death. When the city was visited with any great calamity, they chose one of the lowest persons in it, and brought him to a certain place, with cheese, dry figs, and a cake in his hand. After beating him with rods, they burnt him and the rods together in a ditch, and cast the ashes into the sea, with these words, Be thou a lustration for us.

The people of Marseilles, originally a Grecian colony, had a similar custom, for we learn from Servius, on the third book of the Æneid, that as often as they were afflicted with the pestilence, they took a poor person, who offered himself willingly, and kept him a whole year on the choicest food, at the public expense. This man was afterwards dressed up with vervain, and in the sacred vestments, and led through the city, where he was loaded with execrations, that all the misfortunes of the state might rest on him, and was then thrown into the sea.

The Mexicans had a similar custom of keeping a man a year, and even worshipping him during that time, and then sacrificing him.

APPREHENDED OF CHRIST, EXPLAINED.

PHILIP. iii. 12. I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.] Doddridge thus renders and paraphrases this last sentence: for which also I am apprehended by Christ Jesus, whose condescending hand graciously laid hold of me in my mad career, in so extraordinary a manner, as you have often heard, and has introduced me into that blessed race in which I am now engaged. To this he adds in a note, that candidates in the Grecian games, especially when they first presented themselves, were often introduced by some person of established reputation, who, at the same time that he spoke as honourably as might be of his friend, urged him to acquit himself with the utmost vigour and resolution; and, it is possible, that this clause may allude to that circumstance. I conclude that even on this interpretation, it further expresses the sense the apostle had of his obligations to the condescension and grace of Christ, in pursuing and seizing him while he fled from him, and so engaging him to aspire to this crown of life.

ARABIAN CAMEL FEAST DESCRIBED.

EZEK. xxiv. 5. Take the choice of the flock, and burn also the bones under it.] The following account of a royal Arab camel feast will afford some illustration of the parable contained in this chapter. "Before mid-day a carpet being spread in the middle of the tent, our dinner was brought in, being served up in large wooden bowls between two men; and truly, to my appre hension, load enough for them. Of these great platters there were about fifty or sixty in number, perhaps more, with a great many little ones; I mean, such as one man was able to bring in, strewed here and there among them, and placed for a border or

garnish round about the table. In the middle was one of a larger size than all the rest, in which were the camel's bones, and a thin broth in which they were boiled. The other greater ones seemed all filled with one and the same sort of provision, a kind of plum-broth, made of rice and the fleshy part of the camel, with currants and spices, being of a somewhat darker colour than what is made in our country.' Philosophical Transactions abridged, Part ii. cap. 2, art. 40.

The Hebrew word translated burn, should have been rendered, as in the margin, heap. The meaning cannot be that the bones were to be burnt under the caldron, but that they were to be heaped up in it; for it is said, let them seethe the bones of it therein. With this interpretation the Septuagint translation of the passage agrees: and viewed in this light, the object is ascertained by the foregoing extract.

ARABIAN HORSES HIGHLY APPRECIATED.

SOLOMON'S SONG, i. 9. I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses.] This appears a very coarse compliment to a mere English reader, arising from the difference of our manners; but the horse is an animal in very high estimation in the East. The Arabians are extravagantly fond of their horses, and caress them as if they were their children. D'Arvieux gives a diverting account of the affectionate caresses an Arab used to give a mare which belonged to him. He had sold it to a merchant at Rama, and when he came to see it (which he very frequently did), he would weep over it, kiss its eyes, and when he departed, go backwards, bidding it adieu in the most tender manner. The horses of Egypt are so remarkable for stateliness and beauty, as to be sent as presents of great value to the sublime porte (MAILLET, Lett. ix. and xiii.); and it appears from sacred history, that they were in no less esteem formerly among the kings of Syria, and of the Hittites, as well as Solomon himself, who bought his horses at 150 shekels, which (at Dean Prideaux's calculation, of three shillings the shekel) is £22. 10s. each, a very considerable price at which to purchase twelve thousand horses together. The qualities, which form the beauty of these horses, are tallness, proportionable corpulency, and stateliness of manner; the same qualities which they admire in their women, particularly corpulency, which is known to be one of the most esteemed characters of beauty in the East. Niebuhr says, " as plumpness is thought a beauty in the East, the women, in order to obtain this beauty, swallow, every morning and every evening, three of these insects (a species of tenebriones) fried in butter." Upon this principle is founded the compliment of Solomon; and it is remarkable, that the elegant Theocritus, in his epithalamium for the celebrated queen Helen, whom he described as plump and large, uses exactly the same image, comparing her to the horse in the

chariots of Thessaly. (Idyl. xviii. ver. 29) WILLIAMS's New Translation of Solomon's Song, p. 172.

ARABIAN PROVERB.

JOB Vii. 19. Let me alone till I swallow down my spittle.] This is a proverb among the Arabians to the present day, by which they understand, Give me leave to rest after my fatigue. This is the favour which Job complains is not granted to him. There are two instances which illustrate the passage (quoted by Schultens) in Hariraes's Narratives, entitled the Assembly. One is of a person, who, when eagerly pressed to give an account of his travels, answered with impatience, "Let me swallow down my spittle, for my journey hath fatigued me." The other instance is of a quick return made to one who used that proverb, "Suffer me," said the person importuned, "to swallow down my spittle:" to which his friend replied, "You may, if you please, swallow down even Tigris and Euphrates;" that is, take what time you please. Biblical Researches, vol. i. p. 84.

ARABIAN TENT DESCRIBED.

JUDGES iv. 21. A nail of the tent.] SHAW, describing the tents of the Bedoween Arabs (p. 221), says, "these tents are kept firm and steady, by bracing or stretching down their eaves with cords, tied down to hooked wooden pins, well pointed, which they drive into the ground with a mallet; one of these pins answering to the nail, as the mallet does to the hammer, which Jael used in fastening to the ground the temples of Sisera."

JUDGES V. 25. Butter.] D'ARVIEUX informs us (Voy. dans la Pal. p. 200) that the Arabs make butter by churning in a leathern bottle. Hence Jael is said to have opened a bottle of milk for Sisera, Judges iv. 19. Mr. HARMER (vol. i. p. 281) supposes that she had just been churning, and pouring out the contents of her bottle into one of the best bowls or dishes she had, presented this butter-milk to him to quench his thirst.

1 SAM. xxvi. 5. And Saul lay in the trench, and the people pitched round about him.] An Arab camp is always round when the disposition of the ground will admit it, the prince being in the middle, and the Arabs about him at a respectful distance. Their lances were fixed near them in the ground all the day, ready for action. (D'Arvieux, Voy. dans la Pal. p. 173.) Such was probably the situation of Saul. HARMER, vol. ii. p. 245.

1 SAM. XXVI. 7. And behold, Saul lay sleeping in the trench, and his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster; but Abner and the people lay round about him.] A description, very similar to this, is given by Homer, of Diomed sleeping in his arms, with his soldiers about him, and the spears sticking upright in the earth.

Without his tent bold Diomed they found,
All sheath'd in arms, his brave companions round;
Each sunk in sleep, extended on the field,
His head reclining on his bossy shield:

A wood of spears stood by, that, fix'd upright,
Shot from their flashing points a quiv'ring light.
Il. iii. 89. POPE.

The circumstance of the spears being fixed in the ground, might be in conformity to the usual practice of warriors.

JER. xlix. 8. Dwell deep.] When the Arabs have drawn upon themselves the resentment of the more fixed inhabitants of those countries, and think themselves unable to stand against them, they withdraw into the depths of the great wilderness, where none can follow them. (Diodorus Siculus, lib. xix. p. 722. Niebuhr, vol. ii. p. 199.) Thus also, very expressly, M. Savary (tom. ii. p. 8): "always on their guard against tyranny, on the least discontent that is given them, they pack up their tents, load their camels with them, ravage the flat country, and, loaded with plunder, plunge into the burning sands, whither none can pursue them, and where they alone can dwell." Is it not then most probable, that the dwelling deep, mentioned in these words, means their plunging far into the deserts, rather than going into deep caves and dens, as has been most commonly supposed? This explanation is also strongly confirmed by verse 30: Flee, get you far off, dwell deep. HARMER, vol. i. p. 101.

ARABIANS KEEN AFTER THEIR PLUNDER.

JER. iii. 2. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness.] Chardin has given a very strong and lively description of the eagerness with which the Arabians look out for prey. "The Arabs wait for caravans with the most violent avidity, looking about them to all sides, raising themselves up on their horses, running here and there to see if they can perceive any smoke, or dust, or tracks on the ground, or any other marks of people passing along." HARMER, vol. i. p. 95.

AMOS ix. 13. The ploughman shall overtake the reaper.] The Arabs commmit depredations of every description. They strip the trees of their fruit even in its unripe state, as well as seize on the seed and corn of the husbandman. Maillet ascribes the alteration for the worse, that is found in the wine of a province in Egypt, to the precipitation with which they now gather the grapes. This was done to save them from the Arabs, "who frequently make excursions into it, especially in the seasons in which the fruits begin to ripen. It is to save them from these depredations, that the inhabitants of the country gather them before they come to maturity." (Lett. viii. p. 296.) It is this circumstance that must explain this passage of the prophet: Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed, and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt: that is, the days

shall come when the grapes shall not be gathered, as they were before, in a state of immaturity, for fear of Arabs or other destroying nations, but they shall be suffered to hang till the time of ploughing; so perfect shall be the security of these times. HARMER, vol. i. p. 90.

ARCHITECTS REQUIRE WISDOM.

1 COR. iii. 10. A wise master builder.] The title of copos, or wise, was given to such as were skilful in manual arts. Homer accounts such to be taught by Minerva, the goddess of wisdom (Iliad xv. lin. 411), and to this some think the apostle alludes when he compares himself to σοφος αρχιτεκτων, a wise masterbuilder.

ARIEL, A NAME FOR JERUSALEM.

ISAIAH XXIX. 1. Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt.] At Jerusalem vast quantities of flesh were consumed in their sacred feasts, as well as burnt upon the altar. Perhaps this circumstance will best explain the reason why the holy city is called Ariel. According to the Eastern taste, the term is applied in this sense; that is, to places remarkable for consuming great quantities of provision, and especially flesh. "The modern Persians will have it," says D'Herbelot, in his account of Shiraz, a city of that country," that this name was given to it because this city consumes and devours like a lion (which is called Shir in Persian) all that is brought to it, by which they express the multitude, and it may be the good appetite, of its inhabitants."

The prophet pronounces woe to Zion, as too ready to trust to the number of its inhabitants and sojourners, which may be insinuated by the term Ariel which he uses. HARMER, vol. i. p. 212.

ARK, A DIVINELY INSTITUTED EMBLEM.

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EXODUS XXV. 10. They shall make an ark.] We meet with imitations of this divinely instituted emblem among several heathen nations, both in ancient and modern times. Thus Tacitus (de Mor. German. cap. 40) informs us, that "the inhabitants of the north of Germany, our Saxon ancestors, in general, worshipped Herthum, that is, the mother earth, and believed her to interpose in the affairs of men, and to visit nations that to her, within a sacred grove, in a certain island of the ocean, a vehicle, covered with a vestment, was consecrated, and allowed to be touched by the priest alone, who perceived when the goddess entered into this her secret place, and with profound veneration attended her vehicle, which was drawn by cows. While the goddess was on their progress, days of rejoicing were kept in every place which she vouchsafed to visit. They engaged in no war, they meddled not with arms, they locked up their weapons: peace and quietness only were then known, these only relished, till the same priest reconducted the goddess, satiated with the conversation of mortals, to her temple.

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