ments, we perceive that the boat, or bari as it is termed, is cut out of sycamore wood; it is furnished with a large projecting portion of wood at the prow and at the poop. In the centre is a mummy extended on a couch, the legs of which are formed of the limbs of a lion; this is surmounted by a canopy, inscribed with various hieroglyphical characters, supported by pillars, painted successively in red, black, white, and green. At the head and feet of the mummy are usually two female figures; one of them in an attitude of great grief and desolation, whilst the hands of the other are placed upon the feet of the mummy. Four priests are usually seated Four priests are usually seated upon the deck of the vessel, one at each corner of the couch or bier, whilst another in front is frequently seen holding out a manuscript unrolled before him, and appears to be delivering a funeral oration. Another, a sacrificer, is sometimes prepared to immolate an ox which lies bound at his feet. The first figure on the prow has his right arm extended, and appears to be watching the course of the vessel. The pilot, who, from his long white tunic, may be supposed to be a priest, is seated at the poop between the two oars. The oars, and the pillars on which they move, are crowned with the head of a hawk. Paints and frames to serve in the representation of the religious ceremonies, are lying on the vessel, and at the sides of the fore part are emblematical representations of the sacred eye, the eye of Osiris, surrounded by leaves of the lotus. The plank to descend from the vessel, and the pegs to fasten it, together with the club to drive them into the earth, are also on the deck. The priests, as well as the females, have their heads well covered with hair, which was permitted to grow during the term assigned for the mourning for the dead. Funeral Boat of the Egyptians, in the British Museum. We are indebted to the kindness of Mr. Pettigrew for a beautiful and elaborate drawing of the bottom of the inner case of the mummy of Pet-maut-ioh-mes, brought from Egypt in 1835 by the late John Gosset, Esq., and now in the Museum in the island of Jersey. It was found in one of the western valleys where Sir John Gardner Wilkinson tells us he saw a tomb of Amenoph III., the king of the vocal statue. The principal figure is that of King Amenoph III., and beneath his figure are the cartouches containing in hieroglyphical characters his name and distinction, and from the style of painting, Mr. Pettigrew thinks it may fairly be considered as belonging to the time of the sovereign depicted. Amenoph III. was the son of Thothmes IV., and lived two hundred years before the Trojan war. He reigned 1430 B.C., which is twenty-one years after the death of Moses, and sixty-one years posterior to the exodus of the Israelites; so that the antiquity of the cases is very great, and we have thus an early specimen afforded of their religious notions. The cases abound within and without in figures of the Egyptian deities: to describe these would demand an entire essay on Egyptian mythology, and we shall limit ourselves to a brief description of the painting as given by Mr. Pettigrew, as it affords some insight into their peculiar system of idolatry. Our wood engraving, therefore, represents the painting at the bottom of the inner coffin. "At the upper part are two figures of the snake-headed god, the guardian of the gates of Amenti. Beneath these a figure typical of the heavens, followed by the winged snake and disk, denoting Hor-hat, or Agathodæmon. Succeeding these, above and on the sides of the large centre figure, are, on the right, a winged animal with a human face, which is not represented in profile, as ordinarily occurs, and around this figure hieroglyphics, the purport of which is, 'The Great God, Lord of the West;' on the opposite side the hawk as Horus. On the right, beneath the winged animal with the human face, is another snake-headed god, and opposite to it a different kind of snake-headed deity, furnished with large wings, having a disk over its head, and representing probably Eilethya or Lucina. At the right shoulder of the large figure is a deity having emblems of Osiris; and beneath this is an unusual representation of a vulture furnished with an asp's head, being one of the deities of Amenti. Opposite to these figures are representations of Anubis as a jackal, and Anubis seated, holding Osirian emblems; and at the feet of the figure, in a kneeling position, is placed the deity Netpe. The large figure in the centre appears to be the representation of a king deified, or under the form of Osiris. It is furnished with a royal head-dress, and has the beard of a deity pointed and turned up at the extremity; not square at the end, as is the case in the beards of sovereigns. of sovereigns. This seems to be the King Amenoph, under the form and figure of Osiris. Beneath the pedestal on which he stands, and in what may be called the third compartment of the picture, is a cartouche, bearing, in hieroglyphics, the name of Amenoph; and on each side of this is a figure of Hapee, one of the four genii of the Amenti. The lower division of the representation gives Netpe, the mother of the god, on the right, and Nephthys, the sister goddess, on the left; each furnished with tables of offerings of fruits, cakes, and wine." Among the offerings made to the Egyptian deities, libations and incense held the first place, with flowers, fruit, and other productions of the soil; but geese and other birds, gazelles, capricorns, the legs and bodies of oxen, or of the wild goat, and what is still more remarkable, the head of the victim, are placed before them. Geese were fed for the service of the temple, and the priests, in addition to the sacred meats, were allowed every day a quantity of beef and goose, with a fixed proportion of wine. If we needed a commentary on the common sin of paganism, when men "professing themselves wise, became fools, and changed the glory of God into an image made like unto corruptible man and to four-footed beasts and creeping things," where could we find it better than in the pantheism of Egypt, where every creature in which was the breath of life became an idol, and the vital principle was adored under the varied forms which it animated, from the beetle of the dust to the lordly ox that fattened in the luxuriant herbage of the Delta? And if example were wanting to enforce the needful caution of Holy Writ, "We ought to give earnest heed to the things of God, lest at any time we should let them slip," where could we find one more forcible or appropri ate than that set before us in the destinies of this mightiest but "basest of kingdoms?" The Rev. Henry Christmas in his instructive work on Universal Mythology, observes that "The groundwork of their theology was a belief in one God, counteracted, however, in many of his operations by a personified prin-ciple of evil. The rest seems to be mere figure, sometimes astronomical, sometimes historical, sometimes metaphysical." When Diodorus Siculus wished to give, in a few words, an outline of Egyptian worship, he says, "Contemplating the arch of heaven raised above their heads, and admiring the marvellous order which reigned in the universe, they regarded the sun and moon as eternal gods, and worshipped them with a particular worship." The astro-theology into which Egyptian fables are ultimately resolvable, having taken animals as symbols, soon elevated those symbols in the minds of the people at large into real divinities. The signs of the zodiac were worshipped, and the constellations did not go without adoration. Various stars became noted as rising or setting at particular seasons, and serving as marks of time;. while the physical circumstances of the animal creation gave an easy means of naming the stars and constellations, and these connected natural history with the symbolical theology of the times. Thus, when the priests, the astronomers of that day, divided the heavens into regions, they naturally considered the regions of the earth; and, according to some ancient writers, they named the divisions into which they, for the convenience: of their observations, portioned out the vault of heaven, after animals abounding in particular parts of the earth. But it was not to be expected that an arrangement like this should be understood by an uninstructed people; they saw everything in a literal point of view, and in this particular it was the exact reverse of the truth. Instead of referring these animals to the deities in whose honour they were consecrated, those deities to the heavenly bodies, and those again to the great First Cause of all, they left the Supreme Being out of the question entirely, and worshipped the heavenly bodies, the deities, their personifications, the sacred animals, and the embodied attributes of God, all at once, and with the same reverence: this will account for the number of deities in ancient Egypt, and the paucity of adventures related of them. In their view the earth was but a mirror of the heavens, and celestial intelligences were represented by beasts, birds, fishes, gems, and even by rocks, metals, and plants. The harmony of the spheres was answered by the music of the temples, and the world beheld nothing that was not a type of something divine. "It would be a task of no little difficulty," says Mr. Pettigrew, "to assign the reasons, or motives, which gave rise to the worship of animals among the Egyptians. To account for the worship of such strange gods, for the respect and veneration paid to some of the meanest objects of creation, are still desiderata in mythology. No one principle is adequate to explain the subject." Sir John Gardner Wilkinson gives us the following classification of the Egyptian deities in his Materia Hieroglyphica. The eight great gods are, 1. Amunra, or Amunre 2. Kneph, or Nef 3. Pthah 4. Khem 1. Joh 5. Ra, Re, or Phre 6. Sate 7. Neith The twelve of the second order are, 8. Buto. Son of the sun Daughter of Ra Parents of Osiris, who was of the third order of deities Daughter of Ra 4. Netpe, Rhea 6. Tafnet Daughter of Ra 7. Gom, Hercules 8. Goddess Daughter of Ra Boltom of the inner case of the Mummy of Pet-maut-ich-mes. 9. Athor? 10. Maut? 11. Goddess 12. Asclepius Daughter of Ra Son of Pthah. V. PROPHECIES. The prophecies in the Scriptures regarding Egypt are numerous and striking, and a brief notice of them will suitably conclude this article. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, and Zechariah, all give the same character, and all foretell the same fate to the mighty oppressor of Israel: "Egypt is like a fair heifer, but destruction comes." "After a lapse of two thousand and four hundred years," Keith observes, "from the date of the prophecy in the 30th chapter of Ezekiel, a scoffer at religion, but an eye-witness of the facts, thus describes the self-same spot: In Egypt there is no middle class, neither nobility, clergy, merchants, land-holders; a universal air of misery, manifest in all the traveller meets, points out to him the rapacity of oppression, and the distress attendant upon slavery. The profound ignorance of the inhabitants equally prevents them from perceiving the causes of their evils, or applying the necessary remedies. Ignorance diffused through every class, extends its effects to every species of moral and physical knowledge. Nothing is talked of but intestine troubles, the public misery, pecuniary extortions, bastinadoes, and murders.' Other travellers describe the most execrable vices as common, and represent the moral character of the people as corrupted to the core. As a token of the desolation of the country, mud-walled cottages are now the only habitations where the ruins of temples and palaces abound, and the prophecy is literally true which marked it in the midst of desolation: "They shall be desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are wasted.' "Can words be more free from ambiguity, or could any any events be more wonderful in their nature, or more unlikely or impossible to have been foreseen by man, than these prophecies concerning Egypt? The long line of its kings commenced with the first ages of the world, and while it was yet unbroken its final termination was revealed. The very attempt once made by infidels to show, from the recorded number of its monarchs, and the durations of their reigns, that Egypt was a kingdom previous to the Mosaic era of the Deluge, places the wonderful nature of these predictions respecting it in the most striking view. And the previous experience of two thousand years, during which period Egypt had rever been without a prince of its own, seemed to preclude the possibility of those predicted events, which the experience of the last two thousand years has amply verified. Though it had often tyrannized over Judæa and the neighbouring nations, the Jewish prophets foretold that its own sceptre would depart away; and that that country of kings, (for the number of its contemporary as well as successive monarchs may warrant the appellation,) would never have a prince of its own; and that it would be laid waste by the hands of strangers. They foretold that it should be a base kingdom-the basest of kingdoms, that it should be desolate itself and surrounded by desolation, and that it should never exalt itself any more among the nations. They described its ignominious subjection and unparalleled baseness, notwithstanding that its past and present degeneracy bears not a more remote resemblance to the former greatness of its pride and power, than the frailty of its mudwalled fabric now bears to the stability of its imperishable pyramids. Such prophecies, accomplished in such -ELAM. a manner, prove without a comment, that they must be the revelation of the Omniscient ruler of the Universe." EGYPT, RIVER OF. This stream is mentioned in Genesis 15. 18, as the southern limit of the Promised Land. It is also noticed in Numbers 34.5; Joshua 15. 4; 2Chronicles 7. 8. The Septuagint translates the expression "river of Egypt," (Isai. 27. 12,) by Rhinocorura, which is adopted by Cellarius, Bochart, Wells, and others. Some commentators on the other hand maintain, that the river of Egypt was the Eastern or Pelusiac branch of the Nile, which was reckoned the great boundary of Egypt towards the Desert of Shur, which lies between that country and Palestine, and is about ninety miles in breadth. From a comparison of 1Kings 8. 65 and 2Chron. 7. 8, with 1Chron. 13.5, Dr. Hales thinks that Sihor and the river of Egypt are the same, and that Sihor is the Nile. (Jerem. 2. 18.) There is great reason to doubt, however, whether the power of the Hebrew nation ever extended to the Nile, and if it did, it must have been over a mere desert. EHUD, the second judge of the Israelites, who slew Eglon, king of Moab. (Judges 3. 15.) EKRON, a city and government of the Philistines, (Josh. 13. 3,) which first fell to the lot of the tribe of Judah, (Josh. 15. 45,) and afterwards to the tribe of Dan. (Josh. 19. 43.) It was situated near the Mediterranean, between Ashdod and Jamnia. The ark was brought to Ekron from Ashdod, to the great alarm of the inhabitants, who having heard of the calamities caused by it in that place entreated that it might be sent away. (1Sam. 5. 10,11.) Beelzebub was adored at Ekron. (2Kings 1. 2.) The site of this city is now unknown, thus exhibiting the fulfilment of the prophecy of Zephaniah 2. 4, "Ekron shall be rooted up." ELAH, the fourth king of Israel, who succeeded his father Baasha, and reigned two years at Tirzah, where he was assassinated by Zimri, at an entertainment given to him by one of his officers. (1Kings 16. 6-10.) ELAH, VALLEY OF, is situated three miles from Bethlehem, on the road to Jaffa; it is not above half a mile in breadth, and is celebrated as the scene of the victory gained by the youthful David over the champion of the Philistines. (1Sam. 17. 2-54.) Dr. Edward Daniel Clarke observes, "It is a pretty and interestinglooking spot; the bottom covered with olive-trees. Its present appearance answers exactly to the description given in Scripture; for nothing has ever occurred to alter the appearance of the country. The two hills on which the armies of the Israelites and Philistines stood, entirely confine it on the right and left. The very brook, whence David chose him five smooth stones,' (which has been noticed by many a thirsty pilgrim, journeying from Jaffa to Jerusalem,) still flows through the vale, which is varied with banks and undulations. The ruins of goodly edifices attest the religious veneration entertained in later periods for the hallowed spot; but even these are cernible, and nothing can be said to interrupt the native now become so insignificant, that they are scarcely dis cernible, and nothing can be said to interrupt the native dignity of this memorable scene." ELAM, Dy the eldest son of Shem, (Gen. 10.22) who settled in a country to the south of Media, called after him, Elam. Strictly, Elam denotes Elymais, a district of Persia, and it is sometimes applied to the whole of that empire by the prophets. This country is men tioned as early as the time of Abraham, for Chedorlaomer, its king, even at a period when the princes resembled those petty monarchs of the Canaanites whom Joshua conquered, or were, perhaps, commanders of colonies, rendered the kings of the cities of the plain tributary to him. (Gen. 14. 1.) The country of Elam, or Elymais, seems to have extended from the mountains of Louristan to the Persian Gulf, and included Susiana. Daniel describes Shushan as in the province of Elam. (8. 2.) | In Jeremiah 25. 25, and Acts 2. 9, the inhabitants of this country are mentioned in conjunction with the Medes. ELATH, л or nib Sept. Axwv, Aiλal, a town and port of Idumæa, situated on the Red Sea, opposite Ezion-Geber. (Deut. 2. 8.) On the conquest of Edom by David, he took possession of this place, and there established a trade to all parts of the then known world. Solomon built ships here, and sent them to Ophir. (2Sam. 8. 14; 2Chron. 8. 17,18.) Elath continued in possession of the Israelites about one hundred and fifty years, until, in the reign of Joram, it was recovered by the Edomites, (2Kings 8. 20,) from whom it was retaken by Azariah. (2Kings 14. 22.) Under Ahaz it was captured by Rezin, the Syrian. (2Kings 16. 6.) Jerome says it was the first port from India to Egypt. It became subject to the Ptolemies after the death of Alexander the Great; and, in the time of Jerome, the tenth Roman legion was stationed in it. Elath was anciently a great emporium for the Tyrians; it is now a miserable ruin. EL-BETHEL, an altar erected by Jacob on the spot where he had the prophetic dream of the ladder. (Gen. 28. 22; 35. 7,14,15.) ELDAD, one of the seventy elders of Israel appointed by Moses. He received with Medad the gift of prophesying. (Numb. 11. 26,27.) 421 26.) He entered into the land of Canaan with Joshua, and is supposed to have lived there upwards of twenty years. (Josh. 24. 34.) The high priesthood continued in his family till the time of Eli. II. The son of Abinadab; he was sanctified or set apart to keep the ark of God, which was deposited in his father's house after it had been sent back to the Israelites by the Philistines. (1Sam. 7. 1.) III. The son of Dodo, the second of David's mighty men, (1Chron. 11. 12,) who distinguished himself by his bravery. He was one of the three warriors who forced their way through the Philistine army to procure water for David from the well at Bethlehem, at the imminent hazard of their lives. (1Chron. 11. 17-19.) ELECT LADY, EKλeктη kuρią, a pious Christian matron, who is commended by St. John in his Second Epistle. The translators of our authorized version make ExλЄктη to be an adjective, and render the inscription, "To the elect (or excellent, or chosen) Lady;" the Vulgate version, Calmet and others, consider exλeктη to be a proper name, and translate it, "To the Lady Electa." Carpzov, Schleusner, and Rosenmüller, take Kupia to be a proper name, and the Epistle to be addressed to Cyria, or Kyria, the elect. Of these various hypotheses, the most probable opinion is that which considers the Epistle as addressed to the "Lady Electa." ELECTION. See PREDESTINATION. St. ELEMENTS, σTOIKEia, the first rudiments or principles of any art. In Hebrews 5. 12, the term is used for the rudiments of Christian instruction. Paul calls the ceremonial ordinances of the Mosaic law, worldly elements, (Gal. 4. 3,) “weak and beggarly elements," (Gal. 4. 9,)-elements, as containing the rudiments of the knowledge of Christ, to which knowledge the law, as a schoolmaster, (Gal. 3. 24,) was intended by means of those ordinances to bring the Jews. They were "worldly," as consisting in outward institutions, (Heb. 9. 1,) "weak and beggarly," when considered in themselves, and set up in opposition to the great realities to which they were designed to lead. In Colossians 2. 8, however, the rudiments, or elements, of the world, are so closely connected with philosophy and vain deceit, or an empty and deceitful philosophy, that they must be understood there as including the dogmas of pagan phi ELDER, P zakin, elders, or seniors, in the ancient Jewish polity, were persons the most considerable for age, experience, and wisdom. During the sojourning in the wilderness, Moses established a council. or senate of seventy, to assist him in the government of the people. The Jewish rabbinical writers have exercised their ingenuity in conjecturing why the number was limited to seventy, and have pretended that this was a permanent and supreme court of judicature; but as the sacred writers are totally silent concerning such a tri-losophy, to which no doubt many of the Colossians were bunal, we are authorized in the conclusion that it was only a temporary institution. After their return from the Babylonish captivity, it is well known that the Jews did appoint a sanhedrin, or council of seventy, at Jeru salem, in imitation of that which Moses had instituted. From the circumstance of the gates of cities being the seat of justice, the judges appear to have been termed the Elders of the Gate. (Deut. 22. 15; 25. 7.) Elder, Tрeσ BUTЄpos, was used as a name of office also among Christians. Dr. Macknight is of opinion that in the apostolic age it was applied to "all who exercised any sacred office in the Christian church." (Acts 20. 17-28.) ELEALEH, a place fortified by the Reubenites. (Numb. 32. 37.) Eusebius places it one mile from Heshbon, a locality seemingly sanctioned by the prophets. (Isai. 15. 4; 16. 9; Jerem. 48. 34.) EL-ELOHE-ISRAEL, God the God of Israel, a name given by Jacob to the altar which he erected in the field at Shalem that he purchased from the children of Hamor. (Gen. 33. 18-20.) I. ELEAZAR. The third son of Aaron, whom he succeeded in the pontificate. (Exod. 6. 25; Numb. 20. in their unconverted state attached, and of which the Judaizing teachers took advantage to withdraw the converts from the purity of the Gospel. From the general tenor of the second chapter, and particularly from verses 18-23, it appears that these philosophical dogmas, against which the Apostle cautioned his converts, were partly Platonic, and partly Pythagorean; the former teaching the worship of angels, or demons, as mediators between God and men; the latter enjoining such abstinence from particular kinds of meats and drinks, and such severe mortifications of the body, as God had not commanded. ELEPHANT,, phel, rendered “elephant" in the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic. The name of this quadruped does not appear in the text of our authorized version; but where the word "ivory" occurs in 1Kings 10. 22, and 2Chron. 9. 21, it is given in the margin, "elephants' teeth," and in Job 40. 15, for behemoth, the margin reads, "or the elephant, as some think." (See BEHEMOTH.) The walls of the palaces of the Egyptian monarchs were inlaid with ivory and ebony, and these were obtained either as a tribute or by traffic from the Ethiopian nations, for we frequently find both elephants' teeth and logs of ebony on the monuments represented as brought to the Egyptian monarchs; and we read that Solomon did not erect his ivory throne until he had opened a communication with the nations bordering on the Red Sea, through his alliance with Hiram, the king of Tyre. Solomon in his ode on his marriage with the daughter of Pharaoh, makes reference to the "ivory palaces." (Psalm 45. 8.) Elephants are mentioned in the Books of Maccabees, and were then no doubt well known to the Jews. The elephant is a native of Asia and Africa, and is found from seven to twelve feet high; but it seldom grows to more than nine or ten feet. Its body is ashcoloured, and covered with a callous skin, devoid of hair; its neck short and stiff; its eyes exceedingly small in proportion to its body. Though the eyes of the elephant are diminutive when compared with his enormous bulk, yet they are capable of a variety of expression, which is not to be found in those of any other animal. He is also remarkable for his acuteness of hearing, and he delights in music, to the measure of which he readily learns to move. His sense of smelling is also exquisite, he is fond of the odour of flowers, and will gather them, appearing gratified by inhaling their fragrance. But it is in the sense of touch that this animal excels all others. Its trunk, a fleshy tube, having upwards of forty thousand muscles, is capable of being moved in every direction, and at the very point of it, just above the nostrils, there is an extension of the skin, formed like a finger, and indeed answering all the purposes of one; for, with the rest of the extremity of the trunk, it is capable of assuming different forms, and consequently of being adapted to the minutest objects. By means of this, the elephant can take a pin from the ground, untie the knots of a rope, unlock a door, and even write with a pen. Hence this instrument is an organ of smelling, of touching, and of suction, and not only conduces to the comfort of the animal, but also serves for its ornament and defence. The enormous tusks of this animal may be considered as chiefly useful for weapons of defence. They are two in number, proceeding from the upper jaw, and become so extremely heavy as the animal grows old, that it is sometimes obliged to make holes in the sides of its stall to rest them in, and case itself of the fatigue of their support. The wonderful degree of intelligence which this gigantic creature displays, has been the theme of admiration both with ancient and modern writers. We shall con tent ourselves with one example from Forbes's Oriental Memoirs. The author is speaking of a favourite elephant: "Nothing could exceed the sagacity, docility, and affection of this noble quadruped. If I stopped to enjoy a prospect, he remained perfectly immovable until my sketch was finished. If I wished for ripe mangoes, growing out of the common reach, he selected the most fruitful branch, and, breaking it off with his trunk, gave it to his driver to be handed to me; accepting of any part given to himself with a respectful salaam, by raising his trunk three times above his head in the manner of the Oriental obeisance, and as often did he express his thanks by a murmuring noise. If a bough obstructed the howdah, or pavilion, in which I sat on his back, he twisted his trunk round it, and broke it off; and he often gathered a leafy branch as a fan to agitate the air around us by waving it with his trunk. He generally paid a visit to the tent-door during our breakfast, when he always received some sugar-candy or fruit. No spaniel could be more innocent or playful, or fonder of those who noticed him, than this docile animal." -ELIHU. I. ELI. A high priest of the Hebrews, of the race of Ithamar, who succeeded Abdon, and governed the Hebrews both as priest and judge during forty years. It is not known why the pontifical dignity was transferred to him from the family of Eleazar. He was severely reproved by the Lord for his paternal indulgences to his profligate sons, Hophni and Phineas. He died suddenly, on hearing of the capture of the ark, and the total discomfiture of the Israelites by the Philistines. (1Sam. ch. 1-4.) II. The name of the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. (Luke 3. 23.) under Hezekiah, (2Kings 18. 18,) by whom he was I. ELIAKIM. A governor of the royal household deputed, with others, to receive the proposals of Rabshakeh, on the part of Sennacherib. He succeeded Shebna in the office of governor, in accordance with the prediction of Isaiah, which highly eulogized his character, and promised that he should enjoy unbounded confidence and authority. (Isai. 22. 20-25.) II. A king of Judah, the son of Josiah, whose name was afterwards changed by Pharaoh-Necho, king of Egypt, into Jehoiakim. See JEHOIAKIM. ELIAS. See ELIJAH. ELIASHIB, a grandson of Jeshua, the high priest. He rebuilt part of the wall of Jerusalem, and was allied by marriage to Tobiah, the Ammonite, to whom he gave apartments in the second temple, to the scandal of his religion and the great injury of his country. (Nehem. 3. 1; 12. 10; 13. 4-9.) I. ELIEZER. The chief of Abraham's servants, patriarch, as well as for the piety and prudence with and eminent for the confidence reposed in him by the which he executed the commission of procuring a wife for Isaac. (Gen. ch. 24.) Before the birth of Isaac, it would appear that Abraham had designed to make him his heir. (Gen. 15. 2,3.) "It is still the custom in India," says Mr. Forbes, especially among the Mohammedans, that, in default of children, and sometimes where there are lineal descendants, the master of a family adopts a slave for his heir. He educates him agreeably to his wishes, and marries him to one of his daughters. As the reward of superior merit, or to suit the caprice of an arbitrary despot, this honour is also conferred on a slave recently purchased, or already grown up in the family; and to him he bequeaths his wealth, in preference to his nephews, or great antiany collateral branches. This is a custom of quity in the East, and prevalent among the most refined patriarchal history, we find Abraham complaining of a and civilized nations. In the earliest period of the Damascus, or probably one born from him in his house, want of children; and declaring that either Eliezer of nephew, and all the other collateral branches of his was his heir, to the exclusion of Lot, his favourite family." Jehoshaphat that the trade-fleet which he had fitted out, II. The son of Dodavah, a prophet, who foretold to in conjunction with the unworthy Ahaziah, should be wrecked, and thus prevented from sailing to Tarshish. (2Chron. 20. 37.) "the ELIHU, one of the friends of Job. He was son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram,” or Aram. (Job 32. 2; Gen. 22. 21.) He was of the family of the patriarch Abraham, and was descended from Buz, the son of Nahor and Milcah; thus it is probable that that branch of the patriarchal family settled in Idumæa. |