GOLD.-Ps. lxviii. 13.

WILLIAM MACKENZIE. GLASCOW EDINBURCH LONDON & NEW YOR

valley, up the precipitous ravines of Jericho and Ai, and settled in the rugged mountains of Judah and Ephraim, never to return to those beautiful regions which had been their first home in the promised land. The Lord had made them ride on the high places of the earth, that they might eat the increase of the fields; and he made them to suck honey out of the 'cliff, and oil out of the flinty rock; butter of kine, and milk of sheep; with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats; with the fat of kidneys of wheat, and . . . the pure blood of the grape.' -("Syria and Palestine," p. 324.)

Psalm lxix. 12-see under Numb. vi. 12; ver. 21, under Mark xv. 13; lxxi. 4, under Prov. x. 26.

Psalm lxxii. To his people fearing him the Saviour will come, bestowing blessings like those brought to the grass of the earth by the rain when by close cutting its vital parts are exposed, and when a continuance of heat and absence of moisture would soon wither it up :

"He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass;

As showers that water the earth" (ver. 6).

The Hebrew word (gēz), which means here the grass still in the soil after it has been cut, points in Amos vii. 1—which see-to the hay itself. In Deut. xviii. 4, and in Job xxx. 20, it is translated fleece:

"There shall be an handful of corn on the tops of the mountains;

The fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon:

And they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth" (ver. 16).

Solomon is the type, throughout the psalm, of Messiah the King, and his reign of Messiah's kingdom. The dominions of the son of David were during his own and his father's reign, stretched to the farthest limits assigned to Israel in the promise. This was, however, only typical of the coming world-wide extension of the kingdom of Christ. There may be only a very few now truly attached to him; but, just as an handful of seed shows from four to an hundredfold of increase when it springs up, so shall it be here. This seed of life, even though cast into most unpromising soil, shall yet yield a fruitage which shall wave in beauty and in strength before the nations, like the cedars of Lebanon themselves.

Psalm lxxx.-The Jewish nation, as both the type and representative of the church, is in this psalm spoken of under the figure of a "vine" which God brought up out of Egypt. A beautiful picture of its fruitfulness is drawn in ver. 10, 11:—

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"She sent out her boughs unto the sea,

And her branches unto the river."

The picture is suddenly changed. All this fertility and beauty is marred, ver. 12, 13:

"Why hast thou then broken down her hedges,

So that all they which pass by the way do pluck her?

The boar out of the wood doth waste it,

And the wild beast of the field doth devour it."

Boar," Heb. hhazir. This word is rendered "swine" in the other six passages in which it occurs.

See under Isa. lxv. 4. The natural

food of the sow in its wild state is the tender roots of trees, of strong grass, rushes, &c., and fruits, such as beech-mast, and acorns. When its haunts lie in the neighbourhood of gardens, "the boar out of the wood often wastes them." It is still found wild in several countries of Europe. Ehrenberg says it is often to be met with among the marshes in the valley of the Nile, and among the woods on Lebanon. Burckhardt often saw it in Syria. "Intending," say Irby and Mangles, "to proceed to the valley of the Jordan by a place called Rajib, where we expected to find the ruins of Ragaba, we quitted Djerash in the afternoon, and passed through Katty. About half an hour after, we traversed another village, in the mosque of which there are some Roman remains. We entered a very picturesque country, most beauti

fully varied with hanging woods, mostly of the Vallonia oak, laurestinus, cedar, common arbutus, arbutus Andrachne, &c. At times the country had all the appearance of a noble park; indeed, nothing could exceed the beauty of this day's ride; there were some few spots cultivated with corn. As we advanced, the wood became more dense; and at dark we stopped at a small open space covered with high grass and weeds. We went with our guide a short distance to endeavour to shoot some wild boars; we hid ourselves close to the water, where all the trees were marked with mud, left by the hogs in rubbing themselves. We plainly heard some of these animals advancing towards us; but one of the horses unluckily making a noise, they all ran off."

The blessings forfeited by Israel's disobedience are named in Psalm lxxxi. 14-16-victory over their enemies, the power to meet their adversaries in the strength of Jehovah; the acknowledgment on the part of the haters even of the Lord that he as in the olden times was with his people, and both strength and pleasure in the gifts of his providence :

"He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat:

And with honey of the rock should I have satisfied thee."

By finest of wheat we are not to understand wheat in its best form, but the best variety, even as the honey from the rock is held to be peculiarly sweet, both in itself and as partaken of in circumstances fitted to give a special relish for it. In Old Testament times there appear to have been recognized varieties of this cereal, even as among ourselves. This shows that it had been long cultivated by the Jews, because thus are varieties multiplied. Moses speaks of "the fat of kidneys of wheat" (Deut. xxxii. 14). Isaiah notices "the principal wheat," and Ezekiel refers to "the wheat of Minnith" as distinguished for its quality (Isa. xxviii. 25; Ezek. xxvii. 17). The quality of wheat varies. This has been shown under Deut. viii. 8-which see. Its superiority to other cereals results from the great quantity of gluten which it contains. Thus while, in 100 parts, barley yields 6:00 of gluten, rice only 360, wheat gives 23:00. When we have the statement that the Lord would have fed them with the finest of the wheat, we are to conclude that, even as wheat which yields most gluten is best for the body, so God's gifts which bring us in privilege nearest to him are best for the soul-sweetest, most nourishing. All these indeed are enjoyed by "the people near to him:"-

"He maketh peace in thy borders,

And filleth thee with the finest of the wheat" (Ps. cxlv. 11, 14).