ON THE OKRL^B OF 
repeated, 2 Chron. x. 11. Whips and scorpions were in- 
struments of punishment ; and if we consult Isidore's Ori- 
gines, V. 25, he will tell us ; " if a rod,'' or we may say a 
lash, " used to punish, be smooth, it is a whip ; if it have 
knots or points, it is a scorpion." 
Certain machines used in war, from the dreadful execu- 
tion which they did among the enemy, were also called scor- 
pions. Not to speak of other authors, they are mentioned, 
1 Maccab. -vi. 51, and are often met with in Csesar's Com- 
mentaries. 
The prophet Ezek. ii. 6, is thus addressed : " Thou, Son 
of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their 
words, though briers and thorns be with thee, though thou 
dost dwell among scorpions." Celsius and Hiller think, that 
by scorpions in this passage a species of thorns is meant, 
and that they were called scorpion-thorns by the Arabs, 
from the formidable appearance of the prickles, or the hor- 
rible pain which they inflicted on the animal body. 
Though we are not hostile to this opinion, yet the sense 
of the passage will not suffer, if scorpions be a metaphor for 
men, who have the malignity of these insects, and do simi- 
lar mischief to those whom they attack. Those, who have 
had much intercourse with society, or lived long in the 
world, know that there are scorpion- men as well as scorpion 
thorns. 
In the same sense is to be understood this address of our 
Lord to his apostles, Luke x. 19, " I give you power, to 
tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power 
of the enemy;" that is, from the aid which I give you, 
you shall be successful in the work which I send you to 
do, though it bring you into contact with men, who resemble 
serpents and scorpions in their dispositions, who can torture 
and destroy, like venemous. reptiles and insects. 
In Luke xi. 11, 12, occur these curious words: If a son 
