289. Circling Nets

 •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 9
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2 Samuel 22:6. The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me.
The margin has “cords,” instead of sorrows, which is a better rendering, because more consistent with the figure employed in the text. The allusion is to an ancient mode of hunting, still in use. A certain tract of land, where wild beasts are known to be, is surrounded by a circle of nets, which is gradually contracted as the animals are driven in, until they are all brought to one common center, when escape is impossible. Similar reference is made in Psalm 18:5; 116:3; Isaiah 51:20. Representations of this mode of hunting are found on the Egyptian and Assyrian monuments.