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vels in North Africa, 1818-1820. caps. vi. and vii. "And yet," says Michaelis, " if the Amalekites had sought a reconciliation, I know not whether their former aggression must not have been buried in oblivion." Art. 63.

NOTE 25.

1 KINGS ii. 9. "David is here represented, in our English version, as finishing his life with giving a command to Solomon to kill Shimei; and to kill him on account of that very crime, for which, as David here says, he had sworn to him by the Lord, he would not put him to death. The behaviour thus imputed to the king and prophet, and which would be justly censurable if true, should be examined very carefully, as to the ground it stands upon. And when the passage is duly considered, I presume, it will appear highly probable, that an injury has been here done to this illustrious character. The point, to which I now beg the reader's attention, is this,-that it is not uncommon in the Hebrew language to omit the negative in a second part of the sentence, and to consider it as repeated, when it has been once expressed, and is followed by the connecting particle. And thus, on Isaiah xliii. 22. the late learned annotator says,-" The negative is repeated, or referred to, by the conjunction vau; and in many other places." See also Isaiah xxiii. 4. The necessity of so very considerable an alteration as inserting the particle NOT, may be here confirmed by some instances. Thus Psalm i. 5. "The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, NOR (the Hebrew is and, signifying and not) sinners in the congregation of the righteous." Psalm ix. 18. "The needy shall not always be forgotten: (and then the negative understood as repeated by the conjunction now dropped) the expectation of the poor

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shall (NOT) perish for ever." Psalm xxxviii. 1. "O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath; NEITHER (and for and not) chasten me in thy hot displeasure." Psalm Ixxv. 5. "Lift not up your horn on high: (and then the negative understood as repeated by the conjunction now dropped) speak NOT with a stiff neck." Prov. xxiv. 12. our version is this: "Doth not he, that pondereth the heart, consider it? and he that keepeth the soul, doth (NOT) he know it? and shall (NOT) he render to every man according to his works?" And Prov. xxx. 3. "I neither learned wisdom, NOR (and for and not) have the knowledge of the holy." If then there are in fact many such instances, the question is-whether the negative here expressed in the former part of David's command, may not be understood as to be repeated in the latter part; and if this may be, a strong reason will be added why it should be, so interpreted. The passage will run thus. Behold, thou hast with thee Shimei who cursed me; but I swore to him by the Lord, saying, I will not put thee to death by the sword. Now therefore hold him Nor guiltless (for thou art a wise man, and knowest what thou oughtest to do unto him) but bring NOT down his hoary head to the grave with blood." Now, if the language itself will admit this construction, the sense thus given to the sentence derives a very strong support from the context. For how did Solomon understand this charge? Did he kill Shimei in consequence of it? Certainly he did not. For, after he had immediately commanded Joab to be slain, in obedience to his father, he sends for Shimei; and knowing that Shimei ought to be well watched, confines him to a particular spot in Jerusalem for the remainder of his life. Cap. ii. 36-42. See also Job xxiii. 17; xxx. 20; xxxi. 20." Kennicott's Remarks on Select Passages in the Old Testament, p. 131, 132, 133.

The above extract from Kennicott, together with the observation concerning Solomon, marked in the text. with inverted commas, was communicated by a much valued friend, to whom the writer is indebted for many very important remarks, which are ingrafted into the text, and he is afraid not always distinguished from it in the same way: also for many corrections and many notes, which latter, were they occur, will be marked as this is, with the letter B.

Kennicott proves his point respecting the omission of the negative; but fails in his application of it to the passage before us, by giving the first verb a sense which requires an adversative particle "but" to connect with the other: "hold him not guiltless but' bring not down." Of the omission of the negative in which construction he brings no instance, nor probably can one be brought. To his proofs of the omission of the negative in the second clause, add the following from Euseb. Præpar. Evang. lib. 1. §. y. Ed. Par. 1628. fol. ἐκκλησία αὐτοῦ-οὐδαμῶς τε τοῖς ἐχθροῖς ἡττωμένη καὶ ὑποείκουσα, ἀλλ ̓ οὐδὲ ταῖς του θανάτου πύλαις ὑποχωροῦσα, which sentence shews that in other languages also, when two sentences are connected by a conjunction copulative, the negative of the first may be understood in the second; but not after an adversative: which would plainly appear in this sentence by leaving out the negative ούδε after ἂλλα.

NOTE 26.

SEE this topic handled in Michaelis's Laws of Moses Art. 132-136, and compared with the modern practice of duelling; which has many of the absurdities of the Arabian practice, though more generosity, and both of them are tolerable only in a state of half-civilized society.

NOTE 27.

By an Egyptian law (Diodorus, Book I. p. 49. Hen. Steph. ed. fol. 1559) if any one in the road saw a man in danger of being killed, or suffering any violence, he was to suffer death if he did not assist him, if he were able. If the law were equal to Israelite and Egyptian, Moses acted lawfully-but that would not defend him from the relations or the king: it may possibly therefore have been, as Stackhouse suggests, one reason for his unwillingness to undertake the office and return to Egypt, that he feared this deed might be remembered against him, till God assured him, Exod. iv. 19. that all his private enemies were dead.

NOTE 28.

NISUS ait, diine hunc ardorem mentibus addunt,
Euryale? an sua cuique Deus sit dira cupido?
Aut pugnam aut aliquid jamdudum invadere magnum
Mens agitat mihi; nec placidâ contenta quiete est.
Virg. Æn. ix. ver. 184.

NOTE 29.

ILLUD in his rebus vereor, ne forte rearis
Impia te rationis inire elementa, viamq :
Endogredi sceleris; Quod contra, sæpius olim
Religio peperit scelerosa atque impia facta.

Lucret. i. 81.

NOTE 30.

It may be worth while to insert the following note from Pole's Synopsis, in order to shew, to what loose morality the endeavour to justify all these actions re

corded in the Old Testament lead. In the inquiry whether Ehud was guilty of a lie in what he said to Eglon, the reformer, P. Martyr, honestly determines : "Ceterum, quamvis a verborum significatione minime discedat, mentitur tamen; cum ista dixit quò eum deciperet." Which knot the two Jesuits thus cut: Bonfrerius: "non est quòd anxie facta et dicta Sanctorum in Scripturâ a mendacio officioso et veniali excusentur :" Cornelius a Lapide thus, "Quòd hæc sibi licere in tali casu et necessitate putarent et Philosophi et Theologi."

NOTE 31.

SEE also Nathan, 1 Chron. xvii. 2-4. and Samuel, 1 Sam. xvi. 6. Also Gleig's Stackhouse, Vol. II. p. 80. note†; also the note* p. 81. The word prophesying is taken for singing and praising; also for preaching, Lightfoot's Sermon on 2 Cor. xiv. 26. p. 1157. See also 1 Chron. xxv. 1-3; and 1 Kings xviii. 19, 20.

NOTE 32.

Dolus an virtus quis in hoste requirat?

Virg. Æn. ii. 390.

IN the same manner Moses before had sung a triumphant song to the Lord after the destruction of the Egyptians in the Red Sea. The burden of which was taken up by Miriam, accompanied by a chorus of women with timbrels and dancing, Exod. xv. As Saul and David were afterwards attended by a similar chorus of singers and dancers, on their return from the slaughter of the Philistines, 1 Sam. xviii. 6, 7. A custom which also prevailed in the early age of Greece.

ἀλλ' ἐπάειδε

Καλλίνικον ᾠδὴν ἐμῷ χορῷ.

Eurip. Elect. 864.

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