wherein they offered Children and other Sacrifices to this cruel Idol. It was alfo called the Valley of Tophet, and our Saviour likened it to Hell. The Valley of Jehofaphat runs across the Mouth of it, which is fo called, because there that pious King was buried.

(8) Tophet Heb. i. e. A Drum, because Idolaters beat Drums, &c. to drown the Cries of miferable Creatures, which were broiled to Death in that Pit of Fire. A Cruelty, which God never commanded, always abhorred, ftrictly prohibited, and feverely punished, Fer. vii. 31.

(b) Gebenna; Gr. from the Heb. i. e. The Land of Hinnom; for Hinnom was the Lord of it; and Tophet, because Idolaters beat Drums in the Grove of Moloch which stood there. But our Saviour and others mean the Place of the Damned there. by, Mat. xviii. 9. because of the dreadful Torments there.

(i) Chemos or Kemos; II. Heb. i. e. Swift or Speedy, from the Swiftness of the Sun, which this Idol represented. Others fay hid and concealed; because of the fhameful Prostitutions and Rites of this Idolatry. Some take it to be the filthy Priapus of the Greeks and Romans. The Idol of the Moabites and Midianites. It is frequently mentioned in holy Writ, and the Wor

fhip of it is very ftrictly forbidden, threatened and punished. Solomon built a Temple or Highplace for it alfo, 1 Kings xi. 7. But pious Jofias deltroyed it, 2 Kings xxii. 13. Chemos fhall go into Captivity with her Priests and Princes; and Moab fhall be

afhamed of Chemoh, Jer. xxviii.

7, 13.

(1) Aroar or Aroer; Heb. i. e. Heat or deftroyed and rooted out; becaufe Jepththa won a memorable Battle near it, Judg. xi, A City of the Moabites on the Banks of the River Arnon in the Land of Gilead, twenty-four Miles from Jerufalem Eattward, Job. xii. 2. It fell to the Tribe of Gad, who repaired and fortified it and other Cities; but called them by other Names, that there might be no Remains of Idolatry left among them, according to the Law, Numb. xxxii. 24. There was another City of this Name near Damafcus in Syria, Ifa. vii.

(m) Nebo; Heb. i. e. A Praphecy. A City and Mountain of the Moabites, near to Mount Pif gah, twenty Miles from Jerufa

Eftward, on the East Side of the Dead Sea, belonging to Sibon or Og, very good for Pasture for Cattle, being a mountainous Country. Upon this Mountain. Mofes had a fair View of Canaan, died, and was buried, Deut. xxxiv. 1. And there Jeremy hid

the

phureous, falt and bitter Water in Judea, where Sodom and Gomorrah food, thirty-five Miles from Jerufalem to the Eaft; about twenty-four Leagues long, and fix or seven broad. On the Eaft and South it is enclpfed with exceeding high Mountains, viz. Abarim, Nebo, Pigab, Peor; on the North with the Plains of Je richo; and on the Weft with the Land belonging to the Tribe of fu dah, Jerufalem, &c. It is called the Dead Sea; because no Fish live in it; or from the heavy ftagnated Nature of its Waters: The Salt Sea, because it is of a brackish Tafte; the Sea of the Plain, the Eaft Sea, because it was eaflerly from Jerufalem. See Joel iii. 20. And the Sea of Sodam. It is a Pool or Lake of standing Water; for though for dan, Arnon, Fabbock, Diton, Ze red and Cedion run into it, yet it hath no visible Difcharge. Iron, Lead, or any other weighty Matter doth fwim upon the Top of it. Vefpafianthrew fome condemned Criminals into the deepest Place of it, and manacled; yet they rofe up with fuch Violence as if a Storm had fent them up. If Men or Beafts drink of it mixed with Water, it makes them exceeding fick; and Birds that fly over it, fall down dead.

This

Pitch refembleth Bulls without Heads, and is good for pitching Ships, Cables, and Medicines. Befides Mofes, Strabo, Tacitus, Pliny, Diodorus Siculus, and other antient Hiftorians have left

March

Accounts of it, and moftly from him. See Gen. xix.

(t) Peor, Baal Peor, and Baal-Pheor; III. Heb. i. e. A naked God or Lord, or, he that fheweth his Nakedness publickly. An Idol of the Moabites and Midianites, the fame as Chemos, the beaftly and obfcene Priapus of the Greeks and Romans. Ap abominable Idol, frequently mentioned in holy Writ with the utmoft Abhorrence, as it well deferved. Jeremiah calls it fo by Way of Difgrace, Ch. xl. 7. This Name is more ufual than the other Chemos. The Heathens took this Idolatry from the Hiftory of Noah, when he lay expofed, Gen. ix. 21. A fad Original, but a worfe Copy. A Mountain that bears his Name belonged to the Moabites on the Eaft of Jordan; because there was Beth Peor, i. e. The Temple of Peor upon Mount Peor, wherein he was worshipped. The Moabites enticed the Ifraelites to worship him, which brought a fad Plague upon them. Numb. xxv. 1.

(u) Sittim or Shittim; i. e. Scourges or Thorns. A Place in the Plains of Moab, fixty Furlongs, or eight Miles from Fordan, where the Ifraelites encamped laft under the Conduct of Mofes; and where they were tempted by the wicked Counsel of Baalam to commit Fornication with the Women of Moab. and to facrifice to this Devil;

which provoked God to destroy

twenty

twenty four thousand of them. Here grew that Wood whereof the Ark of the Covenant was made, Exod xxv. 10. xxxvii. 1.

(x) Jofiah; Heb. i. e. The Fire or Zeal of the Lord. The 18th King of Judah, the pious Son of a very wicked Father and Grandfather. He was a great Reformer of Religion. He deftroyed all thofe IdolTemples and Groves, as it was foretold of him by Name three hundred and fixty Years before he was born, 1 Kings xiii. 2. 2 Kings xxiii. 10. He began his Reign when he was eight Years of Age, A. M. 3363. Before Jefus Chrift 637. and reigned thirtyone Years; being killed in a Battle at Megiddo against Necho King of Egypt. Jeremy lamented his Death in a Divine Poem, 2 Chron. XXXV. 25.

(3) Euphrates; Lat Gr. from the Heb. Phrath or Parah, i. e. Fruitful; because it renders thofe Countries very fruitful, which it overfloweth at a certain Season yearly. The principal of the four Rivers of Paradife, Gen. ii. 14. It is the largelt in Afia, and the most

(a)

famous River upon Earth; ri fing in the Mountains of Armenia, the Tygris and many more join it; it waters Mefopotamia, paffeth by and through Babylon, renders many Countries very fruitful; and after a Course of two thousand Miles difcharges itself into the Perfian Ocean. In facred Scripture it is called the River, the Great Ris ver, by way of Eminence. It ftill retaineth the old Name by a Contraction, Aferat and Erat: The Water of it is very foul; if it ftands in a Veffel but two Hours, the Dirt and Mud will be two Inches thick on the Bottom of it. The Poet calls it Old, because it is one of the firft Rivers mentioned by Mofes, the first and oldeft Hiftorian in the World. So, Old Kifhon, Judges v. 21.

(x) Baalim, and Baal; IV. Heb. i. e. Lords and Lord. This was the first Idol in the World, erected at Babylon in Memory of Belus or Nimrod, whom Ninus his Son and Succeffor deified after his Death; and was worshipped all the World over, though under different Names,

C 2

viz.

Baal