carved with figures in relief, which were often made use of as objects of adoration among the ancient heathen. Chal.' Stone of worship.' 'In Ezek. 8. 8-11, there is a description of a subterraneous vault, the walls of which were covered with images of quadrupeds and creeping things, exactly like those of Egypt which are covered with hiero. glyphic figures. In the 12th verse this vault is called hadar maskith, which our translation excellently renders chambers of imagery.' Now the same word being used in two places with an analogous context, it is fair to infer, that if an hieroglyphic cave is intended in Ezekiel, an hieroglyphic stone is intended here; which is the more probable when we recollect that the Israelites were at this time fresh from Egypt, and deeply infected with the rank idolatries of that country insomuch that whenever Moses interdicts, at this early period, a particular form of idolatry, we should invariably feel disposed to look to Egypt, in the first instance, for the example. It is well known that the Egyptian priests, in order to preserve the treasures of knowledge and their discoveries in natural science, and at the same time to render them inscrutable to any but the initiated few, made use not of common writing but of hieroglyphics, with which they inscribed obelisks, walls,

and even subterraneous chambers and galleries, as well as square stones. These monuments were deified by the multitude, who worshipped in them Thoth, the Egyptian god of learning.

This was a sufficient reason for their interdiction by Moses. But had he no further reason? As this law, if it be thus rightly understood, would operate to the exclusion of hieroglyphics, are we not at liberty to infer that Mosesor rather his Divine instructor-thus

expressed his abhorrence of a practice which locked up knowledge to the people for the purpose of enabling the priv ileged few, by virtue of that power which knowledge gives, to hold in entire thraldom their minds, bodies, and estates? Michaelis, whose view of this text we have followed, well observes, Had Moses been only a wise and benevolent impostor; had he given himself out for a divine messenger, without being so, and merely from love to an oppressed people; and had his miracles been nothing more than human devices; it is scarcely conceivable how he could ever have gone the length of abolishing an expedient so artfully contrived, and so favorable to the views of priestcraft, for the concealment of the sciences. The legislator, therefore, who relinquished such an expedient, and at the same time founded his polity on the commandments of a Deity, could be no impostor, but must have been an honest man.''-Pict. Bib.

The Sabbath and the Sanctuary to be Sanctified.

2. Ye shall keep my sabbaths. That is, my different days of sabbatical rest; stated solemnities, which were to be disnot only the sabbath day, but other in importance to the charge concerning tinguished by holy convocations. Next idolatry is that respecting the due observance of the sabbath; and we accordingly find in the prophets, that next to that of idolatry, there is no sin for which the Jews are more frequently reproved and threatened, than the profanation of God's holy sabbaths. The reverence of the sanctuary here enjoined is connected with the keeping of the Sabbath by a tie of intimacy too obvious to need remark.

Promises to Obedience. 3. If ye walk in my statutes, &c.

6 And I will give peace in the land, and kye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall m the sword go through your land.

7 And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before by the sword.

you

The promises and threatenings which follow are of a temporal nature; and it has been questioned whether they extend to individuals, or are to be limited to the Israelites as a nation. But the happiness and prosperity of a nation necessarily involves that of individuals; and though individuals might not be uniformly rewarded or punished according to their obedience or disobedience, yet the temporal retribution announced was sufficiently uniform to evince the particular providence which guided the people of Israel.

4. Then will I give you rain. Heb. 7 nathatti gishmëkem, will give your rains. So certain should be their showers in their seasons, so infal libly secured by promise, that they should be entitled to consider and call them theirs; 'I will give your rains.'

5. Your threshing shall reach unto the vintage. That is, so abundant shall be your corn-crops that the business of threshing shall not be completed before the vintage; and again, so plentiful shall be the produce of the vine, that ye shall not be able to finish the gathering and pressing of your grapes till sowing time again arrives. We meet with a similar sentiment in the prophet Amos, ch. 9. 13,' The plowman shall overtake

9.

k Job 11. 19. Jer. 30. 10.

Zeph. 3. 13. and 14. 15. Josh. 23. 10.

Ps. 3. 5, and 4. 8. Isai. 35. Ezek. 34. 25. Hos. 2. 18. 12 Kings 17. 25. Ezek, 5. 17,

m Ezek. 14. 17.

n Deut. 32. 30.

the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who soweth seed.'

6. I will give peace in your land. Freedom from intestine commotions and insurrections, which often arise from poverty and discontent. The language seems rather to refer to peace among themselves, while the 'sword in the latter clause of the verse points rather to the ravages of war from foreign invasion. The blessings here promised, it will be noticed, are set in contrast with the main judgments which are elsewhere denounced against the Israelites, Ezek. 14. 21, to wit, famine, war, and evil beasts. See also Note on v. 21.

7. Ye shall chase your enemies, &c. That is, a few, a mere handful, shall be more than a match for a great multitude, as it proved in the conquest of Canaan; insomuch that Joshua says, enlarging upon this promise, Josh. 23. 10, 'One man of you shall chase a thou sand.' This was signally fulfilled in the days of Gideon who with three men put to flight a vast army, Judg. 7. 22. So also in the case of David's worthies, of whom one lifted his spear against eight hundred, and slew three hundred at one time, 2 Sam. 23. 8, 18, I Chron. 11. 11. Three men also broke through

14 Ty But if you will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments;

15 And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant:

16 I also will do this unto you, I will even appoint over you a terror, b consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and dye shall sow your seed in vain : for your enemies shall eat it.

y Deut. 28. 15. Lam. 2. 17. Mal. 2. 2. 2 ver. 43. 2 Kings 17. 15. a Deut. 29. 65, 66, 67, and 32. 25. Jer. 15. 9. b Deut. 29. 22. c1 Sam. 2. 33. d Deut. 28. 33, 51. Job 31. 8. Jer. 5. 17, and 12. 13. Mic. 6. 15.

17 And I will set my face against you, and fye shall be slain before your enemies; they that hate you shall reign over you, and hye shall flee when none pursueth you. 18 And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you iseven times more for your sins.

19 And I will k break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:

20 And your m strength shall be

e ch. 17. 10. f Deut. 28. 25. Judg. 2. 14. Jer. 19. 7. g Ps. 106. 41. h ver. 36. Ps. 53. 5. Prov. 28. 1. i 1 Sam. 2. 5. Ps. 119. 164. Prov. 24. 16. k Isai. 25. 11, and 26. 5. Ezek. 7. 24, and 30. 6. 1 Deut. 28. 23. m Ps. 127. 1. Isai. 49. 4.

bedience.

14. If ye will not hearken to me. Gr. εαν δε μn vakovonte μov, if ye will not obey me. This is one of the most frequent uses of the original word for 'hear' or 'hearken.' Chal.' If ye will not receive my word.' So in v. 18. The subsequent history of the Jewish race affords the most conclusive evi. dence that these predictions were ful filled with a fearful exactness. The limits of our annotations do not permit us to go into minute detail, but the volumes of Newton and Keith will present a mass of proof on this score which will be found to be of intense interest, and such as the most determined skep. tic will endeavor in vain to gainsay.

16. I will even appoint over you -terror, &c.

is singularly bold and striking. Terror, consumption, and the burning ague are personified, and made the keepers of the disobedient and apostate Israelites. They haunt their steps wherever they go, and keep them continually under the influence of dismay, feeling indiscribable evils, and fearing worse.

18. Then will I punish you seven times more for your sins. A definite for an indefinite nnmber, according to common usage. The import is plainly that of a great increase of their plagues. These, by reason of their continued provocations, were to become more and more aggravated from age to age, as history proves to have been the case. The words contain no allusion to a period of time, but simply to the degree

hiphkudti alëkem, will visit upon you. At the same time, there is very good authority for interpreting the verb as is done in our translation, in the sense of setting over, constituting guardians of, investing with authority. The true

19. I will make your heaven as iron and your earth as brass. That is, that part of the heavens which is over your country shall afford no more rain than if it were a canopy of iron, and conse quently your earth or land shall be as