Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres: Lecture XLI — The Poetry of the Hebrews
Among the various kinds of poetry which we are, at present, employed in examining, the ancient Hebrew poetry, or that of the Scriptures, justly deserves a place. Viewing these sacred books in no higher light, than as they present to us the most ancient monuments of poetry extant, at this day, in the world, they afford a curious object of criticism. They display the taste of a remote age and country. They exhibit a species of composition, very different from any other with which we are acquainted, and, at the same time, beautiful. Considered as inspired writings, they give rise to discussions of another kind. But it is our business, at present, to consider them not in a theological, but in a critical view: and it must needs give pleasure, if we shall find the beauty and dignity of the composition, adequate to the weight and importance of the matter. Dr. Lowth’s learned treatise, ‘De Sacra Poesi Hebraeorum,’ ought to be perused by all who desire to become thoroughly acquainted with this subject. It is a work exceedingly valuable, both for the elegance of its composition, and for the justness of the criticism which it contains. In this lecture, as I cannot illustrate the subject with more benefit to the reader, than by following the track of that ingenious author, I shall make much use of his observations.
I need not spend many words in showing, that among the books of the Old Testament, there is such an apparent diversity in style, as sufficiently discovers, which of them are to be considered as poetical, and which as prose compositions. While the historical books, and legislative writings of Moses, are evidently prosaic in the composition, the book of Job, the Psalms of David, the Song of Solomon, the Lamentations of Jeremiah, a great part of the prophetical writings, and several passages scattered occasionally through the historical books, carry the most plain and distinguishing marks of poetical writing.
There is not the least reason for doubting, that originally these ‸ were written in verse, or some kind of measured numbers; though, as the ancient pronunciation of the Hebrew language is now lost, we are not able to ascertain the nature of the Hebrew verse, or at most can ascertain it but imperfectly. Concerning this point there have been great controversies among learned men, which it is unnecessary to our present purpose to discuss. Taking the Old Testament in our own translation, which is extremely literal, we find plain marks of many parts of the original being written in a measured style; and the ‘disjecti membra poetae,’ often show themselves. Let any person read the historical introduction to the book of Job, contained in the first and second chapters, and then go on to Job’s speech in the beginning of the third chapter, and he cannot avoid being sensible, that he passes all at once from the region of prose to that of poetry. Not only the poetical sentiments and the figured style, warn him of the change; but the cadence of the sentence, and the arrangement of the words, are sensibly altered; the change is as great as when he passes from reading Caesar’s Commentaries, to read Virgil’s Aeneid. This is sufficient to show that the sacred Scriptures contain what must be called poetry in the strictest sense of that word; and I shall afterwards show, that they contain instances of most of the different forms of poetical writing. It may be proper to remark in passing, that hence arises a most invincible argument in honour of poetry. No person can imagine that to be a frivolous and contemptible art, which has been employed by writers under divine inspiration, and has been chosen as a proper channel for conveying to the world the knowledge of divine truth.
From the earliest times, music and poetry were cultivated among the Hebrews. In the days of the judges, mention is made of the schools or colleges of the prophets; where one part of the employment of the persons trained in such schools was, to sing the praises of God, accompanied with various instruments. In the first book of Samuel, (chap. x. 7.) we find, on a public occasion, a company of these prophets coming down from the hill where their school was, ‘ prophesying,’ it is said, ‘ with the psaltery, tabret, and harp, before them.’ But in the days of king David, music and poetry were carried to their greatest height. For the service of the tabernacle, he appointed four thousand Levites, divided into twenty-four courses, and marshalled under several leaders, whose sole business it was to sing hymns, and to perform the instrumental music in the public worship. Asaph, Hemari, and Jeduthun, were the chief directors of the music; and from the titles of some psalms, it would appear that they were also eminent composers of hymns or sacred poems. In chapter xxv, of the first book of Chronicles, an account is given of David’s institutions, relating to the sacred music and poetry; which were certainly more costly, more splendid and magnificent, than ever obtained in the public service of any other nation.
The general construction of the Hebrew poetry is of a singular nature, and peculiar to itself. It consists in dividing every period into correspondent, for the most part into equal members, which answer to one another, both in sense and sound. In the first member of the period a sentiment is expressed; and in the second member, the same sentiment is amplified, or is repeated in different terms, or sometimes contrasted with its opposite; but in such a manner that the same structure, and nearly the same number of words, is preserved. This is the general strain of all the Hebrew poetry. Instances of it occur every where on opening the Old Testament. Thus, in Psalm xcvi. ‘ Sing unto the Lord a new song— sing unto the Lord all the earth. Sing unto the Lord, and bless his name — show forth his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the heathen — his wonders among all the people. For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised — he is to be feared above all the gods. Honour and majesty are before him — strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.’ It is owing, in a great measure, to this form of composition, that our version, though in prose, retains so much of a poetical cast. For the version being strictly word for word after the original, the form and order of the original sentence are preserved; which, by this artificial structure, this regular alternation and correspondence of parts, makes the ear sensible of a departure from the common style and tone of prose.
The origin of this form of poetical composition among the Hebrews, is clearly to be deduced from the manner in which their sacred hymns were wont to be sung. They were accompanied with music, and they were performed by choirs or bands of singers and musicians, who answered alternately to each other. When, for instance, one band began the hymn thus: ‘The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice;’ the chorus, or semi-chorus, took up the corresponding versicle; ‘Let the multitude of the isles be glad thereof.’— ‘ Clouds and darkness are around about him,’ sung the one; the other replied, ‘Judgment and righteousness are the habitation of his throne.’ And in this manner their poetry, when set to music, naturally divided itself into a succession of strophes and antistrophes correspondent to each other; whence, it is probable, the antiphon, or responsory, in the public religious service of so many Christian churches, derived its origin.
We are expressly told, in the book of Ezra, that the Levites sung in this manner; ‘Alternating’ or by course; (Ezra iii. 11.) and some of David’s Psalms bear plain marks of their being composed in order to be thus performed. The 24th Psalm, in particular, which is thought to have been composed on the great and solemn occasion of the ark of the covenant being brought back to Mount Zion, must have had a noble effect when performed after this manner, as Dr. Lowth has illustrated it. The whole people are supposed to be attending the procession. The Levites and singers, divided into their several courses, and accompanied with all their musical instruments, led the way. After the introduction to the Psalm, in the two first verses, when the procession begins to ascend the sacred mount, the question is put, as by a semi-chorus: ‘ Who shall ascend unto the hill of the Lord, and who shall stand in his holy place?’ The response is made by the full chorus with the greatest dignity. ‘He that hath clean hands and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul to vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.’ As the procession approaches to the doors of the tabernacle, the chorus, with all their instruments, join in this exclamation: ‘ Lift up your heads, ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in.’ Here the semi-chorus plainly breaks in, as with a lower voice, ‘ Who is this King of Glory?’ and at the moment when the ark is introduced into the tabernacle, the response is made by the burst of the whole chorus: ‘ The Lord, strong and mighty; the Lord, mighty in battle.’ I take notice of this instance the rather, as it serves to show how much the grace and magnificence of the sacred poems, as indeed of all poems, depends upon our knowing the particular occasions for which they were composed, and the particular circumstances to which they were adapted; and how much of this beauty must now be lost to us, through our imperfect acquaintance with many particulars of the Hebrew history and Hebrew rites.
The method of composition which has been explained, by corresponding versicles, being universally introduced into the hymns or musical poetry of the Jews, easily spread itself through their other poetical writings, which were not designed to be sung in alternate portions, and which therefore did not so much require this mode of composition. But the mode became familiar to their ears, and carried with it a certain solemn majesty of style, particularly suited to sacred subjects. Hence, throughout the prophetical writings, we find it prevailing as much as in the Psalms of David; as, for instance, in the prophet Isaiah: (chap. lx. 1.) ‘Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee: for lo! darkness shall cover the earth, — and gross darkness the people. But the Lord shall rise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee, and the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.’ This form of writing is one of the great characteristics of the ancient Hebrew poetry; very different from, and even opposite to, the style of the Greek and Roman poets.
Independently of this peculiar mode of construction, the sacred poetry is distinguished by the highest beauties of strong, concise, bold, and figurative expression.
Conciseness and strength are two of its most remarkable characters. One might indeed at first imagine, that the practice of the Hebrew poets, of always amplifying the same thought by repetition or contrast, might tend to enfeeble their style. But they conduct themselves so, as not to produce this effect. Their sentences are always short. Few superfluous words are used. The same thought is never dwelt upon long. To their conciseness and sobriety of expression, their poetry is indebted for much of its sublimity; and all writers who attempt the sublime, might profit much, by imitating in this respect, the style of the Old Testament. For, as I have formerly had occasion to show, nothing is so great an enemy to the sublime, as prolixity or diffuseness. The mind is never so much affected by any great idea that is presented to it, as when it is struck all at once. By attempting to prolong the impression, we at the same time weaken it. Most of the ancient original poets of all nations are simple and concise. The superfluities and excrescences of style, were the result of imitation in after-times; when composition passed into inferior hands, and flowed from art and study, more than from native genius.
No writings whatever abound so much with the most bold and animated figures, as the sacred books. It is proper to dwell a little upon this article; as, through our early familiarity with these books, (a familiarity too often with the sound of the words, rather than with their sense and meaning,) beauties of style escape us in the Scripture, which, in any other book, would draw particular attention. Metaphors, comparisons, allegories, and personifications, are there particularly frequent. In order to do justice to these, it is necessary that we transport ourselves as much as we can into the land of Judaea; and place before our eyes that scenery, and those objects, with which the Hebrew writers were conversant. Some attention of this kind is requisite, in order to relish the writings of any poet of a foreign country, and a different age. For the imagery of every good poet is copied from nature, and real life; if it were not so, it could not be lively; and therefore, in order to enter into the propriety of his images, we must endeavour to place ourselves in his situation. Now we shall find that the metaphors and comparisons of the Hebrew poets, present to us a very beautiful view of the natural objects of their own country, and of the arts and employments of their common life.
Natural objects are in some measure common to them with poets of all ages and countries. Light and darkness, trees and flowers, the forest and the cultivated field, suggest to them many beautiful figures. But, in order to relish their figures of this kind, we must take notice, that several of them arise from the particular circumstances of the land of Judaea. During the summer months, little or no rain falls throughout all that region. While the heats continued, the country was intolerably parched; want of water was a great distress; and a plentiful shower falling, or a rivulet breaking forth, altered the whole face of nature, and introduced much higher ideas of refreshment and pleasure, than the like causes can suggest to us. Hence, to represent distress, such frequent allusions among them, to ‘ a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;’ and hence to describe a change from distress to prosperity, their metaphors are founded on the falling of showers, and the bursting out of springs in the desert. Thus in Isaiah: ‘The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. For in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert; and the parched ground shall become a pool; and the thirsty land, springs of water; in the habitation of dragons there shall be grass, with rushes and reeds.’ Chap. xxxv. 1, 6, 7. Images of this nature are very familiar to Isaiah, and occur in many parts of his book.
Again, as Judaea was a hilly country, it was, during the rainy months, exposed to frequent inundations by the rushing of torrents which came down suddenly from the mountains, and carried every thing before them; and Jordan, their only great river, annually overflowed its banks. Hence the frequent allusions to ‘ the noise, and to the rushings of many waters;’ and hence great calamities so often compared to the overflowing torrent, which, in such a country, must have been images particularly striking: ‘Deep calleth into deep at the noise of thy water-spouts; all thy waves and thy floods are gone over me.’ Psalm xlii. 7.
The two most remarkable mountains of the country, were Lebanon and Carmel; the former noted for its height, and the woods of lofty cedars that covered it; the latter, for its beauty and fertility, and the richness of its vines and olives. Hence, with the greatest propriety, Lebanon is employed as an image of whatever is great, strong, or magnificent; Carmel, of what is smiling and beautiful.
‘The glory of Lebanon,’ says Isaiah, ‘ shall be given to it, and the excellency of Carmel.’ (xxxv. 2.) Lebanon is often put metaphorically for the whole state or people of Israel, for the temple, for the king of Assyria; Carmel, for the blessings of peace and prosperity. ‘His countenance is as Lebanon,’ says Solomon, speaking of the dignity of a man’s appearance; but when he describes female beauty, ‘ Thine head is like mount Carmel.’ Song v. 15. and vii. 5.
It is farther to be remarked under this head, that in the images of the awful and terrible kind, with which the sacred poets abound, they plainly draw their descriptions from that violence of the elements, and those concussions of nature, with which their climate rendered them acquainted. Earthquakes were not unfrequent; and the tempests of hail, thunder, and lightning, in Judaea and Arabia, accompanied with whirlwinds and darkness, far exceed any thing of that sort which happens in, more temperate regions. Isaiah describes, with great majesty, the earth ‘reeling to and fro like a drunkard, and removed like a cottage.’ (xxiv. 20.) And in those circumstances of terror, with which an appearance of the Almighty is described in the 18th Psalm, when his ‘pavilion round about him was darkness; when hailstones and coals of fire were his voice; and when, at his rebuke, the channels of the waters are said to be seen, and the foundations of the hills discovered;’ though there may be some reference, as Dr. Lowth thinks, to the history of God’s descent upon Mount Sinai, yet it seems more probable, that, the figures were taken directly from those commotions of nature with which the author was acquainted and which suggested stronger and nobler images than what now occur to us.
Besides the natural objects of their own country, we find the rites of their religion, and the arts and employments of their common life, frequently employed as grounds of imagery among the Hebrews. They were a people chiefly occupied with agriculture and pasturage. These were arts held in high honour among them; not disdained by patriarchs, kings, and prophets. Little addicted to commerce; separated from the rest of the world by their laws and their religion; they were, during the better days of their state, strangers in a great measure to the refinements of luxury. Hence flowed, of course, the many allusions to pastoral life, to the ‘green pastures and the still waters,’ and to the care and watchfulness of a shepherd over his flock, which carry to this day so much beauty and tenderness in them, in the 23d Psalm, and in many other passages of the poetical writings of Scripture. Hence, all the images founded upon rural employments, upon the wine-press, the threshing-floor, the stubble and the chaff. To disrelish all such images, is the effect of false delicacy. Homer is at least as frequent, and much more minute and particular, in his similes, founded on what we now call low life; but, in his management of them, far inferior to the sacred writers, who generally mix with their comparisons of this kind somewhat of dignity and grandeur to ennoble them. What inexpressible grandeur does the following rural image in Isaiah, for instance, receive from the intervention of the Deity: ‘The nations shall rush like the rushings of many waters; but God shall rebuke them, and they shall fly far off; and they shall be chased as the chaff of the mountain before the wind, and like the down of the thistle before the whirlwind.’
Figurative allusions, too, we frequently find, to the rites and ceremonies of their religion; to the legal distinctions of things clean and unclean; to the mode of their temple service; to the dress of their priests; and to the most noted incidents recorded in their sacred history; as to the destruction of Sodom, the descent of God upon Mount Sinai, and the miraculous passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea. The religion of the Hebrews included the whole of their laws and civil constitution. It was full of splendid external rites that occupied their senses; it was connected with every part of their national history and establishment; and hence, all ideas founded on religion, possessed in this nation a dignity and importance peculiar to themselves, and were uncommonly fitted to impress the imagination.
From all this it results, that the imagery of the sacred poets is, in a high degree, expressive and natural; it is copied directly from real objects that were before their eyes; it has this advantage, of being more complete within itself, more entirely founded on national ideas and manners, than that of most other poets. In reading their works, we find ourselves continually in the land of Judaea. The palm-trees, and the cedars of Lebanon, are ever rising in our view. The face of their territory, the circumstances of their climate, the manners of the people, and the august ceremonies of their religion, constantly pass under different forms before us.
The comparisons employed by the sacred poets are generally short, touching on one point only of resemblance, rather than out into little episodes. In this respect, they have perhaps an advantage over the Greek and Roman authors; whose comparisons, by the length to which they are extended, sometimes interrupt the narration too much, and carry too visible marks of study and labour. Whereas, in the Hebrew poets, they appear more like the glowings of a lively fancy, just glancing aside to some resembling object, and presently returning to its track. Such is the following fine comparison, introduced to describe the happy influence of good government upon a people, in what are called the last words of David, recorded in the 2d book of Samuel: (xxiii. 3.) “He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God; and he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth; even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth, by clear shining after rain.” This is one of the most regular and formal comparisons in the sacred books.
Allegory, likewise, is a figure frequently found in them. When formerly treating of this figure, I gave, for an instance of it, that remarkably fine and well-supported allegory, which occurs in the 80th Psalm, wherein the people of Israel are compared to a vine. Of parables, which form a species of allegory, the prophetical writings are full; and if to us they sometimes appear obscure, we must remember, that in those early times, it was universally the mode throughout all the eastern nations, to convey sacred truths under mysterious figures and representations.
But the poetical figure, which, beyond all others, elevates the style of Scripture, and gives it a peculiar boldness and sublimity, is prosopopoeia or personification. No personifications employed by any poets, are so magnificent and striking as those of the inspired writers. On great occasions, they animate every part of nature, especially, when any appearance or operation of the Almighty is concerned. “ Before him went the pestilence — the waters saw thee, O God, and were afraid — the mountains saw thee, and they trembled — the overflowing of the water passed by — the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high.” When inquiry is made about the place of wisdom, Job introduces the “Deep, saying, it is not in me; and the sea saith, it is not in me. Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears.” That noted sublime passage in the book of Isaiah, which describes the fall of the king of Assyria, is full of personified objects; the fir-trees and cedars of Lebanon breaking forth into exultation on the fall of the tyrant; hell from beneath, stirring up all the dead to meet him at his coming; and the dead kings introduced as speaking, and joining in the triumph. In the same strain, are the many lively and passionate apostrophes to cities and countries, to persons and things, with which the prophetical writings every where abound. “O thou sword of the Lord! how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put thyself up into the scabbard, restand be still.” “How can it be quiet,” (as the reply is instantly made) “ seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Askelon, and the sea-shore? there hath he appointed it.” Jerem. xlvii. 6.
In general, for it would carry us too far to enlarge upon all the instances, the style of the poetical books of the Old Testament is, beyond the style of all other poetical works, fervid, bold, and animated. It is extremely different from that regular correct expression, to which our ears are accustomed in modern poetry. It is the burst of inspiration. The scenes are not coolly described, but represented as passing before our eyes. Every object, and every person, is addressed and spoken to, as if present. The transition is often abrupt: the connexion often obscure; the persons are often changed: figures crowded, and heaped upon one another. Bold sublimity, not correct elegance, is its character. We see the spirit of the writer raised beyond himself, and labouring to find vent for ideas too mighty for his utterance.
After these remarks on the poetry of the Scriptures, in general, I shall conclude this dissertation, with a short account of the different kinds of poetical composition in the sacred books; and of the distinguishing characters of some of the chief writers.
The several kinds of poetical composition which we find in Scripture, are chiefly of the didactic, elegiac, pastoral, and lyric. Of the didactic species of poetry, the book of Proverbs is the principal instance. The nine first chapters of that book are highly poetical, adorned with many distinguished graces and figures of expression. At the tenth chapter the style is sensibly altered, and descends into a lower strain, which is continued to the end: retaining, however, that sententious pointed manner, and that artful construction of period, which distinguish all the Hebrew poetry. The book of Ecclesiastes comes likewise under this head; and some of the Psalms, as the 119th in particular.
Of elegiac poetry, many very beautiful specimens occur in Scripture; such as the lamentation of David over his friend Jonathan; several passages in the prophetical books; and several of David’s Psalms, composed on occasions of distress and mourning. The 42d Psalm, in particular, is, in the highest degree, tender and plaintive. But the most regular and perfect elegiac composition in the Scripture, perhaps in the whole world, is the book, entitled the Lamentations of Jeremiah. As the prophet mourns in that book over the destruction of the temple, and the holy city, and the overthrow of the whole state, he assembles all the affecting images which a subject so melancholy could suggest. The composition is uncommonly artificial. By turns, the prophet, and the city of Jerusalem, are introduced, as pouring forth their sorrows; and in the end, a chorus of the people send up the most earnest and plaintive supplications to God. The lines of the original, too, as may, in part, appear from our translation, are longer than is usual in the other kinds of Hebrew poetry: and the melody is rendered thereby more flowing and better adapted to the querimonious strain of elegy.
The Song of Solomon affords us a high exemplification of pastoral poetry. Considered with respect to its spiritual meaning, it is undoubtedly a mystical allegory; in its form, it is a dramatic pastoral, or a perpetual dialogue between personages in the character of shepherds; and suitably to that form, it is full of rural and pastoral images, from beginning to end.
Of lyric poetry, or that which is intended to be accompanied with music, the Old Testament is full. Besides a great number of hymns and songs, which we find scattered in the historical and prophetical books, such as the song of Moses, the song of Deborah, and many others of like nature, the whole book of Psalms is to be considered as a collection of sacred odes. In these, we find the ode exhibited in all the varieties of its form, and supported with the highest spirit of lyric poetry; sometimes sprightly, cheerful, and triumphant; sometimes solemn and magnificent; sometimes tender and soft. From these instances, it clearly appears, that there are contained in the Holy Scriptures, full exemplifications of several of the chief kinds of poetical writing.
Among the different composers of the sacred books, there is an evident diversity of style and manner; and to trace their different characters in this view, will contribute not a little towards our reading their writings with greater advantage. The most eminent of the sacred poets are, the author of the book of Job, David, and Isaiah. As the compositions of David are of the lyric kind, there is a greater variety of style and manner in his works, than in those of the other two. The manner in which, considered merely as a poet, David chiefly excels, is the pleasing, the soft, and the tender. In his Psalms there are many lofty and sublime passages; but, in strength of description, he yields to Job; in sublimity, he yields to Isaiah. It is a sort of temperate grandeur, for which David is chiefly distinguished; and to this he always soon returns, when, upon some occasions, he rises above it. The Psalms in w'hich he touches us most are those in which he describes the happiness of the righteous, or the goodness of God; expresses the tender breathings of a devout mind, or sends up moving and affectionate supplications to Heaven. Isaiah is, without exception, the most sublime of all poets. This is abundantly visible in our translation; and, what is a material circumstance, none of the books of Scripture appear to have been more happily translated than the writings of this prophet. Majesty is his reigning character; a majesty more commanding, and more uniformly supported, than is to be found among the rest of the Old Testament poets. He possesses, indeed, a dignity and grandeur, both in his conceptions and expressions, which is altogether unparalleled, and peculiar to himself. There is more clearness and order too, and a more visible distribution of parts, in his book, than in any other of the prophetical writings.
When we compare him with the rest of the poetical prophets, we immediately see in Jeremiah a very different genius. Isaiah employs himself generally on magnificent subjects. Jeremiah seldom discovers any disposition to be sublime, and inclines always to the tender and elegiac. Ezekiel, in poetical grace and elegance, is much inferior t© them both; but he is distinguished by a character of uncommon force and ardour. To use the elegant expressions of Bishop Lowth, with regard to this prophet: ‘Est atrox, vehemens, tragicus; in sensibus, fervidus, acerbus, indignabundus; in imaginibus fecundus, truculentus, et nonnunquam pene deformis; in dictione grandiloquus, gravis, austerus, et interdum incultus; frequens in repetitionibus, non decoris aut gratiae causa, sed ex indignatione et violentia. Quicquid susceperit tractandum id sedulo persequitur; in eo unice haeret defixus; a proposito raro deflectens. In caeteris, a plerisque scriptoribus fortasse superatus; sed in eo genere, ad quod videtur a natura unice comparatus, nimirum, vi, pondere, impetu, granditate, nemo unquam eum superavit.’ The same learned writer compares Isaiah to Homer, Jeremiah to Simonides, and Ezekiel to Aeschylus. Most of the book of Isaiah is strictly poetical; of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, not above one half can be held to belong to poetry. Among the minor prophets, Hosea, Joel, Micah, Habakkuk, and especially Nahum, are distinguished for poetical spirit. In the prophecies of Daniel and Jonah, there is no poetry.
It only now remains to speak of the book of Job, with which I shall conclude. It is known to be extremely ancient; generally reputed the most ancient of all the poetical books; the author uncertain. It is remarkable, that this book has no connexion with the affairs or manners of the Jews or Hebrews. The scene is laid in the land of Uz, or Idumaea, which is a part of Arabia; and the imagery employed is generally of a different kind, from what I before showed to be peculiar to the Hebrew poets. We meet with no allusions to the great events of sacred history, to the religious rites of the Jews, to Lebanon or to Carmel, or any of the peculiarities of the climate of Judaea. We find few comparisons founded on rivers or torrents; these were not familiar objects in Arabia. But the longest comparison that occurs in the book, is to an object frequent and well known in that region, a brook that fails in the season of heat, and disappoints the expectation of the traveller.
The poetry, however, of the book of Job, is not only equal to that of any other of the sacred writings, but is superior to them all, except those of Isaiah alone. As Isaiah is the most sublime, David the most pleasing and tender, so Job is the most descriptive, of all the inspired poets. A peculiar glow of fancy, and strength of description, characterize the author. No writer whatever abounds so much in metaphors. He may be said not to describe, but to render visible, whatever he treats of. A variety of instances might be given. Let us remark only those strong and lively colours, with which, in the following passages taken from the 18th and 20th chapters of his book, he paints the condition of the wicked; observe how rapidly his figures rise before us; and what a deep impression, at the same time, they leave on the imagination. ‘ Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon the earth, that the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment? Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach the clouds, yet he shall perish for ever. He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found; yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night. The eye also which saw him, shall see him no more;
they which have seen him shall say, Where is he? — He shall suck the poison of asps; the viper’s tongue shall slay him. In the fulness of his sufficiency, he shall be in straits; every band shall come upon him. He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through. All darkness shall be bid in his secret places. A fire not blown shall consume him. The heaven shall reveal his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against him. The increase of his house shall depart. His goods shall flow away in the day of wrath. The light of the wicked shall be put out; the light shall be dark in his tabernacle. The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down. For he is cast into a net, by his own feet. He walketh upon a snare. Terrors shall make him afraid on every side; and the robber shall prevail against him. Brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation. His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street. He shall be driven from light into darkness. They that come after him shall be astonished at his day. He shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.’‸