REVIEW S. of theology, to him are evidently habitual sources of life and joy. We wish to render it impossible that any of our friends should overlook the existence of this work, and to accompany our intro Daily Bible Illustrations: being Original Readings for a Year, on Subjects from Sacred History, Biography, Geography, Antiquities, and Theology. Especially designed for the Family Circle. By JOHN KITTO, D.D., F.S.A. Editor of" The Pic-duction of it to their notice with our torial Bible," "Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature," &c. &c. Evening Series. Job and the Poetical Books. January-March. Edinburgh Oliphant and Sons. 16mo. pp. x. 487. 1852. Daily Bible Illustrations. By JOHN KITTO, D.D., F.S.A. Evening Series. Isaiah and the Prophets. April-June. Edinburgh: Oliphant and Sons. 1852. 16mo. pp. x. 485. warmest recommendation. Let the young people of our families be imbued with such knowledge and habits of thought as these volumes impart, and we shall not fear that sophistry will seduce them into either infidelity or Romanisin. Assuming that it will be interesting to the more intelligent classes of our readers to learn what Dr. Kitto's opinions are on any biblical questions which he has examined, we shall devote a few pages to the record of some conclusions to which he has come on topics discussed in these books. Taking up a distinct question every day, he has applied himself to the removal of a great number of difficulties and the decision of a great number of doubts; our report of the result of his investigations must of course be confined to a few. A MORNING Series of Bible Illustrations for every day of the year by Dr. Kitto has recently been completed, and has called forth general expressions of approbation from the lovers of biblical literature. It affords us pleasure to announce now the commencement of an Evening Series, similar in spirit and design but not in any degree superseded by the foregoing volumes. The publications of the author having become numerous, it might be feared that some symptoms of exhaustion would be perceptible; but we do not find it so. He not only retains the qualifications as an illustrator of oriental scenery and diction which he originally brought to the work, he has continued to read and meditate in a manner conducive to his own improvement in those branches of know-world; that it was probably written by ledge for which he was distinguished; and it is increasingly apparent that his heart is under the influence of those truths with which his daily pursuits render him familiar. Those parts of the scriptural system which are the least welcome to a self-sufficient student The meditations of the first week bring out the author's reasons for believing that the book of Job is not, as some have suggested, a work of fiction, but a real history; that it is the oldest book in the bible, excepting perhaps Genesis, and therefore the oldest in the Moses, who communicated it to his brethren on his return from Midian to Egypt, or afterwards in the desert, as a narrative well suited to justify the ways of God to man and sustain them under their trials; that the patriarch probably lived a little earlier than Abraham, and that his era could not well have been later than that of Abraham's grandsons; that Uz, in which he dwelt, was that land in Padanaram where the elder branches of Abraham's family remained after his departure, a tract of country lying at the foot of mount Taurus; that setting forth the sudden calamities and worldly overthrow of a man eminent for integrity, it discloses the secret intention of this in the counsels of Heaven, showing that there are "divine objects to be accomplished in such dispensations which man cannot discover or take into account, and the possible existence of which ought in all cases to prevent harsh judgments, and to shut the complaining mouth." been a female, as is that of Abraham." So also in commenting on the language ascribed to Satan, "Skin for skin, yea all that a man hath will he give for his life," he observes that there are at this day in current use in the East, scores of proverbs which are perfectly intelligible, both in their allusions and application, to those who use them, but which would be utterly inexplicable to an Englishman. Of many explanations of this sentence which have been given, he thinks, "perhaps the best is that which refers its origin back to the time when trade was conducted by barter or exchange of goods, and when the skins of animals, being a most frequent and valuable commodity, were used in some sort to represent property, as is still the case in many parts of the world. Tributes, ransoms, and the like, used also to be often paid in skins. Under this view it would seem that Satan, after this proverbial allusion to the principle of exchange, or barter, makes application of it in the next clause, 'all that a man hath will he give for his life.' It will then express the necessity of submitting to one great evil to avoid incurring a greater, answering to the Turkish proverb, 'We must give our beards to save our heads.'" In the account given of Job's disasters, an instance occurs of the readiness with which Dr. Kitto avails himself of his familiarity with eastern usages to illustrate matters of minor importance. Referring to the tidings brought by the first messenger, he observes that " the cattle and the servants were properly occupied. But of the asses, it may be asked, had they nothing to do but to feed while the oxen laboured? Is not the ass as well as the ox a labouring beast? The answer to this is supplied by a circumstance undesignedly suppressed in our version. The original In like manner the pensive retrospect indicates that they were she-asses, as is which the patriarch takes of his prosdistinctly marked in nearly all the perity, at the commencement of the versions but our own. The translators twenty-ninth chapter, is beautifully eluprobably thought it a matter of no con- cidated by reference to eastern customs. sequence. But female asses, on account "Oh that I were as in months past, as of their milk, were much more highly in the days when God preserved me; esteemed at all times in the East than when his candle shined upon my head, the males, a few only of which appear and when by his light I walked through to have been kept for continuing the darkness." For "candle" our author breed; and hence, perhaps, they are not would read "lamp," candles being even noticed in the previous account of the now little used in the East, and never live-stock belonging to our patriarch. for the purpose of burning through the She-asses, on account of their milk, were night; but it being usual to have a also greatly preferred even for travelling: lamp burning all night in every occupied for the ass which Balaam rode is ex-apartment. "The orientals rarely do pressly declared (in the original) to have anything by artificial light-there is no reading or working. Hence they are satisfied with very little of it, and as they sit upon the floor, the lamp usually shines upon their heads, even when not at rest." In the ensuing clause, which describes light given to one in motion, "When by his light I walked through darkness," he thinks there is an allusion to torches carried before travellers. Again, Job craves to be "as I was in the days of my youth when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle.' The word 'youth' is ill put in the translation for a Hebrew word signifying ripeness or maturity; and certainly the happiness which the patriarch describes, and the renewal of which he craves, is that of mature age, and not of youth. But what does he mean by the secret of God, being upon (or in) his tabernacle? The word rendered 'secret' means a couch or cushion upon which one reclines, and also a divan or circle of friends sitting together in consultation. The idea intended to be expressed is, therefore, probably that God came, as it were, to his abode as a friend, and admitted him to the secrecy of his friendship, and to an acquaintance with his plans. This idea is continually presented to us by the sacred writers. Thus the Psalmist expresses the Lord's friendship towards his people by the phrase, "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and he will show them his covenant.' So likewise in the patriarchal history, we find the Lord's remarkable question, 'Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I do?' The translations vary, but they generally convey this idea. "We soon come to a touching allusion to the days when, as he says, 'My children were about me.' He must be made of hard stuff who hears not in these words the echo of a sigh. The sentiment is exquisitely tender. He could not bear to dwell upon it-nor need we do so; it is a most intelligible stroke of natural emotion. "He says that in those happy days, he 'washed his steps in butter, and the rock poured him out rivers of oil.' The first clause, doubtless, alludes to abundance with which his flocks afforded butter, but whether it bears reference to any actual custom of anointing the feet with butter is not clear. The feet of oriental pastors being much exposed to the parching air, it was an agreeable refreshment to mollify them with oil or ointment, after they have been washed. That butter is sometimes employed for this purpose, we know, and this was probably among the uses of it known in the time of Job. We should little hesitate about this, but for the abundance of oil mentioned in the next clause, for when oil is abundant, it is usually preferred for anointing both the head and the feet. But how is it that oil is said to be poured out in streams from the rock? Some think that the word rendered 'rock' should here be taken for an oilBut it seems to us more probable that he has rather in view the kind of rocky soil in which the olive delights. Then, to describe the rock as pouring forth streams of oil, becomes a bold and forcible metaphor, quite in character with the poetry of the book: whereas to describe an oil-press as doing this, were comparatively tame and prosaic indeed. press. "Job then goes on to describe the honour in which he had been held in the very town which now witnessed his humiliation-where, it would appear from this account, he performed the duties, and received the consideration rendered to the principal magistrate or chief elder, or rather, perhaps the emir or sheikh; for it is clear that he was not merely one of the principal inhabitants, but the chief of them. The picture thus presented is very interesting, and quite in accordance with the exist- | indicative of the hushed attention and ing usages of such a state of society as respect with which the great man was that which the book describes. In the received." discharge of his public functions, he represents himself as proceeding to the town-gate, the usual place of judicature and public business, and at or near it 'preparing' (or taking) his seat in the street. Seats thus set in the open air, are ordinarily prepared by a servant laying a mat or carpet upon the ground, or upon a stone bench, in some shady spot under a tree or a wall. Whether Job sat in this fashion cannot be known; but it is so simple and so peculiarly oriental, as to render this probable. Accordingly, some recent translators render the clause by 'I prepared my carpet in the street.' But this is interpretation not translation. "He says further, that when he appeared, the young men hid themselves, the aged rose and stood up, and the chiefs refrained from talking, and laid their hand upon their mouths.' The same marks of respect would be at this time shown to a person holding the same high place and character; and the mention of them would strongly impress an oriental with the idea of the high consideration in which Job was held. Mere boys never appear in society, or at meetings. Young men may be present, but must not speak; when grown to manhood they may take part in the conversation, but when the sheikh begins to speak, they cease, and attentively listen. That the aged should not only rise but remain standing, as we apprehend it, till Job was seated, is a very strong evidence of respect to his position and character, for being his seniors, and themselves objects of respect to others, this would not, in any ordinary circumstances, be expected from them or rendered by them. Scarcely more emphatic is the bated breath of the chiefs, whose attitude with hand upon their lips, is graphically As may naturally be supposed, the early travels of Dr. Kitto furnish him with much assistance as an interpreter of the book of Proverbs. In the references made to diet, for example, facts are brought to his remembrance which correspond obviously with the sentiments of the ancient teacher. He gives it as his deliberate opinion, where commenting on Solomon's remark respecting "a dinner of herbs," that no one need hunger, far less starve, were the useful properties of many common vegetables generally known. As it is, he says, many do perish in the midst of available plenty, literally, "for lack of knowledge." "The daily necessity for animal food is not at all recognized in the East, though often indulged in beyond all reasonable bounds when it can be obtained. And this leads us to another text further on (xxiii. 20), where 'riotous eaters of flesh' are classed with 'wine bibbers.' This expression, which seems strange to us, could hardly apply but in a country where flesh meat does not enter into the ordinary diet of the people-where, in short, it is counted as a luxury, and as a luxury is extravagantly indulged in, when it can be had, by those not in the constant habit of using it. We have often had occasion to witness a meal of meat indulged in under such circumstances to a degree of inconceivable intemperance, and enjoyed with a degree of hilarity very much like that which attends the consumption of strong drink in our northern climates. We have the Arabs more especially, but not exclusively in view; for it is in connexion with this people that the present expression, 'riotous eaters of flesh,' has been brought most forcibly to our mind, on beholding the strong and irrepressible satisfaction with which a party of this people would receive the present of a live sheep, and on witnessing the haste with which it was slaughtered and dressed, the voracity with which it was devoured, and the high glee, not unattended with dance and song, which seasoned the feast. We are almost afraid to say how much an unstinted Arab will eat when the opportunity is given. It is commonly considered that an Arab can dispose of the entire quarter of a sheep without inconvenience; and we have certainly seen half-a-dozen of them pick the bones of a large sheep very clean." Again "There is a passage in the sixth chapter describing 'a naughty person,' of whom it is said that 'he winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers.' Compare this with Psalm cxxiii. 2, 'As the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress,' &c. Taking these two passages together, we have much reason to conclude that the Hebrews possessed some mode of inaudibly expressing their meaning, or of conveying their orders by manual signs. They had at least, we apprehend, as much of this as we still find in the East, where motions of the hands are often employed in one form or another as substitutes for oral expression. Let us therefore see what practices, in illustration of these texts, the East can furnish. In regard to the one quoted from the Psalms, it may suffice to observe, that it is the custom in the East to convey orders to watchful attendants and officers by slight, and, except to those who watch for them, scarcely observable, but well understood, movements of the hands and fingers. A person while apparently entirely engaged in entertaining his visitors, will give directions to his servants, in a way that usually escapes the notice of other persons present, as he does not suspend his conversation, or make any marked movement, not even so much as to cast a glance towards the person to whom the order is given, so sure is he that the servant has not for an instant withdrawn his eyes from the hands of his master. Thus a despot has been known, while in company, to give a silent and unobserved order, by a slight movement of his hand, for the decapitation of a large number of persons. The hands are also employed, by clapping them together, to summon the servant who may be in waiting outside, as bells are not in use for such purposes in the East. But with especial regard to the proverb before us, it may be observed that the Orientals are wonderfully proficient in making communications to each other by means of signs and gestures with the eyes, the hands, and the feet. The number of signs of this sort which have a wide and most extensively understood significance, and which are, in fact, in current use among the people, is very large. Having seldom any natural significance, few of them are at once intelligible to Europeans, but in the East a large proportion of the same signs are common to many different nations, forming, for ordinary purposes, a tolerably adequate means of communication between those who do not comprehend each other's oral speech." Respecting Solomon's authorship of the book of Ecclesiastes, Dr. Kitto, while he adverts to the nature and number of the objections that have been advanced against it as "quite a monument of microscopic ingenuity in criticism," regards the old and received notion as substantially unshaken. The difference in style between this book and the Proverbs he accounts for, and says, "assuming Solomon to be the author of both these books, there is |