Deu 1:28, 2Ch 26:15, Ecc 9:14, Isa 37:33, Jer 6:6, 33:4, Eze 17:17 | TSK | STEP | discouraged. Heb. melted. The people. walled.That is, with very high walls, which could not be easily scaled. Harmer says, high walls are still to be seen in Arabia, and are deemed a sufficient defence against the Arabs, who scarcely ever attempt to plunder except on horseback. The monastery on Mount Sinai, and the convent of St. Anthony in Egypt, are surrounded with a very high wall, without gates; the persons and things being taken up and let down through an opening in the upper part, by means of a pulley and a basket. This kind of walling is a sufficient defence. we have seen.

Deuteronomy 1:28

discouraged. Heb. melted.

The people.

walled.That is, with very high walls, which could not be easily scaled. Harmer says, high walls are still to be seen in Arabia, and are deemed a sufficient defence against the Arabs, who scarcely ever attempt to plunder except on horseback. The monastery on Mount Sinai, and the convent of St. Anthony in Egypt, are surrounded with a very high wall, without gates; the persons and things being taken up and let down through an opening in the upper part, by means of a pulley and a basket. This kind of walling is a sufficient defence.

we have seen.

9:2; Jos 11:22; 15:14; Jud 1:10,20; 2Sa 21:16-22

2 Chronicles 26:15

cunning men.

2:7,14; Ex 31:4

to shoot arrows.These engines, it is probable, bore some resemblance to the {balistæ} and {catapultæ} of the Romans, which were employed for throwing stones and arrows, and were in reality the mortars and carcasses of antiquity. With respect to the towers which Uzziah built in the wilderness, (ver. 10,) Mr. Harmer appears to have given a truer view of the subject than commentators in general have done, who suppose that they were conveniences made only for sheltering the shepherds from bad weather, or to defend them from incursions of enemies; for they might rather be designed to keep the nations that pastured there in awe, and also to induce them quietly to pay the tribute to which the 8th verse seems to refer. William of Tyre describes a country not far from the Euphrates as inhabited by Syrian and Armenian Christians, who fed great flocks and herds there, but were kept in subjection to the Turks, in consequence of their living among them in strong places.

spread far. Heb. went forth.

Mt 4:24