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lead to idolatry. 2. Lest the people might depend on a well appointed cavalry, as a means of security, and so cease from trusting in the promised aid and protection of Jehovah. And 3. That they might not be tempted to extend their dominion by means of cavalry, and so get scattered among the surrounding idolatrous nations, and thus cease, in process of time, to be that distinct and separate people which God intended they should be; and without which the prophecies relative to the Messiah could not be known to have their due and full accomplishment.

In the time of the Judges, we find horses and war chariots among the Canaanites, but still the Israelites had none; and hence they were generally too timid to venture down into the plains, confining their conquests to the mountainous parts of the country. In the reign of Saul, it would appear, that horse breeding had not yet been introduced into Arabia; for, in a war with some of the Arabian nations, the Israelites got plunder in camels, sheep, and asses, but still no horses. David's enemies brought against him a strong force of cavalry into the field: and in the book of Psalms, the horse commonly appears only on the side of the enemies of the people of God; and so entirely unaccustomed to the management of this animal had the Israelites still continued, that, after a battle, in which they took a considerable body of cavalry prisoners, (2 Sam. viii. 4,) David caused most of the horses to be cut down, because he did not know what use to make of them. Solomon was the first who established a cavalry force: and compared to what it is usual now, it was a very inconsiderable one. 1 Kings, x. 26. He also carried on a trade in Egyptian horses for the benefit of the crown. 2 Chron. ix. 28. At this period Egypt was still the native country of the best horses: none were yet bred in Arabia, else would not the Phoenician kings have purchased horses at second hand from Solomon, at his own price, but have rather got them directly from Arabia themselves. It is remarkable too, that one horse cost him as much as another, namely, one hundred and fifty shekels (1 Kings, x. 29), which shows that the qualities of horses had not yet been noticed with the eyes of amateurs. Even at the time when Jerusalem was conquered, and first destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, Arabia seems not to have bred horses; for the Tyrians brought theirs from Armenia. Arabia, therefore, could hardly have been, as Buffon supposes, the original and natural climate of horses; but must have had its breed only at a late period from other countries.

Under these circumstances it is not wonderful that the Mosaic law should take no notice of an animal which we hold in such high estimation. To Moses, educated as he was in Egypt, and, with his people, at last chased out by Pharaoh's cavalry, the use of the horse for war and for travelling was well known: but as

it was his object to establish a nation of husbandmen, and not of soldiers for the conquest of foreign lands; and as Palestine, from its situation, required not the defence of cavalry, he might very well decline introducing among his people the yet unusual art of horse breeding. A great deal of land that might be applied to the production of human food is requisite for the maintenance of horses in every country: but in those days, riding was less frequent, and travelling in carriages almost unknown, the roads not being adapted to it, so that journeys were generally performed on foot; and when riding was necessary, the camel was always at hand, and in the sterile regions of Arabia this contented creature, which requires but very little provender, and may be brought to drink but once in four days, is vastly preferable to a horse; and those who wished to proceed more at their ease, made use of the ass, which, in a mountainous country, is much surer footed than a horse, and in southern climates, is so much more nimble and spirited than in northern, that, according to M. Maillet, in his description of Egypt, a horse in that country must gallop to keep pace with him at a trot 8.

Solomon, having married a daughter of Pharaoh, procured a breed of horses from Egypt; and so greatly did he multiply them, that he had four hundred stables, forty thousand stalls, and twelve thousand horsemen. 1 Kings, vi. 26; 2 Chron. ix.

25.

Horses were conducted to foreign markets in strings; a circumstance favourable to those interpreters who would refer the whole passage, 1 Kings, x. 28; and 2 Chron. i. 16, to horses instead of linen yarn, which seems rather to break the connexion of the verses. Some are therefore inclined to read, " and Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, even strings of horses, (literally drawings out, prolongations:) the king's merchants received the strings (i. e. of horses), in commutation (exchange or barter). And a chariot, or set of chariot horses (i. e. four), came up from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a single horse for one hundred and fifty." And these he sold again, at a great profit, to the neighbouring kings. As the whole context seems rather applicable to horses than to linen yarn; so, this idea, while it strictly maintains the import of the words, preserves the unity of the passage 87.

It seems that the Egyptian horses were in high repute, and were much used in war. When the Israelites were disposed to place too implicit confidence in the assistance of cavalry, the prophet remonstrated in these terms; "the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses are flesh, not spirit." Isai. xxxi. 3.

86 The above remarks are from Michaelis' Commentaries on the Laws of Moses, article 166, vol. ii. 394. Smith's transl.

87 Scripture Illustrated in addition to Calmet, v. iii.

Bishop Lowth observes, that "the shoeing of horses with iron plates nailed to the hoof, is quite a modern practice, and was unknown to the ancients, as appears from the silence of the Greek and Roman writers, especially those that treat of horse medicine, who could not have passed over a matter so obvious, and of such importance, that now the whole science takes its name from it, being called by us, farriery. The horseshoes of leather and of iron which are mentioned; the silver and the gold shoes with which Nero and Poppaea shod their mules, used occasionally to preserve the hoofs of delicate cattle, or for vanity, were of a very different kind; they enclosed the whole hoof, as in a case, and were bound or tied on. For this reason, the strength, firmness, and solidity of a horse's hoof was of much greater importance with them, than with us, and was esteemed one of the first praises of a fine horse. For want of this artificial defence to the foot, which our horses have, Amos (vi. 12), speaks of it as a thing as much impracticable to make horses run upon a hard rock, as to plough up the same rock with oxen. These circumstances must be taken into consideration, in order to give us a full notion of the propriety and force of the image, by which the prophet Isaiah (v. 28), sets forth the strength and excellence of the Babylonish cavalry, which made a great part of the strength of the Assyrian army.' "The hoofs of their horses," says he, "shall be counted as flint." A quality, which, in times when the shoeing of horses was unknown, must have been of very great importance. The value of a solid hoof is intimated in several places in the writings of Homer; and Virgil mentions it as an indispensable requisite in a good breed of horses; Georg. iii. v. 68.

66 et solido graviter sonat ungula cornu."

As the eastern heathens who worshiped the sun imagined that he rode along the sky in a chariot drawn by fleet horses, to communicate his light and warmth to the world, they consecrated to him the finest steeds and chariots. With these they rode to the eastern gates of their cities as the sun arose, to pay their homage. The Jews at one time became infected with this species of idolatry. We read, 2 Kings, xxiii. 11, that Josiah took away the horses from the court of the temple, which the kings of Judah, his predecessors, had consecrated to the sun.

Bochart, Hieroz. vol. i. devotes one hundred and seventeen pages to an explication of all those passages in Scripture, in which the horse is mentioned, and displays a profundity of learning and ingenuity on the subject: and Michaelis has annexed to his "Commentaries on the Laws of Moses," a dissertation on the most ancient history of horses and horse-breeding, in Palestine and the neighbouring countries.

HORSE-LEECH. ALAKAH; Arab. alæk; from a root which signifies to adhere, stick close, or hang fust 88.

Occurs Proverbs, xxx. 15, only.

A sort of worm that lives in the water; of a black or brown colour; which fastens upon the flesh, and does not quit it till it is entirely full of blood.

Solomon says, "the horse-leech hath two daughters, give, give." This is so apt an emblem of an insatiable rapacity and avarice, that it has been generally used by different writers to express it. Thus Plautus, Epidic. act. ii. makes one say, speaking of the determination to get money, "I will turn myself into a horse-leech, and suck out their blood;" and Cicero, in one of his letters to Atticus, calls the common people of Rome "horseleeches of the treasury." Solomon, having mentioned those that devoured the property of the poor, as the worst of all the generations which he had specified, proceeds to state the insatiable cupidity with which they prosecuted their schemes of rapine and plunder. As the horse-leech had two daughters, cruelty and thirst of blood, which cannot be satisfied; so, the oppressor of the poor has two dispositions, rapacity and avarice, which never say they have enough, but continually demand additional gratifications.

Bochart, however, Hieroz. v. iii. p. 785, thinks that the translators have been mistaken in confounding allukah with allakah, which indeed signifies a horse-leech, whereas the former means what we call destiny, or the necessity of dying; to which the ancient Rabbins gave two daughters, Eden or Paradise, and Hades or Hell: the first of which invites the good, the second calls for the wicked. This interpretation seems strengthened by the observation, Prov. xxvii. 20, "hell and destruction (that is, Hades and the grave), are never satisfied."

HUSKS. KEPATION.

Occurs Luke, xv. 16.

The husks of leguminous plants, so named from their resemblance to negas, a horn: but Bochart thinks that the nɛgaria, were the ceratonia, the husks or fruit of the carob-tree, a tree very common in the Levant 89. We learn from Columella, that these pods afforded food for swine: and they are mentioned as what the prodigal desired to eat, when reduced to extreme hunger.

88 Some etymologists deduce the Latin name Hirudo from hæreo, to stick. Horace, Ar. Poet. says,

“Non missura cutem, nisi plena cruoris, hirudo."
Like leeches stick, nor quit the bleeding wound,

'Till off they drop, with skins full, to the ground." BARNSTON.

89 Called in Spain algaroba, garofero, carobbe, or locust. See Dillon's Travels in Spain, p. 360, note. Ceratonia, carogue, and St. John's bread. Millar.Ceratonia, siliqua. Lin. Spec. Plant. 1513.

The fruit is very common in Palestine, Greece, Italy, Provence, and Barbary. It is suffered to ripen and grow dry upon the tree. The poor feed upon it, and the cattle are fattened by it. The tree on which it grows is of a middle size, full of branches, and abounding with round leaves of an inch or two in diameter. The blossoms of it are little red clusters, with yellow stalks. The fruit itself is a flat cod, from six to fourteen inches in length, one and a half broad; composed of two husks separated by membranes into several cells, wherein are contained flat seeds. The substance of these husks, or pods, is filled with a sweetish kind of juice.

HYSSOP. ESOB; Arab. supha.

Occ. Exod. xii. 22; Levit. xiv. 4, 6, 49, 51, 52; Numb. xix. 6, 18; 1 Kings, iv. 33; Psal. li. 7. TEENHO】 Matth. xxvii. 48; Mark, xv. 36; John, xix. 29; and Hebr. ix. 19.

A plant of the gymnospermia order, belonging to the didynamia class. It has bushy stalks, growing a foot and a half high; small, spear-shaped, close-sitting opposite leaves, with several smaller ones rising from the same joint; and all the stalks and branches terminated by erect whorled spikes of flowers, of different colours in the varieties of the plant. The leaves have an aromatic smell, and a warm pungent taste. It grows in great plenty on the mountains near Jerusalem. It is of a bitter taste; and, from being considered as possessing detersive and cleansing qualities, derived probably its Hebrew name.

The original word has been variously translated; and Celsius has devoted forty-two pages to remove difficulties, occasioned by the discordant opinions of the Talmudical writers, and to ascertain the plant intended. That it is the hyssop, seems most probable: the passage in Hebrews, ix. 19, sufficiently indentifies it.

Under the law, it was commonly used in purifications as a sprinkler. When the people of Israel came out of Egypt, they were commanded to take a bunch of hyssop, to dip it in the blood of the paschal lamb, and sprinkle it on the lintel and the two side-posts of the door. It was also used in sprinkling the leper. The hyssop is extremely well adapted to such purposes, as it grows in bunches, and puts out many suckers from a single

root.

Solomon is said, 1 Kings, iv. 33, to have composed a work on Botany, in which he described plants" from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop which springeth out of the wall." This work is mentioned in the Mishna pesachim, c. iv. t. ii. ed. Surenhusius, p. 148. See also Fabricius, Codex Pseud. V. Test. p. 1045. It is supposed that this is the Arabic work, of which Morhoff, Polyh. 1. i. c. 6, makes mention. See also, Cod. M. S. Ashmol. p. i. N. 8277. Scheuchzer says, " Ce qui me paroît très sur, c'est que ce livre existe, il doit contenir un ample commentaire sur les Plantes et les Animaux de l'Ecriture,

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