A. M. 2108. A. C. 1896; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 3358. A. C. 2053. GEN. CH. xx.-xxv. 11. threatened him with immediate death, if he did not return her untouched to her husband. Whereupon Abimelech (for that was the common name in those days of all the kings of Palestine) calls for Abraham, and expostulates the matter with him, who, in excuse for the fiction, alleged his fears lest the beauty of his wife should have endangered his life; though it was not altogether a fiction, as he said, because she was so near a relation to him, especially by his father's side, as might properly enough be called a sister." This apology pacified the king; so that he not only restored him his wife, but giving her a thousand pieces of silver, desired her to buy a veil with the money, which might not only be a covering to her face, but in every country a Gen. xx. 12. And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother:ing to the divine direction, called Isaac, and circumcised and she became my wife.' This peculiar mode of contracting him the eighth day. They were now in the zenith of marriage appears, in after ages, to have become a common their happiness. Sarah suckled the child herself, and e practice. It prevailed at Athens. It was lawful there to marry weaned him at the usual time; and Abraham upon this a sister by the same mother. Montesquieu (Spirit of Laws, vol. joyful occasion made a great feast: but in the midst of 1. p. 54.) says that this custom was originally owing to republics, whose spirit would not permit that two portions of land, and their festivity, Sarah perceiving that Ishmael treated her consequently two inheritances, should devolve on the same son with contempt and derision, was so enraged against person. A man that married his sister only by his father's side, him, that she never ceased importuning her husband to could inherit but one estate, that of his father; but by marrying turn both mother and son out of doors. Abraham had his sister by the same mother, it might happen that this sister's father, having no male issue, might leave her his estate, and the tenderness of a father to his child. He loved consequently the brother that married her might be possessed of Ishmael, and was loth to part with him; and therefore applied himself to God, in this arduous juncture, for Among the Egyptians, it was lawful for the brother to marry direction. But God confirming what Sarah had requestthe sister of either of the whole or the half blood, elder or younger; for sometimes brother and sister are born twins. And ed, and promising moreover to make of Ishmael (because this license, in process of time, descended also to the Grecians. he was his son) a populous nation, though his portion For the example, drawn from Isis, obtained among the Mace- and inheritance was not to be in that land, which was all donians. To justify this incestuous use by yet more illustrious along designed for the descendants of Isaac, he was at examples, the Grecians as well as the Latins say the gods them-last prevailed on to send him and his mother away. ƒ selves affected such marriages.-ED. two. b The original word does not so properly mean pieces as Calling Hagar therefore, one morning to him, he weight, because money was then paid by weight; and may, ordered her to take her son, some water, and other protherefore, be interpreted a thousand shekels of silver, that is, visions with her, to go into the neighbouring wilderness, about fifty-seven pounds in the value of our present money.—and to tarry by the side of a certain fountain she would Bedford's Scripture Chronology, b. 3. c. 4. e The words in the text, according to our translation, are these: And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given to thy brother a thousand pieces of silver; behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and to all others: thus she was reproved.' Where we must observe, in the first place, that the word which we render reprove, does more properly signify to instruct, which must certainly be the right sense of the word here, considering that Abimelech had already accepted of Abraham's apology, and was so far from irritating either him or Sarah by reproaches, that, on the contrary, he was endeavouring to win their friendship with very considerable presents. But then, as to the covering of Sarah's eyes, this may be variously expounded, according as the words refer either to Abraham or to the pieces of silver. If they refer to Abraham, then the meaning of the king's words will be, "Thou needest no other defence of chastity than he; nor hast thou any reason hereafter to say, he is thy brother; for so dear is he to God, that God will defend him, and he will defend thee; and not only him, but all that are with thee, and that even among strangers, without any such shifts and equivocations as you have hitherto thought fit to make use of." But if the words refer to a present of a thousand pieces, then the sense must be, "I have given him that sum of money to buy thee a veil, that all who converse with thee here, or in any other country where thou shalt come, may know thee to be a married woman." This sense, indeed, is countenanced by the LXX.; but others have thought that it might better be rendered thus:-"This money, which I have paid thy husband as a mulct for my having endeavoured to take thee from him, will be a means to deter all others from having any concern with thee, when once they shall hear how much I have suffered upon that account." The reader is left to his own option; but we should rather think that the last of these interpretations is preferable.—Patrick and Le Clerc's Commentary. meet with there, until she should hear farther from him. d The text tells us, that God had fast closed up all the wombs' of the house of Abimelech; which phrase in Scripture does frequently denote barrenness; but that it cannot do so here, is pretty plain from hence, that the history of this transaction is of too short a continuance to give space for a discovery of this kind, namely, whether the women, by God's infliction, were become actually barren or not. And therefore the other opinion, noticed in note f, p. 144, is more probable. e It is not easy to guess how long it was that women gave suck in those days, because the ancient Hebrews are divided about it: some affirming that Isaac was weaned when he was two, some five, and others not till he was twelve years old. If however we will judge by what the young Maccabee's mother said to him, 'My son, remember I have suckled thee three years,' 2 Macch. vii. 27. that time will appear the most probable. For there is no reason to believe that Isaac was weaned before the usual term, for want of care or aflection in his mother-Patrick's Commentaries, and Universal History, b. 1. c. 7. f Gen. xxi. 10. Wherefore she said unto Abraham, cast out this bond woman and her son; for the son of this bond woman shall not be heir with my son.' The following extract will exhibit to the reader a striking similarity of practice with that to which the above cited passage alludes, and that amongst a race of people very remote, both as to local situation and time. The Alguo quins make a great distinction between the wife to whom they give the appellation of the entrance of the hut, and those whom they term of the middle of the hut; these last are the servants of the other, and their children are considered as bastards, and of interior rank to those which are born of the first and legitimate wile. Among the Caribs also, one wife possesses rank and distinction above the rest.”—Babie's Travels among Savage Nations, in Universal Magazine, for Feb. 1802, p. 84.-ED. A. M. 2108. A. C. 1896; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 3358. A. C. 2053. GEN. CH. xx-xxv. 1]. She did as she was ordered; but mistaking their way, | arisen between Abimelech's servants and Abraham's, and missing of the fountain, they had quite exhausted about a well which Abraham's servants had digged. the little water they had, and her son being in a high But after a little expostulation, they quickly came to a fever, and ready to die with thirst, to shade him a little good understanding. The well was restored to Abraham, from the scorching heat, she placed him under a tree, and the place where they entered into this solemn covewhilst herself, despairing to find any succour in the nant was thenceforth called Beersheba. Here Abrahair, place, and not bearing to see him expire before her eyes, intending to end his days, unless God should otherwise withdrew a little, and began to bemoan her hard fate, dispose of him, planted a grove for a place of religious while with earnest cries and tears, she was imploring the worship, and built an altar, and called on the name of divine help and commiseration. The divine help was the Lord, the everlasting God,' who was minded d to not long a coming; for suddenly an angel from heaven make one trial more of his faith and fidelity, and a bids the weeping mother dry up her tears, and fear not; | severe trial it was. tells her, that God had heard the child's prayer, and would make of him a great nation; and, for their present relief, points to her a well of water, which she had not perceived before; and directs her how to cure her son, Refreshed with this water, and supported with other things which Abraham (very probably) from time to time might send them; instead of going into Egypt, as they first intended, they here took up their abode in the wilderness of Paran, where Ishmael, in a short time growing a very expert archer, was able to get provisions both for himself and his mother; and when he grew up unto man's estate, his mother, who was herself an Egyptian, married him to a woman of her own country, by whom he had twelve sons, who dwelt from Havilah unto Shur, that is, in several parts of Arabia Petræa, where of the western part, towards Egypt, is in Scripture called Shur, and the eastern part towards the Persian gulf, Havilah, " God had ordered him to send away Ishmael, and given him assurance, that the blessings promised to his posterity were not to take place in any part of that branch of his family, but that Isaac should be the son of the promise, and his descendants heirs of that happiness and prosperity which he had made over to him; and now he was pleased to require him with his own hands, to destroy this his son, his only son Isaac. A cruel injunction! But Abraham, we see, never stayed to expostulate about the severity or unlawfulness of it; but on the very next morning, without saying a word to any of his family, gets all things ready, and leaving it to God to make good his own promises, resolves to obey. e redressed, there might remain no occasion of quarrel afterwards— Bibliotheca Biblica, vol. 1.-Wells of water were of great consequence in those hot countries, especially where the flocks were numerous; because water was scarce, and digging to find it was attended with much expense of time and labour. In Arabia, the wells are generally dug in the rocks; their mouths are about six Abraham, in the mean time, having accepted of Abimelech's offer, continued to live in the land of Pales-depth, (but many of them, says Niebuhr, are 160 to 170 feet feet in diameter, and they are from nineteen to twenty feet in tine, and, as his riches and power every day increased, deep.) Strife between the different villagers and the different Abimelech, fearing lest, at some time or other, he might herdsmen here, exists still, as in the days of Abraham and Lot; attempt something in prejudice of him, or his successors the country has often changed masters; but the habits of the in the government, came with the general of his forces, whose name was Phicol, and made a solemn league of friendship with him. Some little difference had a The names of these sons are Nabajoth, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadar, Tema, Jethur, Naphish, and Kedemah, twelve princes according to their nations,' Gen. xxv. 13, &c.; and as their descendants were, from their father, denominated by the common name of Ishmaelites, so from Hagar, the mother of Ishmael, they are also called Hagarens, or Hagarites, under which name we find some footsteps of them in heathen authors; but certain it is, that the Arabians do, to this very day, value themselves upon their being descended from Ishmael.-Wells' Geography of the Old Testament, vol. 1. Gen. xxi. 23. Swear unto me here by God.' This kind of oath appears not only to have been generally in use in the time of Abraham, but also to have descended through many generations and ages in the east. When Mr Bruce was at Shekh | Ammer, he entreated the protection of the governor in prosecuting his journey. Speaking of the people who were assembled together at this time in the house, he says, (Travels, vol. 1. p. 148.) "The great people among them came, and, after joining hands, repeated a kind of prayer, of about two minutes long, by which they declared themselves and their children accursed, if ever they lifted up their hands against me in the tell, or field in the desert; or in case that I, or mine, should fly to them for refuge, if they did not protect us at the risk of their lives, their families, and their fortunes, or, as they emphatically expressed it, to the death of the last male child among them."-See also Gen. xxvi. 28, 29.-Ed. e It will not seem strange that Abraham should look upon the losing of a well as a matter of such consequence, considering how ill furnished these eastern countries were with water; and it was highly prudent of him to complain of grievances now, before he entered into covenant with Abimelech, that they being once natives both in this and other respects, have been nearly station-Dr Richardson's Travels, vol. 2. p. 196.-ED. ary. d The words in the text are, that God did tempt Abraham;' but God is said to tempt no man; and therefore all that he could be supposed to do in this case, was only to make trial of him; and that too, not to inform himself of the sincerity and steadiness of his faith, but in order to the holy patriarch's own justification, and to make him an illustrious pattern of an entire dependence on the Almighty, to future saints and confessors. The Jews reckon up ten trials of Abraham, of which the last was the greatest. 1. God's command to him to leave his country. 2. The famine which forced him to go into Egypt. 3. Pharaoh's taking his wife from him. 4. His war with the four kings. 5. His despair of having Isaac by Sarah, and marrying Hagar on that account. 6. His circumcision in his old age. 7. His wife's being again taken from him by Abimelech. 8. The expulsion of Hagar when she was with child by him. 9. His expulsion of her and Ishmael. And 10. His oblation of his only son IsaacBibliotheca Biblica, vol. 1. e Gen. xxii. 3. 'Saddled his ass.' There is no ground for supposing that the ancient eastern saddles were like our modern ones. Such were not known to the Greeks and Romans till many ages after the Hebrew judges. "No nation of antiquity knew the use of either saddles or stirrups;" (Goguet's Origin of Laws, vol. 3. p. 172. English Edit.) and even in our own times Hasselquist, when at Alexandria, says, "I procured an equipage which I had never used before; it was an ass with an Arabian saddle, which consisted only of a cushion on which I could sit, and a handsome bridle." (Travels, p. 52.) But even the cushion seems an improvement upon the ancient eastern saddles, which were probably nothing more than a kind of rug girded to the beast.-Parkhurst's Heb. Lex. p. 213. A. M. 2108. A. C. 1896; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 3358. A. C. 2053. GEN. CH. xx-xxv. 11. To that purpose, taking his son Isaac with him, and | declaring a satisfaction in this last test of his obedience. some servants, with provisions and instruments proper Surprised at the voice, Abraham turns about to see for the sacrifice, he sets out; and a in three days' time, whence it came, and spies a ram caught by the horns in came within sight of mount Moriah, the place which a thick bush, which he immediately took, and offered God had appointed for that dreadful scene. Here, up for a burnt-offering instead of his son; and, in leaving his servants behind, that they might not disturb memory of the whole transaction, called the place where him with their intercessions or lamentations, he goes up it was done Jehovah-jireh, in allusion to the answer to the mount without betraying any sign of grief or con- which he gave to his son's question, God will provide cern that might raise a suspicion in his son. His son, himself a lamb.' on the other hand, laden with the wood, and the other materials for a burnt-offering, but perceiving nothing proper for a victim, could not forbear asking his father, where it was? Such a question, at such a time, was enough to have staggered any heart less firm than Abraham's, who only answered calmly, 'That God would provide himself with one,' little thinking how prophetically he spake: for he had no sooner bound his son upon the wood, and stretched out his hand to give the fatal blow, but God was pleased to stop him short by a voice from heaven, forbidding him to do it, and d a The better to explain how Abraham came to know the place which God had appointed, the Jews have a tradition, that when God bade him go thither, and offer his son, he asked how he should know it? To which the answer was, that wheresoever he should see the glory of the Lord, that should be the place; and that accordingly, when he came within sight of mount Moriah, he beheld a pillar of fire, reaching from the earth to the heavens, whereby he knew that that was the place-Hottingeri Historia Orient. p. 36. This mountain whereon Abraham was ordered to offer his son Isaac, was certainly the same on which the temple was afterwards built by Solomon, and on part of which, namely, mount Calvary, Christ did afterwards actually offer himself unto God for the redemption of mankind: which offering of his, as it seems to have been designedly prefigured by the intentional offering of Isaac, so it might seem good to Divine reason to assign the same for the typical offering of Isaac, where in due time, the Antitype, our Redeemer, was to be offered. But instead of Moriah, the Samaritans read Moreh, and pretend that God sent Abraham towards Sechem, where certainly was Moreh (Gen. xii. 6; and Deut. xi. 30.); and that it was upon mount Gerizim that Isaac was brought in order to be sacrificed. But this, in all probability, is no more than a contrivance to enhance the glory of their temple.-Wells' Geography; and Calmet's History. 6 c The words of God are, Lay not thy hand on the child, neither do thou anything unto him,' Gen. xxii. 12; and yet in Heb. xi. 17, we are told, that Abraham offered up Isaac when he was tried.' But this is easily reconciled, if we do but remember that God always takes that for done (whether in the commission of sin, or performance of duty) where there is a will and intention to do it, supposing the person to have an opportunity.Street's dividing the Hoof. d Gen. xxii. 9. And bound Isaac his son." Both his hands and his feet, as it is explained in R. Elieser, c. 31. When the Gentiles offered human sacrifices, they tied both their hands behind their backs.-Ovid. 1. 3. De Pont. Eleg. 2. Patrick, in locum.-ED. e The words in the beginning of the chapter are, that God tempted Abraham,' bidding him to go and sacrifice his son; but in ver. 11. it is said, that the angel of the Lord forbade him to do it: from whence some may infer, that Abraham obeyed the angel, who bade him spare his son, against the command of God, who bade him slay him. But to solve this difficulty, (if it be thought any,) we must observe, that whenever the Holy Scriptures tell us, that God said any thing, or that an angel spake, we are always to understand both of them to have been present; for the angels ever attend upon the Divine Majesty, and, being his ministers, do nothing but by his order: so that when he is said to speak, it is by them; and when they are said to speak, it is from him. It is the Lord, therefore, that speaks, whosoever be the minister.-Patrick's Commentary. And the speech which God makes to Abraham, upon this weighty occasion, the Jewish historian comments upon in this manner: "Hold thy Thus having performed an act of such perfect and heroic obedience as engaged God to renew his promise with great amplifications, and to confirm it to him with an oath, he went and rejoined his servants; and returning to Beersheba, was no sooner arrived, but he was welcomed with the joyful news of the increase of his family, namely, that Milcah, his brother Nahor's wife, fhad born him a numerous issue, which & determined him, at a proper time, to send thither for a wife for his son Isaac ; but before he did that, it happened that his own wife Sarah died, in the 127th year of her age, at Kirjatharba, afterwards called Hebron, in the country of Canaan. * Abraham was then probably at Beersheba ; but being informed of her death, he came to Hebron, there to mourn, and perform his last offices for her; but what he He therefore wanted was a convenient burying-place. addressed himself to the people, assembled in a body, at hand, and spare thy son, for I did not require it of thee, out of any delight I take in human blood, or that I would make a father the assassin of the very child which I myself have given him; but to see how far thou wouldst submit to thy God in a self-denial to thine own inclination and nature: but now, since I find thy piety to be proof against all temptations, I do here confirm over again to thee all my former promises," &c.-Joseph. Antiq. b. 1. c. 14. f The children of Nahor hy Milcah were Huz, Buz, Kemuel, Chezed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel, who begat Rebecca, the wife of Isaac; and by his concubine, whose name was Reumah, he had Tebah, Gaham, Thahash, and Maachah, from whom the city of Maachah, or Abel-Beth-Maachah, whose territories are supposed to have been situate between the two Lebanons, might probably receive its name, Gen. xxii. 20, &c. 9 Nahor very probably either removed with his father Terah, as Abraham did, from Ur in Chaldea, and settled at Haran in Mesopotamia, or not long after followed them thither; because, after that the family left Ur, the first news that we hear of him is, that he was settled at Haran, and there had got a numerous family; and it is upon the account of his brother's residing there, as well as that himself had once lived there, that Abraham calls it his own country,' and the place where his kindred dwelt,' Gen. xxiv. 4. h Some of the Arabian writers tell us, that when Sarah heard that Abraham had taken her only son unto the mountain, to sacrifice to God, she fell into a very great agony, which brought on a fit of sickness whereof she died. Eutychii Annales, p. 74. Josephus, indeed, informs us that she died soon after this event; but if (as he says) Isaac was five and twenty years old when his father would have sacrificed him, Sarah was ninety years old when she bore him, and 127 when she died, she must (according to his own calculation) have lived eleven or twelve years after it, and this our learned Usher makes the difference between his sacrifice and her death.-Calmet's Dictionary. i There is something of obscurity in this passage of the history. Sarah is said to have died at Hebron; and yet we have no notice of Abraham removing from Beersheba to that place; so that, upon some occasion or other, we must suppose them to have been parted, and that Sarah went to Hebron, while Abraham kept still in his own habitation: for to say that Abraham came from his own tent to that of his wife, to make lamentation for her, is not consistent with the sequel of the text. The gates of the cities in these days, and for many ages after, A. M. 2108. A. C. 1896; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 3383. A. C. 2028. GEN. CH. xx-xxv. 11. the gate of the city, entreating them to allow him the liberty of burying his wife among them; for as he was a stranger in the country, and had no land then of his own, he could pretend to no right of giving honourable inter-steward of his household, and ƒ having taking an oath of ment to his dead in the sepulchres of the country, without the consent of the proprietors. He therefore desired Ephron, one of the principal inhabitants, to sell him the field called Machpelah," with the cave and sepulchre belonging to it. The purchase was made before all the people of Hebron, at the price of 400 shekels of silver, that is, about sixty pounds sterling; and there he buried Sarah, after that he had mourned for her, according to the custom of the country. By this time Abraham was well advanced in years; and being desirous to see his son Isaac married, and settled in the world before he died, he called Eliezer, the were the places of judicature, and common resort. Here the governors and elders of the city met to hear complaints, admiKister justice, and make conveyances of titles and estates, and, in short, to transact all the public affairs of the place. And from hence is that passage in the Psalmist, They shall not be ashamed when they speak to their enemies in the gate,' Ps. cxxvii. ver. ult. that is, when they are accused by them before the court of magis trates. It is probable that the room or hall where these magistrates sat was over the gate, because Boaz is said to go up to the gate; and the reason of having it built there, seems to have been for the conveniency of the inhabitants, who being all husbandmen, and forced to pass and repass every morning and evening, as they went and came from their labour, might be more easily called as they went by, whenever they wanted to appear in any business. So that from the whole it appears that Abraham could not have made his purchase from Ephron, without his having recourse to the city gates.-Universal History, b. 1. c. 7. a It is an observation of all those who have written about the sepulture of the ancients, that their dormitories or burying-places were never in cities, much less in temples or churches, but always in the fields or gardens. The use of grottos or vaults is certainly very ancient.-Bibliotheca Biblica, vol. 1. 6 The word in Hebrew signifies doubic, whence it is supposed by some, that there was one cave within another, or two or more contiguous to each other, in one of which Sarah was buried, and afterwards Abraham in another. But those who derive it from the Arabic tell us, that in that language it signifies shut up, or walled up, which, in eastern countries, was a common way of making their tombs, to prevent thieves from harbouring in them, or to hinder them from being in any manner violated or profaned, And if this be the right derivation, then may the cave of Machpelah be translated the cave that was shut up.-Calmet's Dictionary. e Gen. xxiii. 11. In the presence of the sons of my people.' Contracts, or grants, were usually made before all the people, or their representatives, till writings were invented.-Patrick, in locum.-ED. d Gen. xxiii. 16. And Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver.' Ancient nations have discovered a singular coincidence in the management of their money. The Jews appear to have used silver in lumps, perhaps of various dimensions and weights; and certainly, on some occasions at least, impressed with a particular stamp. The Chinese also do the same. For "there is no silver coin in China, notwithstanding payments are made with that metal, in masses of about ten ounces, having the form of the crucibles they were refined in, with the stamp of a single character upon them, denoting their weight.”—Macartney, p. 290, vol. 2. p. 266, 8vo edition.-ED. e What the rites of mourning for the dead in those days were, it is hard to determine, because we have as yet no particulars of it recorded in Scripture. From the subsequent practice, however, we may infer, that they shut themselves up from company, neglected the care of their bodies, and abstained from their ordinary food. They fasted, and lay upon the ground; they wept, tore their clothes, smote their breasts, went barefoot, and pulled off their hair and beards. The time of mourning was usually for seven days; but it was commonly lengthened or shortened, according to the state or circumstances wherein they found themselves; and, during this period, they did not dress themselves, nor make their beds, nor cover their heads, nor shave themselves, nor cut their nails, or go into the bath, nor salute any body, nay, nor so him & (in case he died first) to procure his son wife of his own kindred, and not of the Canaanites, he sent him into Mesopotamia, with full instructions and authority to conclude the marriage, and with a train suitable to such an embassy. Eliezer, in coming to Haran, the place where his master's relations dwelt, stopped at the public well (whither it was customary for the young women of the place to come every morning and evening for water) to rest, and refresh his camels; and being pensive and solicitous how to perform his message to his master's satisfaction, much as read the book of the law, or say their usual prayers.— Patrick's Commentary, and Calmet's Dictionary, under the word Mourning. f The form in which Eliezer took his oath was, we are told, by putting his hand under his master's thigh. This is the first time we read of that ceremony, which was afterwards used by Jacob and Joseph when they were a dying, and the oddness of it has inclined some judicious authors to think, that it implies a more solemn mystery than men are aware of. Some suppose that it was swearing by the Messias, (who was to come out of Abraham's loins or thigh, Gen. Ixvi. 26,) others, by the covenant of circumcision, the part circumcised being near the thigh. But the most probable conjecture is, that as it could not well be done but in a kneeling posture, so it was a token of subjection and homage from a servant to his lord, he sitting, and his servant putting his hand under him; and thereby implicitly declaring, I am under your power, and ready to do whatever you shall think fit to command me. The custom, however, afterwards, in swearing, was to lift up the hand to heaven,' Gen. xiv. 22, and upon account of both these ceremonies, the Greek word gnos, which signifies an oath, is supposed to be derived from the Hebrew jereck, a thigh, as the word pd, to swear, is supposed to come from the Hebrew jamin, which is the right hand.Ainsworth's Annotations. g Gen. xxiv. 2, 3. And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and I will make thee swear by the Lord.' The present mode of swearing among the Mohammedan Arabs, that live in tents as the patriarchs did, according to De la Roque-(Voy, dans la Pal. p. 152)—is by laying their hands on the Koran. They cause those who swear to wash their hands before they give them the book; they put their left hand underneath, and the right over it. Whether, among the patriarchs one hand was under, and the other upon the thigh, is not certain; possibly Abraham's servant might swear, with one hand under his master's thigh, and the other stretched out to heaven. As the posterity of the patriarchs are described as coming out of the thigh, it has been supposed this ceremony had some relation to their believing the promise of God, to bless all the nations of the earth, by means of one that was to descend from Abraham.— Harmer, vol. 4. p. 477.—ED. h Not but that Laban and his family were idolaters, as well as the Canaanites, but then he was much better than they, because he still retained the worship of the true God, as appears from the sequel of the history, (ch. xxiv. 37,) though blended and corrupted with very gross mixtures and additions of his own; whereas the Canaanites had utterly revolted from it.-Grot. Par. i Gen. xxiv. 11. At the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water.' Homer mentions the same custom of women being employed in drawing water among the Phracians and Læstrygonians.-(Odyss. vii. 20. et x. 105.; Iliad, vi. 459.)—Dr Shaw, speaking of the occupation of the Moorish women in Barbary, says, "To finish the day, at the time of the evening, even at the time that the women go out to draw water, they are still to fit themselves with a pitcher or goat skin, and their sucking children behind them, trudge it in this manner two or three miles to fetch water."-(Travels, p. 421.)—Mr Forbes (Oriental Memoirs, vol. 1. p. 79) likewise mentions the practice of women drawing water, and tending cattle to the lakes and rivers.-ED. A. M. 2108. A. C. 1896; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 3398. A. C. 2013. GEN. CH. xx-xxv. 11. he made a mental prayer to God, that he would be | pleased to give this token of the successfulness of his journey, namely, That the person designed for his young master's wife might discover it by some token of courtesy to him. In the mean time a Rebecca came to the well; and when Eliezer desired her to give him a draught of her water, she offered her service, not only to draw for him, but for his camels likewise, which (being the very sign he requested of God) he permitted her to do, for his fuller conviction, c While he saw her thus employed, he took notice that the damsel was exceeding beautiful; and having inquired into her relations and family, he found that she was his master's brother's grand-daughter: whereupon he immediately took out a pair of gold ear-rings, to the weight of two shekels, and a pair of bracelets, which weighed | about ten, with which he presented her, desiring, at the same time, that if they had any room at her house he might be permitted to lodge there that night. Her answer was, that that he might do very conveniently; and so accepting of the presents, she made haste home to acquaint the family with this adventure, leaving Eliezer full of contemplations and acknowledgments to the divine favour, for this happy, surprisingly happy incident. d a Great were the simplicity and humility of those early days, when persons of the best rank, and of the female sex too, did not disdain to be employed in such servile offices. Thus, in the following age, Jacob found his cousin Rachel watering her father's sheep; and several ages after that, the seven daughters of Jethro, who was a prince, as well as a priest of Midian, kept their father's flocks, and used to draw water for the cattle. So well has our author expressed that simplicity of manners, which we may observe in Homer, or Hesiod, or any of the most ancient writers.-Howell's History, b. 1. b Gen. xxiv. 15. Rebecca came out, with her pitcher upon her shoulder.' The same custom prevailed in ancient Greece. Homer represents Minerva meeting Ulysses as the sun was going down, under the form of a Phracian virgin, carrying a pitcher of water, that being the time when the maidens went out to draw water. See also Odyssey, b. x. 105. A similar custom prevailed also in Armenia, as may be seen in Xenophon's Anabasis, b. iv.-ED. c Gen. xxiv. 20. And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough.' In some places where there are wells, there are no conveniences to draw water with. But in other places the wells are furnished with troughs, and suitable contrivances for watering cattle. The M. S. Chardin tells us, that "there are wells in Persia and Arabia in the driest places, and, above all, in the Indies, with troughs and basins of stone by the side of them." Gen. xvi. 14. Exod. ii. 16.-Harmer, vol. 1. p. 431. -ED. As soon as Laban had heard what his sister had to tell him, he went immediately, and inviting the stranger into his house, ordered all proper provision to be made for the civil reception both of himself and his retinue. At his first introduction, Eliezer opened to the family the occasion of his coming; acquainted them with the success that had attended him in his journey; and gave them a full account of the circumstances of his master's family; of the wealth and prosperity wherewith God had blessed him; of the son and heir which he had given him in his old age; and of the large expectances which this his heir had, not only from the prerogative of his birth, but from the donation and entail of all his father's possessions. And, having in this manner delivered his credentials, he demanded immediately, even before he did either eat or drink with them, their positive answer. e Laban and Bethuel were both of opinion, that the divine providence was very visible in this whole affair ; and therefore concluding, that it would be mighty wrong to refuse Rebecca upon this occasion, they consented that he should carry her to her intended husband as soon as he pleased: so that matters being thus far agreed on, he thought it now proper to present her with the jewels of silver and gold, and fine raiment which he had brought for her; and he having at the same time made some considerable presents to her mother, and brethren, the remainder of the day they devoted to feasting and mirth. In the morning Eliezer, who began to think the time long till his master was acquainted with the good success of his negotiation, desired to be dismissed. The request a little startled them. They promised themselves, that at least he would stay ten days longer: but he persisting e This Bethuel could not be her father, because, had he been named before him, or giving answer to Abraham's messenger so, it would have been improper to have had Laban, either when his father was by; and, therefore, since Josephus makes the damsel tell Eliezer that her father had been dead long ago, and that she was left to the care of her brother Laban, this Bethuel, who is here named after Laban, and is never more taken notice of during the whole transaction, must have been some younger brother of the family.-Universal History, b. 1. c. 7. f Gen. xxiv. 53. "Jewels of gold and raiment.' Among the several female ornaments which Abraham sent by his servant, whom he employed to search out a wife for his son Isaac, were jewels of silver, and jewels of gold,' exclusive of raiment, which probably was very rich and valuable for the age in which Abraham lived. Rich and splendid apparel, especially such as was adorned with gold, was very general in the eastern nations from the earliest ages: and as the fashions and customs of the Orientals are not subject to much variation, so we find that this propensity to golden ornaments prevails, even in the present age, among the females in the countries bordering on Judea. Thus Mungo Park, in the account of his travels in Africa, mentions the following singular circumstance, respecting the ornamental part of the dress of an African lady: "It is evident from the account of the process by which negroes obtain gold in Manding, that the country contains a considerable portion of this precious metal. A great part is converted into ornaments for the women: and, when a lady of consequence is in full dress, the gold about her person may be worth, altogether, from fifty to eighty pounds sterling." d Gen. xxiv. 22. And it came to pass as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden ear-ring of half a shekel' weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight, of gold.' The weight of the ornaments put upon Rebecca appears extraordinary. But Chardin assures us, that even heavier were worn by the women of the east when he was there. He says that the women wear rings and bracelets of as great We find also that the same disposition for rich ornamental weight as this, through all Asia, and even heavier. They are apparel prevailed in the times of the Apostles; for St Peter rather manacles than bracelets. There are some as large as the cautioned the females of quality in the first ages of Christianity, finger. The women wear several of them, one above the other, when they adorned themselves, not to have it consist, in the in such a manner as sometimes to leave the arm covered with outward adorning, of plaiting the hair, and of wearing gold, or them from the wrist to the elbow. Poor people wear as many of putting on apparel.' 1 Pet. iii. 3. See also Psalm xlv. 9, 13. of glass or horn. They hardly ever take them off. They areUpon thy right hand did stand the queen, in gold of Ophir, Her their riches."-Harmer, vol. 2. p. 500.-ED. clothing is of wrought gold.'-ED. |
