Ou Mark vii, 33, 3.o, Dr. A. Clarke offers the interpreta- tion tiiat it was the deaf and stammering man himself who put his own lingers into his ears to intimate his deafness; spat or emptied his mouth that the Saviour might look at his tongue; touched his own tongue to intimate that he could not speak; looked up to heaven as imploring divine aid; and groaned to denote his dis- tress under his affliction; and that our Saviour simply said, "Be opened" {Commentarij). This explanation certainly clears the passage of some obscurities.
James iii, 8, Dr. Macknight translates, " But the tongue of men no one can subdue ;" that is, the tongue of other men, for the apostle is exhorting the Christian to subdue his own (comp. ver. 13). He observes that fEcumcnius read the passage interrogatively, as much as to say, " Wild beasts, birds, serpents, marine animals, have been tamed by man, and can no man tame the tongue?"
2. It is personified. " Unto me every tongue shall swear," that is, every man (Isa. xiv, 23; comp. Kom. xiv, 11; Phil, ii, 11; Isa. liv, 17). The tongue is said to rejoice (Acts ii, 21!) ; to meditate (Psa. Iii, 2) ; to hate (Prov. xxvi, 28); to be bridled (James i, 26); to be tamed (iii. 8; comp. Kcclus. xxviii, 18, etc.). It is apos- trojihized (Psa. cxx, 3).
3. It is used by metomjmy for speech generally. " Let us not love in tongue only" (1 John iii, 18; comp. yXwffcr/j <pi.\oq, Theogn. Ixiii, 13 ;" Job vi, .30 ; xv, 5 ; Prov. vi, 24) ; "a soft tongue," i.e. soothing language (xxv, 15); "ac- cuse not a servant to his master," literalh' "hurt not with thy tongue" (xxx, 10); "the law of kindness is in her tongue," i. e. speech (xxxi, 26; Isa. iii, 8; 1, 4; Wisd. i, 6). On the " confusion of tongues," see Bauei. ; IvrnNor.oGY; Laxguagk, etc.
4. For a /xirtiriilar Itim/Har/e or dialect spoken by any particular people. " Every one after his tongue" (Gen. X, h, 20, 31) ; so also in Deut. xxviii, 49 ; Esth. i, 22 ; Dan. i, 4; John v, 2 ; Acts i, 19 ; ii, 4, 8, 11 ; xxvi, 14 ; 1 Cor. xii, 10; xiii, I ; xiv, 2 ; Kev. xvi, 16).
5. For the people speaking a language (Isa. Ixvi, 18 ;
Dan. iii, 4, 7, etc. ; Rev. v, 9 ; vii, 9 ; x, II; xi, 9 ; xiv, 6 ; xvii, 15).
6. It is u»Ci\f(/itriitireli/ for anything resembling a tongue in shape. Thus, "a wedge of gold," literally a " tongue" (.lush, vii, 21, 24 ; yXioaaa /.lia xpvaii ; Vulg. rer/itla ditrcd'). The French still say, iin liiKjut d\ir, "a little tongue of gold," whence, by corriijition, our word "ingot." " The bay that looketh southward," literally "tongue" (xv, 2; xviii, 19); "a tongue of tire" (Isa. v, 24; comp. Acts ii, 3 ; Isa. xi, 15).
7. Some of the Hebrew idioms, phrases, etc., formed of this word are highly expressive. Thus, " an evil- speaker" (Psa. cxl, 11 ; "jTCjb d"'X, literally "a man of tongue;" comp. Ecclus. viii, 3, and see Eccles. x, 11, Hebrew, or margin); "a froward" or rather "false tongue" (Prov. x, 31; mssnri "(TIJ?, "a tongue of revolvings"); "a wholesome tongue" ( Prov. xv, 4; X2^^ "l"iirb, literally "the healing of the tongue," reconcilia- tion, etc. ; Sept. I'acrte yXwdffijQ, linf/iia pl(icabilis): "a backbiting tongue" (Prov. xxv, 23; "PD, secret); "slow of speech" (Exod. iv, 10; "jilTS 1-3, literally "heavy of tongue," unfit to be an orator, (ipa^vyXioarroc ; con- trast Ecclus. iv, 29); "the tongue of the stammerer'' (Isa. xxxii, 4), i. e. rude, illiterate (comp. xxxv, 6; on Isa. xxviii, 11, see Lowth). In xxxiii, 19, it means a foreign language^ which seems gibberish to those who do not iniderstand it (comp. Ezek. iii, 5); "the tongue of the learned" (Isa. 1, 4), i. e. of the instructor. The lexicons will point out many other instances.
8. Some metaphorical expressions are highly signifi- cant. Thus, Hos. vii, 16, " the rage of the tongue," i. e. verbal abuse; "strife of tongues" (Psa. xxxi, 20); " scourge of the tongue" (Job v, 21 [see Execration] ; comp. Ecclus. xxvi, 6; xxviii, 17); "snare of the slan- derous tongue" (li, 2); on the phrase "strange tongue" (Isa. xxviii, 11), see Lowth, notes on ver. 9-12, and af- terwards the vivid rendering of the Vulg. ; " to slip with the tongue" (Ecclus. xx, 18; xxv, 8), i. e. use inadver- tent or unguarded speech; "they bend their tongues, their bows, for lies" (.Jer. ix, 3), i. e. tell determined and malicious falsehoods; "they sharpen their tongues" (Psa. civ,3), i.e. prepare cutting speeches (comp. lvii,4); " to smooth the tongue" (Jer. xxiii, 31), employ flatter- ing language; "to smite with the tongue" (Jer. xviii, 18), i. e. to traduce — if it should not be rendered, " on the tongue," alluding to a punishment for false witness; " to lie in wait with the tongue" (Ecclus. v, 14); "to stick out the tongue" (Isa. Ivii, 4), i. e. to mock ; " against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue" (Exod. xi, 7), i. e. none shall hurt them ; but butli Sept. and Vulg. have "not a dog belonging to the cliildrcn of Israel shall howl," which, as opposed to the "great cry" in Egypt over the first-born, means, not one of the children of Israel shall have cause to wail (Josh, x, 21 ; Judith xi, 9). "To hide under the tongue" means to have in the mouth, whether spoken of hidden wicked- ness (Job XX. 12 ; comp. Psa. x, 7) or delicious language (Cant, iv, 11); "the word of God in the tongue" de- notes inspiration (2 Sam. xxiii, 2); "to divide the tongues of the wicked" is to raise up dissensions among them (Psa. Iv, 9; comp. 2 Sam. xv, 34; xvii, 14, 15). "The tongue cleaving to the palate" signifies profoimd attention (.lob xxix, 10) or excessive thirst (Lam. iv, 4; comp. xxii, 16); "to cause the tongue to cleave to tlie palate" is to inflict supernatural dumbness (Ezek. iii, 26; Psa. cxxxvii, 6). To gnaw one's tongue is a sign of fury, despair, and torment (Rev. xvi, 10).