THE OX. . 71 



plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scat- 

 ter the cummin and cast in the principal wheat, and the appointed 

 barley, and the rye, in their place? For his God doth instruct him 

 to discretion,' Isaiah xxviii. 23 25. By direct revelation from 

 Heaven, or the secret suggestion of his Spirit to the mind of Adam, 

 or his son Cain, they were taught to construct the plough, and bend 

 the pliant neck of the ox to the yoke. The importance of the les- 

 son, confirmed by their own daily experience, they failed not to im- 

 press upon the minds of their offspring ; and thus, one generation 

 transmitted to another the valuable favor. The ox was also com- 

 pel ed to submit, when the seed-time was over, to the more severe 

 labor of dragging the cart or the waggon. In the book of Numbers, 

 the princes of Israel brought their offering before the Lord, six cov- 

 ered waggons and twelve oxen ; that is, six waggons, each drawn 

 by two oxen : and in the same chapter, Moses ' gave two waggons 

 and four oxen unto the sons of Gershon, according to their service ; 

 and four waggons and eight oxen unto the sons of Merari, accord- 

 ing to their service ;' that is, every waggon drawn by two oxen, 

 Numbers vii. 3, 7, 8. The number of oxen commonly yoked in 

 one cart seems to have been two ; for the priests and diviners, whom 

 the lords of the Philistines consulted about the captive ark of Jeho- 

 vah, advised them to make a new cart, and yoke in it two milch 

 kine, for the purpose of carrying back the dread symbol of Divine 

 Majesty, to the place appointed for its reception, 1 Sam. vi. 7. The 

 new cart, in which the king of Israel and his people brought it up 

 from the house of Abinadab, seems also to have been drawn by two 

 oxen, although the number is not so clearly stated, 2 Sam. vi. 3, G. 



The flesh of the herd was not only used by the chosen people, 

 but also reckoned, when young, one of their greatest delicacies. 

 The patriarch Abraham, accordingly, with ardent hospitality, en- 

 tertained the angels under the oak at Marnre, with * a calf, tender 

 and good,' (Gen. xviii. 7.) ; and the pythoness at Endor could 

 think of nothing so delicious and acceptable to set before Saul, as a 

 calf fattened in treading out the corn, 1 Sam. xxviii. 24. Nor had 

 the father in the parable a greater delicacy to set upon the festive 

 board, when he received his returning prodigal, than the fatted calf, 

 Luke xv. 23. The young of the herd were numbered among the 

 blessings which Jehovah promised to bestow upon his ransomed 

 people, and classed with the choicest viands : ' Therefore, they 

 shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together 

 to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat and for wine, and for oil, 

 and for the young of the flock, and of the herd ; and their soul 

 shall be as a watered garden, and they shall not sorrow any more 

 at all,' Jer. xxxi. 12. The voluptuous nobles of Israel, in the day 

 of Amos, lay upon beds of ivory, and stretched themselves upon 

 their couches, and ate the lambs out of the flock, * and the calves 

 out of the midst of the stall,' Amos vi. 4. It is obviously the de- 

 sign of the indignant prophet to inform us, that the nobles and 

 princess of his degenerate country indulged without restraint in 



