after the vintage, to browse on the vines, some of which are so large, that a man can hardly compass their trunks in his arms. These facts clearly show, that agreeably to the prediction of Jacob, the ass might be securely bound to the vine, and without damaging the tree by browsing on its leaves and branches. The same custom appears, from the narratives of several travellers, to have generally prevailed in the Lesser Asia. Chandler observed, that in the vineyards around Smyrna, the leaves of the vines were decayed or stripped by the camels, or herds of goats, which are permitted to browse upon them after the vin tage. When he left Smyrna on the thirtieth of September, the vineyards were already bare; but when he arrived at Phygela, on the fifth or sixth of October, he found its territory still green with vines; which is a proof, that the vineyards at Smyrna must have been stripped by the cattle, which delight to feed upon the foliage. This custom furnishes a satisfactory reason for a regulation in the laws of Moses, the meaning of which has been very imperfectly understood, which forbids a man to introduce his beast into the vineyard of his neighbour. It was destructive to the vineyard before the fruit was gathered; and after the vintage, it was still a serious injury, because it deprived the owner of the fodder, which was most grateful to his flocks and herds, and perhaps absolutely requisite for their subsistence during the winter. These things considered, we discern in this enactment, the justice, wisdom, and kindness of the great legislator: and the same traits of excellence might no doubt be discovered in the most obscure and minute regulation, could we detect the reason on which it is founded.-PAXTON.

Ver. 14. Issachar is a strong ass, couching down between two burdens: 15. And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute,

The ass is not more remarkable for his power to sustain, than for his patience and tranquillity when oppressed by an unequal load. Like the camel, he quietly submits to he heavies: burden; he bears it peaceably, till he can proceed no farther; and when his strength fails him, instead of resisting or endeavouring to throw off the oppressive weight, he contentedly lies down, and rests himself under it, recruits his vigour with the provender that may be offered him, and then, at the call of his master, proceeds on his journey. To this trait in the character of that useful animal, the dying patriarch evidently refers, when, under the afflatus of inspiration, he predicts the future lot and conduct of Issachar and his descendants. "Issachar is a strong ass, couching down between two burdens. And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant, and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute." This tribe, naturally dull and stupid, should, like he creature by which they were characterized, readily ubmit to the vilest master and the meanest service. Alnough, like the ass, possessed of ability, if properly exertd and rightly directed, to shake off the inglorious yoke of cervitude, they would basely submit to the insults of the Phenicians on the one hand, and the Samaritans on the other. Issachar was a strong ass, "able," says a sprightly writer, "to refuse a load, as well as to bear it; but like the passive drudge which symbolized him, he preferred inglorious ease to the resolute vindication of his liberty; a burden of tribute, to the gains of a just and well-regulated freedom; and a yoke of bondage, to the doubtful issues of war."-PAXTON.

"Couching down between two burdens." The original word rendered" burdens," we believe, after careful investigation, properly signifies the double partition forming the sides of a stall for cattle or asses, or the bars and timbers of which they were made. A similar structure was erected about the dwellings of the Jews, in which their pots, Fettles, and other kitchen utensils, were hung, and therefore rendered by Gusset, in Ps. 68. 14, "pot-ranges." This expression, as applied to a region of country, would natually be supposed to imply two very marked and conspicuous limits, as for instance two ranges of mountains encloing a valley, and by a very remarkable coincidence the ribe of Issachar received for its lot, in the distribution of

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the land, the fertile and delightful vale of Esdraelon, lying between ranges of hills, in the peaceful and industrious occupancy of which they might very justly be likened to an ass reposing between the sides of his stall. "Here, on this plain," says Dr. Clarke," the most fertile part of all the land of Canaan, which, though a solitude, we found like one vast meadow covered with the richest pasture, the tribe of Issachar rejoiced in their tents.'" There is no authority whatever for rendering it "burdens," which seems to have been suggested solely by the words "couching between," as it was unnatural to suppose that if an ass couched between any two objects, it would of course be between two burdens. But as the blessings of several of the other sons have respect to the geographical features of their destined inheritance, it is natural to look for something of the same kind in that of Issachar, and viewed in this light the words yield a clear and striking sense, the appropriateness of which to the matter of fact is obvious to every eye. Chal. "Issachar rich in substance, and his possession shall be between the bounds;" Syr. "Issachar, a gigantic man, lying down between the paths;" Targ. Jon. "He shall lie down between the limits of his brethren;" Jerus. Targ. "and his boundary shall be situated between two limits."-"He saw that rest was good." Instead of interpreting this prediction with many commentators to the disparagement of Issachar, as though he were to be addicted to ignominious ease, we understand it in a sense directly the reverse, as intimating that he should have so high an esteem of the promised "rest" in another life, that he should give himself to unremitting labour in this; that he should be so intent upon "inheriting the earth" after the resurrection, the reversion of the saints, that he should willingly subject himself to toil, privation, and every species of endurance, with a view to secure the exceeding great reward. Thus his character would correspond with his name, the import of which is, " he shall bear or carry a reward."-Busn.

Ver. 17. Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse-heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.

The only allusion to this species of serpent, (the Cerastes, or horned snake,) in the sacred volume, occurs in the valedictory predictions of Jacob, where he describes the character and actions of Dan and his posterity: "Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder (sephiphon) in the path, that biteth the horse's heels, so that his rider shall fall backward." It is indisputably clear, that the patriarch intended some kind of serpent; for the circumstances will not apply to a freebooter watching for his prey. It only remains to investigate the species to which it belongs. The principal care of the Jewish writers, is to ascertain the etymology of the name, about which their sentiments are much divided. The Arabian authors quoted by Bochart, inform us, that the Sephiphon is a most pernicious reptile, and very dangerous to man. It is of a sandy colour, variegated with black and white spots. The particulars in the character of Dan, however, agree better with the Cerastes, or horned snake, than with any other species of serpent. It lies in wait for passengers in the sand, or in the rut of the wheels on the highway. From its lurking-place, it treacherously bites the horse's heels, so that the rider falls backward, in consequence of the animal's hinder legs becoming almost immediately torpid by the dreadful activity of the poison. The Cerastes is equally formidable to man and the lower animals; and the more dangerous, because it is not easy to distinguish him from the sand in which he lies; and he never spares the helpless traveller who unwarily comes within his reach. "He moves," says Mr. Bruce, "with great rapidity, and in all directions, forward, backward, and sidewise. When he inclines to surprise any one who is too far from him, he creeps with his side towards the person, and his head avertéd, till, judging his distance, he turns round, springs upon him, and fastens upon the part next to him; for it is no true, what is said, that the Cerastes does not leap or spring I saw one of them at Cairo, crawl up the side of a box, in which there were many, and there lie still as if hiding himself, till one of the people who brought them to us, came near him, and though in a very disadvantageous posture, sticking, as it were, perpendicular to the side of the box, he leaped near the distance of three feet, and fastened between

the man's fore-finger and thumb, so as to bring the blood. | The fellow showed no signs of either pain or fear: and we kept him with us full four hours, without applying any sort of remedy, or his seeming inclined to do so. To make myself assured that the animal was in its perfect state, I made the man hold him by the neck, so as to force him to open his mouth, and lacerate the thigh of a pelican, a bird I had tamed, as big as a swan. The bird died in about thirteen minutes, though it was apparently affected in fifty seconds; and we cannot think it was a fair trial, because a very few minutes before, it had bit, and so discharged a part of its virus, and it was made to scratch the pelican by force, without any irritation or action of its own." These serpents have always been considered as extremely cunning, both in escaping their enemies and seizing their prey: they have even been called insidious; a character which, from the preceding statement, they seem to deserve. The Orientals call him the lier in ambush; for, in this manner, both the Seventy and Samaritan render the text in Genesis; and this appellation well agrees with his habits. Pliny says, that the Cerastes hides its whole body in the sand, leaving only its horns exposed, which attract birds, who suppose them to be grains of barley, till they are undeceived, too late, by the darting of the serpent upon them. Ephraim, the Syrian, also. mentions a kind of serpents whose heads only are seen above the ground. Like the Cerastes, Dan was to excel in cunning and in artifice, to prevail against his enemies, rather by his policy in the cabinet than by his valour in the field. But all the Jewish expositors refer the words of Jacob to Samson, who belonged to that tribe, and was undoubtedly the most illustrious personage of whom they could boast. This remarkable man, Jehovah raised up to deliver his chosen people, not so much by his valour, although his actions clearly showed, that he was by no means deficient in personal courage, as by his artful and unexpected stratagems. This interpretation has been adopted by several Christian expositors; while it has been opposed by others as a needless refinement. It is unnecessary, and perhaps improper, to restrict the prediction to Samson, when it can with equal propriety be applied to the whole tribe. Whether the words of Jacob, in this instance, were meant to express praise or blame, it may be difficult to determine; but, if the deceitful and dangerous character of the Cerastes, to which Dan is compared, be duly considered, the latter is more probable.-PAXTON.

Ver. 22. Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall.

To the northward and westward are several villages, interspersed with extensive orchards and vineyards, the latter of which are generally enclosed by high walls. The Persian vine-dressers do all in their power to make the vine run up the walls, and curl over on the other side, which they do by tying stones to the extremity of the tendril. The vine, particularly in Turkey and Greece, is frequently made to intwine on trellises, around a well, where, in the heat of the day, whole families collect themselves, and sit under the shade.-MORIER.

All this falls very naturally on an eastern ear. Joseph was the fruitful bough of Jacob, and being planted near a well, his leaf would not wither, and he would bring forth his fruit in his season. Great delight is taken in all kinds of creepers, which bear edible fruits, and the natives allow them to run over the walls and roofs of their houses. The term "branches" in the verse is in the margin rendered "daughters;" and it is an interesting fact, (and one which will throw light on some other passages,) that the same term is used here to denote the same thing. "That man has only one Chede, i. e. branch, daughter." "The youngest Chede (branch) has got married this day." "Where are your branches?" They are all married." "What a young branch to be in this state !-how soon it has given fruit!" When a mother has had a large family, "That branch has borne plenty of fruit." A husband will say to his wife, who is steril," Of what use is a branch which bears not fruit?" The figure is much used in poetry.ROBERTS.

The people of Israel, and other oriental nations of those days, appear to have bestowed particular attention on the eultivation of the vine. The site of the vineyard was care

fully chosen in f.elds of a loose crumbling soil, on a rich plain, or on a sloping hill rising with a gentle ascent; or, where the acclivity was very steep, on terraces supported by masonry, and turned as much as possible from the setting sun. The plot was enclosed with a wall; the stones and other encumbrances were removed, and the choicest plants were selected to form the plantation. Within the vineyard, low walls were sometimes raised for the purpose of supporting the vines; a practice which seems to have been adopted before the days of Jacob; for in the blessing of Joseph, he speaks of it in a manner which shows that it was quite familiar to the vine-dresser: "Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall." By this beautiful image then it appears, that while the dying patriarch justly appreciated and highly praised the admirable qualities of his beloved son, he intimated to his family in the most delicate but significant manner, their obligation to Joseph for the protection and comfort they enjoyed under his government.-PAXTON. Ver. 22. Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall: 23. The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him.

I have shown, in preceding observations, that vines in Judea sometimes grow against low stone walls; but 1 do not apprehend the ingenious Mr. Barrington can be right, when he supposes, in a paper of his on the patriarchal customs and manners, that Joseph is compared to a vine growing against the wall, Gen. xlix. 22. As vines are sometimes planted against a low wall, they might possibly be planted against a low wall surrounding a well: though it is difficult to guess, why a wall should be built round a well, in a vineyard, of such a height as to be proper for the support of a vine; and if it were, why archers direct their arrows against it, when it would be so easy to gather the fruit by hand, without injury. But I suppose this is not an exact representation. In the first place, a vine is not mentioned; it is only a fruitful tree, in general, to which Joseph is compared. Secondly, The being situated near water, is extremely conducive, in that dry and hot country, to the flourishing of vegetables in general; and trees among the rest. "We came," says Maundrell, "to the fountain of Elisha. Close by the fountain grows a large tree, spreading into boughs over the water, and here in the shade we took a collation.", A tree, we find, planted near plenty of water, grows there to a large size. Thirdly, the wild Arabs of those countries are great plunderers of fruit. Maillet assigns that as the reason why the fruit of the land of Egypt, in these later times, is not better, namely. that they are wont to gather it before it is properly ripened, on account of the Arabs, who would otherwise rob them of it. Fourthly, It is very well known, that walls easily stop Arabs, who are continually on horseback in their roving about, and do not care to quit them, nor are used to climb walls. They had no better way then to get the fruit of those trees, whose luxuriant boughs ran over the walls of their enclosures, than by throwing their bludgeons at them, and gathering up the fruit that fell on the outside of the wall. To these things should be added, Fifthly, That the word translated arrows, means, not only those things that we are wont to call arrows, but such sticks as are thrown by the hand, as well as those missile weapons that are darted by means of a bow; for we find the word is made use of to express the staff of a spear, 1 Sam. xvii. 7, and consequently any piece of wood long in proportion to its diameter, especially if used as a missile instrument. The lords of arrows own by baalee chitseem, for that is the Hebrew expression, conformable to an eastern mode of speech, which we translate archers, is a natural description of the wild Arabs, those lords of bludgeons, in committing their depredations on the eastern gardens and vineyards. But this manner of treating the vine would not be advantageous; bunches of grapes are by no means thus to be dislodged, and the fall would spoil the fruit. But there are other trees whose fruit might thus be gathered; among the rest, I suppose the pomegranate, whose fruit has so hard a shell, as neither to be injured by the fall, or destroyed by an accidental blow of the sticks they used for pelting the tree. The destroying a man is sometimes compared to the cutting down a tree: "I knew not," said the Prophet Jere

miah, "that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered," Jer. xi. 19. But the envious brethren of Joseph did not imbrue their hands in his blood, they did not destroy him as men destroy a tree when they cut it down, but they terribly distressed him; they sold him for a slave into Egypt: he had flourished in the favour of his father and of his Gop, like a tree by a reservoir of water; but they for a time dishonoured him, as a tree is disgraced by the breaking its boughs, and knocking off its leaves, by the wild Arabs, who want to derive some advantage from battering it after this manner, when they cannot come at it to destroy it.-HARMER.

Ver. 27. Benjamin shall raven as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.

The wolf is weaker than the lion or the bear, and less courageous than the leopard; but he scarcely yields to them in cruelty and rapaciousness. So Benjamin, although not destitute of courage and address, nor disinclined to war, possessed neither the strength, nor the manly spirit of Judah, whose symbol was the lion's whelp; but yet he was greedy of blood, and delighted in rapine; and in the early periods of Jewish history, he distinguished himself by an active and restless spirit, which commonly, like the wolf among lambs and kids, spent itself in petty or inglorious warfare, although it sometimes blazed forth in deeds of heroic valour, and general utility. He had the honour of giving the second judge to the nation of Israel, who delivered them from the oppressive yoke of Moab; and the first king who sat on the throne of that chosen people, whose valour saved them from the iron sceptre of Ammon, and more than once revenged the barbarities of the uncircumcised Philistines upon their discomfited hosts. In the decline of the Jewish commonwealth, Esther and Mordecai, who were both of this tribe, successfully interposed with the King of Persia, for the deliverance of their brethren, and took their station in the first rank of public benefactors. But the tribe of Benjamin ravened like wolves, that are so ferocio is as to devour one another, when they desperately espoused the case of Gibeah, and in the dishonourable

Ver. 26. So Joseph died, being a hundred and ten years old and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

The people of the East do not in general put their dead in a coffin; they simply fold up the corpse in a mat. When dying, the head is always placed towards the south, and in the grave also in the same direction. When a person is very ill, should another ask how he is, he will reply, "Ah! his head is towards the south;" meaning there is no hope. -ROBERTS.

When Joseph died, he was not only embalmed, but put in a coffin. This was an honour appropriated to persons of distinction, coffins not being universally used in Egypt. Maillet, speaking of the Egyptian repositories of the dead, having given an account of several niches that are found there, says, "it must not be imagined that the bodies deposited in these gloomy apartments were all enclosed in chests, and placed in niches; the greatest part were simply embalmed and swathed after that manner that every one hath some notion of; after which they laid them one by the side of another without any ceremony: some were even put into these tombs without any embalming at all, or such a slight one, that there remains nothing of them in the linen in which they were wrapped but the bones, and those half rotten." Antique coffins of stone, and sycamore wood, are still to be seen in Egypt. It is said that some were formerly made of a kind of pasteboard, formed by folding and gluing cloth together a great number of times; these were curiously plastered and painted with hieroglyphics.THEVENOT.

CHAP. 1. ver. 14. And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.

Of a bad man it is said, in the East, "He makes the lives of his servants bitter." Also, "Ah! the fellow: the heart of his wife is made bitter." My soul is bitter." "My heart is like the bitter tree."-ROBERTS.

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Ver. 16. And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools, if it be a son, then ye shall kill him; but if it be a daughter, then she shall live. There have been great difficulties started in the nature and use of the instruments here rendered stools, (Heb. stones.) According to the rendering of the established version, it would seem that they were designed for procuring a more easy delivery for women in labour. But besides that stone seats were obviously very unfit for such a purpose, the Hebrew word plainly signifies a vessel of stone for holding water, (Ex. vii. 19.) A far more probable interpretation, we think, is made out by referring the pronoun them, not to the mothers, but to the children. The sense of the passage would then be this:-"When ye see the new-born children, for the purpose of being washed, laid in the troughs or vessels of stone for holding water, ye shall destroy the boys." A passage from Thevenot seems to confirm this construction. The kings of Persia are so afraid of being deprived of that power which they abuse, and are so apprehensive of being dethroned, that they destroy the children of their female relations, when they are brought to bed of boys, by pulling them into an earthen trough, where they suffer them to starve;" that is, probably, under pretence of preparing to wash them, they let them pine away or destroy them in the water.-B.

Ver. 19. And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them. Oriental women suffer little from parturition; for those of better condition are frequently on foot the day after de livery, and out of all confinement on the third day. They seldom call midwives, and when they do, they are sometimes delivered before they come to their assistance; the poorer sort, while they are labouring or planting, go aside, deliver themselves, wash the child, lay it in a cloth, and return to work again. The same facility attended the Hebrew women in Egypt; and the assertion of the midwives seems to have been literally true.-PAXTON.

CHAP. 2. ver. 5. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side. All this is very natural. Wherever there is a river, or a tank, which is known to be free from alligators, there females go in companies to some retired place to bathe. There are so many ceremonies, and so many causes for defilement, among the Hindoos, that the duty has often to be attended to. In the Scanda Purana, the beautiful daughter of Mongaly is described as going to the river with her maidens to bathe.--ROBERTS.

CHAP. 3. ver. 5. And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet; for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

See on Gen. 14. 23.

No heathen would presume to go on holy ground, or enter a temple, or any other sacred place, without first taking off his sandals. Even native Christians, on entering a church or chapel, generally do the same thing. No respectable man would enter the house of another without having first taken off his sandals, which are generally left at the door, or taken inside by a servant.-ROBERTS.

CHAP. 7. ver. 1. And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh; and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.

A man who is afraid to go into the presence of a king, or a governor, or a great man, will seek an interview with the minister, or some principal character; and should he be much alarmed, it will be said, "Fear not, friend; I will make you as a god to the king." "What! are you afraid of the collector? fear not; you will be as a god to him." "Yes, yes, that upstart was once much afraid of the great ones; but now he is like a god among them."-ROBERTS.

Ver. 12. For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods.

The rods of the magicians were hardly travelling staves, but doubtless such as they bore by virtue of their office as priests and servants of God. The Roman augurs were, in the like manner, accustomed to carry a staff called litures, which was crooked at the top, as described by, Cicero (on Divination, b. i. chap. 17.) That these staves were a Roman invention, is improbable; they were derived, like others of their sacred customs, from the religion of older nations.—Burder.

Ver. 18. And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink of the water of the river.

There are few wells in Egypt, but their waters are not drank, being unpleasant and unwholesome; the water of the Nile is whatthey universally make use of in this country, which is looked upon to be extraordinarily wholesome, and at the same time, extremely delicious. "The water of Egypt," says the Arbè Mascrier, " is so delicious, that one would not wish the heat should be less, nor to be delivered from the sensation of thirst. The Turks find it so exquisitely charming, that they excite themselves to drink of it by eating salt. It is a common saying among them, that if Mohammed had drank of it, he would have begged of GOD not to have died, that he might always have done it. They add, that whoever has once drank of it, he ought to drink of it a second time. This is what the people of the country told me, when they saw me return from ten years' absence. When the Egyptians undertake the pilgrimage of Mecca, or go out of their country on any other account, they speak of nothing but the pleasure they shall find at their return in drinking the Nile water. There is nothing to be compared to this satisfaction; it surpasses in their esteem that of seeing their relations again, and their families. Agreeably to this, all those that have tasted of this water allow that they never met with the like in any other place. In truth, when one drinks of it the first time, it seems to be some water prepared by art. It has something in it inexpressibly agreeable a pasing to the taste; and we ought to give it perhap same rank among waters, which champaigne has among wines. I must confess, however, it has, to my taste, too much sweetness. But its most valuable quality is, that it is infinitely salutary. Drink it in what quantities you will, it never in

the least incommodes you. This is so true, that it is no uncommon thing to see some persons drink three buckets of it in a day, without finding the least inconvenience. When I give such encomiums to the water of Egypt, it is right to observe, that I speak only of that of the Nile, which indeed is the only water there which is drinkable. Wellwater is detestable and unwholesome; fountains are so rare, that they are a kind of prodigy in that country; and as for the rain-water, it would be in vain to attempt preserving that, since scarce any falls in Egypt." The embellishments of a Frenchman may be seen here, but the fact, however, in general is indubitable. A person that never before heard of this delicacy of the water of the Nile, and the large quantities that on that account, are drank of it, will, I am very sure, find an energy in those words of Moses to Pharaoh, Exod. vii. 18, The Egyptian shall loathe to drink of the water of the river, which he never observed before. They will loathe to drink of that water which they used to prefer to all the waters of the universe, loathe to drink of that which they had been wont eagerly to long for; and will rather choose to drink of well-water, which is in their country so detestable. And as none of our commentators, that I know of, have observed this energy, my reader, hope, will not be displeased that I have remarked it here. -HARMER.

Ver. 19. And that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone.

Perhaps these words do not signify, that the water that had been taken up into their vessels, was changed into blood. The water of the Nile is known to be very thick and muddy, and they purify it either by a paste made of almonds, or by filtrating it through certain pots of white earth, which is the preferable way, and therefore the possession of one of these pots is thought a great happiness. Now, may not the meaning of this passage be, that the water of the Nile should not only look red and nauseous, like blood in the river, but in their vessels too, when taken up in small quantities; and that no method whatever of purifying it should take place, but whether drank out of vessels of wood, or out of vessels of stone, by means of which they were wont to purge the Nile water, it should be the same, and should appear like blood? Some method must have been used in very early days to clarify the water of the Nile; the mere letting it stand to settle, hardly seems sufficient, especially if we consider the early elegance that obtained in Egypt. So simple an invention then as filtrating vessels may easily be supposed to be as ancient as the time of Moses; and to them therefore it seems natural to suppose the threatening refers.-HARMER.

The changing of the river into blood, in colour, I saw partially accomplished. For the first four or five days of the Nile's increase the waters are of a muddy red; owing to their being impregnated with a reddish coal in the upper country; as this is washed away, the river becomes of a greenish yellow for four or five days. When I first observed this, I perceived that the animalcule in the water were more numerous than at any other period; even the Arabs would not drink the water without straining it through a rag: "And the river stank, and the Egyptians

could not drink of the water of the river."-MADDEN.

CHAP. 8. ver. 4. And the frogs shall come up, both on thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants.

This loathsome plague extended to every place, and to every class of men. The frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt; they entered into their houses, and into their bed-chambers; they crawled upon their persons, upon their beds, and into their kitchen utensils. The whole country, their palaces, their temples, their persons-all was polluted and hateful. Nor was it in their power to wash away the nauseous filth with which they were tainted, for every stream and every lake was full of pollution. To a people who affected the most scrupulous purity in their persons, their habitations, and manner of living, nothing almost can be conceived more insufferable than this plague. The frog is, compared with many other reptiles, a harmess animal; it neither injures by its bite nor by its poison:

but it must have excited on that occasion, a disgust which rendered life an almost insupportable burden. The eye was tormented with beholding the march of their impure legions, and the ear with hearing the harsh tones of their voices: the Egyptians could recline upon no bed where they were not compelled to admit their cold and filthy embrace; they tasted no food which was not infected by their touch; and they smelled no perfume, but the foetid stench of their slime, or the putrid exhalations emitted from their dead carcasses. The insufferable annoyance of such insignificant creatures illustriously displayed the power of God, while it covered the haughty and unfeeling persecutors of his people with confusion, and filled them with utter dismay. How much the Egyptians endured from this visitation, is evident from the haste with which Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron, and begged the assistance of their prayers: "Entreat the Lord that he may take away the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people go that they may do sacrifice unto the Lord." Reduced to great extremity, and receiving no deliverance from the pretended miracles of his magicians, he had recourse to that God, concerning whom he had so proudly demanded, "Who is Jehovah, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go?" Subdued and instructed by adversity, he implores his compassion, and acknowledges the glory of his name; but, as the event proved, not with a sincere heart: "Then said Moses, Glory over me;" an obscure phrase, which is explained by the next clause, " when shall I entreat for thee?" that is, according to some writers, although it belongs not to thee, Pharaoh, to prescribe to me the time of thy deliverance, which entirely depends on the will and pleasure of God alone; yet I, who am a prophet, and the interpreter of his will, grant thee, in his name, the choosing of the time when this plague shall be removed. But this interpretation is more ingenious than solid. Moses intends rather to suggest an antithesis between the perverse boasting of the proud monarch, and the pious gloríation of the humbled penitent, who was now reduced to cry for mercy. Thus far, said Moses, thou hast trusted in thine own pow. er; then, fascinated with the deceitful miracle of the magicians, thou hast perversely exalted thyself against the God of heaven; now rather glory that thou hast in me an intercessor with God, whose prayers for thy deliverance he will not refuse to hear: and in proof that he is the only true God, and that I bear his commission, fix thou the time of deliverance.

"And he said, To-morrow. And he said, Be it according to thy word: that thou mayst know, that there is none like unto the Lord our God." To-morrow, said Pharaoh: but why not to-day? It was to be expected, that the vexed and humbled monarch would ask for instant relief. It is prob able, the king had called Moses and Aaron in the evening, and that he durst not ask the promised deliverance on the same day, because he thought it was not to be obtained without many prayers. Whatever might be the true reason of Pharaoh's procrastination, the renowned Calvin seems to have no ground for his opinion, that his only reason was, after obtaining his desire, to depart as formerly from his engagement to let the people go; and that Moses, content with his promise, retired to intercede with Jehovah in his favour. That great man was persuaded, that the plague was immediately removed, not suffered to continue till next day. It is better, however, to abide by the obvious mean. ing of the clear and precise terms used on that occasion, both by the king and the prophet: "and he said, To-morrow. And he said, Be it according to thy word." Moses and Aaron, it is true, "went out from Pharaoh, and immediately cried unto the Lord, because of the frogs which he had brought against Pharaoh." But it is not said, the Lord immediately removed the plague; but only, that he “did according to the word of Moses." Now, Moses had promised relief next day, in the clearest terms, and we have every reason to suppose, that his intercession proceeded upon his promise; therefore, when the Lord did according to the word of Moses, he removed the frogs on the next day. They were not, however, swept away, like the locusts which succeeded them, but destroyed, and left on the face of the ground. They were not annihilated, nor resolved into mud, nor marched back into the river, from whence they had come; but left dead upon the ground, to prove the truth of the miracle,-that they had not died by the hands of men, but by the power of God; that the great deliverance