to such a small opening, of which there
are frequently three or four beside each other, before his pursuer is
aware of it. Hence, if any one should hide himself there, it is
exceedingly difficult, yea, even impossible for the eyes of man to
discover him who is pursued." But this circumstance alone does not
exhaust the case, even if we still further add that the mountain was
then, as it is now (_Richter_, S. 66), covered with trees and
shrubberies up to the summit. The expression, "In the top," must not be
overlooked, and the less so, since it stands in evident antithesis to
the "_bottom_ of the sea,"--like the contrast of height and depth in
the preceding verse. Heaven and hell are represented on earth by the
top of Carmel, and the bottom of the sea. The height of Carmel must,
therefore, come also into consideration. This, it is true, is not very
great; _Buckingham_* [Pg 378] estimated it at 1500 feet (_v. Raumer_,
S. 40); but the prophet chose Carmel in preference to other higher
mountains, partly on account of the peculiarity already stated;
partly, and especially, on account of its position in the immediate
neighbourhood of the sea, over which its summit hangs, and which can be
seen to a great distance from it; compare 1 Kings xviii. 43, 44. Of
corporeal things it holds true, as it does of spiritual things, that
opposites, placed beside each other, become thereby more distinct.
A lower elevation, placed by the side of a depth, appears to the
unscientific eye to be much higher than another which is really so.
Moreover, the position of Carmel at the extreme western border of the
kingdom of Israel must also be considered. He who hides himself there,
must certainly be ignorant of any safer place in the whole country;
and if even then there be no more security, the sea alone is
left.--[Hebrew: cvh] occurs frequently with the signification "to
bid," to "command." The word is chosen on purpose to show, how even the
irrational creatures stand in the service of the omnipotent God; so
that it requires only a word from Him to make them the instruments of
His vengeance. That the prophet had a knowledge of a very dangerous
kind of sea-serpents (of which _Pliny_ xix. 4 speaks), need not be
supposed on account of the [Hebrew: mwM]. That was not of the slightest
consequence here. In v. 19 the serpent occurs in a particularizing
representation of the thought that God is able to arm all nature
against His enemies: "As if a man flees fr