No. 767.-JUDGES i. 14. And she alighted from off her ass. THE alighting of those that ride is considered in the East as an expression of deep respect. Pococke tells us, (Trav. vol. i. p. 35.) that they descend from their asses in Egypt when they come near some tombs there, and that Christians and Jews are obliged to submit to this. HARMER, vol. ii. p. 116. No 768.-iv. 19. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink.] Jael certainly shewed her regard to Israel by destroying Sisera, but it is as certain that she did not do it in the most honourable manner-there was treachery in it: perhaps in the estimation of those people, the greatest treachery. Among the later Arabs, giving a person drink has been thought to be the strongest assurance of their receiving him under their protection. When Guy de Lusignan, king of Jerusalem, was taken prisoner, and was conducted before Saladin, he demanded drink, and they gave him fresh water, which he drank in Saladin's presence: but when one of his lords would have done the same, Saladin would not suffer it, because he did not intend to spare his life: on the contrary, advancing to him, after some expostulations, he cut off his head. D'Herbelot, p. 371. HARMER, vol. ii. p. 469. No. 769.-v. 10. Ye that ride on white asses.] In this song Deborah expressly addresses herself to those who sit in judgment, whom she describes as riding upon white asses. Officers of justice, it seems, form a part of the procession, and they are going up to the high place, as usual, for the purpose of holding their annual judgment. They ride on asses, which appear to be white from the garments which have been spread over them for the accommodation of their riders; none but white garments being worn by the Hebrews during their public festivals and days of rejoicing. When Alexander the Great came to Jerusalem, we are informed by Josephus, (Ant. l. xi. c. 8.) that he was met by the people in white raiment, the priests going before them. Philo also, in his book Tepi ageTav, describing the public rejoicings in Europe and Asia, speaks of sacrifices, men dressed in white and garlands, solemn assemblies, and nightly feasts, with pipe and harp. It was customary to throw the white garments thus worn, over animals that carried persons of distinction. Hurdis's Diss. p. 62. Dr. Gill seems rather to favour the idea, that they were really white asses, and not such as were made to appear so from having white garments thrown over them. He observes that a traveller in those parts (Cartwright) tells us, that on the banks of the Euphrates they had beheld every day great droves of wild beasts, as wild asses, &c. all white. No. 770.-v. 11. They that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water.] Shaw mentions (Trav. p. 20.) a beautiful rill in Barbary, which is received into a large bason called shrub we krub, (drink and away) there being great danger of meeting there with rogues and assassins. If such places be proper for the lurking of murderers in times of peace, they must be suitable to lie in ambush in times of war; a circumstance that Deborah takes notice of in her song. HARMER, vol. ii. p. 235. No. 771.-v. 30. Have they not divided the prey-to Sisera a prey of divers colours, a prey of divers colours of needle-work, of divers colours of needle-work on both sides.] These were the richest part of the spoil, being highly esteemed by all people. Pliny (lib. viii. cap. 48.) mentions a great variety of them, both in his own and in ancient times; for he takes notice that Homer speaks of painted garments, pictas vestes, which shone with flowers and trees in beautiful colours. The Phrygians afterwards wrought these with needles, and Attalus invented the interweaving of gold into them. But, for these garments Babylon was above all places famous; from whence they had the name of Babylonish garments, and were much valued, Josh. vii. 21. In later ages Peter Martyr observes that they were so esteemed, that only the greater sort of persons were allowed to wear them; which may be the reason that they are here, appropriated to Sisera as his part of the spoil, No. 772.-vi. 19. And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour : the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out to him under the oak, and presented it.] "There is a passage in Dr. Shaw, that affords a perfect commentary on this text. It is in his preface p. 12. Besides a bowl of milk, and a basket of figs, raisins, or dates, which upon our arrival were presented to us to stay our appetites, the master of the tent where we lodged fetched us from his flock, according to the number of our company, a kid or a goat, a lamb or a sheep; half of which was immediately seethed by his wife, and served up with cuscasooe: the rest was made kab-ab, i. e. cut into pieces and roasted; which we reserved for our breakfast or dinner next day', May we not imagine that Gideon, presenting some slight refreshment to the supposed prophet, according to the present Arab mode, desired him to stay till he could provide something more substantial for him; that he immediately killed a kid, seethed part of it, mader kab-ab of another part of it, and when it was ready, brought out the stewed meat in a pot, with unleavened cakes of bread which he had baked; and the kab-ab in a basket for his carrying away with him, and serving him for some after repast in his journey? Nothing could be more convenient for the carriage of the reserved meat than a light basket, and Thevenot informs us, that he carried his ready dressed meat with him in a maund." HARMER, vol. i. p. 330. No. 773. vii. 13. And when Gideon was come.] Gideon, raised up by God himself, and made general of the army of Israel, yet goes as a spy into the camp of Midian. To this conduct there was not formerly any reproach attached, as it was esteemed honourable to go on such expeditions by night, or to perform those offices which are now the task of the common soldiers only. Homer (Il. b. x.) represents Tydides as thus answering a command to penetrate the Trojan camp: -The man you seek is here: Through yon black camps to bend my dang'rous way POPE, v. 260. No. 774. vii. 16. He put a trumpet in every man's hand, with empty pitchers.] Though leathern bottles were much used by the people of the East, earthen jars or pitchers were sometimes used also. Dr. Chandler (Trav. in Asia Minor, p. 25.) tells us, that "the vessel in which their water was to be carried was an earthen jar, which not only served them in the wherry in which they coasted some of the nearer parts of Asia Minor, but was carried upon the ass of a poor peasant, along with other luggage, when they made an excursion from the sea-side up into the country to visit the great ruin at Troas." If this were the practice in Gideon's time, it could not be difficult for him to collect three hundred water jars from among ten thousand men. HARMER, vol. iii, p. 258, No. 775.-vii. 21, 22. And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried, and fled: and the three hundred men blew the trumpets, and the Lord set every man's sword against his fellow.] A modern piece of Arab history very much illustrates the defeat of the Midianites by Gideon, and at the same time points out wherein the extraordinary interposition of God appeared. It relates to a contest between two chiefs for the imamship of Oman; and the substance of it is, that one of them, whose name was Achmed, finding himself at first too weak to venture a battle, threw himself, with a few soldiers, into a little fortress built on a mountain, where he had deposited his treasures. Bel Arrab, his rival, at the head of four or five thousand men, invested the place, and would have forced the new imam to surrender, had he not quitted the fortress, with two of his domestics, all three disguised like poor Arabs, who were looking out for grass for their camels. Achmed withdrew to a town a good day's journey from the besieged fortress, where he was much beloved; he found no difficulty in gathering together some hundreds of them, with which he marched against his enemy. Bel Arrab had placed his camp between some high mountains near the above mentioned fortress. Achmed ordered a coloured string to be tied round the heads of his soldiers, that they might be distinguished from their enemies. He then sent several small detachments to seize the passes of those mountains. He gave each detachment an Arab trumpet to sound an alarm on all sides, as soon as the principal party should give the signal. Measures being thus laid, the imam's |