Celsius. I am now convinced that it is the inspissated juice of the grape, still called at Aleppo by the same name, dibs. It has much the appearance of coarse honey, but is of a finer consistence. It is much used by the inhabitants of Aleppo; it is brought to town in great goat skins, and retailed in small quantities in the bazars." [Russel's Aleppo, Vol. i. p. 82.] See other authorities in Rosenmuller. In truth, neither common honey nor palm honey could have been considered as a rare gift to the governor of Egypt, where palms and bees were so abundant: whereas, raisin honey, or a syrup made out of the grapes, which grew not in Egypt, might be deemed even a royal present." But it is doubtful whether this inspissated juice was so early known; and it is certain the honey abounded in the eastern countries from the remotest ages. So common and plenteous was it in Palestine that it was literally, as well as metaphorically, "a land flowing with honey 74." In hot weather, the honey burst the comb and ran down the hollow trees or rocks, where, in the land Judea, the bees deposited great store of it. This, flowing spontaneously, must be the best and most delicious, as it must be quite pure, and clear from all dregs and wax. This the Israelites called my JAARA, woodhoney75. It is, therefore, improperly rendered honey-comb, 1 Sam. xiv. 27, and Cantic. v. 1; in both which places it means the honey that has distilled from the trees, as distinguished from the domestic, which was eaten with the comb. Harmer thinks that the word л NOPHETH, which occurs Prov. v. 3; xxiv. 13; xxvii. 7; and Cantic. iv. 11, may be the honey of dates; but Russel mentions the wild honey, or that found in the trees, as called by the natives noub; and this word bears some resemblance to the Hebrew 76. Hasselquist says, that between Acra and Nazareth, "great numbers of wild-bees breed to the advantage of the inhabitants;" and Maundrell observes of the great plain near Jericho, that he perceived in it, in many places, a smell of honey and wax as strong as if he had been in an apiary. Milk and honey were the chief dainties of the earlier ages 77, and continue to be so of the Bedoween Arabs now 78. So butter and honey are several times mentioned in Scripture as among the most delicious refreshments. Comp. 2 Sam. xvii. 29; Cantic. iv. 11; Job, xx. 17; and Isai. vii. 15. 74 Exod. iii. 8; xiii. 5; Deut. xxxii. 13; Psal. Ixxx. 17, et al. 75 “A voce y JAAR, quæ sylvam sonat (ut jar Punice lignum apud Augustinum in Psalmum xxiii.), "y" JAAR, vel у JAARA, est favus proprie in sylva repertus." Bochart, Hieroz. V. iii. p. 377. 76 Forskal, descr. Anim. p. xxiii. remarks, "Sæpe in sylvis Arabiæ fluens vid mel; quod vocant indigenæ noub." 77 Callim. hymn. in Jov. xlviii. Hom. Odys. xx. v. 68, et Eustath. not. in loc. 78 D'Arvieux, p. 205. Harmer Obs. V. i. p. 299. A fine lesson on the necessity of moderation is taught by Solomon, Prov. xxv. 16. "Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith and vomit it.” Upon this passage Dr. Knox has the following remarks 79. "Man, indeed, may be called a bee in a figurative style. In search of sweets, he roams in various regions, and ransacks every inviting flower. Whatever displays a beautiful appearance solicits his notice and conciliates his favour, if not his affection. He is often deceived by the vivid colour and attractive form, which, instead of supplying honey, produce the rankest poison; but he perseveres in his researches, and if he is often disappointed, he is also often successful. The misfortune is, that when he has found honey, he enters upon the feast with an appetite so voracious that he usually destroys his own delight by excess and satiety." How beautifully is this thought illustrated by Shakspeare. The words, too, are selected with a felicity, of which poetry furnishes but few examples: "All violent delights have violent ends, And in their triumphs die; the sweetest honey And, in the taste, confounds the appetite." The wild-honey, MEAI ATPION, mentioned to have been a part of the food of John the Baptist, Matth. iii. 4, was probably such as he got in the rocks and hollows of trees 80. Thus "honey out of the stony rock," Psalm, lxxxi. 16; Deut. xxxii. 13. Josephus, Bell. Jud. iv. 27, says of the country near Jericho, that it was μελιττοτροφος δε η χώρα, See also Shaw's Trav. 337, and Maundrell, p. 24. p. The Hebrew name of the vessel for the preservation of honey, 1 Kings, xiv. 3, is pp BAKBUK. From Jerem. xix. 1, it ap pears to have been an earthen vessel. Our translators are therefore unhappy in rendering it "bottle." A vessel with a long narrow neck could not be proper for a substance so thick and apt to candy as honey; but the force of the image is apparent by retaining the word honey-pot. The intimation would then be" though the people of Israel who dwelt here in former times have been grateful to me, saith Jehovah, as honey is to men, and I have preserved them with special care, yet that in which they have been kept shall be cast from me and totally destroyed as the honey-pot is broken in their sight." See BEE. 79 Sermons, p. 424. 80 On this subject the reader is referred to the following authors. Reland, Palestin. p. 374. Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr. in loc. T. Hasæus, in Bibl. Brem. Cl. i. p. 122. Schurzfleish, Dissert. § 17. Witsius, Miscel. Sacr. tom. ii. ex. xv. § 41. Altmann, Obs. theol. et philol. Wetstein cites from Diodorus Siculus, speaking of the Nabatheans, was αυτοις ΜΕΛΙ πολυ το καλυμενον ΑΓΡΙΟΝ; in their country is a great deal of wild honey, as it is called. HORNET. TSIREAH. Occ. Exod. xxiii. 28; Deut. vii. 20; and Joshua, xxiv. 12. Compare Wisdom, xii. 8. "The root," says Dr. A. Clarke, " is not found in Hebrew, but it may be the same with the Arabic saraâ, to strike down; the hornet, probably so called from the destruction occasioned by the violence of its sting." The hornet, in natural history, belongs to the species crabo, of the genus vespa or wasp. It is a most voracious insect, and is exceedingly strong for its size, which is generally an inch in length, and sometimes more. In each of the instances where this creature is mentioned in the Scripture, it is as sent among the enemies of the Israelites, to drive them out of the land. Some explain the word metaphorically, as "I will send my terror as the hornet," &c. But Bochart, v. iii. p. 402, contends that it is to be taken in its proper literal meaning; and has accumulated examples of several other people, having been chased from their habitations by insects of different kinds. Elian, lib. xi. c. 28, records that the Phaselites who dwelt about the mountains of Solyma were driven out of their country by wasps. As these people were Phenicians or Canaanites, it is probable that the event to which he refers is the same as took place in the days of Joshua. How distressing and destructive a multitude of these fierce and severely stinging insects might be, any person may conjecture. Even the bees of one hive would be sufficient to sting a thousand men to madness; but how much worse must wasps and hornets be! No armour, no weapons could avail against these. A few thousands of them would be quite sufficient to throw the best disciplined army into confusion and rout. From Joshua, xxiv. 12, we find that two kings of the Amorites were actually driven out of the land by these hornets, so that the Israelites were not obliged to use either sword or bow in the conquest. The Septuagint renders the word ΣHKIA, the wasp. The author of the book of Wisdom, ch. xii. 8, says that God sent wasps against them, to drive them by degrees out of their country; making those very creatures a punishment, to which they had paid divine honours. HORSE. .SUS סוס The Turkish name is sukk. Occ. Gen. xlix. 17; and afterwards frequently in the Hebrew Scriptures; and IППО, James, iii. 3; and Rev. vi. 2, 4, 5, 8; and ix. 7, 9, 17; xiv. 20; xviii. 13; xix. 11, 14, 18, 19, 21. The word N ABBIRIM, is also given several times to denote horses, as Judges, v. 22; Jer. viii. 16; xlvii. 2, 3; l. 11, and elsewhere; but seems rather an epithet than a name. And 81 Eusebius Cæsariensis, Augustinus, Rabanus Maurus, Liranus, Junius and Tremellius, Piscator, Ainsworth, Michaelis, and Dr. Geddes. W PARAS, in 1 Sam. viii. 11; and Isai. xxi. 7, may mean steeds broken for the chariot, or used in war; perhaps horsemen; ' PARASIM, or Persians. KAMACH, which occurs only in Esther viii. 10, is supposed to mean mares; this seems confirmed by the Arabic version of Cantic. i. 10. A very serviceable and well known animal. The description of the war-horse in the book of Job, ch. xxxix. 19-25, is very fine. The following is a corrected translation of it, Hast thou bestowed on the horse mettle? The glittering spear, and the shield. With rage and fury he devoureth the ground, The thunder of the chieftains, and the shouting. "Every word of this," says M. Rollin 85, "would merit an explication, in order to display the beauties of it; but I shall take notice only of the latter, which give a kind of understanding and speech to the horse. "Armies are a long time before they are set in battle array; and are sometimes a great while in view of one another without moving. All the motions are marked by particular signals; and the soldiers are appointed to perform their various duties by the sound of a trumpet. This slowness is importunate to the horse. 82 Our version is "with thunder," which Dr. Stock has followed; Mr. Good has "with the thunder-flash." The metaphor appears to me to be too bold, even for oriental hyperbole. I rather believe the mane to be intended; and Bochart supports the reading by collateral proofs. That the seventy interpreters understood this passage of Job in the same sense is probable; for though at present we read, EvEduσas Teaɣnaw auтy polov [fear], I am inclined to think it was originally written pony [mane]. It is certain, the mane shows the beauty of a horse. Xenophon, De Re Equestr. says, “ the gods have given the horse, for the sake of ornament, a mane and a foretop." To which may be added, that nothing is more common among the poets in describing a horse, than to make particular mention of his mane-flowing luxuriantly on his neck and shoulders, shaken and parted by every blast of wind. 66 83 That is, is it to be ascribed to thee, that the horse hath such particular motions; leaping and prancing in the same manner with the locusts? It is a common saying among the Arabians, the horse acts the locusts, i. e. he leaps and jumps from place to place as they do. See Bochart and Schultens. 84 So Jerem. viii. 16, "The snorting of his horses was heard: the whole land trembled." The description which Suidas extracts from an ancient writer is exactly the same. "The noise of the arms, and the horses was such that xalaxuovles ežerwanooovlo, they who heard it were terrified." Bochart gives us several quotations of the same kind, relating to the war-horse. 85 Belles Lettres, v. ii. p. 328, "On the elegance of the Sacred Writings.” He is ready at the first sound of the trumpet. He is very impatient that the army must so often have notice given to it. He murmurs against all these delays; and, not being able to continue quietly in his place, nor to disobey orders, he strikes the ground perpetually with his hoof; and complains in this way, that the warriors lose their time in gazing upon one another. He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage. In his impatience, he considereth as nothing all such signals as are not decisive, and which only point out some circumstances to which he is not attentive; neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet. But when it is earnest, and the last blast calls to battle, then the whole countenance of the horse is changed. One would conclude that he distinguishes by his smell, that the battle is about to begin, and that he heard the orders of the general distinctly, and answers the confused cry of the army by a noise that discovers his joy and courage. He saith among the trumpets, ha! ha! and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting." If the reader compares Homer's and Virgil's admirable descriptions of the horse, he will find how vastly superior this is to them both. In the "Guardian," No. 86, is a very ingenious critique on this fine passage of Job; and Bochart has filled fifty quarto pages with his illustrations and remarks. I shall add the poetical version of Mr. Scott. "Hast thou with prowess fill'd the martial horse? Trembling with rapture, when the shouts from far, Deriding death, he rushes undismay'd Where flames with horrid wheel the slaughtering blade, And spears and javelins lighten in his eye." Horses were very rare among the Hebrews in the early ages. The patriarchs had none; and after the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, Jehovah expressly forbid their ruler to procure them. Deut. xvii. 16. "He shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses; forasmuch as the Lord hath said, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way." As horses appear to have been generally furnished by Egypt, God prohibits these, 1. Lest there should be such commerce with Egypt as might |