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definitely formed and stable. And so we find that when the different wells 
were built the diff’erent tribes took possession and thus came to have property 
in them. The well “ Beerlahairoi,” concisely tells the history of Hagar’s 
desertion by her husband (Gen. xvi. 14). The wells “Esek, Sitnah, Kehoboth,” 
show the non-contentious disposition of Isaac (Gen. xxvi. 17-23). Sir 
William Blackstone, in his Commentaries on the Law, shows what primi- 
tive legal ideas prevailed in those ancient times. 
There are numerous words from the Egyptian which seem to have 
left traces in the Hebrew Scriptures. I would call attention to the 
Egyptian name of Joseph, “ Zaphenath-paaneah,” which, in Egyptian, 
signifies the “Saviour of the World.” But to pass on from the Egyptian 
times we should expect that, as history progresses, the names would corre- 
spond to the periods coincident in surrounding nations. In Numbers we 
find the name of Pethor, from *iri£) to expound ; it seems to be reproduced 
in “Patrae” of Achaia, and “ Patara” of Lycia, and as an epithet of Apollo, 
the god of oracles, in Horace, Odes III. iv. 64. Some of the most striking 
coincidences are furnished by the Phoenicians, who constituted undoubtedly 
one of the most commercial races of ancient times. From Carthage they 
spread their commerce all over Europe, and we ought to expect to find 
some traces of the Hebrew language being carried by the Phoenicians to 
the different countries with which they traded. W e have the celebrated name 
of the god Moloch held up to detestation by a poet greater than Homer or 
Virgil : — 
“ Moloch, horrid king, besmear’d with blood 
Of human sacrifice and parents’ tears ; 
Though, for the noise of drums and timbrels loud. 
Their children’s cries unheard, that pass’d through fire 
To this grim idol.” 
We find traces of the root in the Carthaginian god Malchos, and in the 
name of their celebrated general Hamilcar. The father of Greek poetry, in 
the fourth book of his Iliad, line 8, sings of 'Hpr/ *Apydr} Kal *A\d\KopitvriXg 
’AQnvr}. The epithet dXaXKOfjievriXg (the irresistible) is, according to some 
critics, given to Athene as the guardian goddess of a city of that name, 
founded in Boeotia by the Phoenicians. If so, they probably borrowed the 
name from the Hebrew (Proverbs xxx. 31) nbit. Baal, which, in 
Hebrew, signifies a ruler, and was the name of the false god of Ahab, may 
be discerned in the Carthaginian “ Bal,” god (Servius on the JEneid), and 
also in the last syllables of “Hannibal” and “Hasdrubal.” Cornwall, whence 
the Phoenicians obtained tin, the country of promontories, is by some connected 
with the Hebrew word pp. The word “ Malchos,’’ which has been mentioned, 
suggests the names of other gods and goddesses. 
“ With these in troop 
Come Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians call’d 
Astarte, queen of heaven, with crescent horns.” 
Whether it is possible to connect Astarte with Eostre, the idol of the 
