Lesley.] ^J--" [Jan. 15, 1886. 



I say to Jehovah, my safety place, and my fortress, my god CH/K), I con- 

 fide in him." It is evidently a song of the desert. The angels bear him 

 up lest he stumble among the rocks ; he is saved from the lion and the 

 snake and the dragon (whatever that was). It looks as if "under the 

 shade of Shedi," was a proverbial expression among the Beduin. 



Isaiah has Shedi only once (13 : 6) : "Howl ! for the day of Jehovah 

 comes, it comes like devastation from Shedi (k-ShD ra-ShDI). The 

 alliteration suggests that Shedi was the Ty phonic demon, and nothing 

 could be more appropriate ; for Isaiah is prophesying against Babylon's 

 utter destruction, to be produced by an invasion from the mountains of 

 many nations. DeWitte translates ShD "verheerung." It is not to be 

 supposed that Isaiah would not have frequently employed Shedi, if it 

 meant "almighty" as an epithet for Jehovah. This is the only time he 

 uses the word. 



Jeremiah appears not to have known the word. 



Ezechiel uses it only once (1 : 24), in describing the four-visaged creatures 

 which appeared to him out of the fiery cloud in Chaldea ; their heads sup- 

 ported a platform (firmament) of crystal, on which was a throne of sapphire, 

 and on the throne sat a man of amber-colored fire, overarched by a rainbow; 

 "this was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Jehovah," a well- 

 guarded expression. The creatures had living wheels, self-intelligent, 

 "their spirit being in the wheels," and "the voice (/1p) of their wings 

 was like the voice of mighty waters, like the voice of Shedi" (Jc-qol Shedi); 

 probably meaning "like a roaring storm wind in the desert." Compare 

 "qol Jehovah" breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. "When they moved 

 they made a noise like a whole host." 



Daniel. This book does not mention Shedi, but it makes mysterious 

 reference to a "god of forces" (11 : 38). 



Joel alone among the prophets of Palestine speaks of Sliedi, and that 

 only once (1 : 15), and then in the sense of a destroyer. " Alas the day ! 

 for the day of Jehovah, and it will come like destruction from Shedi 

 (u-k- ShD m ■ ShDI ibua). 



Joel repeats precisely the phrase in Isa. 13 : 6, with its alliteration ; 

 which seems to settle it beyond doubt that Isaiah and Joel used Shad Shedi, 

 as a well understood formula; perhaps a popular expression for &razzia of 

 Beduins, or perhaps for a sandstorm . But whatever special meaning it had 

 must have been based on a conception of the typhonic demon of destruction 

 like the Seti of the Egyptian monuments, and the Shaitan (devil) of 

 Mohammedan literature.* 



*It is interesting to compare Seti, cut stone and heap of stones with the modern 

 Mohammedan practice of throwing stones at Sheitan, resulting in the accumula- 

 tion of piles of stones, at certain fixed places, all of them [regarded as either 

 sacred or accursed. 



