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them, shews that his situation required the utmost privacy, even to solitude, and that it was impossible for him to remain concealed among the inhabitants of the country. 5. When the brook was dried up, the prophet was obliged to quit his asylum, which he needed not to have done had a people been his suppliers, as they could have brought him water as well as food. 6. Hence we may justly conclude, that these orevim were true ravens, as it is rendered in nearly every version.*

(13.) The destruction of the children, or young men, who mocked Elisha, by bears, 2 Kings ii. 23, 24. "And he went up from Bethel and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them." The words “¬y], nëárim ketannim, not only signify little children, but young men; for 10P, katon, signifies not only little, but young, in opposition to old; and nuár, signifies not only a child, but a young man, grown to years of maturity thus Isaac is called "y, when twenty-eight years old, Joseph when thirty-nine, and Rehoboam when forty. These idolatrous young men, having heard of the ascension of Elijah, without believing it, blasphemously bade Elisha follow him. The venerable prophet, from a divine impulse, pronounced a curse in the name of the Lord;' which was immediately followed by the most terrible judgment; thus evincing the Source from which it flowed.*

(14.) The supply of water to the combined armies of Jehoram, Jehoshaphat, and the king of Edom, according to the word of Elisha, 2 Kings iii. 16-20. “And he said, Thus saith the Lord, Make this valley full of ditches. For thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts. And this is but a light thing in the sight of the Lord: he will deliver the Moabites also into your hand. And ye shall smite every fenced city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all wells of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones. And it came to pass in the morning, when the meat offering was offered, that, behold, there came water by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water." This supply was altogether miraculous ; for there was neither wind nor rain, nor any other natural means to furnish it.*

(15.) The feeding of a loaves, 2 Kings iv. 42-44. and brought the man of God ley, and full ears of corn in people, that they may eat. before an hundred men?

hundred men by Elisha on twenty barley "And there came a man from Baal-shalisha, bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barthe husk thereof. And he said, Give unto the And his servitor said, What, should I set this He said again, Give the people, that they may

Comprehensive Bible, Note in loco.

6

So

eat for thus saith the Lord, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof. he set it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof, according to the word of the Lord." Probably the full ears of corn in the husk' were parched corn, or corn to be parched;-full ears, before they are ripe, parched on the fire; a very frequent food in the East. The loaves were probably extremely small, as their loaves of bread still are in eastern countries. But small as this may appear, it would be a considerable present in the time of famine; though very inadequate to the number of persons.

*

(16.) The causing of iron to swim by Elisha, 2 Kings vi. 5-7.

"But

as one was felling a beam, the ax head fell into the water: and he cried, and said, Alas, master! for it was borrowed. And the man of God said, Where fell it? And he shewed him the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast it in thither; and the iron did swim. Therefore said he, Take it up to thee. And he put out his hand, and took it." This simple means could have no natural tendency to raise the iron, and cause it to swim: it was only a sign, or ceremony, which the prophet chose to employ on the occasion. This was, then, a real miracle; for the gravity of the metal must otherwise still have kept it at the bottom of the river.*

"And

(17.) The destruction of Sennacherib's army, 2 Kings xix. 35. it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand; and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses." In conformity to the prediction of this astonishing event by the prophet Isaiah, ver. 7, “Behold, I will send a BLAST upon him," &c., it is probable this angel, or messenger, was the simoom, or hot pestilential wind, which is so frequent in eastern countries, and often destroys vast numbers in a moment. See Thevenot, Trav. P. i. b.ii. c. 20, P.ii. b. i. c. 20, b. ii. c. 16.* The destructive nature of the Sam, Simoom, Smoom, or Samiel, is mentioned by almost all travellers. When this pestilential wind advances, which it does with great rapidity, its approach is indicated by a redness in the air; and, when sufficiently near to admit of being observed, it appears like a haze, in colour resembling the purple part of the rainbow, but not so compressed or thick. The principal stream of the blast always moves in a line, about twenty yards in breadth, and twelve feet above the surface of the earth, but its parching influence pervades all places to a considerable distance. The only mean of preservation from its noxious influence, is to lie flat, with the face upon the ground, till the blast be over. Camels and other animals instinctively perceive its approach, and bury their mouths and nostrils in the ground. It rarely lasts more than seven or eight minutes, but so poisonous are its effects, that it instantly suffocates those who are unfortunate enough to inhale it. †

The circumstances connected with this event is the subject of the 29th and four following chapters of Isaiah, as Bishop Lowth observes,-namely,

the invasion of Sennacherib; the great distress of the Jews while it continued; their sudden and unexpected deliverance by God's immediate interposition in their behalf; the subsequent prosperous state of the kingdom under Hezekiah; interspersed with severe reproofs, and threats of punishment, for their hypocrisy, stupidity, infidelity, their want of trust in God, and their vain reliance on the assistance of Egypt; and with promises of better times, both immediately to succeed, and to be expected in the future age."

*

In conformity with the preceding view of the agency employed by the Lord in effecting this miraculous overthrow, are the other terms employed by the prophet in these chapters. In foretelling the distress of Jerusalem he exclaims, (ch. xxix. 1, 2,) "Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices. Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow and it shall be unto me as Ariel." Or, as Bishop Lowth renders it, and it shall be unto me as the hearth of the great altar,' that is, it shall be the seat of the fire of God, which shall issue from thence to consume his enemies. The hearth of the altar is expressly called ", ariel, by Ezekiel, ch. iii. 15; which is put, in the former part of the verse, for Jerusalem, the city in which the altar was.* So again in Isa. xxx. 31, 33, "For through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod. For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared: he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it." Tophet was a part of the valley of Hinnom, south-east of Jerusalem, where the Canaanites and afterwards the Israelites, sacrificed their children to Moloch; and it is here used by metonymy, for the place where the Assyrian army was destroyed, which appears to have really happened on the opposite side of Jerusalem, near Nob, Isa. x. 32.†

(18.) The recovery of Hezekiah from a dangerous sickness, 2 Kings xx. 7. "And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.", shechin, from the Arabiców, sachana, to be hot, signifies an inflammatory tumour, or burning boil: and some think that Hezekiah's malady was a pleurisy; others, that it was the plague; and others, the elephantiasis, a species of leprosy, as one of the Hexapla versions renders in Job 2. 7. A poultice of figs might be very proper to maturate a boil, or dismiss any obstinate inflammatory swelling, and the propriety of such an application is expressly mentioned by Pliny (l. xxii. c. 25, l. xxiii. c. 7); but we cannot discuss its propriety in this case, unless we were certain of the nature of the malady. It was, however, the natural means which God chose to bless for his recovery; and without this interposition, he must have died.†

(19.) The going back of the shadow ten degrees on the sun-dial of Ahaz, 2 Kings xx. 8—11. "And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, What

* Comprehensive Bible, Note on Isa. 29. 2.

+ Idem, Note in loco.

shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of the Lord the third day? And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he hath spoken; shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees? And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees. And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.” What these degrees were, or how dials were then constructed, is wholly uncertain. It is probable that this miracle was effected by refraction, rather than by arresting the motion of the earth.* The Hebrew might be rendered the steps of Ahaz.' The researches of curious travellers, in Hindostan, observes Bp. Stock, have lately discovered in that country, three observatories of similar form, the most remarkable of which is to be seen within four miles of Delhi, the ancient capital of the Mogul empire. A rectangled triangle, whose hypothenuse is a staircase, (apparently parallel to the axis of the earth), bisects a zone, or coping of a wall, which wall connects the two terminating towers at right and left. The coping itself is of a circular form, and accurately graduated, to mark, by the gnomon above, the sun's progress before and after noon. According to the known laws of refraction, a cloud, or body of air, of different density to the common atmosphere, interposed between the gnomon and the coping, or dial plate below, would, if denser, cause the shadow to ascend the steps on the coping by which it had gone down, and if rarer, a contrary event would take place.†

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(20.) The miraculous defeat of the Philistines in behalf of David.1 Chr. xiv. 15, 16. "And it shall be, when thou shalt hear a sound of going in the tops of the mulberry-trees, that then thou shalt go out to battle for God is gone forth before thee to smite the host of the Philistines. David therefore did as God commanded him: and they smote the host of the Philistines from Gibeon even to Gazer." Some, taking the word *, bechaim, translated mulberry-trees,' as a proper name, render, ' when thou shalt hear a sound of going upon the summits of Bechaim;' others understanding wx, rosh, a top,' in the sense of beginning or entrance, read, when thou hearest a sound of footsteps at the entrance of the grove of mulberry-trees;' and others think a rustling among the leaves is intended. The Targumist reads, 'When thou shalt hear the sound of the angels coming to thy assistance, then go out to battle; for an angel is sent from the presence of God, that he may render thy way prosperous.' If there had not been an evident supernatural interference, David might have thought that the ruse de guerre, which he had used, was the cause of his victory.*

(21.) The miraculous preservation of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the fiery furnace.-Dan. iii. 26, 27. "Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said,

Shadrach, Mechach, and Abed-nego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, came forth of the midst of the fire. And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their heads singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them." The heathen boasted that their priests could walk on burning coals unhurt; and Virgil (Æn. 1. xi. 785) mentions this of the priests of Apollo of Soracté, Varro, however, tells us that they anointed the soles of their feet with a species of unguent that preserved them from being burnt; but here all was supernatural, as the king himself acknowledged.*

(22.) The madness miraculously inflicted on Nebuchadnezzar, according to the interpretation of his dream by Daniel, Dan. iv. 25.—“That they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beast of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will," &c. Compare ver. 29-36. All the circumstances of Nebuchadnezzar's case, says Dr. Mead, (Medica Sacra, ch. vii.) agree so well with a hypochondriasis, that to me it appears evident he was seized with this distemper, and under its influence ran wild into the fields: then fancying himself transformed into an ox, he fed on grass, after the manner of cattle; and, through neglect of himself, his hair and nails grew to an excessive length, so that the latter became thick and crooked, resembling birds' claws. Virgil (Ecl. vi. 48.) says of the daughters of Prætus, who are related to have been mad, Implerunt falsis mugitibus agros, With mimic lowings they filled the fields.'* Every thing was fulfilled that was exhibited in the dream and its interpretation; and God so ordered it in his providence, that Nebuchadnezzar's counsellors and lords sought for him and gladly reinstated him in his kingdom. It is highly probable that he was a true convert, and died in the faith of the God of Israel.*

(23.) The preservation of Daniel in the lion's den, Dan. vi. 16-23. "Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee. And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords; that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel." All this precaution served the purposes of Divine Providence. There could be no trick or collusion here: if Daniel be preserved, it must be by the power of Jehovah the God of Israel. And he was delivered; and when the king enquired at the den after his safety, he said, "O king, live for ever. My God hath sent his

* Comprehensive Bible, Note in loco.

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