3118. [2 Sam. xii. 31.] Several acts of cruelty, which have been ascribed to King David and the Jewish people, appear, on a more accurate examination, to have been grounded on an incorrect translation of particular passages of the Old Testament. Thus it is here said that when Rabbah (the capital city of the Ammonites) was taken, David brought forth the people that were therein, and put them under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brick-kiln? Hence it is inferred, that he put them to death with the most exquisite and unbeard-of torments. But it has been shewn by several learned critics, that our version of this place would have been more accurate, and more strictly conformable to the original, if it had rendered the passage thus: He put them to saws, and to harrows of iron, and to axes of iron, and made them pass by or to the brick-kiln: that is, he put them to hard labor, with the tools, and in the places here specified. 3119. Bp. PORTEUS. Then he brought forth its people, and appointed them to the saw, to the iron-mines, to the forging of iron, and to the burning of bricks. (See Bib. Researches, vol. i. p. 68.) —These became servants under the yoke. See 1 Tim. vi. 1. - In the same sense, it is written in Jeremiah, xxxiii. 13, I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. 3120. [2 Sam. xiii. 6.] Among the inhabitants of Little Bukharia, all victuals are dressed in the master's chamber; where, according to the largeness of the family, are several iren pots, set in a kind of range, near a chimney. Some have little ovens, made, like the rest of their walls, with a stiff clay, or bricks. Modern Univer. Hist. vol. v. ground, over a part of the floor of the chamber. By this contrivance the heat being prevented from diffusing itself all at once, it is communicated insensibly, and so pleasantly throughout the whole apartment, that it cannot be better compared than to the effect of a stove. Persons at their meals, or in conversation, and some even sleeping lie on the carpets round this small table, supporting themselves against the walls of the apartment on cushions kept for the purpose, which likewise serve for seats in this country, the tinnor being so placed as to be equally distant from the sides of the room. Thus circumstanced, those to whom the cold is not unpleasant, put their legs under the cloth; others who feel it more sensibly, their hands and the rest of their body. By bringing their extremities thus towards the central fire, they receive thence a mild and penetrating warmth, which diffuses itself agreeably over the whole body without any injury to the head. The Persians of the present day build most of their houses with arched domes, that have but one hole in the middle, serving equally as a passage for the smoke and an entrance for the light. PIETRO DELLE VALLE. Pinkerton's Coll. vol. ix. pp. 16, 97. 3121. [8.] In the most considerable houses of Persia, they kindle their fires not under a chimney, as is usual with us in fire-places, but in a kind of oven called tinnor, about two palms from the ground, formed of a vase of burnt clay, in which they place burning coals, charcoal, or other combustible matter. The smoke from the coals is conveyed by means of a pipe from the oven under ground; and by means of another, communicating with the grated bottom of the fire, it is supplied with air. Here they cook their meat, and can bake their cakes on a flat sheet of iron laid over the tinnor in little more than an instant of time. When the oven is not thus used, they place a plank over it in shape of a small table, which they cover entirely, spreading over it a large cloth which extends on all sides to the 3124. [ 23. Absalom had sheep-shearers · — and invited all the king's sons] What rural simplicity in the princely amusements of primitive times! Gideon was enjoying himself at the threshing floor, when he received his divine mission; Judg. vi. 11 — 16. Saul, after he was made king, continued to exercise himself at the plough; 1 Sam. xi. 5. David also, when anointed by Samuel, returned immediately to his sheep in the wilderness; 1 Sam. xvi. 13, 19. xvii. 28. How different are such instances of industry and economy from the luxury and effeminacy of modern princes, who occasionally expend at one fete, even filty thousand pounds! HOMER tells us (Odyss. xiv. and xxiii) that Eumeus made his own shoes, and built stately cots for his numerous berus; also that Ulysses (Odyss. v) erected his own fine house and cut off his hair and carry it them, and then all would be right. MAVOR. 3128. [2 Sam. xiv. 26.] As it was not forbidden the Israelites to deal in common life by different weights, there arose, in process of time, a shekel much smaller than that of the sanctuary, but variable (under the Judges): at last, to prevent uncertainty and imposition, the Kings fixed the weight of this common shekel more accurately; so that from this time there were two lawful shekels current among the people, the sacred and the royal. See Smith's MICHAELIS, vol. iii. p. 395. 3126. [2 Sam. xiv. 26.] Of the different species of men, the European has the longest hair; next to him the Asiatic; then the American; and, lastly, the African. An Italian lady was shewn at Astley's Theatre in London, in the year 1792, whose hair was so long that it trailed on the ground when she stood upright. There was in the year 1799 in London, from Canton in China, a man whose hair reached to the ground when he stood upright, though he was a person of stature. I have myself, says Mr. WHITE, seen an English woman, the wife of a theatrical gentleman, whose hair is six feet in length, and weighs upwards of three pounds, without that part which is nearly connected with the head: its color is of a light brown. White's Regular Gradation in Man, 3130. [2 Sam. xv. 4-6.] Any one may speak in a friendly manner with another in external thought, and yet be his enemy in internal thought. Flatterers and hypocrites can contain themselves, and take care that their interior thought shall not be opened, and indeed can conceal it more and more interiorly, and as it were shut to the door lest it should appear. If man had not an external and an internal principle of thought, he could not perceive and see any evil in himself, and be reformed; neither could he speak, but only utter sounds like a beast. SWEDENRORG, on Divine Providence, n. 104. 3127. At the Maldivia Islands, the care and management of the hair is a principal object of female attention. They wash it with a peculiar water, suffer it to float in the wind to dry, and then perfume it with odoriferous oils. To complete its dressing, they collect it in a knot, increase its apparent quantity by artificial means, and adorn it with fragrant flowers. Among the men, only persons of rank and soldiers are allowed to wear their hair uncut, and these dress it nearly in a similar manner to the women. (DE LAVAL.) — At Otaheite, Captain Bligh was visited by a very old man, uncle to Tupia who left his native soil with Captain Cook in 1769, and who died at Batavia. This aged sire was treated with much respect by the natives. He made several enquiries after his nephew, and desired, when they came again, they would bring him his hair. When Tinah, a distinguished chief, had requested to be carried to England, and the captain asked what account he should give his countrymen, in case he did not live to return, he replied, that he must In the other life, it is not allowable for the speech and thoughts to disagree. The spirit, who is found guilty of simulation, is reduced by various methods to speak as he thinks, and to think as he wills: until his miud be one and undivided. If he be, on the whole, a good spirit, he is reduced to a state of willing what is good, and of thinking and speaking what is true, from a principle of goodness. If he be an evil spirit, he is reduced to a state of willing what is evil, and of thinking and speaking what is false, from a principle of evil. Till this agreement be effected, the good spirit is not elevated into heaven; nor is the evil one cast into hell because, in hell, there must be nothing but evil and the false grounded in evil; and in heaven, nothing but what is good and the true grounded in goodness. Ibid. Arcana, nn. 4799, 8250. 3132. [2 Sam. xv. 7. After forty years] Instead of arboim (Hebr.), forty; read arbo, four. The Syriac and Arabic Versions; JOSE- 3133. [ — 23.] Kidron, according to MAUNDRELL (Journ. p. 100.), running southward, on the east side of Jerusalem, along the bottom of the valley of Jehoshaphat, but sometimes dry. 3134. [29.] It is probable, that Saul after he had killed all the priests in Nob, except Abiathar who fled to David, might set up in Zadok to officiate as high-priest in Israel, at the same time that Eleazar so officiated in Judah; and that when David came to be king over all the twelve tribes, he did not choose to deprive either of his office, but suffered both to continue as high-priests, till Abiathar was divested of his dignity, in consequence of his revolt to the party of Adonijah, 1 Kings i. 7, 8. ii. 35, &c. See Univer. Hist. vol. iii. p. 322. city to be carried to Skutari, beyond the Bosphorus, with an allowance of bread and flesh for their maintenance: but becoming uneasy to the inhabitants, they were transported to a desert isle, 16 miles from the capital, where they all perished for want of food. The lives of the dogs, though held unclean by the Turks, were deemed of such importance that the sultan demanded of the Mufti, whether it were lawful to kill them? But that head of their religion answered, that every dog had a soul, and therefore it was not lawful to kill them. See No. 202. Modern Univer. Hist. vol. xii. p. 442, 3138. [2 Sam. xvi. 22.] In Persia at this day, when a new monarch is inaugurated, they set up the Imperial Umbrella, under which he is congratulated on his accession to the throne and receives homage. KHOJEH ABDULKURREEM, p. 232. In the same way Reuben conspired against his adopting Father, Jacob. Gen. xxxv. 22. 3136. [2 Sam. xvi. 9. Why should this dead dog curse the king] In Ethiopia it is an antient custom for slaves to petition their masters and subjects their sovereigns, either in the ear with an humble and submissive voice, or at a distance in the cry of some animal — barking like dogs, or howling like wolves, being distinguished as to the province or place they belong to by their imitation of the various cries of different beasts. See the Portuguese Manuscript, translated by Sir PETER WYCHE, p. 51. 3137. In the year of our Lord 1613, when the plague had ceased in Constantinople, the sultan, for fear the infection should be renewed, ordered all the dogs in that 3139. 2 Sam. xii. 8. 3140 Thus David took all the wives of Saul; See SELDEN de Uxore Heb. lib. i. cap. 10. The choosing or confirming of a new king in Guinea seldom continues long in dispute; for the eldest son no sooner hears of the king's death, than he immediately makes his interest amongst his friends, to take possession of the late king's court and wives; and succeeding happily in these particulars, he need not doubt the remainder, for the commonalty will not easily consent that after that he shall be driven from the throne: this seems somewhat like Absalom's design on his father David. To accomplish this design, the younger brother's party are always careful enough that he is near at hand, in order to take possession of the Court. BOSMAN'S Guinea. - Pinkerton's 3141. The name of Quiteva is common to the sovereign lord of the country bordering on the river Sofala in Ethiopia. He maintains a number of wives, the chief of whom are his near relations, and are denominated his queens, the residue are regarded merely as concubines. As soon as the Quiteva ceases to live, a successor is chosen, capable of governing with wisdom and prudence; and indeed should he be deficient in this respect, it would be enough that a majority of the king's concubines should join in his favour, as on these the possession of the throne depends. He therefore repairs to the royal palace where he meets with some of the concubines of the late king, and with their consent he seats himself on the throne prepared for him in the midst of a large hall; when seated here, a curtain is drawn before him and his wives: hence he issues orders for his proclamation through the streets; this is the signal for the people Ito flock to render him homage and swear obedience, a ceremony which is performed amid great rejoicings. The officers and soldiers belonging to his guard in the mean time place themselves at the gates, and prevent the entrance of more than sufficient to fill the ball, that no disturbance or confusion take place. At first those admitted prostrate themselves on their knees, and thus advance towards the throne one after the other, when they address the monarch, he remaining constantly behind the curtain, without exposing himself to the public view until every one that has entered, has done him homage. After this has been effected, each, according to the custom of the country, shakes hands with the Quiteva, and retires; he again places himself behind the curtain till the hall is re-filled, and the same ceremony is again repeated in this manner the whole day passes in receiving homage. The next day, the king sends his ambassadors to publish the death of the late prince, and the peaceable installation of the new sovereign. SANTOS' Ilist. of Eastern Ethiopia.- 3145. [2 Sam. xvii. 28, 29.] "On the road from Acre to Seide we saw," says HASSELQUIST, "a herdsman eating his dinner, consisting of half-ripe ears of wheat, which he roasted and ate with as good an appetite as a Turk does his pillau. In Egypt such food is much eaten by the poor, being the ears of maize or Turkish wheat, and of their dourra, which is a kind of millet. When this food was first invented, art was in a simple state; yet the custom is still continued in some nations, where the inhabitants have not even at this time learnt to pamper nature.” Ruth ii. 14. Travels, p. 166. Burder's Oriental In West Barbary, what is most used by travellers is zumeet, tumeet, or flour of parched barley for limereece. They are all three made of parched barley-flour, which they carry in a leathern satchel. Zumect is the flour mixed with honey, butter, and spice: tumeet is the same flour done up with origan oil and limereece is only mixed with water, and so drank. This quenches thirst much better than water alone, satiates a hungry appetite, cools and refreshes tired and weary spirits, overcoming those ill effects which a hot sun and fatiguing journey might occasion. See JONES' Account of the Diet of the 3144. [18, 19.] About Aleppo in Syria, their granaries are even at this day subterraneous grottos, the entry to which is by a small hole or opening like a well, often in the highway; and as they are commonly left open when empty, they make it not a little dangerous riding near the villages at night. (Dr. RUSSELL, Hist. of Alep. p. 18.) The houses at Pompeii are on a small scale, generally of one, sometimes of two stories: the principal apartments are always behind, inclosing a court with a portico round it, and a marble cistern in the middle. (REES.) — Barley, wetted with water, was pounded in a stone mortar until it quitted the husk; and then it was exposed to dry. Dr. GEDDES. 3146. [2 Sam. xviii. 18.] Such a pillar is the monument, erected purposely to record the Fire of London. On the pier at Calais, is a print of Louis the 18th's foot, cut in the stone, where the king first stepped on his return to France. A temporary post communicates the fact, and advertises the intention of the civil authority to raise a more durable monument on the spot. Month. Mag. for Octr. 1814, p. 204. 3147. [2 Sam. xix. 35. Can I discern between good and bad?] Evil should be restricted to denote moral evil only : bad, with propriety, may be used when we would describe what is pernicious in food, &c. 3148. [2 Sam. xxii. 15.] A thunderstorm in Palestine, ia exceedingly tremendous. Dr. GEDDES. 3151. [15.] In regard to diet, with a view to the preservation of health, no one rule is of so much importance as to avoid all sorts of compound liquors, water being the only wholesome beverage, the best solvent, and diluent of the solid portions of our food; supporting the tone of the stomach, without exhausting its vigor; and furnishing the most simple, the most bland, and manifestly the most suitable supply to the secretory vessels, and general humidity of the body. In a word, good water is the only fit and salutary liquor for the ordinary uses of man; all others are noxious, and that in proportion as they recede in their qualities from Sir JOHN SINCLAIR'S Code of Health, vol. i. p. 264. water. See No. 346. 3152. [17.] Hitherto they had fed themselves out of the public miseries, and drank the blood of the city. JOSEPH. Wars, b. v. ch. viii. § 2. v. vi. 3153. [2 Sam. xxiv. 1.] In the Hebrew theology, God is immediately, or mediately, the author of every event, good or evil. The writer of Chronicles, accordingly, makes Satan the mediate agent. Dr. GEDDES. 3154. [ 9.] It is said here, that Joab found the Israelites to be eight hundred thousand men, and the men of Judah five hundred thousand; whereas 1 Chronicles says, ch. xxi. 5, that Joab found Israel to be one million one hundred thousand, and those of Judah only four hundred and seventy thousand. Now it appears by Chronicles, ch. xxvii, that there were twelve divisions of generals, who commanded monthly, and whose duty was to keep guard near the king's person, each having a body of troops consisting of twenty four thousand men, which jointly formed a grand army of two hundred and eighty-eight thousand; and as a separate body of twelve thousand men naturally attended on the twelve princes of the twelve tribes, mentioned in the same chapter, the whole will be three hundred thousand; which is the difference between the two accounts. -As to the men of Israel, the author of Samuel does not take notice of the three hundred thousand, because they were in the actual service of the king, as a standing army, and therefore there was no need to number them; but Chronicles joins them to the rest, saying expressly, all those of Israel were one million one hundred thousand'; whereas the author of Samuel, who reckons only the eight hundred thousand, does not say 'all those of Israel', but barely, and Israel were' &c. It must also be observed that, exclusive of the troops before mentioned, there was an army of observation on the frontiers of the Philistines' country, composed of thirty thousand men, as appears by 2 Sam. vi. 1, which, it seems, were included in the number of five hundred thousand of the people of Judah, by the author of Samuel; but the author of Chronicles, who mentions only four hundred and seventy thousand, gives the number of that tribe exclusively of those thirty thousand men, because they were not all of the tribe of Judah, and therefore does not say all those of Judah,' as he had said 'all those of Israel,' but only and those of Judah'; and thus both accounts may be reconciled, by only having recourse to other parts of Scripture treating of the same subject, — which will ever he found the best method of explaining difficult passages. BARUH. 3155. [2 Sam. xxiv. 10.] If Moses presupposed the lawfulness of this measure, and did actually twice number the people, wherein consisted David's sin when he did the same? -Agitated, in all probability, by the desire of conquest, he aspired at the establishment of a military government, such as was that of Rome in after-times, and at subjecting, with that view, the whole people to martial regulations; that so every man might be duly enrolled to serve under such and such generals and officers, and be obliged to perform military duty at stated periods, in order to acquire the use of arms. See Smith's MICHAELIS, vol. iii. pp. 19, 23. 3156. David's sin was, that by numbering the people, and appointing afresh captains of thousands, &c., be was attempting to new-model the government, as established under Moses by God Himself. See Num. i. &c. The fact was, that the descendants of those first chosen, like the posterity of Levi, were to continue in office as judges, so long as the Jewish polity endured. |