ThERE are many passages of scripture, the meaning, or at least the beauties, of which are not at first sight apparent, and which a few words of explanation will render clear. We design to present the readers of the Review from time to time with such as may come under our notice, together with such comments, collected from various sources, as will free them from obscurity and bring out the ideas they were intended to enforce.
Isa. vii, 18. "And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost parts of the river of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria." From no custom at the present day could we learn what is meant by hissing for the fly, &c. But it is all clear when we learn the simple fact that hissing as a mode of calling an attendant to his master's side, is a custom very prevalent in Palestine. Says Osborne, "Whenever a servant was wanted, the usual 'shee!' which is so common throughout the land, started two or three in an instant." The text means therefore that the Lord shall call or summon the fly and the bee, as agents in the accomplishment of his purposes, from Egypt and Assyria. In chap. v, 26, the word is used in the same manner.
In Jer. xlix, 19, and 1, 44, we read of people's coming up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan. What had the swelling of Jordan to do with the coming up of lions? We see at once how it was, when we read concerning Jordan, that "in the lower Jordan the stream is bordered by numerous canebrakes; and the thickets joining the river were formerly the retreat of wild beasts, which, of course, would be driven out by a freshet; hence the figure, He shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan."
Matt. xxiii, 24. "Ye blind guides which strain at a gnat and swallow a camel." In the first English translations this passage reads, "Ye strain out a gnat," &c., and the expression alludes to the Jewish custom of filtering wine for fear of swallowing any insect forbidden by the law as unclean ; and it is applied to those who are superstitiously anxious in avoiding small faults, yet do not scruple to commit great sins.
John v, 39. "Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life," &c. The word search, in the original has precisely the same form in the imperative mood, search, and in the indicative mood, ye search. It may therefore be rendered in the latter manner, which, we think, would better give the sense of the passage: Ye search the scriptures. Why? For (because) in them ye think ye have eternal life. And then Christ tells them that all the eternal life they had in their scriptures was in those places wherein they testified of him.
Luke xi, 11, 12. "If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask for a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? or if he shall ask for an egg will he give him a scorpion?" The resemblance between bread and a stone, and a fish and a serpent, all can readily see; but where is the propriety of a contrast and comparison between an egg and a scorpion? Is there any resemblance between these two to justify such a comparison? There is. We read from those who have traveled in that country, that "the scorpion of Judea when curled up greatly resembles an egg in both size and shape."