66 "they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth;" and in Matth. xxvii. 48, and Mark xv. 36, the sponge filled with vinegar is said to be 'put on a reed." Critics and commentators have puzzled themselves and others, to account for this variety of expression in the Evangelists. Some have supposed, that there must have been some plant in Judea of the lowest class of trees or shrubs, which was either a species of hys. sop, or had a strong resemblance to what the Greeks called voowToç, the stalk of which is what was meant by the reed in Matthew and Mark 26; and others, that there was a species of hyssop, whose stalk was sometimes two feet long, which was sufficient to reach a person on a cross, that was by no means so lofty as some erroneously imagine Now, all the difficulty of this pas 26 Dr. Campbell's Note, in loc. See Salmasius, cited by Wolfius, and Scheuchzer, Phys. Sacr. on Matth. xxvii. 48. sage in St. John, arises from the idea that voowry here, must mean the same with kaλapy in St. Matthew and St. Mark: whereas, St. John does not mention the reed; but says, that when they had put the sponge upon hyssop, i. e. when they had added bitter to the sour, or gall to the vinegar, they advanced it to his mouth, no doubt, with the reed. In St. Matthew and St. Mark, the word is ETOTILEV. In St. John, πpoonveyκαν αυτου τῳ στοματι; which makes the repetition of kaλauw less necessary. Add to this the paraphrase of Nonnus, who undoubtedly understood it in the sense here explained. Ωρεγεν ύσσωπῳ κεκερασμένον όξος αλεθξει. In Pliny, Nat. Hist. l. xxiii. c. 1, the bunch of hyssop, brought together, we have the vinegar, the sponge, and though on a different occasion. "Calidum acetum, in spongia appositum, adjecto hyssopi fasciculo, medetur sedis vitiis." See also lib. xiv. 16. IBIS. A bird peculiar to Egypt, and, in early ages, held there in the utmost I veneration, so that it was deemed a capital crime to kill one. Polyæneus (Stratagem. Belli, lib. vii.) states, that Cambyses, king of Persia, who was not unacquainted with this superstition, placed some of these birds before his army while he besieged Damietta. The Egyptians, not daring to shoot against them, nor consequently against the enemy, suffered the town to be taken, which was the key of Egypt. The ibis feeds upon serpents, and destroys their eggs; it also devours destructive reptiles and insects; and is thus very serviceable to the inhabitants. This, probably, is the reason for the grateful estimation in which the bird was formerly held. Hasselquist is inclined to believe the Ardea Ibis to be the ibis of the ancient Egyptians; but Bruce has tions an Indian, as well as an Aramade it very evident, that the ibis bian frankincense. At the present is the bird now called Abou Hunnes day, it is brought from the East in Egypt. That the bird was known | Indies, but not of so good a quality to the Hebrews, seems highly probable. See OWL. For a particular account of this celebrated bird, I refer to a memoir by J. Pearson, in the Philosophical Transactions for 1805, part 2; "Histoire naturelle et mythologique d'Ibis, par M. Sevigny, avec planches, Paris, 1805;" the Monthly Review, new series, vol. xlvi. p. 523, and xlix. p. 531; and a memoir on the ibis of the ancients by Cuvier, in the Annales de Museum, vol. iv.; Paris, 1804. He denominates it the Numenius Ibis. as that from Arabia. See FRANKIN CENSE. The "sweet incense," mentioned Exod. xxx. 7, and elsewhere, was a compound of several drugs, agreeably to the direction in the 34th verse. Where so many sacrifices were offered, it was essentially necessary to have some pleasing perfume, to counteract the disagreeable smells that must have arisen from the slaughter of so many animals, the sprinkling of so much blood, and the burning of so much flesh. IRON. BARZEL. Occurs first in Gen. iv. 22, and afterwards frequently; and the Chaldee b in Dan. ii. 33, 41, and elsewhere often in that book. IAHPOZ, Rev. xviii. 12, and the adjectives, Acts xii. 10; Rev. ii. 27; ix. 9; xii. 5; and xix. 15. INCENSE. Gum thus; so called by the dealers of drugs in Egypt, from Thur or Thor, the name of a harbour in the north bay of the Red Sea, near Mount Sinai; thereby distinguishing it from the gum arabic, which is brought from Suez, another port in the Red Sea, not far from Cairo. It differs also in being more pellucid and white. It burns with a bright and strong flame, not easily extinguished. It was used in the temple service as an emblem of prayer 28. Authors give it, or the best sort of it, the epithets white, pure, pellucid; and so it may have some connexion with a word, de-ish Legislator speaks of iron, the rived from the same root, signifying unstained, clear, and so applied to moral whiteness and purity 29. This gum is said to distil from incisions made in the tree during the heat of summer. What is the form of the tree which yields it, we do not certainly know. Pliny, in one place, says, it is like a pear-tree; in another, that it is like a mastic-tree; then, that it is like the laurel; and, in fine, that it is a kind of turpentine tree. It was said to grow only in the country of the Sabeans, a people of Arabia Felix. And Theophrastus and Pliny affirm, that it is found in Arabia. Dioscorides, however, men 28 Psalm cxli. 2; Rev. viii. 3, 4. A well known and very serviceable metal. The knowledge of working it was very ancient, as appears from Gen. iv. 22. We do not, however, find that Moses made use of iron in the fabric of the tabernacle in the wilderness, or Solomon in any part of the temple at Jerusalem. Yet, from the manner in which the Jew metal, it appears, must have been in use in Egypt before his time. He celebrates the great hardness of it (Levit. xxvi. 19; Deut. xxviii. 23, 48); takes notice that the bedstead of Og, king of Bashan, was of iron (Deut. iii. 11); speaks of mines of iron (Deut. viii. 9); and he compares the severity of the servitude of the Israelites in Egypt, to the heat of a furnace for melting iron (Deut. iv. 20). We find also that swords (Numb. xxxv. 16), knives (Levit. i. 17), axes (Deut. xix. 5), and tools for cutting stones (Deut. xxvii. 5) were made of iron. By the "northern iron," Jer. xv. 12, we may probably understand the hardened iron, called in Greek xaλv, from the Chalybes, a people | each other, 1 Kings x. 18. ́Ivory is bordering on the Euxine sea, and here described as 57 SCHEN GEdul, consequently living to the north of great tooth, which clearly shews that Judea, by whom the art of temper- it was imported in the whole tusk. ing steel is said to be discovered. 'It was, however, ill described as a Strabo speaks of this people by the tooth," says the Author of " Scripname of Chalybes, but afterwards ture Illustrated;" "for tooth it is Chaldæi; and mentions their iron not, but a weapon of defence, not mines, lib. xii. p. 549. These, how- unlike the tusks of a wild boar, and ever, were a different people from for the same purposes as the horns the Chaldeans who were united of other animals. This has prompted with the Babylonians. Ezekiel to use another periphrasis for describing it; and he calls it IVORY. W SCHENHABBIM; from 1 SCHEN, a tooth; and a KERENUTH SCHEN, horns of HABBIM, elephants. EAED ANTINO2, Rev. xviii. 12. The first time that ivory is mentioned in Scripture is, in the reign of Solomon. If the forty-fifth Psalm was written before the Canticles, and before Solomon had constructed his royal and magnificent throne, then that is the first mention of this com modity. It is spoken of as used in decorating those boxes of perfume, whose odours were employed to exhilarate the king's spirits. It is probable that Solomon, who traded to India, first brought thence elephants and ivory to Judea. "For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish, with the navy of Hiram: once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold and silver, and ivory." 1 Kings x. 22; 2 Chron. ix. 21. “India mittit ebur, molles sua thura Sabai." teeth. This, however, is liable to great objection, since the idea of horns and of teeth, to those who have never seen an elephant, must have been very confused, if not contradictory. Nevertheless, the combination is ingenious; for the defences which furnish the ivory, answer the purposes of horns; while, by issuing from the mouth, they are not unaptly allied to teeth." Several of the ancients have expressly called these tusks horns, particularly Varro, de Ling. Lat. lib. vi. says of them, "Quos dentes multi dicunt, sunt cornua:" what many people call teeth, are horns. The LXX render the two Hebrew words by odovτaç ελεφαντινους ; and the Vulgate, "dentes eburneos." The Targum, however, in Ezekiel, separates and, explaining the former word by horns of the rock-goats, and the latter, by elephant's teeth 30. Cabinets and wardrobes were orcalled marquetry. Psalm xlv. 8. namented with ivory, by what is "Quale per artem Inclusum buxo aut Oricia terebintho VIRG. Æn. x. v. 13531. These were named "houses of ivory," probably because made in the form of a house or palace; as the silver Naot of Diana, mentioned Acts xix. 24, were in the form of 30 See Michaelis, Geogr. Hebr. Exter. pars i. p. 204. It seems that Solomon had a throne decorated with ivory, and inlaid with gold; the beauty of these materials relieving the splen-sal. 1. x. v. 119. Horat. Carm. 1. ii. Od. 17, dour, and heightening the lustre of v. 1. Ovid Met. l. ii. v. 3. 31 See also Athenæus, 1. ii. Lucan, Phar her temple at Ephesus; and as we | evident from Horace, Carm. l. ii. have now ivory models of the Chi- Ode xviii. v. 1. " nese pagodas or temples. In this sense I understand what is said of the ivory house which Ahab made, 1 Kings xxii. 39; for the Hebrew word translated "house," is used, as Dr. Taylor well observes, for "a place, or case, wherein any thing lieth, is contained, or laid up.' Ezekiel gives the name of house to chests of rich apparel, ch. xxvii. 24. Dr. Durell, in his note on Psalm xlv. 8, quotes places from Homer and Euripides, where the same appropriation is made. Hesiod makes the same, Op. et D. v. 96. As to dwelling-houses, the most, I think, we can suppose in regard to them is, that they might have ornaments of ivory, as they sometimes have of gold, silver, or other precious materials, in such abundance, as to derive an appellation from the article of their decoration; as the emperor Nero's palace, mentioned by Suetonius, in Nerone, c. 31, was named "aurea," or golden, because "lita auro," overlaid with gold. This method of ornamenting buildings, or apartments, was very ancient among the Greeks. Homer, Odys. iv. v. 72, mentions ivory as employed in the palace of Menelaus at Lacedæ mon. Χαλκός τε τερπην, και δώματα ήχήεντα Above, beneath, around the palace, shines "Non ebur, neque aureum Mea renidet in domo lacunar." Nor ivory, nor golden roof And no doubt, when Ovid. Metam. 1. ii. v. 3, said of the palace of the sun, "Cujus ehur nitidum fastigia summa tegebat," Its lofty roof shining with ivory bright, his idea was taken from some ancient palaces or temples. So, in modern times, Lady M. W. Montague, affirms, Let. xxxix. v. ii. p. 146, that in the Haram of the fair Fatima of Constantinople, which she had seen, "the winter apartment was wainscoted with inlaid work of mother-of-pearl, ivory of different colours, and olive wood." Our marginal translation in Cantic. v. 13, renders the Hebrew words, "towers of perfumes," which Harmer, Outlines, p. 165, says, may mean vases in which odoriferous perfumes are kept. Amos vi. 4, speaks of beds, or sofas of ivory. So we read in Homer, Odyss. xix. v. 55, of kλioinvδινωτην ελεφαντι και αργύρω, α couch wreathed with ivory and silver: and Odyss. xxiii. v. 199, of λɛxos δαιδαλλων χρυσω τε και αργυρω ηδ' ελεφαντι, variegating a bed with gold, silver, and ivory. If we might trust to the Chaldee interpreter, the knowledge of ivory would be much more ancient than we have supposed it; for this authority informs us, that Joseph placed And Bacchylides, cited by Athe- his father Jacob on a bed of ivory. næus, lib. ii. says, that in the island" I would not altogether reject this Ceos, one of the Cyclades, the houses of the great men, xovσw deλɛpavri Tε μappainovoi, glister with gold and ivory. Lucan, in his description of the palace of Cleopatra, Pharsal. 1. x. v. 119, observes, that “Ebur atria vestit," ivory overlays the entrances. And that the Romans sometimes ornamented their apartments in like manner, seems interpretation (says the Author of Scripture Illustrated,) for ivory might be known in Egypt, either from Ethiopia, or by the caravans from the central parts of Africa; or it might be procured from India by means of trading vessels or trading merchants; and certainly, its beauty and ornament would well become the residence of the Nazir, or Lord Steward of the royal household of god were celebrated by frantic vothe Egyptian Pharaohs." taries crowned with ivy. In Ezek. xxvii. 6, the benches of the Tyrian ships are said to be "made of ivory.' The meaning is, ornamented. The author of "Fragments in continuation of Calmet," No. ccxvii. asserts, that "shrines" must be intended. On Rev. xviii. 12, see Kypke, Obs. sacr. tom. ii. p. 461, for some observations concerning the value which the ancients set upon ivory, and the various uses to which they applied it. IVY. KIZZ02. Lat. Hedera. In this passage, we are informed that "the Jews were compelled to go in procession to Bacchus, carrying ivy." The feasts of this heathen JACINTH. ΥΑΚΙΝΘΟΣ. Occ. Rev. xxi. 20; and, as an adjective, ch. ix. 17. The name of a gem, or precious stone 32, of a violet colour, arising from an admixture of red and blue. The hyacinth of Pliny 33 is now thought to be the amethyst of the moderns; and the amethysts of the ancients are now called garnets. In the Alexandrian version, by this Greek word, are translated the Hebrew лn TECELET, in Exod. xxv. 4; xxvi. 4; xxviii. 31; Numb. iv. 6, 9, 11; 2 Chron. ii. 7, 14, and iii. 14; rendered in our version " blue;" and wnn TACASH, "badger's skins,' in Numb. iv. 6, 8, 10, and Ezek. xvi. 10; and in both instances, a colour or tincture 34 is intended. 32"Hyacinthus lapis habens purpureum, et cæruleum colorem, ad modum illius floris." Vet. Dict. in Dict. Phil. Martini citatus. "Hyacinthus ex nominis sui flore vocatur." Isiodorus, lib. xvi. cap. 9. 33" Ille emicans in amethysto fulgor violaceus, dilutus est in hyacintho." Plin. N H. lib. xxxvii. c. 9. 34 Among the laws of Gratian, Valerian, and Theodosius, is this curious one: "Fu J JASPER. TO JASPEH. Exod. xxviii. 20; xxxix. 13; and Ezek. xxviii. 13. ΙΑΣΠΙΣ, Rev. iv. 3, and xxi. 11, 18, 19. The Greek and Latin name Jaspis, as well as the English Jasper, is plainly derived from the Hebrew, and leaves little room to doubt what species of gem is meant by the original word. The jasper is usually defined, a hard stone, of a bright, beautiful green colour; sometimes clouded with white, and spotted with red or yellow. .ROTHEM רתם .JUNIPER Occ. 1 Kings xix. 4, 5; Job xxx. 4; and Psalm cxx. 435 As the Arabic word ratam, which answers to the Hebrew ROTHEM, canda atque distrahenda purpura vel in serico, vel in lana, qua blatta vel oxyblattea atque hyacinthina dicitur, facultatem nullus possit habere privatus. Sin autem aliquis supradicti muricis vellus vendiderit, fortunarum suarum et capitis sciat se subiturum esse discrimen." 35 See Joh. Stengel, "De Junipero Biblico." Biblioth. Brem. Class. vii. fasci. 5. p. 856. |
