THIGH. When Abraham sent his Servant Eliezer to seek a Wife for his Son Gen. xxiv. 2, 3.Isaac, he said to him, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell: Jacob, on his Death-bead, says the same to his Son Gen. xlvii. 29.Joseph; If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me, and bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt. From that time we do not perceive that upon any Occasion the Jews made use of this Ceremony in their Oaths or Abjurations. We are ignorant of the Motives of this Ceremony, and all the Conjectures of Commentators hereupon are little satisfactory. The Jews thinkd that by this Action the Patriarchs intended to require an Oath by Circumcision, which was then the Symbol of the true Religion. Others, that they were made to swear by the Messiah, who, according to the Language of the Jews, was to proceed out of the Thighs or Joseph. Antiq. l. 1. c. 24.Loins of the Patriarchs. Josephus says, that this Practice was still retained in his time; and we are assured that the modern Jews still keep up the use of this manner of Swearing.
Gen. xlvi. 26.The souls that came out of the loins, or Thighs, of Jacob, is as much as to say, the Persons that proceeded immediately from him, or mediately, by his Sons and Daughters. This way of Expression is very common in Scripture.
Psal. xliv. 4. Cant. iii. 8.The Jews wore their Swords, or Cutlasses, at their Thigh: Accingere gladio tuo super femur tuum. And in the Canticles, Uniuscujusque ensis super femur suum, propter timores nocturnos.
Jerem. xxxi. 19.To strike upon the Thigh was the Mark of a great Consternation, of great Affliction: Postquam ostendisti mihi, percussi femur meum: And Ezekiel, xxi. 12. Clama & ulula ------ quia gladio traditi sunt, idcirco plaude super femur. In the Book of Judg. xv. 8.Judges it is observable, that Samson was the Cause of so many Misfortunes to the Philistines, that they put their Leg upon their Thigh: Ita ut stupentes suram femori imponerent: They remained struck with Astonishment, and lost all Resolution; holding their Legs upon their Thighs, or, bringing the Calf of their Leg against their Thigh, they express their Surprize. The Hebrew has it, He struck their Thigh against their Leg, or their Thigh and Leg together: He beat them Back and Belly, he routed them Horse and Foot, the Runaways as well as those that made resistance: Or, he smote them Hip and Thigh, as we should say in our Language; he cut off both Legs and Arms.