202 SCRIPTURE NATURAL HISTORY. 



is possessed of arms and strength to destroy it, when fallen into the 

 snare. 



In this country, where all the insect tribes are kept under by hu- 

 man industry, the spiders are but small and harmless ; but in other 

 parts of the globe they are formidable and dangerous. Burckhardt 

 describes one which he saw killed near Mount Sinai, as being about 

 four inches and a half in length, of which the body was three inches. 

 It had five long legs on botlPfcsides, covered, like the body, with a 

 seta? of a light yellow color. The head was long and pointed, with 

 large black eyes, and the mouth armed with two pairs of fangs, one 

 above the other, recurved and extremely sharp. The Bedouins en- 

 tertain the greatest dread of them ; they say that their bite, if not 

 always mortal, produces a great swelling, almost instant vomiting, 

 and the most excruciating pains. 



The spider is only twice mentioned in scripture ; and in both in- 

 stances the inspired writers allude to the conduct and lot of wicked 

 men. The first passage in which it occurs, is Job viii. 14, 15, 

 where the punishment of the hypocrite is denounced : * Whose 

 hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider's web. He 

 shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand : he shall hold it 

 fast, but it shall not endure :' a proverbial allusion, says Mr. Good, 

 and so exquisite, that it is impossible to conceive any figure that can 

 more strongly describe the utter vanity of the hopes and prosperity 

 of the wicked. This writer believes that the passage has never 

 been understood ; and therefore, though rendered in a thousand 

 different manners, has never been translated satisfactorily. We 

 subjoin his translation; and part of his note : 



Can the paper-reed grow up without ooze 7 



Can the bull-rush grow up without water > 



Yet, in the midst of its own greenness, 



Uncut, and before every other herb, doth it wither! 



Such are the ways of all that forget God I 



So perisheth the confidence of the hypocrite ! 



Thus shall his support rot away, 



And the building of the spider be his reliance : 



And upon its building shall he lean, but it shall not stand ; 



He shall grasp at it, but it shall not hold. 



Ver. 11-15. 



' The speaker is still continuing his comparisons, and the entire 

 beauty of the passage depends upon our accompanying him in a his 

 extension of it. 'As the moisture of these succulent plants evapo- 

 rates before that of all others, so perisheth the confidence of the 

 hypocrite ; and as the ooze and stagnant water, from which they 

 derive their support, instead of continuing its salubrious nourish- 

 ment, grow putrid, and yield an intolerable stench, so shall the sup- 

 port of the hypocrite putrify likewise : it shall dissolve into empti- 

 ness, and nauseate him as it flies away.' 



The other passage is Isaiah lix. 5, 6 : ' They hatch cockatrice 

 eggs, and* weave the spider's web their webs shall not become gar- 

 ments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works : their 

 works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their 



