Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/3_500_e.lzh/3_515.TXT

Text File | 1995-01-23 | 8KB | 167 lines

\*Ver. 18. \\By his neesings a light doth shine\\, &c.] The
philosopher {i} observes, that those who look to the sun
are apter to sneeze: and it is taken notice of by various
writers {k}, that the crocodile delights to be sunning itself,
and lying yawning in the sun and looking at it,
as quoted by Bochart; and so frequently sneeze: which
sneezings, through the rays of the sun, may seem to
shine and give light. Though as, in sneezing, water is
thrown out through the nostrils, it may be observed
of the whale, that it has mouths or holes in its front,
through which, as through pipes, it throws out
showers and floods of water, as Pliny {l} relates; which,
by means of the rays of the sun, as in a rainbow, appear
bright and glittering;
\*\\and his eyes [are] like the
eyelids of the morning\\: the break and dawn of day; a
very beautiful expression, the same we call %peep of
day%: Pindar {m} has %the eye of the evening%; break of day,
as Ben Gersom says, is about an hour and the fifth
part of an hour before the sunrising. The eyes of the
crocodile were, with the Egyptians, an hieroglyphic of
the morning {n}: wherefore this seems better to agree
with the crocodile than the whale, whose eyes are not
much bigger than those of a bullock; and has eyelids
and hair like men's eyes; the crystal of the eye is not
much bigger than a pea {o}; its eyes are placed very
low, almost at the end of the upper lip, and when
without its guide, dashes itself against rocks and
shoals {p}. Though that sort of whales called %orcae% are
said to have eyes a foot long, and of a red rosy colour,
such as the morning is described by {q}; and a northern
writer {r} tells us that some whales have eyes, whose
circumference will admit fifteen or twenty men to sit
therein; and in others it exceeds eight or ten cubits;
and that the pupil is a cubit, and of a red and flaming
colour; which, at a distance, in dark seasons, among
the waves, appears to fishermen as fire kindled. And
Thevenot {s} says of crocodiles, that their eyes are indifferently
big, and very darkish.

\*Ver. 19. \\Out of his mouth go burning lamps, [and] sparks of fire
leap\\ \\out\\.] Which, though hyperbolical
expressions, have some foundation for them in the
latter; in the vast quantities of water thrown out by
the whale, through its mouth or hole in its frontispiece,
which in the sun may look like lamps and sparks
of fire, as before observed; and especially in the %orcae%,
or whales with teeth, which eject in the same way an
oily mucus, or the fat liquor of the brain, commonly
called spermaceti, which may appear more bright and
glittering. Ovid {t} says much the same of the boar as
is here said of the leviathan.

\*Ver. 20. \\Out of his nostrils goeth forth smoke, as [out] of a
seething\\ \\pot or caldron\\.] In which flesh or any
thing else is boiling. It is observed that there is a
likeness between the crocodile and the river horse,
and particularly in their breathing {u}: and of the former
it is remarked {w}, that its nostrils are very large and
open, and that they breathe out a fiery smoke, as out of a furnace.

\*Ver. 21. \\His breath kindles coals, and a flame goeth out of his\\
\\mouth\\.] Hyperbolical expressions, which
the above observations may seem to justify.

\*Ver. 22. \\In his neck remaineth strength\\, &c.] This
is thought to be an argument against the whale, which
is said to have no neck: but whatever joins the head
and body may be called the neck, though ever so
small; and the shorter the neck is, the stronger it is.
It is also said by some, that the crocodile has no neck
also; but the philosopher {x} is express for it, that it has
one and moves it: and Pliny {y} speaks of it as turning
its head upwards, which it could not do without a
neck;
\*\\and sorrow is turned into joy before him\\; or
leaps and dances before him; it departs from him: he
is not afraid of any thing, though ever so threatening.
Or sorrow and distress at the sight of him, in men and
fishes, make them leap, and hasten to get out of the
way of him and escape him.

\*Ver. 23. \\The flakes of his flesh are joined together\\,
&c.] The muscles of his hefty are not flaccid and
flabby, but solid and firmly compacted;
\*\\they are firm
in themselves; they cannot be moved\\; that is, not very
easily, not without a large sharp cutting knife, and
that used with much strength.

\*Ver. 24. \\His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece
of\\ \\the nether [millstone]\\.] Which must be
understood not of the substance but of the qualities of
it, being bold, courageous, undaunted, and unmerciful;
which is true both of the whale and crocodile, and
particularly of the crocodile: Aelianus {z} relates of one
sort of them that they are unmerciful, though elsewhere {a},
he represents them as fearful.

\*Ver. 25. \\When he raiseth up himself\\, &c.] Not out
of the waters, but above the surface of them, so as
that his large bulk, his terrible jaws and teeth, are
seem;
\*\\the mighty are afraid\\; not only fishes and
other animals, but men, and these the most stout-hearted
and courageous, as mariners and masters of
vessels;
\*\\by reason of breakings they purify themselves\\:
either because of the breaches of the sea made through
the lifting up of this creature, threatening the overturning
of vessels; or of the breaches of men's hearts
through fear, they are thrown into a vomiting, and
purging both by stool and urine, which are often the
effects of fear, so Ben Gersom; or they acknowledge
themselves sinners, or expiate themselves, endeavouring
to do it by making confession of sin, declaring repentance
for it, praying for forgiveness of it, and promising
amendment; which is frequently the case of
seafaring men in distress; see \\#Jon 1:4-17\\.

\*Ver. 26. \\The sword of him that layeth at him cannot
hold\\, &c.] It is either broken by striking at him, or
however cannot pierce him and stick in him; but since a
sword is not used in fishery, rather the harpagon or
harpoon may be meant, which cannot enter into the
crocodile, being so fenced with scales; but the whale
being struck with it, it enters deep into his flesh, and
is wounded by it; wherefore this and what follows in
the next verses seems best to agree with the crocodile,
or some other fish;
\*\\the spear, the dart, nor the
habergeon\\; that is, neither of these can fasten upon
him or enter into him: and yet it is certain that the
whale, after he has been struck and wounded by the
harping iron, men approach nearer to him and thrust
a long steeled lance or spear under his gills into his
breast, and through the intestines, which dispatches
him: darts are not made use of in the whale fishery;
and as for crocodiles, as Peter Martyr says {c}, they are
not to be pierced with darts: the habergeon, or coat
of mail, being a defensive piece of armour, seems not
to be designed, as being never used in taking such
creatures; rather therefore a javelin or hand dart may
be intended; since, as Bochart observes, in the Arabic
language such an one is expressed by this word.

{i} Problem. s. 33. qu. 4.
{k} Aelian. l. 3. c. 11. Leo African. Descriptio African, l. 9. p. 761.
    Pet. Martyr. Decad. 3. 50:4.
{l} Nat. Hist. l. 9. c. 4, 6.
{m} Olymp. Ode 3. v. 36.
{n} Hor. Hiereglyph. apud Scheuchzer. vol. 4. p. 849.
{o} Voyage to Spitzbergen, p. 145.
{p} AElian. l. 2. c. 13. Plin. l. 9. c. 62.
{q} Hasacus apud Schultens in loc.
{r} Olaus Magnus de Ritu Gent. Septent. l. 21. c. 5, 8. so Albertus
    Magnus de Animal. l. 24. c. 1.
{s} Travels, ut supra, p. 245.
{t} %Fulmen ab ore venit; frondesque adflatibus ardent%. Metamorph.
    c. 8. Fab. 4.
{u} Plin. l. 48. c. 8. Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 8. c. 2.
{w} Achilles Statius & Eustathius, apud Scheuchzer: ut supra.
{x} Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 9. c. 6. & Part. Animal l. 4. c. 11.
{y} Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 25.
{z} De Animal. l. 12. c. 41.
{a} Ibid. l. 10. c. 24.
{c} Apud Bochart. Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 5. c. 17. col. 785.