Another example which I shall point out to you, appears no less to bear the genuine marks of poetry than the former;

The former part of the 23d verse is thus translated by Houbigant: "I, being wounded, have slain a man,

Being assaulted, a young man.'

This translation is ingenious, and I think right: But even it seems to want some further explanation as well as confirmation; which, since he has omitted, I will attempt. The speech of Lamech is an apology for an homicide committed in his own defence, upon some man who violently assaulted him, and it appears struck and wounded him. An homicide of this nature he opposes to the voluntary and inexcusable fratricide of Cain. The phrases which produce the obscurity-Le-petzangi, and Le-chaburathi, "because of my wound," that is, a wound which was given me, and “because of my blows (or stripes)," that is, stripes inflicted upon me, may, I think, be explained as follows. The affixes to nouns (as Kimchius observes on Isa. xxi. 2.) are taken actively as well as passively: thus Chamasi," my violence, or injury," means a violence committed against me, Gen. xvi. 31. Jer. li. 35. Chamas Beni Jehoudah," the violence of the sons of Judah," Joel iv. 19. Chamas Eretz, "the violence of the land," means that which they have suffered. "My servant shall justify many, Be-deangthi, in his knowledge," that is, in their knowledge of him, Isa. liii. 11. Reangecha, "thy thoughts," mean thoughts concerning thee, Psal. cxxxix. 17. The preposition (le) frequently means because : "The ships that went to Ophir, Le-zahab, because (or for the sake) of gold," 1 Kings xxii. 48. Le-abiv ve-le-emou, &c. " because of his father, or because of his mother, or because of his brother, or because of his sister, he shall not pollute himself," Numb. vi. 7. See more in Noldius ad, No. 28.-Au

thor's Note.

There is nothing in the context to induce a suspicion that Lamech had committed a murder. By taking to himself two wives, he first violated the divine institution of marriage. Such an offence was likely to draw upon him the resentment of his kindred, expose him to a particular quarrel (perhaps with his brother), and fill his wives with fear lest he should be provoked to follow the example of Cain. To remove therefore their apprehensions, he thus expostulates with them, contrasting the offences of polygamy and murder:

Hadah and Sillah, hear my voice;

Ye wives of Lamech, attend to my speech:
Have I slain a man in my contest?

Yea, one born among my kindred?

If Cain shall be avenged seven times,

Assuredly shall Lamech seventy times seven.

in various instances is used interrogatively; 1 Sam. xxiv. 20. 2 Kings xviii. 34. Isa. xxix. 16. Prov. xxx. 4, &c. Th, in my division or strife, from D, scidit: but if the derivative be referred to the secondary sense, vulneravit-it may in that case be rendered, from my wound, or the wound that I have inflicted. signifies a son, or person born, and ↑ very frequently occurs in the sense of yea. n is, in various passages, equivalent to union, alliance, affinity. (In Mal. ii. 14. the same term is applied to the marriage union.)-One born among my kindred may be considered as synonymous with my brother.-S. H.

I did not, however, think myself at liberty to depart in the text from that of our Author, though I think this explication exceedingly ingenious. The reader may for further information on this subject consult Dawson's Translation of Genesis, c. iv.-T.

and that is, the execration of Noah upon Ham; with the magnificent predictions of prosperity to his two brothers, to Shem in particular, and the ardent breathings of his soul for their future happiness: These are expressed in three equal divisions of verses, concluding with an indignant repetition of one of the preceding lines:

"Cursed be Canaan !

A servant of servants to his brothers let him be!
Blessed be JEHOVAH the God of Shem!

And let Canaan be their servant.

May God extend Japheth,

And may he dwell in the tents of Shem!
And let Canaan be their servant."-

The inspired benedictions of the patriarchs Isaac and Jacob are altogether of the same kind ; and the great importance of these prophecies, not only to the destiny of the people of Israel, but to that of the whole human race, renders it highly probable that they were extant in this form before the time of Moses; and that they were afterwards committed to writing by the inspired historian, exactly as he had received them from his ancestors, without presuming to bestow on these sacred oracles any adventitious ornaments or poetical colouring.

The matter will appear yet clearer, if we advert to some other verses, a little different in kind, to which the same historian appeals (as well known and popular) in testimony of the truth of his narration. Thus, when he relates the first incursion of the Israelites into the country of the Amorites, in order to mark more precisely the boundaries of that state, and to explain more satisfactorily the nature of the victories not long before achieved over the Moabites, he cites two fragments of poems; the one from the book of the Wars of Jehovah,‡ the other from the Sayings (Mashalim) of those who spoke in parables ;§ that is, as appears

* Gen. ix. 25-27.

Numb. xxi. 14, 15.

+ Gen. xxvii. 27-29. 39, 40.

Ibid. 27-30. Compare Jer. xlviii. 45, 46. Amypalıçaı (ainigmatistai), Sept. "Who these Enigmatists are (says Augustin) is not very plain, since there is no such appellation in our language (Latin); nor indeed is the word elsewhere found in the Holy Scriptures, (that is, in the Septuagint); but since they seem to have been employed in singing a poem, in which was celebrated a war that had been carried on between the Amorites and the Moabites, in which Seor king of the Amorites was victorious, it is not improbable that these Enigmatists may have been those whom we now call poets; inasmuch as it is

from the nature of things, from some panegyrical or triumphal poem of the Amorites. To which we may add, what immediately follow, the prophecies of Balaam the Mesopotamian, pronounced also in the parabolic style; as appears from the extreme neatness of the composition, the metrical and parallel sentences, the sublimity of the language and sentiment, and the uncommon elegance of the verse. Hence it is easy to collect, that this kind of poetry, which appears perfectly analogous to all the rest of the Hebrew poetry that still remains, was neither originally the production of Moses, nor peculiar to the Jewish nation; but that it may be accounted among the first-fruits of human ingenuity, and was cultivated by the Hebrews and other Eastern nations from the first ages, as the recorder of events, the preceptor of morals, the historian of the past, and prophet of the future.*

Concerning the utility of poetry, therefore, the Hebrews have maintained the same opinion throughout all ages; this being always accounted the highest commendation of science and erudition, "To understand a proverb and the interpretation; the words of the wise and their dark sayings :"+ under which titles two species of poetry seem to be particularly indicated, different indeed in many respects, yet agreeing in some. The one I call didactic, which expresses some moral precept in elegant and pointed verses, often illustrated

customary with poets to mingle enigmas and fables in their verses, by which they obscurely indicate realities: for an enigma is no other than a figurative mode of expression, upon the explanation of which depends our understanding the author." Quæst. xlv. in Numb.-Author's Note.

This matter will appear clearer and more easy of conception, if the distinction be rightly observed between the two different significations of the word Mashal: the one more comprehensive, and including all kinds of poetry, on account of the figurative language; the other peculiar to a certain kind of poetry, which is opposed to the canticle or song. Our author, in the following page, seems to apprehend rightly of the word in this double sense; but I thus far differ from him, that I think it is not expressive of two particular species of poetry, but in the one sense it means the whole genus, and in the other the particular species, which I have just now pointed out. The LXX. have rendered this word very ill, anyμarisas. Mashal, or similitude, may indeed sometimes denote an enigma; and if Augustin has mistaken the meaning of the Septuagint, it is excusable, since, whatever might be his ability in other respects, a profound knowledge of Hebrew was certainly not among his excellencies. -M.

To the above examples from the books of Moses add the following: Gen. xxi. 6, 7. xxiv. 60. xxv. 23. xxviii. 16, 17. Observe also whether the answer of God, Numb. xii. 6-8. be not of the same kind.—Author's Note.

† See Prov. i. 6. Wisd. viii. 8. Ecclus. i. 25. vi. 35. xviii. 29. xxxix. 1, 2, 3.

by a comparison either direct or implied; similar to the yowa (gnomai) and adages of the wise men: The other was truly poetical, adorned with all the more splendid colouring of language, magnificently sublime in the sentiments, animated by the most pathetic expression, and diversified and embellished by figurative diction and poetical imagery; such are almost all the remaining productions of the prophets. Brevity or conciseness was a characteristic of each of these forms of composition, and a degree of obscurity was not unfrequently attendant upon this studied brevity. Each consisted of metrical sentences; on which account chiefly the poetic and proverbial language seem to have obtained the same appellation: and in these two kinds of composition, all knowledge human and divine was thought to be comprised.

The sententious style, therefore, I define to be the primary characteristic of the Hebrew poetry, as being the most conspicuous and comprehensive of all. For although that style seems naturally adapted only to the didactic, yet it is found to pervade the whole of the poetry of the Hebrews. There are indeed many passages in the sacred writings highly figurative, and infinitely sublime, but all of them manifestly assume a sententious form. There are some too, and those not inelegant, which possess little more of the characteristics of poetry than the versification, and that terseness or adaptation of the sentences which constitutes so important a part even of the harmony of verse. This is manifest in most of the didactic psalms, as well as in some others, the matter, order, diction, and thoughts of which are clearly historical, but the conformation of the sentences wholly poetical. There is indeed so strict an analogy between the structure of the sentences and the versification, that when the former chances to be confused or obscured, it is scarcely possible to form a conjecture concerning the division of the lines or verses, which is almost the only part of the Hebrew versification that remains. It was therefore necessary, before I could explain the mechanism of the Hebrew verse, to remark many particulars which properly belong to the present topic.

The reason of this (not to detain you with what is obvious in almost every page of the sacred poetry) is as follows. The Hebrew poets frequently express a sentiment with the utmost brevity and simplicity, illustrated by no circumstances, adorned with no epithets, (which in truth they sel

dom use); they afterwards call in the aid of ornament; they repeat, they vary, they amplify the same sentiment; and adding one or more sentences which run parallel to each other, they express the same or a similar, and often a contrary sentiment, in nearly the same form of words. Of these three modes of ornament, at least, they make the most frequent use, namely, the amplification of the same ideas, the accumulation of others, and the opposition or antithesis of such as are contrary to each other: they dispose the corresponding sentences in regular distichs adapted to each other, and of an equal length, in which, for the most part, things answer to things, and words to words, as the Son of Sirach says of the works of God, two and two, one against the other.* These forms again are diversified by notes of admiration, comparison, negation, and more particularly interrogation; whence a singular degree of force and elevation is frequently added to the composition.

Each language possesses a peculiar genius and character, on which depend the principles of the versification, and in a great measure the style or colour of the poetic diction. In Hebrew, the frequent or rather perpetual splendour of the sentences, and the accurate recurrence of the clauses, seem absolutely necessary to distinguish the verse: so that what in any other language would appear a superfluous and tiresome repetition, in this cannot be omitted without injury to the poetry. This excellence, therefore, the sententious style possesses in the Hebrew poetry, that it necessarily prevents a prosaic mode of expression, and always reduces a composition to a kind of metrical form. For, as Cicero remarks," in certain forms of expression there exists such a degree of conciseness, that a sort of metrical arrangement follows of course. For, when words or sentences directly correspond, or when contraries are opposed exactly to each other, or even when words of a similar sound run parallel, the composition will in general have a metrical cadence."+ It possesses, however, great force in other respects, and produces several great and remarkable beauties of composition. For, as the sacred poems derive from this source a great part of their elegance, harmony, and splendour, so they are not unfrequently indebted to it for their sublimity and strength. Frequent and laconic sentences render the composition remarkably concise, harmonious, and animated; ↑ Orator.

* Ecclus. xxxiii. 15.

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