Collated with parallel Passages of the Hebrew Scriptures: 45 



Respecting the word wm^, which Archbishop Magee dwells upon in 

 reference to the antiquity of the book of Job, it does not appear to have been 

 observed, that the only other book of Scripture in which it occurs, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 

 17, dates subsequently to the captivity. Whether, coupled with this drawback, 

 its occurrence in the book of Job may weaken the argument for its antiquity, 

 or strengthen it, by referring it back to that common radical language used by 

 Abraham and his early descendants, which comprehended as Michaelis suggests, 

 Syriac, and Arabic, as well as Hebrew, is a discussion on which it would be 

 foreign to our purpose at present to engage. 



With respect to the passage from Ecclesiastes, ix. 10, referred to in passing, 

 we may here observe, that as the monition it contains, to " do what is to be done, 

 or what we can do, while we have might, or with all our might," serves to intro- 

 duce the memento, that " there is no work or device in the grave," so the inti- 

 mation of Antidamas having acted on the principle of making or accomplishing 

 what he could, while he lived, may be, as it has been, considered an Euphe- 

 mism, implying that he had died. But as the Libyan passage, though corres- 

 ponding with this Punic verse in other respects, has nothing corresponding to the 

 words, 5' cd" ntn Vphul, in which the supposed euphemism lies, it may be doubted 

 whether any euphemism in a positive sense of periphrasis was intended at all. 



In other respects, as has been said, the agreement of the Libyan account of the 

 man's fortunes with the Punic is very satisfactory. The Libyan ess, f el, and eel, 

 old are obviously the Punic words yss,fel, chil. The Libyan duberth, from ^:3-|, 

 " sermo," report, corresponds with id, 'ly, testi^nony ; and finally, the Libyan 

 Alemin, root D^Vj is strictly 'synonymous with the Punic brimth, root my, 

 both signifying prudence, shrewdness, 'wisdom, both in the Koran and in the ' 

 Arabic version of the Bible, Q^jy, as well Q'^y, are used sometimes for wisdom 

 in the good sense. Thus in the Koran, " We have no a^y but what thou hast 

 taught us," and in the Holy Scriptures, Psalm xix. 3, and Tim. iv. 6, are referred 

 to by Castello. But frequently the Arabic word a"?!?, is like the Hebrew a^y, 

 used to express the acuteness, subtlety, or wisdom of the serpent. The question 

 in the third chapter of Genesis, " who told thee, &c." in reference to the tempta- 

 tion of the serpent, that the forbidden fruit was of efficacy to make one wise, is in 

 one of the Arabic versions, " Who did Q^y thee, &c. who has made thee so wise." 



