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BRYANT’S OBSERVATIONS UPON SCRIPTURE, 
125 
Arr. VI. Observations upon some Passages in Scripture, which the Enemies to Religion 
have thought most obnoxious, and attended with difficulties not to be surmounted. By 
_Jacos Bryant. 4to. pp. 256. 
« IN the Treatises,” observes the venera- 
dle author, “ which immediately follow, I 
have taken in hand to consider and explain 
four particular Histories in the Sacred Wri- 
tings, which have been esteemed by unbe- 
lievers the most exceptionable of any upon 
record. In consequence of this they have 
afforded room for much obloquy, and ridi- 
eule, which has arisen partly from the igno- 
tance of such persons, in respect to the true 
purport of these narratives; and partly from 
their being unhappily disaffected towards 
the Scriptures in general. The first article, 
in the explanation of which I shall be en- 
gaged, is the account of Belaam, who was 
reproved by the animal upon which he rode: 
and this is said to have been effected by a 
human voice, and a verbal articulation given 
toa brute beast. The second article relates 
10 Samson, who is described as defeating a 
host of Philistines wiih the jaw-bone of 
the same animal, anass: the whole of which 
history is by many thought to be an idle 
detail. , The third History, of which I shall 
‘qake notice, is of the san and moon, which 
are said to have stood still at the command 
of Joshua. ‘The fourth, and last, is the 
History of the Prophet Jonah ; and partica- 
larly of his being entombed in the body of a 
Jarge fish, which is supposed to have been a 
whale.”: 
The principle upon which Mr. Bryant 
proceeds in his attempt to explain the 
two first and the last of these portions of 
scripture, is that upon which he labour- 
ed to illustrate the miracles which Moses 
performed in Egypt. He considers the 
miracles recorded in scripture as gene- 
rally pointed and significant ; not only 
shewing marks of supernatural power, 
but having a uniform reference to the 
persons concerned, and to their history 
and religion; adapted to people who 
are at any time to suffer, and to those 
who are tu be admonished by their pu- 
Hishment. (p. 3.) ° 
The transaction which is recorded in 
the Book of Numbers, he does not consi- 
der, with Geddes, as a legendary tale; 
_ nor with Jortin, as in part visionary: he 
firmly believes in its perfect reality, and 
_ endeavours to shew that it was designed 
_ to bring contempt upon an object of idol- 
_ atrous worship, and to demonstrate the 
_ superior power of the God of the Israelites. 
_ —Balaam was a priest of Midian, and 
dwelt at Pether, called by the Grecians 
_ Petra, where a city and an oracular tem- 
ple had been founded, in which he ap- 
pears to have been chief priest. In this 
oracular temple, the Onolatria, or wor- 
ship of the ass, prevailed; a worship, 
according to ancient testimony, very ge- 
neral both in Egypt and in Asia, and of 
which both the Jews and the Christians 
were accused. This respect paid to the 
wild ass,-arose from their sagacity in 
discovering springs of water in the dry 
and parched deserts. “ ‘They were re- 
verenced for their superior forecast, aad 
admitted as emblems of divination.” 
p. 26. Balaam, the high priest in the 
oracular temple in which this deity pre- 
sided, was hired by the king of Moab, 
to curse the children of Israel. Being 
of an obdurate heart, of a most obstinate 
and inflexible disposition, he sets out, 
determined, notwithstanding the repeat- 
ed order of God to pronounce nothing 
but blessings, to vent nothing but curses. 
In his progress, the ass on which he 
rides rebukes him, and indicated most 
plainly that the omens and prodigies to 
which he had been habituated and de- 
voted, and also his own God, declared 
against his process. Arrived in Moab, 
he is compelled by a power which he 
could not resist, to pronounce a series of 
wonderful prophecies to the confusion of 
Balak, and in favour of the people of 
God. The idolaters were thus taught 
that the oracles to which they trusted, 
and the deities on which they relied, 
were vanity ; and the children of Israel 
were led to worship Him only, before 
whom those deities were humbled, and 
to whose power even their priests bore 
witness. 
The same mysterious meaning lurks 
in the history of Samson, when he de- 
feated the Philistines at Lehi, or Lechi, 
with the jaw-bone of an ass. The Phi- 
listines were holding a festival in honour 
of their deity, who was delivering their 
reat enemy into their hands. In this 
ate they had sacrificed an ass, and 
one of the jaw-bones was lying on the 
spot, to which Samson was conducted : 
bursting asunder his bonds, and seiz- 
ing this bone, he slew with it a thousand 
men. When this feat was accomplish- 
ed, he threw away the jaw-bone, not 
because he had no further use for it, 
but to signify that the place was an ob- 
ject of hatred and abomination, and to 
instruct the children of Israel, that they 
