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of habitation adapted to a sea-port, but to the interior of a country; although it is unquestionable that a portion of the tribe occupied the havens upon the coast, and addicted themselves to sea-faring pursuits. This prophetic designation, uttered two hundred and fifty years before the event took place, corresponds with remarkable exactness with the geographical character of the lot of Zebulun in Canaan. It extended from the vicinity of the Mediterranean sea on the west to the lake of Genesaret on the east, and lay therefore very commodiously for the purposes of trade and navigation. Gr.' Zebulun shall be a maritime dweller. Moses, accordingly, in the parallel blessing, Deut. 33. 18, adopts a kindred language; And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice Zebulun in thy going out;' i. e. in thy voyages, in thy trading expeditions. Shall be for an haven of ships;' i. e. a portion of his territory shall be; Gr.'shall be at a harbor of ships.'-' And his border shall be unto Zidon;' Heb. his side shall be towards or over against Zidon;' it did not extend to it. Or the meaning may be that it should be situated so as to afford an easy intercourse with the merchants of Sidon. The following are the principal ancient versions of the blessing of Zebulun: Chal. Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea, and shall subdue provinces with ships, and shall eat the good things of the sea, and his border shall stretch unto Zidon;' Syr. Zebulun shall dwell at the shores of the seas, and he shall be upon the beauty of ships, and his border unto Zidon; Arab. Zebulun shall dwell in the coasts of the sea, and in his shore are ships, and the extremity of his border shall be unto Said.' The towns of Nazareth and Tiberias were in the bounds of this tribe, and here, perhaps as a spiritual fulfilment of this prophecy, our Lord called those of his disciples who were following the occupation of fishermen,' telling them to follow him and he would make them fishers of men. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed

him.' In this sense Zebulun became an haven of the sea,' a harbor of ships, casting out the Gospel net, and employed in the merchandise of souls.

V. 14, 15. Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens. And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and he bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.

Issachar is a strong ass;' Heb. ' a strong-boned ass;' or lit. an ass of bone;' Chal. rich in substance;' Targ. Jon. an ass in bearing the burden of the law.' --Couching down between two burdens.' The original word rendered 'burdens' we believe, after careful investigation, properly signifies the double partition forming the sides of a stall for cattle or asses, or the bars and timbers of which they were made. A similar structure was erected about the dwellings of the Jews, in which their pots, kettles, and other kitchen utensils, were hung, and therefore rendered by Gusset, in Ps. 68. 14, 'pot-ranges.' This expression, as applied to a region of country, would naturally be supposed to imply two very marked and conspicuous limits, as for instance two ranges of mountains inclosing a valley, and by a very remarkable coincidence the tribe of Issachar received for its lot, in the distribution of the land, the fertile and delightful vale of Esdraelon, lying between ranges of hills, in the peaceful and industrious occupancy of which they might very justly be likened to an ass reposing between the sides of his stall. "Here, on this plain,' says Dr. Clarke, "the most fertile part of all the land of Canaan, which, though a solitude, we found like one vast meadow covered with the richest pasture, the tribe of Issachar rejoiced in their tents."" There is no authority whatever for rendering it burdens,' which seems to have been suggested solely by the words crouching between,' as it was not unnatural

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to suppose that if an ass crouched between any two objects, it would of course be between two burdens. But as the blessings of several of the other sons have respect to the geographical features of their destined inheritance, it is natural to look for something of the same kind in that of Issachar, and viewed in this light the words yield a clear and striking sense, the appropriateness of which to the matter of fact is obvious to every eye. Chal. Issachar rich in substance, and his possession shall be between the bounds; Syr. Issachar a gigantic man, lying down between the paths;' Targ. Jon. he shall lie down between the limits of his brethren;' Jerus. Targ. and his boundary shall be situated between two limits.' He saw that rest was good.' Instead of interpreting this prediction with many commentators to the disparagement of Issachar, as though he were to be addicted to ignominious ease, we understand it in a sense directly the reverse, as intimating that he should have so high an esteem of the promised rest' in another life, that he should give himself to unremitting labor in this; that he should be so intent upon inheriting the earth' after the resurrection, the reversion of the saints, that he should willingly subject himself to toil, privation, and every species of endurance, with a view to secure the exceeding great reward. Thus his character would correspond with his name, the import of which is, he shall bear or carry a reward.'-'Servant unto tribute; Heb. ' to the drudgery of a slave.' It does not imply the payment of tribute-money, but the yielding up of the body to hard service. If this interpretation be correct, the tribe of Issachar were to be distinguished above the other tribes by a superior degree of spiritual mindedness. This supposes of course a more familiar and assiduous study of the law, as the great rule of duty, and the record in which the revelations respecting a future life were contained, and accordingly in the course of their subsequent history they are thus characterized; 1 Chron. 12. 32,

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And of the children of Issachar which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do.' We could not perhaps give our own view of the passage in more pertinent words than those of the Targ. Jon. And he saw the rest of the world to come that it was good, and the portion of the land of Israel that it was sweet; he therefore inclined his shoulder to labor in the law, and his brethren brought him presents.' In the corresponding blessing of Moses, Deut. 33. 19, Issachar, in conjunction with Zebulun, is thus spoken of; Rejoice Zebulun in thy going out, and Issachar in thy tents. They shall call the people to the mountains, there shall they offer sacrifices of righteousness.'

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V. 16-18. Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent in the way, an adder in the path; that biteth the horse-heels so that his rider shall fall backward. I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord. 'Dan shall judge;' Heb. Dan yâdin;' i. e. the judger shall judge; an instance of the paranomasia, or play upon verbal affinities. The prediction points to a leading characteristic in the tribe of Dan, to wit, that of judging,' or acting the part of a deliverer, in the person of some eminent individual, a descendant of this tribe. This, it cannot be doubted, was fulfilled mainly in Samson, the most illustrious son of the tribe of Dan, who, Judg. 15. 20, judged Israel twenty years.' Chal. 'in the tribe of Dan there shall be chosen and raised up a man, and in his days his people shall be delivered.' As one (or the first) of the tribes of Israel.' This clause affords grammatically a choice of interpretations; cither that Dan should judge his people as one of the other tribes should judge them, alluding perhaps tacitly to Judah, who was usually to hold the pre-eminence; or, that he should, at some time or other, judge the whole people

of Israel as though they constituted but one tribe. The latter we apprehend to be the true sense, as it is expressly affirmed that Samson 'judged Israel'-not the tribe of Dan-twenty years.' Thus the Targ. Jon. And it shall come to pass that from the house of Dan a man shall arise who shall judge his people with the judgments of truth; and at the same time all the tribes of Israel shall obey him.' Most of the other ancient versions, however, put the former construction upon the words.-'Dan shall be a serpent in the way,' &c. The obvious import of this is, that although Dan in the person of his future representative should be renowned as a warrior, yet he should not accomplish his victories so much by open bravery and the direct force of arms as by subtilty and stratagem, surprising the enemy by unexpected assaults, as a serpent concealed by the way-side suddenly darts upon the unwary traveller. We have only to consult the history of Samson's warfare with the Philistines to see how strikingly this predicted character was then realized. The original word for adder,' ('Shephiphon,') Bochart shews satisfactorily to signify the Cerastes, or arrow snake, (serpens jaculus,) a serpent of the viper kind, which, lurking in the sand and wheel-tracks in the road, unexpectedly bites not only the traveller but the beast on which he rides; thus described by an ancient poet :

...Straight on onward spires he glides, And bites the horse's leg, or cattle's sides.'

That biteth the horse-heels ;' i. e. that overthroweth the house-pillars; a singularly beautiful and striking symbol of the transaction recorded Judg. 16. 27-30, Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women. And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood,......and he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and