[Page 94].—Ostracine.] It was distant, according to the Itinerary, sixty-six miles from Pelusium. Cell. Geogr. Afr. ii. 28. The lake Sirbonis was parallel to the sea, a space of not more than fifty stadia lying between them, where the interval was the broadest. It was connected with the sea by a narrow channel, called Ἔκρηγμα, (Strabo, lib. xvi. 760.) now choked up. Sandys, p. 107. Ostracine was so remarkably destitute of water, that to ask water from an inhabitant of Ostracine was a proverb for a vain request. Rel. Pal. p. 60. The ancient route passed between the lake Sirbonis and the sea; the modern keeps on the southern side of the lake; hence the exact position of Ostracine has not been ascertained.
[Page 95].—The river of Egypt.] This appears to have been between Rhinocolura and Pelusium; whence the Septuagint (Isa. xxvii. 12.) renders ἕως Ρινοκορόυρων. Our author follows D’Anville, who says that the entrance of a ravine into the Sirbonian pool, receiving the waters of many torrents from the Arabian desert, is the Torrens Egypti of the Scriptures. Shaw, Travels, p. 181, contends that it was the Nile. The name of El-Arish (celebrated in the history of the late war) appears to be Arabic and modern. El-Arish and Casium (Katieh) are the only places between Raphia and the eastern branch of the Nile which produce any vegetation useful for man. The rest is moving sand or a desert strongly impregnated with salt. Pref. to Burckhardt’s Travels in Syria, p. viii. note. The deserts of Asia, however, are much less dreary and destitute of vegetable life than those of Africa. See Irby and Mangles’ account of their journey from Egypt to Palestine, Travels, p. 169.
[Page 99].—The Nethinim.] These, so called from the Hebrew נתן (to give) were the menial servants of the sanctuary, who fetched the water and hewed the wood for the service of the temple. In the history of the conquest of Canaan by Joshua, (ix. 23.) the Gibeonites are said to be made hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of God; but the name of Nethinim is never given to them; and Ezra (viii. 20.) says that David and the princes had appointed the Nethinim for the service of the Levites. It is probable that when the service of God was renewed, and its rites performed with more order and magnificence under David, the Gibeonites, who had become mingled with the body of the people, were found insufficient, and the Nethinim were appointed; perhaps from among the captives made in the wars of David.
[Page 104].—Translation of the Books of Kings.] The first translation of the Hebrew Scriptures made by the Greeks of Alexandria included only the Pentateuch; (Jos. Ant. Proœm. 3.) the other historical books were translated at various times; (see Hody, Vers. Græc. ii. 9.) the prophets probably soon after the time when the Jews of Palestine began to read them in their Synagogue, as a substitute for the reading of the law, forbidden by Antiochus Epiphanes. Eichhorn Einl. i. d. A. T. i. 342. ed. 3.
[Page 117].—Rhinocorura.] This place, sometimes spelt Rhinocolura, as observed before, is El-Arish. It is said to have taken its Greek name from the mutilation of the nose which a king of Ethiopia, when master of Egypt, inflicted on those whom he sent to reside here, Strabo, xvi. p. 759. It was twenty-six miles from Ostracine.
[Page 125].—“Three sins have I passed by.”] The words with which Amos prefaces his denunciations have been variously explained. Literally they are, “For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four will I not avert it.” Our author supposes an ellipsis, “For three transgressions I did avert the punishment, but for four I will not avert it.” Others with more probability suppose, that three and four are used here for an indefinite number, as six and seven, Job v. 19.
[Page 145].—Traces of melancholy.] The author has applied to the first destruction of Jerusalem, what the modern Jews say of themselves with reference to the second. Buxtorf. Syn. Jud. 124. 479.
[Page 147].—Raphia.] “The name is still retained in Rafa, six hours’ march to the south of Gaza, where there are many remains of ancient buildings, and among them two columns of granite, which are supposed by the natives to mark the boundary of Asia and Africa.” Pref. to Burckh. p. viii. note. It was distant, according to the Antonine Itinerary, twenty-two miles from Rhinocolura, Cellar. Book iii. cap. 13. p. 372. The battle of Raphia was fought between Ptolemy Philopater and Antiochus, B. C. 217, and the result was that Antiochus, being totally defeated, was obliged to yield Cœle-Syria and Palestine to Ptolemy.
[Page 155].—An Israelitish maiden was Xerxes’ queen.] That Xerxes was the Ahasuerus of Scripture was the opinion of Scaliger. It is examined and opposed by Prideaux, Conn. P. i. Book iv. An. 465. Usher thought that he was Darius Hystaspis; Prideaux himself, Artaxerxes Longimanus. The subject is embarrassed with difficulties apparently inextricable, though there can be little doubt that the author of the Book of Esther intended some Artaxerxes by the name of Ahasuerus. Jos. Ant. xi. 6.
[Page 159].—Manasseh became high-priest.] It must be observed that Nehemiah only says that one of the sons of Joiada the high-priest was son-in-law to Sanballat, but does not call him Manasseh. Josephus, under the reign of Darius Codomannus, (Ant. xi. 7, 8.) relates the marriage of Manasseh, grandson of Joiada, with the daughter of Sanballat, and his being appointed high-priest of the newly-built temple in Gerizim. As there is a difference of between seventy and eighty years between the date of Scripture and that of Josephus, some (see Hudson’s note on Josephus, Ant. xi. 7.) suppose two Sanballats, having daughters married to sons of the Jewish high-priests. This cheap but dangerous expedient of multiplying historical personages is justly rejected by Prideaux, Conn. An. 409.