SHOULDER. To give or lend his Gen. xlix. 15.Shoulder, for bearing of a Burden, signifies to submit to Servitude. Issachar bowed his Shoulder to bear, and became a Servant unto Tribute. The Preacher advises his Ecclus. vi. 26.Pupil, to submit his Shoulder to the Yoke of Wisdom. The Messiah has deliver’d his Isa. ix. 4. Bar. ii. 21.People from the Rod, or from the Yoke to which they were subject: Virgam humeri ejus superasti. Baruch advises the Captive Jews at Babylon to submit their Shoulders to King Nebuchadnezzar, that
ἀνθῶν. Nehem. ix. 29.they might live at Ease under his Government. In a contrary Sense, the Scripture calls that a rebellious Shoulder, humerum recedentem, that will not submit to the Yoke; and those that bear it together with joint Consent, servientes humero uno. Zephan. iii. 9. Job xxxi. 36.Heretofore they wore the Marks of Honour and Command upon their Shoulders. Job desires of God to decide his Cause; Surely I would take it upon my Shoulder, Isa. ix 6.and bind it as a Crown to me. Isaiah says, that the Messiah shall bear the Mark of his Government upon his Shoulder. Factus est principatus ejus super humerum ejus. God promises Eliakim the Son of Hilkiah, to give him the Key of the House of David, and to lay it upon his Shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut, and he shall shut, and none shall open.
Isai. xlix. 22.To be born upon Shoulders, sometimes stands for a kind of Honour and Distinction. God says, that when he shall bring back his People from the Captivity of Babylon, he will give a Signal to the People, and they shall bring thy Sons in their Arms, and thy Daughters shall be carried upon their Shoulders.
Sometimes, on the contrary, this denotes great Weakness, some great Disgrace. God commanded Ezekiel to make a Breach in the Wall, and carry out thereby on his Ezek. xii. 6, 7.Shoulder, in the Night time, to represent the taking of Jerusalem, and the Captivity Isa. xiv. 25. Bar. vi. 3.of the King and his People. Isaiah and Baruch, to shew the Impotence of Idols, say, that Men are obliged to carry them on their Shoulders.