Page images
PDF
EPUB

was reckoned only 14 miles above the earth. However, at this height, it would have been utterly useless in pointing out any specific object. The nearer to the earth any meteor is, the more distinctly is its progress seen, and the more decisively it may disdistinguish an object. We are not then to take the word star strictly for a celestial body, but for a meteor, not very high in the air: we ourselves may see most evenings, in proper weather, falling stars, or lambent flames, or other meteors, which in common language are called stars, though very improperly. A meteor of a more stationary, tranquil kind, not rapid, not very high above the clouds, perhaps hardly so high as the clouds usually float, may describe the star of the magi. If any person wishes to estimate this height, let him compare a narrow, contracted halo, or white circle, seen around the moon, with another of considerable width; and he will soon perceive how much better adapted for marking out any place is the lower meteor than the higher. I merely select this, because it occurs frequently: some I have seen have been but a few hundred yards in height.

This meteor, then, appears to have been an overruled phenomenon, according with the laws of nature, not a new star, properly speaking; but more effective to the purpose intended, than any star, properly celestial, could possibly be.

What other questions on this subject are usually started, rather refer to points of history, than to natural philosophy; and whatever it contains of miraculous, is, of course, beyond our present inquiry.

CHAPTER III. VERSE 4.

JOHN THE BAPTIST.

In considering the character of John the Baptist, we must, of necessity, make great allowances for the force of that language in which his manners are described. If we determine, at all events, to take Scripture expressions literally, we might prove that this holy person, during thirty years, "neither ate nor drank," Matth. xi. 8. but we know that a life of the utmost abstemiousness must accept refection. To be properly understood, the phrase requires accommodation; so does that of Luke, "neither eating bread nor drinking wine;" meaning, not making full or hearty meals, not enjoying feasts of good cheer; but that John never indulged so far as to eat bread, is, I presume, no more intended there, than total abstinence is intended in the former text. But, in this passage we are told what he did eat, what part of his diet consisted in; that is to say, food of the wildest kinds, and requiring the least artificial preparation; such as the conveniencies, rather inconveniencies, of a desert afforded. Conformable to the nature of his food was that of his dress; which was simple and ordinary, not magnificent or luxurious: it was of

"camel's hair," Tpxwv, not, perhaps, an undressed camel's skin, as some have supposed; for a skin is called deras, not trichon, Heb. xi. 37. Such is the usual, and perhaps correct, representation of this passage. However, I doubt whether we are not to regard John as an Essene, whose dress was ordinary, but some part of it, the girdle, or some other, was hairy, according to the custom and appearance of the ancient prophets, 2 Kings, i. 8. I am far from thinking John went naked, as painters usually depict him; but, would much rather think he was clad in the coarse mantle and homely garb of the wilderness sect among the Jews, the Essenes, than in that insufficient manner which might be all a boor could procure, but which was unbecoming the son of a priest. The dress of a prophet best suited the character of a prophet; and a prophet, too, who was the precursor of Messiah, the Prince.

If his garb was homely and coarse, his fare was frugal and simple, "locusts :" these have been fancied by interpreters into many different things: cakes, fried in oil, tips of plants, husks, wild fruits, squills, crabs, &c. but I see no reason for saying he restricted his diet to locusts only; he might be content with these; but are these to be had at all seasons of the year? How did he preserve them, dress them? &c. By the same means as he may be supposed to have accomplished these purposes, he might obtain other food; pulse, herbs, grain, &c. the customary diet of ascetics.

"Wild honey." Honey is of two kinds; bee honey, palm honey. Bee honey also divides into two kinds; that made by bees domesticated, which may be called cultivated honey; that made by bees in their natural state, which may be called wild honey. That wild bees make great quantities of wild honey in Judea, is unquestionable; 1 Sam. xiv. 25; Isai. vii. 15; Prov. xxv. 16. I have but one objection to this, that honey seems to have laid under a kind of exclusion, almost amounting to prohibition, by the Levitical law, Levit. ii. 11; xi. 20.

Palm honey, or honey distilling from trees, or furnished by trees, was also common in Judea; and this was no less used as food than the other. The epithet wild rather inclines me to this kind of honey; for that made by wild bees was less in a state of nature than that from trees. However, I think we must not take either word exclusively: I doubt not but John could regale on bee honey, when he could get it: and this might be his dainty, perhaps his luxury.

After what we have seen on Levit. xi. there is no need to detain the reader by proofs, that locusts were a food permitted by the law; and that they are still used in the East. There is, however, a tree, which bears a large pod, not unlike a broad Windsor bean: this pod I have seen, and have tasted the fruit within it, which, surely, is coarse enough. Many persons think this is the true locust: and the Germans call it

[blocks in formation]

CHAPTER IV. VERSE 5.

Then the devil taketh him... setteth him on a PINNACLE OF THE TEMPLE, and saith to him, cast thyself down.

Without pretending to convey an adequate idea of this subject, or meaning to attempt suggesting any conclusion on it, I shall take leave to think, that the temptations which are recorded as having assaulted our Lord, did not happen in instantaneously immediate succession; but at intervals; and that, very probably, these are only selected, as instances from among many. This leads to the supposition that there is no need for attributing to the devil any power of conveying our Lord's body through the air; or by any other preternatural manner bringing him to the holy city. The thought appears to me unworthy, if not profane; but, if we suppose that our Lord visited Jerusalem now, as he might have done at other times, we shall then find it advisable to inquire in what part of the temple he was placed on this occasion. To answer which, observe, that his station could not be on the roof of the temple, because that was full of spikes, and was not flat, but shelving; nor could it well be on the top of either wing, on each side of that sacred building: to these considerations we ought to add, the difficulty of getting there; and supposing that there were stairs which led to these roofs, and trap doors for going on to them, still there would remain a difficulty, how our Lord, or any other Jew, not a priest, could cross the court of the Levites and

priests, and could obtain admission into any part of that holy house: which was jealously guarded by priests, &c. purposely stationed to prevent intrusion. Other impediments, not to say improprieties, might be mentioned, on such a supposition; for the devil would certainly never tempt our Lord to an act of mere desperation; which, from the extravagance of it, was an absolute throwing away of life; what no person in his senses would have attempted, &c.

To understand this history, observe, that the word Epov, rendered temple, signifies not only the holy house itself, but its courts, and the galleries round it; the whole structure: that the word Tepov, signifies an appendage to a building, a wing. Parkhurst takes it for a portico," the king's portico," which was built parallel to the south front of the temple. Scheuzer repeats three notions of this wing: 1st, That of the roof of the holy house; this he discards. 2dly, That of a throne, or exalted edifice, for the king to sit in at worship. "As it was raised greatly above the body of the building, it resembled the wing of a bird; [I do not see this resemblance :] it was called the wing of the temple. In Dan. ix. 7. the LXX have translated canaph, by pterugion. There would not, in my opinion, be any inconvenience in taking this for the wing of the temple in our text." 3dly, A tribune of wood, erected every seven years in the court of the women, from whence the king read the law to the people. "This conjecture would be one of the most probable, if it could be proved that the time of the temptation of Jesus Christ coincided with one of these festivals."

The reader is now prepared to accept the word wing, unhappily rendered pinnacle, in a less elevated sense than before. I could almost wish to refer it to a certain balcony, portico, or projection, from one of the galleries which surrounded the temple court. I am aware that there seems to be an emphasis in the evangelist's language, "the wing," which refers apparently to one only; and I cannot think of a more likely place, than one opposite to the great door of the temple, and commanding a view of the whole court. Possibly the history of the death of St. James Minor, vide Dictionary, will illustrate this subject: "They made him go up into one of the galleries of the temple that he might be heard by the whole multitude, the Pharisees, &c. going up to where he was, threw him down from thence. He did not die of his fall, but kneeling, prayed," &c. till he was stoned and slain. Whatever we may think of this history, it is, no doubt, near enough to fact to warrant the inference that there was a projection in one of the galleries around the temple from whence a person could be well heard below; and that the leaping down from thence, to which the devil tempted Jesus, was not absolute suicide. We infer also, that there was ready ingress to it, and egress from it;

and that no offence would be taken at a person's entering it. Perhaps further still, this might be a convenient place from whence the worship below might be beheld, and so much of the temple as strangers might see as a sight; as strangers go into St. Paul's, or other churches, for curiosity, distinct from devotion. These ideas are so different from those which rise in the mind of an English reader, on the words "pinnacle of the temple," that they require consideration; but, if admitted, they render the history much easier: they have readiness of approach, possibility of a plausible persuasion, the absence of desperation, the reason of the place being in the singular, and many minor facilities, which the intelligent reader will not fail to remark for himself.

CHAPTER V. VERSE 13.

Ye are the SALT of the earth: if the salt have lost its savour, literally, become foolish, it is good for nothing, &c.

It is probable that our Lord may refer here to salt dug from the salt lakes, the upper crust of which, having been exposed to the sun, rain, and wind, for a long time, loses its relish, and becomes merely a mass of terra damnata, as the chemists speak; a mere caput mortuum: appearing externally like salt, but possessing none of the properties of that mineral. Something of this may be gathered from Dr. Shaw's account of the mountain of salt: "Jibbel Had-deffar is an entire mountain of salt, situated near the eastern extremity of the lake of Marks. The salt is of a quite different quality and appearance from that of the salina, being as hard and as solid as stone, and of a reddish or purple colour. Yet what is washed down from the precipices by the dews attains another colour, becoming as white as snow, and losing that share of bitterness which is in the parent rock salt," p. 229. fol. ed.

CHAPTER VI. VERSE 19.

Lay not up treasures on earth, where мOTH and RUST Corrupt.

"It seems that the two words in our text, ons ses, and was brosis, signify two sorts of worms, or maggots, as appears by Isai. 1. 9. where the LXX and Theodotion translate the Hebrew osh, by ses, but Aquila, by brosis; and Baruch, vi. 11. speaking of the idols of the Gentiles, says "they cannot save themselves from rust and moths," bromaton, where the word broma, or brosis, denotes also a kind of insect. The Greek ses derives manifestly from the Hebrew ses, or sas, Isai. li. 8. "The moth shall consume them like a garment." The Orientals have nearly preserved the name; the Arabs call usset, uss, a worm which erodes woollen cloths, and the bookworm also, Meninski, 3215. If any one supposes that the word treasures

does not include vestments, books, &c. let him note Esdras ii. 69; Nehem. vii. 70; Job xxvii. 16. et al." Menander, the Greek poet, speaking of the destructive things, says σntes, moths, "destroy our clothes ;" and the apostle James expresses moth-eaten, by setobrotos; and the Lxx, Job xiii. 28. express the Hebrew "eaten by osh," by setobroton.

VERSE 28.

The lily of the fields. I should not be surprised if this was the same flower as is designed by the bride in Canticles ii. 1. who compares herself to "a flower of the brook side;" not of a cultivated garden. But, the white lily, which is what we first think of, is a flower of the field in Persia; and some of its species may be so in Judea. Besides this, there is the martagon, crown imperial, and other coloured lilies; if the comparison be to the whiteness of Solomon's raiment, then certainly it never equalled the brilliant whiteness of a lily; if it be to resplendence of colours, then the mixture, the relief, the glow of colours, in some kinds of lilies, exceeds whatever the manufacturers of stuffs for Solomon's wardrobe could compose. May the tulips be thought of on this subject? "The lily of the field," was perhaps present, and pointed at, when our Divine Master suggested this simile: if so, it was certainly a wild lily that was intended: but we need not fear that the wild lily will bear every comparison with the most perfect productions of hu

man art.

CHAPTER VII. VERSE 16.

Ye shall know them by their fruits: do men gather grapes from thorns, acanthon, or figs from thistles, tribolon?

For this acanthus and tribulus, vide on Gen. iii. 18. Hiller observes, Hier. p. i. p. 51. "It is neither the flowers, nor the leaves, neither size nor age, which constitute the goodness of a tree. The willow flourishes to no use; the fig-tree cursed by Christ, was commendable only for its leaves; the elm, though very high, bears fruit, which no beast uses as food. The oak itself, when old, yields few acorns." It is a great proof of the goodness of Providence that each kind of tree produces fruit proper to itself, otherwise both men and animals might sustain great detriment.

CHAPTER VIII. VERSE 20.

The FOXES have holes; and the BIRDS of the air have nests.

We have elsewhere supposed, that these foxes are jackalls: and these birds are birds of prey: which strengthens the contrast in these verses. "The benevolent Jesus has no abiding residence; though the ravenous jackalls have coverts, and the devouring birds have nests." The word sheller might be

conveniently substituted for nests; i.e. a place wherein to be under shade, as great trees, &c.

CHAPTER X. VERSE 29.

Are not two SPARROWS sold for one farthing? The struthion of this text is always understood to mean the sparrow. We have no inducement to change the version.

CHAPTER XIII.

It is mentioned, incidentally, in the parable of the sower, as related by three of the evangelists, that "some seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls of the air came and devoured them, though they were, as Mark tells us, "trodden down," by passengers. This circumstance has no difficulty in our conception of it, but it would strike an Eastern imagination more forcibly than our own: for so Thevenot informs us. "On that road I observed a pretty pleasant thing, which is practised in all that country, as far as Bender Abassi; I saw several peasants, running about the corn fields, who raised loud shouts, and every now and then clacked their whips, with all their force; and all this to drive away the birds, which devour all their corn. When they see flocks of them coming from a neighbouring ground, that they may not light on theirs, they redouble their cries to make them go further; and this they do every morning and evening. The truth is, there is so great a number of sparrows in Persia, that they destroy all things; and scarecrows are so far from frightening them, that they will perch upon them."

The latter part of this extract may remind us of an expression in the letter of Jeremiah, in the apocryphal prophet, Baruch vi. 70. who, reasoning that idols are not gods, says, "For as a scarecrow in a garden of cucumbers keepeth, i.e. preserveth nothing; so are their gods of wood, and laid over, plated as a Birmingham artist might say, with silver and gold.” The comparison of deities to scarecrows is sufficiently debasing of itself; but to add uselessness to that idea, must needs be abundantly more striking to those who knew the boldness of the birds of their country;

which disregard these objects of terror, and "perch"

upon what was designed to deter them.

The thorn of this passage is acanthus. Vide chap. vii.

VERSE 25.

THE TARES AMONG THE CORN.

It is not very easy to decide, whether by the name zizania, the Saviour intends indifferently all plants which grow among grain, or some particular species. All that we are certain of from the circumstances of the parable is, that it is a plant which rises to the height of the corn. This agrees with the lolium of

Dioscorides. The Talmud calls it, zonim: the Turks, ziwan; the Arabs, siiwan. It seems that the sizanion has passed from the East into Greece. Dioscorides, Aristotle, Theophrastus, &c. give it the name of aira, which Suidas calls, "the corruption of grain." It not only deprives the grain of its nourishment, but its seed, which Virgil calls infelix lolium, mingled with the meal, occasions inebriety, vertigoes, and often a lethargic and mortal torpidity. Theophrastus says, it attacks the head; and Ovid says it hurts the eyes, Fast. i.

Et careant loliis oculos vitiantibus agri.

of our corn fields. Lolium temulentum, Lin. The This sisanion is usually thought to be the darnel same herb is called sisanion by the Spaniards.

VERSE 31.

MUSTARD SEED.

A grain of mustard seed; the smallest of all seeds, yet riseth up, is greater than herbs, and becometh a tree. The mustard of our own country is very far from answering this description; but there is in the East a species to which, no doubt, it alludes; it is called by Linnæus, sinapi Erucoides. Its branches are real wood, as appears from a specimen in the collection of sir Joseph Banks. This tree may well afford shelter and shade to birds; but whether it may equal some mentioned in the Talmud of Jerusalem, Tract. Peah. f. 20. I do not know. "There was in Sichi a mustard-tree, which had three branches, one of which, being cut down, served to cover the hovel of a potter; and yielded three cabs of seed." The Rabbi Simeon, son of Chalaphtah, assures us, "that he had in his garden a shoot of the mustard-tree, on which he clambered as if on a fig-tree." Without insisting on the accuracy of this, we may gather from it, that we should not judge of Eastern vegetables by those which are familiar to ourselves.

CHAPTER XXII. VERSE 45.

The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant, seeking The pearl is a gem so well known goodly PEARLS. among us, as the production of a certain kind of oyster, that we have no need to enlarge in describing it. But, we may submit some instances of the great value of goodly pearls; by way of shewing, what efforts to obtain them they might justify. Ramusio, Pereg. tom. i. mentions a pearl found in the Pearl Islands, or where the fishery is carried on in the Gulf of Bahrein, toward Persia, which was the size of a nut, and sold for 1,200 ducats. Tavernier mentions another found, 1633, at El Catiff in the Gulf of Bassora, sold to the king of Persia for 32,000 tomans. Nic Grimm saw one at the Cape of Good Hope which weighed an ounce, but was imperfect. One is mentioned as sold

for 1,000,000 ducats, Eph. Ger. Dec. II. Ann. 3. Ob. 36. This seems prodigious; and perhaps there is a cypher too much in the account.

CHAPTER XXIII. VERSE 23.

Wo unto you, hypocrites, for ye pay tithe of MINT, ANISE, and CUMMIN. Luke xi. 42. mint and RUE, and all manner of herbs.

Little can be said on these plants: that they are translated with sufficient accuracy, is the general opinion. It may not be amiss to add, that they are not, perhaps, strictly speaking, garden herbs in the East, but though used as food, are rather wild than cultivated hence the scrupulosity of paying their tithes is the more extravagant, nevertheless rue is admitted into the garden; and cummin is spoken of as cultivated by the husbandman, Isai. xxviii. 27.

VERSE 24.

Blind guides who strain out a GNAT, but swallow a

CAMEL.

In this passage there is an evident opposition between the gnat, which these professors of purity are said to strain out, and the camel which they are said to swallow. The word konops here used, signifies properly a small insect which breeds in wine becoming tart, or in vinegar itself: we read in Aristotle, Hist. lib. v. cap. 19. "The wine gnats proceed from worms, which are bred in the lees:" and, lib. iv. cap. 8. "The wine gnat does not fly to that wine which is sweet, but to that which is acid." Plutarch says the same; [but I think some insect which did visit sweet or potable wine, must be here intended.] Anatolius, Geop. lib. vi. advises to cleanse the winepress thoroughly after having used it, lest the left liquor should breed insects. The ancient Greek interpreters render those words, Amos vi. 6. which we translate, who drink wine in bowls, by, "who drink strained wine, but are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph" this contradictory affectation of external purity, without corresponding internal sentiments, agrees well with the scope of our text. The Talmudista also mention jabhkuschin, or wine gnats, and Maimonides writes, de Cib. Vetit. cap. ii. f. 22. "He who strains wine, vinegar, or strong liquor, and swal lows the jabhkuschin, the insects, wine gnats, which he has strained, is deserving of punishment." Vallisneri, Dialoghi, p. 151. describes these insects. Erasmus compares this proverbial manner of speaking respecting the swallowing of a camel, to that of the Greeks "taking a statue down the gullet."

[blocks in formation]

The words acanthon, thorn, and calamus, reed, are far too general to determine the specific kind thus employed by the soldiers; we should suppose they were articles which grew not far distant. Vide on Judg. viii. 16.

The calamus was probably of the nature of a cane, and affected at least to answer the purposes of a sceptre; or, perhaps, was a kind of walking stick.

VERSE S4.

They gave him vinegar mingled with GALL. Mark xv. 23. mingled with MYRRH. Vide Deut. xxix. 18.

VERSE 45.

From the sixth hour to the ninth hour, there was DARKNESS over all the land.

This verse divides into two parts: 1st, of the hours; which, compared with those of another evangelist, John, produce a seeming confusion. Many modes have been suggested of obviating this; some have supposed that John used the Roman hours; others, that he calculated from the preparation of the passover, in which case the times would stand pretty nearly according to the following arrangement: Jesus seized at midnight: at which time the preparation for the passover began in the temple.

About the sixth hour after his seizure, or after the beginning to prepare the passover, Jesus is brought before Pilate: John xix. 14. six o'clock in the morning.

At the third hour of the day, reckoned after the Jewish manner, from sunrise, Jesus is nailed to the cross, and the cross is erected: nine o'clock in the morning, Mark xv. 25.

At the sixth hour of the day darkness begins: at noon, Matth. xxvii. 45; Mark xv. 33; Luke xxiii. 44.

At the ninth hour of the day Jesus expires: three o'clock in the afternoon, Matth. xxvii. 46; Mark xv.

34.

Jesus is taken down from the cross, carried to Joseph's tomb, his body anointed, and spices flung over it, &c. from four o'clock in the afternoon to six o'clock in the evening.

The second part of this verse refers to the darkness over the land. What occasioned this darkness?

The nature of eclipses is so well known among us, that we have no need to explain how they are occasioned by the intervention of the moon, hiding the face of the sun; or, by the shadow of the earth falling on the moon. It is well known, also, that the Jewish feasts were regulated by the moon's course, and age; and that at this time a natural eclipse of the sun by the moon was impossible, the moon being now at full. What was the real, secondary, cause of this suspen

« PreviousContinue »