The leaves are placed alternate on the branches; are about an inch and a half long, and half an inch broad at their base, lessening gradually to a point, and have a few saws on their edges: they are of a lucid green, and when bruised, emit a turpentine odour. The flowers are produced in loose bunches at the end of the branches: they are small, white, and have no fragrance. Mastich gum is procured from the tree by making incisions in the bark. From these, says Mr. Legh, Journey, Lond. 1817, p. 17, a liquid juice distils, that gradually hardens, forming tears, which either remain attached to the shrub, or fall on the ground, and are afterwards gathered up. It is fragrant, and is principally used for disorders of the gums and teeth. Under the article " Holm-tree," I have mentioned the reference to this tree by the apocryphal writer of the story of Susannah. Michaelis, in his Commentaries on the Laws of Moses (vol. iv. p. 335) remarks, that "the play upon the words is merely a Greek paronomasia between oxios and oxiw; according to Porphyry's shrewd remark, which we know Habakkuk, the son of Jesus, of the tribe of Levi. We find, moreover, Jerom himself adducing these Greek puns, as a proof that this book was not genuine, but a fiction of a later period. 66 The word oxivos means the mastich-tree. The island of Chio is the native country of mastich, which was anciently so entirely unknown in Asia, that it has not so much as a name in Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, or Chaldee. For the Arabs and Chaldeans borrow it from the Greek; and in this very passage, the oriental translators, not understanding what "Xivoç meant, name any tree that occurs to them: and one Arabic version absolutely retains the Greek word, expressing it very awkwardly in Arabic letters, al-schakin. A tree, therefore, is specified in the first man's answer, which, in all probability, was not then known in Babylon." ABATTICHIM אבטחים ,MELON Occ. Numb. xi. 5, only. 31 A luscious fruit so well known fection and is highly esteemed in Egypt, especially by the lower class of people, during the hot months 32. from Jerom's preface to his expo- that a description of it would be susition of Daniel, and to which, as perfluous. It grows to great peran objection, Jerom very properly replied, that it did not at all affect the book of Daniel, because the story of Susannah was not found in the Hebrew; nor did it, even in the Greek, belong to that prophet; being only a part of a book ascribed to 31 The name of the water-melon in Egypt, Arab. p. 75, and Hasselquist, p. 255. is battich. See Forskal, Flor. Ægypt. now, 32 For a particular account of the melons The juice is peculiarly cooling and agreeable in that sultry climate, where it is justly pronounced," one of the most delicious refreshments that nature, amidst her constant attention to the wants of man, affords in the season of violent heat." 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 black-. ish or reddish, and beneath, a white, soft, and palatable substance, whence a kind of oil is expressed, of great use in colds, inflammations, and MILLET. Occ. Ezek. iv. 9. There are varieties of this fruit; but that more particularly referred to in the text, must be the water-cutaneous disorders. The melons melon. It is cultivated (says Has- which have a white pulp are of a selquist) on the banks of the Nile, very agreeable taste, but not so in the rich, clayey earth which sub- much esteemed as the other, prosides during the inundation. This bably more from prepossession than serves the Egyptians for meat, drink, for any solid reason. Both, however, and physic. It is eaten in abun- may supply the place of drink, as dance during the season, even by they dissolve in the mouth, quench the richer sort of people: but the the thirst, and are of a cooling quacommon people, on whom Provi- lity." dence has bestowed nothing but DOCHAN. 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 shew how refreshing this fruit is, thrusting forth such a quantity of A kind of plant so called from its grains. Thus, in Latin, it is called millium; as if one stalk bore a thousand seeds 33. It has been supposed that the dochan means what "The inhabitants of Mount Carmel chiefly employ themselves in improving their gardens, where they is now called in the East, dhourra, have, among other fruits, excellent melons and pasteques, which, in good-to Niebuhr 34, "when made into bad a species of millet, which, according ness and taste, are not at all inferior bread with camel's milk, oil, butter, to those of Naples and the West Indies. The latter are called in which is eaten by the common people or grease, is almost the only food America, water-melons, and very pro-in Arabia Felix." "I found it so perly, consisting of little else than of Egypt, I refer to Prosp. Alpinus, de Plantis Ægypti; and Celsius, Hierobot. tom. i. p. 336-383. 33 Martinus, Lexic. Etymol. 34 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. The law did not oblige the Jews to pay the tithe of this sort of herbs: it only applied to 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 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. Our translation uses also the word mole in Isai. ii. 20, where the original is n 75 CAPHAR PHARUT. 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 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 ani35 Hieroz. tom. iii. p. 485-454. edit. Rosenmuller. mal, but a place; a deep sink, or sub- | terranean 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. wy ors. 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 mothworm 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. Harvey 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 in 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 placed 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, This perishing condition of a mothcaten 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 And more particularly in ch. li. 8. The moth shall consume them like a garment, And the worm shall eat them like wool. The latter word here, DD SAS, is the proper name of the moth itself in its papilio state, properly so called from its agility. So the Septuagint render it Enrog, and the Vulgate tinea: and hence is derived Eng, and NDD, used in the Greek and Syriac of Matth. vi. 19, 20. The ingenious Abbé Pluche, comparing the papilios in general with the catermarks: "The caterpillar, which is pillars from which they spring, rechanged into a nymph, and the pupilio that proceeds from it, are two animals entirely different: the first ed along the ground: the second is was altogether terrestrial, and crawlagility itself." 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 chrysa- injunction: "Lay not up for yourhis to a winged insect. Mr. Scott selves treasures upon earth, where has thus happily rendered the pas-moth [H] and rust [BPQ2I2] sage: Wretch, as a moth that ravages the looms, Weaves its frail bower, and as it weaves consumes." 66 con IV. In Psalm vi. 7, the word rendered in our translation, sumed," 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 VII. In Matth. vi. 19, 20, is this do corrupt-but, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt.' tended were garments: for it was The treasures here specially in, countries, where their fashions in customary for the opulent in Asiatic dress were not fluctuating like ours, to have repositories full of rich and their nature, exposed to the depresplendid apparel. These were, from dations of the moth. Fabricated of perishing materials, they were liable to be prematurely consumed, or V. The declaration in Psalm xxxix. The moth here mentioned, and in taken away by fraud and violence. 11, is a reference to the corroding Luke xii. 83, is, undoubtedly, the effects of the moth-worm, and contains an instance of that assimila-li. 8; and Mr. Wakefield says, that same as that last described in Isai. tion of words of which the Orientals are fond. little insects. The same remark must apply to Psalm xxxi. 9. When thou with rebukes dost correct moth. [y] ois. VI. The devastations of this crea- 36 A man of distinction. he believes that the word Bowols, never means rust : ιος and ευρως are the terms used in that sense by Greek authors. On this account, some have supposed Bowoię to mean a species of worm, and others have thought this phrase to be a hebraism, not uncommon in the New Testa 37 Nature Displayed, vol. i. p. 34, Eng. transl. |