the organ of hearing. The Scripture uses the term figuratively.
Uncircumcised ears are ears inattentive to the word of God. To signify
God’s regard to the prayers of his people, the Psalmist says, “His ears
are open to their cry,” Psalm xxxiv, 15. Among the Jews, the slave, who
renounced the privilege of being made free from servitude in the
sabbatical year, submitted to have his ear bored through with an awl;
which was done in the presence of some judge, or magistrate, that it
might appear a voluntary act. The ceremony took place at his master’s
door, and was the mark of servitude and bondage. The Psalmist says, in
the person of the Messiah, “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not
desire; mine ears hast thou opened.” Heb. “Thou hast digged my ears.”
This either means, Thou hast opened them, removed impediments, and made
them attentive; or, thou hast pierced them, as those of such servants
were pierced, who chose to remain with their masters; and therefore
imports the _absolute_ and _voluntary_ submission of Messiah to the will
of the Father. “Make the ears of this people heavy,” Isaiah vi, 10; that
is, render their minds inattentive and disobedient; the prophets being
said often to do that of which they were the innocent occasion.
EAR-RINGS and nose-jewels were favourite ornaments among the eastern
females. Both are frequently mentioned in Scripture. Thus the Prophet
Ezekiel: “And I put a jewel on thy forehead,” or, as it should have been
rendered, on thy nose. This ornament was one of the presents which the
servant of Abraham gave to Rebecca, in the name of his master: “I put,”
said he, “the ear-ring upon her face;” more literally, I put the ring on
her nose. They wore ear-rings beside; for the household of Jacob, at his
request, when they were preparing to go up to Bethel, gave him all the
ear-rings which were in their ears, and he hid them under the oak which
was by Shechem. Sir John Chardin says, “It is the custom in almost all
the east for the women to wear rings in their noses, in the left
nostril, which is bored low down in the middle. These rings are of gold,
and have commonly two pearls and one ruby between them, placed in the
ring; I never saw a girl, or young woman in Arabia, or in all Persia,
who did not wear a ring after this manner in her nostril.” Some writers
contend, that by the nose-jewel, we are to understand rings, which women
attached to their forehead, and let them fall down upon their nose; but
Chardin, who certainly was a diligent observer of eastern customs, no
where saw this frontal ring in the east, but every where the ring in the
nose. His testimony is supported by Dr. Russel, who describes the women
in some of the villages about Aleppo, and all the Arabs and Chinganas,
(a sort of gipsies,) as wearing a large ring of silver or gold, through
the external cartilage of their right nostril. It is worn, by the
testimony of Egmont, in the same manner by the women of Egypt. Two words
are used in the Scriptures to denote these ornamental rings, נזם and
עגיל. Mr. Harmer seems to think they properly signified ear-rings; but
this is a mistake; the sacred writers use them promiscuously for the
rings both of the nose and of the ears. That writer, however, is
probably right in supposing that _nezem_ is the name of a much smaller
ring than _agil_. Chardin observed two sorts of rings in the east; one
so small and close to the ear, that there is no vacuity between them;
the other so large, as to admit the fore finger between it and the ear;
these last are adorned with a ruby and a pearl on each side, strung on
the ring. Some of these ear-rings had figures upon them, and strange
characters, which he believed were talismans or charms; but which were
probably the names and symbols of their false gods. We know from the
testimony of Pliny, that rings with the images of their gods were worn
by the Romans. The Indians say, they are preservatives against
enchantment; upon which Chardin hazards a very probable conjecture, that
the ear-rings of Jacob’s family were perhaps of this kind, which might
be the reason of his demanding them, that he might bury them under the
oak before they went up to Bethel.
EARTH is used for that gross element which sustains and nourishes us by
producing plants and fruits; for the continent as distinguished from the
sea, “God called the dry land earth,” Gen. i, 10; for the terraqueous
globe, and its contents, men, animals, plants, metals, waters, &c. “The
earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof”, Psalm xxiv, 1; for the
inhabitants of the earth, or continent, “The whole earth was of one
language,” Genesis xi, 1; for Judea, or the whole empire of Chaldea and
Assyria. Thus Cyrus says, Ezra i, 2, “The Lord God of heaven hath given
me all the kingdoms of the earth.” The restriction of the term “earth”
to Judea is more common in Scripture than is usually supposed; and this
acceptation of it has great effect on several passages, in which it
ought to be so understood.
Earth in a moral sense is opposed to heaven, and to what is spiritual.
“He that is of the earth is earthy, and speaketh of the earth; he that
cometh from above is above all,” John iii, 31. “If ye then be risen with
Christ, set your affections on things above, not on things on the
earth,” Col. iii, 1, 2.
Uncircumcised ears are ears inattentive to the word of God. To signify
God’s regard to the prayers of his people, the Psalmist says, “His ears
are open to their cry,” Psalm xxxiv, 15. Among the Jews, the slave, who
renounced the privilege of being made free from servitude in the
sabbatical year, submitted to have his ear bored through with an awl;
which was done in the presence of some judge, or magistrate, that it
might appear a voluntary act. The ceremony took place at his master’s
door, and was the mark of servitude and bondage. The Psalmist says, in
the person of the Messiah, “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not
desire; mine ears hast thou opened.” Heb. “Thou hast digged my ears.”
This either means, Thou hast opened them, removed impediments, and made
them attentive; or, thou hast pierced them, as those of such servants
were pierced, who chose to remain with their masters; and therefore
imports the _absolute_ and _voluntary_ submission of Messiah to the will
of the Father. “Make the ears of this people heavy,” Isaiah vi, 10; that
is, render their minds inattentive and disobedient; the prophets being
said often to do that of which they were the innocent occasion.
EAR-RINGS and nose-jewels were favourite ornaments among the eastern
females. Both are frequently mentioned in Scripture. Thus the Prophet
Ezekiel: “And I put a jewel on thy forehead,” or, as it should have been
rendered, on thy nose. This ornament was one of the presents which the
servant of Abraham gave to Rebecca, in the name of his master: “I put,”
said he, “the ear-ring upon her face;” more literally, I put the ring on
her nose. They wore ear-rings beside; for the household of Jacob, at his
request, when they were preparing to go up to Bethel, gave him all the
ear-rings which were in their ears, and he hid them under the oak which
was by Shechem. Sir John Chardin says, “It is the custom in almost all
the east for the women to wear rings in their noses, in the left
nostril, which is bored low down in the middle. These rings are of gold,
and have commonly two pearls and one ruby between them, placed in the
ring; I never saw a girl, or young woman in Arabia, or in all Persia,
who did not wear a ring after this manner in her nostril.” Some writers
contend, that by the nose-jewel, we are to understand rings, which women
attached to their forehead, and let them fall down upon their nose; but
Chardin, who certainly was a diligent observer of eastern customs, no
where saw this frontal ring in the east, but every where the ring in the
nose. His testimony is supported by Dr. Russel, who describes the women
in some of the villages about Aleppo, and all the Arabs and Chinganas,
(a sort of gipsies,) as wearing a large ring of silver or gold, through
the external cartilage of their right nostril. It is worn, by the
testimony of Egmont, in the same manner by the women of Egypt. Two words
are used in the Scriptures to denote these ornamental rings, נזם and
עגיל. Mr. Harmer seems to think they properly signified ear-rings; but
this is a mistake; the sacred writers use them promiscuously for the
rings both of the nose and of the ears. That writer, however, is
probably right in supposing that _nezem_ is the name of a much smaller
ring than _agil_. Chardin observed two sorts of rings in the east; one
so small and close to the ear, that there is no vacuity between them;
the other so large, as to admit the fore finger between it and the ear;
these last are adorned with a ruby and a pearl on each side, strung on
the ring. Some of these ear-rings had figures upon them, and strange
characters, which he believed were talismans or charms; but which were
probably the names and symbols of their false gods. We know from the
testimony of Pliny, that rings with the images of their gods were worn
by the Romans. The Indians say, they are preservatives against
enchantment; upon which Chardin hazards a very probable conjecture, that
the ear-rings of Jacob’s family were perhaps of this kind, which might
be the reason of his demanding them, that he might bury them under the
oak before they went up to Bethel.
EARTH is used for that gross element which sustains and nourishes us by
producing plants and fruits; for the continent as distinguished from the
sea, “God called the dry land earth,” Gen. i, 10; for the terraqueous
globe, and its contents, men, animals, plants, metals, waters, &c. “The
earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof”, Psalm xxiv, 1; for the
inhabitants of the earth, or continent, “The whole earth was of one
language,” Genesis xi, 1; for Judea, or the whole empire of Chaldea and
Assyria. Thus Cyrus says, Ezra i, 2, “The Lord God of heaven hath given
me all the kingdoms of the earth.” The restriction of the term “earth”
to Judea is more common in Scripture than is usually supposed; and this
acceptation of it has great effect on several passages, in which it
ought to be so understood.
Earth in a moral sense is opposed to heaven, and to what is spiritual.
“He that is of the earth is earthy, and speaketh of the earth; he that
cometh from above is above all,” John iii, 31. “If ye then be risen with
Christ, set your affections on things above, not on things on the
earth,” Col. iii, 1, 2.