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that the custom appears to have been very general as well as ancient.

2 Kings, xviii. 19. And Rab-shakeh said unto them, Speak ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?.... Hyat Saib, the jemadar or governor of Bidanore, ran on in praise of Hyder, and contempt of the European power in India, in a strain full as insolent, in his own residence-what then would have been his eloquence on a message like that of Rab-shakeh ?

2 Kings, xix. 32. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with a shield, nor cast a bank against it. Genesis, xlix. 22. But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob.-See also Hosea, vii. 15.

Engines were used in early times for throwing stones and arrows on the bow principle. The pillars in which the handles of the bow were fastened, appear to have been strengthened by cording, and the string to have been drawn back by a windlass.

2 Kings, xix. 35. And it came to pass in the night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians, an hundred, fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

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The Simoom was probably the natural agent of this judgment. Chap. xix. 7, and Isaiah, xxxvii. 7, Behold, I will send a blast upon him." By night they were probably the more liable to be unapprized. See Isaiah, xxx. 27-33, where it is thought is an allusion to the Simoom or burning wind.

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The shekel of the sanctuary was not different in weight from the common or civil shekel, as is evident from Exodus xxx. 13, compared with Ezekiel, xlv. 9,12; from which passages it is evident they were both equal to twenty gerahs; and besides, all estimations are expressly ordered, Leviticus, xxvii. 25, to be made according to the shekel of the sanctuary, containing twenty gerahs. The reason of the appellation, shekel of the sanctuary, was, because the standard of this, as of all other weights and measures, was kept in the sanctuary, as with us in the Exchequer.-Parkhurst, under Spw.

2 Chron. xiii. 3. And Abijah set the battle in array with an army of valiant men of war, even four hundred thousand men. Whether we read after some MSS. 40,000, or 400,000 after others, an Asiatic army is not to be compared with a European. Unproportioned as the Jewish armies seem to the extent and population of Judea, they might be raised without much difficulty, by the will of despotism and the system of clanship which prevailed there; and it should seem, nine out of ten of an Asiatic, would in a European army, be counted useless. Some think 400,000 may be the gross number; and 40,000 the soldiers fit for action.

2 Chron. xxiii. 19. And he set the porters at the gates of the house of the Lord, that none which was unclean in any thing should enter in.

The entrance of the inner chamber of a Budhuist temple is usually low and narrow; and on each side stands a dreadful looking fellow formed of clay, and above the size of the human form, with a huge serpent in his hand, seemingly ready to lash with it whoever enters; but intended chiefly, I believe, to admonish such as come unprepared. They are styled, moorakārayo, the usual word for guards or sentinels.

Nehemiah, v. 17. Moreover, there were at my table an hundred and fifty of the Jews and rulers, besides those that came among us from among the heathen that are about us. also 1 Kings, iv. 22; xviii, 19.

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Expenses were anciently reckoned by the numbers of articles consumed, or the number of guests at table. This was likely to happen from the payment of tribute in cattle; and its establishment before the use of money. A traveller leads us to form a judgment of the numbers living in a seraglio at Constantinople, by the prodigious quantity of provisions consumed in it yearly..

Nehemiah, ix. 22. Moreover, thou gavest them kingdoms and nations, and didst divide them into corners.-Amos, iii. 12. Thus saith the Lord, As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear; so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria, in the corner of a bed, and in Damascus in a couch. [Margin, on the bed's fool.]

To the corner-the couch; the easiest seat, and place of honour. Job, xxix. 7, appears to mean, laying a carpet and setting a cushion. Deuteronomy, iii. 11.-Bedstead, the raised bench, or flooring rather. In a post-house near Jaffna, (Vowwol-tongy,) are three couches formed of clay, on one of which I passed a night in 1825. Two are but a few inches. above the floor; the other, two or three feet, and intended, I was informed, for the tapal-bearer, or post-man, who takes his nap here till the bag arrives from the former stage; and who would be incommoded by the water on either of the lower couches, when the ground is flooded.

'Esther, i. 9. Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women, in the royal house which belonged to king Ahasuerus.

The Cingalese women in general take their food apart from the men. In Captain Knox's account of

his captivity, is a good picture of a Kandian sitting on a couch with a child in his arms, and drinking by pouring water out of the spout of a drinking cup into his mouth, while a woman, (I should think not his wife, however, as she is drest in a lower style than himself,) brings a pot of rice, with a ladle. The child is holding out both its hands in earnest expectation.

Job, ii. 4. And Satan answered the Lord, and said, Skin for skin; yea, all that a man hath, will he give for his life.

The Arabs set the exploits of their chiefs in the dialogue form, like the Book of Job. The Cingalese often spend hours at night in reciting alternately the exploits of Budhu, and of their gods and devils. I have often been disturbed by them. This passage, imperfectly explained by most commentators, is by Mr. Robinson, set in so clear a light, that the reader will be better satisfied with a quotation, than an abridgment. "Before the invention of money, trade used to be carried on by barter, that is, by exchanging one commodity for another. The man who had been hunting in the woods for wild beasts, would carry their skins to market, and exchange them with the armourer for so many bows and arrows. As these traffickers were liable to be robbed, they sometimes agreed to give a party of men a share for defending them; and skins were a very ancient tribute. With them they redeemed their own shares of property and their lives. It is to one or both of these customs, that the text alludes, as a proverb. Imagine one of these primitive fairs. A multitude of people from all parts, of different tribes and languages, in a broad field, all over-spread with various commodities to be exchanged. Imagine this fair to be held after a good hunting season, and a bad harvest. The skinners are numerous, and clothing cheap. Wheat, the staff of life, is scarce, and the

whole fair dread a famine. How many skins this year will a man give for this necessary article, without which, he and his family must inevitably die? Why, each would add to the heap, and put skin upon skin, for all the skins that a man hath, will he give for his life. Imagine the wheat growers, of whom Job was one, carrying home the skins, which they had taken for wheat. Imagine the party engaged to protect them, raising the tribute, and threatening if it were not paid, to put them to death. What proportion of skins would these merchants give, in this case of necessity? Skin upon skin, all the skins that they have, will they give for their lives. The proverb then means, that we should save our lives at any price."

Job, ix. 26. They are passed away as the swift ships.

This passage has perplexed critics exceedingly. Calmet's Editor thinks the "swift ships" allude to camels-the camel being called by the Arabians, the ship of the desert.

Job, xxi. 17. How oft is the candle [margin, lamp] of the wicked put out.-Job, xviii. 5, 6. Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine. The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him.

The Cingalese, and I believe, orientals in general, keep a lamp burning; and usually in the sleepingroom all night.-The lamps before the images in the Budhuist temples are kept constantly burning.

Job, xxiv. 16. In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the day-time.

As in Bengal, thieves in Ceylon lay their plan by day; and at night, when the inhabitants are asleep,

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