23. They that go down to the sea in ships.
Navigation was so little practiced among the Israelites that mariners were
invested with a high degree of mystery, and their craft was looked upon as one
of singular daring and peril. Tales of the sea thrilled all hearts with awe,
and he who had been to Ophir or to Tarshish and had returned alive was looked
upon as a man of renown, an ancient mariner to be listened to with reverent
attention. That do business in great waters. If they had not business to
do, they would never have ventured on the ocean, for we never read in the
Scriptures of anyone taking pleasure on the sea: so averse was the Israelitish
mind to seafaring, that we do not hear of even Solomon himself keeping a
pleasure boat.
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