* cursed.
5,6
* cast dust. Heb. dusted him with dust.
Ac 23:23
It was an ancient custom, in those warm and arid countries, to
lay the dust before a person of distinction, by sprinkling the
ground with water. Dr. Pococke and the consul were treated
with this respect when they entered Cairo. The same custom is
alluded to in the well-known fable of Ph(9164)rus, in which a
slave is represented going before Augustus and officiously
laying the dust. To throw dust in the air while a person was
passing was therefore an act of great disrespect; to do so
before a sovereign prince, an indecent outrage. But it is
probable that Shimei meant more than disrespect and outrage to
this afflicted king. Sir John Chardin informs us, that in the
East, in general, those who demand justice against a criminal
throw dust upon him, signifying that he ought to be put in the
grave: and hence the common imprecation among the Turks and
Persians, "Be covered with earth," or, "Earth be upon thy
head."
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