No. 1145.-MICAH v. 8. As a young lion among the flocks of sheep; which, if he go through, both treadeth down and teareth in pieces. THE lion is remarkable for tearing his prey to pieces. This circumstance is particularly noted both by sacred and profane writers. Gen. xlix. 9. Deut. xxxiii. 22. Psalm xxii. 13. Hosea xiii. 8. Thus also Virgil: Impastus ceu plena leo per ovilia turbans, (Suadet enim vesana fames) manditque trahitque The famish'd lion, thus with hunger bold, O'erleaps the fences of the nightly fold, Comp. Homer, Il. xi. lin. 176. En. ix. 339. DRYDEN. Buffon says, (Nat. Hist. tom. viii. p. 124.) when the lion leaps on his prey, he gives a spring of ten or fifteen feet, falls on, seizes it with his fore-paws, tears it with his claws, and afterwards devours it with his teeth. No. 1146.-vi. 7. Shall I give my first-born for my transgression?] This actually was the practice of the inhabitants of Florida. The ceremony was always performed in the presence of one of those princes or caciques, whom they call paraoustis. The victim must always be a male infant. The mother of it covers her face, and weeps and groans over the stone, against which the child is to be dashed in pieces. The women who accompany her sing and dance in a circle, while another woman stands up in the middle of the ring, holding the child in her arms, and shewing it at a distance to the paraousti; who probably is esteemed a representative of the sun, or deity to which the victim is offered; after which the sacrifice is made. "The Peruvians of quality, and those too of mean sort, would sacrifice their first-born to redeem their own life, when the priest pronounced that they were mortally sick." More's Explanation of Grand Mystery, p. 86. And as the king of Moab when in distress took his firstborn son, that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt-offering, 2 Kings iii. 27. so "Hacon king of Norway offered his son in sacrifice, to obtain of Odin the victory over his enemy Harald. Aune king of Sweden devoted to Odin the blood of his nine sons, to prevail on that god to prolong his life.” See MAILLETT's Northern Antiquities, vol. i. p. 134. No. 1147.-vii. 19. Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.] It is a custom with the modern Jews on new year's day to sound the horn, to invite the people to hearken with humility and attention to the judgments of God, and to thank him for his favour and support during the year which is just ended. This festival lasts two days, and all the people in the synagogue are to pray with a loud voice and in a humbler posture than usual. In Germany the Jews send their children to the grand rabbi to receive his benediction; and when they sit down to table, the master of the house takes a bit of bread, and dips it in honey, saying, may this year be sweet and fruitful; and all the guests do the same. They seldom omit serving up a sheep's head at this entertainment, which they say is a mystical representation of the ram sacrificed instead of Isaac. The sounding of the horn is performed standing, where the law is read, the whole congregation remaining in the same posture. This is made of a ram's horn, being also a monument of Isaac's ram. It is to sun-set. crooked, as representing the posture of a man hum bling himself. The time for blowing it is from sun-rise The ancient Jews upon the day of atonement discharged their sins upon a he-goat, which afterwards was sent into the desert. But the modern Jews, of Germany in particular, instead of a goat, now do it upon the fish. They go after dinner to the brink of a pond, and there shake their clothes over it with all their might. They derive this custom from the passage of the prophet Micah now above cited. No. 1148.-NAHUM iii. 10. They cast lots for her honourable men. THE Custom of casting lots for the captives taken in war appears to have prevailed both with the Jews and Greeks. It is mentioned by another of the prophets, besides the one now referred to. Strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem. Obad. ver. 11. With respect to the Greeks, we have an instance in Tryphiodorus: Shar'd out by lot, the female captives stand: Destruction of Troy, Merrick, ver. 938. No. 1149.-HABAKKUK i. 8. Their horses also are swifter than the leopards. LEOPARDS tamed and taught to hunt are, it is said, made use of in the East for that purpose, and seize the prey with surprising agility. Le Bruyn tells us (tom. ii. p. 154.) that he had often seen the bashaw of Gaza go to hunt jackalls, of which there are great numbers in that country, and which he took by means of a leopard trained to it from its youth. The hunter keeps it before him upon his horse, and when he meets with a jackall, the leopard leaps down, and creeps along till he thinks himself within reach of the beast, when he leaps upon it, throwing himself seventeen or eighteen feet at a time. If we suppose that this way of hunting was in use in the time of the prophet Habakkuk, the image was sufficiently familiar to the common people. HARMER, vol. ii. p. 438. No. 1150.-—ii. 2. Make it plain upon tables.] Writing-tables were used in and before the time of Homer; for he speaks (Il. vi.) of writing very pernicious things upon a two-leaved table. They were made of wood, consisted of two, three, or five leaves, and were covered with wax; on this impressions were easily made, continued long, and were very legible. It was a custom amongst the Romans for the public affairs of every year to be committed to writing by the pontifex maximus, or high priest, and published on a table. They were exposed to public view, so that the people might have an opportunity of being acquainted with them. It was also usual to hang up laws approved and recorded on tables of brass in their market-places, and in their temples, that they might be seen and read. (Taciti Annales, l. xi. c. 14.) In like manner the Jewish prophets used to write, and expose their prophecies publicly on tables, either in their own houses, or in the temple, that every one that passed by might read them. No. 1151.-i. 16. the cup of the Lord's right hand shall be turned unto thee.] In the entertainments of the ancients the cup was delivered towards the right hand; express mention is made of this practice by Homer : From where the goblet first begins to flow, From right to left, in order take the bow. Odyss. b. xxi. See also the Il. b. i. 597. This custom seems to be referred to in the words of the prophet. No. 1152.—iii. 9. Thy bow was made quite naked.] The oriental bows, according to Chardin, were usually carried in a case hung to their girdles; it was sometimes of cloth, but more commonly of leather. The expression in these words of the prophet must consequently be understood of the bow when out of the case. HARMER, vol. ii. p. 513. |