APPENDIX. NOTES. 375 



in Moses* blessing The deep that coucheth beneath. 1 The 

 expression in these passages evidently alludes to an abyss 

 under the crust of the earth, from which blessings may be 

 derived ; and which is emphatically described as couching 

 beneath, as if the mighty waters it contained were lying 

 in repose like a beast at rest, and chewing the cud, in con- 

 trast with the incessantly fluctuating and stormy ocean. 



When the children of Israel murmured for water in 

 Rephidim, Moses at the Divine command smote the rock 

 in Horeb, and water flowed out of it in a copious stream, 

 which there is reason to believe followed them in all their 

 wanderings through the wilderness. If we consider the 

 nature of that dry and thirsty land where no water is, it 

 is evident that this perennial stream could not be derived 

 from the clouds that hovered round the summits of Mount 

 Sinai, the rocks of that district were washed by no rivers 

 derived from above, and seem not calculated for perco- 

 lation. But what was the case the stroke of the wonder- 

 working rod of the Lawgiver of Israel produced a fissure 

 in the rock, which opened a channel through which the 

 waters, before in repose in the great deep, rushed forth in 

 a mighty stream; and therefore the Psalmist says He 

 clave the rocks in the wilderness, and he gave them drink, 

 as out of the great abysses. Alluding evidently to a source 

 of sweet waters below. 



The prophet Jonah, in the prayer he uttered when 

 incarcerated in the fish's belly, has these words / went 

 down to the bottoms of the mountains ; the earth with her 

 bars was about me for ever. 3 A parallel expression is used 



in Moses' song A jire shall burn to the lowest hell 



it shall set on fire the foundations of the mountains. 4 



1 Heb. nnn nvin 2 See 1 Cor. x. 4. 



3 Jonah, ii. 6. 4 Deut. xxxii. 22. 



