Page images
PDF
EPUB

I water my couch, (or the divan furniture) with my tears.

Matresses, or something of that kind, must have been used without doubt for sleeping on in those times; and it appears from Amos ii. 8, that the Israelites used carpets, or something of that sort, in their feasts, as the Eastern people do now. This furniture I presume, is to be understood by the term ares, which we translate couch. Perhaps Deut, iii. 11, where an ares, is said to be of iron, may be thought to overthrow this; but it does not appear to me to do so by any means, the using

* Both seem to be referred to Acts 9. 34. Peter said unto him, Eneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole : arise, and make thy bed, or rather, arise and prepare for thy self, avandi, xxι σтgwood σeauтw, for the reception of com. pany at thy house. The words car.not well be understood to mean make thy bed: was the mercy granted Eneas so im perfect, as that he could only arise and make his bed, and immediately take to it again? If he recovered lasting health, why was he directed to prepare his bed for lying down again? The Eastern people now do not keep their beds made; the matresses, &c. are rolled up, carried away, and placed in cupboards till they are wanted at night. The translation of our text by no means agrees with modern oriental usages, unless we suppose the mercy was only momentary; a thought by no means admissible. On the other hand, the Jews of the apostolic age seem to have prepared their rooms, for the reception of guests, by spreading them with mats, carpets, or something of that kind: the words used by the Evangelists, to express the making ready an upper chamber, for the reception of peo ple to eat the Passover, Mark xiv, 15. and Luke xxii. 12, is the same with that addressed to Eneas, a large upper chamber spread and prepared. αγωγεον μέγα εςρωμενον. They also that received mercies sometimes entertained the Prophets that had healed them, and their attendants: so a feast was made at Bethany where Lazarus was, who had been dead, for JESUS and his Disciples, John xii. 1, 2,

furniture for a mittah full of small pieces of iron like a coat of mail, may surely impress the mind with as strong an idea of the martial roughness of that gigantic prince, as the having a bedstead made of iron instead of wood, or ivory, or of silver.

If this sense of the word ares be admitted, this clause to answer the preceding, must signify in general the richest furniture of a divan, appropriated to persons of the greatest distinction.

Nor will there be any great difficulty in the term that is made use of, if we suppose the word Damascus may mean, something made at Damascus, and that that city anciently gave its name to some of its works, as it has certainly done in later times, some of our richest silks being from thence called damasks. That the word may signify some costly works made at

Sometimes they were invited to eat bread where some of the family were ill, and the sick being healed, did, in some cases, afterward minister to them: such were the circum. stances attending the healing of Peter's wife's mother, Mark i. 29-31. Something like this was the case, I ap. prehend, at Lydda: Peter and those with him were invited to eat bread at the house of Encas. Arise, said the Apostle to him upon his entering into the house, spread thy house thyself for the reception of thy guests; and in that view the words are as noble, as, when people were brought from home in a bed, the saying to them Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house. In which address the comparative lightness and moveableness of Easrn beds are pointed out, which, as Sir J. Chardin tells us in his MS. note on Mat. ix. 6. have only a quilt to lay over them, and another under them. Dr. Russll's account, (vol. i, p. 144,) differs very little. Their beds consist of a mattres laid on the floor, and over this a sheet, (in winter a carpet, or some such woollen covering,) the other sheet being sewed to the quilt. A divan cushion often serves fer a pil low and bolster,

Damascus, the learned Castelio supposes, and Gen. xv. 2. sufficiently proves, where the steward of Abraham's house is said to be this Damascus Eliezer, that is, this man of Damascus, Eliezer; if it may signify a man of Damascus, it may equally well, signify a manufacture of Damascus. It is certain that the Prophet Ezekiel, who lived not very long after the time of Amos, represents Damascus as a place of trade, and in particular as trafficking in wine, and what we translate white wool, Ezek. xxvii. 18, but which may equally well be understood to mean woolen fit for the use of nobles. For the word tsemar, here translateed wool appears to be used Ezek. xliv. 17. for wool wrought up, or woolen cloth: and the word tsachar, which is translated white, is used but once more in the Old Testament, and that is Judges v. 10, Speak ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment, &c. where every one sees that the riding on white asses is a description of nobles and princes. These asses are not, I persume, called white on account of their natural colour, bnt rather from their caparisons, according to the custom which continues among the Arabs to this day," who use

Hence from Damietta, comes our word dimity, and from Worsted in Norfolk, the yarn and cloth so called, EST.

m

Voy. dans la Pal. p. 127. Dandini, on the contrary, af. firms, that the Eastern people ride their horses without bridle or saddle, stirrup, or spurs; a halter suffices them, with a little clout spread upon the back of the beast, ch. v. Perhaps the saddling beasts for riding, mentioned in many places in the sacred writers, may sometimes mean nothing more than the placing the hiran on their backs,

saddles of wood in riding, and have always, as a part of their riding furniture, a cloth which they call the hiran, about six ells long, which they fold up and put upon the wooden saddle, in order to sit with greater ease; and which they use when they bait, as a sort of mattress to repose themselves upon.

The result of the whole is, that Amos is to be understood as saying, as a shepherd saves a small portion of a sheep, or a goat, out of the jaws of a lion, so, though the rest of the country shall be miserably destroyed, they shall escape that sit (or dwell) in Samaria in the corner of the divan, on the damask mattress; the royal and most beautified that is of all the cities of Israel.

There is another passage which may be illustrated by the same custom, Neh. ix. 22, Moreover thou gavest them kingdoms and nations, and didst divide them into corners. Upon which verse Bishop Patrick gives us this note, "Some translate the last words, thou didst divide them by angles, that is, he parted those kingdoms among them as by a line." But others understand it of the people dispossessed by the Jews, whom he drove into corners. "I believe most people will be disposed to think the first thought the Bishop gives us somewhat forced; nor will the second appear very natural to those that read the original, where the word is in the singular, thou didst divide them to the corner, that is according to the explanation I have been giving of that place in Amos, thou didst give

Sihon and Og into their hands, and the various tribes of the Canaanites; and not only so, but didst give the pre-eminence to Israel, and make them chief among the nations round about them." It may not perhaps be disagreeable to add, that the word pr chilak, there translated divide, is used to express David's appointing the sons of Aaron to their different charges, though a different English word is used in our version.

OBSERVATION XXXI.

Different Kinds of Perfumes used at the Close of Friendly Visits.

Ar the close of a visit in these countries, it is common to sprinkle rose-water, or fome other sweet-scented water, on the guests, and to perfume them with aloes-wood, which is brought last, and serves as a sign that it is time for a stranger to take his leave..

Great numbers of authors take notice of this part of Eastern complaisance, but some are much more particular and distinct than others. Maundrell, for instance, who gives a most entertaining account of the ceremony of burning odours under the chin, does not mention any thing of the sprinkling sweet-scented waters; however many other writers do, and Dr. Pococke has given us the figure of the vessel they make use of upon this occasion, in his first

* 1 Chron. xxiv. 3.

P. 30, 31.

« PreviousContinue »