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a substance between fat and marrow, and is not eaten separately, but mixed with the lean meat in many of their dishes, and often also used instead of butter. A reference to this part is made in Exod. xxix. 22, and Levit. iii. 9, where the fat and the tail were to be burnt on the altar of sacrifice. Mr. Street considers this precept to have had respect to the health of the Israelites; observing, that "bilious disorders are very frequent in hot countries; the eating of fat meat is a great encouragement and excitement to them; and though the fat of the tail is now considered as a delicacy, it is really unwholesome." The conclusion of the 17th verse, which is, "ye shall eat neither fat nor blood," justifies this opinion. The prohibition of eating fat, that is, of fat unmixed with the flesh, the omentum or caul, is given also, Levit. vii. 23.

SHITTIM, SITTIM, SITTAH. 'OW, NOW. Occ. Exod. xxv. 5, 10, 13, 23, 28; xxvi. 26, 32, 37; xxvii. 1, 6; xxx. 5; xxxv. 7, 24; xxxvi. 20, 31, 36; xxxvii. 1, 4, 10, 15, 25, 28; xxxviii. 1, 6; Deut. x. 3; and Isai. xli. 19.

What particular species of wood this is interpreters are not agreed. The LXX render aσta Čuλa, incorruptible wood.

St. Jerom says, the shittim wood grows in the deserts of Arabia, and is like white thorn, as to its colour and leaves: but the tree is so large as to furnish very long planks. The wood is hard, tough, smooth, and extremely beautiful. It is thought that this wood is the black acacia, because that, it is said, is the most common tree growing in the deserts of Arabia; and agrees with what the Scriptures say of the shittim wood 59.

The acacia vera grows abundantly in Egypt, in places far from the sea; in the mountains of Sinai, near the Red Sea, and in the deserts 60. It is of the size of a large mulberry tree. The spreading branches and larger limbs are armed with thorns, which grow three together. The bark is rough. The leaves are oblong, and stand opposite each other. The flowers, though sometimes white, are generally of a bright yellow and the fruit, which resembles a bean, is contained in pods like those of the lupin 61

“The acacia tree (says Dr. Shaw) being by much the largest and most common tree in these deserts [Arabia Petræa], we have some reason to conjecture, that the shittim wood was the wood of the acacia; especially as its flowers are of an excellent smell, for the shittah tree is, in Isai. xli. 19, joined with the myrtle and

59 The ZnTivov Sevdgov of Dioscorides, which is the acacia vera. "Ex Ægypto superiore Suês defertur, et potissima pars est lignorum ad naves struendas." Forskal. p. lvii.

60 Prosp. Alpinus, Belon. observat. l. ii. c. 56, and 80. Etius, 1. iv. c. 11. 61 From the unripe pods, the acacia vera succus of the ancients was expressed. Murray, App. Med. ii. 412. The seeds yield a reddish dye. Jackson's Marocco. 62 Trav. p. 444.

other fragrant shrubs."-It may be remarked of the two Hebrew names, that one is feminine, the other masculine. So Mr. Bruce observes, that "the acacia seems the only indigenous tree in the Thebaid. The MALE is called the SAIEL; from it proceeds the gum Arabic on incision with an axe. This gum chiefly comes from Arabia Petræa, where these trees are most numerous. But it is the tree of all deserts, from the northmost part of Arabia to the extremity of Ethiopia; and its leaves the only food for camels travelling in those desert parts 63 "

SILK. MESCHI.

Occurs Ezek. xvi. 10, 13, only.

The word “silk” appears several times in our common translation answering to a word in the original which I have explained under the article FLAX. The term used in this place of Ezekiel is supposed to be derived from which signifies to draw with a gentle hand, and therefore to mean “ silk of the finest thread, drawn out with care and nicety 64" Castel and Houbigant take it from the Arabic to paint, and suppose it to mean the "pictæ vestes," of the ancients. Parkhurst observes, "I meet with no evidence that the Israelites in very early times (and to these Ezekiel refers) had any knowledge of silk, much less of the manner in which it was formed; the word therefore I think means some kind of fine linen or cotton cloth, so denominated from the fineness with which the threads were drawn out."—From the expression in the prophet it seems to mean simply A VEIL, a mesh of fine reticulated threads 65.

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τριχάπτον,

In the Septuagint it is rendered TexaтоV, which may be understood of a net, worn by the women over their hair. Symmachus translated it by orɛvdupa, a head dress; and Aquila, by avlepov, flourished work.

As the word which is rendered "silk” in our version more probably meant cotton, or rather muslin, it is doubtful whether silk is mentioned expressly in the scripture, unless, perhaps, in Isaiah, xix. 9, where we find the Hebrew word SERIKOTH, from pw yellowish, tawny; which is generally the natural colour of raw silk; hence the Latin sericum: or it may be from the Seres, a nation whence the Greeks and Romans first obtained the article silk 66. Calmet remarks that the ancient Greeks and Romans had but little knowledge of the nature of silk.

They

63 Trav. vi. p. 93-In Prosper Alpinus is a description and engraving of the

tree.

64 Taylor's Hebr. Conc. Hence perhaps our English word "mesh,” a net. 65" Errant, judice Braunio, qui putant his significari sericum, cujus usum optimis argumentis probat fuisse ignotum antiquis Hebræis." Lamy de Tabernaculo, p. 481.

66 "Sericum dictum, quia id Seres primi miserunt. Vermiculi enim ibi nasci perhibentur a quibus hæc circum arbores fila ducuntur. Vermes autem ipsi Græce BouCuxas nominantur." Isiodor. 1. xix. c. 27.

imagined that a kind of spider spun it out of its own bowels, wound it with its feet about little rods or branches of trees, and that these threads of silk were unravelled again by sprinkling the coils with water. Pliny, N. H. c. xvii. says, 'Seres lanificio sylvarum nobiles perfusam aqua depertentes sylvarem canitiem 67. The Seres communicated their silk to the Persians, from whom it passed to the Greeks, and from them to the Romans. But the Persians and orientals for a long time kept the secret of manufacturing it among themselves."

Silk was first brought into Greece after Alexander's conquest of Persia, and came into Italy during the flourishing times of the Roman empire; but was long so dear in all these parts as to be worth its weight in gold. At length the emperor Justinian, who died in the year 565, by means of two monks, whom he sent into India for that purpose, procured great quantities of silkworms' eggs to be brought to Constantinople, and from these have sprung all the silkworms and all the silk trade that have been since in Europe 68. See FLAX.

SILVER. KESEPH.

Occurs first Gen. xx. 16; and afterwards frequently.
ΑΡΓΥΡΙΟΝ. 1 Pet. i. 18; Acts, iii. 4; and xx. 33.

A well known metal, of a white shining colour: next in value to gold.

It does not appear to have been in use before the deluge; at least Moses says nothing of it: he speaks only of the metals brass and iron; Gen. iv. 22. But in Abraham's time it was become common, and traffic was carried on with it; Gen. xxiii. 2, 15. Yet it was not then coined, but was only in bars or ingots; and in commerce was always weighed.

SNAIL.

We find this word twice in our translation of the Bible. The first is the rendering of the Hebrew word 2 CHOMET, Levit. xi. 30, where a kind of Lizard is spoken of; the other is Psal. Iviii. 8, SABELUL, which the LXX and Vulgate render wax; but which Bochart has amply demonstrated, from the most ancient Jewish writers, to be the snail. Parkhurst is of opinion that the name may be deduced from the peculiar manner in which snails thrust themselves forward in moving, and from the force with which they adhere to any substance on which they light. The wise Author of nature not having furnished them

67" Apud Indos et Seras sunt quidem in arboribus vermes, et bombyces appellantur, qui in aranearum morem, tenuissima fila deducunt. Unde est sericum: nam lanam arboream non possumus accipere, quia ubique procreatur." Servius, in Virg. Georgic. 1. ii. v. 120.

68 For farther satisfaction on this subject the reader may consult Prideaux, Connect. part 2. book 8. note at the end. Vossius, de orig. et progr. idol. lib. iv. c. 90, from whom the above particulars are taken. Harris's Voyages, vol. i. p. 506. and the Encyclopædia Brit. article INDIA, No. 24. Gibbon's Rome, v. 4. p. 71, and Robertson's India, note xxiii. p. 235.

feet and claws to creep and climb, has compensated them in a way more commodious for their state of life, by the broad thin skin along each side of the belly, and the undulating motion observable there: by the latter they creep; by the former, assisted by the glutinous slime emitted from their body, they ad-: here firmly and securely to all kinds of superficies, partly by the tenacity of their slime, and partly by the pressure of the atmosphere 69. Thus the snail appears to waste itself by its own motion, every undulation leaving something of its moisture behind; and in the same manner the actions of wicked men prove their destruction. They may, like the snail, carry their defence along with them, and retire into it on every appearance of danger; they may confidently trust their own resources, and banish away the fear of evil; but the principles of ruin are at work within them, and although the progress may be slow, the result is certain 70.

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66

Some purifying or cleansing herb, or composition. In Jeremiah the LXX render it by Пolav, or Пoav, the herb; Jerom and the Vulgate by " herbam Borith," the herb borith. In Malachi the LXX translate by IIo λuvovтwv, the herb of the washers; Vulgate by "herba fullonum," the herb of the fullers.

With respect to the herb borith, says M. Goguet, Orig. of Laws, &c. v. i. p. 132. I imagine it is sal-worth [salt-wort]. This plant is very common in Syria, Judea, Egypt, and Arabia. They burn it and pour water upon the ashes. This water becomes impregnated with a very strong lixivial salt, proper for taking stains or impurities out of wool or cloth 71." Michaelis, however, Supplem. ad Lex. Hebr. p. 230, thinks means, not the herb or plant kali, but the alcaline or lixivial salt procured from the ashes of that and other plants; though he owns that in Jer. ii. 22, it may be also rendered soap made of such salt. But he supposes the alcaline salt itself to be intended in Mal. iii. 2; such as fullers indeed use, but which he apprehends is in this passage mentioned only in respect to its use in liquifying and purifying metals, by causing their impurities to vitrify and melt down into scoriæ, thus leaving the metal pure: and in like manner he interprets Isai. i. 25.

I am led to suppose that critics have confounded the borith with the salt called by the Arabians" bora," said to be extracted

69.Derham's Phys. Theol,

70 Paxton, Illustrations of the Holy Bible, v. i. p. 335.

71 The plant is called "usnen" by the Arabs. It is the "Salsola Kali,” described by Forskal, Flor. Ægypt. Arab. p. 54, or rather the "Suæda monoica," which, in page 70, he thus describes. "Hæc est planta, e qua Arabes Yemanenses sal alkali trahunt, cujus diluta solutione vestes lavantur, antequam sapone imbuantur."

from the earth; and which perhaps is the borax, which is sometimes found in a native state, and the use of which in fusing and soldering metals has been long known.

Dr. Gorham, in his Elements of Chemical Science, v. i. p. 364, § ccclxv. "Of Boron," observes, "There is a peculiar salt brought from the East Indies in an impure state, and refined in Europe, where it is employed in some of the arts. It is known by the name of borax, and is composed of soda combined with a peculiar acid called the boracic. The acid is sometimes found near volcanoes in an uncombined form, and in the state of a white crystalline solid."

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There is also an unctuous kind of earth called "steatites," or "soap-earth," of much esteem in the bagnios of the east for cleansing and softening the skin. Of this kind, probably, and for this use, were the two mules' burthen of earth spoken of in 1 Kings, v. 13.

SOW. TE, Gr. Lat. sus.

Occ. 2 Pet. ii. 22.

SPARROW.

See SWINE.

Y TZIPpor.

Occurs first Gen. vii. 14, and afterwards frequently.
ETPOTOION, Matth. x. 29, and Luke, xii. 6, 7.

A little bird every where known. The Hebrew word is used not only for a sparrow, but for all sorts of clean birds, or such whose use was not forbidden by the law 72. The rabbins, Kimchi, Pomarius, and Aquinas, even pretend, that it signifies all birds in general; which is confirmed by Bochart. But this last mentioned interpreter shows also, that it signifies a sparrow in particular; yet, that in most passages where translators have rendered sparrow," it may be understood of birds in general. And indeed nothing can be nearer to the natural note of this bird than the Hebrew name: hence YDY TSIPSIP, to chirrup, or cry like a little bird. And its name in Arabic signifies "sibilare, fistulare, et sibiloso sono cecinare."

it "

That the sparrow is not intended in Psal. cii. 7, is evident from several circumstances; for it is intimated that it is a bird of night, a solitary, and a mournful one, none of which characteristics is applicable to the sparrow which rests by night, is gregarious, and cheerful. It seems rather to mean a bird melancholy and drooping, much like one confined in a cage.

Psal. lxxxiv. 4, may be thus explained-" Even as the sparrow findeth her house, and the dove her nest where she hath laid her young, so should I find thine altars, O Jehovah of hosts, my king, and my God." According, to this exposition David.

72 It is translated bird in Gen. vi. 6; vii. 14, 51; li. 52, 53; Lev. xiv. 52; Deut. xxii. 6; Job, xli. 5; Psal. xi. 1; cxxiv. 7; Prov. vi. 5; vii. 23; xxvi. 2; xxvii. 8; Eccl. xii. 4; Lam. iii. 52; Amos. iii. 5; Hos. xi. 11; birds, Gen. xv. 10; Lev. xiv. 5, 50; Deut. xiv. 11; Psal. civ. 17; Eccl. ix. 12; Isai. xxxi. 5; Ezek. xxxix. 4; fowl, Deut. iv. 17; Psal. viii. 8; cxlviii. 10; Ezek. xvii. 23; xxxix. 17; Neh. v. S; and sparrow, Psal. lxxxiv. 3; xcii. 7.

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