power or many people to pluck it up by the roots thereof.

10 Yea, behold, being planted, shall it prosper? shall it not utterly wither, when the east wind toucheth it? it shall wither in the furrows where it grew.

11 ¶ Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

12 Say now to the rebellious house, Know ye not what these things mean? tell them, Behold, the king of Babylon is come to Jerusalem, and hath taken the king thereof, and the princes thereof, and led them with him to Babylon;

13 And hath taken of the king's seed, and made a covenant with him, and hath *taken an oath of him: he hath also taken the mighty of the land:

14 That the kingdom might be base, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping of his covenant it might stand.

15 But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and much people. Shall he prosper? shall he escape that doeth such things? or shall he break the covenant, and be delivered?

16 As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely in the place where the king dwelleth that made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he brake, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die.

17 Neither shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company make for him in the war, by casting up mounts, and building forts, to cut off many persons:

*Heb. brought him to an oath.

18 Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, when, lo, he had given his hand, and hath done all these things, he shall not escape.

19 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; As I live, surely mine oath that he hath despised, and my covenant that he hath broken, even it will I recompense upon his own head.

20 And I will 'spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will plead with him there for his trespass that he hath trespassed against me.

21 And all his fugitives with all his bands shall fall by the sword, and they that remain shall be scattered toward all winds: and ye shall know that I the LORD have spoken it.

22 Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent:

23 In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.

24 And all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the LORD have spoken

and have done it.

Heb, to keep his covenant to stand to it.

Chap. 12. 13, and 32. 3.

Verse 3. "A great eagle," &c.-This beautiful parable, of the two eagles and the vine, is explained in the latter part of the chapter; and with this explanation, and a knowledge of the history of the last days of the Hebrew kingdom, no reader can fail to be struck by observing that, while every circumstance in the literal narrative is strictly appropriate to the subject of the parable, none of its details are irrelevant to the ulterior object, but are all made to adumbrate with inimitable effect the series of historical circumstances of which the parable is a shaded narrative.

It is interesting to find the eagle thus early made the symbol of imperial power, when we recollect how extensively it has since been employed for the same purpose. The strength and activity of this noble bird, its magnificent appearance, its exalted flight, and its far-reaching and undazzled eye, have caused it to be regarded as the king of birds, and the fit emblem of royal power, in different nations and ages. We have noticed on a former occasion that an eagle with expanded wings formed the imperial standard of the Persians under Cyrus, very long before it became such among the Romans. In the present instance, while both the kings of Babylon and Egypt are described by this symbol, they are so discriminated as to show that the power of Babylon was at that time greater and more extensive than that of Egypt. The Egyptian is only "a great eagle, with great wings, and many feathers;" whereas the Babylonian is "a great eagle, with great wings, long winged, full of feathers, which had divers colours."

4. “A land of traffick...a city of merchants.”—The land of the Babylonians and the city of Babylon are of course intended. See the note on ch. xvi. 10.

20. “I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare."—It seems doubtful whether this alludes to the methods by which wild beasts were taken or to those employed for the capture of birds. The language would seem to refer rather to the latter; and it is certain, from other passages, that the Hebrews caught birds with nets and snares. We have therefore considered this a suitable opportunity for introducing a representation of some of the nets and snares employed by the Egyptians, whose paintings and sculptures, many of which exhibit scenes of hunting and fowling, show that game of all kinds was a favourite food of the Egyptians, and the capture of birds a pursuit much followed, as a gainful occupation to some and an amusement to others. The cuts we offer too clearly show the manner in which the contrivances acted to require much explanation; and they will serve also to indicate how little of novelty the modern practices contain. There is scarcely any process now followed which was not known in very ancient

times. Thus the ancients had not only traps, nets, and springes, but also bird-lime smeared upon twigs, and made use of stalking-horses, setting dogs, bird-calls, &c. The Egyptian paintings describe other modes of taking birds than our cuts exhibit. In some instances we see them shot with arrows while upon the wing, and in others they are knocked down by sticks thrown at them, as they perched or flew in the thickets or marshes. The most striking scenes are however those which the water-fowling exhibits, as exercised apparently by men who supplied the great consump tion of the Egyptians in water-fowl, particularly ducks and geese. There is a painting among the Egyptian antiquities in the British Museum, which shows the mode of operation in a very lively manner. The fowler stands up in a long narrow boat, in which are also a woman and girl, probably his wife and daughter. He is acting against a large number of various aquatic birds, with a few land birds among them, and it appears to be his object to drive or seduce them into a net or decoy, or perhaps he is represented as taking possession of birds already decoyed. The fowler holds three large long-billed birds erect by the legs in his left hand, and in the other grasps something that appears to represent such a loaded instrument as a "life preserver," seemingly for the purpose of bringing the birds down. A goose probably a decoy-bird, stands at the head of the boat, cackling, and as if inviting the wild birds to follow, while a cat is seen near the boat, upon the dry spot where most of the birds are, seizing one of them in its fore-paws. We might suppose this animal to be in the fowler's service; but it is as possible that it has escaped from the boat against the fowler's intention, as some of the birds have taken alarm and are in the act of flying off. A simpler scene of waterfowling is shown in our present fig. 1, which is copied from Rosellini, as are the others. The birds are taken in a large net set in the midst of an oval lake, and which four men draw, by means of a strong cable, on a sigual from

Fig. 4.

a ensconced among the tall plants growing near the lake. The small circular net (fig. 2) seems to be a self-acting , by means of a sort of trap connected with it, so that the birds on coming in contact with it close the net pon mselves. Fig. 3 is very similar to fig. 2, except that it is oval; and it had in like manner a net, which has been noff, in the painting, by time. It is composed of two arcs, which being kept open by the machinery in the middle, aish the oval frame of the net; but when the bird flies in, and knocks out the pin in the centre, the arcs collapse shown in the fig. 4), enclosing the bird in the net. This simple contrivance has not yet fallen into disuse. These f explanations may point out the modes of taking birds which were probably known to the Jews, and some of ch were probably practised by themselves, and to which the sacred writers refer when they mention the nets and res of the fowler.

our note on this verse (20), in page 139, the expression "I will spread my net upon him," &c. has been considere plying more to the capture of birds; it may here be regarded however as one of many allusions in Scripture to ancient method by which lions and other wild beasts were captured. By the mention of their being taken by we are of course not to understand that such powerful animals are taken in a net in the same manner as birds ishes; but that they were surrounded and driven into an inclosure formed by strong nets or palisades, where, their it being arrested, they were easily slain or captured. Spence, in his Polymetis,' has given a good description of nethod of hunting. The hunters of forest-beasts "surrounded a considerable tract of ground by a circle of nets, fter contracting that circle by degrees, till they had forced all the beasts of that quarter together into a narrow pass, then it was the slaughter began. This manner of hunting was pursued in Italy, as well as all over the parts of the world; and it was from this custom that the poets sometimes represent death as surrounding perwith his nets, and as encompassing them on every side." The same allusions occur in Scripture, particularly in salms, as in Ps. xviii. 5: "The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me ;" and, still expressly, in cxl. 5: "The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a net by the wayside; have set gins for me." This last clause, referring to gins or traps, probably alludes to the circumstance, that when bject was to take the wild beasts alive, gaps were sometimes left in the enclosure, where traps were set, or pitfalls ad, so that the animals were taken.

the sculptures on the living rock at Takht-i-Bostan, in Persia, the manner of hunting here mentioned is very ly represented. A large enclosure is shown, formed apparently of strong poles and curtains, into which the aniare driven by the hunters. The hunters are mounted some on elephants and others on horseback. The elephants in outside, but the horsemen enter with the animals at full speed, and pursue them within the enclosure, spearing (seemingly) and shooting them with arrows. The king is present on a stately charger, but does not actively ge in the hunt, unless a gigantic huntsman in the middle of the field, and somewhat resembling him, he a repe1 of his figure. There are present bands of musicians, some standing on the ground and others seated on platforms. lain beasts are dragged outside the enclosure by men in attendance for the purpose; and, further on, strings of

camels are represented in the act of carrying them away. It is true that in this scene the animals are deer; but the same plan is pursued with others of a more ferocious character. Perhaps the fact that the animals enter at one side alive, and are drawn out dead at the other, gives a peculiar force to the Scriptural allusions to the subject. The Persians were always much addicted to this kind of hunting; and if, with some, we thought (but we do not) that Ezekiel was stationed in Persia, his allusions might be derived from what could not but be frequently brought under his notice in that country. But there was no necessity for this corroboration, the practice having been so exceedingly general in all ages and countries. Some idea of the enclosures formed on such occasions may be derived from the by no means incredible circumstance related by Plutarch, that when the Macedonian conquerors were in Persia, Philotas, the son of Parmenio, had hunting-nets that would enclose the space of a hundred furlongs. The Oriental sovereigns have sometimes employed whole armies in this sort of hunting, in which, however, the enclosure was formed by the persons of a vast host of men, forming a thick circular hedge many leagues in circumference, and enclosing forests, plains, and rivers. The men being formed, would march on, and as they marched of course contracted their circle, till they had driven all the beasts before them within a spot which had been previously determined. Till this no animals were killed, the soldiers being forbidden to wound or kill any beast whatever violence it might offer. But when the beasts of various kinds were driven within the limits, the king entered the circle, attended by princes and military chiefs, and himself commenced the slaughter, after which he withdrew to an eminence whence he could behold the prowess of his sons and nobles. When they had satisfied themselves, the young soldiers were allowed to take their place in the circle, and committed great slaughter among the multitude of animals there collected, until at last the young princes and lords made suit to the sovereign that the remaining beasts should have their lives and liberty granted to them; and this being allowed, those which had escaped the arrows and scimitars of the military hunters were suffered to withdraw and regain their forests and dens. (See the account in Ranking's 'Researches' of the grand hunting-match of Genghiz Khan, in the year 1221.) The military character given to these expeditions, and the scale on which the royal huntings were conducted, made these affairs images of war in a very striking degree; and hence the description which the Scripture gives of the results of war by those of hunting are very remarkably appropriate.

CHAPTER XVIII.

1 God reproveth the unjust parable of sour grapes. 5 He sheweth how he dealeth with a just father: 10 with a wicked son of a just father: 14 with a just son of a wicked father: 19 with a wicked man repenting 24 with a just man revolting. 25 He defendeth his justice, 31 and exhorteth to repentance.

THE word of the LORD came unto me again, saying.

2 What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The 'fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge?

3 As I live, saith the Lord GOD, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this pro

verb in Israel.

4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

5¶ But if a man be just, and do 'that which is lawful and right,

6 And hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath 'defiled his neighbour's wife, neither hath come near to 'a menstruous woman,

7 And hath not 'oppressed any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled none by violence, hath 'given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment;

8 He that hath not given forth upon 'usury, neither hath taken any increase, that

1 Jer. 31. 29.
Exod. 22. 26. Deut. 24. 12.

Heb. judgment and justice.
7 Deut. 15. 7.
Or, breaker up of an house.

hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath executed true judgment between man and

man,

9 Hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord GOD.

10 ¶ If he beget a son that is a 'robber, a shedder of blood, and "that doeth the like to any one of these things,

11 And that doeth not any of those duties, but even hath eaten upon the mountains, and defiled his neighbour's wife,

12 Hath oppressed the poor and needy, hath spoiled by violence, hath not restored the pledge, and hath lifted up his eyes to the idols, hath committed abomination,

13 Hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall he then live? he shall not live: he hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his "blood shall be upon him.

14 Now, lo, if he beget a son, that seeth all his father's sins which he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not such like,

15 That hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hath not defiled his neighbour's wife,

16 Neither hath oppressed any, "hath not withholden the pledge, neither hath spoiled by violence, but hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment,

3 Levit. 18. 20. 4 Levit. 18. 19, and 20. 18. 5 Exod. 22. 21. Levit. 19. 15, and 25. 14. Isa. 58. 7. Matt. 25. 35. 8 Exod. 22. 25. Levit. 25. 36, 37. Deut. 23. 19. Psal. 15. 5. 10 Or, that doeth to his brother besides any of these. 12 Heb. hath not pledged the pledge, or taken to pledge.

11 Heb. bloods.

17 That hath taken off his hand from the|minations that the wicked man doeth, shall poor, that hath not received usury nor in- he live? All his righteousness that he hath crease, hath executed my judgments, hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass walked in my statutes; he shall not die for that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that the iniquity of his father, he shall surely he hath sinned, in them shall he die. live.

14 Chap. 33. 11.
19 Chap. 33. 11.