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Ecce, supercilio clivosi tramitis undam
Elicit: illa cadens raucum per levia murmur
Saxa ciet, scatebrisque arentia temperat arva.'
'Him shall I praise, who o'er the new sown earth,
Crumbles the clods that hide the entrusted birth,
Freshens with streams that at his pleasure glide,
And leads their rills that wind from side to side?
'Mid gasping herbs, when fevered nature dies,
Lo! on yon brow whence bubbling springs arise,
The peasant bending o'er the expanse below
Directs the channell'd waters where to flow:
Down the smooth rock melodious murmurs glide,
And a new verdure gleams beneath the tide."

20. I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare.'--It seems doubtful whether this alludes to the methods by which wild beasts were taken, or to those employed for the capture of birds. The language would seem to refer rather to the latter; and it is certain, from other passages, that the Hebrews caught birds with nets and snares. We have therefore considered this a suitable opportunity for introducing a representation of some of the nets and snares employed by the Egyptians, whose paintings and sculptures, many of which exhibit scenes of hunting and fowling, shew that game of all kinds was a favourite food of the Egyptians, and the capture of birds a pursuit much followed, as a gainful occupation to some and an amusement to others. The cuts we here offer too clearly shew the manner in which the contrivances acted to require much explanation; and they will serve also to indicate how little of novelty has been introduced into modern practices. There is scarcely any process now followed which was not known in very ancient times. Thus the ancients had not only traps, nets, and springes, but also bird-lime smeared upon twigs, and made use of stalking-horses, setting dogs, birdcalls, etc. The Egyptian paintings describe other modes of taking birds besides those which our cuts exhibit. In some instances we see them shot with arrows while upon the wing, and in others they are knocked down by sticks thrown at them, as they perched or flew in the thickets or marshes. The most striking scenes are however those which the water-fowling exhibits, as exercised apparently by men who supplied the great consumption of the Egyptians in water-fowl, particularly ducks and geese. There is a painting among the Egyptian antiquities in the British Museum, which shews the mode of operation in a very lively manner. The fowler stands up in a long narrow boat, in which are also a woman and girl, probably his wife and daughter. He is acting against a large number of various aquatic birds, with a few land birds among them, and it appears to be his object to drive or seduce them into a net or decoy, or perhaps he is represented as taking possession of birds already decoyed. The fowler holds three large long-billed birds erect by the legs in his left hand, and in the other grasps something that appears to represent such a loaded instrument as a life preserver,' seemingly for the purpose of bringing the birds down. A goose, probably a decoy-bird, stands at the head of the boat cackling, and as if inviting the wild birds to follow, while a cat is seen near the boat, upon the dry spot where most of the birds are, seizing one of them in its forepaws. We might suppose this animal to be in the fowler's service; but it is as possible that it has escaped from the boat against the fowler's intention, as some of the birds have taken alarm and are in the act of flying off. A simpler scene of water-fowling is shewn in our present fig. 1, which is copied from Rosellini, as are the others. The birds are taken in a large clap-net set in the midst of an oval lake, and which four men draw, by means of a strong cable, on a signal from a man ensconced among the tall plants growing near the lake. The small circular net (fig. 2) seems to be a self-acting one, by means of a sort of trap connected with it, so that the birds on coming in contact with it close the net upon themselves. Fig. 3 is very similar to fig. 2, except that it is oval; and it had in like manner a net in the painting, which has been

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worn off by time. It is composed of two arcs, which being kept open by the machinery in the middle, furnish the oval frame of the net; but when the bird flies in, and knocks out the pin in the centre, the arcs collapse (as shewn in the fig. 4), enclosing the bird in the net. This simple contrivance has not yet fallen into disuse. These brief explanations may point out the modes of taking birds which were probably known to the Jews, and some of which were probably practised by themselves, and to which the sacred writers refer when they mention the nets and snares of the fowler.

The text may however be regarded in another light, as one of many allusions in Scripture to the ancient method by which lions and other wild beasts were captured. By the mention of their being taken by nets, we are of course not to understand that such powerful animals are taken in a net in the same manner as birds and fishes; but that they were surrounded and driven into an enclosure formed by strong nets or palisades, where, their retreat being arrested, they were easily slain or captured. Spence, in his Polymetis, has given a good description of this method of hunting. The hunters of forest-beasts' surrounded a considerable tract of ground by a circle of nets, and after contracting that circle by degrees, till they had forced all the beasts of that quarter together into a narrow compass, then it was the slaughter began. This manner of hunting was pursued in Italy, as well as all over the eastern parts of the world; and it was from this custom that the poets sometimes represent death as surrounding persons with his nets, and as encompassing them on every side.' The same allusions occur in Scripture, particularly in the Psalms, as in Ps. xviii. 5: The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me; and, still more expressly, in cxl. 5: The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a net by the way-side; they have set gins for me.' This last clause, referring to gins or traps, probably alludes to the circumstance, that when the object was to take the wild beasts alive, gaps were sometimes left in the enclosure, where traps were set, or pitfalls formed, so that the animals were taken.

In the sculptures on the living rock at Takht-i-Bostan, in Persia, the manner of hunting here mentioned is very clearly represented. A large enclosure is shewn, formed apparently of strong poles and curtains, into which the animals are driven by the hunters. The hunters are mounted some on elephants and others on horseback. The elephants remain outside, but the horsemen enter with the animals at full speed, and pursue them within the enclosure, spearing them (seemingly) and shooting them with arrows. The king is present on a stately charger, but does not actively engage in the hunt, unless a gigantic huntsman in the middle of the field, and somewhat resembling him, be a repetition of his figure. There are present bands of musicians, some standing on the ground and others seated on platforms. The slain beasts are dragged outside the enclosure by men in attendance for the purpose; and, further on, strings of camels are represented in the act of carrying them away. It is true that in this scene the animals are deer; but the same plan is pursued with others of a more ferocious character. Perhaps the fact that the animals enter at one side alive, and are drawn out dead at the other, gives a peculiar force to the Scriptural allusions to the subject. The Persians were always much addicted to this kind of hunting; and if, with some, we thought (but we do not) that Ezekiel was stationed in Persia, his allusions might be derived from what could not but be frequently brought under his notice in that country. But there was no necessity for this precise corroboration, the practice having been so exceedingly general in all ages and countries. Some idea of the enclosures formed on such occasions may be derived from the by no means incredible circumstance related by Plutarch, that when the Macedonian conquerors were in Persia, Philotas the son of Parmenio had hunting-nets that would enclose the space of a hundred furlongs. The Oriental sovereigns have sometimes employed whole

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armies in this sort of hunting, in which, however, the enclosure was formed by the persons of a vast host of men, forming a thick circular hedge many leagues in circumference, and enclosing forests, plains, and rivers. The men being formed, would march on, and as they marched of course contracted their circle, till they had driven all the beasts before them within a spot which had been previously determined. Till this no animals were killed, the soldiers being forbidden to kill or wound any beast whatever violence it might offer. But when the beasts of various kinds were driven within the limits, the king entered the circle, attended by princes and military chiefs, and himself commenced the slaughter, after which he withdrew to an eminence whence he could behold the prowess of his sons and nobles. When they had satisfied themselves, the young soldiers were allowed to take their place

in the circle, and committed great slaughter among the multitude of animals there collected, until at last the young princes and lords made suit to the sovereign that the remaining beasts should have their lives and liberty granted to them; and this being allowed, those which had escaped the arrows and scimitars of the military hunters were suffered to withdraw and regain their forests and dens. (See the account in Ranking's Researches, of the grand hunting match of Genghiz Khan, in the year 1221.) The military character given to these expeditions, and the scale on which the royal huntings were conducted, made these affairs images of war in a very striking degree; and hence the description which the Scripture gives of the results of war by those of hunting are very remarkably appropriate.

CHAPTER XVIII.

1 God reproveth the unjust parable of sour grapes. 5 He sheweth how he dealeth with the just father: 10 with a wicked son of a just father: 14 with a just son of a wicked father: 19 with a wicked man repenting 24 with a just man revolting. 25 He defendeth his justice, 31 and exhorteth to repent

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2 What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The 'fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge?

3 As I live, saith the Lord GOD, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel.

4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul THE word of the LORD came unto me again, of the father, so also the soul of the son is saying, mine the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

1 Jer. 31. 29.

5 ¶ But if a man be just, and do 'that which is lawful and right,

6 And hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath 'defiled his neighbour's wife, neither hath come near to ‘a menstruous woman,

7 And hath not 'oppressed any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled none by violence, hath 'given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment;

8 He that hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken any increase, that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath executed true judgment between man and man,

9 Hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord Gon.

10.

10 If he beget a son that is a 'robber, a shedder of blood, and that doeth the like to any one of these things,

11 And that doeth not any of those duties, but even hath eaten upon the mountains, and defiled his neighbour's wife,

12 Hath oppressed the poor and needy, hath spoiled by violence, hath not restored the pledge, and hath lifted up his eyes to the idols, hath committed abomination,

13 Hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase shall he then live? he shall not live: he hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his "blood shall be upon him.

14 Now, lo, if he beget a son, that seeth all his father's sins which he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not such like,

15 That hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hath not defiled his neighbour's wife,

16 Neither hath oppressed any, hath not withholden the pledge, neither hath spoiled by violence, but hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment,

17 That hath taken off his hand from the poor, that hath not received usury nor increase, hath executed my judgments, hath walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live.

18 As for his father, because he cruelly

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oppressed, spoiled his brother by violence, and did that which is not good among his people, lo, even he shall die in his iniquity.

19 Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live.

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20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

21 ¶ But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

22 All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live.

23 "Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?

24 But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.

25 Yet ye say, "The way of the LORD is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?

26 When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die.

27 Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.

28 Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

29 Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the LORD is not equal. O house of Israel,

4 Levit. 18. 19, and 20. 18. 8 Exod. 22. 25. Levit. 25. 36, 37. Deut. 23. 19. Psal. 15. 5. 10 Or, that doeth to his brother besides any of these. 11 Heb. bloods.

13 Deut. 24. 16. 2 Kings 14. 6. 2 Chron. 25. 4.

5 Exod. 22. 21. Levit. 19. 15, and 25. 14. 7 Deut. 15. 7. Isa. 58. 7. Matt. 25. 35. 9 Or, breaker up of an house. 12 Heb. hath not pledged the pledge, or, taken to pledge, 14 Chap. 33. 11. 15 Chap. 33. 20.

Jer. 31. 29.

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2 And say, What is thy mother? lioness she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.

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3 And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men.

4 The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of 'Egypt.

5 Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion.

6 And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men.

7 And he knew 'their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, by the noise of his roaring.

8 Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread

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their net over him: he was taken in their pit. 9 And they put him in ward 'in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon: they brought him into holds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.

10 Thy mother is like a vine 'in thy blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.

11 And she had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches.

12 But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them.

13 And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground.

14 And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.

3 Or, in hooks.

5 Hos. 23. 15.

4 Or, in thy quietness, or, in thy likeness.

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necho, and reigned many years, whereas the latter reigned only three months, we suppose Jehoiakim to be intended. If it had been his son, the prophet would probably have described his being taken to Babylon; but he does not say this, and what he does say agrees with the history of the earlier monarch, of whom we are told that Nebuchadnezzar' bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon' (2 Chron. xxxvi. 6); but as it is not said that he did carry him thither, and as the notice of his death is immediately subjoined, it is probable that he died before this intention could be executed. The text only says that the lion was brought in chains to the king of Babylon.

10. A vine in thy blood.'-As it is difficult to discover

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the sense of this. we may perhaps admit, as probable, the conjecture on which several modern translators have proceeded, that, by a mistake of similar letters, 77, in thy blood,' has been read instead of 1, like a pomegranate.' This proposed emendation results in a double comparison: Thy mother is like a vine, like a pomegranate, planted by the waters.'-The connection is natural, as the vine and pomegranate do not thrive in dry situations. In Georgia we have seen wild vines and pomegranates growing together on the banks of the same streams. This observation perhaps supports the suggested interpretation.

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10. Fruitful and full of branches, by reason of many waters.'-In warm countries the vine is said to grow most luxuriantly in a situation which is near the water; but it is generally allowed that the flavour of the grapes from vines in such a situation is much inferior to that of grapes growing in a dry soil.

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11. Strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule.' -The pastoral rod of the shepherd appears to have suggested the first use of a rod as a symbol of authority and rule; and was the more appropriate, as the early condition of superior power was compared to and illustrated by that which a shepherd exercises over his flock, and hence kings and chiefs were wont to be called, as well among the heathen as the Hebrews, shepherds' of their people. In the Pentateuch we see that not only Moses and Aaron, but all the chiefs of tribes, were distinguished by their rods-doubtless as insignia of their rank. These were, then, the sceptres of very ancient times, and, from the present text, appear to have continued such till the time of Ezekiel, when, however, they may have, and probably had, become walking staves of a distinctive fashion. Such are some of those which our present cut exhibits after Egyptian figures; the distinction being, in these, chiefly in the form given to the head of the rod and such are those which the Persepolitan sculptures display in the hands of the king, being a tall and straight staff surmounted by a round head, and used by the monarch as a walking staff. This may be seen in the cuts to Ezra i. It is true that the Persian sceptre, the form of which is thus shewn, is said to be of gold, in Esther, which Xenophon confirms: but by this we are probably to understand that it was covered or studded with gold, or had a golden head. Rods served for sceptres to the kings leagued against Troy (see the passage cited from the Iliad in the note to Num. xvii.); but we understand from Homer that they were adorned with studs and rings of gold.

As might be expected, the sceptre among the Hebrew

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GROUP OF ANCIENT EGYPTIAN SCEPTRES.

tinction of this kind; thus, in Egypt, while the common forms were such as appear in all the other figures in our engraving, the war sceptre was sometimes a massive mace, of the form shewn in one of the figures, and bearing, as will be seen, more resemblance than any other to the modern sceptres. That, on a similar principle of distinction, a spear should be used for a sceptre by kings when with their armies, is highly probable. Indeed we are told by Justin that the old kings of Rome wore no diadems to mark their dignity, but carried spears, which the Greeks called sceptres.' He adds, as a reason, that, from the earliest times, the ancients revered spears as immortal divinities, and that it was in memory of this ancient worship that spears continued to be represented in the hands of the immortal gods. (Hist. 1. xliii. c. 3.) All this means, we suppose, that as the spear seems to have been one of the earliest weapons of war that was invented, men originally, before statuary was practised, made it the symbol or representative of the god in whom they chiefly trusted. Under the same idea, the Scythians are said to have worshipped a sword as the representative of the god of war.

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As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be enquired of by you.

4 Wilt thou judge them, son of man, wilt thou judge them? cause them to know the abominations of their fathers:

5 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up mine hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself 'known unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up mine hand unto them, saying, I am the LORD your God;

6 In the day that I lifted up mine hand. unto them, to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands:

3 Or, sware. And so verse 6, &c.

4 Exod. 3. 8, and 4. 31.

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