Ps. xxii. 15," Thou hast brought me to the dust of death."

14,

Rightly, therefore, does the Psalmist observe, Ps. ciii.

He knoweth our frame,

He remembereth that we are dust."

Comp. Eccl. iii. 20; Job x. 9; Sirach xvii. 31. Hence also we find profane writers using such expressions thus Horace, l. 4, Od. 7,

"Pulvis et umbra sumus.

Quis scit an adjiciant hodiernæ crastina summæ
Tempora Di superi ?"

And Phocylides, " For we have a body formed from the earth, and are all resolved into it again. We are dust, κόνις ἐσμέν.”

Dust is the symbol of sorrow and mourning.

The messenger who announced Saul's death had dust upon his head.

2 Sam. i. 2. The friends of Job had the same tokens, ch. ii. 12; and the Elders of Israel, Josh. vii. 6. See many other passages.

The same custom obtained among the Heathen, as in Homer's Odyssey, 24, v. 315,

66

'Deep from his soul he sigh'd, and sorrowing spread,

A cloud of ashes on his hoary head."

And Catullus,

"Primum multas expromam mente querelas,
Canitiem terra atque infuso pulvere turpans."

And Statius, Theb. 1. 3,

"Canitiem impexam dira tellure volutans."

Dust is used to denote multitude: thus, Gen. xiii. 16, "I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth.”

Num. xxiii. 10, "Who can count the dust of Jacob ?" Ps. lxxviii. 27, "He rained flesh also upon them as dust."

DWELL. To dwell over-to give rest and protection. See Num. ix. 18, 22—Isa. iv. 6; xviii. 4; xxv. 4; xxx. 2-Dan. iv. 12.

And the Indian interpreter, ch. 202.

To dwell among, Rev. vii. 15; xxi. 3, signifies also protection but in a more remarkable manner— r-the foregoing expression signifying protection, by any instrument that effects it—but this, protection by the familiar converse and perpetual presence of the worker.

Eph. iii. 17, "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith." Paul here compares the minds of the Ephesian Christians to a temple, in allusion to the celebrated temple of Diana at Ephesus, which had an image of her, fabulously reported to have fallen from heaven, constantly dwelling in it. He prays that they might possess a more substantial blessing, viz. " That Christ might dwell in them, not personally, but by faith," i. e. by the principles of his religion, heartily and firmly believed by them. See Chandler's excellent note on the passage.

The word of Christ is said to dwell in a person richly in all wisdom, Col. iii. 16, when, as Cruden well observes, it is diligently studied, firmly believed, and carefully practised.

EAGLE, the well-known ensign of the Roman empire, is usually the symbol of a king or kingdom.

In Eschylus, Xerxes is represented under the symbol of an eagle, and, in like manner, Agamemnon. The same poet calls the eagle the king of birds. And so did the Egyptians, who also represented a king,

that seldom appeared in public, by an eagle. And in the Auspicia, the eagle was always the symbol of the Supreme Power. Livy, Hist. 1. 1; Appian, de Bell Civ. 1. 1; Plutarch in vita Marii, p. 141.

The wings of an eagle are the symbols of protection and care. Thus, in Exod. xix. 4, God says to the Israelites, after he had delivered them from Pharaoh, and caused them to pass safely into the wilderness, "Ye have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagle's wings, and brought you to myself;" which is further enlarged upon in Deut. xxxii. 11, 12.

"As an eagle stirreth up her nest,
Fluttereth over her young,

Spreading abroad her wings,

Taketh them, beareth them on her wings;
So Jehovah alone did lead him,

And there was no strange God with him."

Sometimes they are put as the symbols of exalta"To mount up with wings as eagles," is to be highly exalted.

tion. And thus, in Isa. xl. 31,

The interpretation of the Oriental Oneirocritics is exactly agreeable to what has been said.

Persons invested with riches, power, and authority, are the best enabled to give defence and protection. And therefore, in Ch. 286, the wing is made the symbol of power and dignity. And as to the wings of an eagle in particular, " If a king dreams of finding an eagle's wings, it denotes that he shall obtain greater glory and riches than the kings his predecessors. And if a private person have such a dream, it shews that he will be greatly enriched, and highly honoured and promoted by his sovereign."

And again, "If a king dream that an eagle takes

him up upon his back, and flies up on high with him, it portends great exaltation to him in his kingdom, and long life. And the same dream to a private person denotes that he shall come to reign."

And Artemidorus, 1. 2, c. 20, says, "If poor men dream of being mounted upon an eagle, they will be supported and well relieved by some rich persons."

This symbol, as representing royal dignity, is well exemplified in Ezek. xvii. 1, &c., "The word of Jehovah also came to me, saying: Son of man, put forth a dark speech, and speak a parable to the house of Israel, and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, a great eagle, with great wings, with long feathers, full of plumage, and that had divers colours, came to Lebanon, and took the highest branch of a cedar: he cropped off the top of its young twigs, and carried it into a land of traffic," &c.

Here, by the great eagle, Nebuchadnezzar is meant, as appears by verse 12th. He is fitly represented by the eagle,

The

"Cui rex deorum regnum in aves vagas

Permisit."

HORACE.

divers colours," Michaelis thinks, "are an allusion to the various nations which composed the Babylonian empire." The highest branch is Jehoiachin, v. 12; 2 Kings xxiv. 12.

In verse 7th of the same chapter it is said: "There was also another great eagle with great wings, and of much plumage," &c., meaning the king of Egypt. See verse 15.

Deut. xxviii. 49, "A nation swift as the eagle flieth."

Meaning either the Chaldeans or the Romans.

Jerem. xlviii. 40," He shall fly as an eagle over Moab."

The Babylonian general or nation is here designed. Comp. ch. xlix. 22.

Hosea viii. 1, “As an eagle the Assyrian cometh against the house of the Lord."

Shalmanezer is probably meant. See 2 Kings xvii. 3, 6.

Rev. iv. 7, “The fourth living creature was like a flying eagle."

These four living creatures seem to be the appendages of the chariot throne of God. The allusion is to the visions of Isaiah and Ezekiel, where the cherubim are described.

Rev. xii. 14. "To the woman were given two wings of a great eagle."

On this text Lowman observes: "To bear on eagles' wings is an allusion to the strength and swiftness of an eagle's flight, and well expresses the readiness and power with which God often delivers his church out of its dangers. But whether the two wings of an eagle are here put to signify the eastern and western parts of the Roman empire, of which an eagle is the armorial ensign, is left to the reader's judgment."

See more under Carcase.

Isa. xlvi. 11, "Calling from the East the eagle."

A very proper emblem for Cyrus, as in other respects, so particularly because the ensign of Cyrus was a golden eagle, aɛros xeurus, as Xenophon mentions, Cyrop. l. 7, sub init. See Lowth in loc. Cyrus came from the East, and claimed to himself the prey of many nations.