"And they shall take a scarlet cloth, and cover the laver and its base, and they shall put them in a

wrapper of badger's skins, and place them on a hand-barrow."

Verse 25.

"and the tabernacle of the con

gregation." I am persuaded that the word

af

ter in this place is an interpolation, and that

,ואת אהל מכסהו the true reading has been

" And

they shall bear the curtains of the tabernacle (i. e. the silken curtains), and the tent (i. e. the curtains of goat's hair), its covering (i. e. the covering of ram's skins), and the covering of badger's skins which is over all, and the hanging for the door of the tabernacle of appointment." Without this emendation, we have no mention of the curtains of goat's hair among the articles which the Gershonites had in charge, though they were certainly a part of the burthen of that family, for they are not mentioned among the things committed to either of the other two, and evidently belong to that assortment which was assigned to the Gershonites, and they are indeed mentioned (under the name of ) as a part of their charge in the preceding chapter, v. 25. On the other hand, the Gershonites had no charge of any part of the tabernacle of appointment, be

sides the articles mentioned in this verse, according to this emendation. For the furniture of the tabernacle and the sacred utensils were assigned to the Cohathites; and the boards, pillars, sockets, and cords to the Merarites. The word is not found

in Kennicott's MS. 80.

Verse 26. "and all that is made for them so shall they serve." I think the Hebrew might be thus rendered. "And all that is to be done about these things they also shall perform." The sense is, that the Gershonites were not only to carry the things enumerated in this and the preceding verse, but it was to be their business also to take them down, and prepare them for carriage. The express mention of this might be the more necessary, because a contrary injunction had been laid upon the Cohathites to carry only, not to pack up: and the other families might have been very ready to understand this restriction generally, that they might throw the whole labour of package on the priests.

Verse 27. For ny, read with the Samaritan,

.עליהם

and many of the best MSS., . In this verse,

for, the LXX. certainly, and the Vulgate probably, read now, which probably was the true

reading. "And ye shall appoint unto them by name

all their burthens."

CHAP. V. 10. Houbigant's translation seems to "Habebit sacer

give the true sense of this verse.

dos sua quisque sancta nempe ea quæ ab singulis sibi

afferentur."

Verse 14.

"the spirit of jealousy come up

on him." Literally, "come across him," which is exactly the English idiom.

Verse 17.

Ibid.

"and of the dust, &c." There seems

to have been nothing poisonous in the preparation of

this water.

Verse 18.

,מי המרים

"the bitter water," "P.

The true sense of the word 2 will best be ascertained by reference to the 24th and 27th verses, where we read, "the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her and become bitter;" but, in the

where it is ;ובאו בה המים המאררים למרים,original

evident that the noun, under the prefix, the preposition of the final cause, expresses the effect which the drinking of this water produced in the constitution of the guilty woman, and of the guilty woman only, v. 27, 28. Now, since there was nothing poisonous in the composition of the drink,

where should we so reasonably look for this effect as in the mind or imagination of the patient. And what effect does the word so naturally import as bitternesses of soul, dejected spirits, a nervous anxiety or melancholy, which, in the female constitution; often produces uterine disorders, which end in sterility, the very effects which a very similar process is known at this day to produce on Negro , therefore, renders "water of sadness," or, "water of melancholy," mæroris

women.

адие.

Verse 22.

to rot [or fall]."

66

thy belly to swell and thy thigh These expressions are to be understood literally. The belly was to swell with the scirrhous tumour of a diseased ovary, while the flesh of the thigh, which in the healthy state is firm and plump, should waste with disease, and become flaccid.

Verse 23. -" he shall blot them out with the bitter water,” και ἐξαλειψει εἰς το ύδως, LXX. « shall wash the curses which are written into the water in the vessel." Marginal note in Barker's Bible. "Li"teras inscriptas erasit et abstersit, et rasuram ip

sam in aquam misit, ut mulier maledicta hauriret.”

Malvenda et Oleaster apud Poole. Confer. Houbi-
gantium ad locum.

Verse 29. "This is the law of jealousies, &c."
Malvenda says, that Achilles Tatius, in his Novel
of the Loves of Clitophon and Leucippe describes
a similar rite of trying a wife's chastity in the Sty-
gian fountain. But the single circumstance of simi-
larity is, that water was the instrument of trial in
both cases.
But the manner of applying it was
very different. In the examination by the Stygian
fountain, the suspected lady took an oath that she
was innocent. The oath was put into writing, and
the writing was hung by a string to her neck. With
this she went down into the water, which, in the
natural state of the well, hardly rose to the middle
of the leg. If she was innocent the water remain-
ed quiet; but if she was guilty, it was suddenly
agitated, rose up to her neck, and covered the writ-
ing. (See Achill. Tat. de Cl. & L. Amor, Lib. 8.
p. 510-515.
Salmasius's edition.)

CHAP. vi. 3.

ther, "

any liquor of grapes." Ra-

any preparation of grapes.” Όσα κατεργα
ζεται ἐκ σταφυλης, LXX.