on which this substance is formed; which was not the case, neither do those trees grow in those deserts. Besides, this kind of manna is purgative, and the stomach could not endure it in such quantity as is implied by its being eaten for food. In short, the whole history of the giving the manna is miraculous. I refer, however, to the remarks of Michaelis, in his dissertation on the influence of opinions on language, 4to. p. 56, for a different construction. For the most ample investigation of the whole subject, the following authors may be consulted; Scheuchzer, Phys. Sacr. V. ii. p. 101. Buxtorf, Hist. Mannæ, in Exercit. Sacr. p. 336-390. Salmasius, Com. de Manna, in Hyle Iatrica, p. 245-254; et Exerc. Solin. p. 809: but especially T. E. Faber, Dissert. de Manna (in Reiskii et Fabri opusculis medicis, a C. G. Grunero editis), § xxiv. p. 131, et § xxix. p. 139; to S. G. Donatus, in not. ad epitomen Phys. Sacr. Scheuchzeriana-and to A. F. Bushing's notes, &c. upon the last mentioned work. "Qui triumviri doctissimi omnia collegerunt quæ Veteres et Recentiores de variis Mannæ generibus tradidere." Rosenmuller, Not. in Bochart, Hieroz. tom. iii. p. 597. MARBLE. ww sis. Occ. 1 Chron. xxix. 2; Esth. i. 6; and Cantic. v. 15. A valuable kind of stone; of a texture so hard and compact, and of a grain so fine, as readily to take a beautiful polish. It is dug out of quarries in large masses, and is much used in buildings, ornamental pillars, &c. Marble is of different colours, black, white, &c. and is sometimes most elegantly clouded and variegated. The stone, mentioned in the places cited above, is called the stone of sis, or sish; the LXX and Vulgate render it Parian stone, which was remarkable for its bright white colour. Probably the cliff Ziz, 2 Chron. xv. 16, was so called from being a marble crag: the place was afterwards called Petra. סחרת DAR, and דר,SIS שיש ,BAHAT בהט The variety of stones SOCHERETH, mentioned in the pavement of Ahasuerus, must describe marble of different colours. The ancients sometimes made pavements wherein were set very valuable stones. "Eo deliciarum pervenimus, ut nisi gemmas calcare nolimus." Seneca, epist. 86. And Apuleius thus describes the pavement of the apartments of Psyche, " pavimenta ipsa lapide pretioso cæsim diminuto, in varia pictura genera discriminabantur." Michaelis supposes the DAR to mean alabaster. MELON. DEN ABATTICHIM 90. Occ. Numb. xi. 5, only. A luscious fruit so well known that a description of it would be superfluous. It grows to great perfection, and is highly esteemed in Egypt, especially by the lower class of people, 90 The name of the water-melon in Egypt now is battich. See Forskal, Flor. Ægypt. Arab. p. 75, and Hasselquist, p. 255. during the hot months 91. The juice is peculiarly cooling and agreeable in that sultry climate, where it is justly pronounced, 66 one of the most delicious refreshments that nature, amidst her constant attention to the wants of man, affords in the season of violent heat." There are varieties of this fruit; but that more particularly referred to in the text, must be the water-melon. It is cultivated (says Hasselquist) on the banks of the Nile, in the rich, clayey earth, which subsides during the inundation. This serves the Egyptians for meat, drink, and physic. It is eaten in abundance during the season, even by the richer sort of people: but the common people, on whom Providence has bestowed nothing but poverty and patience, scarcely eat any thing but these, and account this the best time of the year, as they are obliged to put up with worse fare at other seasons. This fruit likewise serves them for drink, the juice refreshing these poor creatures, and they have less occasion for water, than if they were to live on more substantial food in this burning climate." This well explains the regret expressed by the Israelites for the loss of this fruit, whose pleasant liquor had so often quenched their thirst, and relieved their weariness in their servitude; and which would have been exceedingly grateful in a dry, scorching desert. Mr. Harmer makes the following quotation from the travels of Egmont and Heyman, V. 2, p. 12, to show how refreshing this fruit is. "The inhabitants of Mount Carmel chiefly employ themselves in improving their gardens, where they have, among other fruits, excellent melons and pasteques, which, in goodness and taste, are not at all inferior to those of Naples and the West Indies. The latter are called in America, water-melons, and very properly, consisting of little else than a rind and delicious water. The pulp of some is reddish, especially that part nearest the centre of the fruit, where they have also small seeds, the surface of which is blackish or reddish, and beneath, a white, soft, and palatable substance, whence a kind of oil is expressed, of great use in colds, inflammations, and cutaneous disorders. The melons which have a white pulp are of a very agreeable taste, but not so much esteemed as the other, probably more from prepossession than any solid reason. Both, however, may supply the place of drink, as they dissolve in the mouth, quench the thirst, and are of a cooling quality." MILLET. Occ. Ezek. iv. 9. DOCHAN. A kind of plant so called from it thrusting forth such a quantity of grains. Thus in Latin it is called "millium;" as if one stalk bore a thousand seeds 92. It has been supposed that the 91 For a particular account of the melons of Egypt, I refer to Prosp. Alpinus, de Plantis Ægypti; and Celsius, Hierobot. tom. i. p. 356–383. 92 Martinus, Lexic. Etymol. dochan means what is now called in the East "durra," which, according to Niebuhr 93, is "a sort of millet, and when made into bad bread with camel's milk, oil, butter, or grease, is almost the only food which is eaten by the common people in Arabia Felix." "I found it so disagreeable (says he) that I should willingly have preferred plain barley bread to it." This illus trates the appointment of it to the prophet Ezekiel as a part of his hard fare. Durra is also used in Palestine and Syria, and it is generally agreed that it yields much more than any other kind of grain"Le durra rend beaucoup plus que tous les autres grains." 22 Hiller and Celsius insist that the dochan is the panic: but Forskal has expressly mentioned the dokn, "holcus dochna,' as a kind of maize, of considerable use in food; and Browne, in his travels, p. 291, describes the mode of cultivation. ΜΙΝΤ. ΗΔΥΟΣΜΟΝ. Occ. Matth. xxiii. 23; and Luke, xi. 42. A garden herb, well known. The law did not oblige the Jews to give the tithe of this sort of herbs: it only required it of those things which could be comprehended under the name of income or revenue. But the Pharisees, desirous of distinguishing themselves by a more scrupulous and literal observance of the law than others, gave the tithes of mint, anise, and cummin. Matth. xxiii. 23. Christ did not discommend this exactness; but complained, that while they were so precise in these lesser matters, they neglected the more essential commandments of the law, and substituted observances, frivolous and insignificant, in the place of justice, mercy, and truth. MOLE. This word, in our version of Levit. xi. 30, answers to the word nowЛ THINSEMETH, which Bochart has shown to be the CHAMELEON; but he conjectures, with great propriety, that CHOLED, translated "weasel," in the preceding verse, is the true word for the mole 94. The present name of the mole in the East is khuld, which is undeniably the same word as the Hebrew choled. The import of the Hebrew word is, to creep into, and the same Syriac word implies, to creep underneath, to creep into by burrowing; which are well known characteristics of the mole. .CAPHAR PHARUT חפר פרות the original is Our translation uses also the word mole in Isai. ii. 20, where Bochart is for reading these two words as one; and so three copies collated by Dr. Kennicott read it. The author of "Scripture Illustrated" observes, that "the general scope of the passage is a threatening against pride, and a denunciation of vengeance on idols and idol worshippers;" and conjectures that "it describes the action of 93 Description de l'Arabie, p. 45, 135, 136. See also Rauwolf, in Ray's Trav. p. 161, and quoted by Harmer, Obs. V. iv. p. 97. 94 Hieroz. tom. iii. p. 485–454 edit. Rosenmuller. a public personage, a chief, for whom idols had been provided in a magnificent temple, as so terrified as to flee to caves and dens for shelter; and that these valuable idols should be taken from their shrines, and thrown into places as dark, dismal, and abominable as their former residences had been brilliant and venerable." Accordingly, he understands the word chapharpharut to mean, not an animal, but a place, a deep sink, or subterranean vault-deep cavities dug by human powers. Michaelis, Suppl. ad Heb. Lex. p. 877, thinks the word signifies sepulchres, which in Palestine were frequently cells or vaults, hewn or dug in the rocks, and consequently were proper receptacles for bats. MOTH. w ois. Job, iv. 19, and wwy oisis, Job, xiii. 28; xxvii. 18; Psalm vi. 7; xxxi. 9, 10; xxxix. 11; Isai. l. 9; Hosea, v. 12. The moth is properly a winged insect, flying by night, as it were a night butterfly; and may be distinguished from day butterflies by its antenna, which are sharp at the points, and not tufted. But as this creature, like others, undergoes a transformation, in our translation of the Scripture, it is spoken of in its grub state, during which, it eats garments, &c. made of wool. The clothes-moth is the Tinea Argenteu; of a white, shining, silver, or pearl colour. It is clothed with shells, fourteen in number, and these are scaly. Albin asserts this to be the insect that eats woollen stuffs; and says that it is produced from a gray speckled moth, that flies by night, creeps among woollens, and there lays her eggs, which, after a little time, are hatched as worms, and in this state they feed on their habitation, till they change into a chrysalis, and thence emerge into moths. "The young moth, or moth-worm (says the Abbé Pluche), upon leaving the egg which a papilio had lodged upon a piece of stuff commodious for her purpose, finds a proper place of residence, grows and feeds upon the nap, and likewise builds with it an apartment, which is fixed to the groundwork of the stuff with several cords and a little glue. From an aperture in this habitation, the moth-worm devours and demolishes all about him; and, when he has cleared the place, he draws out all the fastenings of his tent; after which he carries it to some little distance, and then fixes it with the slender cords in a new situation. In this manner, he continues to live at our expense, till he is satisfied with his food, at which period he is first transformed into the nympha, and then changed into the papilio.” This account of the insect will help us to understand several passages in Scripture. I. Mr. Hervey conjectured that the comparison in Job. iv. 19, was to that of a house, whose fragility was such, that it would be crushed or overset by a moth flying against it; but it seems rather to imply, either the wasting or consuming effect of a moth's corroding, or the ease and indifference with which we crush the insect. Mr. Good makes these remarks upon the passage: "The comparison of man on account of his littleness, his feebleness, and his shortness of life, to a worm, or an insect, is common to the sacred writings; but in no other part of them, nor in any other writings whatsoever, is the metaphor so extensively applied or so admirably supported. The passage, indeed, has not been generally understood in its full import; but it has enough under every translation to challenge a comparison with every attempt at the same kind in the Greek or Roman poets." II. From the change of person, and for other reasons, we must suppose that the verse in our translation of Job, xiii. 28, is to be transposed, and read after the second verse in the next chapter; and read in this connexion. Man, born of a woman, Few of days, and full of trouble, Springeth up as a flower, and is cut down→→→ As a garment which the moth consumes. This perishing condition of a moth-eaten garment, as also of the insect itself, is referred to in Isai. li. 6. "The earth shall wax old as doth a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner." The word KIN here means some kind of insect living in the garment; it is translated "louse," in Exod. viii. III. He who buildeth his fortunes by methods of injustice, is by Job, ch. xxvii. 18, compared to the moth, which, by eating into the garment wherein it makes its habitation, destroys its own dwelling. The structure referred to is that provided by the insect, in its larva or caterpillar state, as a temporary residence during its wonderful change from a chrysalis to a winged insect. Mr. Scott has thus happily rendered the passage: "Wretch, as a moth that ravages the looms, Weaves its frail bower, and as it weaves consumes." IV. In Psalm vi. 7, the word rendered in our translation, "consumed," is, according to the original, moth-eaten. This may be an application of the figure allowable in the oriental style; or, as applied to the eyes, may refer to a disease or consumption of the eye, mentioned by travellers in the East, occasioned by little insects. The same remark must apply to Psalm xxxi. 9. V. The declaration in Psalm xxxix. 11, is a reference to the corroding effects of the moth-worm, and contains an instance of that assimilation of words of which the Orientals are fond. When thou with rebukes dost correct man95, ['N AIS] 95 A man of distinction. |