they make to be necessary and essential to the passover JENNINGS's Jewish Ant. vol. ii. p. 187.

in all ages.

No. 670.-xii. 9. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden with -water, but roasted with fire.] The prohibition of eating it raw, for which there might seem to be little occasion, since mankind have generally abhorred such food, is understood by some to have been given in opposition to the barbarous customs of the heathens, who in their feasts of Bacchus, which, according to Herodotus and Plutarch, had their original in Egypt, used to tear the members of living creatures to pieces, and eat them raw. It is observable, that the Syriac version renders the clause. "Eat not of it raw, eat not of it while it is alive.” SPENCER de Leg. Heb. 1. ii. c. 4. sect. 2.

No. 671.-xii. 10. That which remaineth till the morning ye shall burn with fire.] We read in Macrobius of such a custom amongst the ancient Romans in a feast called Protervia, where the manner was, as Flavianus saith, ut si quid ex epulis superfuisset, igne consumeretur; that if any thing were left of the good cheer, it should be consumed with fire. L. ii. Saturnal. cap. 2. PATRICK, in loc.

No. 672.-xii. 15. Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread.] As by the law of Moses no leaven of any kind was to be kept in the houses of the Israelites for seven or eight days, it might have been productive of great inconvenience, had they not been able by other means to supply the want of it. The MS. Chardin informs us, that they use no kind of leaven whatever in the East, but dough kept till it is grown sour, which they preserve from one day to another, In wine countries they use the lees of wine as we do yeast. If therefore there should be no leaven in all the country for several days,

yet in twenty-four hours some would be produced, and they would return to their preceding state.

vol. i. p. 253.

HARMER, vol. i.

No. 673.-xii. 15. The first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses.] Concerning this matter the modern Jews are superstitiously exact and scrupulous. The master of the family makes a diligent search into every hole and crevice throughout the house, lest any crumb of leavened bread should remain in it: and that not by the light of the sun or moon, but of a candle. And in order that this exactness may not appear altogether superfluous and ridiculous, care is taken to conceal some scraps of leavened bread in some corner or other, the discovery of which occasions mighty joy. This search, nevertheless, strict as it is, does not give him entire satisfaction. After all he beseeches God that all the leavened bread that is in the house, as well as what he has found, may become like the dust of the earth, and be reduced to nothing. They are also very exact and scrupulous in making their bread for the feast, lest there should be any thing like leaven mixed with it. The corn of which it is made, must not be carried to the mill on the horse's bare back, lest the heat of the sun should make it ferment. The sack in which it is put, must be carefully examined, lest there should be any remainder of old meal in it: the dough must be made in a place not exposed to the sun, and must be put into the oven immediately after it is made, lest it should ferment itself.

JENNINGS's Jewish Ant. vol. ii. p. 211.

No. 674.-xii. 26, 27. Your children shall mean ye by this service?] A custom obtained among the Jews, that a child should ask the meaning of the passover, and that the person who presided should then

Your children shall say, what

give an account of its intent and origin, that so the remembrance of God's mercy might be transmitted to their latest posterity. This was called the Declaration, or shewing forth.

No. 675.-xii. 34. And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading-troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders.] The vessels which the Arabs make use of for kneading the unleavened cakes which they prepare are only small wooden bowls. (Shaw's Trav. p. 231.) In these they afterwards serve up their provisions when cooked. It is not certain that these wooden bowls were the kneadingtroughs of the Israelites: but it is incontestible that they must have been comparatively small and light, to be so easily carried away.

No. 676.-xiii. 4. The month Abib.] This answered pearly to our March O. S. and had this name because in Egypt and Palestine corn, particularly barley, (Shaw's Trav. p. 406.) was in ear at that time. So April among the Romans was called ab aperiendo terram, from opening the earth. The author of the Ceremonies and Religious Customs of all Nations observes, (vol. iii. p. 108.) that the year among the Hurons, and several other nations of Canada and Mississippi, is composed of twelve synodical lunar months, and that all the lunar months have names suitable to them. They give the name of the worm-moon to the month of March, because those reptiles begin to discover themselves at that time; that of the moon of plants to the month of April; and the moon of swallows to that of May. The Flemings have the same form of speech in their tongue. The month of February is by them called, the month in which they crop or prune the trees; the month of April that in which the meadows are fit for mowing. The

'

signs of the zodiac also receive their names in much the same manner. See PLUCHE's Hist. du Ciel, vol. i. p. 11. PARKHURST's Heb. Lex. p. 2.

No. 677.-xiii. 21. The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light.] XENOPHON, in his Lacedæmonian republic, describing the march of a Spartan king when he goes out to war, mentions a servant or officer under the name of fire-carrier, who went before him with fire taken from the altar, at which he had just been sacrificing, to the boundaries of the Spartan territory, where, sacrificing again, and then proceeding, a fire, kindled likewise from this latter sacrifice, goes before him, without ever being extinguished.

No. 678.-xv. 20. And all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.] Representations similar to this are frequently to be met with in the ancient writers. Hesiod describes the muses as dancing round the altar of Jupiter.

Ορχευνται και ζωμον ερισθενεος Κρονίωνος. Theog. v. 4.

Thus Theseus led the ring in the dance to the sound of the harp. (Callim, Hy. in Del. 301.) Plato assures us that the gods, and the children of the gods, were honoured with dancing, (De Leg. b. vii. p. 815.). And hẹ was for consecrating songs and dances to them; appointing feasts at proper seasons of the year, and for ordering by authority what songs were proper to be sung, and what dances to be used, at the sacrifices which were offered to them. Lucian also informs us, that the Indians adored the sun when they rose in the morning, not as the Greeks did, by kissing their hand,

but by turning to the east and dancing, and thus appeased the deity morning and evening. (De Saltat. § 15, 16, 17.) CHANDLER'S Life of David, vol. ii.

p. 116,

No. 679.-xv. 23. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter.] Dr. Shaw (Trav. p. 314.) thinks that these waters may be properly fixed at Corondel, where there is a small rill, which, unless it be diluted by the dews and rain, is very brackish. Another traveller (Journey from Grand Cairo to Mount Sinai, A. D. 1722, p. 14, 15.) tells us that, at the foot of the mountain of Hamam el Faron, a small but most delightful valley, a place called Garondu, is a rivulet that comes from the mountain, the water of which is tolerably good and sufficiently plentiful, but is bitter, though very clear. Pococke says, there is a mountain known to this day by the name of Le Marah, and toward the sea is a salt well called Birhammer, which is probably the same here called Marah,

No. 680.-xvii. 6. Thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it.] This remarkable interposition of God for the Israelites appears to have been imperfectly known in other countries: and the remembrance of it is still retained in some of the heathen fables. There is a manifest allusion to it in Euripides (Baccha, 703.) where he makes one smite the rock at Citharon, and waters gush out of it. Huetius (Alnetanæ Quæstiones, l. ii. c. 12. n. 18.) gives many such instances; and suggests that it is very probable, that the fable of Janus was forged from hence: alleging that the image is described as holding a rod in his left hand, with which he smites a stone, and causes water to flow from it.