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he states, illustrates this. In describing the manner in which the chopdars or heralds proclaimed the titles of Futty Singh, the Mahratta chief, as they marched before him, when he visited the British camp at Brodera, he says: One of the most insignificant-looking men I ever saw, then became the destroyer of nations, the leveller of mountains, the exhauster of the ocean. After commanding every inferior mortal to make way for this exalted prince, the heralds called aloud to the animal creation, "Retire, ye serpents; fly, ye locusts; approach not, guanas, lizards, and reptiles, while your lord and master condescends to set his foot upon the earth." Arrogant as this language may appear it is less so than that of Oriental pageantry in general. The sacred writings afford many examples of such hyperbole; none more so than Hushai's speech to Absalom.' Indeed, all Hushai's speeches to him furnish a choice collection of such Orientalisms. Absalom is to collect an army 'as the sand that is by the sea for multitude:' which army is to light upon David and the faithful few as the dew falleth on the ground; and is to pull towns with ropes into rivers' until there be not one small stone found there.'

18. Had a well in his court; whither they went down.' -This may have been either a proper well, at that time dry, or a cistern for the preservation of rain-water, which happened to be then exhausted. The water in common cisterns is often out before the end of summer, and wells also sometimes become dry in the same season. Some wells remain dry permanently, and cisterns can of course be kept dry when once exhausted. Hence there are in the East great numbers of dry cisterns and wells, which furnish occasional retreats to such as require concealment. Hushai himself had, in v. 7, suggested the probability that David was hid in some pit-perhaps referring to some such place of refuge as that which the sons of the priests now found. Instances are often heard in the East of persons who have remained concealed a considerable length of time, under similar circumstances. They are also occasionally used as prisons. Scott Waring mentions a descendant of Nadir Shah whom he found acting as head groom to Mihdee Ulee Khan, on a salary of about forty shillings a month. At two different periods he was confined in a well for two, and then three years, and was in

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23. Hanged himself.-The far-seeing Ahithophel deemed the cause of Absalom to be lost when he knew that the counsel of Hushai was to be followed. His pride could ill brook the neglect of the advice which he had given, and which he had used to see so reverently regarded. On both accounts he abandoned the cause. He went to his own home, and while he was still wise enough to set his affairs in order, he was mad enough to hang himself.

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25. Amasa. The explanation concerning this man's parentage which follows must be understood to mean that he was a cousin of Absalom. Zeruiah, the mother of Joab and Abishai, was a sister of David: Abigail, the mother of this Amasa, was another sister of the king. Thus Joab, Abishai, and Amasa were all nephews of David and cousins of Absalom (see 1 Chron. ii. 16, 17). The present text might seem indeed to make the mother of Amasa not the sister, but the daughter of the sister of Zeruiah. But this arises from the ambiguity of the expression, which, as interpreted by parallel texts, can only mean that Abigail was daughter to Nahash and sister to Zeruiah. The mother's name is given probably to shew that they were sisters by different mothers.

29. Cheese of kine.'-This is mentioned, we conclude, to distinguish the cheese from that made from the milk of goats and sheep. These, with cows, furnish most of the cheese used in the East. Camels' milk is not used for the purpose, or very rarely. In different times and countries, the milk of a great variety of animals has been used for making cheese. In the middle ages we read of cheese from deer's milk. The Arabs near Mount Carmel readily believed D'Arvieux, when, to prevent them from seizing the cheeses which formed part of the cargo of a vessel wrecked on the coast, he told them that they were made with sows' milk. We conclude that when cheese is mentioned without such distinction as in the present text, we are to understand that it is made from the milk of goats, and perhaps that of sheep.

CHAPTER XVIII.

1 David viewing the armies in their march giveth them charge of Absalom. 6 The Israelites are sore smitten in the wood of Ephraim. 9 Absalom, hanging in an oak, is slain by Joab, and cast into a pit. 18 Absalom's place. 19 Ahimaaz and Cushi bring tidings to David. 33 David mourneth for Absalom.

AND David numbered the people that were with him, and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them.

2 And David sent forth a third part of the people under the hand of Joab, and a third part under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother, and a third part under the hand of Ittai the Gittite. And the king said unto the people, I will surely go forth with you myself also.

3 But the people answered, Thou shalt not go forth for if we flee away, they will not care for us; neither if half of us die, will they

1 Heb. set their heart on vs.

:

care for us but now thou art worth ten thousand of us therefore now it is better that thou 'succour us out of the city.

4 And the king said unto them, What seemeth you best I will do. And the king stood by the gate side, and all the people came out by hundreds and by thousands.

5 And the king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom. And all the people heard when the king gave all the captains charge concerning Absalom.

6 So the people went out into the field against Israel: and the battle was in the wood of Ephraim;

7 Where the people of Israel were slain ¦ before the servants of David, and there was there a great slaughter that day of twenty thousand men.

8 For the battle was there scattered over the face of all the country: and the wood

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*devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.

9¶ And Absalom met the servants of David. And Absalom rode upon a mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth; and the mule that was under him went away.

10 And a certain man saw it, and told Joab, and said, Behold, I saw Absalom hanged in an oak.

11 And Joab said unto the man that told him, And, behold, thou sawest him, and why didst thou not smite him there to the ground? and I would have given thee ten shekels of silver, and a girdle.

12 And the man said unto Joab, Though I should receive a thousand shekels of silver in mine hand, yet would I not put forth mine hand against the king's son: for in our hearing the king charged thee and Abishai and Ittai, saying, 'Beware that none touch the young man Absalom.

13 Otherwise I should have wrought falsehood against mine own life: for there is no matter hid from the king, and thou thyself wouldest have set thyself against me.

14 Then said Joab, I may not tarry thus "with thee. And he took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom, while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak.

15 And ten young men that bare Joab's armour compassed about and smote Absalom, and slew him.

16 And Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel: for Joab held back the people.

17 And they took Absalom, and cast him into a great pit in the wood, and laid a very great heap of stones upon him: and all Israel fled every one to his tent.

18 Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in 'the king's dale: for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance: and he called the pillar after his own name: and it is called unto this day, Absalom's place.

19 Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok, Let me now run, and bear the king tidings, how that the LORD hath avenged him of his enemies.

20 And Joab said unto him, Thou shalt

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not bear tidings this day, but thou shalt "bear tidings another day: but this day thou shalt bear no tidings, because the king's son is dead.

21 Then said Joab to Cushi, Go tell the king what thou hast seen. And Cushi bowed himself unto Joab, and ran.

22 Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok yet again to Joab, But howsoever, let me, I pray thee, also run after Cushi. And Joab said, Wherefore wilt thou run, my son, seeing that thou hast no tidings "ready?

23 But howsoever, said he, let me run. And he said unto him, Run. Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain, and overran Cushi.

24 And David sat between the two gates: and the watchman went up to the roof over the gate unto the wall, and lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold a man running alone. 25 And the watchman cried, and told the king. king. And the king said, If he be alone, there is tidings in his mouth. And he came apace, and drew near.

26 And the watchman saw another man running: and the watchman called unto the porter, and said, Behold another man running alone. And the king said, He also bringeth tidings.

27 And the watchman said, "Me thinketh the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok. And the king said, He is a good man, and cometh with good tidings.

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28 And Ahimaaz called, and said unto the king, 15 All is well. And he fell down to the earth upon his face before the king, and said, Blessed be the LORD thy God, which hath "delivered up the men that lifted up their hand against my lord the king.

29 And the king said, 18Is the young man Absalom safe? And Ahimaaz answered, When Joab sent the king's servant, and me thy servant, I saw a great tumult, but I knew not what it was.

30 And the king said unto him, Turn aside, and stand here. And he turned aside, and stood still.

31 And, behold, Cushi came; and Cushi said, "Tidings, my lord the king: for the LORD hath avenged thee this day of all them that rose up against thee.

32 And the king said unto Cushi, Is the young man Absalom safe? And Cushi an

6 Heb. Beware whosoever ye be of, &c. 11 Heb. be a man of tidings. 15 Or, Peace be to thee.

7 Heb. before thee. 8 Heb. heart. 12 lleb, be what may. 17 Heb. shut up.

16 Heb. Peace. 19 Heb. Tidings is brought.

swered, The enemies of my lord the king, and all that rise against thee to do thee hurt, be as that young man is.

33 And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and

Verse 6. In the wood of Ephraim.'-This wood was, of course, not in the tribe of Ephraim, but on the east of the Jordan, near Mahanaim. It was so called, as some suppose, from the slaughter of the Ephraimites in this neighbourhood by Jephthah. Others think that the Ephraimites had pasture grounds there: for it is an alleged fact, which, if true, will well explain why the name of Ephraim occurs in places remote from the inheritance of the tribethat the Hebrews believe that Joshua gave to them the privilege of feeding their cattle in any wood within the lot of any of the other tribes: and the present wood being conveniently situated near the Jordan, they used to take their cattle across the river for pasture.

8. The wood devoured more people that day than the sword!' -Josephus explains this by observing that more of Absalom's army were slain in the pursuit through the forest and vallies than on the field of battle. This not unfrequently happens.

9. His head caught hold of the oak.' - The Rev. I. Hartley, in his Researches in Greece, writes-' Passing under the olive-trees, I have frequently noticed how easily the accident which befel Absalom might actually occur. It is necessary to be continually on one's guard against the branches of trees; and when the hair is worn in large locks floating down the back, as was the case with a young man of the party to which I belonged, any thick boughs interposing in the path might easily dislodge a rider from his seat, and catch hold of his flowing hair. The custom of wearing the hair exceedingly long, which Paul condemns as effeminate (1 Cor. xi. 14), is still common in Greece, especially amongst the priesthood. Absalom doubtless wore his hair in this manner (2 Sam. xiv. 26); and Homer celebrates continually the 'Achæans, with the head of flowing hair.'

17. Čast him into a great pit....and laid a very great heap of stones upon him.'-The common opinion is, that this was intended as a dishonourable grave, for one who wanted nothing but the power to have been a parricide. Under this view, Divine Providence rendered his death dishonourable, by hanging him in a tree; and man made his funeral dishonourable, by subjecting him after death to the punishment of stoning-awarded in the law to the rebellious son (Deut. xxi. 21). And this opinion is alleged to be supported by the fact, that the people are continually throwing stones toward the monument of Absalom, in the valley of Jehoshaphat, to mark their detestation of his crime. We feel obliged to dissent from this view. We will not decidedly contend that the heap of stones was intended to honour the memory of the king's beloved, though guilty, son; but we are certainly persuaded that no such stigma was originally intended by this mode of interment. Where do we read that a heap of stones over a grave was accounted disgraceful? So far from being so, perhaps the most ancient and prevalent method of preserving the memory of the mighty dead was to erect over their graves a heap of earth or stones: and how shall we say, that what was deemed honourable under ordinary circumstances, was disgraceful in the case of Absalom? It is even possible that those wonders of the world, the Egyptian pyramids-if they be indeed sepulchral monuments-were, as such, founded on the idea which the primitive heap of loose unwrought stones suggested. A pyramid is little other than such a heap, compacted into a regular and stable form, such as an ingenious and laborious people might naturally think of giving to it. A pyramid is, in this view, a tumulus; and the rude tumulus of heaped earth or stone being perhaps deemed unseemly by so

wept and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!

refined a people, they determined to retain the essential character of this kind of monument, but at the same time to render it a gigantic effort of human art and human labour. Princes, and chiefs slain in battle, seem to have been most generally distinguished by such heaped monuments. Absalom was both. Nevertheless, it must be confessed that in instances which occurred some centuries earlier, a heap of stones does, on the first view, appear to have been considered a posthumous degradation (see Josh. vii. 26; viii. 29); but on this too much stress must not be laid, as we know that the same posthumous treatment of the body became, in other instances, honourable, which

CAIRN.

had originally been accounted degrading-burning for instance.

But we are disinclined, in any of the cases mentioned, to consider the heap of stones as a peculiarly sepulchral monument, whether for honour or degradation. If we consider the declared sense in which heaps of stone are thrown up, we find that they were 'heaps of witness,' or memorials of various transactions-of covenants or events -and not monuments of persons, or only so as connected with events, being a commemoration of the event of which the death of such a person formed the crisis or termination. Thus the heap of Achan commemorated the termination, by his punishment, of the public evil which his sin had occasioned; that over the king of, Ai commemorated the downfal of that city; and that in the text was a memorial of the rebellion which terminated in Absalom's death.

As to the fact that the natives throw stones at the supposed tomb of Absalom; the act has many meanings in the East, and we are not sure that travellers have not given it, in many instances, the explanation which they judged probable, rather than that which the natives had in view. We will mention a few instances of this practice. It is customary to make a heap of stones where a traveller has been murdered, and every one who passes throws one to increase the heap, from some superstitious feeling which has not been well defined. Some think it a mark of detestation of the deed; this it may be in part, but we believe the leading idea is-to cover deep the innocent blood shed there, that its cry from the earth for vengeance may not be heard. It may also be a contribution of respect to the memory of the deceased. The idea is not confined to the blood of man. Burckhardt notices that the man who sacrificed a goat at the tomb of Aaron, at Mount Hor, covered the blood with a heap of stones. The throwing of stones may also be an act of respect. The Mohammedan pilgrims to Sinai visit what they believe to be the

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print of Mohammed's foot (or his camel's foot, according to some) impressed on the rock; and, to testify their respect, they bring a stone with them, which they lay there, and which has occasioned a very large heap to accumulate. The Arabs also thus distinguish the stone which they suppose to be that which was twice stricken by Moses. This mode of doing honour may be very widely traced. The Egyptian and Grecian Hermes was thought to be honoured by stones being thrown at the feet of his statue. Purchas, after Acosta, remarks the same custom among the Peruvians: And such as their gods be, such are the things which they offer unto them in their worship. They have used, as they go by the way, to cast in the cross ways, in the hills, and tops of mountains, old shoes, feathers, and coca chewed. And when they had nothing else, they cast a stone as an offering, that they might pass freely and lustily; hence it is that they find in the high-ways great heaps of stones offered, and such other things.' As, however, there is no particular reason to respect the memory of Absalom, it is probable that the sense in which stones are thrown at his tomb is similar to that of the famous stone-throwing in the Mohammedan pilgrimage to Arafat, and which is considered as throwing stones at Satan, who is believed to have there tempted Adam and Abraham. The motive of the Arabs in throwing stones at Absalom's tomb does not, however, shew the original intention of the heap. And even with regard to the act as an expression of detestation at Arafat, it is much forgotten, even by Mohammedans, that it was considered by Mohammed himself as no less an act of honour to God than of hate to Satan. He says: Throwing stones and running between Safa and Merwa, has not been ordained for any other purpose than to remember God.' (Mischat-ul-Masabih, vol. i. p. 631.) Even here, then, throwing stones and heaping them, is

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stated to be for the purpose of memorial; which we believe to be the primary motive wherever the practices occur, in any of the diversified forms in which they are exhibited.

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18. Absalom's place.'-This is literally Absalom's hand' (see the note on 1 Sam. xv. 12), and properly, Absalom's monument' or 'pillar.' The monument now shewn in the valley of Jehoshaphat, as Absalom's tomb, may perhaps be taken as the representative of this monument. He was buried under the great heap of stones on the east of Jordan, and this therefore could not really be his tomb, unless we suppose that David caused his remains to be disinterred and removed to near Jerusalem, which the feeling of the Jews with respect to the dead renders altogether unlikely. Josephus describes Absalom's pillar as of marble, and as being two furlongs from Jerusalem. The structure now shewn, is situated on the edge of the valley of Jehoshaphat near the brook Kidron, and between it and the Mount of Olives. It answers well enough to the indication of Josephus; the distance would, as Buckingham remarks, depend on the part of the city it was measured from, but could not in any case be far from the truth; and the term marble may be indefinitely used to imply any fine stone, and that of pillar to express any lofty monument. Our cut will sufficiently exhibit its appearance, and supersede the necessity of detailed description. No one will suppose that this monument, as it now appears, was the work of Absalom. It bears the unquestionable impress of classical taste in some of its parts; and, upon the whole, there is not a finer piece of workmanship to be met with in this part of the country. It is a square isolated block hewn out of the rocky ledge, so as to leave an area or niche around it. The body of the monument is about twenty-four feet square, and is ornamented on

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each side with two columns and two half columns of the Ionic order, with pilasters at the corners. The elevation is about eighteen or twenty feet to the top of the architrave, and it is wholly cut from the rock. But the adjacent rock is not here so high as at the place of an adjacent monument which bears the name of Zacharias, and therefore the upper part of the work has been carried up with masonry of large stones. This consists first of two square layers, of which the upper one is smaller than the lower, and then a small dome or cupola runs up into a low spire, which appears to have formerly spread out a little at the top, like an opening flame; the main work is perhaps twenty feet high, giving to the whole an elevation of about forty feet. There is a small excavated chamber in the body of the tomb, through which a hole has been broken through one of the sides several centuries ago in search of treasure. Upon the whole, it appears probable, that the original square mass with the moulding and cornice, formed the ancient Jewish tomb, surmounted perhaps with a pyramid (such as appears in 'the tomb of Zechariah'), and that the columns, with the metopes and the triglyphs, were sculptured at a subsequent period, and the dome of masonry perhaps added at a still later date; so that its primitive character, and perhaps its destination, became greatly changed.

24. David sat between the two gates: and the watchman went up to the roof over the gate....33. And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate.-The due understanding of the passages we have here copied, will render intelligible many references to the gate which the Scriptures contain, and will corroborate some of the statements in the note to chap. xv. 2. It is not difficult to perceive that the entrance to the walled town of Mahanaim was through a gateway, closed by two gates, one outward, facing the suburbs, and one inward, facing the town. They may have been opposite to each other; but this is not always the case. In the gate-way, between the two gates, David sat, to render his presence as public as possible to the persons going to the battle, and to be ready to receive such intimations as the occasion might

require. The gateway of Mahanaim was in fact the head quarters. Or David may have taken a lesson from Uriah, remaining in the gate and refusing the enjoyments of his chamber, while his army remained in the field. We are not to suppose that David's presence formed any ob struction in the gateway. There is frequently a raised bench of masonry on each side, where the officers in attendance often sit; and there are also sometimes rooms or cells, sometimes entirely open in front, for their accommodation and that of the guard. We have only to suppose that David sat on the bench, or, if there were none, in the front of one of those side rooms or recesses. Then, the gateway was high, as we see by its top being the station of a sentinel, who could from thence command a view of the country. It was apparently a sort of gatetower. The height was occupied by a room above the gateway, and to which one could ascend from thence. This is the room which, in the note to xv. 2, we have supposed to have sometimes formed the seat of the gate tribunal. There is such a room in most Oriental gateways, whether of public or private buildings. In the former it is usually a sort of state-room, and in the latter often a drawing-room, handsomely fitted up, where the householder receives and entertains his friends, whom etiquette does not allow him to take to the interior parts of his mansion. He can come from the interior to it by a distinct passage, while visitors ascend to it by a flight of steps near to or in the gateway. In most cases this room has a window towards the street, being usually the only one that appears. In Egypt and Turkey this window projects forward, something like a bay window, and is called a kiosk but in Persia it is commonly a strong lattice of curious joinery inserted in the wall. Sometimes, however, this favourite apartment was, and still is, used as a private sitting-room, being the only place, except the roof, from which the master can amuse himself by observing what is going on out of doors. In this sense it seems to have been the summer parlour' of Eglon (Judg. iii. 20), and the bed-chamber' of Ishbosheth (chap. iv. 7); as we may observe from the fact that the regicides seem to have

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