Genesis xxxiv. 30.SMELL. Jacob said to his Sons, after the Slaughter of the People of Shechem, Ye have troubled me, to make me to stink among the Inhabitants of the Land: or, Ye have given me an ill Scent or Smell among this People. The Israelites in like manner complain’d to Exod. v. 21.Moses and Aaron; The Lord look upon you, and judge, because you have made our Savour to be abhorred in the Eyes of Pharaoh, and in the Eyes of his Servants. This manner of Speaking occurs pretty frequently in the Hebrew Text, but St. Jerom has render’d it by equivalent Expressions. In a contrary Sense, St. Paul says, We are unto God a sweet 2 Cor. ii. 15, 16.Savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the Savour of Death unto Death, and to the other the Savour of Life unto Life.
In the Sacrifices of the old Law, the Smell of the Burnt-offerings is represented to us, in the Scripture, as an Odour agreeable to God: Gen. viii. 21. Ps. cxli. 2.And thou shalt burn the whole Ram upon the Altar: It is a Burnt-offering unto the Lord; it is a sweet Savour, an Offering made by Fire unto the Lord. The same thing, by Analogy, is said of Prayer, which is, as it were, a sweet Smell ascending before the Lord: Let my Prayer be set forth before thee as Incense; and the lifting up of my Hands, as the Evening Sacrifice. And St. John, in Rev. v. 8.the Revelations, represents the twenty-four Elders with golden Phials full of Odours, which are the Prayers of the Saints.
Judg. xv. 14. & xvi. 9. Dan. iii. 94.The Smell of Fire, is sometimes put for the Flame it self consuming any thing: For Example; Quomodo si rumpat quis filum de stupæ torsum putamine, cum odorem ignis acceperit. And again; Sicut solent ad odorem (otherwise ad ardorem) ignis ligna consumi. In Daniel, Odor ignis, the Smell of Fire, seems to insinuate, that not so much as the Cloaths of the three young Men, that were thrown into the fiery Furnace, were singed, or had the Smell of Fire upon them: Quod odor ignis non transisset per eos.