at Sakkarah, who said they had found them in a hole filled with sand, which they had cleared out. The following account is taken from Egyptian Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 119.-" One of these tunics is of a square form, being three fee one inch long, and of equal breadth: the sleeves are about one foot four inches long. There is an opening at the top fo the head, and it was also open at the bottom, being, in this respect, pretty much in the form of a common shirt. In th lower part of the shirt, both before and behind, there are two square pieces of embroidery let into the cloth; a simila square piece appears on each shoulder. On each of the arms there are also two pieces of embroidery; and one on eac side, between the hole for the neck, and the square patch on the shoulder, hanging down before and behind, like a pa of braces: these embroidered parts are sewed to the cloth. The embroidery contains nothing at all of a pictorial kin but is formed of squares and circles, and other forms of pure invention. ... The cloth is yellow, and the embroider brown. It is not determined if the material of the shirt was linen, cotton, or hemp; but the first is most likely. Som chemists conjectured that the embroidery was made of the hair of an animal. The body of the tunic is formed of tw breadths or pieces, and the seams on each side are covered with a neat piece of edging: the bottom of the sleeves edged in the same way. The opening for the neck could be contracted by some small ties that are still attached to it Of course, the author describes it as "a shirt," merely because it more resembles that than any other article of our ou dress. We do not know that in actual use it answered to our garment of that name. Considering the climate ar habits of the people, it was perhaps more probably, an outer, or perhaps only, article of dress for the superior pa of the body, during summer. Its ornamented appearance favours this conclusion. It was obviously intended to 1 compressed around the waist by a girdle. 32. "There shall not be an old man in thine house for ever."-We should understand this perhaps as implying simp the calamity of untimely deaths in the family. But it implied something more among the Hebrews, with whom a was so much respected, as it is still in most eastern nations, that the continual absence of age in a family would aloi lower its claims to that dignity and respect which attend the presence of aged men. Under this combination of idea it is, in the East, considered a most venomous curse for one to wish that the family of another may never furni old men; and nothing can imply, according to the feeling of the speaker, more commiseration on the one hand, more disrespect on the other, than to say that a particular family has contained no old men for many generations. 1 How the word of the Lord was first revealed to Samuel. 11 God telleth Samuel the destruction of Eli's house. 15 Samuel, though loth, telleth Eli the vision. 19 Samuel groweth in credit. AND the child Samuel ministered unto the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was precious in those days; there was no open vision 2 And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see; 3 And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep; 4 That the LORD called Samuel: and he answered, Here am I. 5 And he ran unto Eli, am I; for thou calledst me. I called not; lie down again. and lay down. and said, Here And he said, And he went 6 And the LORD called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call And he answered, I called not, my son; lie down again. me. 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, neither was the word of the LORD yet revealed unto him. 8 And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli, 1 Or, Thus did Samuel before he knew the LORD, and before the word of the LORD was revealed unto him. and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. | shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offerAnd Eli perceived that the LORD had called ing for ever. the child. 15 : 9 Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, LORD; for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place. 10 And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth. 11 And the LORD said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of 'every one that heareth it shall tingle. 12 In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: "when I begin, I will also make an end. 13 For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves 'vile, and he 'restrained them not. 14 And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli's house And Samuel lay until the morning, and opened the doors of the house of the LORD. And Samuel feared to shew Eli the vision. 16 Then Eli called Samuel, and said, Samuel, my son. And he answered, Here am I. 17 And he said, What is the thing that the LORD hath said unto thee? I pray thee hide it not from me: God do so to thee, and "more also, if thou hide any 'thing from me of all the things that he said unto thee. 18 And Samuel told him every whit, and hid nothing from him. And he said, It is the LORD: let him do what seemeth him good. 19 And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground. 20 And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was "established to be a prophet of the LORD. 21 And the LORD appeared again in Shiloh: for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the LORD. 6 Or, accursed. 11 Or, faithful. 2 Kings 21. 12. Heb. beginning and ending. 4 Or, and I will tell him, &c. 5 Chap. 2. 29; 20, 31, &c. 7 Heb. frowned not upon them. 8 Heb. so add. ? Or, word. 10 Heb. all the things, or words. Verse 1. "The child Samuel ministered unto the Lord."-Josephus says that Samuel was, at this time, about twelve years of age. His ministry doubtless consisted of such Levitical duties as his years made him capable of performing. It is perhaps scarcely necessary to explain that the transactions of this chapter did not take place in the tabernacle. It is evident that at a proper distance around this fabric were established such tents, cells, or other dwellings, as were requisite for the accommodation of the priests and Levites engaged in the sacred ministrations, and in which were also deposited the utensils employed in the services of the tabernacle. It seems as if Samuel lodged in some part of Eli's abode, or of one next or near to it; as it is evident that he was within call, or he would not else have supposed that Eli had called him. Indeed, as the lad was thus within call, and appears to have been accustomed to the call, we may infer that part of his duty consisted in some degree of personal attendance upon the high-priest. It is very probable that the remarkable circumstances of his birth led Eli to feel such a peculiar interest about the young Samuel, as might induce him to take him under his immediate care and protection. CHAPTER IV. 1 The Israelites are overcome by the Philistines at Eben-ezer. 3 They fetch the ark unto the terror of the Philistines. 10 They are smitten again, the ark taken, Hophni and Phinehas are slain. 12 Eli at the news, falling backward, breaketh his neck. 19 Phinehas wife, discouraged in her travail with I-chabod, dieth. AND the word of Samuel 1'came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and pitched beside Eben-ezer: and the Philistines pitched in Aphek. 2 And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel: and when they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the Philis 1 Or, came to pass. : tines and they slew of the army in the field about four thousand men. 3 ¶ And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the LORD smitten us to day before the Philistines? Let us "fetch the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of Shiloh unto us, that, when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies. 4 So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from thence the ark of the co venant of the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth between the cherubims: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. 5 And when the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again. 6 And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of the LORD was come into the camp. 7 And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! for there hath not been such a thing heretofore. 8 Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? these are the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. 9 Be strong, and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, 'as they have been to you quit yourselves like men, and fight. 10 And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man into his tent and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen. 11 And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, 'were slain. 12¶And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head. 13 And when he came, lo, Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside watching for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city, and told it, all the city cried out. Heb. yesterday, or the third day. 7 Judg. 13. 1. 13 Or, to cry out. 14 Heb. were turned. 15 Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes "were dim, that he could not see. 16 And the man said unto Eli, I am he that came out of the army, and I fled to day out of the army. And he said, What is there done, my son? 17 And the messenger answered and said, Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people, and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken. 18 And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died: for he was an old man, and heavy. And he had judged. Israel forty years. 19¶ And his daughter in law, Phinehas' wife, was with child, near to be delivered: and when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was taken, and that her father in law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and travailed; for her pains "came upon her. 20 And about the time of her death the women that stood by her said unto her, Fear not; for thou hast born a son. But she answered not, "neither did she regard it. 21 And she named the child I-chabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband. 22 And she said, The glory is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken. 8 Heb. be men. 9 Heb. died. .0 Chap. 3. 2. 11 Heb, stood. 18 Heb. is the thing. 15 Heb. set not her heart. 16 That is, where is the glory? or, there is no glory. Verse 1. "Ebenezer....Aphek.”—The name Ebenezer is here mentioned proleptically, as it was not given to the spot till the occasion mentioned in chap. vii. 12 (see the note there). The Aphek is probably the same as the Aphekah, enumerated among the towns in the mountains of Judah in Josh. xv. 53. As the two places were obviously at no great distance from each other, and as Ebenezer was on the northern border of Judah, we are obliged to place Aphek also towards the northern frontier, and, (if it be the same as Aphekah) among the central mountains of the countryperhaps on their western declivities-because to place Aphek, as it usually is placed, away eastward between the central mountains and the Dead Sea, is incompatible with that proximity to Ebenezer which the present chapter assigns. 3. “Let us fetch the ark."-This very unhappy idea seems to have been borrowed by the Israelites from their neighbours as we know that some of the ancient idolaters carried their idols or most sacred symbols with them in their wars, under the apparent idea, that the efficient power of their gods was more concentrated, or more intense, in association with their images or symbols. In fact, the Israelites seem to have had the same notion of the matter as that which the Philistines themselves manifested when they heard the news. 8. * Woe unto us!”—The ancient systems of idolatry had "gods many and lords many." The nations did not deny that the gods which others worshipped were gods. or that the worship rendered to them was right. They did not limit the number of the gods; but they thought that among them all there were some who took particular nations ander their peculiar care and protection, and who were therefore entitled to pre-eminent worship from the protected nation. This is the origin of national gods. Perhaps no ancient nation denied that the Jehovah of the Jews was a gol; but He alone claimed to be the only God, and this claim they denied. So now, the Philistines fully allow Jeho VOL. II. 9 с vah to be a god, and a powerful god-but not considering him to be the only god, they were not deterred from fighti against him (as they understood), trusting that their own national god or gods might yet deliver them from t national God of the Hebrews. To correct the notions of the Israelites, which tended to limit and localize his powe the Lord allowed the ark to be taken; but when it had been captured, he neglected not to vindicate his own hono upon the exulting Philistines and their supposed triumphant god. 18. "He fell from off the seat...and his neck brake."-Eli therefore sat on an elevated seat. Seats from which even man old and heavy could fall and injure himself, are not now employed in the East, and do not appear to have been use among the Hebrews. Eli's seat would appear to have been a sort of throne-seat, peculiar to him as a mark of EGYPTIAN ENTERTAINMENT, SHOWING THE FORM OF THE CHAIRS.-FROM A PAINTING IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. |