So the Mohammedan tradition, that the bad spirits, Monker and Nakir, who, upon the death of a man, come to examine him, are awful and black. See Prelim. Disc. p. 90. And hence the belief is that the wicked, even before judgment, will stand looking up to God with their faces obscured by blackness and disfigured by all the marks of sorrow and deformity. Idem, p. 99.
So also the fable, that a precious stone of paradise fell down to the earth to Adam, whiter than milk, but turned black by the touch of a wicked woman, or, as others say, by wickedness of mankind generally; but the story is that its blackness is only skin-deep, and hence the Arabians carefully preserved it in the Caaba at Mecca. Idem, p. 125. Also, Al Zamakh, &c. in Koran; and Ahmed Ebĕn Yusef; and Pocock, Spec. p. 117.
Similar traditions and quotations may be gathered from all quarters of the world, and from all portions of time; but let us turn to the book that never lies nor misleads. “Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will show the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.” Nahum, iii. 5.
The word here translated skirts, is שׁוּלַיִךְšûlayik shulaik. We believe that all scholars agree the Hebrew root of this word is borrowed from the Arabic شَيلࣨshaylun, of which the meaning is postremum cujusque rei; and, hence the idea skirt, the extreme of something hanging down, tending downward.
And from the same source we have the Hebrew word שׁוֹלָלšôlāl sholal, a captive, a thing captured, &c., because the captive is in an extreme condition; and thus שוּלšûl shūl is made to mean a hem or skirt, from its cognate and Arabic root, the extreme of something tending downwards. Thus شَلَلshala shaal, to be loose, to hang down. From these considerations, the word was often used to mean a prisoner, a captive. Thus, Job xii. 19: “He leadeth princes away spoiled,” שׁוֹלָ֑לšôlāl sholal, captive, reduced to the lowest extremity, &c.
Therefore, although perhaps not as literal, the idea of the prophet would have been more exactly conveyed had it been translated, “And I will discover the low extremity of your condition upon your face;” and in this same sense the word is used in Jer. xiii. 22: “If thou say in thine heart, Wherefore come these things upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts (שׁוּלַ֖יִךְšûlayik shulaik) discovered, and thy heels made bare.” Evidently proclaiming the doctrine, that a course of sin, through the Divine providence, will leave its mark.
“She is empty, and void, and waste, and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness. Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord.” Nah. ii. 10, 13.
“At Tehaphnehes also the day shall be darkened, when I shall break there the yokes of Egypt; and the pomp of her strength shall cease in her: as for her, a cloud shall cover her, and her daughters shall go into captivity. Thus will I execute judgments in Egypt: and they shall know that I am the Lord.” Ezek. xxx. 18, 19.
“Our necks are under persecution: we labour and have no rest. We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread. Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities. Servants (עֲבָדִים֙ʿăbādîm abadim, slaves) have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand. We get our bread with the peril of our lives, because of the sword of the wilderness. Our skin is black like an oven, because of the terrible famine.” Lam. v. 5–10.
“For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me.” Jer. viii. 21.