David's afflictions have often forced large quantities of tears from him but
he's getting used to the fact nowadays.
2010/1/14 Mark Weiss <[log in to unmask]>
> http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom09.xxii.ii.html:
>
> Some think that there is here an allusion to an ancient custom of putting
> the tears of mourners into lachrymal urns or bottles. In the Roman tombs
> there are found small vials, or bottles of glass or pottery, usually called
> ampulloe, or urnoe lachrymales, which, it has been supposed, contained tears
> shed by the surviving relatives and friends, and were deposited in the
> sepulchres of the deceased as memorials of affection and sorrow. If in this
> passage there is a reference to this custom, it must have existed at an
> early period among the Hebrews. It may however be doubted, whether there is
> any such allusion. “It is only a modern conjecture that these bottles ‘found
> in the Roman tombs’ have been deposited there for such a purpose, and there
> is no trace of such a custom in ancient writings or sculptures. Some think
> they were intended to contain the perfumes used in sprinkling the funeral
> pile. On some of them there is the representation of one or two eyes, and
> this seems to favor the former view.” Illustrated Commentary on the Bible
> Let it also be observed, that the word , nod, here translated bottle, means
> a sort of bottle which had no resemblance to these Roman urns. It was made
> of a goat’s or kid’s skin, and was used by the Hebrews for keeping their
> wine, their milk, and their oil. Compare 1 Samuel 16:20; Joshua 9:13; Judges
> 4:19; Matthew 9:17. “Besides,” as Bishop Mant remarks, “the treasuring up of
> the Psalmist’s tears shed by him during his own sufferings, seems a very
> different thing from the offering up of the tears of surviving relations or
> friends, as memorials on the tomb of a deceased person.” The expression,
> “Put thou my tears into thy bottle,” may be viewed as simply meaning, Let
> not my tears fall unnoticed; let my distress and the tears which it has
> wrung from me be ever before thee, excite thy compassion, and plead with
> thee to grant me relief. As the choicest things, such as wine and milk, were
> put into bottles, the Psalmist may also be understood as praying that his
> tears might not only be noted by God, but prized by him. The , nod, was of
> large capacity, and used for churning as well as for wine. It may therefore
> contain a reference to the large quantity of tears which David’s affliction
> forced from him. Harmer’s Observations, volume 2, pp. 121, 122.
>
> At 04:04 PM 1/14/2010, you wrote:
>
>> beautiful
>>
>> 2010/1/14 Max Richards <[log in to unmask]>
>>
>> > psalm 56 KJV
>> >
>> > > 8
>> > > Thou tellest my wanderings:
>> > > put thou my tears into thy bottle:
>> > > are they not in thy book?
>> >
>> > !!
>> > Can this comment be correct ? -
>> >
>> > At the time, it was a Jewish custom for women to collect their tears in
>> a
>> > small
>> > flask they hung on a cord around their neck when their husband was gone
>> for
>> > a
>> > long period of time. When the husband returned, they would give him this
>> > flask to
>> > show how much they missed him.
>> >
>> > Max
>> >
>> >
>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
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>> >
>>
>
> Announcing The Whole Island: Six Decades of Cuban Poetry (University of
> California Press).
> http://go.ucpress.edu/WholeIsland
>
--
David Bircumshaw
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