16). The Jews say that the name of Darala was given to Succoth at some subsequent period.

18. Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem.'-It is agreed that our translators have erred in rendering D shalem here as a proper name. The word means 'peace' or safety; and the text should be read Jacob came safe to the city Shechem.' Neither our most early nor most modern versions render Shalem here as a proper name.

-Shechem.'-It is interesting to observe the increase of population, and the progressive appropriation of the land in Palestine, as indicated by the present text. Abraham had pastured his flocks freely in this vale, where no town seems to have then existed; but Jacob finds a town there, and is obliged to purchase the land in which he forms his encampment.

The town of Shechem is often afterwards mentioned in the Scripture, and was the scene of several remarkable transactions. After the Israelites had conquered the country, they made it a city of refuge (Josh. xx. 7); and, during the lifetime of Joshua, it was a centre of union for the tribes. It afterwards became the capital of the kingdom set up by Abimelech, but was at length destroyed by him (Judg. ix. 1 sq., 11, 34). It was rebuilt, and grew to such importance, that Jeroboam at first made it the capital of his kingdom (1 Kings xii. 25, compare xiv. 17). It ceased not to thrive after it lost that honour. It subsisted during the Captivity, and continued for many ages the chief seat of the Samaritans, and the centre of their worship, their sole temple being upon the summit of Mount Gerizim, at whose foot the city stood (Jer. xli. 5; John iv. 20; Joseph. Antiq. xi. 8, 6). In the New Testament it occurs under the name of Sychar (John iv. 5). Not long after it received the name of Neapolis, which it still retains in the modified Arabic form of Nabulus, being one of the very few names imposed by the Romans which have survived to the present day.

Shechem, as we have seen, stood in the narrow valley between the mountains of Ebal and Gerizim, in N. lat. 32° 17' and E. long. 35° 20', thirty-four miles north of Jerusalem, and seven miles south of Samaria. It is believed that the present town occupies the site of the ancient one, but is probably of more contracted dimensions. The streets are narrow, the houses high, and built of stone, with

domed roofs, as at Jerusalem. The main street is traversed through its whole extent by a stream of clear water--a rare thing in the East. There are some remains referred to the time of the first crusaders, but no ruins of more ancient date. The population is from 8000 to 10,000, including 130 Samaritans. Travellers speak with admiration of the beautiful valley of Shechem. There is nothing in the Holy Land,' says Dr. Clarke, finer than the view of Nablous, from the heights above it. As the traveller descends towards it from the hills, it appears luxuriantly embosomed in the most delightful fragrant bowers, half concealed by rich gardens and stately trees, collected into groves, all around the bold and beautiful valley in which it stands. This valley leads into a fine plain, waving with corn in the time of spring, and which is conceived to have formed or to have contained The parcel of ground which Jacob gave to his son Joseph.' John iv. 5. See the Travels of Clarke, iv. 267; Elliot, ii. 300; Olin, ii. 339, 365; Lord Nugent, Lands, &c., ii. 172, 180.

6

19. An hundred pieces of money!'-The original is pp kesitah, and most ancient translators have rendered it by lambs,' as in our marginal reading. Hence have arisen the questions, whether the price was really paid in lambs, or that it was the value of so many lambs, or pieces of metal separately of the value of a lamb, and stamped with the figure of that animal to authenticate its value. This last would in reality have been coined money, to which it does not appear that the people among whom Jacob sojourned had as yet attained; although the custom to which it refers may have eventually, and at a later time, prevailed. Besides, the translation lambs' is not supported by etymology or by the kindred dialects, and all the explanations and conjectures founded upon that interpretation fall to the ground; and the ancient coin bearing the figure of a lamb, which has been produced in support of one of these interpretations, is undoubtedly a coin of Cyprus. That it was a payment in kind, is disproved by the fact that, even in the time of Abraham, merchandise was no longer usually exchanged, but actual sales were made for metal weighed, or for a number of pieces of metal of ascertained weight (see the note on xxiii. 16). We take the kesitah to have been, therefore, the name of a weight. What this weight was must be left uncertain. Gesenius not very conclusively infers, from a comparison,

of this text with xxiii. 16, that it was heavier than the shekel, and contained, indeed, about four shekels. With at least equal uncertainty, and less probability, others urge that it could not be more than the twentieth part of a shekel; for Rabbi Akiba states that when he was in Arabia he heard the term kesitah still in use as applied to the meah: now the meah, according to Onkelos on Exod. xxx. 13, was equal to the gerah, twenty of which went to a shekel, therefore the kesitah was the twentieth part of a shekel. But the passing observation of Rabbi Akiba will scarcely bear the weight of this conclusion; for although he may have heard the name applied to the meah, it does not

follow that the same name was 2000 years before his time, and in another country, attached to the same weight. Upon the whole, we prefer the conclusion of Onkelos himself, who derives the word from kasat, truth, equity, and regards kesitah as meaning no more than that it was good and just merely, with reference either to the quality of the silver or to the weight; and this is supported by xxiii. 16, where the silver with which Abraham bought the field and cave of Machpelah is described as 'current money with the merchant.' The kesitah occurs again only in Josh. xxiv. 32; Job xlv. 11.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

1 Dinah is ravished by Shechem. 4 He sueth to marry her. 13 The sons of Jacob offer the condition of circumcision to the Shechemites. 20 Hamor and Shechem persuade them to accept it. 25 The sons of Jacob upon that advantage slay them, 27 and spoil their city. 30 Jacob reproveth Simeon and Levi.

AND Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.

2 And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and 'defiled ber.

3 And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel.

4 And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife.

5 And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter: now his sons were with his cattle in the field: and Jacob held his peace until they were come.

6 And Hamor the father of Shechem went out unto Jacob to commune with him.

7 And the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard it: and the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter; which thing ought not to be done.

8 And Hamor communed with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter: I pray you give her him to wife.

9 And make ye marriages with us, and give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you.

10 And ye shall dwell with us: and the land shall be before you; dwell and trade ye therein, and get you possessions therein.

11 And Shechem said unto her father and

unto her brethren, Let me find grace in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give.

12 Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me: but give me the damsel to wife.

13 ¶ And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister:

14 And they said unto them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; for that were a reproach

unto us:

15 But in this will we consent unto you: If ye will be as we be, that male of you every be circumcised;

16 Then will we give our daughters unto you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people.

17 But if ye will not hearken unto us, to be circumcised; then will we take our daughter, and we will be gone.

18 And their words pleased Hamor, and Shechem Hamor's son.

19 And the young man deferred not to do the thing, because he had delight in Jacob's daughter: and he was more honourable than all the house of his father.

20 ¶ And Hamor and Shechem his son came unto the gate of their city, and communed with the men of their city, saying,

21 These men are peaceable with us; therefore let them dwell in the land, and trade therein; for the land, behold, it is large enough for them; let us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us give them our daughters.

22 Only herein will the men consent unto us for to dwell with us, to be one people, if every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised.

2 Heb. to her heart.

23 Shall not their cattle and their substance and every beast of their's be our's? only let us consent unto them, and they will dwell with us.

24 And unto Hamor and unto Shechem his son hearkened all that went out of the gate of his city; and every male was circumcised, all that went out of the gate of his city. 25 ¶ And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and 'slew all the males.

26 And they slew Hamor and Shechein his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and went out. 27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain,

3 Chap. 49. 6.

and spoiled the city, because they had defiled their sister.

28 They took their sheep, and their oxen, and their asses, and that which was in the city, and that which was in the field,

29 And all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and spoiled even all that was in the house.

30 ¶ And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.

31 And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot ?

4 Heb. mouth.

Verse 5. Jacob held his peace till they (his sons) were come.'-His sons being out with the cattle, Jacob, though greatly distressed, felt that he could do nothing till they returned. This was certainly not from any weakness of character, and must be explained by reference to the customs of the Bedouins, among whom, when a man has children by different wives, the full brothers of a woman are, more than her father, the special guardians of her welfare; her avengers if she has been wronged, and her punishers if she errs. Accordingly we find that the brothers of Dinah took the matter entirely into their hands when they returned, Jacob remaining passive; and that it was Dinah's two brothers, by the same mother as well as father, who wreaked the final vengeance upon Shechem. Another instance of this occurs in Absalom's avengement of his sister Tamar's violation. 2 Sam. xiii. 22.

12. Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me.'-In some previous notes we have had occasion to allude to the dower and presents required of the bridegroom on his marriage; and have referred to this place for a more detailed statement. Subject to the exceptions to which every general position is incident, we think it may be safely stated, that among all savage and barbarous people--and therefore in the early history of every nation which afterwards became civilized -the father of a girl, in relinquishing her to a husband, conceives he has a right to receive a compensation for losing the benefit of her services, as well as for the trouble and expense of bringing her up and providing for her wants. The principle is still the same, whether, as among the Bedouins, the sum exacted be called the 'price' of the woman, or is merely described as a 'gift' or 'present' to the father. The antiquity of this usage will appear from this and other passages in the book of Genesis. The classical scholar is aware of numerous allusions to this custom. In one passage of the Iliad an accomplished lady is valued at four oxen. In another place, Agamemnon is made to say, that he would give one of his daughters to Achilles without exacting the least present in return. Homer never mentions anything as given to the bride, but always the presents which the bridegroom makes to the lady's father. It is also related by Pausanias, that when Danaus found himself unable to get his daughters married, he caused it to be made known that he would not demand any presents from those who would espouse them. (See Goguet, Origine des Lois, ii. 60, where these instances are adduced.) It would too much extend this note, to multiply examples from the early history of nations, and from existing prac

tices in the world. It may suffice to state generally, that, under sundry modifications, the principle of paying the father for his daughter is distinctly recognised throughout Asia, even where the father actually receives nothing. We shall confine our instances to the Bedouins. Usages differ considerably in this and other points, among the Arabian tribes; and travellers have too hastily concluded that the customs of one tribe represented those of the entire nation. The principle of payment is indeed known to all the tribes, but its operation varies very considerably. Among some very important tribes it is considered disgraceful for the father to demand the daughter's price' (hakk el bint), nor is it thought creditable to receive even voluntary presents; among other tribes the price is received by the parent, but is made over to the daughter, constituting her dower. Among other tribes, however, the price is rigidly exacted. The price is generally paid in cattle; and is sometimes so considerable, as to render it advantageous to have many daughters in a family. Five or six camels are a very ordinary payment for a person in tolerable circumstances, and if the man can afford it, and the bride is much admired or well connected, fifty sheep and a mare or foal are added.

The next stage of this usage is found to prevail among semi-civilized people; and it consists in this, that while the principle of 'price' is retained, it is customary for the father to return part of what he receives, to form a dowry for the daughter. In the first instance this dower was, and is still among many tribes and people, a provision considered to proceed from the mere favour of the father, the amount of which depended upon him, and which he was at liberty to withhold altogether. But when it became an established custom, it was found convenient to distinguish in the marriage contract how much of the payment made by the bridegroom should form the dowry' of the bride, and how much the 'gift' to the father. To this point the people of Canaan appear, from our text, to have arrived very early; for we see that the 'dowry' and the 'gift' are discriminated. Among the ancient Greeks also, and indeed among the modern Greeks, we find that the father did not at all times engross the price of his daughter; but there is mention of two species of payments, one to the father to engage him to bestow his daughter on the suitor, and the other to the lady whom he demanded in marriage: and to show that the latter was in effect part of the price, it is sometimes mentioned that the father gave the dowry to his daughter; that is, he gave it out of what he had received from the bridegroom. In this case we are able to ascertain the ex

istence of usages precisely analogous to those described in the Old Testament, not merely in Greece and other remote countries, but in a kindred and neighbouring nation to the Jews. The Bedouin romance of Antar, which described the customs which existed in Arabia before the Mohammedan law had been promulgated, affords very curious illustrations on this subject.

It is a step beyond the usage last denoted, when the father ceases to derive any benefit from the marriage of his daughter. The bridegroom, however, pays just the same; but what he does pay, goes to increase the dowry of the bride, and not to enrich the father. It is a still nearer approximation to the usages of civilized Europe, when the parent thinks proper to render the marriage of his daughter an occasion of expense to himself, by engaging to make an addition more or less considerable, from his own means, to the provision offered by the bridegroom. It is not unusual for considerable persons in Persia, and, we believe, in Turkey and Arabia, to agree to double the value of the goods supplied by the bridegroom. It should be understood, that all the usages to which we have adverted-of payment exclusively to the father-of payment divided between father and daughter-of the father altogether foregoing his interest in the payments of the bridegroom, or even of increasing the dowry from his own means-may

and do exist contemporaneously in the same country; the result being determined by local usage, by private feeling and disposition, or by the respective condition of the families contracting alliance.

20. And Hamor and Shechem his son came unto the gate of 1 their city, and communed with the men of their city.-Here we see that Hamor, the prince or king of the town of Shechem --which appears to have been founded by him, and called after the name of his son-could not agree to the propositions made by Jacob's sons until he had consulted the citizens and obtained their consent. From this and other such facts we can gather that the power of the petty princes of Canaan, so often mentioned in this book, was of a very limited description. By the constitution of these governments the people had an important share in the transaction of affairs, which were canvassed and regulated in general assemblies of the nation. Traces of the limited nature of the more ancient monarchies may be found in sufficient abundance. The kings of Egypt were subject to severe and troublesome restrictions. The power of the first kings in Greece was not more extensive than their territories. One might well compare these ancient kings to the Caciques and other petty sovereigns of America, who have scarcely any authority but in what relates to war, alliances, and treaties of peace.

CHAPTER XXXV.

1 God sendeth Jacob to Beth-el. 2 He purgeth his house of idols. 6 He buildeth an altar at Beth-el. 8 Deborah dieth at Allon-bachuth. 9 God blesseth Jacob at Beth-el. 16 Rachel travaileth of Benjamin, and dieth in the way to Edar. 22 Reuben lieth with Bilhah. 23 The sons of Jacob. 27 Jacob cometh to Isaac at Hebron. 28 The age, death, and burial of Isaac.

AND God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Beth-el, and dwell there and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee 'when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.

2 Then Jacob said unto his houshold, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments :

3 And let us arise, and go up to Beth-el; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.

4 And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. 5 And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.

6 So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Beth-el, he and all the people that were with him.

8

But Deborah Rebekah's nurse died, and she was buried beneath Beth-el under an oak : and the name of it was called 'Allon-bachuth.

9 ¶ And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padan-aram, and blessed him.

10 And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he ! called his name Israel.

11 And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;

12 And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.

13 And God went up from him in the place where he talked with him.

14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even a pillar of stone: and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon.

15 And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Beth-el.

16 And they journeyed from Beth-el; and there was but a little way, to come to Ephrath and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour.

4 That is, the oak of weeping.

1 Chap. 27. 43. 116

2 Chap. 28. 19.

5 Chap. 32. 28.

came to pass, when she was in at the midwife said unto her, shalt have this son also. ame to pass, as her soul was in she died) that she called his : but his father called him

chel died, and was buried in the h, which is Beth-lehem. cob set a pillar upon her grave: lar of Rachel's grave unto this

srael journeyed, and spread his the tower of Edar.

And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and 'lay with Bilhah his father's concubine: and Israel heard

firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun:

24 The sons of Rachel; Joseph, and Benjamin:

25 And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid; Dan, and Naphtali:

26 And the sons of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid; Gad, and Asher: these are the sons of Jacob, which were born to him in Padan

aram.

27 And Jacob came unto Isaac his father unto Mamre, unto the city of Arbah, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned. 28 And the days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore years.

10.

29 And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

9 Chap. 49. 4. 10 Chap. 25. 8.

Verse 4. All their earrings.'-Had these ear-rings been simply ornamental, they certainly would not need to have been given up with the strange gods.' It would, therefore, seem that they bore the figures of false gods, or some symbols of their power. Such ear-rings are still to be found in India and other countries of the East, and are regarded as charms or talismans to protect the wearer against enchantments and against enemies. It seems that the Israelites were not in after-times free from this objectionable practice, for Hosea (ii. 13) represents Jerusalem as having decked herself with the ear-rings of Baalim.

8. Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and was buried beneath Beth-el under an oak; and the name of it was called Allon-bachuth' [the oak of weeping].-This nurse accompanied Rebekah when she left her native country to join her destined husband; she was with her always after, to the day of her death: and how she was honoured in her death the text records. This importance of nurses was common in ancient times; but is now almost peculiar to the East, especially among the Moslems. They indeed scem to feel that the fact of such a connection creates an almost maternal relation, so as to affect marriages, in nearly the same way in which (in the Roman Catholic church) a godmother has been supposed to become related to the baptised child. A few of the declarations of Mohammed on this subject will open this matter to the reader. Aayeshah (his most favoured wife) says: The brother of the woman's husband who had nursed me came and asked permission to come to me; but I refused him till asking the prophet: and the prophet came, and I asked him, and he said, "Verily, he is your uncle, then allow him to come in." On which Aayeshah remarked: 'O messenger of God! the woman nursed me, not the man.' The prophet said: Verily he is your uncle; then tell him to come in; because the man whose wife has suckled you is your fosterfather, and his brother your uncle.' Another circumstance elicited from him the declaration: Verily, God hath made unlawful for a child (to marry) the woman who suckled him, or her daughter, her sister, or her mother-in like manner as he hath forbidden it to near relationship.' On another occasion he obliged a man to divorce his wife, because a woman affirmed that she had given suck to both when they were infants. More on this subject may be found in the Mishat-ul-Masabih (xiii. v. 1). At present, in many parts of India are mosques and mausoleums built by the Mohammedan princes near the sepulchres of their nurses. They are excited by a grateful affection to erect

these structures in memory of those who, with maternal anxiety, watched over their infancy.

18. She called his name Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin.'-Here is a very curious instance of the circumstances under which a name was imposed by the mother, and of a change made by the father to one similar in sound, but of very different signification (see marginal explanation). We have seen that the names of most of Jacob's other children, in like manner, were given from some hope or circumstance connected with their birth. Nothing can be more similar to this than the usages still existing among the Bedouin Arabs. Among them the common Mohammedan uames (except that of Mohammed') are comparatively rare: most of the names-which are imposed at the birth of the child-are derived from some trifling accident, or from some idea that occurred to the mind, or some object that attracted the attention of the mother or the women present at the child's birth. Thus,' says Burckhardt, if the dog happened to be near on the occasion, the infant is probably named Kelab (from kelb, a dog). It is very probable that the name of Caleb-the celebrated Israelite who alone (with Joshua) was allowed to enter the Promised Land, of all the multitude that left Egypt (Num. xxxii. 12), and which is identical with thisoriginated in a similar way; and also the name of Hamor, or rather Chamor, in the preceding chapter, which literally means an ass.' The application of the latter name to a prince or emir helps to show the comparative respectability of the ass in eastern countries. The same custom exists to some extent in other Asiatic nations, and even in Africa; for Mungo Park informs us, that the children of the Mandingoes are not always named after their relatives, but frequently in consequence of some remarkable occurThus my landlord at Kamalia was called Karfa, a word signifying "to replace;" because he was born shortly after the death of one of his brothers.' With regard to the name Benjamin, explained to mean 'son of the right hand,' it more probably means son of days;' that is, 'son of his father's old age' (see ch. xliv. 10). The difference entirely depends on the last letter of the name. The Samaritan reads Benjamim,' which certainly means 'son of days;' and it is conceived that 'Benjamin' is of the same signification, only with the Chaldee termination in for im--just as we say cherubim' or cherubin' indifferently. The question is of interest only because the force of the text turns upon the signification of the name.

rence.

19. Ephrath, which is Beth-lehem.'--Ephrath, or