its nRe in the cognate languages it is _Pretty thousand and threescore and ten men, 1ut certain that it is rightly translated m our "seventy men, fifty thousand men," without version. Jlut besides these there were any article between, and with the smaller golden mico, according to the number of all number first, contrary to Hebrew rule. The the cities, &c. The priests had named only occasion of the calamity was probably as five mice, one for each of the lords of the follows :-As the news of the return of the Philistines; but the eagerness of the people ark spread from mouth to mouth, the people outran their suggestion, and not only the flocked together to take part in the sacrifice, fenced towns, but even the unwalled villages which woulcl of course be followed by a feast. sent their offering, lest they should still Heated thereat by wine, perhaps, and merri- be chastisecl. Country villages. Literally, ment, they lost all sense of reverence, ancl " the village" or '' hamlet or the Pernzi.' encouraged one another to look into the ark The Septuagint, a trustworthy authority in and examine its contents, though the words such matters, makes the Perazi the same as neecl not absolutely mean more than that the Perizzite. Both worcls really signify "they looked at the ark." Even so the men of "the inhabitant or the lowland," i. e. ot Beth-shemesh, as a city of priests, must have the plain country of Phrenicia ; but from kno,vn that death was the penalty or unhal- Zech. ii. 4, where Perazoth is translated lowed gazing at holy things (Num. iv. 20), "towns without walls," and from Ezek. and it is more than probable that those who xxxviii. 11, where it is rendered "unwalled were smitten were priests, because in them it villages," we may conclude that it bad come would be a heinous sin ; for it was a repe- popularly to mean an open village, though tition of that contempt for religion and its literally, in both these places, it means "the symbols which had been condemned so \amlets of the lowland." Even unto the sternly in Eli's sons. The mere seeing of great stone of Abel, &c. All this part of the ark was no sin, and had given the people the verse is exceedingly corrupt, and requires only joy (ver. 13), but as soon as they had large interpolations to obtain from it any received it the priests ought to have covere,l meaning. Both the Vulgate and the Syriac it with a vail (Num. iv. 5). To leaYe it retain the unmeaning word Abel ; but the without a vail was neglectful, to pry into Septuagint gives us what is probably the it was sacrilege. Because Jehovah had true reading : '' and the great stone whereon smitten many of the people, &c. This clause they set the ark of Jehovah, which is in the shoulcl be translated, "becanse Jehovah had field of Joshua the Beth-shemeshite, is a smitten the people with a great smiting." 1dtncss unto this day" (comp. Gen. xxxi. The sudden death even of seventy men in an 52; Jsn. XXX. 8). agricultural district, especially if they were Ver. 19. - He smote the men of Beth- the heads of the priestly families there, shemesh, &c. In this verse also th~ text would be a great and terrible calamity, is undoubtedly corrupt. The Septuagint enough to fill the whole place with grief. ascribes the sin not to all the people, but to Vers. 20, 21.-Whois able, &c. Literally, " the sons of J econiah, who were 'not glad " Who is able to stand before Jehovah, this when they saw the ark, and he smote them." holy God l" A punishment so severe follow- But as this reading is not supported by the ing upon their unhallowed temerity made other versions we may pass it by. The the inhabitants of this city of priests eager numbers, however, are evidently wrong. to pass the ark on to others. They therefore Fifty thousand men woulcl imply a popu- sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kir- lation of 250,000 people, whereas Jerusalem jath-jearim to request them to fetch it away. itself in its palmiest days never had a popula- Kiryath-yarim-for so it ought to be pro- tion of even 70,000. Thero were no large cities nounced-means the city of forests- Woocl- among the Israelites, butascattered population town, softened among us into Wooton. It living upon their fields, nnd with o. few small was chosen apparently simply because it was wallecl towns here and thei-e to protect them the nearest town of any importance, u11<l "-~• a111! their cattle in any sudden emergency. therefore identified in early Christian times ){rnnicott, however, has satisfactorily ex- with th~ modern Kurict-el-'anub, grape- plained tho mistake. In the old way of town, the woods having ~ven way to vines, clenoting numbers by the letters of the and which is about ten miles off, on the roa,l alphabet an 'ain = 70 had been mistaken to Mizpah. Conder, however, doubt~ thu for a nun with two dots = 50,000. The correctness of this view, and places l~irja.th- Syriac has 5000, that is, a nun with one dot. jeari.m at S6ha (see 'Tent Work,' i. 18 - We must add that the Hebrew is "lot fifty 22).
_1 BAIi. 114 TIIE FlllSl' BOOK OF SA~IUEL. [en. v1. 1-21.