words, Ali stretched out his hand, and acknowledged Othman as Khalif.”

How much less solemn and expressive of reverence is this, than the manner of paying homage and swearing fealty at the coronation of our princes; to say nothing of the adoration that is practised in the Romish church, upon the election of their great ecclesiastic! It may however serve to illustrate what we read concerning Jehonadab,' the head of an Arab tribe that lived in, and consequently was in some measure subject to, the kingdom of Israel. Jehonadab came to meet Jehu, and he saluted him; and Jehu said to Jehonadab, Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart? and Jehonadab answered, It is. And he said, If it be, give me thine hand: and he gave him his hand, and he took him up to him into the chariot.

This giving him the hand appears not to have been the expression of private friendship; but the solemn acknowledgment of him as king over Israel.

Our translators seem to have supposed, by their way of expressing matters, that Jehu saluted, or blessed Jehonadab, and Bishop Patrick thought it was plain that it ought so to be understood; but I cannot but think it most natural to understand the words as signifying, that Jehonadab came to meet Jehu as then king of Israel; and to compliment him on being acknowledged king of the country in which he 22 Kings x. 15, 16.

dwelt; not that this newly anointed prince first saluted him. This would not have been in character. So when Jacob was introduced to Pharaoh, he is said to have blessed Pharaoh, not Pharaoh Jacob, Gen. xlvii. 7. The words therefore should have been translated, with a slight variation, after some such manner as this, "He lighted on Jehonadab, the son of Rechab, coming to meet him, and he (Jehonadab) saluted him, and he (Jehu) said unto him, Is thine heart," &c.

OBSERVATION LXXII.

Curious Illustration of Ezek. xxvii. 12, 16.

Takhtdar, d'Herbelot informs us," is a Persian word, which properly signifies a precious carpet, which is made use of for the covering the throne of the king of Persia; and that this word is also used as an epithet, by which the Persians describe their princes, on account of their being possessed of this throne: now I would propose is as a query, Whether it is not as probable, that the term covering, applied by the Prophet Ezekiel to the prince of Tyrus, may be explained in a similar way, and be as good a solution of a very obscure epithet that has been offered by the learned? It certainly will have the advantage, as appears by this citation, of being truly in the Eastern taste.

as any

- P. 847.

The passage, referred to in Ezekiel, is as follows: Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD GOD, Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of GoD: every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, &c. Thou art the anointed cherub that cocereth and I have set thee so; thou wast upon the holy mountain of GoD: thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire, &c. By the multitude of thy merchandişe they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of GOD: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Chap. xxviii. 12-16.

The explanation given by the learned of this epithet covering is as follows: that it is an allusion to the posture of the cherubic figures that were over the ark; and of others, that it means the protection this prince afforded to other states, either Judea, the mountain of God, as it might be styled, or the cities of the heathen in the islands of the Mediterranean, or on its sea-coasts. What they have said may, I believe, be reduced to one of these particulars.

But it cannot well be the first, for the Prophet evidently refers to a living cherub, not the posture of the image of one made of gold, or of an olive-tree. He cannot be described

Exod. xxv. 20. 1 Kings viii. 7. c 1 Kings vi. 23.

after this manner, on the account of his being a protector of Judea, and his covering that sacred country from its enemies, for the Prophet represents this prince as an adversary in this. very prophecy: Son of man, because that Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken: that was the gates of the people: she is turned unto me; I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste: Therefore thus saith the LORD Gon, Be hold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, &c. ch. xxvi. 2, 3. Nor does there appear any ground in the prophecy, for believing the Tyrians were remarkable for defending their neighbours. On the contrary, the Sidonians are represented in the Scriptures as an unwarlike people, Judges xviii. 7, and they and the Tyrians are known to have resembled each other: indeed to have been nearly one people.

But if we understand the word as signifying having a throne covered with a rich and widelyspreading carpet, it will be explaining the word in a manner conformable to the present Eastern taste, as appears by this article of d'Herbelot; and will answer the rest of the imagery, with sufficient exactness.

Ezekiel appears to have mingled earthly and heavenly things together, in this description of Tyrian royal magnificence. Earth and heaven are joined together in the second verse of this 28th chapter, Thou hast said, I am a GoD, I sit in the seat of GOD, that is in heaven, among the stars, as the king of Babylon is represented by Isaiah as boasting, Thou hast said in thine Kk

VOL. II.

heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of GOD. . . . . I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High; yet at the same time the prince of Tyrus is supposed to speak of his sitting in the heart of the sea. In like manner this prince is spoken of as having been in Eden, the garden of GoD, (the world of blessed spirits appears to have been meant) yet as adorned with jewels of an earthly nature, the sardius, topaz, diamond, &c. No wonder then that in the next verse he is described as a cherub, which every body knows denotes a kind of angel, and inhabitant of heaven, and yet is represented as appearing in the attitude of an earthly prince seated on a throne, covered either with a widely extended carpet, or with robes, with a mighty spreading train. The heavenly vision which Isaiah saw, in the year that king Uzziah died, presented much the same appearance, I saw also the LORD upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train (or according to the margin, the skirts thereof) filled the temple. After that Ezekiel speaks of this prince as upon the mountain of GoD, magnificent, that is, as if in heaven, for he had no abode on mount Sion; and walking up and down in the midst of the stones of fire, or stars, as before observed concerning the king of Babylon. Then, in the 16th verse, he is threatened to be cast, as profane, out of this mountain of GOD, and though a covering cherub, or like a cherub enthroned, to be destroyed from the midst of these meta↑ Is. vi. 1.

d Is. xiv. 13, 14,