epithets given or taken in addition, and which, in the absence of a system of sirnames like our own, serve better to distinguish individuals than the proper name itself, and often acquire greater prominence in practical use. It will be useful to understand this distinction, which we have never scen clearly stated. One example will illustrate this point. Saoud, the famous Wahabee chief, had a magnificent pair of mustachios, whence he was commonly called Abou Schowáreb, the Father of Mustachios,' by which he was as often addressed personally as by his proper name, and which therefore operated in some degree as a change of name. If he had lost his mustachios, some other characteristic would probably have been found to distinguish hin from other persons of the name of Saoud. Oriental history affords instances in which the added epithet has completely superseded the proper name.

10. Every man child among you shall be circumcised.'This command was re-enforced by the law of Moses, and has been carefully observed by the Jews to the present time. It is impossible to ascertain whether such a rite existed in the world before this command. But Herodotus speaks of it as a custom ancient even in his time, and which existed in several nations, particularly the Egyptians and Ethiopians. It does not appear, however, that it was general among the Egyptians, but that it was confined to the priesthood and to particular professions. Much controversy has turned upon the point, whether the Egyptians or Hebrews first observed the rite; but we cannot enter into it here. Bochart and others think that the Egyptians got it from the Arabians, who certainly practised circumcision, doubtless deriving the custom from Ishmael. But, even among

CHAPTER XVIII.

1 Abraham entertaineth three angels. 9 Sarah is reproved for laughing at the strange promise. 17 The destruction of Sodom is revealed to Abraham. 23 Abraham maketh intercession for the men thereof.

AND the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;

2 'And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground,

3 And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant :

4 Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree :

5 And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and 'comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said.

6 And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, 'Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth.

7 And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it.

the Arabians, the observance of the rite does not seem to have been considered essential and obligatory, until it was made so by the law of Mohammed; since which time its diffusion has been co-extensive with that of the Mohammedan faith, and is a practice scarcely less rigidly enforced by Moslems than by Jews. It is, however, a custom not confined to Oriental nations. As Burder notes in his Oriental Literature, the Spaniards found a sort of circumcision prevalent in Mexico; it has also been practised in the Australian continent and islands, and was found by Captain Cook to exist in the Friendly Islands. According to the direction in v. 12, the Jews perform the ceremony on the eighth day from the birth of the child; but as Ishmael was thirteen years old when circumcised (v. 25), the Mohammedans usually postpone it to that age. To the Jews it stands much in the same relation as baptism to Christians, and the child then receives its name. A sort

of godfather and godmother are appointed for the occasion, the former of whom holds the infant during the ceremony, and the latter carries it to the synagogue and home again. It may, however, be done at home if the parents like. The law gives no particular directions as to the operator; the father may do it if he pleases; we see a mother performing it in Exodus iv. 25. But the operation is usually performed by some experienced person; and it is considered a great honour to be a circumciser (mohel). If the child seems unable to bear the operation on the eighth day, it may be deferred; and if the child happens to die before that day, it seems that the operation is sometimes performed after death. The circumcision of a child is an occasion of rejoicing both among Jews and Mohammedans.

8 And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.

9 And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? and he said, Behold, in the

tent.

10 And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.

11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.

12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?

13 And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?

14 Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.

15 Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh.

16 And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way. Heb. Hasten. 5 Chap. 17. 19, and 21. 2. 61 Pet. 3. 6

61

of superiors, and is no doubt the same as that of David, who 'stooped with his face to the earth, and bowed himself' before Saul (1 Sam. xxiv. 8). Mr. Morier is probably right in supposing that this form of obeisance is the same which the Persians of the present day use in approaching their king. It consists in bowing so as to bring the upper part of the body at right angles with the lower, the hands resting on the knees, and the legs somewhat asunder. See the note on 2 Sam. xxiv. 20.

4. Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet.'-Compare Gen. xix, 2; Luke vii. 44; 1 Sam. xxv. 41; John xiii. 5. To furnish water for washing the feet is a necessary and most grateful part of hospitality in the East. Where the people wear sandals, which are intended only to protect the soles, the feet soon become foul and parched; and to have the feet and ancles bathed is the most gratifying of refreshments after that of quenching thirst. The office is usually performed by servants. Mr. Roberts mentions, that in passing through Hindoo villages it is common to see this office performed for the weary traveller. In the sandy deserts of Arabia and the bordering countries no covering for the feet can prevent the necessity for this refreshment at the end of a day's journey. The fine impalpable sand or dust penetrates all things, and, with the perspiration, produces an itching and feverish irritation, which, next to the quenching of his thirst, it is the first wish of a traveller to allay; and to uncover his feet, and to get water to wash them, are prime objects of attention. If sandals only are used, or the feet are entirely without defence, it becomes still more necessary to wash them after a journey. At Ramleh, Professor Robinson was entertained in the house of an Arab of the Greek church, acting as American consular agent.' Here, soon after arrival, Our youthful host [the second son] now proposed, in the genuine style of ancient Oriental hospitality, that a servant should wash our feet. This took me by surprise, for I was not aware that the custom still existed here. Nor does it, indeed, towards foreigners; though it is quite common among the natives. We gladly accepted the proposal, both for the sake of the refreshment and of the Scriptural illustration. A female Nubian slave accordingly brought water, which she poured upon our feet over a large solid basin of tinned copper, kneeling before us, and rubbing our feet with her hands, and wiping them with a napkin. It was one of the most gratifying minor incidents of our whole journey.'

6. Knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth.'-It seems very strange to us, that in such an establishment as that of the patriarch, there was not ready-baked bread for the strangers. But the fact is, that in the East, to this day, so much bread and no more than will suffice for the household, is baked daily; as the common bread will not keep good longer than a day in a warm climate. They also prefer bread when it is new. In the East, it is only in large towns that there are bakers by trade. In villages and camps every family bakes its own bread; and while journeying in the East we always found that, except in towns, the women of the families which entertained us always went to work immediately after our arrival, kneading the dough and baking cakes,' generally in spacious round or oblong flaps, of thin and soft bread, which were ready in an astonishingly short time. We have often watched the various processes with great interest, and traced the analogies they afforded to the usages recorded in the Bible. As we shall have occasion to describe these processes in notes to the various passages which refer to them, we shall only now indicate that which is supposed to be here intended, and which is still in use among the Arabs and other peoples of the East. It is begun by kindling a fire upon the ground or hearth: when the ground is sufficiently heated the fire is removed and the dough set thereon, and, being covered with the hot ashes and embers, is soon baked, although not so rapidly as by some other processes, the cakes being thicker and not so wide as those in most common use. Another process resembles this, except that, instead of the bare hearth, a circle of small stones is arranged, and these being heated, the paste is

spread over them, and then overlaid with hot cinders This is thinner than the former, and is only used by the Arabs for their morning meal. Sarah's process was probably the first-mentioned. It may seem extraordinary to see a lady of such distinction as Sarah, the wife of a powerful chief, occupied in this menial service. But even now this duty devolves on the women of every household; and among those who dwell in tents, the wife of the proudest chief is not above superintending the preparation of the bread, or even kneading and baking it with her own hands. Tamar, the daughter of a king, seems to have acquired distinction as a good baker of bread (see 2 Sam. xiii. 5-10), and there are few of the heavy duties which fall upon the women of the East which they are more anxious to do well, and to gain credit for, than this. It is among the very first of an eastern female's accomplishments. The other duties of the kitchen still often devolve upon the wives, even in families of distinction. When Dr. Richardson was at Jeru salem, he was, as a physician, consulted about the complaints of the ladies of a Turk of high consideration, called Omar Effendi. I was surprised,' says the doctor, 'to hear many of them ascribe their complaints to fatigue, which I was informed arose from their employment in the kitchen.'

7. A calf tender and good.'-Here again the European reader is struck, not less at the want of preparation than by the apparent rapidity with which the materials of a good feast were supplied. The dough was to be kneaded and the bread baked; and the meat had not only to be dressed, but killed. The fact is, the Orientals consume a very small quantity of animal food; and the nomades, with their ample flocks and herds, less than other Orientals. In our own journies, meat was never to be found ready killed, except in large towns, and then only in the mornings. There was probably not a morsel of meat in Abraham's camp, in any shape whatever. The usages of the Aeneze Arabs, as stated by Burckhardt, in his Notes on the Bedouins, strikingly illustrate this entertainment prepared by Abraham for his visitants; and we know that, with some unimportant differences, the statement applies generally to other Arab tribes. Their usual fare (called ayesh) consists of flour made into a paste, and boiled with sour camel's milk. This is their daily and universal dish; and the richest sheikh would think it disgraceful to order his wife to prepare any other dish merely to please his own palate. The Arabs never indulge in animal food and other luxuries but on the occasion of some great festival, or on the arrival of a stranger. If the guest is a common person. bread is baked and served up with the ayesh; if the guest is a person of some small consequence, coffee is prepared for him, and also the dish called behatta (rice or flour boiled with sweet camel's milk), or that called ftéta (baked paste, kneaded up thoroughly with butter); but for a man of some rank, a kid or lamb is killed. When this happens, the lamb is boiled with bourgoul (wheat dried in the sun after having been boiled) and camel's milk; and served up in a large wooden dish, around the edge of which the meat is placed. A wooden bowl, containing the melted fat of the animal, is put and pressed down in the midst of the boiled wheat; and every morsel is dipped into this melted fat before it is swallowed. A bowl of camel's milk is frequently handed round after a meal. Now in this account of the Arabian mode of entertaining a stranger, we have all the circumstances of Abraham's entertainment, if we change his 'calf' for a sheep, lamb, or kid. Here are the bread newly baked, the butter, and the milk. If we should suppose that the process of boiling the choice parts of the calf was too long for the present occasion, we may conclude that those parts were cut up into small bits, and, being run upon small spits or skewers, broiled over the fire: this being a mode very common in the East of preparing a hasty meal of animal food. We have not supposed that the animal was dressed and served up entire, as that would have required more time than the haste of preparing a meal for merely passing strangers would allow. amongst the Arabs, and indeed other eastern nations, it is not unusual at their entertainments to serve up a lamb or kid that has been roasted or baked whole in a hole in the

But

ground, which, after being heated and having received the carcase, is covered over with stones. It is less common now in the East to kill a calf than it seems to have been in the times of the Bible. The Arabs, Turks, and others, think it monstrous extravagance to kill a young animal which becomes so large and valuable when full grown. This consideration seems to magnify Abraham's liberality in being so ready to kill a calf for the strangers. It may seem to us rather revolting that the meat should be dressed and eaten so immediately after being killed. But it is still the custom in the East to dress meat very soon after the animal has been slaughtered, and frequently before the warmth of life has departed from it: and, in a journey, we have ourselves often eaten boiled mutton in less than two hours after the sheep had been killed, and broiled mutton in a much shorter time. The custom doubtless originated in the heat of the climate, which precluded meat from being kept long; and, as a custom, came to be applied in seasons and regions where the originating cause did not immediately operate. Mr. Roberts, in a remark on 1 Sam. xxviii. 24, 25, observes, that in India the natives affect to be disgusted with the English for keeping fowls six or eight hours before they are cooked, and say we are fond of eating chettareyche, i. e. dead flesh. He adds, "There are some Englishmen who become so accustomed to these things, that they have the chicken grilled, and on their table, which a quarter of an hour before was playing in the yard.

8.' Butter.'-The continual mention of butter as an independent dish, and as a proverbial sign of plenty, is calculated to astonish a European reader. The word, as used in the Bible, implies butter and cream in various states of consistence. Annotators have discussed whether, in the present instance, the meat was dished up with butter, or that the latter formed an independent dish. It might well be both, or either, if we judge from present Arabian usages, which furnish ample illustrations of the extraordinary use of butter among the Hebrews. The butter is usually made with the milk of sheep or goats, and is used to an excess which it seems amazing that the human stomach can bear. All Arab food, considered well prepared, swims in butter, and large quantities are swallowed independently in a solid or liquid state. Burckhardt mentions that those who can afford such a luxury swallow every morning a large cupful of butter before breakfast; and even snuff a good quantity up their nostrils. Some tribes welcome a guest by pouring a cup of melted butter on his head. Our way of spreading butter thinly upon bread, seems the height of absurdity to them, and indeed to other Asiatics. When they do eat it with bread at all, it is in the way which was taught us by a Bedouin, who, observing us sitting on the ground and refreshing ourselves with buttered bread and dates, looked compassionately on our ignorance of the true use of butter; and, to give us a valuable lesson on the subject, commenced breaking off a thin bit of bread about the size of a crown piece, and heaping thereon as large a lump of butter as it would support,

threw it into his mouth with great satisfaction. He pursued this instruction, until his rapid progress towards the bottom of our butter-skin, obliged us to declare ourselves sufficiently instructed. Burckhardt, in allusion to the extraordinary use of butter among the Arabs, observes, 'the continual motion and exercise in which they employ themselves strengthen their powers of digestion; and, for the same reason, an Arab will live for months together on the smallest allowance; and then, if an opportunity should offer, he will devour at one sitting the flesh of half a lamb, without any injury to his health.' This would, in some degree, account for the extraordinary quantity of food which here and elsewhere we find prepared for a very few persons; or a better reason perhaps is found in the existing practice throughout Western Asia, of producing at entertainments from five to ten times the quantity of food which the invited guests can consume, the residue going to feast the women and the host of servants and dependents which men of consideration support. It is the same in camps, where a great number of hungry Arabs or Tartars get some benefit from the feast which their sheikh or some wealthy person provides for a stranger.

Milk.'-Milk, in its various forms, constitutes a principal article of diet among the Arabs and other pastoral tribes; and also enters largely as an ingredient into the composition of their prepared dishes. Many tribes live almost exclusively on dates and milk meats. Butter has been mentioned, and cheese will claim a future notice. When pasturage is good, sweet milk is handed round after an Arab meal. They also make much use of butter-milk; and coagulated sour milk, diluted with water, is in very general use both among the Arabs and other inhabitants of Western Asia. Although unpleasant at first to strangers, the natives swallow it with avidity; and it is really found to be very refreshing in a warm climate. Either this or sweet milk is probably intended in the text. The Arabs make cream by the usual process, and it is scarcely inferior to that of Devonshire. From the frequent mention which is made of milk, milk meats must have been very common among the Hebrews, who seem to have been always, even in their settled state, more a pastoral than an agricultural people. In Proverbs xxvii. 27, goats' milk, of course understood in its preparations, is mentioned as a principal article of diet in a Hebrew household. The milk of goats is perhaps there mentioned as being of the best quality. It is decidedly so considered in the East. The Arabs drink camels' milk (see note on ch. xxxii. 15); but all their butter and cheese is prepared from the milk of goats and sheep, which are milked by the women every morning before daybreak. Cows' milk, where it is to be had, is held in comparatively little esteem, and is, in fact, much inferior to that which our own cows produce; perhaps because these animals cannot thrive well upon the wild and often scanty pastures of those regions.

12. After I am waxed old.'-This is forcibly rendered by Geddes, year-worn as I am;' and by De Sola, 'worn with age.'

they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.

4 ¶ But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter :

5 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.

6 And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him,

7 And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.

8 Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.

9 And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door.

10 But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door.

11 And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great so that they wearied themselves to find the door.

12 And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou❘ hast in the city, bring them out of this place:

13 For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it.

14 And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.

15 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the 'iniquity of the

the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.

17 And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.

18 And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord:

19 Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die :

20 Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.

21 And he said unto him, See, I have accepted 'thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken.

22 Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

23 The sun was 'risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar.

24 Then 'the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;

25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.

26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

27 And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD:

28 And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.

29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.

30 ¶ And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.

31 And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth: