often connected with (n,) Haizim; and the phrase is rendered, in our tranlation, kid of the goats. Thus Rebekah commanded her son Jacob, "Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two kids of the goats; and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth." This phrase is not used with the view of distinguishing a young goat from a lamb; for it has been just observed, that the original term is never employed to denote a lamb, but to signifiy a very young kid that still requires the dug and the watchful care of its mother. Bochart is not entirely satisfied with this reason, because, in several parts of Scripture, he found the phrases ♪ ¬'JU, Sheir Izim, and y, Tsephir Izim, a male of the goats, which cannot be understood of a kid, because, in Daniel, it is described as full grown, armed with horns, engaging in combat with the ram, casting him down to the ground, and stamping upon him with his feet: which by no means agrees with the tender age of a kid. But the original phrases are not the same; the term which, in the book of Daniel, is rendered he-goat, signifies, in general, a rough shaggy animal, and is, therefore, placed in that construction, to determine what particular creature is intended. By a kid of the goats, then, is meant one of a tender age, or that is still suckled by the dam. The village of Engedi, situated in the neighbourhood of Jericho, derives its name from the Hebrew word (pr) Ain, a fountain, and (2) a kid. It is suggested by the situation among lofty rocks, which, overhanging the valleys, seem to threaten the traveller with immediate destruction. A fountain of pure water rises near the summit, which the inhabitants call Engedi, the fountain of the goat, because it is hardly accessible to any other creature. • Gen. xxvii, 9. f Bochart. Hieroz. lib. ii, cap. 51, p. 631. Among the Hebrews, the kid was reckoned a great delicacy. Hence, when Isaac sent his son Esau to procure him savoury meat, such as he loved, Rebekah prepared for him two kids of the goats, dressed, no doubt, in various ways, and with different sauces, that the aged patriarch might choose what was most agreeable to his taste. In the same manner, Gideon, the chief magistrate of Israel, and Manoah, the father of Samson, entertained the angel of the Lord, who appeared to them in human form, and was regarded by them as a person of their own order. The patriarch Judah sent a kid to Thamar, his daughterin-law; and Jesse, the father of David, reckoned it a present not unworthy of a king; for he "took an ass laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them by David his son unto Saul." The superiour delicacy of this food is also celebrated by many heathen authors. It is thus described by Juvenal : "De Tiburtino veniet pinguissimus agro Sat. xi. These instances shew in what light we are to consider the complaint made by the elder brother of the prodigal son in the parable, that his father had never given him a kid to entertain his friends; although he had not suffered him to want the usual comforts of life, he had never enabled him to treat them with so great a delicacy. The Jewish legislator three times forbids his people to "seethe a kid in his mother's milk." The meaning of this law has been greatly disputed, although the terms in which it is couched, are sufficiently clear and precise. It is the opinion of some writers, that the prohibition refers to a kid 1 Sam. xvi, 20. it in the womb of its mother, which in that state is nourished only with milk; but the opinion of Clemens, that the people of Israel had been in the practice of eating the fœtus of a goat, which this precept was intended to prohibit, is supported by no proof. The disgusting custom of eating the fœtus of a sow, is indeed mentioned by Plutarch;h but we have no proof that it was known to epicures in the times of Moses. Other expositors imagine, that the Jews were by this precept forbidden to take away the life of a kid, before it was eight days old, when, according to them, may subsist without the aid of its mother's milk. This exposition is supposed to be confirmed by another precept: "When a bullock, or a sheep, or a goat is brought forth, then it shall be seven days under the dam; and from the eighth day, and thenceforth, it shall be accepted for an offering made by fire unto the Lord. But since the law, which prohibited the people of Israel to offer in sacrifice, "the young of the herd, or of the flock," before the eighth day, is immediately subjoined to the precept concerning the oblation of the first ripe fruits, and the first born, in the twenty-second chapter of Exodus; so, in the twenty-third and thirty-fourth chapters, the law which forbids to seethe a kid in his mother's milk, follows the same precept; and by consequence, not only the sacred, but also the common use of the kid, is prohibited before the eighth day. Such is the opinion, and the reasoning by which it is supported; but it must be evident to every reader, that a kid is as much in his mother's milk all the time he is suckled, as during the first eight days; nor can any reason be imagined, why he may not be said to be in his mother's milk on the seventh day from his birth, rather than on the eighth or the ninth. h Пg σagnopaɣias, lib. ii, quoted by Bochart, Hieroz. vol. ii, cap. 52, i Lev. xxii, 27. p. 635. Others are of opinion, that, according to this precept, a sucking kid was at no time to be slain, either for sacred or common use. The she-goat suckles her young about three months; and till this period, it was not to be subjected to the sacrificing knife. But it is very improbable, that the Jews were forbidden the use of a kid for so long a time; for that which the law permits to be offered in sacrifice to God, may surely be eaten by his people. Nor was any species of food prohibited by the law, but for ceremonial impurity. But that cannot be reckoned legally unclean, which the law permits to be offered in sacrifice at the altar. He permitted a sucking kid or lamb, to be offered on the eighth day; a sure proof they were not reckoned unclean, while they remained under the dam. The prophet Samuel offered a sucking lamb as a burnt-offering to the Lord on a day of public humiliation; and God condescended to give them a strong proof of his acceptance, in utterly discomfiting their enemies, by a furious tempest of thunder and lightning. If, therefore, a sucking kid might be offered in sacrifice to God, it might be used as food by his people. Nor is their opinion more tenable, who say, that by this law the dam and her suckling were not to be slain at the same time. To cherish kind and humane feelings among the chosen seed, Jehovah forbade them to kill a cow, a sheep, or a goat, on the same day with their young; but the precept under consideration cannot naturally bear such a meaning. Had this been the design of Moses, why did he not say in plain terms, Thou shalt not seethe a kid and his mother at the same time? He must, therefore, have meant what the words naturally suggest, that a kid is not to be seethed in the milk of his mother. The barbarous J.1 Sam. vii, 9. custom to which the lawgiver alludes, probably existed in some neighbouring countries, and particularly in Egypt, from whose iron yoke they had just been delivered; either because the flesh dressed in this manner was more tender and juicy, than when roasted with fire, or boiled in water ; or, which is more probable, while at the feast of ingathering, they gave thanks to God for the mercies they had received, and expressed their dependance upon him for future blessings, they were not to expect his favour by imitating the superstitious rites of the heathens, among whom they had lived so long, who at the end of their harvest seethed a kid in his mother's milk, and sprinkled the broth in a magical way upon their gardens and fields, to render them more fruitful next season. one The goat was one of those clean beasts, which, under the law, prefigured the Saviour of sinners. The Paschal lamb was a type of Christ dying for the sins of his people; but the goat had the honour of prefiguring both his death and resurrection. On the day of expiation, the high priest received from the congregation two he-goats, and presented them before the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle. He then cast lots upon the two goats: 66 lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scape-goat;" or, to determine which of them should be offered in sacrifice, and which conducted into the wilderness. The Greek interpreters call the scape-goat a defender from evils, the name which the heathens gave to their tutelar gods; because he bore away into the desert the sins of the congregation, which in solemn confession had been laid upon him, and all the evils which followed in their train. As the same animal could not prefigure both the death and resurrection of the Redeemer, two were selected on this occasion; of which the one was by lot offered |