[284] That is, the land of Syria, of which the Eastern geographers reckon Palestine a part, and wherein the commentators say the children of Israel succeeded the kings of Egypt and the Amalekites.—S. (B.)
[285] Particularly the lofty tower [before mentioned] which Pharaoh caused to be built, that he might attack the God of Moses.—S.
[286] The word here translated ‘body’ signifying also a ‘coat of mail,’ some imagine the meaning to be that his corpse floated armed with his coat of mail, which they tell us was of gold, by which they knew it was he.—S.
[287] These people some will have to be of the tribe of Amalek, whom Moses was commanded to destroy, and others of the tribe of Lakhm. Their idols, it is said, were images of oxen, which gave the first hint to the making of the golden calf.—S. (B.)
[288] The Eastern writers say these quails were of a peculiar kind of be found nowhere else but in El-Yemen, from whence they were brought by a south wind in great numbers to the Israelites’ camp in the desert. The Arabs called these birds ‘selwa,’ which is plainly the same with the Hebrew ‘salwim,’ and say they have no bones, but are eaten whole.—S.
[289] The word here rendered ‘a great city,’ namely ‘miṣran,’ is rendered by Marracci and Sale ‘Egypt,’ and is so understood by many learned Arabs; but according to a general rule, to have this signification it should be ‘miṣra:’ in some copies of the Ḳur-án, however, it is thus written.
[290] See Sale’s note in loc.
[291] A kind of soft stone, like dry mud.
[292] The story here alluded to, though it occurs among passages respecting Moses and his people, is said to relate to a different age and to be as follows:—In the days of David, some Israelites dwelt at Eyleh, or Elath, on the Red Sea, where, on the night of the Sabbath, the fish used to come in great numbers to the shore, and stay there all the Sabbath, to tempt them; but the night following they returned into the sea again. At length, some of the inhabitants, neglecting God’s commandment, catched fish on the Sabbath, and dressed and ate them; and afterwards cut canals from the sea, for the fish to enter, with sluices, which they shut on the Sabbath, to prevent their return to the sea. The other part of the inhabitants, who strictly observed the Sabbath, used both persuasion and force to stop this impiety, but to no purpose, the offenders growing only more and more obstinate; whereupon David cursed the Sabbath-breakers, and God transformed them into apes. It is said, that one going to see a friend of his that was among them found him in the shape of an ape moving his eyes about wildly; and asking him whether he was not such a one, the ape made a sign with his head that it was he; whereupon the friend said to him, Did not I advise you to desist? at which the ape wept. They add, that these unhappy people remained three days in this condition, and were afterwards destroyed by a wind which swept them all into the sea.—S. (A. F.)
[293] His breath before [he used the tooth-stick] had the odour of musk.—S. (B.)