140 SCRIPTURE NATURAL HISTORY. 



THE DOVE. 



THIS beautiful and gentle creature was called, by the Hebrews, 

 tone/i, which signifies mildness, gentleness, &c. Parkhurst derives 

 the Hebrew name from a root which admits the sense of defenceless, 

 and exposed to rapine and violence ; remarkable characteristics of this 

 lovely bird, and which are accordingly noticed by some of the an- 

 cient poets. 



The dove, which is used in scripture as the symbol of simplicity, 

 innocence, and fidelity, furnishes the sacred writers with many 

 beautiful allusions. From the earliest times, it appears to have been 

 offered in sacrifice, (Gen. xv. 9) ; and in the Mosaic ritual it is re- 

 peatedly prescribed for this use. 



The dove is universally admitted to be one of the most beautiful 

 objects in nature. The brilliancy of her plumage, the splendor of 

 her eye, the innocence of her look, the excellence of her disposi- 

 tions, and the purity of her manners, have been the theme of ad- 

 miration and praise in every age. To the snowy whiteness of her 

 wings, and the rich golden hues which adorn her neck, the inspir- 

 ed Psalmist has been thought to allude in these elegant strains : 

 * Though ye have lien among the pots, yet ye shall be as the wings 

 of a dove, covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold,* 

 Psalm Ixviii. 13. Mr. Harmer is of opinion, however, that the 

 Psalmist alludes, not to an animal adorned merely by the hand of 

 nature, but to the doves consecrated to the Syrian deities, and or- 

 namented with trinkets of gold. Agreeably to this view, he inter- 

 prets the passage thus : ' Israel is to me as a consecrated dove ; and 

 though your circumstances have made you rather appear, like a 

 dove, blackened by taking up its abode in a smoky hole of the rock ; 

 yet shall ye become beautiful and glorious as a Syrian silver-color- 

 ed pigeon, on whom some ornament of gold is put. But this view 

 of the passage, as Professor Paxton observes, makes the Holy Spir- 

 it speak with some approbation, or at least without censure, of a 

 heathenish rite, and even to borrow from it a figure to illustrate the 

 effects of Divine favor among his chosen people ; and as no other 

 instance of the kind occurs in scripture, he thinks it cannot be ad- 



