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a small extent of country, it is clear that the arts and commerce must have been patronised, and consequently the sciences; which leads us to conclude, that the miracles of Jesus were performed in a country where they could be examined and fairly discussed. The reproach which is cast upon Galilee in John, vii. 52, has no reference to the character of its soil or climate, but only to the fact that the prophet or Messiah was not to be expected from that part of Palestine.

NOTE.-There is an intimation in Deut. viii. 9, that there were mines in Palestine, but we do not any where learn that they were wrought by the Hebrews. The author of the book of Job mentions mines, in the commencement of his twenty-eighth chapter, but it is not certain that he has reference to Palestine; and a very general mention is made of them in Ps. xcv. 4; Isa. li. 1. It is a well-known fact, that mines, at a comparatively recent period, were wrought at Sarepta, a city of Phoenicia. Scanty as our information is in regard to their mines, there is, nevertheless, reason to believe, that the Hebrews understood metallurgy, or the art of smelting ores; for we find mention made of an iron furnace, Deut. iv. 20; 1 Kings, viii. 51; Jer. xi. 4; otherwise called the furnace of silver ore, i. e. a furnace for refining silver ore, Ezek. xxii. 18-22; called also the gold furnace, i. e. a furnace for refining gold, Prov. xvii. 3; xxvii. 21. The word 2 or 2, a metallurgical expression employed in these passages, means, (1.) a sort of unrefined ore, which, when melted, is employed in glazing earthen vessels, Prov. xxvi. 23: (2.) it means also alloy, or metal of a meaner sort, which, by melting them together, was artificially combined with gold and silver, Ps. cxix. 119; Prov. xxv. 4; Isa. i. 22, 25; Ezek. xxii. 18, 19.

"Fullers' soap,”, which was employed not only in washing garments, but in cleansing gold and silver from the dross, was well known, Mal. iii. 2; Jer. ii. 22.

1 [Condemnation to working in the mines of Palestine is spoken of as a common punishment in the fifth chapter of the account which Eusebius gives of the martyrs in Palestine under Diocletian, about A. D. 303. The copper mines of Phoeno, mentioned in the seventh chapter, are described by Athanasius, (Epist. ad Solitar.) as so extremely unwholesome that only the very vilest criminals were sent there, the effluvia from the metal being sure to occasion death in a short space of time.]

§. 23. VISITATIONS TO WHICH PALESTINE IS SUBJECT.

I. It is often afflicted with the pestilence, which enters from Egypt and other countries, and is frequently spoken of in the Bible. Syria is seldom free from plague for twelve years successively.

II. EARTHQUAKES are common. The city of Jerusalem rarely received any detriment from this source, Ps. xlvi. 3, et seq. The earthquakes, by which the country, with the exception of Jerusalem, was so often shaken and laid waste, were a source of images to the prophets, by which any scenes of destruction and overthrow were represented, Ps. lx. 2, 3; Isa. xxix. 6; liv. 10; Jer. iv. 24; Hag. ii. 6, 22; Matt. xxiv. 7.

III. Thunder, lightning, hail, inundations, and water spouts happen in the winter, Isa. xi. 15. Pliny, Histor. Nat. ii. 49; Shaw's Travels, p. 289. From these operations of nature, the prophets borrowed many figures, Ps. xviii. 8-15; xxix. 1—10; xlii. 7; Isa. v. 30; viii. 7, 8; xi. 15; xxviii. 2; xxix. 6; xxiv. 18; Matt. vii. 25.

In

IV. Vast bodies of migrating locusts, called by the orientals the armies of God, lay waste the country. They observe as regular order, when they march, as an army. At evening they descend from their flight, and form, as it were, their camps. the morning, when the sun has arisen to a considerable height, if they do not find food, they again ascend and fly in the direction of the wind, Prov. xxx. 27; Nah. iii. 16, 17. They travel in immense flocks, Isa. xlvi. 23; covering a space of ten or twelve miles in length, and four or five in breadth, and of such depth as to hide the light of the sun: so that they convert the day into night, and bring a temporary darkness on the land, Joel, ii. 2, 10; Exod. x. 15. The sound of their wings is terrible, Joel, ii. 5. When they settle upon the earth, they cover a vast tract a foot and a half high, Joel, i. 17; Judg. vi. 5; vii. 12; Exod. x. 15. If the air be cold and moist, or if they be wet with the dew, they remain where they are till the sun has dried and warmed them, Nahum, iii. 17. They decamp at length in good order, and generally move in a direct line towards the north. Nothing stops them. They fill up the trenches, which are dug to stop them, with their bodies, and extinguish by their numbers the fires which are kindled to arrest their progress. They pass over walls, and

enter the doors and windows of houses, Joel, ii. 7-9. They devour every thing which is green, strip off the bark of trees, and even break off their branches by their weight, Exod. x. 12, 15; Joel, i. 4, 7, 10, 12, 16, 18, 20; ii. 3. They make a loud noise while eating, Jer. li. 14. The worst part of the mischief is, that the first army of locusts is likely to be succeeded by another, a third, and a fourth, which consume all that is left, and leave the ground in appearance, as if it had been scorched up by heat. When they have consumed every thing, they fly away, leaving nothing behind them but their fœtid excrements, and their eggs, buried in the earth, from which, in the following spring, a still more numerous progeny of these evil invaders are hatched. Thus they proceed, till at length coming to the sea, an element with which they have no acquaintance, they descend upon it as they would upon land, and are drowned; and their bodies, drifted on shore by the waves, putrify, and render the air so corrupt as to breed a pestilence, Exod. x. 13-20; Joel, ii. 20. The locusts here spoken of are much larger than those among us, being five or six inches long, and an inch and a half round. Their form, particularly about the head, is like that of a horse, the wings presenting the appearance of the bee. Hence they are often compared to horses. In some instances, it resembles the human head, Rev. ix. 7; Joel, ii. 4. Their teeth are so sharp as to be likened to those of the lion, Joel, i. 6. There are numerous species of them, of which eight or nine occur in the Bible.

V. FAMINES were sometimes occasioned by the devastations of the locusts, and sometimes by the scantiness of the first and latter rain. At times they were so severe, that, in besieged cities the inhabitants were reduced, not only to the necessity of eating unclean animals, but even human bodies, Deut. xxviii. 38-49; 2 Sam. xxi; 2 Kgs. vi. 25-28 a; xxv. 3, etc.

VI. The evil of the greatest magnitude is the WIND, called by the Arabs Samoom, by the Hebrews, ?, Ps. xi. 6, a horrible tempest; Jer. iv. 11, a dry wind; nnyi

, Isaiah, xxvii. 8, a rough wind. It prevails in Persia, Babylonia, Arabia, and the deserts of Egypt, in the

a [It would seem that by the cab of dove's dung in this passage is to be understood a small measure of grey pease, which among the Arabs still bear this strangely repulsive designation. See Bochart, Hieroz. II. i. 7. p. 38.]

months of June, July, and August; in Nubia, in March and April, September, October, and November. It does not last more than seven or eight minutes, but destroys in a moment every person whom it passes, who continues standing. The body soon after turns quite black b. This wind never reaches high up, nor descends lower than within two feet of the earth. Travellers, therefore, when they see it approaching, commonly fall flat upon the ground; place their feet towards the wind, and hold their mouths as firmly as possible to the earth, breathing as little as they can, lest they should receive into their lungs any of the passing Samoom. The indications of its approach are distant clouds, slightly tinged with red, in appearance something like the rainbow, and a rushing noise; the latter circumstance is not always mentioned by travellers.

In houses and cities, its power is not felt. Animals, though exposed to it, do not perish, but tremble violently, and instinctively thrust down their heads. The Arabians sometimes use the word Samoom in a wider sense, to denote any hot wind, continuing for a long time. In a similar way the Hebrews use the word, comp. Ps. ciii. 15, 16, etc.

§. 24. DIVISION OF PALESTINE AMONG THE ISRAELITES.

The Hebrews, having conquered the country, divided it among the twelve tribes. The posterity of Joseph, it is true, had been divided into the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, but the tribe of Levi received only forty-eight cities for its portion, which left twelve tribes, among whom the main body of the country was to be partitioned out.

The region beyond Jordan was assigned by Moses to the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, Deut. iii. 12-27; Josh. xii. 1—6; xiii. 8–33. The southern part of this province was allotted to Reuben; it was bounded on the east and south by the river Arnon, on the borders of which river were situated the Ammonites to the east, and the Moabites to the

[The flesh of those who fall victims to it, is said to become so soft and putrid, that the limbs separate from each other, and the hair may be pulled out with the least force. Burnes's Bokhara, i. p. 120.]

south; the western limit was the Dead sea and the Jordan. The tract of country called Gilead, in the more limited sense of the word, extending north of Reuben to the lake Gennesareth, became the portion of the tribe of Gad. The remainder, which was the northern portion, on the further or eastern side of the Jordan, fell to the half tribe of Manasseh.

The remaining nine tribes and a half settled on this, i. e. the western, side of the Jordan. The territory allotted to Judah was a tract, running from the southern boundary of Palestine in a northern direction, to the fall of the Jordan into the Dead sea, the valley of Hinnom, and the northern limits of the city Ekron, Josh. xv. 1-15. As this portion, in a subsequent division of the country, was too large, a tract was set off on the western side of it towards the Mediterranean, the southern part of which was allotted to the tribe of Simeon, and the northern to that of Dan. The limits of these two tribes are not defined; the cities which they obtained, are all that is mentioned; Josh. xv. 2—12; xix. 1 -9; 40-47. This part of Palestine was divided, according to the natural features of the country, into 22, or the southern district, sea,

or the Plain bordering on the Mediterranean the Mountain, or the hill-country of Judah, and the Desert of Indah, Josh. xi. 16; Luke, i. 39. To these the prophet Jeremiah adds the following geographical divisions, viz. the land of Benjamin, and the Country round about Jerusalem, but he has reference to a period after the separation of Israel, Jer. xxxii. 44; xxxiii. 13.

[The canton, allotted to the tribe of Benjamin, lay between the tribes of Judah and Joseph, contiguous to Samaria on the north, to Judah on the south, and to Dan on the west, which last parted it from the Mediterranean.] Horne's Introduc. vol. iii. p. 12.

The tribe of Ephraim received the tract extending to the north of Benjamin as far as the Brook of Reeds, Josh. xvi. 1-4, 8; xvii. 7-10. By the same lot, the second half tribe of Manasseh received its portion, the limits of which cannot, therefore, be accurately defined, Josh. xvi. 4; xvii. 9. It is clear, however, that the tribe of Manasseh came north of Ephraim and the Brook of Reeds, and, though on the east it fell short of the Jordan, that it extended on the west as far as the Mediterranean, Josh. xvii. 10.

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