by Esau to his brother, at their meeting; the words of Moses are, "And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him." And it is very probable, that all those texts which speak of falling on the neck, and kissing a person, refer to this eastern custom, of kissing the shoulder in an embrace. A rider was expected to dismount, when he met a person of more elevated rank. Under the influence of this ancient custom, the Egyptians dismount from their asses, when they approach the tombs of their departed saints; and both Christians and Jews are obliged to submit to the same ceremony. Christians in that country must also dismount when they happen to meet with officers of the army. In Palestine, the Jews, who are not permitted to ride on horseback, are compelled to dismount from their asses and pass by a Mahommedan on foot. This explains the reason that Achsah, the daughter of Caleb, and Abigail the wife of Nabal, alighted from their asses; it was a mark of respect which the former owed to her father, and the latter to David, a person of high rank and growing renown. It was undoubtedly for the same reason, that Rebecca alighted from the camel on which she rode, when the servant informed her, that the stranger whom she descried at a distance in the field, was his master; and that Naaman, the Syrian grandee, alighted from his chariot, at the approach of Gehazi, the servant of Elisha. The ceremonial of the orientals does not end with the introduction of persons to one another, but continues during the whole visit. The most scrupulous attention is * Gen. xxxiii, 4. > Pococke's Trav. vol. i, p. 35. Hasselquist, p. 425. * Chandler's Trav. p. 200. Niebuhr's Descript. p. 39. Buckingham's Trav. vol. ii, p. 322. paid by all parties to the established tokens of respect; the posture of the body, the part of the room, and other circumstances are all regulated by custom, to whose imperious dictates they have implicitly submitted from the remotest antiquity. One of the postures, by which a person testifies his respect for a superior, is by sitting upon his heels, which is considered as a token of great humility. In this manner, says Dr. Pococke, resting on their hams, sat the attendants of the English consul, when he waited on the Caia of the Pasha of Tripoli. It was in this humble posture, probably, that David, the king of Israel, sat before the Lord in the sanctuary, when he blessed him for his gracious promise concerning his family; half sitting and half kneeling, so as to rest the body upon the heels. This entirely removes the ground of perplexity, which some expositors have felt, in their attempts to elicit a meaning from the phrase, sitting before the Lord, at once consistent with the majesty of Jehovah, and the humility of the worshipper; for this attitude expressed among the orientals, the deepest humility, and by consequence, was every way becoming a worshipper of the true God. To sit, as we do, on a seat, was, on the contrary, a mark of distinction, particularly if it was furnished with a cushion. Chardin says, it is the custom of Asia not to go into the shops, which are very small, but to sit down in seats prepared for the purpose on the outside, on which cushions are laid for persons of distinction; and he adds, that people of quality cause carpets and cushions to be carried wherever they please, that they may repose themselves upon them more agreeably. To a custom of this kind, Job seems to refer in his mournful retrospect of de a Pococke's Trav. vol. i, p. 213; and vol. ii, p. 102, 190. b Morier's Trav. vol. i, p. 220. Harmer's Observ. vol. ii, p. 367. VOL. III. P parted prosperity: "When I went out to the gate through the city; when I prepared my seat in the street." This patriarch was a prince and a judge among his people, and was, therefore, entitled to take his seat in the gate, which was the ordinary place of hearing causes in the east attended by a retinue of servants, with carpets and cushions for his accommodation, according to his rank, and the office he sustained. But it was a mark of higher distinction to sit in the corner, than upon a seat. At a visit which the English consul made to the pasha of Tripoli, the latter, having on the garment of ceremony, gave the welcome as he passed, and sat down cross-legged in the corner to the right, having a cushion on each side, and one over them behind him. When Dr. Pococke, who relates this incident, was introduced to the shekh of Tourshout, he found him sitting in the corner of a large green tent, pitched in the middle of an encampment of Arabs; and on a visit to the bey of Girgè, he found him placed on a sofa on the right hand, as one entered, in the corner of his tent. Hence it appears, that in the east, the corner on the right, as one enters the apartment, is the place of honour. When Mr. Martin visited Mirra Abulcasim, one of the most renowned soofies in all Persia, he found several persons sitting in an open court, in which a few greens and flowers were placed; the master in a corner. d This may, perhaps, enable us to explain a passage which has long exercised the patience and ingenuity of exposi * Job xxix, 7. a Pococke's Trav. vol. i, p. 90, 124. See also Du Tott's Mem. vol. i, p. 110, 365. Richardson's Trav. vol. ii, p. 277. Lady M. W. Montagu's Lett. vol. i, p. 213. * Memoir of the Rev. H. Martyn, p. 393.—Morier's Trav. vol. i, p. 91. tors. "As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria, in the corner of a bed, and in Damascus in a couch." Only a very few of the meanest and lowest of the people shall escape from the hand of their destroyers. Such shall be the fate of Samaria, that holds among the cities of Israel the place of honour, equally distinguished as the seat of power, the centre of wealth, and the chosen resort of rank and fashion. The situation of Samaria, perfectly corresponds with this interpretation; this rich and powerful city was built on the summit of a hill, in the midst of a beautiful country. This custom also serves to illustrate another passage of Scripture: "Moreover thou gavest them kingdoms and nations, and didst divide them into corners," or as it is in the original, thou didst divide or appoint them to the corner. The verb is Halak, which, in another passage, is used to exprese the appointing of Aaron's sons to their different charges. The meaning of Nehemiah, interpreted by this custom, is, "Thou gavest them kingdoms and nations, and didst also give the pre-eminence to Israel, and make them chief among the surrounding states, Odoriferous ointments and perfumes were often presented by the great as a particular mark of distinction.h The king of Babylon treated the prophet Daniel with the richest perfumes, after he had predicted the future destinies of his empire, as a distinguished proof of his esteem and admiration : “Then the king, Nebuchadnezzar, fell upon his face, and worshiped Daniel, and commanded that fAmos iii, 12. they should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him."i This passage, Mr. Harmer considers as exceedingly difficult; and he labours hard to prove that the king meant nothing more than civil respect."Nebuchadnezzar, in all this matter, appeared to have considered Daniel merely as a prophet: his words strongly express this, Your God is a God of gods; and had it been otherwise, a person so zealous as Daniel, who risked his life, rather than neglect his homage to his God, and had the courage to pray to him with his windows open toward Jerusalem, contrary to the king's command, would undoubtedly, like Paul and Barnabas, have rejected these odours." This view completely vindicates the prophet from the charge of conniving at the idolatry of the king; but it is not necessary to his defence. The conduct of Nebuchadnezzar, it is allowed, admits of a favourable construction; but, at the same time, it is scarcely possible to avoid the suspicion that he was, on this memorable occasion, guilty of idolatrous veneration. The verb sagad, he worshipped, so far as the writer has been able to trace it, both in Hebrew and Chaldee, expresses the homage which is rendered to a god, and is, perhaps, universally applied to the worship of false deities in the sacred Scriptures. If this remark be just, it is greatly to be suspected that Nebuchadnezzar, who had few, or no correct religious principles to restrain the sudden movements of his impetuous passions, did intend, on that occasion, to honour Daniel as a god, or, which is not materially different, to worship the divinity in the prophet. But it may be demanded, how then is Daniel to be vindicated? Shall we suppose that a prophet of the Lord, a man highly favoured and J Observ. vol. ii, p. 389. i Dan. ii, 46. |