The Goat. Two kinds of goats wander in the pastures of Syria and Canaan: one that differs little from the common sort in Britain; the other remarkable for the largeness of its ears. The size of this variety is somewhat larger than ours; but their ears are often a foot long, and broad in proportion. The Syrians keep them chiefly for their milk, of which they yield a considerable quantity. The present race of goats in the vicinity of Jerusalem, are of this broad-eared species. To this kind of goat, so different from the common breed, it is probable the prophet refers: "As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion, two legs or a piece of an ear, so shall the children of Israel be taken out, that dwell in Samaria and in Damascus.”r It is indeed the intention of the prophet, to express how few of his people escaped from the overthrow of their country, and were settled in foreign parts; but it would have been hardly natural to suppose, that a shepherd would exert himself to make a lion quit a piece of an ear, only of a common goat; it must therefore be supposed to refer to the long-eared kind. Rauwolff observed goats on the mountains around Jerusalem, with pendant ears almost two feet long." When they are suffered to rove at large, and to browse on the herbs and leaves which are agreeable to their taste, their milk is sweet and well tasted; while the milk of cows, from their being fed with the refuse of the gardens, is at Aleppo and other great cities, very unpalatable. This circumstance discovers a force and beauty in the promise of Solomon, to the diligent husbandman, which have been ge4 Russel's Hist. of Aleppo, vol. ii, p. 150. * Amos iii, 12. Page 234. nerally overlooked: "Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds, and thou shalt have goats' milk enough for the food of thy household, and for the maintenance of thy maidens."t "The high hills," said David, "are a refuge for the wild goats."" The disposition of this fearless and surefooted creature, to scale the steepest cliffs, to traverse the shelvings of the most frightful precipices, which the foot of man or other animal has never trodden, to occupy the loftiest and most inaccessible crags, to dance on their smallest projections, where it has scarcely room to set down its foot, is well known to every observer of Nature, and furnishes the inspired writer with that beautiful allusion: "Then Saul went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats." No toils, no perils could restrain the pursuit of that jealous and cruel monarch; or shake his resolution to shed the blood of his unoffending relation. Sheep and goats frequently mingle in the same pastures; and on these occasions, the he-goats always take the lead. To this habit, the prophet alludes in his exhortation to Israel: "Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he-goats before the flocks."w A flock of goats is fewer in number than a flock of sheep, because the former are given to wander and separate, while the latter, more gregarious in their temper, collect into one place. This is the reason, says Bochart, that the sacred writer compares the small army of the Israelites to a flock of goats rather than to a flock of sheep. While seven is " Psa. civ, 18. * Prov. xxvii, 23, 27. ▾ 1 Sam. xxiv, 2. w Jer. i, 8. Bochart. Hieroz. lib. ii, cap. 51, p. 620. * Varro de Re Rust. lib. ii, cap. 3. Columella, lib. viii, cap. 6. 1 always used by the Hebrews to denote a sufficient or complete number, two is constantly employed to signify a few, or very few. Thus, the widow woman said to the prophet; "As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake but a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruise: And behold I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it and die." The phrase is used in the same sense by the prophet concerning the reduced state of his people; "Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough.” Another prophet uses it in relation to the return of a small number of the captives to their own land; "I will take you; one of a city and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion." And Hosea encourages his people to repentance with the promise, "After two days will he revive us in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight," or, within a very short time he will deliver them from their enemies. The sacred historian accordingly compares the armies of Israel opposed to the Syrians to "two little flocks of kids;" two, because they were few in number; little flocks, as goats from their roaming disposition always are; flocks of kids, feeble and timid; without resources and without hope. A more complete and glowing picture of national weakness, even the pen of inspiration never drew. The hair of the goat is plucked off, or shorn like the wool of sheep, and manufactured into stuffs of different kinds in the oriental regions. The tabernacle of Moses was covered with curtains of goats' hair, spun by the y Varro de Re Rust. lib. ii, and Ælian de Nat. Animal. lib. xvi, cap. 30. Virgil, Geor. lib. iii, 1. 311. women of Israel in the wilderness." In the Song of So lomon, the hair of the spouse is compared to a flock of goats from mount Gilead ; that is, the hair of a flock of goats, which, in some species, grows very long: "Nec minus interia barbas, incanaque menta Cinyphii tondent hirci, setasque comantes, Usum in castrorum et miseris velamine nautis." Geor. lib. iii, 1. 311. The celebrated author of Theron and Aspasio, gives the allusion a different turn. The amiableness of the church in the exemplary conversation of true believers, is displayed by a copious growth of hair, which flows down from the parted forelock in decent curls. Thy hair is as a flock of goats, that are seen afar off, and appear in a pendant attitude, from the summit of mount Gilead; most agreeably adorning the place, and detaining the spectator's eye. This exposition takes in a circumstance which corresponds with the pensile position of the hair; renders the comparison more full and exact; and is, according to the observation of a most accurate judge, one of the chief remarkables in such a prospect: "Non ego vos posthac, viride projectus in antro, Vir. Ecl. i, 1. 77. Goats' hair is of two sorts; the one long and coarse, is used in the manufacture of tent curtains, sails, and other fabrics of the same kind: the other is much finer; it grows under the coarse hair, and has received the distinguishing name of goats' wool. "Alter rixatur de lana sæpe caprina." It is fabricated into stuffs, which, cients, almost equal silk in fineness. * Exod. xxvi, 7, and xxxv, 26. Hor. lib. i, Epist. 18. according to the anHence, it is easy to a Song iv, 1. perceive the reason that Michal, the daughter of Saul, placed a pillow of goats' hair for a bolster to the image in the bed of David, that it might in some degree represent his hair; for it has been asserted, that human hair in the regions of the east, very much resembles the hair of goats: hence, those who were bald, sometimes endeavoured to conceal the defect, by covering their heads with the skin of a kid. In this manner, Rebekah disguised the neck and hands of Jacob, that his father might take him for Esau, who was by the testimony of the inspired writer," a hairy man." Goats' milk has been long in use for medicinal purposes among almost every nation, and in many places it is the common food of the inhabitants. This may be inferred from these words of Solomon: "And thou shalt have goats' milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for the maintenance of thy maidens." The ox, says Jerome, was made for ploughing, the horse for riding, the dog for watching, the she-goat for milk, and the sheep for wool. Galen mentions the milk of that animal as the common food of the peasant; and Varro makes the same remark.d The sacred writers frequently allude to the kid; and the term which they employ uniformly signifies a young goat. Some writers contend that a denotes also a lamb; but no instance of this meaning occurs in the Scriptures, nor according to Bochart, in any Syrian or Arabian author; the opinion of Kimchi, and other Rabbinnical writers, therefor, is unsupported by any proof, and consequently is entitled to no regard. In the Holy Scriptures, the term (72) Gedi is very Prov. xxvii, 27. c Bochart. Hieroz. lib. ii, cap. 51, p. 629. d De Re Rust. lib. ii, cap. 11. |