the Damascenes still excell in the art of inlaying metals with gold. The manufacture of the kind of silk called "Damask," originated here.

It would seem from 1 Kings xi. 23, 24, that Damascus first became in the time of David or Solomon the capital of an independent kingdom, which afterwards, as the "kingdom of Syria," was engaged in frequent wars with the Jews. It was ultimately annexed to the empire of Assyria, and afterwards, with the rest of Western Asia, passed to the Greeks, then to the Romans, and at last to the Arabians, under whom Damascus became for a time the capital of the khalifat, when Moawiyah, its governor, assumed that office, in opposition to Ali. It underwent many changes during the disorders of the middle ages, and was finally conquered, along with all Syria, by the Sultan Selim. In the late war between the Porte and the Pasha of Egypt, Damascus was taken by the troops of the latter, under his son Ibrahim Pasha, and it still remains subject to his authority, having been ceded to him by the treaty of peace in 1833. The inhabitants of Damascus have the reputation of being the most haughty and intolerant people of Turkey, but the measures of Mehemet Ali have already tended greatly to subdue or control their former spirit.

17. "Valley of Shaveh."-Supposed to be the same as the valley of Jehoshaphat, mentioned by Joel (iii. 2, 12). See Note on that text.

18. "Salem" (peace).-This town is supposed to be the same that afterwards attained such eminence under the name of Jerusalem, which is called Salem by David in Psalm lxxvi. 1, 2. As this, although highly probable, is not certain, a geographical and historical notice of Jerusalem is reserved for a note on 2 Sam. v.

21. "Give me the persons and take the goods."-It would seem that here the king claims his own due, and allows Abram his. According to Arab usage Abram had an undoubted right to the recovered goods and cattle. The custom is, if an enemy has spoiled an Arab camp, and carried away some of the persons as prisoners, and if the whole be afterwards recovered by another party, for the persons to be restored, but for the property to remain in the possession of those by whom it was recaptured. This elucidation, which has escaped the notice of annotators, exalts the conduct of Abram in declining to receive his due, and detracts from the generosity for which the king of Sodom has obtained credit. Indeed we see that Abram himself admits the right of his friends to that which, for himself, he declined.

22. "I have lift up mine hand."-A Hebraism for "I have sworn," derived from the custom, to which there are frequent allusions in the Bible, of elevating the right hand in the act of taking an oath.

23. "From a thread even to a shoe-latchet."-This seems to have been a proverbial expression of diminution. On the "thread" it is useless to speculate, as the word admits of so many applications. But the word "shoe" first occurs here, where it probably denotes a sandal. We shall have to notice both sandals and shoes hereafter. It is probable that the "shoe-latchet" denotes the thong which fastened the sandal to the sole of the foot. Mr. Roberts, in his "Oriental Illustrations," informs us that when a man among the Hindoos is accused of taking away some valuable article belonging to another, he repels the charge by a proverbial expression, saying, "I have not taken away even a piece of the thong of your worn-out sandals."

CHAPTER XV.

1 God encourageth Abram. 2 Abram complaineth for want of an heir. 4 God promiseth him a son, and a multiplying of his seed. 6 Abram is justified by faith. 7 Canaan is promised again, and confirmed by a sign, 12 and a vision.

AFTER these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding 'great reward.

2 And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus ?

3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my

house is mine heir.

4 And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.

5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.

3

2

6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

7 And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldecs, to give thee this land to inherit it.

8 And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?

9 And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon.

10 And he took unto him all these, and

1 Psal. 16. 5. 2 Rom. 4. 8.

divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.

11 And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.

12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him,

13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety, that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;

14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.

16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.

18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, 'Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

19 The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,

20 And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,

21 And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites. 3 Rom. 4. 3. Galat. 3. 6. James 2. 23. 4 Acts 7.6. 5 Heb. a lamp of fire. Chap. 12. 17, and 13. 15, and 26. 4. Deut. 34. 4.

Verse 3. "One born in my house is mine heir."-That is, one of his house-born slaves. See note on chap. xiv. 14. In Mohammedan Asia the slaves termed "house-born' are regarded with peculiar esteem. They form part of their master's family, and their welfare is an object of his peculiar care. They are the most attached of his adherents, and often inherit a large share of his wealth. It is sometimes the practice of childless persons to adopt a favourite slave of this class as their own child and heir; or sometimes they purchase promising boys when young, and after having brought them up in their own faith, formally adopt them as their children. Abram does not seem to have thought of his nephew Lot as his heir.

9. "Heifer" (Eglah)—is often rendered "calf;" especially when those idolatrous images set up by Jeroboam are alluded to. It seems to have been applicable to the young of the ox kind, from the time of its birth to that of full maturity.

She-goat."-Domestication has produced many varieties in the goat (Capra hircus), in respect of colour, length and fineness of the hair, in the size, and even in the number of its horns. The goats of Angora yield a hair remarkable for its softness and silky nature. Those of Thibet have become celebrated for a wool of admirable fineness, which grows among the hair, and furnishes the material for the manufacture of the Cashmere shawls. A race found in Upper Egypt has the hair short, the forehead rounded or hemispheric, and the under-jaw projecting beyond the upper. Those of Guinea are very diminutive in their stature, and have the horns turned back, and placed close to the head. variety seen by some travellers in Syria presents a pair of ears which are said to hang low enough to touch the ground while the animal is feeding. We have, therefore, a curious correspondence between the Syrian goat and the Syrian sheep in the developement of their ears.

A

"A ram" (Heb. ail).—This term is applied to the stag or hart, but on this occasion denotes the ram, since we have no reason to think that any of the deer kind were ever offered in sacrifice; just as the word ainna in Arabic signifies a fawn or a gazelle, as well as a she-goat.

"Pigeon" (gozal) may be understood as a young bird of the dove kind. According to a general rule the young were required in preference to the old on all occasions of sacrificial oblation.

10. "Divided them in the midst."-This very solemn form of ratifying a covenant is again particularly mentioned in Jer. xxxiv. 18. It consisted in cutting the throat of the victim, and pouring out its blood. The carcase was then divided, lengthwise, as nearly as possible into two equal parts, which being placed opposite to each other at a short distance, the covenanting parties approached at the opposite ends of the passage thus formed, and meeting in the middle took the customary oath. The practice was by no means peculiar to the Hebrews. Traces of it may be found in the Greek and Roman writers, and in the accounts of travellers.

18. "River of Egypt."-On the first view it would seem that the Nile must be here intended, and that river is doubtless in some places indicated by this phrase. But there is so much difficulty in concluding that the Nile is in this and every other passage intended by the "river of Egypt," that Dr. Wells and others incline to the opinion that it denotes a small river at no considerable distance south of Gaza. Thus (in Josh. xv. 47) such a position seems very distinctly indicated, for in stating the cities forming the inheritance of Judah, the account mentions "Ashdod, and her towns and her villages, Gaza, with her towns and her villages, unto the river of Egypt, and the great sea, and the border thereof." This river is also in many places mentioned as the actual southern boundary of the allotted country of the Israelites, which the Nile never was. If the Nile were meant in this place, the Euphrates would scarcely be distinguished from it as "the great river," which would imply that the other was not great. The comparison of different texts will render it more than probable that the term denotes a stream falling into the Mediterranean a little below Gaza, and forming the southern limit of Judah, and consequently of all the land of Israel. In the situation indicated, Dr. Richardson crossed the dry bed of a river thirty yards wide, called "Oadi Gaza." There was stagnant water in several places.

"The great river Euphrates.”—(See note on chap. ii.)-This noble stream is frequently mentioned as "the great river" in the Scriptures, and it is fully entitled to such a distinction. It rises in two widely-separated sources, one in the elevated region near Erzeroum, and the other near the town of Bayazid on the Persian frontier. The former takes immediately the name of "Frat," and its course is nearly south-west; the other, called "Murad," has a course less southwardly than the other, and is much the nobler stream of the two. Their junction takes place in the recesses of the Taurus, near the town of Kebban. After having pierced the mountains the river continues its south-westerly course as if towards the Mediterranean; but, being repelled by the mountains near Samosata, it makes a slight inclination to the south-east, and afterwards more decidedly takes that direction, and pursues it until it ultimately joins the Tigris at Korna in Irak Arabi. The united stream then takes the name of Shat-ul-Arab, or River of the Arabs; and finally enters the Persian Gulf above seventy miles below the city of Bussora. The total course of this fine river is estimated at 1400 miles. Its breadth from Bir to its junction with the Tigris varies from 300 to 450 yards, though it is occasionally less than 200; and at times, where islands occur in the mid-stream, widens to 800 yards, or even three-quarters of a mile. Its stream flows at the rate of five miles an hour in the season of flood, but at other times it is rather under than above three miles an hour in much the larger portion of its course. The rise of the Euphrates begins in March and continues to the beginning of June, at which time there is nowhere less than 12 feet depth of water, or, as some say, 16 feet. In the low season the general depth of the river, with the exception of fords and rocks, may be stated at from 6 to 10 feet. In describing the average depth of water, the natives are accustomed to say that it is equal to the height of two men. In many parts, however, the depth of water is 18 feet, even in the low season. It is never more than 150 miles distant from the Tigris, and at a short distance below Bagdad the two rivers approach so nearly as 20 miles to each other. The Euphrates seems the nobler stream of the two, but does not appear in fact to have a larger, if so large, a body of water as the Tigris. Both rivers are subject to great inundations in the spring; but that of the Tigris begins some weeks earlier than the other, in consequence of the more southern exposure of its source, and the earlier melting of the snows. When the Euphrates is at its height it overflows the surrounding country; and its waters, filling canals dug for the purpose, tend greatly to facilitate the labour of agriculture in those parts of its lower banks which are under cultivation. In some parts extensive marshes are formed by this inundation. The water is lowest in the months of November, December, January, and February, but sometimes there is a slight increase from rain in January. The river is navigable from Bir, though in some places obstructed by rocks; and the attempt now making by England to ascertain the practicability of a steam-communication with India by that river is replete with most important consequences. The disturbed state of the country prevents any navigation of the river by natives higher than Hillah, near the site of Babylon. There is much valuable information concerning the Euphrates in the Report of the Select Committee on Steam-Navigation to India.'

19. "Kenites-Kenizzites- Kadmonites," &c.-Ten nations are here mentioned, but only seven were actually subjugated (see Deut. vii. 1). It is hence, with great probability, supposed that the redundant three had by the time of the actual conquest become incorporated with the others. The three not included in the subsequent list are those named above. We know nothing with certainty of their origin or geographical position.

CHAPTER XVI.

1 Sarai, being barren, giveth Hagar to Abram. 4 Hagar, being afflicted for despising her mistress, runneth away. 7 An angel sendeth her back to submit herself, 11 and telleth her of her child. 15 Ishmael is born.

Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyp-| tian, whose name was Hagar.

2 And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid;

it may be that I may 'obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.

3 And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.

4 And he went in unto Hagar, and she ། conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.

1 Heb. be builded by her.

5 And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee.

6 But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai 'dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.

7 And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.

8 And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.

9 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.

10 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.

Heb. that which is good in thine eyes.

Heb. afflicted her. 4 That is, God shall hear. 7 That is, the well of him that liveth and seeth me.

Verse 1. "She had an handmaid."-A female slave; apparently one of those "maid-servants" whom Abram had brought from Egypt. The female slaves among the Jews, as they are still in the East, are wholly under the control of the mistress of the family.

3. "To be his wife."-The Hebrew word pilgash, here translated "wife," is frequently in other places rendered "concubine." It describes a wife of a second and inferior class. Such women were considered wives, inasmuch as the connexion was legal and customary; but the absence of certain solemnities and contracts of dowry marked the condition as inferior, though not in itself degrading. The children did not inherit the property of the father; who usually provided for them in his own life-time, if he had sons by the principal wife or wives to claim the inheritance. We thus find Abram providing for the sons of his concubines Hagar and Keturah. Things are still much the same in the East, where similar practices are legalized by the Mohammedan law. That law allows a man four wives of the first class, and does not restrict him as to slaves. But the condition of a slave is not altered as such by the manner in which she lives in the family of her master. The sweeper of his house and the partner of his bed are alike liable to be sold again if they have been purchased; but delicacy prevents this right from being often exercised (see Malcolm's History of Persia). So we see that Hagar remained a bondwoman" after she had become the mother of Ishmael, and Sarai is still called her "mistress."

7. "Angel."-An angel is here mentioned for the first time. Our word is from the Greek angelos, the Hebrew is melach, both words denoting simply "a messenger." The term is used very indefinitely in the Scriptures, indicating sometimes the Deity himself, his providence, and the impersonal agents of his will. At other times it denotes the class of superior beings to whom we restrict the name of "angel." In many places it is applied to prophets and holy men acting under divine direction, or in the service of religion; and it is also extended to the ministers and agencies of the devil. We shall note in our progress the passages which illustrate these various applications. We shall confine ourselves in such remarks to what the Scriptures, from which all our knowledge of the subject is derived, actually teach, without entertaining the elaborate discussions of the rabbins and the schoolmen concerning the creation and nature of the superior intelligences to whom the name "angel" is more peculiarly assigned.

"Shur."-It appears that the term "wilderness," or "desert of Shur," here and elsewhere denotes the sandy tract to the west of Stony Arabia, extending 150 road miles between Palestine and Egypt, and having the Mediterranean on the north, and the peninsula of Sinai on the south. The common caravan road between Palestine and Egypt still lies through the heart of this desert. It is evident that it was Hagar's intention to return to her own country.

11. "Call his name Ishmael."-This is the first instance of a name given by divine direction before birth. Many such instances occur hereafter. Like all other Hebrew names they are significant, and commonly refer to some characterizing circumstance or quality of mind or person. For the sake of obtaining such significance, names were sometimes changed among the Hebrews, and other oriental nations, as we shall have occasion to observe. In the present instance, the name Ishmael is composed of two Hebrew words which, in combination, denote "God attends" or "hears." The reason of this denunciation is given in the text.

12. "A wild man."-The original has here a force which is lost in the translation. The word rendered wild (phera) in every other passage where it occurs denotes a wild ass. (See Taylor's Hebrew Concordance.') It is therefore obviously intended by the use of so unusual a phrase, which may be rendered "a wild ass man," to indicate an analogy between the wildness of Ishmael and his descendants and that of the wild ass. Now, if we turn to Job xxxix. 5–8, we find a splendid description of the habits of the wild ass, and it is equally curious and surprising to trace there how minutely the description applies to the free, wandering, lawless, pastoral, marauding, town-hating Bedouins, the descent of some of whose tribes from Ishmael is admitted by others, and gloried in by themselves. For an explanation of how far the Arabians are to be considered the descendants of Ishmael, see Note on chap, xxv. 12-16. Even in the ordinary

sense of the epithet "wild," there is no people to whom it can be applied with more propriety than to the Arabs, whether used in reference to their character, modes of life, or place of habitation. We have seen something of Arabs and their life, and have always felt the word wild to be precisely that by which we should choose to characterize them. Their chosen dwelling-place is the inhospitable desert, which offers no attractions to any other eyes but theirs, but which is all the dearer to them for that very desolation, inasmuch as it secures to them that independence and unfettered liberty of action which constitute the charm of their existence, and which render the minute boundaries and demarcations of settled districts, and the restraints and limitations of towns and cities, perfectly hateful in their sight. The simplicity of their tented habitations, their dress, and their diet, which form so perfect a picture of primitive usages as described by the Sacred Writers, we can also characterize by no more fitting epithet than "wild ;" and that epithet claims a still more definite application when we come to examine their continual wanderings with their flocks and herds, their constant readiness for action, and their frequent predatory and aggressive excursions against strangers or against each other. But this point resolves itself into the ensuing clause:

“His hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him.”—This, like the other passages in reference to Ishmael, are understood to apply equally to characterize his descendants. There is indeed no people to whom this attaches with greater truth than to the Arabs; for there is none to whom aggression on all the world has so remarkably become a condition of existence. Enjoying as they do the freedom and desolate grandeur of their desert patrimony, they are not insensible to some of the advantages which have been withheld from them; and they think it but fair and reasonable that they should obtain by violence a share in the wealth and fertility of the world. Hence plunder forms their principal occupation, and takes the chief place in their thoughts; and their aggressions upon settled districts, upon travellers, and even upon other tribes of their own people, are undertaken and prosecuted with a feeling that they have a right to what they seek, and therefore without the least sense of guilt or degradation. Indeed the character of a successful and enterprising robber invests a Bedouin with a high distinction in his own eyes and in the eyes of his people, as the most daring and chivalrous acts could win among the nations of Europe. The operation of this principle would alone suffice to verify the prediction of the text. But besides this, causes of variance are continually arising between the different tribes. Burckhardt assures us that there are few tribes which are ever in a state of perfect peace with all their neighbours, and adds, that he could not recollect this to be the case with any one among the numerous tribes with which he was acquainted. Such wars, however, are seldom of long duration; peace is easily made, but broken again upon the slightest pretence.

"He shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”—Literally "before," or "over against the faces of all his brethren." This text has been differently understood. Some think it denotes that Ishmael's inheritance should not be distant from that of his brethren-understanding not only his natural brethren, the sons of Abram by Sarah and Keturah, but his maternal brethren (nationally understood) the Egyptians. This was the fact. Others understand it to refer to the practice among the Arabs, for related clans to keep as much as possible together in certain districts where they apprehend that their aggressions on others may provoke strong measures of retaliation. There are some, however, who confine the passage to Ishmael individually, and understand it to signify that he would be of such a mounting spirit, and would acquire such consideration that, according to a very ancient and still existing custom, wherever he went he would be in a condition to expect, or insist, that the tents of his neighbours and people should be turned with their faces towards his own, in token of submission and of readiness to watch his will. In chap. xxv. 18, it is said that "he died in the presence of all his brethren;" and as, in the chapter preceding that, we find him present with Isaac at the interment of Abraham, it is, after all, likely that text indicates no more than that he would not go to settle in remote countries, but would live among or near those with whom he was connected by the ties of nature. There are, however, good authorities for each of the other opinions.

13. “And she called," &c.—Dr. Boothroyd's translation of this passage from the corrected text removes the obscurity in which the authorized translation leaves it: " And Hagar called the name of JEHOVAH, who had spoken to her, EL ROI, [the visible God]; for she said, 'Did I not here see him visible, by me?" Wherefore the well was called Beer-lahairoi [the well of the Living Visible One]." The custom of naming places after circumstances which occurred at or near them would appear to have been very common, not only among the Hebrews, but in all countries. The practice still prevails. Our geographical nomenclature abounds in such names; and a large proportion of the denominations imposed by recent discoverers are of this character. It seems, from the sequel, that Hagar followed the directions of the angel, and returned to her mistress.

1 Chap. 5. 22.

2

* Or upright, or sincere. 3 Heb. multitude of nations. 4 Rom. 4. 17. 5 Heb. of thy sojournings.