accordingly foretold, that the raven; with other birds of similar dispositions, should fix his abode in the desolate houses of Edom: "The cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it ; and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness." The prophet Zephaniah, in like manner, makes the raven croak over the perpetual desolations of Nineveh: "Both the cormorant and the bittern," in the Septuagint and other versions, the cormorant and the raven," shall lodge in the uper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds; for he shall uncover the cedar work." In those splendid palaces, where the voice of joy and gladness was heard, and every sound which could ravish the ear and subdue the heart-silence was, for the wickedness of their inhabitants, to hold her reign for ever, interrupted only by the scream of the cormorant and the croaking of the raven. C Solomon appears to give a distinct character to some of the ravens in Palestine, when he says, "The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it." The wise man in this passage, may allude to a species of raven, which prefers the valley for her habitation to the clefts of the rock; or he may perhaps refer to some sequestered valley in the land of Promise, much frequented by these birds, which derived its name from that circumstance: or, as the rocky precipice where the raven loves to build her nest, often overhangs the torrent, (which the original word, nahal, also signifies) and the lofty tree, which is equally acceptable, rises on its banks, the royal preacher might by that phrase, Zeph. ii, 14. d Prov. xxx, 17. b Isa. xxxiv, 11. merely intend the ravens which prefer such situations. Bochart conjectures, that the valley alluded to, was Tophet, in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, which the prophet Jeremiah calls the valley of the dead bodies; because the dead bodies of criminals were cast into it, where they remained without burial, till they were devoured by flocks of ravens, which collected for that purpose from the circumjacent country. If this conjecture be right, the meaning of Solomon will be this, He who is guilty of so great a crime, shall be subjected to an infamous punishment; and shall be cast into the valley of dead bodies, and shall find no grave, but the devouring maw of the impure and voracious raven. It was a common punishment in the east, (and one which the orientals dreaded above all others,) to expose in the open fields, the bodies of evil-doers that had suffered by the laws of their offended country, to be devoured by the beasts of the field, and the fowls of heaven. Hence, in Aristophanes, an old man deprecates the punishment of being exposed to the ridicule of women, or given as a banquet to the ravens ; and Horace, in his sixteenth epistle, to Quintius, represents it as the last degree of degradation, to be devoured by these hateful birds. "non pasces in cruce corvos." The wise man insinuates, that the raven makes his first and keenest attack on the eye; which perfectly corresponds with his habits, for he always begins his banquet with that part of the body. Isidore says of him, " Primo in cadaveribus oculum petit:" and Epictetus, O ev xogaκες των τετελευτηκοτων τες οφθαλμες λυμαινονται: the ravens devour the eyes of the dead. Many other testimonies might be • Bochart. Hieroz. vol. iii, lib. ii, cap. 10, p. 203. adduced; but these are sufficient to justify the allusion in the proverb. Impure and hateful as the raven has been accounted from the remotest ages, by all the nations of the earth, he had the honour of giving his name to a prince of Midian, who invaded the land of Israel, at the head of an immense army, in the days of Gideon; for the word Oreb signifies a raven. It seems to have been a very common, and ancient custom in the east, even among persons a very of high rank, to give their children the names of particular animals; and they do not appear to have been very nice in their choice. The father of Shechem, a Canaanitish prince, was called Hamor, which signifies an ass; perhaps on account of the patience and tranquillity which marked his character, for he does not appear from his conduct, in the different negociations about Dinah the daughter of Jacob, to have been a dull or stupid person. The raven might, with some reason, seem to the Midianites, a very appropriate name for a stern and sanguinary warrior; or the prince himself, sympathizing with the general sentiments of his nation, might assume it, in order to strike his enemies with greater terror. Another prince who shared his honours and his misfortunes, took the no less appropriate name of Zeeb, or the wolf, probably for the same reason. The skilful and intrepid hunter, admiring the indefatigible perseverance and activity which the raven displays in pursuing his prey, might for a similar reason assume his name; for Corax, or the raven, is the name of a hunter, in Homer, who lost his life by falling from the top of a rock, while too eagerly urging the chase: Παρ Κορακος πέ]ρη επι τε κρηνη Αρεθεση. Odyss. lib. xiii, 1. 408. The singular custom is still practised among the savage tribes of North America, to whom it has been transmitted through the lapse of many generations from their progenitors, that first emigrated into the western continent from the shores of Asia. h Every species of food is acceptable to the raven; but he prefers the flesh of animals. A vile and disgusting bird, he hovers near the field of battle, in expectation of gorging himself with the slain; he attends at the place of execution, to feed upon the bodies of malefactors; he watches the habitations of disease and infection, to riot on the putrid carcase; and when these resources fail, he marks the lamb and other weak defenceless animals, and preys on living flesh. It is pretended, that he will even attack larger animals with success; and supplying what is deficient in strength, by cunning and activity, will fasten upon the backs of wild cattle, and eat them alive and in detail, after having picked out their eyes. What renders his ferocity more odious, is, that it is not in him as in some other animals the effect of necessity, but a desire of carnage; as he can subsist on fruits and seeds of every kind, on insects of every name, and even, it is said, on poisonous matters, so that no animal so well deserves the name of omnivorous. If to these base and truculent dispositions, we add his lugubrious plumage, his harsh and mournful note, his ignoble mein, his ferocious look, infection exhaling from his whole body,—we shall not be surprised, that in every age of the world, and among every people, he has been regarded as an object of aversion; that he was pronounced an unclean bird by the Jewish 8 Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. x, cap. 13 and 14. hÆlian de Nat. Animal. lib. ii, cap. 51. Buffon's Nat. Hist. vol. iii, p. 18. lawgiver, and the use of his flesh prohibited among the holy people.h To some it may appear surprising, that so vile and abject a creature should be so frequently recognized in Scripture, as an object of care to the Maker and Preserver of all things. When the most High challenged Job out of the whirlwind, he demanded: "Who provideth for the raven his food? When his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat." In the songs of the temple, it is stated as an argument for praising God, that ❝he giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry." Our Lord, in the New Testament, directing his disciples to trust in God for their daily subsistence, bids them "consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which neither have store-house nor barn; and God feedeth them." The ravens do not abandon their young, as some ancient authors pretend; but cherish them with as much care and attention as other birds generally do, till they are able to provide in some degree for themselves. They are sometimes, however, driven rather prematurely from the nest, before they have attained sufficient vigour and skill to subsist by their own industry; in this case, pinched with hunger, and abandoned by their parents, they fill the air with their querulous clamours, as it were, complaining to God concerning their destitute and helpless condition. In these straits, divine providence condescends to relieve their sufferings, Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. x, cap. 15. Bochart. Hieroz. lib. ii, c. 11, p. 204. |