from guilt and sin. In a similar way ‘ fire’ could be an expression for ‘anger,’ as may be seen in the words ‘therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned’ (Is 24°), The ‘dew’ was quite natur- ally used as a symbol for a great many phenomena of a cheerful order, so that there is no difficulty in understanding the expression in Ps 1103 ‘Thou hast the dew of thy youth’ (lit. ‘Like the dew are thy young men’). On the other hand, the ‘ floods’ and similar expressions stand for hosts of foes (Ps USers2e> ete) o Lhe ‘earthquake’ may point an allusion to political disturbances, as in ‘Thou hast made the earth to tremble,’ etc. (Ps 602). The ‘rock’ is an equally natural figure for a place of refuge (Ps 27° ‘ He shall set me up upon a rock’), as ‘depth’ is for catastrophe or misfortune (Ps 69? ‘I am come into deep waters’; cf. v.!4>, and 130! ‘Out of the depths have I cried unto thee’). Re- garded from another point of view, the ‘deep’ was naturally employed as a symbol of the inexhaust- ible and unfathomable. Hence we read, ‘O the depth of the riches,’ etc. (Ro 1153, ef. 2 Co 8?), and for the same reason ‘deep’ in the sense of ‘mys- terious’ is used of the heart (Ps 64%, Jth 814) or of the lip, z.e. the speech (Is 33, Ezk 3°), Thus ‘to be deep’ is equivalent to ‘to be unfathomable’ (Ps 92° ‘and thy thoughts are very deep’), and a matter that is incomprehensible is compared to the great primeval flood (a7 oinn Ps 36° ‘a great deep’).—The number of combinations of pheno- mena from the different spheres is almost endless. We can note only a few of them. ‘Shield’ is an expression for ‘ protector’ (Gn 15? ete.), and ‘ star’ is a beautiful figure for a conquering hero (Nu 24" ‘There shall come a star out of Jacob’; ef. Is 142, Dn 8°, Rey 2216 and Ovid, Hpist. ex Ponto, II. iii. 2, ‘O sidus Fabize, Maxime, gentis’). ‘The waters,’ again, stands for hostile troops (Ps 124°, Is 8’, Rev 17! ete.), and ‘ branch’ for ‘descendant’ (Ps 80”, Is 11+ 607! etc.).—From the sphere of animated nature we have ‘lion’ as a honorific title for a strong hero (Gn 49° ‘Judah is a lion’s whelp,’ ef. 2S 23” ete.); and ‘goats’ might be symbolic either of leaders of the people (Is 14°, where the Heb. is 728 "HAY>2 ‘all the goats of the earth’; cf. Zee 10°), or of refractory elements in the com- munity (Ezk 34); while ‘sheep’ was an honour- able designation for gentle and pious men (Ps 79% 100%, Is 53’, Ezk 3638, Mt 25%, Jn 10! etc.). The expression ‘on eagles’ wings’ (Ex 19*) portrays the triumphant fashion of the Divine intervention in the course of history (ef. Dt 324, Ps 178).—Lastly, certain objects in the inanimate sphere were often regarded as if they had life, and even as if they were human beings. Thus the blood has a voice attributed to it in the words ‘The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground’ (Gn 41°); and when the prophet says, ‘Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth’ (Is 1°), this only falls short of personification. The same figure may be observed in the call to ships to how! (Is 23'); and in the passages where it is said that ‘the stone shall ery out of the wall’ (Hab 2"), or that ‘if these should hold their peace, the stones would immedi- ately cry out’ (Lk 19”), how vividly the scene presents itself to our eyes! Since metaphorical expressions portray, as it were, to our eyes a spiritual process, they readily combine to form whole pictures. We have an instance of this in ‘The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint; from the sole of the foot even unto the head,’ ete. (Is 1°); and another in ‘There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots’ (11*). A con- tinued series of metaphorical expressions of this kind receives the name of Allegory. This figure meets us im the Song of Songs, as, for instance, in the words ‘I sat down under his (i.e. my be-
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loved’s) shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste’ (2%), or in ‘A garden en- closed is my sister,’ etc. (4!2", cf. 77), but it is not the case that the whole Song is an allegorical poem regarding the Messiah and His Chureh (ef, further, Stilistik, pp. 94-110, and art. Sona or SONGS in vol. iy.).