"to be beaten in pieces by an indented flail, or to be "crushed by their brazen hoofs. He scatters his ene"mies like chaff upon the mountains, and disperses "them with the whirlwind of his indignation," «Behold I have made thee a threshing wain; "A new corn-drag armed with pointed teeth : "Thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, "And reduce the hills to chaff. "Thou shalt winnow them, and the wind shall bear them away; "And the tempest shall scatter them abroad.” Of these quotations it is to be remarked, first, that the nature of this metaphor, and the mode of applying it, are constantly and cautiously regarded by the different authors of the sacred poems; and on this account, notwithstanding the boldness of it, both chastity and perspicuity are preserved: since they apply it solely to exaggerate the slaughter and dispersion of the wicked. The force and aptness of the image itself in illustrating the subject, will also afford a very proper and ready apology for some degree of freedom in the application of it, particularly if we advert to the nature and method of this rustic operation in Palestine. It was performed in a high situation exposed to the wind, by bruising the ear, either by driving in upon the sheaves a herd of cattle, or else by an instrument constructed of large planks, and sharpened underneath with stones or iron; and sometimes by a machine in the form of a cart, with iron wheels or axles indented, which Varro calls Phonicum,3 as being brought to Italy by the Carthaginians from Phoenicia, which was adjacent to Palestine. From this it is plain (not to mention that the descriptions agree in every particular) that the same custom was common 4 HAB. iii. 12. JOEL iii. 14. JER. li. 33. ISAI. xxi. 10. 5 Mic. iv. 13. 7 ISAI. xli. 15, 16. 6 PSALM lxxxiii. 14, 16. ISAI. xvii. 15. * De Re Rust. 1. 52. both to the Hebrews and the Romans; and yet I do not recollect that the latter have borrowed any of their poetical imagery from this occupation. It is proper, however, to remark, that this image was obvious and famil iar to the Hebrews in a high degree, as we learn from what is said of the threshing-floor of Ornan' the Jebusite, which was situated in an open place (as were all the rest) in Jerusalem itself, and in the highest part of the city, in the very place, indeed, where the temple of Solomon was afterwards erected. Homer, who was uncommonly fond of every picture of rural life, esteemed that under our consideration so beautiful and significant, that, in a few instances,1o he draws his comparisons from the threshing-floor (for even he was fearful of the boldness of this image in the form of a metaphor.) Two of these comparisons he introduces to illustrate light subjects, contrary to the practice of the Hebrews; but the third is employed upon a subject truly magnificent, and this, as it approaches in some degree the sublimity of the Hebrew, it may not be improper to recite: "As with autumnal harvests cover'd o'er, "And thick bestrown, lies Ceres' sacred floor, "Tread down whole ranks, and crush out heroes' souls."i This comparison, however, though deservedly accounted one of the grandest and most beautiful which antiquity has transmitted to us, still falls greatly short of the Hebrew boldness and sublimity. A Hebrew writer would have compared the hero himself with the instrument, and not his horses with the oxen that are harness 9 2 CHRON. iii. 1. 10 See Iliad v. & xiii. 588. 11 POPE'S Iliad xx. 577. ed to it, which is rather too apposite, and too exactly similar. But custom had not given equal licence to the Greek poetry; this image had not been equally familiar, had not occupied the same place as with the Hebrews; nor had acquired the same force and authority by long prescription. I ought not in this place to omit that supremely magnificent delineation of the divine vengeance, expressed by imagery taken from the wine-press; an image which very frequently occurs in the sacred poets, but which no other poetry has presumed to introduce. But where shall we find expressions of equal dignity with the original in any modern language? By what art of the pencil can we exhibit even a shadow or an outline of that description, in which Isaiah depicts the Messiah as coming to vengeance ?13 "Who is this that cometh from Edom? "With garments deeply died from Botsra? 12 This will be more fully explained in Lect. XII. 13 See ISAI. Ixiii. 1-3. Our author, in his excellent commentary on Isaiah, has a very long note, proving against some learned interpreters (I suppose Jewish) that Judas Maccabeus could not be the subject of this prophecy. He asserts very properly that the glorious, but fruitless, effort of the Maccabees, was not an event adequate to so lofty a prediction : and he adds another very material circumstance, which he presumes entirely excludes Judas Maccabeus, and even the Idumeans properly so called; for "the Idumea of the prophet's time was quite a different country from that which Judas conquered. To the question, "to whom does it then apply?" he answers, to no event that he knows of in history, unless perhaps the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish polity, which in the gospel is called the coming of Christ, and the days of vengeance. He adds, however, that there are prophecies, which intimate a great slaughter of the enemies of God and his people, which remain to be fulfilled : these in Ezekiel and in the Revelation are called Gog and Magog, and possibly this prophecy may refer to the same or the like event. T. "I who publish righteousness,14 and am mighty to save. "And thy garments, as one that treadeth the wine-vat? "And of the peoples there was not a man with me. "And I trod them in mine anger; "And I trampled on them in mine indignation; "And their life-blood was sprinkled upon my garments; But the instances are innumerable which might be quot ed of metaphors taken from the manners and customs of the Hebrews. One general remark, however, may be made upon this subject, namely, that from one simple, regular, and natural mode of life having prevailed among the Hebrews, it has arisen, that in their poetry these metaphors have less of obscurity, of meanness or depression, than could be expected, when we consider the antiquity of their writings, the distance of the scene, and the uncommon boldness and vivacity of their rhetoric. Indeed, to have made use of the boldest imagery with the most perfect perspicuity, and the most common and familiar with the greatest dignity, is a commendation almost peculiar to the sacred poets. I shall not hesitate to produce an example of this kind, in which the meanness of the image is fully equalled by the plainness and inelegance of the expression; and yet such is its consistency, such the propriety of its application, that I do not scruple to pronounce it sublime. The Almighty threatens the ultimate destruction of Jerusalem in these terms: L "And I will wipe Jerusalem, "He wipeth it, and turneth it upside down."15 14 In one manuscript this word stands, "the Announcer of righteousness." See bishop LowтH's Notes on Isaiah. 15 2 KINGS xxi. 13. This is the answer of some prophet as related by the historian. But many of these images must falsely appear mean and obscure to us, who differ so materially from the Hebrews in our manners and customs: but in such cases it is our duty neither too rashly to blame, nor too suddenly to despair. The mind should rather exert itself to discover, if possible, the connection between the literal and the figurative meanings, which, in abstruse subjects, frequently depending upon some very delicate and nice relation, eludes our penetration. An obsolete custom, for instance, or some forgotten circumstance, opportunely adverted to, will sometimes restore its true perspicuity and credit to a very intricate passage. Whether the instance I have at present in view may prove of any utility or not in this respect, I will not presume to say; it may possibly, however, serve to illustrate still further the nature of the Hebrew imagery, and the accuracy of their poets in the application of it. Either through choice or necessity, the infernal regions and the state of the dead has been a very common topic with the poets of every nation; and this difficult subject, which the most vigorous understanding is unable to fathom by any exertion of reason, and of which conjecture itself can scarcely form any adequate idea, they have ornamented with all the splendour of description, as one of the most important themes which could engage the human imagination. Thus the prompt and fertile genius of the Greeks, naturally adapted to the fabulous," has eagerly embraced the opportunity to in 16 I fear our author, who is not a little indebted to the Greeks, is rather unjustly severe upon them in this passage. The infernal regions of the Greeks, which probably they borrowed from the Egyptians, I have little doubt flowed from the very same source, and the seat of the soul was supposed to be under the earth, because the body was deposited there. Neither can it be denied that the Hebrew poets also feigned a sort of society or civil community of the departed souls, which without a doubt was utterly fabu |