signifies to bend back on itself. The quotes the following passage from Chaldee Paraphrasts render it way Sir H. Blunt's voyage into the LeACCHABIS, which we translate else- vant7. where, spider; they may therefore "Many rarities of living creatures have understood it to be the taran-I saw in Grand Cairo; but the most tula. It is rendered asp by the Sep-ingenious was a nest of serpents of tuagint and Vulgate, and is so taken two feet long, black and ugly, kept Rom iii. 13. The name is from the by a Frenchman, who, when he came Arabic achasa. But there are several to handle them, would not endure serpents which coil themselves pre- him, but ran and hid in their hole. viously to darting on their enemy: Then he would take his cittern and if this be a character of the asp, it play upon it. They, hearing his is not peculiar to that reptile. It music, came all crawling to his feet, may be the snake mentioned by and began to climb up him, till he FORSKAL, called by the Arabians, gave over playing, then away they hannasch asuæd. ran.' .TZIPHONI, Prov צפעני TZEPHA,or צפע xxiii. 32; Isai. xi. 8; xiv. 29; lix. 5; and Jerem. viii. 17, is that deadly serpent called the basilisk, said to kill with its very breath. See Cock ATRICE. In Psal. lviii. 5. reference is made to the effect of musical sounds over serpents. That they might be rendered tame and harmless by certain charms, or soft and sweet sounds, and trained to delight in music, was an opinion which prevailed very early and universally. Many ancient authors mention this effects. Virgil speaks of it particularly, Æn. vii. v. 750. "Quin et Marrubia venit de gente sacerdos, Fronde super galeam et felici comptus oliva, "Umbro, the brave Marrubian priest was Shaw, Bruce, and indeed all travellers who have been in the Levant, speak of the charming of serpents as a thing not only possible, but frequently seen. [The much dreaded cobra di capello, or "good serpent" of the Hindoos, is capable of being tamed; and the Malabar jugglers have the art of teaching them to dance to the inharmonious and slow notes of their flageolet. The serpent first seems astonished, then begins to rear himself, and sometimes, by a gentle, undulating motion of the head, and with distended hood, seems to listen with pleasure to the notes. These 66 dancing snakes" are carried about in baskets by the jugglers all over India; and Mr. Forbes states it as a well attested fact, that when a house is infested with these snakes and some others of the coluber genus, which destroy poultry, or with some even of the larger serpents of the boa tribe, the musicians are sent for, who charm the reptiles from their hiding places to their own destruction.] be a serpent of a species naturally The deaf adder, or asp, may either deaf, (for such kinds are mentioned by Avicenna, as quoted by Bochart,) or one deaf by accident; or on account of its appearing to be so. In 7 P. 81. edit. 5. 8 See many curious authorities in Parkhurst, Heb. lex. under wns. 9 Forbes; Orient. Mem. vol. i. p. 43. Conder's Mod. Trav, vol. vii. p. 98. either case, in the language of poetry, | pents as were not to be mollified nor it may be said to stop its ear, from its disarmed by any of those means :— being proof against all the efforts of "they shall bite you, saith JEHOVAH." The passage which led to this di the charmer. “ Ad quorum cantus mites jacuere cerasta."gression, Psal. lviii. 5, 6, requires a further illustration; and it is furnished by the author of " Scripture Illustrated." "After mentioning the obstinacy of his enemies, which David compares to the untamed malignant spirit of a serpent, our Translators make him add, Break out their teeth, O God, in their mouth; In the same manner, a person of no humanity, in comparison, is said to stop his ears at the cry of the poor, Prov. xxi. 13, and from the hearing of blood, Isaiah xxxiii. 15. The Psalmist, therefore, who was speaking of the malice and slandering lips of the wicked, compares their promp-break out the teeth of the young lions. titude to do mischief, to the subtile venom of serpents. And he carries the allusion further, by intimating that they were not only as hurtful and pernicious, but that they stopped their ears likewise against the most persuasive entreaties, as the asp made itself deaf to the voice of enchanters, charming never so wisely. The comparison betwixt a malevolent tongue and the bite of a serpent, is illustrated from other texts of scripture. Thus, Eccles. x. 11. Surely the serpent will bite notwithstanding enchantment; and the babbler is no better, that is, is equally perverse. So Jerem. viii. 17. I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you. On this place Dr. Blaney remarks: "That some persons possessed the faculty of rendering serpents harmless, is a fact too well attested by historians and travellers to admit of contradiction. But by what means this effect was produced, is not quite so clear." The scripture word wb seems to be used in conformity to the vulgar opinion, ascribing to it the power of certain cabalistical words and incantations muttered through the teeth. This, indeed, we have reason to believe, was in general no other than a deception of the common people, by those who were in possession of physical discoveries, in order to procure more veneration and respect.-But, whatever were the methods commonly practised, the enemies of the Jews are here compared to such ser This, indeed, is the most certain and effectual mode of depriving serpents of their power to hurt; for through the fangs they convey the deadly poison into the wound they make. But it is a very violent transition from the reptile tribe, the serpent, to young lions. And why young lions? The passage requires strong lions to equal, much more to augment, the ideas already attached to the poisonous bite of serpents. To which we ought to add, that immediately afterwards, the writer returns to the reptile tribe, the slug, or snail (rendered, by error, waters). With what propriety then does the lion, the young lion, come in between them? Would it not be better to render instead of ' CAPHARIM, ON CI-APHARIM, from aphar, dust; and to consider the word as denoting serpents which dwell in dust, or spotted over as with dust, speckled serpents. In our version of the Bible, the lion is again found in the company of serpents, and even like them to be trodden upon. Psal. xci. 13. It should be remarked, that the most ancient interpreters suppose a snake of some kind to be meant; and Bochart thinks it to be the black serpent or hæmorhoüs. The word rendered young lion, may be the cenchris, which Nicander (Theriac, v. 463.) calls Xɛov atoλos, a spotted lion. Spotted, because he is covered with specks; a lion, because, like that animal, he raises his tail when about to fight; and because, like the lion, he bites and fills himself with blood. | a snowy whiteness. It may Its Hebrew name is perhaps derived from the country whence the Jews imported it; for the merchants of Sheba brought to the market of Tyre all kinds of precious stones and gold. Ezek. xxvii. 22. The Translators of the Bible have, in Isai. liv. 12, and Ezek. xxvii. 16, given the same word to quite a different stone. The original is 7, which, as in the former place it is proposed for windows, I am inclined to render talc; though Bp. Lowth and Mr. Dodson make it the ruby 10. The agate was the second stone in the third row of the pectoral of the High Priest. Exod. xxviii. 19, and xxxix. 12. ALABASTER. Alaẞaorpov. Perhaps the name is from the species of whitish stone, called in Arabic, BATSRATON, and, adding the article AL, AL-BATSRATON: a species of onyx. [Probably the onychites of Pliny. See ONYX.] be cut freely, and is capable of a fine polish. Being of a soft nature, it is wrought into any form or figure with ease. Vases or cruises were anciently made of it, wherein to preserve odoriferous liquors and ointments. Pliny and others represent it as peculiarly proper for this purpose 12. And the druggists in Egypt have, at this day, vessels made of it, in which they keep their medicines and perfumes. Herodotus 13, among the presents sent by Cambyses to the king of Ethiopia, mentions Μυρου Αλαβασ τρον: Theocritus, Συριω δε μυρωι xovσe aλaßaorpa, gilded alabasters of Syrian ointment; and Cicero, alabaster plenus unguenti. Whence we learn that the term was used for the vase itself 14. In Matth. xxvi. 6, 7, we read that Jesus being at table in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, Mary, the sister of Lazarus and of Martha, came thither and poured an alabaster box of ointment on his head. As to the expression, breaking the box, it merely implies, that the seal upon the vase which closed it, and kept the perfume from evaporating, had never been removed, but that it was on this occasion broken, that is, first opened 15. The Septuagint once use αλαβασ Dr. Adam Clarke assigns the folTOоç, 2 Kings xxi. 13, for the He-lowing reasons for this construction, brew nnby, a dish or platter; and the word occurs in the Greek of Matth. xxvi. 7; Mark xiv. 3, and Luke vii. 37. The name of a genus of fossils nearly allied to marble. It is a bright, elegant stone, sometimes of 10 Veram nominis significationem ipse adhuc ignorans, non eam docturus lectores commentor, sed hoc unum docturus nihil nos scire." Michaelis, Supl. Lex. Heb. (1.) That it is not likely that a box (vase, or bottle), exceedingly precious in itself, should be broken to get out its contents. (2.) That the 12" Vas unguentarium, quod ex alabastrite lapide ad unguenta a corruptione conservanda excavare solebant." Plin. N. H. lib. xiii. c. 2. Athen. 1. vi. 19; xv. 13. Plutarch in Alexandr. p. 676. Theocritus, Idyl. xv; v. 114. 13 Lib. iii. c. 20. the onyx-stone of the ancients was alabaster. Thus, Horace (Od. iv. 12). 14 [The word onyx is used in the same "Chodchod quid significet usque in prasen-way, and there is reason to conclude that tiam invenire non potui." Jerom. in Ezek. 11 Comp. Plin. Nat. Hist. 1. xxxvi. c. 7. "Onychem etiamnum in Arabia montibus, nec usquam alicubi, nasci putavere nostri veteres" et lib. xxxvi. c. 8. "Hunc aliqui lapidem alabastriten vocant, quem cavant ad vasa unguentaria, quoniam optime servare incorrupta dicitur." Between the Nile and the Red Sea, in Egyptian Arabia, was a city bence called Alabastra. Plin. lib. v. c. 9. "Nardi parvus onyx eliciet cadum." Here we have the " alabaster box of spikenard."] 15 Harmer's Obs. v. 4. p. 472. So we have a familiar phrase, which may perhaps apply: when we say, for instance," break a guinea," we mean spend a part of it. broken pieces would be very incon- | venient, if not injurious to the head of our Lord, and to the hands of the woman. (3.) That it would not be easy effectually to separate the oil from the broken pieces. And, (4.) That it was a custom in the eastern countries to seal the bottles with wax that held the perfumes 16. So that to come at their contents, no more was necessary than to break the seal, which this woman appears to have done; and when the seal was thus broken, she had no more to do than to pour out the liquid ointment, which she could not have done had she broken the bottle. almond, Gen. xliii. 11; Exod. xxv. 33, 34; xxxvii. 19, 20; Numb. xvii. 8; Eccles. xii. 5, and Jer. i. 11. The first name may be that of the tree; the other, that of the fruit, or nut. A tree resembling the peach-tree in its leaves and blossoms, but the fruit is longer and more compressed, the outer green coat is thinner and drier when ripe, and the shell of the stone is not so rugged. This stone, or nut, contains a kernel, which is the only esculent part. The whole arrives at maturity in September, when the outer tough cover splits open and discharges the nut. From the circumstance of its blos soming the earliest of any of the אלגומים or אלגם .ALGUM GUMMIM, 1 Kings, x. 11, 12. trees, beginning as soon as the rigour of winter is past, and before it is in leaf, it has its Hebrew name shakad, which comes from a verb signifying to make haste, to be in a hurry, or to awake early. Thus in Jerem. i. 11, where the Prophet is shown the rod of an almond-tree 18, GOD means to This is the name of a kind of wood, or tree, large quantities of which were brought by the fleet of Solomon from Ophir, of which he made pillars for the house of the Lord, and for his own palace, also musical instruments. See ALMUG. ALMOND-TREE. 1 LUZ. Ara-indicate to him by it, that as this bic, laus. Translated hazel, Gen. XXX. 3717, TpW SHAKAD, rendered 16 The bottles which contain the Attyr of roses, which come from the East, are sealed in this manner. See a number of proofs relative to this point in Harmer's Obs. V. iv. p. 469. 17 R. Saadia, in Ab. Ezrae, Comment. in Genes." Luz. est amygdalus, quia ita eam appellant Arabes; nam ha due lingua et Syriaca ejusdem sunt familia." See also Ben Melech in Micial Jophi Gen. 43. tree makes haste to bud, as though it took the first opportunity, so he would hasten his judgment upon the people. There is here, says Dr. BLANEY, at once an allusion to the property of the almond-tree, and in the original a paranomasia, which makes it more striking there than it can be in a translation. In like manner, when SOLOMON, speaking of an old man, Eccles. xii. 5, says, the almond-tree shall flourish, he intends to express by it the quickness by which old age advances and surprises us; while the snow-white blossoms upon the bare boughs of the tree, aptly illustrate the hoary head and defenceless state of 19 age AARON'S rod which budded, and by this means secured to him the priesthood, was a branch of this tree. Numb. xvii. 8. Mr. PARKHURST suggests that proHiller, Hierophyt. p. 1. p. 215. Celsius, Hierobot. p. ii. page 253. Cocquius, 227. 19 In the Vulgate, "virgam vigilantem," a waking rod. 19 Mr. Harmer, has, however, given this a different turn. Obs. v. 4. p. 49. bably the chiefs of the tribes bore | for violins, harpsichords, and other each an almond rod, or wand, as em- stringed instruments 25. blematical of their vigilance. ALOE. by OLAR. Syriac. ,ALMUG אלמג ALMUG-TREE. and plural ALMUGIM, and .ALGUMMIM אלגומים A certain kind of wood mentioned 1 Kings, x. 11; 2 Chron. ii. 8, and ix. 10, 11. Jerom and the Vulgate render it ligna thyina, and the Septuagint, ξυλα πελεκητα, wrought wood. Several critics understand it to mean gummy wood 20; but a wood abounding in resin must be very unfit for the uses to which this is said to be applied. Celsius queries if it be not the sandal21; but Michaelis thinks the particular species of wood to be wholly unknown to us 22. Josephus, however, describes it particularly. "The ships from Ophir, says he, brought precious stones and pine-trees, which Solomon made use of for supporting the temple and his palace, as also for making musical instruments, the harps and psalteries of the Levites 23. The wood which was brought him at this time, was larger and finer than any that had ever been brought before; but let none imagine that these pine-trees were like those which are now so named, and which take their denomination from the merchants who so call them, that they may procure them to be admired by those that purchase them 24; for those we speak of, were, to the sight, like the wood of the fig-tree, but were whiter and more shining. Now we have said thus much, that nobody may be ignorant of the difference between these sorts of wood, nor unacquainted with the nature of the genuine pinetree, and the uses which the king made of it." Dr. Shaw supposes that the Almug-tree was the Cypress; and he observes that the wood of this tree is still used in Italy and other places 20 Hiller, Hierophyt. c. xiii. 67. 23 Antiq. lib. viii. c. 7. 24 He must intend the Indian pine, which is somewhat like the fir-tree. A plant with broad leaves, nearly two inches thick, prickly and chamfered. It grows about two feet high. A very bitter gum is extracted from it, used for medicinal purposes, and anciently for embalming dead bodies 26. Nicodemus is said, John, xix. 39, to have brought one hundred pounds weight of myrrh and aloes to embalm the body of Jesus. The quantity has been exclaimed against by certain Jews, as being enough for fifty bodies. But, instead of ExaTOV, it might originally have been written dekaтov, ten pounds weight. However, at the funeral of Herod, there were five hundred apwμaropopes, spice bearers27; and at that of R. Gamaliel, eighty pounds of opobalsamum were used 28. The wood which God shewed Moses, that with it he might sweeten the waters of Marah, is called alvah, Exod. xv. 25. The word has some relation to aloe; and some interpreters are of opinion, that Moses used a bitter sort of wood, that so the power of God might be the more remarkable. Mr. Bruce mentions a town, or large village, by the name of Elvah 29. 25 Trav. p. 422. 26 See the authorities quoted in Greenhill's Art of Embalming. 27 Josephus, Antiq. 1. xvii. c. 10. |