessary to gird them up when they ran, or danced, or laboured. ¶ A rent. There has been a great variety of opinion about the meaning of this word. The most probable signification is that which is derived from a verb meaning to go around, encompass, and hence that it denotes a cord. Instead of the beautiful girdle with which they girded themselves, there shall be a cord-an emblem of poverty, as the poor had well-set hair, baldness; and in- | of sackcloth and burning in stead of a stomacher, a girding z Micah 1. 16. nothing else with which to gird up their clothes-a humiliating description of the calamities which were to come upon proud and vain females of the court. And instead of well-set hair. Hair that was curiously braided and adorned. "No ladies pay more attention to the dressing of the hair than these [the dancing girls of India]; for as they never wear caps, they take great delight in this their natural ornament." Roberts. Miss Pardoe, in "the city of the Sultan," says, that after taking a bath the slaves who attended her spent an hour and a half in dressing and adorning her hair. Comp. 1 Pet. iii. 3. ¶ Instead of a stomacher. It is not certainly known what is meant by this, but it probably means some Bort of girdle, or a plaited, or stiffened ornament worn on the breast. "I once saw a dress beautifully plaited and stead of beauty. stiffened for the front, but I do not think it common." Roberts. A girding of sackcloth. This is a coarse cloth that was commonly worn in times of affliction, as emblematic of grief. 2 Sam. iii. 31. 1 Kings xx. 31. xxi. 27. Job xvi. 15. Isa. xxxii. 11. ¶ And burning. The word here used does not occur elsewhere. It seems to denote a brand, a mark burnt in, a stigma; perhaps a sun-burnt countenance, indicating exposure in the long and wearisome journey of a captivity over burning sands and beneath a scorching sun. Instead of beauty. Instead of a fair and delicate complexion, cherished and nourished with care. Some of the articles of dress here referred to may be illustrated by the following cuts exhibiting several varieties of the costume of an Oriental female. SUFA AND TURBAN. 25 Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war. 26 And her gates shall la To what particular time the prophet refers in this chapter is not known, perhaps, however, to the captivity at Babylon. To whatever he refers, it is one of the most striking reproofs of vanity and pride-especially the pride of female ornament, any where to be found. And although he had particular reference to the Jewish females, yet there is no impropriety in regarding it as applicable to all such ornaments wherever they may be found. They indicate the same state of the heart, and they must meet substantially the same rebuke from God. The body, however delicately pampered and adorned, must become the prey of corruption. "The worm shall feed sweetly on it, and the earth-worm shall be its covering." Comp. Isa. xiv. 2. Job xxiv. 20. The single thought that the body must die -that it must lie and moulder in the grave-should check the love of gay adorning, and turn the mind to a far more important matter, the salvation of the soul which cannot die; to "the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." 1 Pet. iii. 4.* *On this portion of Isaiah (iii. 16-24), the following works may be consulted N. G. Schroederi comm. Philo. Crit. de vestitu mulierum Hebraeorum, 1745. 4to. Disserta Philolo. Polycarpi Lyceri, ad Esa. iii. 16-18 illustrandum, in The sau. Antiq. Ugolini, Tom. XXIX. pp 438-452; also Bynaeus, de Calceis Hebrae. ch. viii. TheSu. Antiq. Sacr., Tom. XXIX. p. 756 seq. ment and mourn; and she, being 'desolate, shall sit upon the ground. 4 might. x Lam. 1.4. 7 cleansed, or emptied. b Lam. 2. 10. 25. Thy men. This is an address to Jerusalem itself by a change not uncommon in the writings of Isaiah. In the calamities coming on them, their strong men should be overcome, and fall in battle. 26. And her gates. Cities were surrounded with walls, and were entered through gates opening into the principal streets. Those gates became of course the places of chief confluence and of business; and the expression here means that in all the places of confluence, or amidst the assembled people, there should be lamentation on account of the slain in battle and the loss of their mighty men in war. ¶ And she. Jerusalem is often represented as a female distinguished for beauty. It is here represented as a female sitting in a posture of grief. ¶ Being desolate shall sit upon the ground. To sit on the ground, or in the dust, was the usual posture of grief and mourning-denoting great depression and humiliation. Lam. ii. 10, iii. 28. Jer. xv. 17. Job iii. 13. Ezra ix. 3-5. It is a remarkable - coincidence that in the medals which were made by the Romans to commemorate the captivity of Judea and Jerusalem, Judea is represented under the figure of a female sitting in a posture of grief under a palm tree, with this inscription:-Judea capta-in the form which is exhibited in the annexed engraving. |