reason, erected his altars; seem to have been structures of the like nature and contrivance with these olees." SHAW's Travels, p. 280.

No. 130. iv. 24. Then she saddled an ass, and said to her servant, drive and go forward.] Asses were much used for riding, and PocoCKE tells us, (vol. i. p. 191.) that "the man, (the husband, I suppose, he means) always leads the lady's ass, and if she has a servant he goes on one side; but the ass-driver follows the man, goads on the beast, and when he is to turn, directs his head with a pole." The Shunamite, when she went to the prophet, did not desire so much attendance, but only requested her husband to send her an ass and its driver to whom she said, Drive and go forward.

HARMER, vol. i. p. 449.

No. 131. vii. 10. Horses tied and asses tied.] From the circumstances recorded concerning the flight of the Syrians, it appears to have been remarkably precipitate. That they were not altogether unprepared for a hasty departure may be inferred from comparing this passage with the following extract (from Memoirs relative to Egypt, p. 300.): "As soon as the Arabs are apprehensive of an attack, they separate into several small camps, at a great distance from each other, and tie their camels to the tents, so as to be able to move off at a moment's notice." Such a precaution is not probably peculiar to the modern Arabs, but might be adopted by the Syrian army. If this was the case, it shews with what great fear God filled their minds, that though prepared as usual for a quick march, they were not able to avail themselves of the advantage, but were constrained to leave every thing behind them as a prey to their ene

mies.

No. 132.-xi. 2. Bed chamber.] A bed chamber does not, according to the usage of the East, mean a lodging room, but a repository for beds. Chardin says, "in the East, beds are not raised from the ground with posts, a canopy, and curtains; people lie on the ground. In the evening they spread out a mattress or two of cotton, very light, of which they have several in great houses, against they should have occasion, and a room on purpose for them." From hence it appears that it was in a chamber of beds that Joash was concealed.

HARMER, vol. ii. p. 489.

No. 133. xi. 12. Clapped their hands.] The way by which females in the East express their joy, is by gently applying one of their hands to their mouths. This custom appears to be very ancient, and seems to be referred to in several places of scripture. PITTS (Religion and Manners of the Mahometans, p. 85.) describing the joy with which the leaders of their sacred caravans are received in the several towns of Barbary through which they pass, says, "This Emir Hagge, into whatever town he comes, is received with a great deal of joy, because he is going about so religious a work. The women get upon the tops of the houses to view the parade, where they keep striking their four fingers on their lips softly, as fast as they can, making a joyful noise all the while." The sacred writers suppose two different methods of expressing joy by a quick motion of the hand: the clapping of the hands, and that of one hand only, though these are confounded in our translation. The former of these methods obtained anciently, as an expression of malignant joy; (Lam. ii. 15. Job xxvii. 23.) but other words, which our version translates clapping the hands, signify, the applying of only one hand somewhere with softness, in testimony of a joy of

a more agreeable kind. Thus in 2 Kings xi. 12. and Psalm xlvii. 1. It should be rendered in the singular, Clap your hand, and as the word implies gentleness, it may allude to such an application of the hand to the mouth as has now been recited.

HARMER, vol. iii. p. 277.

No. 134.-xii. 10. They put up, (bound up) in bags, and told the money.] It appears to have been usual in the East for money to be put into bags, which, being ascertained as to the exact sum deposited in each, were sealed, and probably labelled, and thus passed currently. Instances of this kind may be traced in the scriptures, at least so far as that money was thus conveyed, (2 Kings v. 23.) and also thus delivered from superior to inferior officers for distribution: as in the passage referred to in this article. Major RENNEL (on the Geography of Herodotus, sect. 15.) in giving an abstract of the History of Tobit, says, "we find him again at Nineveh (Tobit xi. 16.) from whence he dispatches his son Tobias to Rages by way of Ecbatana, for the money. At the latter place, he marries his kinswoman Sara, and sends a messenger on to Rages. The mode of keeping and delivering the money was exactly as at present in the East. Gabael, who kept the money in trust, "brought forth bags, which were sealed up, and gave them to him," (Tobit ix. 5.) and received in return the hand-writing or acknowledgment, which Tobias had taken care to require of his father before he left Nineveh. The money we learn (Tobit i. 14.) was left in trust, or as a deposit, and not on usury, and at it may be concluded, with Tobit's seal on the bags. In the East, in the present times, a bag of money passes (for some time at least) currently from hand to hand, under the authority of a banker's seal, without any examination of its contents."

No. 135.-xx. 13. Shewed them all the house of his precious things.] The display which Hezekiah made of his treasure was to gratify the ambassadors of the king of Babylon. It appears to have been an extraordinary thing, and not done but upon this and occasions of a similar nature; such probably was the general practice. Lord Macartney informs us, that "the splendor of the emperor of China and his court, and the riches of the mandarins, surpass all that can be said of them. Their silks, porcelain, cabinets, and other furniture, make a most glittering appearance. These, however, are only exposed when they make or receive visits: for they commonly neglect themselves at home, the laws against private pomp and luxury being very severe."

No. 136.-1 CHRONICLES xxvii. 28.
Cellars of oil.

DR. CHANDLER (Trav. in Greece, p. 126.) says, the modern Greeks keep their oil in large earthen jars, sunk in the ground, in the areas before their houses. The custom might obtain among the Jews; it is certain they sometimes buried their oil in the earth, to secrete it in times of danger, in which case they fixed upon the most likely place for concealment-the fields. (Jer. xli. 8.) Joash may therefore be properly considered as set over the treasures of oil, whatever was the place in which it was stored. HARMER, vol. iv. p. 108.

No. 137.-2 CHRONICLES xxviii. 27.

And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, even in Jerusalem; but they brought him not into the sepulchres of the kings of Israel.

THE Israelites were accustomed to honour in a peculiar manner the memory of those kings who had reigned over them uprightly. On the contrary, some marks of posthumous disgrace followed those monarchs who left the world under the disapprobation of their people. The proper place of interment was in Jerusalem. There in some appointed receptacle, the remains of their princes were deposited: and, from the circumstance of this being the cemetery for successive rulers, it was said, when one died and was so buried, that he was gathered to his fathers. Several instances occur in the history of the kings of Israel, wherein, on certain accounts, they were not thus interred with their predecessors, but in some other place in Jerusalem. So it was with Ahaz, who though brought into the city, was not buried in the sepulchres of the kings of Israel. In some other cases, perhaps to mark out a greater degree of censure, they were taken to a small distance from Jerusalem. It is said that Uzziah was buried with his fathers inthe field of the burial which belonged to the kings; for they said, he is a leper. (2 Chron. xxvi. 23.) It was doubtless with a design to make a suitable impression on the minds of their kings while living, that such distinctions were made after their decease. They might thus restrain them from evil or excite them to good, according as they were fearful of being execrated, or desirous of being honoured, when they were dead. The Egyptians had a custom in some measure similar to this it was however general as to all persons, though it re