COCK, Gallus, a tame Bird very well xxxviii. 36. Vulg.known to every one. It is said in Job, Quis dedit Gallo intelligentiam? Which, as some explain it1, relates to the exactness with which the crowing of the Cock distinguishes the hours of the night; for he generally crows three times in a night, at Midnight, two hours before Day, and at break of Day. But the Hebrew term2 translated Cock, signifies, in the opinion of many Interpreters3, the Soul, and Understanding. The Septuagint seem to understand by it a Woman well skilled in embroidering.
Prov. xxxi. 31. זריז מתניםIn the Proverbs the majestick gate of a Cock is commended, Gallus succinctus lumbos4. Several Interpreters translate the original word, Leopard, Greyhound, War-Horse, or Bee: But there are many too, who interpret it Cock.
Isai. xxii. 17.Isaiah5 threatens Shebna with being transported out of his own Country, as a Cock is carried to Market. Dominus asportari te faciet sicut asportatur gallus gallinaceus. S. Jerom says, that the Rabbi who taught him Hebrew, inform’d him, that the term in the Original, which generally signifies a Man, stood in this place for a Cock. But this has not prevented several Interpreters from keeping to the common signification of this word, and translating the verse thus, The Lord will cause thee to be transported to some other place, O man of war; or, he will make thee to forsake thy Country like a warrior, &c.
The Jews in the evening before the solemn Expiation, take a white Cock6, if they can find one of this colour, and never a red one, imagining a white Cock to be a mark of Innocence, a red one of Sin. After having pronounced some Prayers, they strike themselves three times on the head with the Cock, using at the same time this expression, May this Cock be sacrificed in my stead; he shall suffer death for me, he shall be my expiation, and re conciliation. This done, they kill the Cock, cut off his neck, throw him against the ground, take out his Bowels, and throw them upon the top of the House, and roast him. In every one of these particulars some figurative significations are implied, which it is not necessary to collect in this place. Leo of Modena7 says, that the Jews of Italy, and in the Levant, scarce ever practise this Ceremony; because they own it to be a piece of superstition, without any foundation. But it appears by Buxtorf, that it is still observed in Germany.
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