jtm 7- /■ '^'^. Stom f ^e ii&xcKXt of l^equeat^eb %^ ^ixtx fo f 5e &i6rarc of (Princeton C^eofogicaf ^emtnarg .H9t8 v.A BIBLICAL CRITICISM THE FIRST FOURTEEN HISTORICAL BOOKS THE OLD TESTAMENT; ALSO ON THE FIRST NINE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. BY SAMUEL HORSLEY, L.L.D. F.R.S. F.A.S. LATE LORD BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH. IN FOUR VOLUMES. VOL. iriv , LONDON: PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, Sc BROWN, AND F. C. & J. RIVINGTON. 1820. Printed by C. Stf.wart, Edinburgh. 4^ CRITICAL NOTES UPON HOSEA. CHAP. I. (A) — " Unto Hosea," W\r\ Sk. _« by Ro- sea," V^'\r\2. _<' unto Hosea," V^"^^ ^^» To speak to Hosea and bi/ Hosea (^^ and ^) are phrases of different import. To speak to, expresses, that to him the discourse was immediately address- ed. To speak bi/, that through him it was address- ed to others. And that the speecli, so addressed to others, was not the prophet's own, but God's; God using the prophet as his organ of speech to the people. The different import of these two con- structions, so manifest in the Hebrew text, has been very judiciously preserved in the LXX, according to VOL. IV. A 2 HOSEA. the Vatican, in the Vulgate, in the Chaldee, in Lu- ther's Latin translation, in Calvin's, in our Public Translation, and in Archbishop Newcombe's ; but neglected by Castalio, Jun. and Trem, and by Hou- bigant. It must be confessed, that in some in- stances the prefix ^ seems used as equivalent to ^^, But its most proper meaning is indisputably a mean between the opposite senses of p and ^^, from and to'wardSy denoting * rest, residence, or continuance in.' Hence it is the proper preposition of the in- strument, as that in which the active power of the first efficient is placed. And in such studied change from one mode of expression to another, as occurs in this passage, it is reasonable to suppose, that each is used in its distinct and appropriate meaning. Some passages indeed have been alleged, in which - after verbs of speaking to, might be rendered by the La- tin * cum,' or the English ' with.' As in Numbers xii, 8. ** With him [}'^~\ will I speak mouth to mouth." But in this, and every instance of the same kind except one, the parties in the discourse, or the supposed discourse, are God and the pro- phet. And in every discourse of God with a pro- phet, much more is intended than the prophet's in- formation j the prophet is always the vehicle of a 6 HOSEA. %' divine message to the people. Even in this text of Hosea, where what is said by God seems immedi- ately to concern the prophet individually, being a command of something to be done by him in the economy of his domestic life ; yet the act command- ed being of public interest and importance, as it was typical of the case between God and the people of Israel ; being commanded for that very reason, as a method of public admonition and denunciation j even in this instance, which in the first face of it has much the appearance of a private affair of the pro- phet's, it was rather by than to Hosea that Jehovah spake ; and the change in the original from ^^ to ^, and back again, is not immaterial, and ought to be preserved in the translation. Some imagine, that ^, in this and similar pas- sages, describes the manner of the divine communi- cation with the holy prophets, not by an audible voice, but by internal suggestions. " Loqui in ali- quo dicitur Deus, cum ea, quae agi vult, ejus cordi, ut agantur, inspirat." Eucher. de quaest. V. et N. T. If this be the force of S, it renders neither ' to' nor ' by,' but * within.' " The beginning of the word of Jehovah within Hosea." — But I cannot but think, that in all this extraordinary intercourse A 2 4. HOSEA. which God vouchsafed to hold with man, the inter- nal suggestion must always have been accompanied, not perhaps with an audible voice, but with some external sign, by which the prophet might with cer- tainty distinguish the revelations of the Holy Spirit from thoughts arising in his own mind : and I very much doubt, whether internal suggestion alone was a method of communication. I have no doubt, therefore, that ' by,' rather than ' within,' is the proper rendering of 3 in this passage. (B) — *' was in this manner." This I take to be the force of the copula "^ prefixed to "ittKi. And so it is taken by Castalio and Houbigant. The "^ is often to be taken as a particle of specification, equi- valent to scilicet^ iiempey or nimiinim. A very re- markable instance of this use of it we find in Job's memorable confession of his faith in the Redeemer to come. Job xix, 23 — 27. 23 Oh that my words were now written ! Oh that they were inscribed in a register ! 24* That, with a pen of iron or lead, For everlasting they were graven on a rock ! After this wish, ^ prefixed to "^JN*, at the beginning of the next verse, very ill rendered ' for,' in our HOSEA. 5 ' Public Translation, specifies the words, which Job would have recorded; the matter of the inscrip- tion. 25 ^ni*n^ >3Ni, Namely, [these words,] I know the Living One is my Redeemer, &c. to the end of ver. 27. Vide Nold. not. 1208. (C) — ** is perpetually playing the wanton,'* nirn nil. — «< to whore whores." This construc- tion, in which the finite verb is connected with its own infinitive, for the most part expresses the per- petual repetition of the action, as a matter of daily practice and habit. BuxtorPs distinction, that when the infinitive is put first, this construction expresses the greater cer- tainty and evidence of the thing;* but when the infinitive follows, the continuance and frequent practice, seems to me to have no foundation. I think that, in either position of the infinitive, greater certainty, or greater frequency may be expressed, as the subject matter may require. * See Thes. Gram. Lib. IL cap. 16. Reg. 2. A 3 6 HOSEA, (D) — " I will visit the blood of Jezrael upon the house of Jehu.'* Jezrael, the mystical name of the prophet's son, must be familiar to all who are conversant in the Holy Scriptures, as the name of a city in the tribe of Issachar, and of a valley or plain, in which the city stood : the city, famous for its vineyard, which cost the rightful owner, the unfortunate Naboth, his life ; and, by the righteous judgment of God, gave occasion to the downfal of the royal house of Ahab : the plain, one of the finest parts of the whole land of Canaan, if we may judge from the partiality of the kings of Israel for the spot, who all fixed their residence in one or other of its numerous ci- ties. Modern expositors, entirely forgetting the prophet's son, have thought of nothing in this pas- sage but the place ; the city, or the plain. A mis- take into which perhaps they have the more easily fallen, by reason of the explicit mention of the place at the end of the subsequent verse. But if the word Jezrael be taken here as the name of a place, the threat of " avenging, or visiting, upon the house of Jehu the blood of Jezrael," will signi- fy, that the family of Jehu was to be punished for HOSEA. 7 blood shed by Jehu, or by his descendants, in that place. Jehu himself shed the blood of Ahab's family, with unsparing hand, in Jezrael. But this was an execution of the judgment, w^hich God had de- nounced by his prophet Elijah against the house of Ahab, for the cruel murder of Naboth. And it may justly seem extraordinary, that this should be men- tioned as a crime of so deep a dye, as to bring down vengeance upon Jehu-s house. It is true, that when the purposes of God are accomplished by the hand of man (which is the case indeed in some de- gree in every human action), the very same act may be just and good, as it proceeds from God, and makes a part of the scheme of providence ; and cri- minal in the highest degree, as it is performed by the man, who is the immediate agent. The man may act from sinful motives of his own, without any consideration, or knowledge, of the end to which God directs the action. In many cases the man may be incited by enmity to God and the true religion to the very act, in which he accomplishes God's se« cret, or even his revealed, purpose. The man, therefore, may justly incur wrath and punishment, for those very deeds, in which, with much evil in- A 4f S HOSEA. tention of his own, he is the instrument of God's good providence. But these distinctions will not apply to the case of Jehu, in such manner as to solve the difficulty arising from this interpretation of the text. Jehu was specially commissioned by a prophet '^ to smite the house of Ahab his master ; to avenge the blood of the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of Jehovah, at the hand of Jeza- bel." * And however the general corruption of hu- man nature, and the recorded imperfections of Je- hu's character, might give room to suspect, that in the excision of Ahab's familv, and of the whole fac- tion of Baal's worshippers, he might be instigated by motives of private ambition, and by a cruel san- guinary disposition ; the fact appears from the his- tory to have been otherwise ; that he acted through the whole business with a conscientious regard to God's commands, and a zeal for his service : inso- much, that when the work was completed, he re- ceived the express approbation of God ; and the con- tinuance of the sceptre of Israel in his family, to the fourth generation, was promised as the reward of this good and accepted service. " Jehovah said * 2 Kings, ix, 7. HOSEA. 9 unto Jehu, because thou hast done well, in execut- ing that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart ; thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel." * And it cannot be conceived, that the very same deed, which was commanded, approved, and rewarded, in Jehu, who performed it, should be punished as a crime in Je- hu's posterity, who had no share in the transaction. To avoid this difficulty, another interpretation is mentioned with approbation by the learned Pocock, in which " the blood of Jezrael" is still understood of the blood of Ahab's family, shed by Jehu in Jez- rael : but, by a particular acceptation of the verb ■^pSj this is understood not as the object, but as the standard, or model, of the punishment. And the words are brought to this sense ; that God will exe- cute vengeance upon the wicked house of Jehu, in slaughter abundant as the slaughter of Ahab's family and kindred in Jezrael. But in this way of taking the words, a punisliment is denounced for a crime not specified ; which is not after the manner of the denunciations of holy writ. Besides, although the ♦• * 2 Kings, X, 30. 10 HpSEA. Hebrew words in themselves might not be incapable of this construction, if this were the only passage in which the phrase occurred j the truth is, it is a very common manner of expression. And wherever the phrase is used of ' visiting any thing upon a per- son,' the thing, which is the object of the verb tran- sitive (without any preposition or prefix) is always to be understood as some crime, to be punished upon the person. And to take the phrase in any o- ther manner here would be a mode of interpretation, which would tend to bring upon the style of the sa* cred writers the very worst species of obscurity— that of uncertainty ; divesting the most familiar ex- pressions of a clear definite meaning. jfor these reasons, I am persuaded, that Jezrael is to be taken in this passage in its mystical mean- ing ; and is to be understood of the persons typified by the prophet's son ; the holy seed j the true ser- vants and worshippers of God. It is threatened, that their blood is to be visited upon the house of Jehu, by which it had been shed. The princes de- scended from Jehu were all idolaters. And idola- ters have always been persecutors of the true reli- gion. In all ages, and in all countries, they have persecuted the Jezrael unto death, whenever they HOSEA. 11 have had the power of doing it. The blood of Jez- rael, therefore, which was to be visited on the house of Jehu, was the blood of God's servants, shed in persecution, and of infants shed upon the altars of their idols, by the idolatrous princes of the line of Jehu. And so the expression was understood by St Jerome and by Luther. (E) ^* And this shall be in that very day, when I break," &c. I suggest it to the learned to consi- der, whether the phrase so frequent in the prophets, i is to be understood of a time described, or marked, by some event already mentioned ; and the force of the expression is to notify, that the event of the subsequent clause is to take place at that time. But when these three words are con- nected with the subsequent clause by the copula ^ ; then I conceive, that the event of the subsequent clause affords the marks of the time, and gives the date of the event previously mentioned. So that in both cases a synchronism is described, but with this 12 HOSE A. difference ; that in the first case the event previously mentioned gives the date of the other; in tlie se- cond case, the other event gives the date of that prevfously mentioned. And the nominative under- stood of the verb substantive, should be rendered, in the first case, by the pronoun * it ;' in the second, by the demonstrative, * this.' Thus, in chapter ii, verse i6. (18 Heb.) ^^*ipn nw DN^ J^nnn ai'':i n%"!i •5t:^^K, « And it shall be in that day (saith Jehovah) thou shalt call me Ishi," i. e. in the day when Je^ hovah shall do the things mentioned in the preced- ing verse. These things make the date of the time ; and the calling of Jehovah Ishi, is the event referred to that date* But in this passage, i^^JlJl d*)D n^'^1 •'nnilti?^ " And this shall be in that very day and I break," &c. i, e. And this shall be [the thing last mentioned, the demolition of the kingdom of Israel, shall take place] in that very day when I break, &c. Here the breaking of the bow is the event that marks the date ; and to that date, so marked, the threatened excision of the kingdom of the ten tribes is referred. I presume not to lay this down as a rule of interpretation, which will invariably hold. But I think it will, and I propose it to tlie learned, as a matter that deserves an accurate inves- HOSEA; n tigation. Whether the rule hold invariably or no, I cannot but think that the supposed distinction has led me to the true sense of this text j which, taken the contrary way, as I think it has been generally taken, as a denunciation, that, when the monarchy should be abolished, its military strength should be broken, appears to be of less importance. For how should the military strength survive the monarchy ? But it was of moment to give the people warning, that the advantages, which the enemy would gain over them in that part of the country, would end in the utter subversion of the kingdom. For, had this timely warning produced repentance and reforma- tion, the judgment, no doubt, would have been a- verted. (F) — '* insomuch as to be perpetually forgiving them." So I render with Jun. and Trem. Livelye^ and Houbigant, and with the approbation of Dru- sius. The words will not bear the sense, in which they are taken by Arias Montanus ; although it is adopted by Calvin, Castalio, Diodati, in our Public Translation, and by Archbishop Newcombe. For the verb ^t^^, in the sense of taking away, never governs its object by the prefix ^. U HOSEA. (G) — ** in the place where." So I render the words ^\^^ dpt2S, and for thus rendering we have the authority of LXX, Jerome, Vulg. Syr. and Chald. and, it must be added, of St Paul himself.* It seems, therefore, to have been without due con- sideration, that a different rendering has been adopt- ed, upon the authority of some of the later Jews, by Jun. and Trem. Castalio, Grotius, Wells, and Hou- bigant. As if ^^^ CD'^p^S might be equivalent to n^^K nnn, «« instead of what," pro eo quod ; a sense which I believe cannot be supported by a single in- stance. Junius objects to the other rendering, that to bear that sense the word D^pD ought to have had the emphatic article prefixed. But Mr Livelye well remarks, that in other places this self same expres- sion, in the self same form, is taken by that learned interpreter himself, in the very sense which in this place he rejects. Namely, in Lev. iv, 24. Jer. xxii, 12. and Ezek. xxi, 35. Indeed, in those places it can be taken in no other. I agree with Mr Livelye, that this sense, confirmed by all the antient versions, and by St Paul, is indeed the only true and certain sense of the phrase. * Rom. ix, 26. HOSEA. 15 (H) 10, 11. By the exposition which I have giv- en of the several parts of this passage, I hope I have shewn that it is an express prophecy of the final conversion and restoration of the Jews, not without manifest allusion to the call of the Gentiles. The word Jezrael, though applied in this passage to the devout part of the natural Israel, by its etymology is capable of a larger meaning, comprehending all of every race and nation, who, by the preaching of the gospel, are made members of Christ and the child- ren of God. All these are a seed of God, begotten of him, by the spirit, to a holy life, and to the in- heritance of immortality. The words Ammi and Ruhamah, and their opposites, Lo-ammi and Lo- ruhamah, are capable of the same extension ; the two former to comprehend the converted, the two latter the unconverted Gentiles. In this extent they seem to be used in chap, ii, 23, which I take to be a prophecy of the call of the Gentiles, with manifest allusion to the restoration of the Jew^s. According- ly, w^e find these prophecies of Hosea cited by St Paul to prove, not the call of the Gentiles solely, but the indiscriminate call to salvation both of Gen- tiles and Jews. He affirms that God *' has called us [/. e. us Christians] vessels of mercy, afore-prepared 16 HOSE A. unto glory/' ov (Jbovov g| 'lovdoi^icov dxXa zoci s| Ihcoi^, " not of the Jews only, but moreover of the Gentiles too." * And it is in proof of this proposition that he cites the prophecies of Hosea ; and the manner of his citation is thus. First, he alleges two clauses, but in an inverted order, from the 23d verse of chapter ii, which seem to relate more immediately to the call of the Gentiles. " I will call them my people," kc. " and her beloved," &c. And to these he subjoins, as relating solely to the restoration of the Jews, that part of this prophecy of the first chap- ter, which affirms, that " in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there they shall be called the children of the living God." From these detached passages, thus connected, he derives the confirmation of his proposition concern- ing the joint call of Jew and Gentile to the mercy of the gospel, t The allusion, which is made to these prophecies by St Peter in his First Epistle, t is not properly a citation of any part of them, but merely an accom- modation of the expressions, " not my people ; "my people j" "not having obtained mercy j * Rom. ix, 24-. f Rom. ix, 25, 26, % Chap, ii, 10. 6 j> j> HOSEA. 17 " having obtained mercy ;" to the case of the He- brews of the Asiatic dispersion before and after their conversion. It is surprising, tliat the return of Judah from tlie Babylonian captivity should ever have been con- sidered by any Christian divine as the principal ob- ject of this prophecy, and an event in which it has received its full accomplishment. It was indeed considered as an inchoate accomplishment, but not more than inchoate, by St Cyril of Alexandria. The expositors of antiquity, in such cases, were too apt to take up with some circumstances of general resemblance, without any critical examination of the terms of a prophecy, or of the detail of the history to which they applied it. The fact is, that this pro- phecy has no relation to the return from Babylon in a single circumstance. And yet the absurd inter- pretation, which considers it as fulfilled and finished in that event, has of late been adopted. — " et erit ijumerus fihorum," &c. ver. 10. *' Quando impleta est hasc pra^dictio ?" says a learned expositor ; and answers the question, " in reditu Babylonico." But what was the number of the returned captives, that it should be compared to that of the sands upon the sea shore ? The number of the returned, in compa- VOL. IV. B 18 HOSEA. risoii with the whole captivity, was nothing. " Then Judah and Israel shall appoint themselves one head." Zorobabel, says Grotius. But how was Zorobabel one head of the rest of Israel, as well as of Judah ? A later critic answers, " After the return from Ba- bylon, the distinction between the kingdoms of Israel and Judah ceased." But how was it, this distinction ceased? In this manner, I apprehend. Tiie kingdom of Israel had been abolished above 180 years before; Judah alone existed as a body politic ; and the house of Judah returned under their leader Zorobabel, with some few stragglers of the captivity of the ten tribes. And no sooner were the returning captives resettled in Judea, than those of the ten tribes, joining with the mongrel race, which they found in Samaria, separated themselves from Judah, and set up a leader, and a schismatical w^orship of their own. Was this any such incorpora- tion, as the prophecy describes, of Judah and the rest of Israel under one sovereign ? To interpret the prophecy in this manner is to make it little bet- ter than a paltry quibble ; more worthy of the Del- phic tripod, than of the Scripture of Truth. Very judicious upon this subject are these remarks of the learned Houbigant : — " The prophet,'* he says, HOSE A. Ji) *"' in the 10th verse, passes from threatenings to pro- mises, which is the manner of the prophets, that tlie Jews might not think, that after the accompUshment of the threatenings, God would concern himself no more about their nation. Those promises seem to respect t)ie final condition of the Jews, when they should collect under one head, the Messiah ; that it might properly be said of them, ' Ye are children of the living God.* It is difficult to accommodate the words of this passage to the return from the Baby- lonian captivity. Those Jews, who returned from Babylon, were not so much as one hundredth part of the whole Jewish race ; so little were they to be compared with the sands of the sea : nor did they appoint themselves one head. Zorobabel was indeed their leader, but not their single leader ; and their form of government henceforward was not monarch- ical, but an aristocracy. Nor had they kings till the very last, when they were become unworthy to be called * children of the living God.' '* CHAP. II. (A) The verb *^t2K is comparatively so seldom used otherwise than as equivalent to the English verb * to B 2 20 HOSEA. say,* with a declaration subjoined of what was said, that I hesitated long about the translation which I venture to give of this passage, in which I take the verb as equivalent to the English word ' to speak/ without immediate mention of the w^ords spoken. But, consulting the concordances, I find many un- questionable instances of this use of it. See Psalm iv, 5, and Ixxi, 10; Gen. xliii, 27, 29; Ezek. xxxiii, 10; Ezra viii, 22 ; Psalm xxix, 9; Esth. iii, 4, iv, 10, and vi, 4; Psalm Ixxxix, 19, clxv, 6; Exod. xix, 25; 2 Chron. xxxii, 24 ; 2 Sam. xiv, 4. (B) The verb ^^S3 signifies properly ' to flay the skin/ Hence, when applied to garments, it signifies * to strip to the bare skin,* to divest even of the garments next the skin. O^y is a more general word, and expresses a less degree of denudation. And the two joined together express * to strip per- fectly one already half naked.' HDny niD^i:;3K p. Ne niidam earn jplane denudem. This is confirmed by a similar expression in the book of Job : * — " thou hast stripped the naked of their clothing ;" i. e. thou hast even divested the beggar, thinly clad, of that * Chap, xxii, 6. HOSEA. 21 pdor covering. The verb ^^'^ sometimes signifies * to fix, or leave remaining in its place.' But pro. perly, I think, it denotes ' to present openly to view.' Hence tlie full sense of the passage is, that the disgraced discarded wanton should be stripped stark-naked, and in that situation exposed to public view. To express this clearly in the English lan- guage, I have found it necessary to transpose the Hebrew words, which stand in this order : " Lest I strip-her-to-the-skin, naked, and-set-her-up-to-view as the day w^hen she was born." But it is evident that the circumstance in which the condition of the dis- graced adultress resembles that of the day of her birth, is perfect nakedness. (C) — " hath caused shame." I take the verb nu^'^Sin actively, as it is taken by the LXX, and Archbishop Newcombe. It is evidently the third person singular feminine preterite in Hiphil. (D) — " her ways.'* For "li>"VT, I read, with the Syriac, H'^S'Tl, the noun plural m regimijie^ instead of the singular, and with the suffix of the third per- son feminine singular, instead of the second. The LXX render the pronoun in the third person, in- 22 HOSEA. stead of the second ; but the noun they give in the singular, as if they read n^^il: which reading is adopted by Houbigant and Archbishop Newcombe. (E) — " a stone fence." *in^ is properly * mace- ria ;' a low wall of loose stones, laid one upon an- other, without any cement or mortar. Such inclos- ures are very common at this day in Gloucestershire, and other parts of this island, where quarries of the stone, fit for the purpose, abound. (F) — ** her outlets." niS'^nJ are paths worn by the feet, often passing and repassing upon the same line. I think that here the word signifies * gaps* in a bramble hedge, or stone fence, made by clamber- ing over repeatedly at the same place* The text alludes to a double inclosure, an inner fence of loose stone, a bramble hedge on the outside ; both damag- ed and broken in many places. The hedge is to be made, the stone fence repaired, the gaps in both closed, and all made so firm and strong, that it will be impracticable to find any way out. This inclos- ure is an admirable image of national difficulty and distress, from which no human policy or force can extricate. HObEA. 23 (G) — '* her shame.** nn7D^. Considering the connection of this menace with that immediately preceding, of carrying off the wool and the flax, the materials of the woman's clothing, I have some sus- picion that this word may signify the parts of the person which modesty conceals. In Lev. v, 2, and in other passages, n^3J, in regimine n7Di, is used for a putrid carcase. (H) — " her vineyards and her fig-tree orchats.'* I cannot but think the words p5 and Hii^n are used here, by a synecdoche, for plantations of vines and fig-trees. Certainly it cannot be said of a single tree that it is laid waste, or made a forest. (I) — '' my pay." nini<, the fee of prostitution. Compare chap, ix, 1. — '* her necklace." See Appendix, No. II. (K) — " Ishi BaaU." The words t:^''^ and "^^3 are both applicable to a husband, and sometimes simply as a husband. But taken strictly, tlie latter signifies ' a severe,' the former ' a kind indulgent husband.' — ** Vox ^^3 proprie sonat o lx<»v habens quamcumque rem in sua potestate \ quare ad mari- B 4. 24 HOSEA. turn refertur per ellipsin, qui integre dicitur rrt:*K ^^^ Exod. xxi, 3. Sed vox sumitur in sacris hoc sensu gemina significatione ; vel simplice, pro marito abs- que alterius qualitatis respectu, ut Gen. xx, 3 ; Joel i, 8; vel s[ji^(pocriK&fg pro viro imperioso, qui uxorem severe habet tanquam Dominus, et omni suo in earn jureutiturj quomodo ra V^i^, viro leni et benigno, contradistinguitur 5 ut apud Hos. cap. ii, 15, et Jer. xxxi, 32." Vitringa ad Jes. cap. liv, 5. (L) — " armour,'* ni:n*7i:, I think the word is used here for eveiy accoutrement of battle, all offen^ sive weapons, and defensive armour. (M) — *' betroth thee with justice," &c. A noun substantive after the verb ti^^^^ with ^ prefixed, de- notes the dowry, or that which the man gives to ob- tain his spouse of her parents.* Christ gave for the espousal of the Church his bride, 1*1^', his. own jus- tice ; ^^"^^y his perfect obedience to the law 5 *lDn, Exuberant kindness j O'^Dnn, tender love 5 Hiit^K, faithfulness, steady adherence to his part in the cove- nant between the Holy Three. * See 2 Sam. iii, 14. HOSEA* 2^ — '* Ubi diligenter expend! loca scripturae, in qui- bus usus est vocis Hi^OK, ubi Deo aut Regi tribui- tur J observavi convenientissimam ei esse significati- onem, fidei, sive fidelitatis, veracitatis, constantiae in repraesentandis promissis : et est vere propria haec et genuina vocis significatio, ubi de Deo usui'patur.*' Vitringa ad Jes. xi, 5. ** To myself I say," &c. The copula *< in the ori- ghial expresses all this emphasis of reiterated asseve- ration,* (N) — " I will perform my part,*' &c. Hi^^. The primary and most proper meaning of the verb HJJ? I take to be * to re-act ;' when B re-acts upon A, in consequence of a prior action of A upon B. But more largely it predicates reciprocal, correspondent, or correlate action. Thus it signifies the proper ac- tion of one thing upon another, according to esta- blished physical sympathies in the material world ; or, among intelligent beings, according to the rule of moral order. It has always reference to a system of agency ; and may be applied to any individual agent, in a system of agents, whose action regularly * See Appendix, No, lU. 26 HOSEA. excites, or is excited by, the actions of the rest* Thus it may be appHed to the act of the first mover, which sets all the rest a-going, as well as to the acts of the subordinate agents : as in vocal music, it is applicable to the singing of the first voice, as well as to the inferior performers, who follow him. And in this passage it is applied, first, to the action of God himself upon the powers of Nature ; then, to the subordinate action of the parts of Nature upon one another ; and last of all, to the subservience of the elements and their physical productions, to the be- nefit of man, and ultimately by the direction of God's over-ruling providence, to the exclusive bene- fit of the godly* In short, it expresses generally one agent performing its proper part upon another. And to this general notion all the particular senses of the word are reducible. (O) — ** I will sow her as a seed for myself." Thus the learned Vatablus : — *' Et seminabo eam, Hebraismus, pro spargam eam instar sementis super terram." And Mr Livelye : — ** Ad ecclesiae mul- tiplicationem hoc pertinet.*' HOSEA. 27 CHAP. III. (A) — " addicted to wickedness." I adopt the rendering of* the LXX and Syriac, which nothing opposes but the Masoretic pointing. (B) — " I owned her." n-»5Ni, from the root '^'Dl See Parkhurst under "^^n. This was not a payment, in the shape of a dowry; for the woman was his property, if he thought fit to claim her, by virtue of the marriage already had : but it was a present sup- ply of her necessary wants, by which he acknow- ledged her as his wife, and engaged to furnish her with alimony, not ample indeed, but suitable to the recluse life which he prescribed to her, Calvin ob- serves, that the parsimonious gift, a sum of money which was but half the price of a female slave, and a pittance of black barley bread, typified the hard fare which the Israelites were to expect at the hand of God in their state of exile. See App. No. II. fC) — " without statue, and without ephod and teraphim." An Ephod seems to have been a garment, like a cloak without sleeves, covering the body as low a^ 1 U HOSEA. the pit of the stomach before, and as low as the shoulder-blades behind. It seems to have taken its name from the straitness of its collar, and the man- ner in which it was fastened about the person. The ephod of the high priest was of costly materials, and the richest embroidery ; and it made a very princi- pal part of his robes of office. But something of a similar shape, and of the same name, but made of plain linen, was worn by the inferior priests,* and occasionally at least by other persons, t But it ap- pears also, that idolaters, at least the idolatrous Is- raelites, sometimes dressed up the images of the dei- ties they worshipped, in a gorgeous ephod, re- sembling that of the high priest, and made perhaps in imitation of it. And this was so principal, and so sacred a part of the idol's robes, that the word was sometimes used as a name for the idol itself. Thus certainly we must understand Gideon's ephod; when it is said, ** that he set it up (^^"') in his own city, in Ophrah, and that all Israel went a whoring after it ; which thing became a snare unto Gideon and his house." t This ephod was made, according * 1 Sam. xxii, 18. f 1 Sam. ii, 18. t Judges viii, 27, 28, HOSEA. 2y to the sacred historian, of the spoils of the slaugli- tered Midianites, the purple robes of their kings, the gold of their ear-rings, and other ornaments. Insomuch that, in the costHness of the materials, it much resembled the sacred ephod of the high priest. But when it is said, that it " was set up in Ophrah, and that all Israel went a whoring after it," the robe is certainly put for an image, which was adorned with it, and drew so much admiration, that, what- ever the original intention of the maker of it might be, in process of time it became an object of idola- trous adoration. The ephod, therefore, appears to have been a principal ornament both of the true and of the false worship. And when the word is used, in the figurative language of prophecy, as it is in this passage, to express in general the external gran- deur of public institutions j it is in itself of ambigu- ous import, and its connections in the context must determine, whether it refers to the approved forms of a pure service, or to idolatry. That it refers to the latter in the text, is evident from the connection with statues mentioned next before, and teraphim next after the ephod. For botli these will be found to be produced here, as principal articles of the fur- niture of idolatry. 1 30 HOSEA. We find the teraphim among the faithful, in the patriarchal ages, and among idolaters afterwards. For Laban, who was a worshipper of Jehovah, had his teraphim,* and Nebuchadnezzar had his.t They seem to have been images, made in some general resemblance of the person of a man. t The tera- phim of the idolaters were probably corrupt imita- tions of those of the true worshippers ; for the an- tient idolatry was in every thing a mimickry and mis- application of the patriarchal symbols. The tera- phim of idolaters were magical images, used for the purposes of divination ; as appears in particular from Ezekiel in the place quoted. But the patriarchal teraphim were probably emblematical figures, like the cherubim ; like those I mean of the simpler sort, which were seen in the ornaments of the more open parts of the tabernacle, and of the temple. The te- raphim I take to have been figures of the like mystic import ; but of materials less costly, of coarser work, and certainly upon a smaller scale : though not of so diminutive a size, as to be carried about by the high priest, according to Dr Spencer's wild notion, * Gen. xxxi, 19. f Ezek. xxi, 21. * ^ 1 Sam. xix, 13 and 16. HOSEA. 31 concealed in the folds of the sacred breast-plate. For it appears, that one of these images was big e- noiigh to personate a sick man in bed.* I imagine they were used, as most sacred ornaments of cons^ crated chapels, or oratories, in private houses. The use of them was certainly allowed before the law ; and whether it might not be tolerated occasionally for some time afterward, when, by reason of the de- pressed situation of the Israelites, the tabernacle at Shilo might not be accessible to the greater part of the people, is a question, that may deserve consi- deration. For my own part, I would not take upon me to pronounce, that Micah, the man of Mount Ephraim, of whom we read in the book of Judges,t was an apostate, and an idolater. The circumstances of the story incline me indeed to the contrary opi- nion ; though his worship seems to have been, in a considerable degree, corrupt. But however that may be, however innocent the use of these images might have been in the patriarchal ages, and how- ever it might be tolerated (which, however, I assert not) upon particular occasions in the earliest periods of the Jewish history, when the public worship was * 1 Sam. xix, 13 and 16. f Chap, xvii and xviil. S2 HOSEA. interrupted by the tyranny of the heathen nations, who were permitted from time to time to hold the IsraeUtes in subjection ; it is very certain, that in process of time they were so much abused, to super- stitious purposes, that the use of them was absolutely forbidden to God's people ; and, long before the time of the prophet Hosea, they were considered as a part of the worst rubbish of idolatry, which it be- came the duty of the faithful to destroy. Just as the brazen serpent, which Moses had erected by God's express command, a sacred symbol, as our Lord himself expounds it, of the redemption, be- came so much an object of superstitious adoration, that it is recorded as one of the good acts of Heze- kiah, that he brake it in pieces, calling it in con- tempt Nehushtan, " the brazen thing." * When the prophet Samuel would represent to Saul the enormity of his crime, in not having executed the command of God; he could find nothing worse, with which he could compare it, than the sin of witchcraft and teraphim. t The teraphim are num- bered among the abominations in the land of Judah * 2 Kings xviii, 4. t 1 Sara, xv, 23. HOSEA. 33 and in Jerusalem, which Josiah put away.* From all this I cannot but conclude, that the teraphim, in the text of Hosea, are to be understood of nothing but implements of idolatrous rites^ images conse- crated to the purposes of magic and divination. If the reader wishes for fuller information upon this subject, from which he may form an opinion for himself, let him consult Dr Spencer's Dissertation on Urim and Thummim. Information he may de- rive from the various and profound erudition of that work, which will make him amends for the disgust, which the extravagance (not to give it a worse name) of the opinion which the author would sustain, if he has any reverence for the mysteries of the true reli- gion, must create. Let him also consult the learned work of Franciscus Moncoeius, De Vitulo Aureo, particularly the 4th, 5th^ 6th, and 7th; the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th chapters of the 1st book : Mr Hutchinson, on *' The Names and Attributes of the Trinity of the Gentiles," in the section, enti- tuled a^'snn ZD'^rhn : the learned Julius Bate's ** In- quiry into the occasional and standing Similitudes of the Lord God :'* the same learned writer's *' Critica * 2 Kings xxifi, 24. VOL. IV. 34 HOSEA. Hebraea,** under the roots fisn and ^Ds: Vitringa, upon Isaiah ii, 8. and xl, 19. But, above all, let him consult the judicious Pocock upon this place. In these writers he will find great variety, and con- trariety indeed, of opinions ; and none perhaps that he will think proper, in eveiy particular, to adopt. But he will collect much information from them all ; and upon the whole perhaps will see reason to ac- quiesce in the opinion, which I venture to uphold ; that the teraphim were originally emblematical fi- gures, of patriarchal institution j afterwards mimick- ed and misappHed by idolaters ; and at last, gene- rally and so grossly abused to superstitious purposes, that they became unfit for the use of God's people, and were absolutely prohibited and condemned. And this had taken place before the days of Samuel ; con- sequently long before Hosea, in whose time they must have been considered as purely idolatrous and profane. I come now to the statue, the first word of the three ; which will require no long discussion. This, like the teraphim, had been in use among the true worshippers in early ages ; but was so much abused, before the giving of the law, that it was absolutely prohibited by Moses. A statue, HSi'D, signifies any HOSEA. ?,5 thing, more especially of stone, erected or set up as a monument or memorial ; but particularly as a reli- gious monument. That consecrated pillars of stone were in use among the patriarchs, we learn from the history of Jacob. Idolaters, instead of simple pillars, set up images carved in the human, or other form, to represent the object of their worship. Tliis abuse was certainly antient, and gave occasion to the strict prohibition of the Mosaic law, " Ye shall make you no idols, nor graven image ; neither rear you up MDlfD, a standing image [statue, or pillar]." * *' Al- ter this prohibition," says Dr Pocock, ** we canno't look on any such used in religious worship, but as a part, and so a sign, of the falseness of that worship. And so here, therefore, [in this text of Hosea] to say, the children of Israel shall be without such ; is as much as to say, that they shall not have free ex- ercise of their former ways of idolatry." If I may offer a conjecture, concerning the differ- ence between these idolatrous statues and the tera- phim ; I would say, that the statues were of large dimensions, set up in public, as objects of popular adoration : the teraphim were of a smaller size, and • Lev. xxvi, 1. C 2 S6 HOSEA* for different purposes ; kept in the most sacred re- cesses of the temples, or consecrated chapels, for magical rites, and rarely, if ever, exposed to pubUc view. Thus, since it appears, that both the statue and teraphim of Hosea were implements of idolatry ; no doubt can remain, that the ephod, which is men- tioned between the two, is to be understood of the idolatrous ephod, not of that which belonged to the holy vestments of the high priest. As it is put be- tween the statue and the teraphim, it may seem, that it may be connected with either : connected with the statue, it will denote the robe, with which the idol was clothed : connected with the teraphim, the ephod of the priest of the teraphim. And in this connection (to which indeed the structure of the sentence in the original seems to point in pre- ference) I would choose to take it. For thus we shall have idolatry described, by the three principal features in its external appearance : the statue, the public object of popular adoration : the teraphim,, the images of the more secret rites of incantation : and the sorcerer, or Hierophant, conducting the ce- remonies, and propounding to the consulters of the oracle the answers he pretended to receive, repre- HOSEA. S7 sented by the ephod, the most remarkable of his robes of office. (D) — '« and adore'*— ^« lins\ The construe, tion of ins, governing its object by tlie preposition ^^, I take to be singular. I apprehend, that when a verb, expressing any affection of the mind, go- verns its object by this preposition, that construc- tion expresses the motion or effort of the mind, so affected, towards that object. The force of this construction here is to denote, that the converted Israelites will make Jehovah, and his goodness, the object of religious awe and admiration. The phrase is well paraphrased by the LXX ; — koli IzarriffoyTui Itti roj x^v^tcj zcii Iti rotg dyaOoig uvtov. The English word ^ adore ' expresses the motion of the mind to- wards Jehovah and his goodness. Aben Ezra, Dru- sius, and Livelye, take the verb ^insT here as equi- valent to ^"l^in*), cap. xi, 11, rendering " and hasten to." — " Nam verba pavendi et trepidandi festinare et properare quandoque significant," says Livelye. The observation is true ; but as no instance occurs in which the verb "ins js actually so used, after much hesitation between the two, I prefer the for- mer exposition. S8 HOSEA. CHAP. IV. (A) — *' burst out," *>^'n3. A metaphor taken from rivers exundating the banks, and bearing down ev^ery obstacle to the impetuosity of the waters. The ver- sion of the LXX and the Vulgate retain the image of the waters, but fail in expressing the violence of the eruption. — Kzyprai Wi ryjg y^jg. LXX. — '* in- wndaverunt.'' Vulg. (B) " By no means.** This is the force of 1^, urging and pressing the prohibition. (C) -^*' like those who will contend with the priest.*' This is the natural rendering of the He- brew words, and the sense agrees well with the con- text. The objections raised by Rivetus, and adopt- ed by Houbigant, though they seemed of so much weight to Archbishop Newcombe, as to induce him to alter the text upon the authority of a single MS, are entirely founded upon a misapprehension of the prophecy, and a misconception of the passage : upon a misapprehension of the prophecy, as if the ten tribes exclusively were the object of it : upon a mis- conception of the passage, according to the usiial HOSEA. 39 acceptation of it, as if litigation with the priests were the crime charged : whereas it is only a simile. (D) The word D*^ signifies a principal city. * (E) — " for lack of knowledge." The Hebrew verb y*T*, and the nouns V and nyi are applied not only to every endowment and acquisition of the mind, which falls under the general notion of know- ledge of any kind, but to that sort of conduct also, which may be referred to knowledge and under- standing as its proximate cause, or motive. And they more frequently answer to the Greek words 4Tvv(smt and (rvvectg^ than to WKTrcca^c/j and iTrtaryiiJjri j signifying rather the voluntary application of the mind to the consideration of the practical good, than the mere possession of speculative knowledge. The English words * to know' and * knowledge,' by the constant use of them in our public translation to render the Hebrew words in all their applications to spiritual subjects, have acquired the same extent of meaning, and the same peculiar force ; and have be- come familiar even to the English reader, in what . ■ _ ________^__— ^— •>'<^i> * 2 Sam. XX; 19. C 4 40 HOSEA, may be called their Hebrew sense. It has been thought fit therefore to retain them in many in- stances, as in this, where other words might be inore conformable to the habits of modern speech. But in this place, " lack of knowledge " signifies a lack of this practical knowledge, arising frotn lack of instruction. The priests are taxed with negli- gence of their duty, in not teaching the people, and in suffering a general ignorance to prevail ; and for this crime they are threatened with the abolition of their order. In this part of the discourse, some obscurity has arisen from the sudden turnings of the speaker from the people in general to the priests in particular, and back again from the priests to the people ; and from the difficulty of catching the exact places where these transitions are made. In the 8th verse, it is manifest the priests are in question ; for of no other persons it could be said, that " they ate the bin-offerings of the people.^' And St Cyril of Alex- andria thinks, the first transition to them is in this place. Calvin, with more judgment, thinks they are first accosted at the beginning of this 6th verse. But in the 7th verse he thinks the discourse returns again to the people *, and what follows he applies tQ HOSEA. 41 the people generally, though not without particular allusion, as he supposes, to the priests. But his ex- position is embarrassed, and obscure. I am persuad- ed that the discourse turns short upon the priests at the beginning of this 6th verse, with the complaint of the people's lack of good teaching; and turns away from the priests again to the people at the 12th, and not before; and I have the satisfaction to find that in this I have the concurrence of that great critic Drusius ; who, upon *' lack of knowledge," in verse 6, says, " Hoc autem accidebat culpil sacerdo- tum— ^ — Nam ordinarium munus sacerdotum erat enarrare legem, et populum ex ea erudire. Mai. ii, 7 ; Deut. xxxi, 9 ; et xxxiii, 10." And at the end of verse 11, he says, " Hactenus sacerdotum mores prophetica libertate insectatus est." This division of the matter of the discourse makes the whole perspicuous. — " I will also reject thee," &;c. Since the person threatened v/as to be rejected from being a priest, he was a priest at the time when he was threatened; otherwise he had not been a subject of rejection. The person threatened therefore must have been the head, for the time being, of the true Levitical priesthood, not of the intruded priesthood of Jero- 42 HOSEA. boam. This is a proof that the metropolis threaten- ed with excision is Jerusalem, not Samaria ; and that the ten tribes exclusively are not the subject of this part of the prophecy. (F) — " magnified," D^15. The word is appli- cable to increase in any way, either in size, numbers, power, or wealth, &c. See Drusius and Luther on the place. But as the priests were greatly magnified in dignity and power, and there is no reason to sup- pose that they were multiplied by natural increase in a greater proportion than the rest of the people, I think the thing intended here is the elevation of the order in civil rank and authority. (G) — '' every one of them lifts up his soul." *^^^. All the antient versions give the pronoun plural ; and eight of Dr Kennicott's MSS, among which are some which he esteemed of high authority, with others of De Rossi's, read C2ii^S)i. Archbishop Newxombe adopts this reading, which seems indeed entitled to the preference. If the singular suffix be retained, it must be taken in that distributive sense in which Junius and Tremellius understand it. 0. HOSEA. 49 (H) From Archbishop Seeker's note upon this passage, it appears to have been the opinion of that acute and wary critic, that the pubHc translation, " because they have left off to take heed to the Lord," was not to be brought by any usual and natural construction out of the Hebrew words 112V^ "JDry n%'T» hK ^^. He moves two questions, l5/. Whether the verb ^'P can govern its immediate ob- ject by the prefix ^ ? 2dli/, Whether JT^n** can be the object of the verb ^f^^ ? Upon botli he seems him- self inclined to the negative. *' Vix puto ^V infini- tivum cum ^ regere ; vel hominem dici Deum, sed Dei mandata, servare.'* With respect to the second point, it is certain that n\1^ never once occurs as the object of the verb '^'0^. Drusius refers to Zech. xi, 11, where the personal pronoun *»n^* is the object of the participle D*>1Dti^D, as a passage which may warrant this construction. But in that passage Je- hovah is not the speaker, to whom the personal pro- noun belongs; nor is the participle used in the sense of obeying, or serving, but of observing, or remarking. " The poor of the flock which observe- ed me, or watched me ;" i. e. watclied my actions. See Archbishop Newcombe and Dr Blaney on that place. U HOSEA. In the book of Proverbs, however, we find a text, which affords an instance of a construction of this verb so similar to that which our pubHc translation supposes here, that if the connection of Jehovah, as the object, with the verb were the only difficulty, it might seem removed. In Proverbs xxvii, 18, the noun Adonai, not indeed as a title of Jehovah, but in the sense of a master, is the object of the parti- ciple Benoni of the verb *^^C^ in the sense of * wait- ing upon,' in the capacity of a servant. But the other difficulty seems insuperable. After a nice ex- amination, I scruple not to assert, that the verb ^'V never governs its immediate object, the person or thing forsaken, abandoned, or left off, wuth the pre- fix ^. It follows of necessity, that the order of con- struction cannot be that which our public transla- tion demands, namely, this, riTi'^ HK -iDtr"? I3;y ^'p ; for in this order, the sentence, •^^'^^ riK ^12V^, is the object of the verb ? K^, ^* shall not leave them root or branch." Josh, xxiv, 16. " God forbid H^V^ TW^ nK S^n: a"»nnK a'^HTK^ that we should forsake the Jehovah to serve other gods ;" ?. e. to take up with the ser- vice of other gods as a preferable service. 2 Chron. xxxii, 31. WD-5^ a%n^Kn 15ry, " God left him to try him ;" i, e, for the end or purpose of trying him. Ps. xvi, 10. 'r^'^&> v^sjj D5;n ^*^, " thou wilt not abandon my soul to bell." Lam. v, 20. '* Wherefore CD^t:'' T^)h liD:>*n dost thou forsake us so long time." These seven texts are the only instances in the Bible, in which a noun, or what stands aa a noun. 46 HOSEA. following the verb ^^y is connected with the verb by "?.* I have therefore adopted a division of the Hebrew, received by some learned rabbin, and confirmed by a much higher authority, that of the Syriac version, and not contradicted by the LXX. I make a stop equivalent to a comma at ^^'J^, and expunging the soph-pasuk at "^OV^ I take that word in immediate connection with the following words; so that n*^^*, p\ and U^'^THj are accusatives after the infinitive ■^Oli^, and I suppose an ellipsis of the pronoun '^Vi^- rehearsing the nouns n^^s J'*'', and ti^H'^n, (than which ellipsis nothing is more frequent in the prophetic style), as the nominative of the verb np''. Thus, according to this division, " to give attention to chamberings," kc. is either the end to which, or the object of preferable choice for which, they for- sake Jehovah ; and, as such, is connected with the verb 2'J? by ^. Thus the construction is regular and natural, and the sense perspicuous, and well suited to the context. The learned reader will perhaps be the more easily reconciled to this exposition and rendering of the text, if he remarks the similitude * See App. No. 11. HOSEA. 47 of phraseology in this passage, and anotlier in the book of Jonah, cliap. ii, 10; aiDH i^V here in this sense, as the nominative of the verb "^pcyn, and t^'on:; as the ac- cusative after the verb. ' Cursores profundam edi- derunt ca^dem.' In the Latin expression, ' profun- da caedes,' caedes is properly the blood shed ; and the great number of murthers is represented under the image of a great depth of that blood. The ima- gery of the Hebrew in this place is the same. But it is a figurative chase. The wild beasts are men. * A gentle knight was pricking on the plain, Yclad in mighty arms and silver shield, His angry steed did chide his foming bit. As much disdaining to the curb to yield. Spenser, Fairy Queen, D 3 54^ HOSEA. not influenced and restrained by true principles of religion : the principal hunters, the kings and apos- tate priests, who, from motives of self-interest, and a wicked and mistaken policy, encouraged idolatry, and supported its institutions : the prickers, the sub- ordinate agents in the business : the slaughter, spiri- tual slaughter of the souls of men. (B) —*' their perverse habits." OH'^^^yD. I take this as the nominative case to the verb "^^n**, as it is taken by the Syr. There are few words in the Hebrew language less reduced to any one precise meaning, than this very common one, O'^^^D. The true sense of which we shall therefore endeavour to ascertain. It is very obvious, that it is immediately derived from ^^y^ which the Lexicons give as a root, signifying, as a verb, ' to do, perform, effect,' in any manner; and, as a noun, any sort of deed, work, performance, ac- tion, &c. good or bad. And under this imaginary latitude of meaning, the lexicographers have con» trived to cover their ignorance of the real definite meaning of the w^ord. The two words ^"^V and n*?y, are distinct roots in the Hebrew language ; and each has an ^^V descend- HOSEA. 55 ing from it, differing as much in sense, as in etymo- logy, from the ^^V derived from the other. The first of these two roots ^^V, signifies, * to op- press, defraud, injure, to be unjust/ This seems to be the primary meaning of the root, though the verb occurs but once in Kal, or rather, if the Masoretes be right, in Piel; namely, in Isaiah xxvi, 10. But as a noun rendering, * injustice, fraud, iniquity, un- righteous deahng, or an unjust or wicked man,' it oc- curs frequently. In the Poel form, this verb signifies, * to treat very harshly, to treat injuriously, contumeliously,* and in this sense it is applied to inanimate things, * to disfi- gure, to mar external beauty.' * Also, * to glean,* because tlie vineyard, that is gleaned, is treated harshly, divested of its rich clothing, and marred in its external beauty. In this sense both the verb, and the nouns deriving from it, are sometimes written defectively, without the *» after the Vj as, ')n^*7y'»^;t for *in^v^p\ But in all these passages we find the ^ in a great number of the best MSS, and in our common printed text the absence of the ^ is marked by the cholem point. * Job xvi, 15. t Judges xx, 4-5. D 4; 56 HOSEA. As *a noun substantive, the word ^"^J^ signifies * a little boy, a child;' because th#age of childhood is obnoxious to injury and ill usage. Some of the lexi- cographers would have it * a sucking child/ But for this there is not the least authority. The place where the notion of sucking would be most to the purpose is Isaiah xlix, 1 5. But even here it is not necessary, and it is not expressed in any one of the antient versions. With this noun substantive ^^y the feminine plu- ral n*^^y, rendering, according to some, 'females of the herd or flock giving suck ;' according to others, * pregnant females, or females that have just dropped their young,' but more properly, I think, females that are ' bringing up- their young, has no sort of connection. We never find the word ni*?;; with a "^ between the V and the ^, or with a cholem point to mark the absence of the "^ in that place. It has no connection, therefore, with the root ^^V. Its connection, in the sense of ' bringing up,* with the other root J^^y, ^ to rise, or raise,' is evident. There is another very remarkable difference between the masculine ^^J? and the feminine n^^y. The former is never applied to the young of any other species than man ; the latter to brutes only, never to the HOSEA. 57 human species : notwithstanding that Calasio says, that the plural tD^^V signifies ^ lactentes, parvuli hominum et bestiarum,' and that ^V as a verb some- times signifies ' laetare.' Both which assertions are erroneous. To this same root the noun substantive ^y or ^J^, in the sense of a yoke, is to be referred. From the Poel form of the verb, two nouns, ^^V and *''?"^ytD, are derived, both signifying, * a little child.' The former is sometimes written ^^. But the majority of the best MSS give it every where complete, with the "> between the V and the ^, and in the printed text the absence of the ^ is marked by the cholem point. The latter noun occurs only in one place, namely, Isa. iii, 12. If this noun /^"^yt: had any plural, it would be a'»*?^yD, which might be written defectively CD'^^^D. But with this word, our noun O*»^^y)0, the immedi- ate subject of this disquisition, has no connection. Our noun ZD'h^yi2 is found in 38 different pas- sages ; or in 39, if in Zech. i, 4. D^^'^^OD^ which some MSS give instead of M'^'^^'^yoi, be the true reading. But it is not once found with ^ between the V and *?, nor with the cholem point to mark the absence of a "^ in that place. There is nothing 58 HOSEA. therefore, in the form of the word, to indicate any connection with the root ^^y. We must therefore refer it to the ^^V of the other extraction* From the root ^^j^, * to ascend, mount upwards, to go or come up,' we form the redupHcate verb 77y, by dropping the final H of the primary root, and doubling the middle radical. In which way, however it may displease the Masoretes and their disciples, many verbs doubling Ain are formed from verbs quies- cent Lamed He. Of which Vi^^i'from MVS), '?'?5 from T]b^y and bb'p from H^p, 5^*1 from J^^^, are indubitable instances. To this bhy^ from ^by^ the learned Mr Parkhurst would reduce the verb, which signifies, * to glean.* bby^ he says, is, to * ascend repeated- ly.' He adds, '* it is used for a repeated, or second ascending of vines, in order to gather all the grapes, and may be rendered to glean." But in every one of the passages, which he cites, the verb is mani- festly the Poel form of ^"^J^. And I cannot find, that the verb bby^ from H^, occurs in any other than the Hithpael form. And in this form it carries no marks, in its orthography, of a descent from ^^y, but in its sense manifests its extraction from »^^y. For it signifies, ' to exalt or raise one's self up, to HOSEA. 59 assume and display superiority in a good or bad sense,' with or without just grounds. From this verb 7?^, which as a verb is found only in Hithpael, I derive our verbal ^"^bbyiz. This noun is used only in the plural number. It denotes, there- fore, something which is in its nature plural. And if it denotes actions of any sort, it must signify not any individual act, but a set or system of actions. And because it must connect with the sense of the primary root J^^V (with which the verb most evi- dently connects), it must express some set, or sys- tem of things, which naturally ascend, mount, get uppermost. Upon these grounds I am persuaded, that the w^ord D^^'^yo denotes the moral or immoral habits of a man, as things coming over him, grow- ing up, and, in the vulgar phrase, * getting the up- per hand.' The learned reader will judge for him- self, upon a critical examination of the 38 or 39 passages in which this word occurs, whether this sense be not well adapted to the context in every one of them ; and whether every other sense, which expositors have offered, be not positively excluded by the use of the word in some one or other of them. As the ascendency of habit is the principal cir- 60 HOSEA. cumstance, which this noun expresses, it is appli- cable to all habits possessing that ascendency, good or bad. This indifTerence of the natural meaning of the word appears evidently froin the use of it in Prov. xx, 11. That evil is not necessarily implied in it, appears from the application of it, in two o- ther places, * to the works of God. For the most part, however, it denotes evil habits. It may seem, that the application of it to the works of God, in the two passages in the psalms just mentioned, excludes the sense of habits entire- ly. For in God, philosophically speaking, there can be no habit. But the sacred writers, in speaking of God, confine themselves not to a philosophical style. They are studious rather of a manner of speaking, which may convey what is to be understood of God to the minds of men in general, even of those the least improved by science and philosophy. Hence it is that they speak, of the works and actions of God, in figures taken from the actions, not only of men, but even of wild beasts. The works of God, intended in the two texts cited, are not indeed those, which are daily, and every where, seen in * Ps. Ixxvii, 12. and Ixxviii, 7. HOSEA. ei the ordinary proceedings of his providence ; but those wonderful works of mercy, which he was per- forming in flivour of his chosen people for many years, indeed for ages, from the very beginning ot the history of the Israelites to the Psalmist's own times ; which, proceeding from the unmerited good- ness of God, may be called, in the accommodating style of holy writ, works of habit. And however unphilosophical the manner of speaking may be, as it certainly is, the philosophical Greeks could find no terms, in their distinct and copious language, by which they could so well describe the immutability of God's perfections, as by words literally rendering ' habit, or character fixed by habit,' [ump b iavTou This interpretation of the word ^*hb)!0 as render- ing ' habits,' is much confirmed by the antient ver- sions. In one passage, indeed,* the LXX render it by at/o(ji,ta» In three others,t by Btu^ovXtoc, In sixt others, II by g^yas. In another, § by sr^ay^ara. In * Isa. iii, 8. f Hos. iv, 9. v, 4. vii, 2. . { See Appendix, No, II. II Ps. Ixxvii, 12. Ixxviii, 7, Isa. iii, 10. Jer. xxi, 12—14. xxvi, VJ. § Jer. xliv, 22. 1 62 HOSEA. the remaining 28 of the 39 passages in which the word is found, they render it l7nrrihv(jbcir(x, ; which is the word of the Greek language exactly rendering * habits.' And by the same word eT/r;j§gy/Aara it is rendered by Aquila, in four of the eleven passages in which the LXX give another word j * and in a fifth of those eleven by Theodotion.t * Habits,' therefore, is the true English rendering of the word. For which, in some instances, * man- ners,' or ^ practices,' may be used. But some epi- thet will generally be wanted, in English, to express the ascendency, and, in the case of evil habits, the malignant ascendency^ implied in the notion of the original word. (C) —'' the excellency of Israel.'' '^i^^^'' p*^^. From the verb J^^J, ' to rise, swell, grow higher and higher, to be exalted in power, honour, glory,' come three nouns ; two masculine, ^^^ and p**^ j and one feminine, JTiK^, in regimine n^i^J. The first nK^ makes its plural regularly D'^K^, and sometimes, even in the singular, drops its final ^. It renders the adjective ' proud, or arrogant,' and in one * Isa. iii^ 8. Hos. v, 4-. vii, 2. Jer. xxi, 14. f Jer. xxi, 12. HOSEA. 6S passage* the noun substantive * pride, or arro- gance,' and is used in no other sense, or for no o- ther sort of swelling, tlian that of pride. The fe- minine noun substantive n^**3 (which sometimes drops the ^ and becomes ?T^^) and the masculine pi<^ express the action of swelling, in all the vari- ous ways in which the verb may signify to swell. And they are used with so little discrimination, that two very able critics in the Hebrew language have said, that they knew not what the difference is be- tween them. Both are used for ' swelling,* in the literal sense ; for an increase in bulk or quantity. They are both applied to the swelling of the sea. The feminine i^^^^, in Ps. Ixxxix, 10. The mascu- line p^5, in Job xxxviii, 11. And either of them is used to render figurative swellings ; excellence in general, in power, rank, w^ealth, &c. But with this distinction, that the feminine ^^^> often signifies * pride,' properly so called, as an internal quah'ty and a vice. The masculine p*<^ is never used for pride, in a bad sense, and as an internal quality ; though it has been taken in that sense in this pas- sage, and in many others, by our own translators ♦ Prov. viii, 13, 64, HOSEA. and other interpreters. But pi<^ expresses rather condition, or external appearance, than character: great elevation in rank and power ; brilliant prospe- rity ; splendour and gaiety of ornamental dress ; majesty, pomp, stateliness ; any thing in condition, which, in the degenerate mind, may engender pride ; any thing in external deportment, which may be a symptom of it *, and any thing grand and majestic in outward appearance, without any imputation of pride to the person to whom it belongs. The femi- nine »^^*^^, besides every thing to which p^i is ap- plied, extends also to the moral internal sv/ellings of the heart, and renders the vice of * pride,' which pi^, as three various readings, each of high authority, among vvliich the learned reader is at full liberty to make his own choice. j^G) — " a moth in the garment a worm in the iiesh." ^y^ — -'^V* Rabbi Tanchum, as he is quot- ed by Dr Pocock upon this place, says, that ^y is a w^orm breeding in clothes, and eating them ; ^p*J, a worm breeding in old rotten wood. But the learned Drusius says of the latter word, that it may be understood of a worm that breeds either in wood CSV in the bones. That it signifies some kind of HOSE A. 71 worm or maggot, I have no doubt ; because the rule of the parallelism demands some gnawing insect, that may correspond with W, the moth. But from the effect ascribed to it in the following verse, which is a sore running with corruption, I think it must be understood of a worm, bred indeed within the hu- man body, but eating through the flesh. I have tak- en the liberty to add the words, * in the garment/ ' in the flesh,' to mark the distinction of the species expressed by the two words, and to present the image of the original more adequately to tlie English reader. (H) — *' his holes," "i**^, made by the fretting of the moth. I take the word as a noun, from *^^n, ^ to perforate, or make a liole' of any sort. (I) — '* his corrupted sore." '^*^^. Or according to many of the best MSS, yy^TO, I see no necessity for making '^"^ the root, and going to the Arabic for the sense of it. The noun '^^TD comes regularly from the Hebrew root *^V, « to compress or squeeze,' and signifies something that wants squeezing or com- pressing ; and thus a purulent sore, which wants to have the matter squeezed out, or perhaps to be com- E 4 72 IIOSEA. pressed with a bandage : but the first notion 1 preier. See Bishop Lovvth upon Isaiah i, 6. (K) — " the king who takes up all quarrels." ^y^, no proper name either of man or place, but clearly a noun, from the verb ^"i*^, put here in appo- sition with l^tD, and characteristic of the king, in the manner expressed in my translation. So Aquila, ^/. za^oiJivov. Symmachus, St Jerome, and the Vulgate, ' ultorem/ Theodotion, zoiTriv. J?n3nKS "in^J'^n ^*5SttS pnS, — «^ ad regem ut adventaret ultum eos." Jona- than. See Appendix, No. II. (L) — " repair the damage make a cure of." The words i*^*^ and HMi'^ refer respectively to the moth-eaten holes in the garment, and the sore in the flesh, ^^^n is properly ' to restore whatever is damaged to a sound and whole condition ; to repair a decayed or ruined building, to mend a damaged cloth.' CHAP. VI. (A) — ^* His coming forth is fixed as the morn- ing." — ^' coming forth." For ^^^^^ 37 MSS, and some of the oldest printed texts, give *^'^'^yo. HOSEA. 75 — .'' fixed as tlie morning." — ug ooOpog (^s&octoc n Wt^ pocvsta ocvTov. Symmacluis. (B) — " pouring shower." The word DD^ is not simply a shower, but a hard pouring shower. (C) — " harvest -rain— rain of seed -time"— »TY\'» — ti^^p^DX Our Public Translation gives "latter rain former rahi;" but the Hebrew nouns have nothing of * latter' or * former' implied in their meaning ; and the English expressions convey a no- tion, just the reverse of the truth, to the English reader. For what it calls the latter rain, fell in the spring, which we consider as the former part of the year ; and what it calls the former rain, fell about the end of our year, namely, in the autumn, tt^^p^ is literally the * crop-rain;' that which fell just before the season of the harvest, to plump the grain before it was severed. And the beginning of the season of the harvest in Judea being the middle of March, according to the old style, this rain fell about the beginning of that month, and may proper- ly be called the ' harvest-rain.' The other nn^\ is literally the ' springing-rain,' or rather ' the rain which makes to spring;' that which fell upon tho 7Jb HOSEA. seed, newly sown, and caused the green blade to shoot up out of the ground. • This fell about the end or middle of October. I call it the * rain of seed- time;' for the springing-rain might turn the thoughts of the English reader to the spring. These rains of seed-time and harvest are the vsrog '?r^co'i(jbog zat o-^^ifjuog of St James.* But the apostle's epithets have refer- ence to the order of the husbandman's expectations, not to the civil division of the year. (D) — *' piety." "^on. The various senses of this word are well enumerated by Vitringa upon Isaiah xl, 6. But the general radical meaning of the word is by none so well developed as by Mr Parkhurst. Exuberance is included in the notion of it, in all its applications. The exuberant kindness of God to man ; overflowdng piety of man towards God ; ex- uberant kindness of man to man *, exuberant pruri- ency of inordinate lust;t exuberance of wrath, and of reproachful language. In its good sense, the word ' mercy' is inadequate in the application of it either to God or man. As from God to man, ex- * Chap. V, 7. t Lev. xx, 17. HOSEA. 75 iiberant or abundant kindness is in general the best English word. As between man and man, * exceed- ing kindness. ' In many passages in which it is rendered * mercy,' it properly signifies ' philan- thropy/ displaying itself in a general mildness and gentleness of manners. This is clearly the sense in Prov. xi, 17, and, I think, in many other passages, in which it is not applied to any individual act. As from man to God, * piety,* swelling in the heart, and displaying itself in acts of devotion. In this place I think it signifies that sudden flow of piety which occasionally comes upon men of very loose lives, if they are not wholly lost to all sense of reli- gion ; particularly under afflictioos, which produce a momentary penitence. Monster pertinently remarks, that the Jewish na. tion had its transient fits of reformation, cutting down the groves, killing the priests of Baal 5 but they soon returned to their abominations. (E) — " belaboured by the prophets." %"iDvn 0'»i<'>SJS. The LXX and the Syriac certainly take the prophets for the object of the verb "»nDi;n. And the prophetical order was indeed deeply implicated in the national guilt ; insomuch that many of them 76 HOSEA. were promoters of it; and as such are frequently reproved and threatened by Hosea, and by all the faithful prophets that were true to their commission. But I cannot find that this verb, in any instance, governs its object by the prefix^. I take the prefix therefore for the preposition of the instrument ; and I take Ephraim and Judah, rehearsed by the suffix D, in the verb DTiJin, for the object of both verbs. And to this Jonathan, St Jerome, and the Vulgate, agree. — " belaboured ;" the image is that of a hewer of wood, laying on heavy strokes, with the axe, upon a piece of hard timber. (F) — " the precepts given thee." So I under- stand the word TtJSti^D. The learned reader will find the various senses, or applications rather, of this word distinctly exhibited by Vitringa, upon Isaiah, vol. ii, p. 422. It signifies a fixed principle, or rule, in any thing, to which principle and rule can be ap- plied. Here I take it for the practical rules of a moral and godly life, as delivered by the prophets. And so Calvin expounds it : — *' Significat hie Deus se regulara pie et sancte vivendi monstrasse Israeli- HOSEA. 77 tis. Judicia tua, hoc est ratio pie vivendi." ** It is certain indeed that tlie Syriac and Jonathan read Nif'J niKD '»t5S);:rD\ But none of the MSS give this reading, or any variety; except that one, of no great authority, has lUD^D in the singular; which seems to have been the reading given in St Jerome's Septua- gint; though the Septuagint, as we now have it, agrees with the Syriac and Jonathan: but St Jerome and the Vulgate are with the printed text, though they render it but ill. (G) —'' charity.*' I think, with Calvin, that the word "nDH is used here in a comprehensive sense, signifying both piety towards God, and philanthropy. I can find no single word to answer to it but charity; for charity, in the evangelical sense, is the love of man founded upon the love of God, and arising out of it. (H) — " even in these circumstances." This I take to be the force of the adverb CDU?, as it is used here, referring neither to place nor time, but to a state of things. The Latin * ibi ' might in some de- * Calvin ad locum. 78 HOSEA, gree express it, but we have no one word tor it in our language. (I) Tiie very learned Drusius says, in his notes upon this place, that he once conjectured that Gi- lead was put here by a sort of abbreviation for Ra- moth Gilead, as Aven is sometimes put for Beth- aven ; but that he abandoned this conjecture, when he found mention, as he thought, in Eusebius, of a city called simply Gilead, in the mountainous region of the same name. Then he produces a passage from Eusebius, De Locis Hebraicis, as translated and altered by St Jerome, in which, after a general description of the mountain Galaad, or Gilead, it is said, ** from which mountain, a city also, built in it, took its name; which city Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, took from the Amorites.'* * It is evident that, in these words, the author, whe- ther Eusebius himself or St Jerome, refers to the fact recorded in Numb, xxxii, 39, 40; and under- stands the Gilead, which the children of Machir, the * — " A quo monte et civitas, in eo condita, sortita est vocabu- lum; quam et cepit de Amorroeorum manu Galaad filius Machir, iilii Manasse." HOSEA. 7f7 .son of Manasseh, are there said to have taken from the Amorites, of a city of that name ; in wliich 1 have no donbt that he is right. 15ut I see no reason to suppose that this was any other tlian Ramoth Gi- lead itself It is to be observed, that although it is said that " Moses gave Giiead unto Machir, the son of Manasseh, and he dwelt therein ;" yet the con- queror of the Amorites in this quarter could not be Machir himself, the son of Manasseh ; nor could he dwell in Giiead, or any of his sons ; for they must liave been dead long before the Exodus. If I might offer a conjecture upon a point, which, from the im- perfection of history, is of so much uncertainty, I should say that Giiead, a grandson probably of the son of Machir of that )iame, having taken a princi- pal city of the Amorites, in the mountainous coun. try, fortified it for himself, and gave it his own name. That from the city the name passed to the district, which was allotted to that conqueror ; and from that district, to the whole of a large tract of mountainous country, which made part of the settlement, not only of the half tribe of Manasseh, but moreover of the tribes of Reuben and Gad. But the name Giiead having thus been transferred from the city to a country comprehending many cities ; the city, for so HOSEA. distinction, took the name of Ramoth-Gilead ; the word Raraoth probably aUuding to the lofty turrets, raised by Gilead for defence against besiegers.* (K) — " to Sichem." In taking Htt^DtT for the name of the city with the local paragogic J^, I am supported by the Syriac, the LXX, and Symmachusj and by the Vulgate, in taking ODV for the name of the place, though not in the construction of the pa- ragogic »^. (L) In the original I remove the soph-pasuk at Vh^y to ^i^'^tt^'*, so connecting the two words n*>M ^Kntt^'J with the 9th verse, and making the 1 0th verse begin with the word '>n\sn. This is the only altera- tion of the printed text, which I make or admit, in this passage j and this is supported by the version of the LXX* t (M) That the harvest in Joel iii, 13, is the fruit of the vine, is confirmed by the versions of the Sy- riac and the LXX, and by the use of the word "^"^^p in Isaiah xvii, 11, where it is used for the ripe fruits * Vide App. No. IIL f Vide App. No. II. IIOSEA, ii K>^ ^ grafted playttation. See Bishop Lowth's transla- tion. Whence it should seem that, although by its etymology it most properly signifies corn reaped, mowed, or cut down, yet it is used as a general word for the severed fruits of the earth of whatever kind. And the word "^''i^'p by itself being capable of this general meaning, HDp Ti'p is a specific name for the corn-harvest, (Isaiah xvii, 5) ; and CD*^'^n TVp a still more specific name for the wheat-harvest. CHAP. VII. (A) « When I would have healed." ^^S'^i). Ai the very time when I was about to heal. ^ Dum in eo essem ut sanarem.* This is the force of the prefix 5, which would be very ill changed into ^ ; an alter- ation for which there is no authority, but that of a single printed edition, not of any MS. (B) — '* carried on." 1^3. The verbs ^VV and ^s are not perfectly equivalent. The verb nc^y is simply / to do, or make,' * facere,' in any manner, without reference to the length of time, degree of labour or thought, necessary to the performance. But the verb ^>*3 is applied to those operations only, VOL. IV. r 82 H08EA. which require some continued labour of the hand, or long application of the mind, or both. The thing meant here seems to be the carrying on of a preme- ditated plot or scheme for the subversion of the true religion, and the establishment of idolatry. (C) — *' let them not say unio their heart, that I have remembered all their doings." To the same effect Aquila : — zon (j^'/^Trore slTrcoai raig za^haig ayr^yv, 'TTaacx^v fcuaiocv avTuv l{M7j(j^riV. St Jerome also, the Vid- gate, and Abarbanel, take the negative ^^ as a pro- hibitory particle ; though neither he, nor St Jerome, expound the prohibition exactly in the sense ex- pressed in my translation. See Pocock, p. 289. (D) — *' unto their heart/' ODD^^. The change of the prefix ^ into ^, though supported by the read- ing of the Complutensian edition, and seven or eight MSS of Kennicott's, and seven or eight more of De Rossi*s, would be much for the worse. When a man thinks within himself what he is afraid, or ashamed, or unwilling, to utter aloud, or declare openly, then he speaks i?i his heart ; and this is ex- pressed by 3. But when a man pursues his owa thoughts without utterance, but without any desire HOSEA. 83 of concealment ; more especially when he soothes and consoles himself with hope» and expectations well or ill founded, when he encourages and incites himself to action ; then he speaks to his heart. — Tgo? 6v (juiyay.riTooof, ^vy^ov* and this is expressed byS. (E) — <* their perfidies." I think the word C'niD, as a noun substantive, renders not so properly • a lie,' in the sense of a false assertion, as * a failure' in the truth of a promise or engagement ; a failure in any point of duty, or natural obligation ; in particular, in loyalty to the rightful sovereign, and above all to the Sovereign of sovereigns. (F) — ** the stoker." ^'^V^, a noun substantive, regularly formed from the Hiphil of the verb ^y, * excitator,' the man whose business it is to stir up the fire in the oven. This I take as the nominative case of the verb niDti^\ (G) — ** until the fermentation of it be complete.** All this I take to be expressed in the words ^^i'!2^ ny. And St Jerome's rendering, which is also that of the Vulgate, is to the same amount: — ** donee fermen- p 2 84 HOSEA, taretur totuni." The noun H^icn properly renders the act, or passion rather, of fermentation j the being fermented. (H) An oven, in which the fire is raised to such a pitch, as to continue burning fiercely for a long time by its own internal fury, when no further means are used to stir it up ; in which the heat is so in- tense, as to be too strong for the baker's purpose, insomuch that it must be suffered to abate, before the bread can be set in ; is certainly a most apt and striking image of the heart of the sensualist, inflam- ed with appetite, by repeated and excessive indulg- ence so wrought into the ordinary habit and consti- tution of the man, that it rages by the mere lust of the corrupted imagination, even in the absence of the external objects of desire, that might naturally excite it ; and works itself up to an excess, which is even contrary to the purpose, for which the animal appetites are implanted; in such sort disordering the corporeal frame, that till the passion has spent itself in a great degree, it is incapable of enjoying its proper object. To apply the images severally, I take the oven to be the heart : the burning fire, the animal appetites HOSEA. 85 in act : the stoker, or fire-stirrer, the external ob- jects of desire, considered as present to the senses, and exciting the appetites. The dough, the sensi- tive animal frame, or nervous system, considered as the proper object of the immediate action of appe- tite : the baker, who ought to manage the oven, re- gulate the heat, superintend the stoker, and con- duct every thing aright for the baking of the bread, is reason or intellect; which ought to be the go- verning faculty in the human soul. The fire always gets a-head, when this baker takes too long a sleep- As in the 6th verse. The sensuality however here is, that of which sensuaHty is the constant scriptural type, the absurd and wicked passion for idolatry. (I) — ** our king." ^i5>^. I think there is irri- sion in the suffix. " This rare kins: of ours. .^_, All fill I'W (K) — *^ to scorners." So the Bishop's Bible, and the English Geneva. And to the same effect Cal- vin. — " extendit manum suam ad illusorcs," '* Di- cit regem manum suam protraxisse illusoribus ; nempe in signum societatis." Instances of the use of the particle r\K in the sense of the Latin adj or, F 3 #6 HOSEA. which would come to the same thing here, as a sigu of the dative case, are to be found in Noldius. Per- haps the passages cited by him are not all to the purpose ; but some among them seem decisive, (L) " Truly, in the inmost part of it, their heart is like an oven." I take the order of construction thus : ni^re [H'in] isnp anS •)5. I take the suffix "^ in the word "'^'^p, as rehearsing the noun S^- which I understand as the nominative case of the verb substantive understood : and thus I bring out the sense, which I have given in my translation. (M) — ^' put themselves in a stir about corn and wine." In the Hebrew I place the soph-pasuk at the word ^"^'^^^n'», in the 14th verse; and I make the 15th begin with the word '^l*iD'», Then at the word ''^ (the second word of the 15th verse, according to this division), I place rebhia ; and at Ti^D^ athnach j rebhia again at pny^T ; and the soph-pasuk at J?*i I leave undisturbed. These corrections of the stops are the only alterations I make in the printed text. — " put themselves in a stir." ^")'ji^-0% This can be nothing but the third person plural of the future in Hithpael of the verb ^^K There are four distinct HOSEA. S7 roots, *l^\ ^^^, i^^^y y^^f eacli of which has its pro- per signification. "^^^ * to fear, to be in consterna- tion/ ■^I'S, < to sojourn,' as a foreigner. M"^^, ' to excite or stir up,' particularly war or strife; or, neutrally, * to be in a stir.* "^"i^, * to saw/ ^^ is evidently the leading word ; but all the four, espe- cially the three first, have an intercommunity of se- condary senses. *l^i, in a secondary sense, takes the sense of "1^% * to fear;' and, in another secon- dary sense, agrees with H"!^, * to be in a stir.* Even the fourth "i'^^, ' to saw,* seems not entirely uncon- nected with n^^, * to excite ;' for the first effect of sawing is the excitation of small light dust, that flies about in the air, and is in perpetual stir. The Lexi- cons, among the senses of "l^^, give * to assemble, or collect.' But I agree with the learned Mr Parkhurst, that this sense belongs not to this root, nor to any of the four roots ; and where the Hithpael is rendered in our Public Translation, as in this place, of ' persons assembling themselves,' it is to be understood of * putting tliemselves in a vehement stir, or commotion/ "i^^^JriD "i^D, in Jer. xxx, 23, is '* a whirlwind stirring itself up." » (N) — *• turned against me/' ■')")^D^. From the F 4 as HOSE A. root '^^^D, not from ^^0^ which forms the third per- son plural future ^*ip,\ (O) ** They fall back into nothingness of condi- tion/' bV i<^ '^^^^\ For the elucidation of these difficult words, I observe, first, that the verb 3^C^ signifies either * to return,' or * to turn away from,* or « to turn towards.' But properly and most fre- quently ' to return,' in reference to a former place, pr condition. 2. In the sense of returning, or of turning towards, it usually governs the place to which, by the detached preposition ^i<, or the pre- fix b. But either of these may be omitted j and the verb will appear as a verb transitive, governing the place, or condition, ^ to which,' as its object, with- out a preposition ; like some verbs of motion, in par- .^icular connections, in the Latin language. Urbem adii. Domum redii. Romam profectus sum. This construction, in the Hebrew language, is very rare ^ but this passage is one clear instance of it. For ^j; K^ (whatever it may mean) stands as the place f to which,' a|id as the accusative after the verb transitive '^^V ; and it is by no means necessary to correct the text by conjecture, with the learned Hpubigant, tp supply the supposed omission of tho HOSEA. 89 prefix. Although, if any emendation were necessa- ry, his conjecture, ^^^ for ^b, might seem very plausible. II. The word ^y has been very differently taken by different interpreters ; whose various opinions are stated at length, by the learned Pocock upon the place. I consider none of them as deserving of at- tention, but those which attempt to ascertain the meaning of the word as it stands, without the aid of conjectural emendation. And these all take the word in one or other of three different ways : 1 . As a noun adjective. 2. As a noun substantive. 3. As an adverb. But, which ever way it is to be taken, ^'j) ^y is something described by privation of the thing signified by ^J^, whatever that may be. 1. As a noun adjective, the word ^y is supposed to be an epithet of God, describing him as the High One, or; the Highest. The learned Drusius, who adopts this sense, thinks the word an abridgment of l^'^^y by apocope. And for this he may have the authority of some learned rabbin. Nevertheless, I scruple not to deny, that a single instance of a si- milar apocope is to be found in the Hebrew Ian- guage. The word bn is no such instance, by apo- cope from OTiSh ; for ^i^ and nbi^ are two distinct ^0 HOSEA. mots. The word «TJ is no such instance, by apo- cope from '1*^'^"' : for the latter is a compound of the former, with the benoni of another root. Nor is any unexceptionable instance to be found, in which the word ^V is used as an adjective rendering ^ high.' This interpretation, therefore, though it is adopted by our English translators, being rejected, as founded on an irregular formation of the noun, and an unexampled sense of the noun so formed ; it remains, that the word ^J^ must be either a noun substantive, or an adverb. As a noun substantive it may render either * a yoke,* or ' height ;' as an ad- verb, * on high,* sursum. The Vulgate takes it in the sense of * a yoke,* understanding, figuratively, ** the yoke of the Mosaic kw.'* For the rendering of the Vulgate is, " Reversi sunt, ut essent absque jttgo.'* Which is well expounded by Grotius, " De- nuo voluerunt esse absque jugo. Per jugum intelli- genda lex.** Symmachus, and the 6th Greek, ren- der to the same effect, anar^z-^av g/V t*© i^n hc^iv ?P^ yov, Sym. aTrzaTrisav im hayaoffiv dnv ^jyov. E. This sense the Hebrew words will certainly bear ; and of all that have been proposed it seems the best sense, next after that which I have given in my transla- HOSE A. 91 don; which is R. Tanchum's, and, in my judgment, the best of all. According to this interpretation, ^y is taken ei- ther as a noun substantive, rendering * height ;' or, as an adverb, rendering ^ on high ;' and it is not material, which way it be taken. For if it be an adverb, still ^V ^^ stands as a noun, after the verb ^^U^, and expresses that which is the privation of height. But the height, whether expressed by the noun, or by the adverb, is to be understood figura- tively, of height of rank or condition. In which sense the adverb is used, 2 Sam. xxiii, 1. *^3^n *?;? DpM. " The man who was settled in a high degree ;" i. e, established on the throne of Judali, ^'hicli was made the inheritance of his family in perpetuity, and raised, in his own person, to be the tj'pe of his great descendant. The Israelites also were placed in a high degree, to be worshippers of the true God ; which high degree they relinquished by their defection to idolatry, and returned to the low level of the heathen.* The versions of the LXX, and the Syriac, rightly understood, convey the same meaning, and give it in words exactly • ■ '"■- I ■'■''■ ' ' ' 11 . — .. — ■' • I .. * See R. Tanchum ap. Pocock. m HOSEA, equivalent to those which I have used, aT'csroacpj^ iig ovdsu. LXX. >D^ \i ^ Q^aiLl Syr. « Obli- quarunt se ad nihilum ;" not, as the Polyglott trans- lation gives it, " nulla de causa." We say, in com- mon speech, of a man, who, by misconduct, has lost all esteem and credit in the world, " He has brought himself to nothing." CHAP. VHI. (A) ** The cornet at thy mouth,*' &c. To this effect the Vulgate ; with Aquila, Symmachus, and Tbeodotion according to St Jerome. ** In gutture tuo sit tuba, quasi aquila,^' &c. Quae tarn late audiatur, quam aquila templum supervoli^ tans, et e sublimi crocitans. Grotius. (B) I place the soph-pasuk at T^?"l\ '* O my God" — Israel, speaking collectively, uses the sin- gular pronoun and the plural verb. (C) _" of themselves.'* Sponte. This I take to be the force of the pronoun P?!. See ver, 9. (D) — « have antipathy." This is the true sense HOSEA. 93 of the phrase ^** ^^. See Ps. ci, 5. Isa. i, 13 ; and Gompare Amos vii, 10. (E) — " pure reh'gion.'* For Tp^, the Complii- tensian, and four other printed texts, with 44 MSS, among them some of the very oldest and best, give p^p^; which is certainly the true form of the word. It signifies purity, or cleanness, generally* Ilcnce moral purity, innocence. But here, I think, it par- ticularly denotes " pure religion," or the purity of worship. '* Pure religion, and undefiled," in oppo- sition both to the superstitious practices of idolaters, and the false shew of hypocrites. (F) — " even this," ^*')n^ The *» is highly em- phatical, aggravating the accusation. Even a thing so abominable, as this, was his own invention. Arch- bishop Newcombe says, '* The Israelites may have originally borrowed this superstition from the Egyp- tians ; for, in Egypt, he observes, *^ this species of animals were worshipped j the Apis at Memphis, and the Mnevis at Heliopolis." But the prophet says expressly, not indeed in the learned Primate's amended text, and mis-translation ; but, in his own words, he says expressly, that the Israelites borrow- 94, HOSEA, ed this superstition from nobody. It was all their own. Indeed, what they had seen in Egypt was the worship of a living calf; not of the lifeless image of a calf, or of any other animal. (G) —'' reduced to atoms." H^H tD^^y^. Sebab est minimum quidque in re quavis; ut scintilla, fragmenta, segmenta. Grotius ad locum. (H) "To sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind," may certainly be a proverbial expression for mea- sures of bad policy, ending in ruin, and disappoint- ing the statesman's expectations. But instead of taking the verbs "^y"^'*^ and *n^'^'^ as plurals, of which the plural pronoun of the third person understood, rehearsing Israel collectively, is the subject ; I take the verbs in the singular number, and the final '^ as the affixed pronoun of the third person singular, re- hearsing Israel : and the nouns T]*n and nnsiD I take as the subjects of those verbs respectively. And thus I bring out the sense expressed in my transla- tion. The only objection I am aware of is, that the feminine nouns, T)T\ and nnsiD^ are taken as the subjects of verbs masculine. But of these two nouns, ' the former is often masculine. And the anomaly of 6 HOSEA. 95 gender between verbs and nouns, especially when the noun is the name of a thing, which hath not na- turally the one sex or the other, is so frequent, that nn is sometimes both masculine and feminine in the same sentence. It is somewhat in favour of my in- terpretation, that for y^'^p five MSS give nii'P; in which form the verb must be singular, and the final "* must be the affixed pronoun. For the third person plural future admits not the epenthetic \ It is true, that in Exodus xviii, 26. we read, in the printed texts, '^U15D*\ But upon this Buxtorf ob- serves, *' Unum reperitur cum schurek praeter mo- rem." And 15 MSS, and the Samaritan text, give '^lisU^^'i in the regular form, without the epenthe- tic \ (I) — " of their own accord." This I take to be the force of the pronoun Hen, And this is gene- rally its force, where it appears, as in this place, pleonastic. See ver. 4. and chap, ix, 10. (K) — « will I embody them." QirnpK. The verb V3p signifies * to collect into one mass * things natur- ally separate and dispersed. Hence more particu- larly, to form or assemble armies. The use of thq 96 HOSEA, verb in this sense, in the historical books of scrip- ture, is very frequent. In Isaiah Ivii, 13, the noun T^'^^p renders ' thy companies,' i, e. companies of soldiers. I take the verb here therefore as a mili- tary term ; and, considering how it stands connect- ed with the verb ''^*^\ I think that verb is to be tak- en as a military term too; the former rendering the embodying of armies, the latter the granting of bounties to the persons enlisting, or of tribute to foreign princes furnishing auxiliaries. Thus God threatens that he will press into his own armies against the Israelites, those very bands of foreign mercenaries, whom the Israelites themselves, to the great mortification of the king and the rulers, when the error of the measure appeared by the event, had paid at a dear rate. I find I have the concurrence of the learned Nol» dius in this interpretation of the passage, as far at least as the general meaning is concerned : — " Sen- sus est, quamvis mercede conducant gentes in auxi- Hum, ego tamen mox contra eos illas ipsas colligam. Scil. brevi futuras ex amicis hostes." Nold. Concor- dant. Partic. Annot. 1031. (L) — « and the rulers.'' The reading of B'»T^'^ 6 HOSEA. 97 for D^IC^ is supported by such a weight of authority, that I cannot but adopt it. Eight MSS of Kenni- cott's, nine of De Rossi's, two more of Kennicott's originally, six more of De Rossi's originally, the notes of the printed Bible Minchath Shai,* the Ba- bylonian Talmud, the LXX, Syriac, Chaldee, Aqui- la, Theodotion, St Jerome, and the Vulgate. And yet there is no difficulty in the construction of the common text ; for it might be thus rendered : " And ere long the rulers shall sorrow for the burthen of the king," i, e, for the burthen imposed by the king in taxes. (M) I punctuate the original thus. Over the first riinD(D, in verse ll, I place rebhia, or the semi- colon ; and at the second nin^TO, in the same verse, I place the soph-pasuk : that the second i^'^n^ may be thrust forward into the subsequent verse, where it stands as the object of the verb transitive S'^nSK ; expressing what God will write, or inscribe, upon Israel ; namely, that he is the property of Sin. In- uram ei notas, " Peccati mastigia." * For an account of this Bible,, see De Rossi, Prolegom. part I. J 37, 38. VOL. IT. G 98 HOSEA. A similar allusion, though with a different appli^ cation, to an owner's, or commander's, mark im* pressed upon the person, occurs in Isaiah xliv, 5, in nearly the same phrases : '* One shall say, I am Jehovah's ; And another shall be called by the name of Jacob ; And another shall inscribe his hand, JEHOVAIT^, And surname himself by the name of Israel." — " Jehovah's.'* This is what he will write upon his hand ; as " Sin*s," is what God in Hosea threat- ens to write upon Ephraim's person. The only dif- ference in the phraseology of the two prophets is this : the verb ^W governs the thing written upon, in Isaiah, in the accusative ; in Hosea, by the prefix A The prefix ^ in the word written, iTin*>b in Isaiah, KlDnb in Hosea, is the sign of the genitive of the possessor. — '« an allusion," says Bishop Lowth, upon Isaiah, ** to the marks which were made by punctures ren- dered indelible by fire, or by staining, upon the hand, or some other part of the body, signifying the state or character of the person, and to whom he belonged. The slave was marked with the name of his master j the soldier, of his commander j and the ROSEA. 99 idolater, with the name or ensign of his god. " Dean Spencer observes, tliat, among tlie heathen, slaves were usually marked in the forehead ; sol- diers, in the hand : and he thinks, that slaves were usually marked in the hand among the Jews. The mark of the idol w^as impressed oi\ different parts of the body.* "We have allusion to this custom in Rev. iii, 12, xiii, 16, xiv, 1. In the primitive ages, it was usual for Christians to mark themselves, upon the wrist or arm, with the name of Christ, or with the sign of the cross ; as Spencer and Lowth shew from Procopius upon this passage of Isaiah. —To h r-f, ifm^ ^ 70V ff7avPOV 70 ffrji^uoVf ri 7riv X^/croy Tr^offriyopiav. (N) «* The masters" — For "^^"i, I read, with the marginal varieties of the Venice Bible of 1518, with the marginal Keri of Vander Hooght, and with IS MSS, '^:^\ (O) — " my proper offerings." One can only guess at the precise sense of the unusual word •)SnDn, which, with the majority of interpreters, I * See Spencer De Leg. Hebr. lib. ii, c. 14, $ 1, 4. G 2 100 ROSEA. take to be the plural of a noun substantive sn^rr, from the root ^J^**, with the pronoun of the first per- son singular affixed, but blended by crasis with the jod plural. I think it renders those offerings, which were so appropriate to God, so demanded, as it were, by God as his exclusive property, that the whole was to be burnt upon the altar, and even the priests were not to taste it. And thus the word seems to have been taken by Livelye and Drusius. The accusation is, that the priests, the sacrificers of these offerings, sacrificed, and ate ; an act of the highest sacrilege. — " The sacrificers of my proper offerings.'* TlD', I take for the particle Benoni plu- ral, in reghmie, signifying persons offering sacrifices. It is so used in 18 places besides this. CHAP. IX. (A) — ** with joyous exultation." ^^^ ^^, ejcidta- iionem usque, ^^^ is a noun substantive, signifying * leaping and dancing for joy,' after the preposition ^^ ; not, as some have taken the word, the impera- tive Hiphil of the verb ^^^ constructed with the pro- hibitory particle ^^ : for it is contrary to the invari- able rule of the Hebrew language, that the impera- HOSEA. 101 tive mood should prohibit ; or, in other words, the prohibitory particle must be constructed with a fu- ture tense, never with an imperative mood. Com. pare Job iii, 22. (B) —"fee of prostitution." pnK, At this word I place the soph,-pasuk. (C) — " must.'* trn'^n. The word often signifies * new wine ;' but its primary and proper meaning seems to be * must in the vat,' under the process of fermentation. When this process miscarries, the must never turns to a sound wine. And this seems to be threatened here. (D) — " their." For the singular HD, the mar- ginal varieties of the Venice Bible of 1518, the Bible of Hale 1720, the notes of the Bible Minchath Shai, the Bible of Pesaro 1517, seventeen MSS of Kennicott's (among them the oldest and the best), and three more originally, eight of De Rossi's, and nine more originally, give the plural D3. (E) — " their sacrifices are not pleasant to him." I take away the zakeph-katon from ^^, and instead G 3 10^ HOSE A, of it place rebhia at tDrT»nDr, taking that noun as the nominative of the verb "'^*1V^ Dr Wheeler adopt- ed the same punctuation. Our Public Translation, with many others, makes this 4th verse predictive of the condition of the Is- raelites in captivity ; when they should be deprived of the means and opportunity of making offerings to Jehovah, according to the prescribed rules of the Mosaic ritual. According to the construction which I adopt, it is a description of the enormity of their idolatrous practices, in their own land, previous to their captivity, which brought down upon them that judgment. And with this interpretation stands the authority of Kimchi, the LXX, Capito and CEcolam- padius as quoted by Pocock, Calvin, Zanchius, and the learned Drusius. In the general sense of the passage all these interpreters agree j with some dif- ference however among them in the grammatical construction of the words. That which I adopt is approved by Kimchi and the critical Drusius. (F) — '' as the meat of mourners." C^*»^ onS^. The noun pi<, and the verb n^^, are distinct roots in the Hebrew language. And from the verb descends another noun, differing in sense as well as in etymo- HOSEA. 103 logy, but expressed by the same letters, as the for- mer. The Masoretes have endeavoured to distin- guish the two nouns by giving them different points, which would make the radical noun sound ' awven ;' the derivative from the verb, * own/ Nevertheless, they have perpetually confounded the two, applying to the one the points, which, in their system, belong to the other. The radical noun pi<, in the Mafeoi'etic pronuncia- tion ' awven,' signifies * activity,' or ' strength and vigour,' in actual exertion ; and specifically, the ge- nerative strength and vigour of the male. And this sense of activity acting, I take to be the proper and primary meaning of the word. In one place I think it is used to denote * adult vigour,' in opposition to the weakness of infancy.* In the plural number, it is sometimes used to express intensity, or abundance of active vigour ; and once, I think, for the rapid motions and efficacious influences of the heav^enly bodies. t '* Lift up your eyes on high, and behold] Who hath created these? [namely, tlie heavenly bodies.] He that leadeth forth their host by num- ber, calleth every one of them by name. Made ■ — ■ X * Hos. xii, 4-. \ Isaiah xl, 26, G 4 10^ HOSEA. abundant in active powers [D'^^'^.K li'itt], and firm ia strength, not one faileth." It occurs in the plural once as a noun adjective, signifying ' persons en- dowed with strength, power, and activity,' for great enterprizes. " When a wicked man dieth, his ex- pectation shall perish, and the hope of the active [O^JilK n*?mn^] perisheth."* The noun here renders the Latin ^ impigri ad labores ;' and describes those who have been the most active, and with the best success, in arduous enterprises j never backward to encounter toil or difficulty. From this primary sense of active strength, and specifically the generative vigour of the male, this i;ioun became a name or title of the Sun ; incessant- ly active in the constancy and rapidity of the ap- parent diurnal and annual motions (rejoicing as a giant to run his course), in the perpetual propaga- tion of light and heat to the utmost limits of the universe, and in his genial influences on all nature, as the first physical principle of fecundity in the ani- mal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. These phy- sical powers, which properly indeed belong to the Sun, as an instrument in the hand of God, the an- * Prov, xi, 7. HOSEA. 105 tient idolaters ascribed to that luminary, as inherent in itself, independent of the Creator ; for they made it self - existent, AvTo(pvrjg.* By its influences on nature, tlK^^y made it the author of all good to the good, and of all evil to the bad. At last they ascrib- ed to it intelligence and will ; at least they spoke of it as intelligent, and made it the sovereign of the moral, as well as of the material world. These vari- ous powers are distinctly expressed in the epithets ascribed to the Sun in the Orphic invocation : Avro(pv/}g, azocfjijay K^ac/f ly^cuu ojom ..•, *Fo(jj^ov aTret^iffiov diVBu^/jaffiv olfLOv Ikavvcij^, i^meQeat y.a^Mriyz xcikcov, Zoc^zvrig ocffiQouffi' Ko(riJijOfc^aT&)py 134. HOSEA, alJ the titles I have enumerated of the Greek and Latin idol are feminine, whereas Baal is a masculine. It was a first principle among the mystagogues that every god was of either sex. And this very person- age, in the character of Selene, is saluted, in the Orphic invocations, as male and female, — '^rikvg n xdt ccpffyjv,* and was both Lunus and Luna among the Latins ; and the word nu^D will lead to feminine ap- pellations of Baal-Peor. We are told by Herodotus, that the Artemis of the Greeks was worshipped by the Egyptians under the feminine appellation of Bubastis, in the city of the same name, t And in a Greek epigram, cited by H. Stephens, in his Thesaurus, Bubastis is said to be a title of Isis, as the guardian goddess of wo- men in labour. It is very remarkable, that Busbatos was a title of Diana, as Hesychius affirms, among the Thracians. The Egyptian rites of Bubastis, as they are described by Herodotus,t were in the high- est degree obscene. But this is not all. The city Bubastis (commonly written Bubastos, but Herodo- tus writes it with an i) certainly took its name from * Orph. H. S. f Euterpe, 156, and 59, and 138. X Euterpe, 60. HOSE A. 135 the goddess. Now the name of the city, in the pro- phet Ezekiel/ is riDD •»D ; which seems only a dia- lectic variation, as is observed by the learned Park- hurst, t for nu^D •)D. And the literal rendering of riu^3 *>E) is * foramen turpitudinis/ Hence it is easy to guess under what emblematical figure the god- dess was worshipped in the city that bore her name ; and the conjecture is much confirmed by the atti- tudes by which the Egyptian ladies are said to have expressed their devotions t in the annual festival of this object of their worship. Hence I have no doubt, that in the word n;i?3, as it is used here, and in some other texts of scripture, there is a paronomasia ; a favourite figure with the prophets, which cannot be adequately expressed in a translation. To preserve what they could of it, our English translators have judiciously added the demonstrative ' that' to the word ' shame,'. by which they render the noun substantive ; and I have fol- lowed their example, prefixing 'that' to my word * obscenity.' By giving the appellative ' shame,' or * Chap. XXX, 17. I Lexicon, under the word MJH. i Herodot. Euterpe, 60. l^S HOSEA. * obscenity/ without * that/ the appropriation of the word to the idol would be lost j and the sense of the name would be lost, if the Hebrew word * Boshet' were retained in the translation as a pro- per name. The learned Vitringa has a notion of his own about this ** consecrating of themselves to that ob- scenity." He thinks some rite must be signified, by which some of the Israelites devoted themselves to the worship of that idol, '*= ut placerent amasiis." And so far he is probably in the right. But he con- ceives that the particular rite was the circular ton- sure of the hair, by which the Moabites and Arabs, according to Herodotus, marked themselves as wor- shippers of Dionysus. This opinion Vitringa sus- tains with much learning and ability 5 but, as often happens to him, with too much refinement. It can- not be true, unless Baal-Peor was Dionysus : and of this he offers not a shadow of a proof.* The opinion that Baal-Peor was Priapus, seems to have taken its rise from a random guess of St Je- rome's, who understood that Baal-Peor was some- thing obscene j and looked no farther, than to some- * See Vitringa in Isaiah xv. Not* Moab, § 3. HOSEA. 1^7 thing obscene in the Greek idolatry, to answer to the idol of the Moabites. (R) " Ephraim !" A nominative absolute. (S) — << when I turn away.'' For ^^^V^, I read, with the Bible of Hale (1720), three MSS of Kenni- cott's, one originally of De Rossi's, Aquila, the Vul- gate, Houbigant, and Archbishop Newcombe, *»")1DD. (T) — " to all appearance." This I take to be the force of ''H'^Nn ItTKD. And so the LXX, 61/ tpottov eihoif' and to the same effect the Bishop's Bible, " as methinks." Diodati's rendering deserves attention : — " men- ire io I'ho reguardato" — " So long as I looked up- on him." If this might be adopted, it would pro- duce an elegant antithesis between the happy effects of God's providential care, and the deplorable cou- sequences of his turning away, mentioned in the preceding sentence. But I think the Hebrew^ words will hardly bear this sense. (V) — ^' planted on a rock." — ilg tbt^olv Tre^pvnv^ (jjim. Theodotion. And to the same sense, as it 2 ISS HOSE A. should seem, Aquila and Symmachus : — c^g aKooro^^v^ (W) I remove the soph-pasuk from CpDV, where I place only rebhia to ^^^^3, that Dnyn may be an accusative after (n, in apposition with nann and (X) — *^ perverse practices." See ch. v, note (b). (Y) — " blighted." The allusion is evidently to a tree, killed by what is called a blight. The verb Jl5^ is often used in this particular sense of blight- ing.* Dr Pocock thinks that the word, though used in a much larger signification, is '* in proper lan- guage spoken of trees and plants, when by any chance marred." See his note upon this place. I have sometimes been inclined to adopt the construc- tion and rendering of the Syriac. '* Ephraim is smitten at the root ; he is dried up, so that he shall bear no fruit." The version of the LXX, when it is rightly pointed, is to the same effect : ^Y.irovi(szv •r--. ,tw \ * P?alm cii, 5, Amos iv, 9, and Jonah iv, 7, HOSEA. 139 CHAP. X. (A) — *' yielding." pp^S. The root p:3, or p, signifies properly, ' to empty a vessel of its contents.' Hence ' vastare.' But a vine * emptying itself,' must be a vine pouring fortli its internal strength in abundance of fruit.* All the antient versions, ex- cept the Chaldee, agree in rendering the participle as expressive of luxuriance. Symmachus, indeed, renders it by a word that denotes * running to wood,' vKo^avovGcc, and Aquila, by Ivvhog^ ' a watery vine,' which St Jerome explains to be a vine bear- ing grapes, which gave but a thin and watery juice, such as would not make good wine. But the con- text shews, that fertility of fruit is meant, and this idea is conveyed in all the other versions. ivx>.rt^(i' Tovffcc. LXX. " abounding in goodly branches.'*. But goodly branches are branches which bear fruit ; and accordingly this version adds, y^cc^Tog iv0r,vMv avrr,c^ The Vulgate renders the participle of leaves, *' Vitis frondosa Israel j'* but then he adds, " fructus adu}- quatus est ei." The Syriac Zr^^^! ^it^a-i \^2-;^| \kicj iZZoio might, I think, be render- ed, ** Confusion shall darken Ephraim ;" which, if the noun iZZoio may signify ' confusion,* or torpi- dity of the mind generally, is exactly my sense, though it deviates from the construction. And this sense of the noun is, in some measure, confirmed by chap, xi, 1. according to the division which the Sy- riac translator follows ; where the verb ^oi^ is join- ed with the verb >oZ, the clause being to this effect, " In the morning, the king of Israel wondered, and was astounded." The text of the LXX is in such a state, that no conclusion can be drawn from it of their reading or their sense. St Jerome's LXX lU HOSEA. seems to have had Iv hyjocri 'E(p^otiiJj hiizrat akx^v'/iV* But, taking the Greek text as it now stands, I would proj30se to correct it thus : bhujcc ^s 'E(poai[jj h^erat. Taking bdofjiioc in the sense of * languor/ from the verb Ivdidcofjbt, (N) — " like a bubble." ^"^p. " Bullam inter- pre tor. Dicitur autem bulla r]^*p a r]^p, quod fer- vere et bullire significat, quia fervoris et ebullitionis efFectum est." Livelye. Mr Woide first proposed the division of the clauses which I follow, putting rebhia or athnach at p^l^U?, and understanding the verb substantive after n^O, (O) ' — " it overtook them not iniquity." I have preserved the exact collocation of the words in the original, that the ambiguity arising from it (if any) might remain in the translation. The clear •sense, and the only sense, unless the particle ^^ he taken interrogatively, is that which I have given and explained in note (13). Taking the i^^ interro- gatively, the words must be thus rendered : *' Over- took it not them in Gibeah, the war against the children of iniquity ?" That is, " Did not the war HOSlEA. Hj against the children of iniquity overtake them (i, e. those children of iniquity) in Gibeah ?" The perti- nence of the interrogation to the subject might be, ** Did I not thus execute judgment on those sin- ners ? Much more will I execute judgment on you, who are worse sinners." But this rendering is not so easy and natural, as the former. The pronoun D suffixed to the verb, in this way of taking the sense, must refer to the children of iniquity, which are placed after it in the sentence ; a construction by no means unexampled, but not to be admitted with- out necessity. (P) — " when they are tethered down to their two furrows." DnJ'»y ^nv"^ onOKlD. For the last word, the Keri gives Dn\3iy, The editions and MSS differ. The varieties of the Venetian Bible of 1518, eleven MSS of Kennicotfs, and one more ori- ginally, agree with the Keri. Thirteen MSS of Ken- nicott's, and three more originally, give CDni'\y. The Complutensian Bible, and one MS of Kennicott's, give on^^y. The text of the Venetian Bible of 1518, and the Bible of Hale of 1536 (Munster's 2d), the Brescian of 1494, the Soncinensian latter Pro- phets of 1486, and eight MSS of Kennicott's, give VOL. IV. K U6 HOSEA. anii^y, 1 take tanii^;:, aniiy, and t3nii>\ to be in fact the same word, written defectively in some MSS, and in its perfect form in others. The autho- rities, therefore, for the Keri seem to preponderate j especially if we add those of the LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate. If DH^ii'^y be the true reading, it might signify iniquities ; and in this sense it is taken by the LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate, and many raodern critics, who all render to this effect : — " when they shall be chastised for their two iniquities.'* And modern expositors understand by the two iniquities the two calves of Dan and Bethel. This may seem at first an easy and obvious sense. But, upon a nar- rower inspection of the Hebrew words, it will be found, that they will not bear it. In the first place, the word CiDi^D cannot other- wise be resolved, than into *IDK, with the prefix 5, and the suffixed pronoun O. The word *iC)Kj under the prefix ^, cannot be derived from the root '^C'% ' to chastise.' And of the two alterations of the text, offered by Archbishop Newcombe to his read- ers' choice, neither is justified by any sufficient au- thority ; unless that of the three versions *of LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate, without a single MS, and without any exigence of the place, may be deemed HOSEA. 147 i^ach. Much authority is indeed due to the concur- rence of antient versions, and especially of tliese three. But, in the present instance, it is by no means certain, that we have the consent of the three, or the authority indeed of any one of them, for an alteration of the text in this word. The more probable conclusion from their versions seems to be, that there is a great affinity of sense (as many men of learning have observed) between the two roots, ^DK and "ID**- which is the case, in various other in- stances, between roots quiescent Phe ** and others quiescent Phe ^; and that they took "IDK in this place in the sense of *^\ 2. But admitting that the word *1DK might be so taken ; or, if it cannot be so taken, admitting, in deference to the versions, one or other of Archbi- shop Newcombe's altered readings, still there will be great difficulty in the construction. I know of no instance in which the prefix ^ is used, as what some grammarians call Causalis 7'ei prwtei^'itcey or as the preposition of the reason, or motive of action, arising in the consideration of something past. Which must be the use of it here, if oniJij? MU^^ is to be rendered * for their two iniquities.' It is true, that, among the enallages of the prepositions, gramma- K 2 US HOSEA. rians mention ^ used for the detached ^J?. But then it is for ^f in the sense of ' against,' or * upon,' or ' close to,' not as signifying * upon account of/ The prefix ^ indeed sometimes signifies ' according to the rule or measure of,* or, * in proportion to.' Thus Jeremiah xxx, 11. ^^^vh '\^mo^\ where ^^\^i:h is equivalent to ^^Vt2^, ch. x, 24. And the learned Dr Blaney judiciously remarks, that the word tD3U^D in these texts signifies that * calm and dispassionate judgment, which stands opposed to the hasty salhes of anger and furious revenge." And the sense of the former is, " But I v^ill correct thee according to measure of such judgment.'* Again, Ezekiel xxii, 6. *»P*l?^ U^"^*^. — " each in proportion to his power," And in this place of Hosea the pre- fix ^ might render * in proportion to/ if iniquities had been mentioned without hmitation to the num- ber two. *' When they are chastised in proportion to their iniquities." But to take the prefix in this sense, with respect to ' two iniquities,' w^ould produce a litosis, little consistent with the vehemence of the discourse. For to punish in proportion to two ini- quities, would be to ' punish twice,' and only twice. HOSEA. 149 Upon these considerations, I am persnaded, that in the word CDnOKD, noK is the infinitive mood of the root '^^ in its own proper sense of * binding, tying to, fastening to, or upon,' or, in some respect, • confining, restraining/ The suffixed pronoun D expresses the persons which are the objects of such binding, tying, fastening, confinement, or restric- tion ; and the noun following, under the prefix ^, must denote that, to or upon which, those persons are bound, tyed, fastened, confined, or restrained. Indeed the verb *^C)K, < to bind,' properly governs the thing to which, by the prefix ^. * There are two of these things j and it remains to inquire, what they may be. It is supposed that the word niilj?, the plural of H-3'^y, may render * furrows in a ploughed field.' No other passage is to be found in the whole Bible, in which the word is used in this sense. And the pro- cess of criticism, by which this sense is deduced from the etymology of the noun, as derived from the root H-Jy, may seem rather far-fetched. The noun n^yo, from the root n^V, certainly signifies ' a fur- * See Gen. xlix, 11. K 3 150 HOSEA. row.* Hence it is concluded, that the verb »1^? may signify * to make a furrow/ No example of this sense of the verb occurs ; but it is certainly very consistent with its general sense, furrows being drawn to correspond in parallel lines. And if this sense of the verb be admitted, the noun M^'^y, or nj*>y, if that be the tri,ie orthography, may signify * a furrow/ The only authority for this meaning of the word, among the antients, is Jonathan. But it is received with approbation by the most learned of the Rabbin, and by the majority, and the most able, of the Christian expositors. By Munster in parti- cular, by Vatablus, Calvin, Tarnovius, and the learned Drusius. The latter, in his Annotations up- on the Vulgate, goes so far as to say, that it is the only sense the word will bear. For proposing this correction of the rendering of the Vulgate, *' Cum ligavero eos in duobus sulcis ipsorum," he adds, " et ita necessario videtur reddendum ex Codice Hebraeo." The necessity, indeed, which this great critic supposes, is founded entirely on the Masoretic rules of punctuation ; and the sense, which he esteemed so necessary, is rejected, as ill-suited to * See 1 Sam. xiv, 14. and Ps. cxxix, 3. IIOSEA. 151 the context, by two other critics of* great learning and great penetration, Lutlicr and Livelye. Those who adopt this sense of the word, all seem to agree, that the image, which the clause presents, is that of a pair of heifers yoked to the plough; which I take to be erroneous. For the furrows are two. — " bound to or upon their two furrows.^* But a plough, though dragged by a pair of heifers, makes but one furrow at a time ; and this is the one furrow of both heifers. Two of the Jewish ex- positors, Abn Walid, and R. Tanchum, av^oid this discordance between the words and the supposed image, by imposing on the word H'li'^y, the sense not of furrows, but of " plowing heifers." But how this image of *' plowing heifers,*' or " heifers yoked to the plough to make furrows," represents the ten tribes, is but ill agreed among those who receive the one or the other of these senses of the word ^ and 110 one among them, either Jew or Christian, has given any tolerable elucidation of the matter. If ' furrows' be the true sense of the word niiy, I am inclined to think the being bound, or confined, to their two furrows may be a proverbial expression, not much unlike the more homely proverb of our own language, of ' an ass between two bundles of K 4 15^ HOSEA. hay J* describing the situation of a person fluctuat- ing in his choice between two things, of which he must choose one. In Hke manner, the situation of extreme difficulty to which the Israelites were re- duced under their latter kings, without any human means of relief, but in the choice of one of the two alliances, between which they were ever fluctuating, that of Assyria, and that of Egypt, may be repre- sented under the image of an animal tethered by a short rope, in such a manner that its utmost liberty of feeding is but the breadth of a single ridge he^ tween two furrows, one on the one side, one on the other. The only objection, of which I am aware, to this interpretation of the image is, that pasture grounds are not usually laid down in ridge and fur- row, and animals are not usually tethered to feed in corn land. But if the word n*iiiy be taken to signify * iniqui- ties, or faults,' the passage may be brought to the same general meaning, dismissing the image of a tethered animal, and rendering, — ** when they are tied to their two faults," or, with the Syriac, — " their two follies/' The two alliances, already mentioned, might be called the two faults of the people, as both were repeatedly reprobated by the HOSEA. 153 prophets, and yet the people were always courting the one or the other of them. Or they might be called their two *' follies." For they never formed the one or the other, but they experienced the folly of the measure. Their ally, whichever of the two they chose, always proved a treacherous friend 5 and yet the name of an alliance with one always drew down the resentment and vengeance of the rival power. , They were tied to these two faults, or two follies, when, by God's just desertion of them, they were cut off from all prospect of any better aid, than one or the other of these alliances might offer to their hopes, and felt themselves obliged to make a choice. And, after all, if it be asked for what reason the word CDHlJ^y may not be taken, as it is taken by all the antients except Jonathan, in particular by that most excellent interpreter, the author of the Syriac version, in the sense of * iniquities, faults, or fol- lies j' I say, that the objection stands upon no other grounds, than that of the principles of the Masoretic punctuation. From this arises all the necessity, which the learned Drusius holds out, of the other sense. For the single authority of Jonathan, though respectable, will hardly be allowed to constitute a 154^ HOSEA. necessity, especially when set against that of the LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate. The textual word, or Cetib, is an2V. By the decree of the Masoretes the Keri must always take the vowel points applied to the Cetib. The Keri, therefore, pointed in con- formity to this rule, must be DjHi^^i^, in which both the Vs are quiescent in cholem. And this word cannot be derived from the root ^'^y, to signify * their iniquities,' because we have nothing but cho- lem to represent the omitted »l of the root ; and, by another decree of the Masoretes, one vowel point cannot supply the absence of two letters ; or, in p- ther words, the '^ in ^y cannot be quiescent. But put the point chateph-patach under the initial y, and give the cholem to ^ consonant, that the word may be DJl^ii^, and then the sense of iniquities will be imposed upon the word by the very same necessity, upon the principles of the Masoretic system, by which, according to the other pointing, it is excluded : that is by no necessity at all, but the arbitrary rules of uninspired expositors of the sacred text. It is true, that the more regular or- thography of this feminine noun would be D-Ti'iJ^U!* But in the masculine form the word is usually writ- ten vvuthout the second \ " In textu plerumque 5 HOSEA. 155 scribitur," says the learned lexicograpliei Robert- son, " cum simplice Van ante cholem absque Vau siistentante." And for what reason a like omission of the quiescent Vau may not take place in the fe- minine form of the noun, since the only reason of the omission is the quiescence of the letter, let the believers in the JNIasoretes explain. (Q) — " I delighted in treading out grain.'* To this effect Castalio. (R) — " I will make Ephraim carry me." To this effect the LXX, the Syriac, the Vulgate, Luther, Castalio, Junius and Tremellius, and Grotius, who adds this remark, " solent interdum rustici insidere bobus." (S) '* If we read as Shalman destroyed Beth- Arbel, reference is made to a fact, not elsew^here recorded," says Archbishop Newcombe. And so said Luther long before him : — " Historia, cujus hoc in loco propheta meminit, nusquam extat." And so said Diodati : — " Questa istoria non e discritta altrove" — But it never occurred to Luther, or to Diodati, that this would justify violent alterations of 156 HOSE A. the text, to obtrude iipou the prophet an allusion to a history, which is indeed extant, but to which no man, without the gift of inspiration, can know, that the prophet meant to allude. The sense of the pas- sage is as clear, as it could be if the history were known. The allusion is to a military exploit, well known we may be sure in Hosea's time, in which the conqueror spared neither sex nor age. And the Israelites are threatened with an equal calamity. Upon the subject of such emendations, as they are called, as have been proposed in this place, I pre- sent the reader with the judgment of the great Po- cock. Having mentioned a remark of Drusius, that the LXX appear to have found ^^"^ in their copies instead of "^ti^^ (but Drusius never set up this as a true reading), and Capellus's crotchet of changing "^Vli into '^V^ upon no authority at all, to make the text agree with some imaginations in history of his own ; Pocock says, " By the same reason, every one, for introducing any where such a meaning as pleased him best, might alter the words as he pleas- ed, of which there would be no end ; and it would be a matter of very ill consequence : we must fit our meaning to the words, and not the words to our meaning." And afterwards, having mentioned the HOSE A. 157 alterations of tlie proper names proposed by Grotius, which Houbigant adopts, and Archbishop New- combe from Houbigant, he says, " But it will be too bold for us to follow his conjecture, as before we said concerning that of Capellus ; if we should give ourselves that liberty, we should have in this verse three different readings : one from the Greek, in reading *iti^5 for '^V*D ; another from Capellus, reading for it "TC^^j and another from Grotius, irr reading "l^^ for n'»D. And why may not some others, by the same authority, make others both here or any where else ; so that we shall not know where to fix ? It will be the only safe way to keep our read- ing as we have it, and to lay any fault or incon- gruity which we meet with, on the expositions, not on the w^ords read in the text." Thus this sober critic. It is worthy of remark however, that the Vulgate, St Jerome, and the LXX, suppose that the history alluded to is Gideon's destruction of Zalmunna. I join the LXX, with the two others, because the reading of the Alexandrian MS, 'IspoSaaX for 'Is^oboa///, is confirmed by St Jerome's version of the LXX, St Jerome says, that Arbel and Jerubbaal are names of the same signification* 1 15S HOSE A, I must observe further, that St Jerome, the Vul- gate, and the LXX, ail expressing the word n^'D in their versions, clearly reprobate the change of it into *1''S. (T) '' As the morning"— For nnt^S, I read, with the latter prophets of Soncinum of 1486, the varieties of the Venice Bible of 1518, the Bible of Hale of 1720, ten MSS of Dr Kennicott's, three more originally, five of De Rossi's, and three more originally, and with St Jerome, and St Cyril of Alexandria, and the Vulgate, *int:f5. The simile is expounded by St Jerome in his Commentary ; and by St Cyril of Alexandria, and by Theodoret, in the sense which I have given in (22) of the explanatory notes. This exposition the prefix ^ would not admit. It is strange that Arch- bishop Newcombe should have thought the two read- ings equivalent. (V) — " brought to nothing.'^ The force of the w^ord HDl, when it is used, as here, to signify a total destruction, is very often what cannot be adequate- ly expressed in any word, hardly in any two or three put together, of the English language. From :t HO^EA. ir.9 its leading sense of assimilation, it may naturally signify the making of a thing all alike, inside and out, from top to bottom : hence the obliterating of all features and distinctions ; the resolution of any organised substance into the promiscuous mass of unformed, undistinguished atoms, of which it is composed ; the not leaving of a vestige of a form behind: the reducing of a thing to its v\ri T^aorrj. We express much the same sort of destruction, but with less force, and much less propriety, by the verb * to annihilate.' I would observe by the way, that of the four words, CDI, an, DOT, and Jlt^l, the middle pair are certainly distinct from the extreme pair. Of the two C^T and OtDI, I take the noun D^, * silence,* to be the primary root ; and the verb CDtDl, « to be silent,' or • to make silent,' to be derived from that noun. Of the other pair, if they are not two distinct roots, I take HDl, ' to be like,' or ^ to assimilate,' to be the root, and the noun D"^, ' blood,' to be derived from that root; the blood taking its Hebrew name, as Mr Parkhurst, with great probability, con- jectLyes, " froni its property of being assimilated or confirmed, in the course of its circulation, to all the various constituent parts of the body, which want 160 HOSEA. supply or nourishment." But with the root on the root ns:i seems to have no connection.* Mr Park- hurst brings all these words, and all their deriva- tives, under the single root ^Dl, which, I think, is injudicious. To return to the text of Hosea: it is to be re- marked, that St Jerome, the Vulgate, the LXX, and the Syriac, make the tenth chapter end with the word nD^ny*^^ < wickedness,' in the 15th verse; and carry on the subsequent clause to the begin- ning of the eleventh chapter. And the Syriac very strangely connects it with the assertion of God's love of Israel, when he was a child. For his ren- dering is to this effect, " In the morning, the king of Israel was astonished and astounded, because, while Israel was a child, I loved him." As if the love of Israel at the beginning was the cause of the king of Israel's astonishment. It must have been the false division of the chapter that led that inter- preter into this error, and equally misled Jerome, the Vulgate, and the LXX ; who all seem to assign God's love for the infant Israel as the reason of the king of Israel's sudden destruction. * See App. No. IIL HOSEA. 161 CHAP. XL (A) — " my son." — ra nxm avrov. LXX. But this and the Chaldee only of the antient versions give the noiai in the plural, and the LXX only give it with the pronoun of the third person. St Mat- thew's citation is in conformity with the Hebrew text, not with the LXX. (B) In the explanatory note (2), I have cited Deut. xxxiii, 7, as a passage relating to the Messiah. It will not be foreign therefore to my purpose, to endeavour to deliver this text, containing indeed a remarkable prophecy of the Messiah's connection with the tribe of Judah in particular, from the ob- scurity in which the Masoretic pointing has en- veloped it. It runs thus in the Public Translation : " And this [is the blessing] of Judah : and he said, Hear, Lord, the voice of Judah, and bring him unto his people : let his hands be sufficient for him, and be thou an help [to him] from his enemies." This is indeed a very faithful rendering of the words, as they are pointed by the Masoretes; and in the passage so rendered, no mention of the Messiah appears. For the elucidation of this disfigured text, VOL. IV. L 16^ HOSE A. I shall begin with the latter clause, which will be a key to the true meaning of the former. The latter clause may be thus rendered, with- out the alteration even of a point : - — '* Great is his power for himself, and thou shalt be an help from his enemies.'* *i*'^\ * his power,' not his hands. The use of t3'>*T» in the plural, as well as in the singular, for power, is unquestionable. And the construction of the plural, in the sense of power, with a singular verb, is not unexampled.* This clause is so evi- dently characteristic of the Messiah, who, with greatness of power of his own, in his human nature depended upon God's support ; that some commen- tators have supposed, that the proper name of Judah is here to be understood of Christ.t — " haec unice conveniunt," says Houbigant, " in eum Judam, de quo Jacob ; ' Juda, adorabunt filii patris tui,' quem Judam optat Moses advenire ad populum suum; i.e. in terras venire, et cum homine conversari." But it is not true that the Messiah is designed under the name of Judah, in the last words of Jacob. The Messiah and Judah are mentioned by the patri- * See Josh, viii, 20. t See Poole's Synopsis, and Houbigant, HOSE A. 163 arcli under different appellations, as distinct persons; and there is no reason to think they are confoiuided here. Dr Kennicott imagines an emphatic reference of the pronoun * him' (bring him) to Christ. ** Bring him unto his people ;" i, e. bring unto his people, in thy good time, Him, the King, the Shiloh of the tribe of Judah. Passages, I believe may be found, in which the mention of the Messiah is first introduced, by a pro- noun carrying an emphasis like that of the Greek and Latin pronouns Ijcm/og and iste, when they de- monstrate some very remarkable person not men- tioned before. But then this emphatical reference of the pronoun must be made evident, by a con- struction of the sentence, which shall exclude the reference of it to any person or thing expressly named. In this case, the pronominal suffix of the verb ^Ji<''Dn naturally rehearses Judah mentioned in the preceding clause; " hear the voice of Judah." But there will be no necessity for this unnatural reference of the pronominal suffix, or for any mystic exposition of the proper name of the tribe (by whicli the tribe itself, as the declared object of the bless- ing, must be intended here), when this clause. 164< HOSEA. " bring," &c. is rescued from the obscurity witli which the points have covered it. We shall find the Messiah mentioned, under an appellation that most properly belongs to him, the appellative ^^^ ; which the Masoretes by their mis-pointing have turned into the preposition b^. But point the word with tzere instead of segol, and the entire verse must be thu^ rendered : And this for Judah. And he said, Hear, O Jehovah, the voice of Judah, 1 And liJ^^^/l bring thou unto him, 1D^ i'K> the Mightf One of His people. Great for himself shall be his power. And thou shalt be an help from his enemies. ^JK"'!3n, ' bring him j' i. e. bring to him. The verb * bring,' and some others, which in Latin require a dative of the person, and an accusative of the thing; in Hebrew, as in English, often admit two accusa- tives ; one of the thing, and another of the person. "iizy ^K, " the Mighty One of His people.'' So Ezek. xxxi, 11. C5'^'»^ ^^, " the mighty one of the heathen.'* ^^^ applied to man, seems to be~ some- thing more than ^^^. See Ezek. xxxii, 21. The plural 0'»S« is frequently used for * leaders.' And HOSE A/ 165 here perhaps, and in Ezek. xxxi, 11, the singular ^*< might be rendered * the leader, the captain, or the chief.' But I prefer ' mighty one ;' because the Hebrew word seems to involve the idea of pre-emi- nence in valour, and power to help, or power in the act of helping, rather than in rank, (C) — '* from my presence, they!** — I divide DH'JJSD into two words, thus, DH "J^SD. For which I have the authority of the LXX and the Syriac, and the approbation of Houbigant and Archbishop New- combe. But I agree not to the removal of the stop made by those two learned writers, in order to thrust the separated word DH into the subsequent clause. On tlie contrary, I would alter the stops in the Greek of the LXX : — aTuyovro \k Tr^offcuTov (juov avror roig, &c. A similar instance of a pleonasm of a pro- noun nominative at the end of a sentence has occur- red, chap. V, 14. The deinosis produced by it is vehement, (D) We read frequently in our English Bible of graven images and of molten images. And the words are become so famiUar, as names of idolatrous images, that although they are not well chosen to express the L 3 166 HOSE A. Hebrew names, it seems not advisable to change them for others, that might more exactly correspond with the original. The graven image was not a thing wrought in metal by the tool of the workman we should now call an engraver; nor was the molten image an image made of metal, or any other substance melt- ed, and shaped in a mould. In fact, the graven image and the molten image are the same thing, un- der different names. The images of the antient idolaters were first cut out of wood, by the carpen- ter, as is very evident from the prophet Isaiah. This figure of wood was overlaid with plates either of gold or silver, or, sometimes perhaps, of an inferior metal. And in this finished state it was called a graven image (i, e. a carved image), in reference to the inner solid figure of wood, and a molten (i. e. an overlaid, or covered) image, in reference to the out- er metalline case or covering.* And sometimes both epithets are applied to it at once. " I will cut off the graven and molten image." t Again, " What * See the learned Mr Parkhurst, in his Hebrew Lexicon, under the word *jD3. t Nah. i, U. HOSEA. 167 profiteth the graven and molten image?*'* Tlie English word * molten' conveys a notion of melting, or fusion. But this is not the case with tlie Hebrew word, for which it is given. The Hebrew V^ signi- fies, generally, * to overspread,' or * cover all over,' in whatever manner, according to the different sub- ject, the overspreading or covering be effected ; whether by pouring forth a substance in fusion, or by spreading a cloth over or before, or by hammer- ing on metalline plates. It is on account of this metalline case, that we find a founder employed to make a graven image.t And that we read in Isaiah t of a workman that *' melteth a graven image ;" and in another place 1| w^e find the question, " who hath molten a graven image?" In these two passages the words should be * overlayeth,' and * overlaid.* (E) — <* a go-nurse.'* ''jp^fi'^i?. It is impossible to make this word a verb of any form, unless we would coin a conjugation on purpose, as some of the Jew- ish grammarians have done, calling it the conjuga-. tion Tiphel ; though no other verb is to be found in •" ■ '■ " ■ * ■ -• - ■ . II - .III . ^ .. . . I ll — " * Hab. ii, 18. f Judges xvii, 3. t Chap, xl, 19. II Isaiah xliv, 10. J. 4. 16S HOSEA. this conjugation of theirs, nor this supposed verb, in this conjugation, in any other place. But the word is a noun substantive; either the feminine n^^nn, with a paragogic '^, or the feminine M^i'in, with a final n, turned into H before the suffixed pronoun of the first person. If the "^ be simply paragogic, the noun signifies that sort of nurse who is employed in the office of teaching a young child to go, in the manner de- scribed in the explanatory note (4). If the ^ be the suffixed pronoun, the noun «l^i*^n expresses the stepping or pacing of the nurse after the child.* The former seems to me the easier, and the better exposition, though both come to the same sense. The Vulgate seems to have adopted the for- mer ; the LXX, the latter. — " Et ego quasi nutri- tins Ephraim.'' Vulgate. — Ka/ lycj cvn^Tcohiac/, tov 'E^^T]:y, I place the soph-pasuk at DlK. The version of the LXX, rightly pointed, gives the same sense : — xai ovk lymauv^ on icc(Jbat uvrovg h Bioc(ph^cc. av^owTTuv. And so it is understood by St Cyril of Alexandria. * Chap, iii, 8, 172 HOSEA. (H) — ** to me." I add these words, with Arch- bishop Newcombe, to preserve with perspicuity the elegant paronomasia of the original. (I) — " the sword shall weary itself.*' It has been objected to this way of rendering, that, to give this sense, the verb should be nn^n^ not n*7n, which is masculine ; inasmuch as ^"^n, the nominative case of the verb, is a feminine noun ; and two other verbs, with which it is connected, in this same sentence are in the feminine form. Not to insist upon the frequent anomaly of the genders, in things not na- turally of either sex, the roots ^"^n, « to be in pain/ and »n^n, « to be sick, or faint, or weary,' are so nearly allied, that an intercommunity of significa- tions may easily be allowed. And n^n, from the root ^n, is the third person preterite singular feminine. I must add, that the version of the LXX, and the Syriac, confirm this sense of H^n in this place. And the Syriac indisputably, and the LXX, too, accord- ins to the Alexandrine text, takes ^"^n as the nomi- native of the verb.* — " his diviners." '>^'^^. Diviners are called 0^*1^^ * See App. No» II. HOSE A. 173 fi'om the root "T^^, because they affected a solitary ascetic life, t This sense of the word D**"i3 seems of all the most apposite to the context. The word is certainly ca- pable of other senses, and has been differently taken in this place by different interpreters ; among those, I mean, who adhere to the Hebrew text, as we now read it. Some render it * branches.' The word certainly signifies, among other things, the arms, or principal branches, of a great tree. But if this be the true rendering here, it must be taken figuratively. And what the figure may be, is not agreed among those, who adopt this rendering. Abarbanel expounds it, of the strong or valiant men ; saying, that the chief branches of the people in a kingdom are the valiant men. Rabbi Tanchum explains it, of their children, which he says, are as the branches springing from their fathers. * Branches ' is the rendering of the Bishop's Bible. But in a marginal note the word is expounded of ' the villages adjoining to the cities.' This was Kimchi's interpretation. But, in my judg- * See Vitringa upon Isaiah xvi, 6, and xliv, 25, and Livelye npon this place. 6 174. HOSEA. ment, it is set aside by his own remark upon the word ; that, in the sense of branches, it is to be understood only of the great limbs of a tree, which issue immediately from the trunk. If branches therefore were the proper rendering, I should think Abarbanefs, or Rabbi Tanchum's, the better exposi* tion. Some expound the branches of the turrets and bastions upon the wall ; quce promi7ient ex muris, lit rami ex trunco. But in this interpretation the similitude is so far fetched, that it deserves no at- tention. Some render the word * membra,' or ' artus.' In- deed it is used for the principal limbs of an animal, as well as of a tree. And this sense is adopted by Arias Montanus, Calvin, Junius and Tremellius and Cocceius. I suppose by the members of Ephraim, these intei^preters understood the different orders of the state ; the royal family, the army, the magistrates, the priests, the prophets, the commonalty, for these are the limbs of the body politic. In the English Geneva the word is * bars.' Luther has an equivalent Latin word, ^ vectes j' and Dio- dati, ^ sbarre.' The word may certainly signify stout wooden bars. In Exodus xxv, IS, 14, 15, and in other places, it is used for the long wooden poles on HOSEA. 175 which the ark, and other articles of the i'urniture of the sanctuary were carried upon the shoulders of the Levites. These bars are understood by some, literally, of the bars of the gates of the fortified towns J but by the most learned of those who adopt that rendering, figuratively, of great men, either in the state or in the army. " Magnates, qui vectium instar rempublicam sustinent," says Calasio. But Grotius, ** Vectes recte vocantur, qui armis rem- publicam sustentant.'* And with him I think Jona- than and Rabbi Solomon agree. For D'»*^'<5il is pro- perly a military word. It is somewhat in favour of this interpretation, that the Greek language has a similar figure in the word i^^ardf which, among its other senses, signifies literally the great wooden rol- lers which were placed under vessels drawn up upon the beach to preserve the keels from the effect of the damp ; which would have rotted them, had they rested upon the bare ground. But, figuratively, the same word is used to denote great chieftains, who, by their valour and skill in the art of war, were the defence and stay of the kingdom. Thus in the Ihad, Sarpedon is called %xa •Trokriog, And he is so called, as the poet tells us, on account of the great force that he led to the defence of Trov, and hi-^ 176 HOSE A, personal military prowess.* And in the Odyssey^ after the slaughter of the suitors, Ulysses says to Telemachus, that they two had slain i§(jb(z 'TrokYiog, giving that name to the whole corps of the slaugh- tered princes as the bravest of the youth of Ithaca, t Diodati understands the word of the whole mili- tary strength of the kingdom, consisting both in the works of the fortifications and the valour of the people ; — " sbarre* c. tutte le sue forze e difese, cosi nella fortezza delle citta, come mel valor degli huomini.** The LXX and the Syriac certainly represent a different reading : •J'^'T'3, instead of *»'>'l^. — Ka/ hf^k- v>}(Tiv poi/j!pocia h Tccig 'jroKiaiv avrov, kui pcocrs'Trocvffiv h ruig %i^ffiv avTov, " The sword is weakened in his cities, and is become inactive in his hands." Thus the LXX : and the Syriac is to the same effect. In both these versions the sword is taken, not for the * •••T^aug ^i xccrxK^vjSiv A«t€g 7rfv6tf Axei iTravTf h h ecvrog u^icmvia^t (Mtj(,i3i^ habet vim frequentativam. ** Non soleo urbem intrare ; non sum urbicola." Est etiam in singulis membris pul- chra inter se oppositio partium. " Sum Deus et non Homo ;" est auxesis in sequenti, et paulum variatur oppositio partium. " Sum Deus tuus, tecum habi- tans, sed peculiari modo, extra ordinem, non more hominum." Lowth, Praslect. XIX. To this expo- sition of that admirable critic, I scruple not to ap- ply, what he himself says of this passage of the pro- phet, ^' Nihil, opinor, clarius, nihil elegantius." rO) — <« himself." ^"^'I is evidently emphatical HOSEA. 179 here. But the emphasis would not appear in the translation, without the insertion of *' himself.'* (P) — " hurry." It is impossible to render, in English, the full force of the word rr\n^. It ex- presses the rapid motion of birds in the air upon iluttering pinion. The Latin word, * trepidabunt/ would exactly render it. (Q) — " as the sparrow." ^'^^'D. As a particu- lar species of bird (the dove) is connected with As- syria, a particular species also must be connected with Egypt. Therefore I take "i^^^ in its specific, not in its general sense. I render "the sparrow," and "the dove;" be- cause the Hebrew nouns, though in the singular number, certainly are to be taken here for the spe- cies, not for a single bird of each kind ; a flight of sparrows, and a flight of doves. The sparrow and the dove are both birds of very quick motion. (R) '— " saith Jehovah." Here the chapter is closed in the Hebrew text, and the Syriac version ; and the following verse is given to the next chapter. But the division of the LXX, Vulgate, and Chaldee, M 2 180 HOSE A, which our Public Translation follows, seems prefer- able. (S) — ^'the Holy Ones." CD^tT'^lp. Even the Jewish expositors, R. Tanchum and Kimchi, under- stand this plural Word in this place as signifying God : although the former disapproves not altoge- ther the opinion of those, who would understand it of " angels." Among Christian expositors, Lyra, OEcolampadius, Munster, Mercer, Vatablus, under- stand it, as I do, of the persons of the godhead. Lyra goes farther ; for he takes p^^ also for an epi- thet of God. And the apposition of this in the sin- gular, with " Holy Ones" in the plural, he under- stands as an intimation of the mystery of the unity of the essence in the plurality of the persons. But in this I cannot follow him. For although I think not lightly of the like argument for the doctrine, drawn from other texts of Scripture, I cannot find it here ; being persuaded that pi^^ is not to be ap- plied to God, but to Judah. It is remarkable, how- ever, that a learned Jew, Kimchi's father, under- stood pi^- here as an attribute of God, HOSEA. ISl CHAP. XIL (A) See chap. IX, note (f), (B) — " matched with the angel." This I take to be the exact force of the Hebrew l^^*^ ^^- '^^og Tov ayyskov. (C) — " and was endued witli strength ;" for ^5^\ the later prophets of Soncinum (1486), forty- one MSS of Kennicotf s, and one more originally, read '^'S^'^X It makes no difference in the sense, but the orthography is certainly more regular* (D) — " he had wept." Of weeping, Archbishop Newcombe says, " we read nothing in Gen. xxxii." Certainly w^e read nothing of Jacob's weeping, upon the occasion of the colluctation at Penuel. But as the weeping and supplicating stand connected here, with the finding of God at Bethel ; it is evident, that this weeping and supplicating were previous to any meeting with God at Bethel : consequently, previ- ous to Jacob's first meeting with God at Bethel. Now, previous to the first meeting, there certainly was weeping and supplicating. For w^e read, that M 3 182 HOSE A. previous to that meeting Jacob was ^' in distress.** And that God ** answered him in that distress." * I agree with Calvin, that the weeping and entreaty, which procured the very extraordinary favour of God's appearance to Jacob, in a dream at Bethel,! are mentioned here, as the means by which he ob- tained that strength, which enabled him to prevail over the Angel. The remark of Luther, upon this extraordinary conflict between Jacob and the person called the Angel, is so excellent, that I cannot but subjoin it here. " Disputari autem varie solet, quahs ea fuerit lucta. Sed historia ostendit, Jacob venisse in cer- tum vit^ discrimen, et totis viribus esse ab antago- nists ignoto invasum. Itaque viribus corporis ipse quoque contra antagonistam est usus, ut defenderet vitam. Non tamen pugnavit corporis viribus tan- tum j etiam fides ejus luctata est ; ac primum in tarn praesenti periculo consolatus se est, quod divinitus esset jussus redire in terram Canaan. Deinde toto pectore arripuit promissionem in Bethel a Domino factam, ubi clare promissa est defensio. Cum igi- * Gen. XXXV, 8. f Gen. xxviii. HOSEA. iBS lur angeretur, ac ab ignoto hoste totis viribus op- pugnaretur, etsi viribus suis contra est usus, tameii fortius pugnavit fide ; intuens promissionem, et certo statuens Deum, secundum verbum suum, afiuturum in tanto periculo, et servaturum. Atque hac fide vicit Deum : etsi enim Christus tentaret Jacob hac lucta, tamen praeter vel contra verbum suum, quo Jacob nixus est, nihil potuit facere.'* (E) — *^ with us." ^^^y. It is perhaps a ques- tion that has never been accurately discussed, in what cases the suffix "^^ may be taken as the pro- noun of the third person singular masculine ; whe- ther, when attached to any other words, than the infinitives and third persons singular future of verbs. If to any other words, whether to indeclinables. (F) — " his memorial." I'lit. Houbigant refers the suffixed pronoun not to Jehovah but to Jacob, conceiving that the passage alludes to the name of Israel, given by the Angel to Jacob. It must be confessed, that the versions of the LXX, and the Syriac, are in favour of this interpretation, which was adopted also in the Bishop's Bible, 'O k Kv^toq 6 ^ioc 6 vranofcoocTcuo IfjTut fi,vr,^(i(iv\/ov olvtov, LXX. 9$ 4 184 HOSEA. cn\£>]L] }jA1**/ ioii^ Jjpco Syr. If the pronoun may be supposed to rehearse Jacob, as these interpreters must have taken it, Houbigant's proposed emenda- tions would however be unnecessary. For his sense, with this reference only of the pronoun, would be more emphatically expressed in the text as it stands, than as altered, without any authority, by that learned and acute, but too adventurous critic. But to the sense I have these objections : 1st, The name of Israel has no reference to Jl^ri^ but to ^i<. And taking the initial "^ in ^Kn;:.»'» as merely formative of the proper name, as I conceive it to be, the exact significance of the name is, ^* a prince of God." 2d., God himself says this name Jehovah is his memorial ; that is, his appropriate, perpetual name.* '* And God said moreover unto Moses, thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel : Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you. This is my name for ever, and this my memo- rial (''"^^O unto all generations." Where ' this' re- hearses * Jehovah' by itself; for the addition, * the — — — ■ ^ '^ -t — - — —.___. — . — — * - * Exod, iii, 15. HOSEA. 185 God of Abraham,' &c. is no part of the name or memorial, but a most gracious declaration of Jeho- vah's peculiar connection with the fathers of the Israelites. Accordingly, the Psalmist says, " Je- liovah is thy name for ever ; Jehovah is thy memo- rial for all generations." * Then, after a description of the impotence and nothingness of idols, the work of men's hands, the psalm concludes with animated solemn worship of Jehovah, by the reiteration of this name. " House of Israel, bless ye the Jehovah. House of Aaron, bless ye the Jehovah. " House of Levi, bless ye the Jehovah. Ye that fear Jehovah, bless ye the Jehovah. ** Blessed be Jehovah in Sion. Inhabitants of Je- rusalem praise Jah."t Where I observe by the way, that wherever HK is prefixed to Jehovah as the accusative case after a verb, it points to the name '* Jehovah," as the me- morial. " Bless him who is the Jehovah." I have therefore always expressed it in my translation by ' the: 3dy I observe, that the proper name of a man, or _ _j^„ — , , ._ — ^- — , — * Ps. cxxxv, 13. t ycvsQS 19, 2.0, 21. iSG HOSE A. of a created being, is never called its * memorial.' This is applied solely and exclusively to the essential name of the self-existent God, (G) — '' chanty and justice/* See chapter vi^ notes (d), (f), and (g). (H) " A trafficker of Canaan.'* Od. H. 288, *' Ludit oratio in ambiguo," says Houbigant ; with whom I agree. For the Hebrew word |y^5 is both a proper name and an appellative, rendering * a mer- chant/ And to preserve the ambiguity in my trans- lation, I join the appellative and the proper name together. By giving the proper name without the appellative, or the appellative without the proper name, the whole spirit of tlie original would be lost to the English reader. All the antient versions, ex° cept the Chaldee, give the proper name. (I) — « upon over-reaching." pti^V^. The word expresses ^ oppression/ either by violence or fraudu- HOSE A. 187 lent extortion. HUoiny^rrjtjjoty in any way. — *' Cu- pide infert injurias." Luther, — '* amat fraudare/* Castalio. (K) " Although iniquity." To this effect the Syriac. And see chap, ix, note (f). (L) — " coming upon.*' This I take to be the force of ^y, expressing the control of the inspiring Spirit over the prophets, -'^->^'< ille fatigat Os rabidum, fera corda domans, fingitque premendo." JEn, vi, 79. Upon many occasions there seems to have been much reluctance and renitence upon the part of the prophet. (M) — " he kept watch." "^W, * excubias egit.* In the office of a shepherd. (N) — " tended." ^W^. In allusion to a shep. herd tending a flock. 188 HOSEA, CHAP. XIII. (A) ■— " in their great wisdom." So I render CDilDni. — « pro sua scilicet sapientia.'* Observe, that the reading DJ'^^ni, instead of Dii^n:}, is con- firmed by a great number of the old editions, among them by the text of Minchath Shai, by 31 MSS of Kennicott's collation, and by 85 in all of De Rossi's. (B) — ^' molten images.'* I am persuaded the noun substantive, though in the singular, is used as a collective, and renders a plural sense. (C) — " their finishing is, that they say." In the printed text we find athnach under the word ri'^^, which necessarily makes that the final word of the clause, and a new sentence begins with DJl^. Most interpreters, taking up with this division, render with our Public Translation, '* all of it the work of the craftsmen ; they say of them" — where " all of it" is given to answer to J^^X Expositors find great emphasis in " all of it," expressing, as they con- ceive, that there was nothing in the idol beyond the form which the image received from the hand of HOSE A. I9,(i the artificer ; no mind, will, understanding, or power. And this sense, it must be confessed, would be very apposite to the general subject, if it could be brought without violence out of the Hebrew words. But for this purpose the word, instead of »^^5, should have been ^^^5, from the root ^^5, ' to bring to perfec- tion, to complete, to finish,' in a good sense. Front this noun ^^^'^ is the word which signifies totality, if we may so speak, in the concrete. Put in apposi- tion with any noun substantive, it signifies, that the thing named by that noun substantive is in its state of totality, nothing wanting, the whole of it. As r^^n S*7D n:D.* From the same root ^^i3 comes indeed another noun ^^5, which signifies totality in the abstract. And this noun prefixed to substan- tives, or with affixed pronouns, may seem nearly- equivalent to the former ^ for it often renders ^ all of the thing named by the subsequent noun sub- stantive, or rehearsed by the affixed pronoun, a^; ^r^iiW t:^n T.K ^5. « All the brethren of the poor man hate him." t '^S '^ijn. _« this nation all of it."t It is to be observed, however, that the two * Numb, iv, G. |- Prov. xix, 7. i Mai. iii, 9. 190 HOSE A, nouns, thus used, are materially different. ^13 ren- ders the aggregate of many : the collected total of what naturally exists in detached parts. Whereas ^^^5 renders the complete entire state of an indivi- dual thing. And this is the meaning wanted here, according to this exposition. The word ?^'^5 there- fore cannot be taken here as the noun ^5 with the feminine affix f^, rehearsing the feminine noun sub- stantive n^^. The Masoretes indeed have pointed the word, as they have done in other places, where the affix »^ is used, as they pretend, by an enallage for the mascuHne "i; viz. nVl). In three of the texts, where they pretend to find this enallage, t the affix seems to be really feminine. For it rehearses Moab, L e. the land of Moab ; which is feminine as a land, masculine as a people, and is rehearsed by other masculine and feminine pronouns indiscrimin- ately, in the same texts. In the other passages the MSS vary ; so that the existence of the anomaly in the genuine Hebrew text is doubtful. But this by the way. The Masoretes introduce it here, con- ceiving that the word rehearsed is the masculine t^^a^V^y not the feminine nSDD. But this will make Is. xv, 3. xvi, 7, and J«r. xlviii? 38. HOSEA. lai no difference ; for nc*yTD and n^XiD here are the same thing under different names. But the objection to this exposition of the word n^l5 is, that ^5 cannot render the all of an individual j and the individual idol, brought to its perfection by the hand of the artist, is the thing in question here, according to this exposition of the word, and of the context. Hence I am persuaded that the final H is no affix, but belongs to the word itself; which I take to be a verbal from the root ^75 j which signifies to finish in a good, bad, or middle sense. The verbal I would point n^p, and take in its common and most obvious sense of the * act of finishing.' Then ath- nach being carried back, and placed under the pre- ceding word Cii^'in (instead of tiphcha, which, with its attendant merca, I expunge), that the clause may end with that word, the following words make a clause by themselves; namely, D'*i CD^^ n^5 pp*^*-) o'i'^iy D-iiS ^ns? anrji*. in this clause the noun substantive ri^5 is the nominative of the verb substantive understood ; CDI^^ is a dative after the verb substantive understood; and Qnt:^* DJl is a nominative absolute, exactly answering to the abla- tive absolute in Latin, when tlie ablative absolute expresses at once, as it often does, both the means 19^ HOSEA. by which, and the time when, of the action ; and the clause following ta'^'n^K stands as the accusative after that transitive participle. * Finis [est] ilhs^ dicentibus, Vitulos osculantor, qui victimas humanas immolant.' (D) It may seem extraordinary, that we find it nowhere mentioned in the sacred history, by whom the practice was introduced of sacrificing men to the calves, the pretended emblems of the true God, if so great an abomination ever prevailed. But this would appear an objection of no great weight to the interpretation I have given of the prophet's words, which, however hitherto overlooked, is the only one they will naturally bear, if the prevalence of the practice were of necessity implied in the words of the prophet so interpreted. But it is possible that the calves themselves were never so w^orshipped. But that the zeal for idolatry was so great with some of the latter kings, that they made it a condi- tion, upon which alone they would tolerate the wor- ship of Jehovah in the calves, that the worshipper should join in the offering of human sacrifices to Moloch, or some other idol. For if any of the kings of Israel issued an edict of toleration, under such a 2 HOSE A. 19S condition, he said in effect, " let the sacriiicers of men kiss the calves." It is true, no such measure is mentioned in the sacred history.- But tlie silence of the history is certainly no confutation of any thing, to which the prophets clearly allude as a fact. For the history of the kingdom of Israel, under the different usurpers, after the fall of Zedekiah, the son of the second Jeroboam, is so concise and general, that we know little of the detail of it, but what is to be gathered from allusions. We have the names of the kings in succession, the length of their reigns, and their principal exploits. But we know nothing of the particulars, but what we gather from the pro- phets, or from the more circumstantial history of the collateral reigns in the kingdom of Judah. In- somuch that human victims may have been offered to the calves, or the worshippers of the calves may have been compelled to dip their hands in the blood of Moloch's victims ; though no evidence of either practice remains, but this allusion of the prophet Hosea ; which leaves some degree of doubt between the two. Sacrifices to the calves themselves seem to me the more probable object of the allusion. WTi^n it is rejcollected that Solomon himself built % temple to Moloch, and that Ahab introduced the. VOL. IV. N 194. HOSEA. worship of the Tyrian Baal in the kingdom of Sama^ ria, and that both these idols were appeased with infant blood, there is too much reason to believe that the practice must have begun early in both kingdoms, although it probably was late before it came to a height in either ; and yet the first men- tion of it, in the history of the kingdom of Samaria, is when the sacred writer closes that history, with an enumeration of the crimes which provoked the judgment of God, and brought on its ruin.* Never- theless, it is certain, that this abominable custom was of older date, and perhaps of not much older date, in the kingdom of Samaria, than in that of Judah.t For, in the kingdom of Judah, Ahaz is the first king of whom we read that he adopted the practice. And it is mentioned as one of the things in which he followed the example of the kings of Israel. — " Ahaz did not that which was right in the sight of Jehovah, like David his father. But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, insomuch that he passed his son through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen." t * 2 Kings xvii, 17. f ^^^ ^PP* ^^' ^^* t 2KingsxvJ, 2, 3. ROSEA. 195 I am aware that Dr Wells endeavours to draw the contrary conclusion from this very passage of the book of Kings ; namely, that the practice of liuman sacrifices began in the kingdom of Judah first, and was introduced in the kingdom of Israel by Hoshea, the last king. The Hebrew particle D^\ which I render * insomuch that,* Dr Wells, following our Public Translation, * yea, and" — understands as introducing a particular, in which Ahaz followed not, but went beyond, the kings of Israel. And I admit, that he went beyond them, but still follow- ing their example. He went beyond them in their own way. And the circumstance in which he went beyond them was this ; that he sacrificed his own son, which is not recorded of any of the kings of Israel. The amount of the passage therefore, giving the particle CD^'i its full force, is this: '' But he walk- ed in the ways of the kings of Israel, in such de- gree, [or to such a length], that he passed his own son," &c. The notion, that human sacrifices were intro- duced in the kingdom of Samaria by Hoshea, is a conceit of Dr Wells, founded upon nothing more certain, than his own arbitrary division of the book of Hosea, mentioned in my preface. According to N 2 19(3 HOSE A, that division, the first eight verses of this thirteenth chapter belong to a prophecy, beginning with the 11th verse of chapter vii, the whole of which was delivered in the reign of Hoshea. And since the edict, that the sacrificers of men should kiss the calves, must be understood of some injunction of human sacrifices, which took place about the time of the utterance of this prophecy ; it must be under- stood of an injunction taking place in the reign of Hoshea. And upon these grounds, the infamy of the introduction of those sanguinary rites is thrown^ by Dr Wells, upon that reign. But the character of Hoshea, though none of the best, is vindicated, however, from this aspersion, by the express testimony of the sacred historian ; who writes, that *^ Hoshea, the son of Elah, began to reign over Israel in Samaria nine years. And he did that which was evil in the eyes of Jehovah, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him." * Hoshea's doings, therefore, were not good, yet they were less bad than those of his predecessors. Whereas, if the abomination of human sacrifices had not been introduced by them, and he introduced it 5 * 2 Kings xviij 1^9. HOSEA. 197 he, it is evident, was worse than they. Dr Wells eludes this argument by a great stroke of verbal criticism. For he says, that in the disjunctive proposition ** Ho- shea did evil, but not as the former kings," the par- tide ' but' is to be understood, not by way of exte- nuation, but of aggravation ; that Hoshea was worse than they ; and, by being worse, was not like them. And thus having turned the meaning of this plain text of the sacred historian upside down, he triumphs, as '* having set a matter in a clear lights not afore duly taken notice of by any writer, and yet of importance to be rightly understood." The matter is, indeed, of importance to be rightly understood. And it is of great importance to vindicate the sacred text from these puerile subtleties of criticism, which leave plain readers at a loss, which way to take the most familiar expressions, which, by the usage of mankind, have but one meaning. When two things are thus contrasted by the disjunctive * but,' that^ of which the likeness is denied, is always set forth as the inferior, whether tor good or for bad, in that with respect to which the comparison is made. Thus, if it be said, that Livia is beautiful, but not like Ju- lia ; the meaning is, that Livia, though beautiful, is inferior in beauty to Julia. Hippia is lascivious, N 3 198 HOSEA. but not like Messalina. The sense is, that Hippisn is the less lascivious of the two. So when it is said, that " Hoshea did evil, but not like the former kings ;" the certain and single meaning is, that he was less evil in his doings than they. It is true, if we reverse the meaning, and say, Livia is more beautiful than Julia; Hippia more lascivious than Messalina ; Hoshea worse than his predecessors ; a disparity, though of the contrary kind, will still sub- sist, and dissimilitude might be predicated in the same terms, if the expression were used for the first time. But the custom of speech, in all languages, is the other way. Dr Wells was a man of great piety, and of sound learning. But his criticisms are sometimes more subtle than judicious. Upon the whole, it may be concluded with cer- tainty, from this text of Hosea, that, in the latter period of the monarchy of the ten tribes, the prac- tice of human sacrifices came to such a height, and was so much countenanced by the kings and rulers, that it was either enjoined as an essential in the wor- ship even of the calves ; or required of their wor- shippers, with regard to other idols, as the only con- dition upon which even that shadow of the true wor- ship would be tolerated. The time when this took HOSE A. 199 place, cannot be determined with certainty ; I think it must have been as early as the reign of Menahem; for, from the expressions in 2 Kings xvi, 3. we may gather, that Ahaz had the example of more kings of Israel than one or two, for the detestable rites, which he introduced among his own subjects. (E) —'' I sustained thee." Tnj?n\ i. e. literally, " I knew thee," i. e. I acknowledged thee, as my peculiar people, by my watchful care of thee. I was attentive to thee, protecting thee in all dan- gers, and supplying all thy wants. I know no word in our language, that so well expresses the sense of the original in this place, as that I have chosen, " I sustained.'* I'Troi^amv <7g, with equal exactness, ex- presses the sense in Greek ; and these are the words of the LXX. The Syriac has rls^\ \A. Whence it has been conjectured, that T^'^yn was the reading of the copies, from which those two versions were made. The conclusion, however, is rather preca- rious; for, with regard to the LXX, their version expresses what must be allow^ed to be the sense, whichever way they read. And it is hardly a suffi- cient ground to alter the Hebrew text, that, if we were translating back again from the Greek into He- N 4 '200 HOSEA* brew, without a previous knowledge of the actuai state of the text, we should render lrot(ji^ccivou az by Tn'iy^, as the word literally answering to it. As for the Syriac, I see indeed no reason why he should use the word ^.A*:^? if he found Tnyn^, in his He- brew text ; since the word y"^'' has the same latitude of meaning in the Syriac dialect, as in the Hebrew itself. But the letters ^ and ^ resemble each other in the Syriac alphabet almost as nearly as in the Hebrew. And if a corruption, by error of the transcriber, is to be supposed in either ; it is much more likely to have taken place in the Syriac, than in the Hebrew. It is more probable, that the error of a scribe has changed r^v' ^^^^ r^^**^'^ i^ the Syriac, than TH^^yn into 1'»ny-!*» in the Hebrew. For this may be laid down as a general maxim, deserving the attention of modern critics, who are often over hasty to correct the text upon the authority, or sup- posed authority, of the versions; that where the sense of both readings is the same, as is the case here, and the text and the version may be made to agree, by a slight alteration in either ; the suspicion of corruption ought rather to fall upon the version, than the Hebrew text \ considering the scrupulous care, carried even the length of superstition, with HOSEA. 201 which the latter was watched and guarded by the Jews. The argument for a facihty of emendation, taken from the resemblance of certain letters in the Hebrew alphabet, goes evidently the contrary way ; when the various reading, deduced from the autho- rity of the versions, is not confirmed by a single MS or old edition, as is the case again here. The more the *! and "^ of the Hebrew^ alphabet are alike, the more incredible it is, that all the MSS now extant should give 1**nj;"T>, as they do, if I'^n'^yn were the true reading ; or, if indeed it had been a reading at all, when the Syriac version, or that of the LXX was made. Jonathan, in this place, is so paraphrastic, that he may seem to be no authority for either reading. For, like the LXX, he gives what is the plain sense of the passage, whichever way it be read. But I think the comparison of this text, and Jonathan's Targum with another text, and Onkelos's Targum affixed, afford a very strong argument for the text as it stands 1*»r\;?l\ In Deut. ii, 7. Moses says, ** For Jehovah thv God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hands ; he know^eth thy walking through this great wilderness." ISIDn HK "in^^ yT) rirn ^^^T^, This passage, and the passage we are 202 HOSEA. upon of Hosea, are much alike. The subject is the same ; the wandering of the Israehtes in the wilder- ness. The expressions are very nearly the same. In Hosea, ** God knew thee." — In Deuteronomy, ** God knoweth thy walking.'* The expression of Hosea, *' God knoweth thee/' is thus paraphrased by Jonathan : i^naiDS prr^lDnii* n^psiD KJK, « I sup» plied their necessaries in the wilderness." The ex- pression, " God knoweth thy walking," — in Deu- teronomy, is thus paraphrased by Onkelos : 1^ pD liiv, « He supplied thy necessaries." It will hardly bear a doubt, that it must have been the same Hebrew word in both places, which these learned Paraphrasts have expounded by the same Chaldee words. But, in Deuteronomy ii, 7. the word is y"i\ without any variety of the Samaritan text, or of a single MS, and confirmed by all the versions. We must conclude, therefore, that the true reading, in this text of Hosea, is the word T^ny"!\ from the same root. And yet, as was observed with respect to the words of the LXX, I'jroii^nmv cs, if we were to translate these Chaldee words, w^hich render " the supply of necessaries," back again into Hebrew, in either place, we should be apt to resort to the root riyn, rather than y"l\ HOSEA. 2^3 I have dwelt the longer upon this passage, because 1 know of no instance in which an emendation, upon the bare authority of versions, without a single MS, and without any imperious exigence of the place, may seem more plausible than this, And yet in this, even the apparent consent of versions fails. It is otherwise indeed when the textual reading, and the reading inferred from antient versions, differ ma- terially in sense ; and where a strong exigentia loci appears to be on the side of the versions. In such cases, I would submit to the versions, even without MSS. (F) — " parching thirst." nS^S**7n. The root ^vh occurs no where in the Bible, nor any of its de- rivatives, except this noun ; nor this noun, except in this place. I take the noun to be plural ; and the correct orthography to be n^^')?"^^^. For the latter prophets of Soncinum of 1486, with twenty, two MSS of Kennicott's, and three more originally, give the perfect word niD^iK in its usual form ; which could hardly be, if that were the true form of the word in tliis place. But it is remarkable, that the LXX, the Syriac, and Aquila, give tou again, in the 14th verse, where ''H*^* can be nothing but the first person singu- lar future of the verb substantive : and is so render- ed by Symmachus, the Vulgate, and St Jerome, and in effect by Jonathan ; who, instead of * I shall be,' in the first person, puts as usual, * My word shall be,' in the third. Hence I think it may with certainty be concluded, that ^1^, as well as i^"^^, may ask the question about place; and that where the former occurs, it may be either the interrogative adverb, or the verb substantive future, as may best suit the context. The true orthography of the second inter- rogative I take to be i^'^s^i* j and the force of it is, * where is he nowf* in this critical moment of dan- ger. This force of N^S^JK is expressed, though not adequately, by the Syriac, the Vulgate, and Jona- than. I conceive the word asks the question about time, but involving a repetition of the interrogation about place. VOL. IV. o 21 e HOSE A. The emphasis of the interrogation, as a reply, in angry argument, to the effrontery of the Israelites not admitting their defenceless state, as explained in note (9), is very strongly expressed in the Syriac, y i^%V' ^«n pui, Ubinam igitur rex tuus ? (P) _« forsooth/' This I take to be the force ofVprefixedin ir*^n (Q) Here at l^'I^St^^ I place the soph-pasuk, and connect the six following words with the next verse. (R) — « he is of the thoughtless race." CDSn vh p Kin. Literally, " he is a son not wise.'' My rendering may seem, at first sight, paraphrastic ; but, upon examination, I think it will be found to give neither more nor less than the just sense of the original. CD^n, as a noun, is properly ay^/voy?, one that has all his wits about him, ever heedful of liis situations, vigilant, and provident against dangers, even remote. D^n K^ describes the steresis of ay- xima^ one of a contrary turn of mind j regardless, not only of remote consequences, but even of hijg present situation 5 thoughtless and secure in imrai- nent dangers. This character, as it may be best HOSEA. 211 expressed in our language, is ' thoughtlessness. * The word * son,' as it is used here, always describes an individual as belonging to a class, distinguished by a certain occupation or character, and considered as a particular race or family. And conversely, the principal or head of that class is called in the Bible ' the father.' I cannot find words in the Englisli language, more exactly rendering the ideas corre- sponding to the Hebrew words, than those I ha\e nsed. (S) — " the aperture, or breach.*' ^yiV. Tiie passage between the bones of the pelvis burst open by the throes of labour, — " Collum uteri." Vitrin- ga ad Is. xxxvii, 3. (T) " From the power of Hell"— The Hebrew, ^^^^ ; the Greek, ' A^;?? ; the Latin, Orcus ; and the English, Hell ; are words of one and the same im- port, signifying the place appointed for the habita- tion of departed souls, in the interval between death and the general resurrection. The word ^"^^'^ de- scribes this place as the object of universal inquiry, the unknown mansion, about whicli all are anxiously inquisitive. The Latin, < Orcus,' names it as a o 2 312 HOSEA. place inclosed within an impassable fence (3^^o?)> the Greek, 'A^???, and the English, Hell, describe it by the property of invisibility ; for nothing more is included in the natural meaning of those words. In the New Testament, two words are indiscriminately rendered, in our English Bible, by the word * Hell,' ""Ah? and T&mcc' the latter, a word of Hebrew origin, transplanted into the Greek language, as the appro- priate name of the place of the damned ; which was generally so called by the Jews of the apostolic age. This use of the word Hell, in the English New Tes- tament, has imposed a sense upon it quite foreign to its etymology, and abhorrent from its more general application. The ^"^*<^ of the Old Testament, and the Hades of the New, is indeed the Hell to which our Lord Jesus Christ, according to the apostle's creed, de- scended. It is the paradise, to which he conveyed the soul of the repentant thief. It is the place whi- ther his soul went and preached, to the souls, not in prison, as we read in our English Bible, but b (pvKa%yi^ * in safe keeping,' (if that text of St Peter, I, iii, 19, is to be understood literally, and I know not how it can be understood otherwise), which one while liacl been disobedient (a7ru0ri<^u(Tt 'Ttori) j but, as the ex- HOSE A. 213 pression * one while had been ' implies, were at length recovered from that disobedience, probably by the preaching of Noah, and before their death had been brought to repentance and faith in the Redeemer to come. To these souls our Lord Jesus Christ went in his soul and preached. But what could he preach to them ? Not repentance. They had repented of their disobedience, before they were separated from the body by death, or they had not been found in the bundle of life. But, if he went, and proclaimed to them (\x,r,ovliv) the great tidings that he had actually offered the sacrifice of their re- demption, and was now about to enter into glory 5 this was a preaching that would give new animation and assurance to their hope of the consummation, in due season, of their bliss. And this, by the way, I take to be the true sense of this text of St Peter. Another inaccuracy obtains in our English Bible ; the Hebrew ^^'^V (Sheol) being perpetually in the Old Testament, and the Greek *A^rig ( Hades ) sometimes in the New, rendered improperly by the word * Grave,' which neither signifies. The Hebrew word for the Grave is ^^p, and the Greek 7(i(pog. The Hebrew names of Hell and the Grave never are confounded, nor the Greek, by o 3 214. hosea; the sacred writers. No two things, indeed, can be more distinct. Hell is the mansion of the departed spirit ; the Grave is the receptacle of the dead body. Hell is often personified, as it is here, by the sacred writers; the Grave, never. The boldest personifi- cations of Hell, which occur to my memory, are in two passages of the Apocalypse. — ** I looked, and behold a pale horse ; and his rider was seated upon him : his name was Death, and Hell followed with him.'* * And again, — ** And Death and Hell gave up the deceased that were in them ; and they were judged, every one according to his works, and Death and Hell were cast into the lake of fire." t I am inclined to think, but I suggest it only to the examination of the learned, without venturing to assert, that Death and Hell are always conjointly personified by the sacred writers, never one without the other. But it is to be observed, that when either is per- sonified, it is always in the character of an enemy of man, and an antagonist of the Saviour; which is * Rev. vi, 8. t XX, 13, 14. ROSEA. 215 easily understood of Death, but may seem extraor- dinary of the other; if wliat has been maintained be true, that Hell, in the true import of the word, as equivalent to Sheol, Hades, or Orcus, is a place of rest and comfort to the departed souls of the saints -, which is most certainly the case, insomuch, that to be in this place is mentioned by St Paul, as ** a be- ing with the Lord.*' * Nevertheless, the happiness of this place is certainly full assurance of hope, ra- ther than fruition. It is a place perhaps of seclu- sion from the external world ; and the state of the departed saints, while they continue there, is a con- dition of unfinished bliss, in which the souls of the justified would not have remained for any time (if indeed they had ever entered it), had not sin intro- duced death. It is a state, therefore, consequent upon death ; consequent, therefore, upon sin, though no part of the punishment of it. And the resurrec- tion of the saints is often described, as an enlarge^ ment of them by our Lord's power, from confine- ment in a place, not of punishment, but of inchoate enjoyment only. " Our Lord will break the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder,*' and -— • • "s * 2 Cor. 5, S, and Phil, i, 23. O 4 216 HOSEA, set at liberty *^his prisoners of hope.** And whei^ this place of safe keeping is personified, it is, con- sistently with these notions of it, represented as one of the enemies which Christ is to subdue. In this passage, Death and Hell are personified very remarkably. And the two persons are threaten- ed each with an incurable disease, causing speedy death, to be inflicted by God the Saviour. (V) ^« thy pestilence." For I'^^^^'n, the latter Prophets of Soncinum (1486) ; the Bible of Sonci- num (1488); the Bible of Brescia (1494); ninety- seven MSS of Kennicott's, among them the oldest ^nd the best, one more originally ; twenty-five MSS of De Rossi's, and four more originally, give 1*^^^ in the singular. This I adopt as unquestionably the true reading. The versions (although all mis-tran- slate, except Symmachus, St Jerome, and the Vul- gate) all give the noun in the singidar, except Aqui- la, and the fifth Greek. *^^'^, in the sense of the plague, pestilence, or destruction, is never used in the plural number. (W) — " thy burning plague." I^p. The word ^t:p occurs only in four places, of which this is one. HOSE A. 217 Tlie other three are, Deut. xxxii, 24, Ps. xci, 6, and Is. xxviii, 2. In Isaiah, the connections of the word are not such as to point out any specific mean- ing. It is put in apposition with ^V; but whether as an adjective agreeing with ^yV as a substantive ; ©r as a substantive in the genitive case after ^V^ ; or a noun substantive, with which ^V^ agrees as an adjective ; appears not from any thing in the con- text. All that can be collected from this passage is, that ^tjp is something which may be connected, either as cause, effect, or concomitant, wiih tempest. But in Ps. xci. it is connected, as it is here, with "I^T; and properties are ascribed to each, which shew the difference between the two ; and, since if is certain that '1^1 is some kind of mortal disease, lead to the precise meaning of each. The holy psalmist, speaking of Jehovah's protection of Mes- siah, says to Messiah, *' Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, for the arrow that fiieth by day: D'^nn:^ IIU^'' :it3pD l^T^ Se)*<3 nniD. For the Deher that goeth on in darkness, for the Chetcb which wasteth (or depopulates) at noon day." No one, in the least conversant with the style of sacred poetry, can for a moment doubt, that Deher and Clieteb are things of the same kind. But Deher is 6 218 HOSEA. a disease ; Cheteh therefore is a disease too. And, by the description here given of each, Deher is the putrid plague fever, which usually makes its fatal progress in the dead of the night, while the patient is in sleep. Cheteh is the dreadful solstitial disease, which in the tropical climates, and, in some rare in- stances, in our own, in the extreme heat of harvest, smites suddenly in the open air and at noon-day, and kills either at once, or in a few minutes, by a pu- trescence of the juices of the living body, almost in- stantaneous. The disease is so rare in these high latitudes, that we have no name for it in our lan- guage ; nor had the Greeks in theirs. Our Public Translation, therefore, is content with the very ge- neral word " destruction," and all the Greek inter- preters give strange paraphrases. The sense of the word, which we deduce from the ninety-first psalm, is confirmed by the use of it in Deuteronomy xxxii, 24, where it is mentioned along with J^^"!, another malignant inflammatory disease. And now it will be easy to expound the ^l^p "^'^'^ of Isaiah; though, for want of a word to render 3tDp, it is impossible to translate it. ^^p ^^^ is the tempest, which often happens in the season of those HOSE A. 219 extreme heats, in which the S^p takes place ; and is therefore a concomitant of the Cheteb, * Solstitial tempest' would perhaps be the best English for the phrase ; not that ^^p signifies sol- stice ; but it might be put in this place to mark the season when such tempests usually take place j which is, in fact, the solstice. Of the four passages in which the word occurs, this text of Hosea now remains. And since the words Deher and Cheteb are connected here, just as they are in the ninety-first psalm, it cannot reason- ably be doubted, that they are to be taken here, each in the same sense as in the psalm ; especially as no sense of either can be found, which better suits this place. I give therefore " burning plague," for St^p, not as an adequate expression, but the best I can devise. The LXX render StDp by kzvt^ov ; and the Syriac by a word of the same meaning. Others would have lIDl render xsi/t^ov. And, if this were admitted, it would follow that ^^Dp must be something of the same kind, and woidd not be ill rendered by the same word. And the learned Rivetus, in support of the LXX, goes so far as to say, " Quicquid pertunden- do et perfodiendo repente penetrat impetu vehement 2^0 ' HOSEA, tissimo, ut euspis acuta solet, id Ebraeis nomine illo [nomine Stop] designatur." Of what Hebrews does he speak ? Of the sacred writers ? I demand the place, where any one of them applies the word in that sense, or in any sense but as the name of a dis- ease ? No such place is to be found. Are the Rab- binical writers the Hebrews of whom Rivetus speaks? What he says, can be said of no other Hebrews- But to interpret the Hebrew of the Holy Bible, by the use of words in the Rabbinical writings, is just what it would be, to attempt to explain Homer^s words by the senses of words in modern Greek. As to the w^ord ^^\ I deny that in the Bible- Hebrew it ever signifies * a sting.* The noun tTTO'^ indeed signifies a bee ; and bees have stings. But neither rrv^lSI^ nor any other word derived from the root *^S"^, signifies the sting of a bee in any one pas- sage in the Bible. But we are told, that in the Ara- bic language, Daborah signifies * the spur of a fight- ing cock,* a sense which the Greek kzvtq^ov also bears. Granted : but why must we resort to the Arabic for new senses of Hebrew words, when the well known genuine Hebrew sense suits the purpose of the sa- cred writer full as well, if not better ? Whoever takes the trouble to examine the antient versions, in HOSEA. 221 the four passages where the word S^p occurs, will find that the translators were put to their shifts for a specific meaning ; they had no discernment of the true meaning of the word, and their renderings are of no authority. But the anxiety to sustain xiVT^oif, as the true ren- dering of one or other of the two words, ^'^p or ^i^T, has arisen, I believe, from an opinion which has long prevailed in the Christian church, that the ani^ mated exultation of the Apostle St Paul over death and hell, at the latter end of the fifteenth chapter of the first to the Corinthians, is a citation of this pas- sage of Hosea; and this opinion is, for the most part, connected with a persuasion, that the apostle citing must represent the prophet's words with the greatest exactness. But we are not to assume, that the apostle cites a particular passage ; and then to conclude, that the apostle's supposed citation gives the only true sense of the Hebrew words, which it is our bounden duty, by all contrivances and ex* ploits of criticism, to bring out of them. We should first inquire, whether he cites or no ; and if it should appear that he cites, it might still be reasonable to inquire, whether the general meaning of the pro- phecy might not be sufficient for his purpose; or 2^2 HOSEA. with what degree of accuracy it was necessary to his argument, that he should represent the prophet's words. Now, upon the most mature consideration of the matter, I am persuaded that the apostle's triumph- ant exclamation, " O Death* where is thy sting? O Hell, where is thy victory?" is an allusion, in- deedj to this text of Hosea ; an indirect allusion, but no citation of it. The prophecy which the apostle cites, as one which would receive its com- pletion in the general resurrection at the last day, as a saying '* that is written," which shall then be brought to pass ; this prophecy is written in Is. XXV, 8, and nowhere else. And this prophecy, which he cites, he cites with precision. And it may be useful to observe, that he cites it not ac- cording to the version of the LXX. He translates the Hebrew text verbatim, in contradiction to the version of the LXX. For the version of the LXX, in this place, is so wretchedly and abominably erro- neous, that the sense it gives is exactly the reverse of the sense of the Hebrew text. The apostle having cited this prophecy of " the swallowing up of Death in victory," and, looking forward to the great event, which he mentions as the 5 HOSEA. 223 yet future completion of it, breaks out in those words of triumph, which allude to this text of Ro- sea. Death and Hell are personified and apostro- phised, both by the prophet and by the apostle. The purport of the apostrophe, both with the pro- phet and with the apostle, is to set forth God's do- minion over Death and Hell, and his merciful pur- pose of destroying both the one and the other. This is categorically asserted by the prophet ; it is indi- rectly asserted by the apostle, in the shape of an in- terrogation. But in the prophet we have no men- tion of the sting, with which Death is armed in the apostle's imagery ; none of victory, by the name of victory. On the other hand, in the apostle, we have no mention of the pestilence, and the burning plague, to be inflicted, according to the prophet, upon Death and Hell by God the Saviour. It may seem, that the resemblance between the w^ords of the apostle and the text of the prophet, upon this comparison, turns out to be so very gene- ral, as to leave room to doubt, whether so much as an allusion was intended. But I am persuaded, tiiat an allusion was intended : and my persuasion rests principally upon these two reasons : 1. It is hardly to be conceived, that when the 224. HOSEA. apostle's discourse led him to refer to prophecies of the final abolition of Death and Hell, this passage of the prophet Hosea should not come to his mind j which, for the boldness of its imagery, is far more striking than the passage of Isaiah which he cites ; which for that very reason perhaps he cites in pre- ference, as being more explicit and perspicuous, be- cause less figured and adorned. 2. Notwithstanding that a general resemblance only is to be found between the apostle's words and the Hebrew text, these words of the apostle are an exact literal rendering in Greek of the Syriac ver- sion of that Hebrew text: except that the words " sting" and " victory" in the apostle have changed places. It would be much in the taste of modern criti- cism, to lay hold of this circumstance as an argu- ment for the antiquity of the Syriac version of the Old Testament. To hold up that version, as sanc- tioned in this passage, by the apostle's citation, as a true rendering of the original ; and then to go to work with the Hebrew text, and, covering our own bold sacrilege under an arraignment of the careless- ness of scribes in general, and the bad faith of some (a heavy charge, even against our adversaries the IIOSEA. '225 Jews, to which the candid will listen with great caution), to alter the text, till it should become a mere translation of the Syriac, and give it out, in that altered state, as the text of the holy prophet re- stored ! But, on the contrary, readily subscribing to the high antiquity, and general excellence of the Syriac version, I scruple not to maintain, that in this pas- sage it is inaccurate. I deny, that the apostle* s ci- tation of it is any argument that he entertained a different opinion of it, or gives it the least sanction as an accurate translation of the Hebrew \vords. For the state of the case is plainly this ; that the general meaning of the prophetic text was all that was re- quisite for the purpose of the apostle's discourse. Nothing depended upon a close interpretation of the words. And the general meaning the Syriac version gives ; the full meaning, with less force, in my judg- ment, than the original ; still with force, and with the greatest perspicuity. And there is this particu- lar circumstance in it, which might incline the apostle to prefer it, upon this occasion, to a more precise translation of the original, which he certain- ly could have given. The form of the sentence in the Syriac is such as would readily admit of being VOL. ir, r 226 HOSEA. interwoven into the apostle's discourse, so as to make a part of it ; not in the stiff form of a quota- tion, but as the apostle's own expression of his own sentiments. With his mind full of the general re- surrection, and of the prophecies relating to it, he gives utterance to his own feelings of joy and ex- ultation in words taken from the Syriac version of Hosea's text ; which are better suited to that pur- pose, the purpose of being used as the apostle's words, than Hosea's own words. In this manner of adopting the words of the Syriac version, certainly no approbation is involved of its verbal accuracy. St Jerome, who knew nothing, I believe, of the Syriac version, seems to have entertained a notion of the apostle's allusion to the prophet not very dif- ferent from mine. In his Comment upon Hosea, having affirmed that the apostle St Paul understands this text of the resurrection of our Lord (he should rather have said, of the general resurrection, as the effect and consequence of our Lord's), he adds, " Itaque quod ille [scil. apostolus] in resurrectio- nem interpretatus est Domini, nos aliter interpretari nee possumus nee audemus." Where observe, he is not speaking of the verbal accuracy of the trans- lation used by the apostle, as if that were not to be HOSEA. 227 meddled with ; but of the appHcation of tlie pro- phecy in its general meaning. The apostle having made the application, the holy father says he sub- mits implicitly ; and would not venture to apply it otherwise, if he could. But of the verbal accuracy of the translation, in this place, he says nothing. In another place, in his Comment upon the 14th chapter of Isaiah, he discovers his opinion upon that point. For he speaks of the apostle's triumphant exclamation, as the apostle's expression of his own sentiments, arising in his mind upon his meditating within himself upon Hosea's words. " Unde el Apostolus Paulus, interfecta mortc, ad quam per Osee sermo propheticus loquebatur, * Ero mors tua, o mors, ero morsus tuus inferne,' loquitur ad eam, ' Ubi est mors contentio tiia, ubi est mors stimulus tuus ?' " It is not to my present purpose, to remark on the variations from the Greek text of the New- Testament, as it now stands, with which St Jerome cites the apostle's words. But what, I would ob- serve, is this. That he evidently represents the divine speaker in Hosea, as addressing Death in certain words ; and the apostle, as addressing Death in other words. He represents the divine speaker in Hosea, as addressing Death yet aUve ; the apostle, p 2 228 HOSEA. as speaking to Death lying dead before him. He considers the apostle, therefore, as uttering senti- ments of his own, in words of his own. He was not aware, I believe, that the apostle borrowed his words from the Syriac version of the words in Hosea. But this makes no difference. He must have considered the apostle's exclamation as an allusion only to the prophet, not as a citation of any thing more than the general sense ; much less as an accurate transla- tion, which it were impious not to receive, as giving the sense of the Hebrew words with more certainty than the Hebrew words themselves. I cannot close this long note, without briefly anim- adverting on the plausible, but fallacious, doctrine of sanction, supposed to be given to the antient ver- sions of the Old Testament, by the citation of par- ticular passages from them in the New. And, with respect to the Septuagint in particular, in behalf of which this sanction is most frequently pleaded ; I observe, that what is generally assumed upon this subject is not true. Namely, that the ci- tations of texts of thq Old Testament in the New- are always from this version. This assumption, I say, is not invariably true. The instances, in which it fails, are many. I have mentioned one very re- HOSEA. 229 markable instance ; and I could produce many more. I say, secondly, that upon the same principle, that a citation of the Old Testament by the inspired writers of the New, according to that particular ver- sion, is to be taken as a sanction of the version ; the citation of a text, not in the words of the LXX, more particularly in words that give a sense directly opposite to their sense, is a reprobation of the ver- sion. And since the inspired writers of the New Testament cite some passages according to the LXX, and some not according to the LXX ; it fol- lows, that they sanction the version in some pas- sages, and reprobate the version in others. And neither the sanction nor the reprobation must be ex- tended farther, than to the particular texts cited. In the texts not cited, we have no judgment of the inspired writers of the New Testament upon the merits of the version. And as these uncited texts make certainly the far greater part of the whole book; I shall contradict no apostle, or inspired writer, if I assert, as I do, of the Septuagint gene- rally, that antient, respectable, useful, and valuable, as it is, and in many parts excellent j it is not, upon the whole, to be put in competition, for verbal ac- p S 230 HOSEA. curacy, either with our own Public Translation, or with the Vulgate. But, thirdly, I go further. I contend, that even with respect to the particular passages cited in the New Testament, according to the version of LXX ; we are not always to conclude, that the citation im- plies the citer's approbation of the verbal accuracy of the translation, even in the instance of the pas- sage cited. This will be indeed a just conclusion, if a faithful representation of the phraseology of the original be requisite for the purpose of the citer. But if the general ineaning of the passage cited is sufficient, which, for the most part, is the case ; no sanction of any thing more than the general mean- ing, which is often very adequately given in a very loose, and with respect to words, even an erroneous translation, can be inferred from the citation. For it certainly became the wisdom of the apostles to cite the Old Testament, according to the versions most in use and credit in their time, however defec- tive in verbal accuracy; provided they found in them the general meaning : except indeed in those few cases, in which their argument turned upon the wording of the original. It was no part of the duty of the holy apostles and inspired preachers, to edit HOSEA. 231 a correct Greek translation of the Old Testament, or to give critical notes upon the extant versions. (X) I place the soph-pasuk at ^^^, and make the three words that follow the beginning of the 15th verse, '* No repentance is discernible to my eyes 1" lite- rally, " Repentance is hidden from mine eyes." I cannot be persuaded, that this can possibly signify, that God's mind would never change, with respect to his declared purpose of abolishing Death and Hell, notwithstanding the immutability of that de- clared purpose. It is pertinently remarked by Hou- bigant, that the internal purposes or affections of the mind of any person cannot be represented as an ob- ject of vision to that person. It cannot be said of them, that, to the person himself, they are either visible or invisible. The repentance, or change of mind, said to be seen, or not seen, must be the ex- ternal signs of repentance seen, or not seen, by one person in another. I cannot, however, agree with the learned Houbigant, that the sense of the passage is a dreadful denunciation on the part of God, that he will shut his eyes against repentance, and pay no regard to it. The sentiment is liorrible. No sncli p 4 23t HOSEA. declaration is to be found in the whole Bible j but repeated declarations of the contrary purport. It is astonishing, that such a notion could drop from the pen, or indeed enter the mind of a writer of Houbi- gant*s piety, and so conversant in the Holy Scrip, tures. The words are evidently words of complaint on the part of God, as I have explained in note (q)^ that no signs of repentance were to be found, by his all-searching eye, in Ephraim. This sense arises so clearly from the Hebrew words, when the sentences are properly divided, and is so much more to the purpose than any other, that nothing but an errone- ous division could have kept it out of sight, (Y) — '* savage beasts." O^HJ^. So I would point the word (not OV^) ; and take it as in Is. xiii, 21, (Z) — " east-wind blast." tS'^lp nn, or r\r\ 0'>1pn, is the east-wind. But CD'^np by itself, with- out ni'n, is often put for the east- wind; almost as often, as in apposition with rr^n. And in Isaiah xxvii, 8, the two nouns are put separately, as they are here, as different appellatives of the same thing, sanp C311D nu^pn imiD. 5 ROSEA. 233 (A A) — *' shall he." *<"^n. An emphatic pleo- nasm of the pronoun at the end of the sentence. See chap, v, 14, and xi, 2. CttAP. XIV. (A) ** Take with you words." The phrase seems very similar to that, ** he took up his parable," * i. e. he assumed his prophetic style. And it seems, in both cases, to refer to a set form of words. For it is remarkable, that the exordium of every one of Balaam's effusions is a form ; describing, in a highly- adorned style of amplification, the privileges of the prophetical office ; or delivering certain solemn yvcu* (Mui, which might suit almost any occasion of pro- phecy : and the resorting to these set forms is " tak- ing words," or " taking up the parable j" a phrase, however, that might be used, to express only the assumption of the peculiar style of the prophetic song. The formal proem of the last of Balaam's ef- fusions, is by far the most striking. * Num, xxiii, 7, 18. xxiv, 3, 15. 234^ HOSEA, " Then he took up his parable and said,]* Balaam, the son of Beor, hath said. Even he hath said the man of the secret eye. f He hath said who heareth the speech of God, And knoweth the knowledge of the Most High. He seeth the scene of the Almighty, He is laid at his length, J and his eyes are set open." The exordium of the preceding song (the third) is the same, with very little difference j an amphfi- cation of the prophetic gift. That of the second is different; but still it is much of a set form, composed of general yvcoij^cci. * Num. xxiv, 15, &c. t Vi^n ^rW ni^irr. I take nni^, which occurs only in this place, to be an unusual orthography of the word csHD, abditus, int«s absconditus. The holy Psalmist says (li, 8.) " Behold, thou delightest in truth in the inward parts, and shalt teach me wisdom Cdhd:!," gy Ta> \TCi ccv6^cj7raiy as Mr Parkhurst well explains it. So the prophetic gift, foreseeing things to come, is here described, under the image of a secret internal eye. And in the same lan- guage, iEschylus makes Orestes, in the Choephorse, describe the oracular prescience of Apollo : 'OpUVTOi XXftTTPdV Iv G-KOTO) V&>fA6)V y C^^VV, LilUQ 283. :|: — » laid at his length." This intimates, that when the ecsta- cy seized him, he usually fell down in a trance ; and the emblema- tical scene was forced upon him, while he lay in that state. HOSEA. 235 <« Then he took up his parable and said,* Rise up, Balak; and hear, Give ear to me, O son of Zippor. God is no man, that he should lie, Nor son of man, that he should repent hira. Hath he said, and shall he not perform ? Or spoken, and shall he not establish ?" The exordium of the first song is far more simple, being nothing more than a distich ; but still it has the air of set form, and, mutatis mutandis^ might serve any such occasion. *' Then he took up his parable, and said,f Me hath Balak brought from Aram, The king of Moab from the mountains of the East." That set forms were in use in the earliest ages, upon all solemn occasions, is evident, with respect to the Jews, from holy writ ; and with respect to the Heathen, from the poets. Miriam's song of thanks- giving is evidently a studied composition, set to music, and performed in parts, according to a pre- concerted plan, by her and the chorus of attending virgins. In the book of Numbers, a form of words is prescribed, in which the priests were to bless the * Numb, xxiii, 18, «S:c. f Numb, xxiii, 7. 236 HOSEA. people.* In the book of Deuteronomy,t a form of prayer and confession is prescribed, to be used by every Israelite that presented his first fruits, and at the end of his tithing. Part of the 105th Psalm, with the 96th, is a form of thanksgiving, which Da- vid delivered into the hands of Asaph and his breth- ren upon the occasion of bringing up the ark from the house of Obed-Edom, and placing it in the tent that David had pitched for it. Solomon's prayer, at the dedication of the Temple, t is most evidently studied composition ; Jehoshaphat's, || when he pro- claimed a fast, under the terror of the powerful con- federacy of the Moabites and Ammonites. And the priests and Levites, which upon this occasion at- tended the army, praised Jehovah in a set form of words. The service of the temple, restored by He- zekiah,§ was certainly according to the settled form of an antient ritual ; in particular, the Levites were commanded by the king " to sing praise unto Jeho- vah with the w^ords of David the king, and of Asaph * Numb, vi, 23—26. ■f Chap, xxvi, 5 — 10, and 13 — 15. :j: 1 Kings-viii, 22—53. 2 Chroa. vi; 12—42. )1 2 Chron. xx. § 2 Chron. xxix, 30. HOSEA. 237 the seer." Upon the return from the captivity, when the foundations of the Temple were laid, the priests and Levites attended in their sacred vest- ments, the priests with their trumpets, and the Le- vites with their cymbals, to " praise Jehovah after the ordinance of David king of Israel." And their praise was in David's set form of words, " Giye thanks unto Jehovah, because he is good ; because his mercv toward Israel endureth for ever." * Such proof we find of the use of forms of worship among the Jews from the earliest times. Among the Heathen, the thing is unquestionably proved by the Orphic hymns, as they are very im- properly called. They are, indeed, set forms of in- vocation of the several deities, which w^ere the ob- ject of worship to the Greeks. In Homer, it is very remarkable, that in the two prayers of Chryses, the one imploring the vengeance of Apollo on the Greeks, after Agamemnon's refusal of the proffered ransom of his daughter; the other, soliciting the god's blessing on the Greeks, when his daughter was restored ; the prefatory invocation is nearly in the same words in both, and much in the style of - ' — ■" ■ ■ ■ - » ■■ < * Ezraiii, 10, 11. i?38 HOSEA. the Orphic services, addressing the god by his vari- ous titles. KiKT^au Ti ^cc0B7}v, Tsvg^o/o re l(pi ccmffffssg, ^(jjivkv, IHad. A. 36, 451. But, what is more remarkable, in the body of the prayers the expressions seem to be as much the same, as the difference in the matter of the petitions would allow. (B) So St Jerome understood this petition. " * Om- nem aufer iniquitatem et accipe bonum.* Nihil lan- gnoris in nobis et ruince pristinse derelinquas, ne rursum mali seminis pullulent rediviva plantaria. * Et accipe, inquit, bonum. Nisi enim tuleris mala nostra, bonum tibi quod offeramus, habere non pcssu- mus.' ^' Diodati's exposition is to the same purpose. (C) — '' bullocks, our own lips." No figure is more familiar in the Hebrew language, than that sort of metonymy, which puts the cause or instru- ment, for the effect ; lips for words uttered by the lips. For the lips are a principal instrument in the articulation of words. It is very remarkable, how- ever, that the word MSt!', ^ lip,' when put for words 6 HOSEA. 23S^ uttered with the Hp, seems pecuHarly applied to set forms of ^vords in pubhc worship. The prophet Isaiah, speaking of tlic introduction of the true wor- ship into Egypt, says, *' In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt sjyeak the lip of Canaan ;" * that is, as appears by the context, adopt the forms of public worship used by God's true church in Pa- lestine. The prophet Zephaniah, speaking of the final conversion of all the nations of the earth, says, " In that day I will turn to the peoples a pure Up (TnTS2 ns::^), that they may all of them call upon the name of Jehovah ;" t where a pure lip evidently signifies a form of worship purged of all corruptions* It is used very remarkably in this sense in Psalm xii, 5 ; — ** Our lips are our own." The subject of that psalm is freethinkers ; their learning, audacity, and final excision. The psalmist, drawing these gentlemen to the life, makes them say, what they are heard to say daily, ** our lips are our own ;" that is, we have a right to choose our own way of worship ; to worship what we please, as we please, or not to w^orship at all, if that should best please us. In Psalm Ixxxi, 6, it is said of the land of Egypt, * Isaiah xix, 18. ' t Zepli. iii, 9. 240 HO«EA. as we read in our English Bible, " I heard a lan- guage that I understood not." But, Jehovah being the speaker, this, as has been observed by the learn- ed Julius Bate, must be an erroneous translation. Indeed the literal rendering is, " A lip which I ac- knowledged not (i, e. a worship which I disapproved) I heard." The sense seems to be, that even Israel, in his state of servitude in Egypt, was compelled to take part in corrupt and idolatrous rites. Upon a review of all these passages, had I rendered the words of Hosea, " bullocks, our devout confessions," I think I should have been justified by the peculiar use of the word ri9*Zf in so many places. But I choose to adhere to the literal rendering of the He- brew words; as the metonymy, though in this in- stance somewhat harsh in our language, is abundant- ly perspicuous. With what view the worship of the Father in Spirit and in Truth is represented, under the image of bullocks sacrificed, I have shewn in note (5). A slight inaccuracy in our Public Translation, which, departing not a tittle from the sense, but in a minute circumstance from the construction of the Hebrew, renders, *' calves of our lips," as if lips were the latter of two noun substantives, which HOSEA. 241 ought to be expressed in the genitive case in our language, and ought in the Hebrew to induce the construct form upon tlie preceding substantive ; this shght inaccuracy has occasioned this remark of Archbishop Newcombe, to justify an alteration of the text, which he adopts. — " The phrase as it stands is not Hebrew ; because D"^*13, * the calves/ should be in statu construe to, Jos. Mede, p. 282, and Le Clerc, on Hebrews xiii, 15, read, '^i*>n3::»D, fruit from our lips ; 6 Arabic read, the fruit of our lips ; and Syriac, the fruit of your lips ; as if they omitted ^. See Heb. xiii, 15.** Had the learned primate forgotten all the in- stances, that are produced by the Jewish gramma- rians, of an enallage-of the status absolutus and status constructus, and the opposite ? And is not this an answer to the formidable objection of the not He- brew of the phrase ? Perhaps indeed, when the in- stances of supposed enallage come to be examined, it will be found that many of them are to be solved by an ellipsis (which was Kimchi's opinion of them all), and that others are reducible to a case of simple apposition, in which the status constructus would be improper. Not to enumerate specific instances, this will be the case, wdiere the two substantives are only VOL. IV. Q 242 HOSlEA. different appellatives of the same thing, in different respects. Thus CDWli^ c^hS?* are two appella- tives of the same thing ; the one a generic, and the other a specific name, in perfect apposition. And this I take to be the very case here : D*»*19 and li'^nst:; are two appellatives of the same thing, in dif- ferent respects : of prayers as articulated ; and of prayers under the image of animals sacrificed, be- cause offered to God. And these two appellatives of the same thing are properly put in perfect appo- sition. This I take to be the truth of the construc- tion in this place. But if an enallage of the two states of nouns, the absolute and the construct, is ever to be admitted (and perhaps it would be difficult to reduce every instance of it to elHpsis, or to apposition), I ask> in what instance it may with more reason be admitted, than in t3'»nr, the plural of *is, * a bullock ?' w^hich, if according to the rule of construction it were to drop the final C3, would not be distinguishable by the letters from the noun substantive singular '^'^3, ^ fruit' And in fact, upon a diligent investigation, I cannot find C^^^^, the plural of "is, in the construct t— ■ — ■ - * £xod. xxiv, 5. HOSEA. ns state in the whole Bible, except in one instance ; in which it is constructed with a pronoun suffixed, and the context renders it impossible to mistake the meaning; of the word. This instance occurs in Jer. 1, 27. The subject is the destruction of Babylon, Jehovah himself leading up the armies to the attack j " for this was the work of Jehovah of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans. Come against her frojn the utmost border opeii her fattening stalls ^ ^S'^n n*>ns slay all her bullocks let them go down to the slaughter." No emendation therefore is necessary in this text of Hosea, to wipe off the imputation of '* not He- brew." And if no emendation is necessary, Le Clerc's proposed alteration hardly deserves further notice. I must just however remark, that although the prefix t: is often used as the preposition of the efficient or the procreant, no instance is to be found of the word *^*13 in this construction. Injustice to the memory of Joseph Mede, it must be remarked, that it is by some inadvertency that his authority is cited in support of Le Clerc's reading. Joseph Mede says but little about this text ; but what he says is to the contrary effect. In Book I, Discourse xlix, upon the Nature of Offerings, &c. Mede says, that q2 M'i' HOSEA. *' the euctical or eucharistical offering must consisi of three degrees, or parts ; the offerhig of the heart, of the mouth, of the hand. The offering of the lieart is a ' sursum corda/ the lifting up of our hearts to God, either to praise him, or to pray unto Iiim. The offering of our mouth is to express the same with our tongues, and is called the calves of OUR LIPS." And he refers in the mai'gin to this text of Hosea. But how is the mouth- offering calJed in this text of Hosea " the calves of our lips," if Le Clerc's alteration be admitted? It is true, that Mede, in his margin, refers to Heb. xiii, 15, to- gether with Hosea xiv, 2, as a parallel place ; but without the least intimation that he thought " calves or bullocks of the lips" was not the prophet's ge- nuine expression. To Le Clerc therefore alone be ascribed, for to him alone belongs, the entire un- rivalled glory of this unlearned paltry criticism. But by the reference to Hebrews xiii, 15, at the end of the learned primate's note, I perceive that he thought a greater authority, than that of Joseph Mede, was to be produced, in support of the altera- tion he would adopt. And in that opinion he cer- tainly was not alone. Without repeating what I have written at great length in the latter part of HOSEA. 245 note (v) of the former chapter, concerning the in- ference to be drawn from citations in the New Tes- tament of passages of the Old, according to the ver- sions, when the versions differ in words, though not in sense, from the Hebrew text ; the whole of which would apply in this case, were it certain that the apostle cites the prophet Hosea in that text of his Epistle to the Hebrews : but without repeating this, I say that it is not certain, from any thing in the apostle's own words, that he either cites, or so much as alludes to Hosea. Without the mention of any writer of the Old Testament, he explains a phrase, which probably was current as a scripture phrase in his time. And he gives the plain sense of it, with- out saying where it was found in the Bible, and without any discussion of it as the proper rendering of any Hebrew text. That he alludes to it as a phrase of the Old Testament, I believe. But that this text of Hosea was the particular passage in his mind, would never have been surmised, had not the LXX unfortunately given xu^ou x'^*^^^^ ri^uv^ instead of any Greek words rendering " calves or bullocks of lips ;'* while the near resemblance of the words CD'^'^s and ''"is^ which was the occasion of their mis- take, favoured the hasty conjecture of a mistake of Q3 ^-'46 HOSEA. , the Hebrew scribe ; which could not have been less than a double mistake; first, ^^^, in the sense of fruit, must have been mistaken for "^^^s, the plural of *1^, in statu constructo ; and then, by a second blun- der, O'i^is, in the absolute state, must have been written instead of "^is, so misunderstood. St Jerome, without the least hesitation, taxes the LXX with the error of confounding the two words 5 so little did he conceive any allusion in St Paul to this passage of Hosea, which might sanction their mis-translation. In truth, these interpreters were in the habit of con- founding these two words. They have confounded them in the passage already cited from Jeremiah,* where the mistake might seem impossible. But, for ** slay all her bullocks," they give amlr,oocmTe avTrjc Tocvrug rovg xcc^rovc. Some, indeed, have attempted to defend their version in this place, without im- peaching the integrity of the Hebrew text. Observ- ing that they often use the derivatives fcoc^rcofia, za^» Tcofftg, and oXoxa^'zcofjboc, okOKu^'Truaig^ for burnt-offering, and whole burnt-offering, these critics infer, that the primitive za^Tog, in the phraseology of the LXX, might signify a bullock, an animal for burnt-offering. * Ch^p. 1, 27. HOSEA. 247 Tills defence however is an admission, that the He- brew text is correct as it stands. For the principle of the defence is this, that xcco'Trog may perchance hv Greek for a bullock ! All this anxiety to sustain the version of the LXX in this place, the solicitude of some to defend the Hebrew text against the suspicion of corruption brought upon it by that version, and the readiness in others to give it up as incapable of defence, arises from a supposition common to them all, that the version of the LXX has received the sanction of St Paul. And the supposition that their version has received that sanction, rests on an assumption that this text of Hosea is the passage which St Paul cites, or to which he alludes in Heb. xiii, 15. But thai the apostle cites it not, is most evident upon the slightest inspection of his text; for he certainly cites no passage. But what reason have we to believe that he alludes to this text of Hosea, rather than to some other text of some other writer of the Old Testament ? The apostle, as I have already said, explains the phrase, " fruit of the lips," as a scrip- ture phrase, without saying in what part of the Old Testament he found it. And will it not be a phrase of the Old Testament, although it should not be Q. 4 '24^8 HOSEA. found in this text of Hosea, according to the true reading and a true translation ? Is not the phrase to be found, not introduced by any of the versions, but is it not to be found, in the very sense in which the apostle takes it, in the Hebrew text of the prophet Isaiah ? In the 19th verse of the fiity- seventh chapter of that prophet, Jehovah says, ** I create the fruit of the lips ;" where the context shews, that " the fruit of the lips" can be nothing else than the sacrifice of praise, as it is explained by Grotius, by Lowth the father, and by Bishop Lowth. And this sense is so evident, so much more obvious than others to which the words have been wrested, that not only those able critics, but that dullest of all commentators, Samuel White, could perceive, that this is probably the passage to which the apostle alludes. And this deserves a deeper consideration. The entire passage of the prophet Isaiah stands thus: nini nioK DinpSi ywrh Oih^ mScf nD"»nst^ s'^j ^n-^D. The true construction of the sentence is pointed out in the Vulgate, as the Latin is pointed in the London Polyglott. — " Creavi fructum labiorum HOSEA. 2^0 pacem, pacem," &c. This interpreter took the sub- stantives ^'^^ and a^^^U^ as accusatives, in apposition, after i<"i^3 ; the one rendering the cause, either ma- terial, or efficient, or final, of the thing, denoted by the other as fornied. It must be confessed, that this construction of the verb i<*>^ with two accusa- tives is rare j but it is by no means unexampled. We find it, Psalm Ixxxix, 48. ^^3 n«nD I^IV HtD ^. D1K "Jja, «« Wherefore hast thou made all men (not in vain but) vanity." Again, Isaiah xlv, 18^ HKns inn ii\ «< He created it (i. e. the earth, not 720^ in vain^ but) not emptiness, [for] he formed it to be inhabited." Again, Isaiah Ixv, 18; HK KnO WV12 riDyi n^'^:* X=h^T\\ « I create Jerusalem a re- joicing, and her people a joy.'* And this I take to be the true grammatical construction of this 19th verse of the fifty-seventh chapter 5 and in this, if I mistake not, I have the concurrence of the learned Forerius. If this be admitted, the word CD*»^U^, ' peace,* may be taken as the material cause, and Cnst:? S^J^ * fruit of the lips,' as the thing made. And the sense will be, " I make (or am making) peace the subject or matter of praise and thanksgiving." And this is the exposition of Forerius, and of Grotius, 250 HOSEA. Forerius, indeed, applies the prophecy primarily to the peace and quiet which the Jews enjoyed under the Persian kings ; but he acknowledges that ulti- mately it relates to the universal peace made by Jesus Christ, of which he considers the other as ty- pical. But if this be the true grammatical exposi- tion and rendering of the words, the ' peace ' must be the * peace' made by our Lord Jesus Christ, ex- clusively of any other ; for it is a peace ** to him that is far off, as well as to him that is near; to Gentile, as well as Jew." Bishop Lowth brings the passage to the same sense, though by a different grammatical construction. The sense is certainly good, and very pertinent to the subject of the discourse. But yet I doubt whe- ther it be the exact sense. From the root ^^t\ * to be at peace,' come, as the Masoretes will have it, two different noun substantives, ^'^^^ and ch^ ; the first signifying * peace,' the second, ' a peace- offer* ing.' The first is often written with the cholem point, without the sustaining *> : and, so wTitten, it is not distinguishable, otherwise than by the points, from the second ; which the Masoretes have been pleased to point with a double segol. But they, who, with me, have abjured the worship of the Ma- HOSEA. 251 soretic points, will say, that these two are in truth one and the same word, carrying two different senses, and written sometimes at full length, but much oft- ener defectively, without the \ Before I proceed, it will be much to my purpose to premise, that among all the offerings of the Jews, the peace-offering was that wliich was particularly typical of the worship of the Christian church. It was offered either as a thanksgiving for some parti- cular mercy j or upon the completion of a vow ; or as an act of general voluntary worship, not required by any law, or called for by any particular obliga- tion ; in which last case it was called the * free-will offering.' Now, the sin-offering, the trespass-offer- ing, and the perpetual burnt-oflering, were all expi- atory of particular or general guilt ; and were all typical of the sacrifice upon the cross. But in the peace-offering, the worshipper was taken as already at peace with God, and entitled to partake of the feast upon the sacrifice he offered. These ofierings therefore were peculiarly typical of the worship in the Christian church. Now since O^li^ and CD^C^ are the same word dif- ferently written ; why may not O*^^, in this pass- age of Isaiah, rentier * a peace-offering?' It is true. 252 HOSEA. the noun in this sense is for the most part in the plural : but it is used in this sense in the singular.* And if it be taken in this sense here, then CDTiSi:; IS'^i, * fruit of the lips,' will be the material, and D^^U^, * the peace-ofFering,' the thing made of that mate- rial. — " I create the fruit of the lips, peace-ofFer- ing (i, e. I make it to be, or, I make of it, the peace-oifering) ; peace-offering for him that is far off, and for him that is near, saith Jehovah.'* Thus the passage will be a prediction of the institution of that worship, of which the peace-offering was parti- cularly a type, as the universal worship for all that are brought to Christ, whether of the Jews, or of the Gentiles. The participle i^*^^^, in this view of the passage, is used here with particular propriety and emphasis. The institution of a new mode of worship is called a Creation, as a thing to which no authority, but that of God himself, is competent. If the learned reader will consider this text criti- cally, and consider also critically the text of St Paul in Hebrews xiii ; if he observes, how St Paul con- nects * fruit of the lips' (xcc^'^rov -^n'kim^ D^nsi^r S'j:) * See Amos^v, 22. HOSEA. ti5$ with * sacrifice of praise,' (^vfftav alvisiojg^ Q^^), he will perhaps be inclined to think favourably of the interpretation I offer of Isaiah's text ; at any rate he will conclude, that the passage of Isaiah is that to which the prophet alludes. It will hardly be made an objection, that this phrase of * the fruit of the lips,' though it be found in the Hebrew of Isaiah, is not in the Greek of the LXX in that passage. The Greek of the LXX in that passage is indeed so unlike either the Hebrew text, or any of the other versions (except its echo the Arabic), that it may well be suspected of great corruption. And what is not found in it now, might be in it in the time of the apostle, when its text was in a better state. But suppose this was not the case. Was the apostle under any obligation not to cite the Old Testament but according to the Sep- tuagint, even when the Septuagint was wrong ? Did he not understand the Hebrew language, as well, or better, than any or all of these Seventy- two inter- preters ? Was he not at liberty to translate for him- self, when he thought proper ; as he and the other writers of the New Testament have done in many instances, when the LXX had grossly mistaken (as they often have) the sense of the Hebrew? But 254? HOSEA, with those idolizers of the Septiiagint, who would bind the inspired apostles (or even others who are not inspired) to its authority, and tamper with the Hebrew text without the least necessity, rather than confess the authors of that version to have been in error, I hold no argument. (D) — " from me.'* I follow the reading of the Oriental Synagogue, ^^'O'O, instead of ''^tDD, which makes a more regular construction, without altering the sense. (E) " His suckers shall spread farther and far- ther." "d^^^ * shall go on.' I think the image is the increasing vegetation of the forest, by the branches of the parent tree reaching quite down to the ground, where, resting upon the moist soil, each strikes a new root, or more than one, and each root sends up a new tree. (F) '' They shall return.'* For *»St^\ the latter prophets of Soncinum (1486), thirty-one MSS of Dr Kennicott's, and three more originally, give ^^'^V\ And the latter prophets of Soncinum, the latter pro- 6 HOSEA. 255 phets of Pesaro (1516), and seven MSS of Dr Ken- nicott's, give the next word ''^li^^^. (G) — " they shall abound in corn ;'* literally, ** they shall vivify corn," they shall grow abundant thriving crops.* (H) — " and be famous as the wine of Lebanon;'* literally, '* "^"iSf, his commemoration, /. e, his praise like the wine of Lebanon. " Thus Houbigant : — " memoria ejus ut vini, &c. sive sermone celebra- bitur ut vina generosa celebrantur et laudantur; verbum pro verbo, commemoratio ejus ut vini." And to the same effect Coverdale, the Bishop's Bible, and Livelye. Great difficulty has been made about the singular number of the suffixed pronoun ; which it has been thought, for that reason, could not relate to the subject of the plural verbs, which precede, and to the noun, understood, in apposition with the plural participle. This difficulty to me appears no- thing. If ^Knti*"* be the antecedent of the "^ suffixed to "^5', Israel is a collective ; and, as such, may be joined with verbs in the singular or plural indiffiir- * See Pocock, vol. ii, p. 70.1. 256 HOSEA. €ntly, and may be rehearsed either by singular or plural pronouns. In the 4th verse, Israel is re- hearsed by plural pronouns. In the 5th, the same word, or a pronoun understood rehearsing it, is con- structed with verbs in the singular, and rehearsed by a singular suffix. In this 7th verse, the pronoun understood, rehearsing Israel as the subject of the verbs "^3^ti^^ and * Lastly, y\ although it speaks of knowledge of any sort, and by whatever means acquired; and has many senses, which belong not to the EngHsh word * to know,' for it renders the Latin noscey^e and all its compounds ; yet strictly it is * to know that knowledge,' which is acquired by j^^S ; and thus it properly speaks of the briKi-x^not. of wisdom ener- gizing. *' I want a man endowed with the powers of wis- dom," says the prophet : '* for he will employ those powers of his mind upon these predictions and re- velations of mine. I want a man that will so employ the powers of his mind ; for he, and he only, will at- tain a knowledge of them.'* (M) — ** streight and even.'* I use both these words to express the full force of D'>*^ti^'». For "^li^^ applied to a road, expresses both that it is drawn in a streight direction, without turnings or windings, and that it is smooth and level, witdhjqut inequaUties. (N) — « the justified." For a^pli'\ the latter prophets of Soncinum (i486), the varieties of the Venice Bible (1518), forty-five MSS of Kennicott's, and one more ori^^inally, give D'»p''1^'\ Two MSS R 2 '260 HOSEA. of Kennicott's give Dp'^lifX And three or four give n''p*»li*. It seems therefore a safe conclusion, that n'^p'^llkl is the true reading, which is the plural of p"Ji* with *i prefixed. p"l^ is properly a forensic word, and signifies a person found not guilty, acquitted, and justified up- on a trial. Hence, in a theological sense, it is a person found innocent in the sight of God. In the book of Psalms, and occasionally elsewhere in scrip- ture, it is a title of Christ, in his human nature, and should be rendered * the Just One.' He who stands justified by the perfectness of his own obedience. The only one of the human race who ever was just, or justified, by his own justice. The plural D**p''iv, except where the matter of the discourse is relative to mere secular transactions, signifies * the justified,' those that are justified by faith in the Redeemer coming, or to come, and clothed with his righteous- ness. With respect to this plural word, it has been re- marked by some of the ablest critics among the Jews, that in all places where it occurs in the Penta- teuch, except one, it is written without the plural % Op^^. Now the places in the Pentateuch in which it occurs are six ^ namely, Gen, xviii, 24, 26, 28 } HOSEA. 261 Exod. xxiii, 8 ; Deut. iv, 8 ; xvi, 19. The one place in which it appears in its perfect form, a'>p"^"iv^ in all the printed Bibles, and in all the MSS but three, is Exod. xxiii, 8. In the other five passages also, the Samaritan text, and some of the best printed texts, and a great number of the very best MSS, give it full. The text of Exodus,* where it is, by admission, in its perfect form, Cp^^iV, is very decisive for the proper meaning of the word. *' And thou shalt take no gift : for the gift blindeth the clear-sighted, and overturneth (not perverteth) a*>plir '^'iSl, the cause of those who ought to be acquitted," causam justifi- candorum. Thus Kimchi expounds the passage. With respect to the singular p^^r, Hutchinson, though he considers it as a title of Christ, renders it " the justifier." t But he is mistaken. The He- brew word for '*justifier" should be p''"'^*^, from the hiphil of the verb. But this word, p^rii.'D, is never used as a title of Christ. It occurs indeed but once in the whole Bible ; namely, in Daniel xii, 3, where it is the nominative plural, in the construct * Chap, xxiii, 9. ^ + See his Works, Vol. VIII. p. 97. R 3 262 HOSEA. state, and describes the preachers of the word of God, under the character of the justifiers of many. Mr Hutchinsoil cites Jer. xxiii, 5, as confirming his interpretation of p'^'^V. But this text affords no example of the use of the word in his sense, ^* the justifier." The literal rendering of the 5th and 6th verses of the 23d of Jeremiah is to this effect. 5. " Behold, the days [are] coming, saith Jeho- vah, when I will raise up to David a branch,* the Just One;t and King shall be Kingjt and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth/' 6. " In his days Judah shall be safe, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name whereby he shall be called, Jehovah-our-righteousness.'* — '* King shall be King," i, e. He who is King of right shall be King in fact. I^t:, King, accord- ing to the Jewish Doctors themselves, is one of thq titles of Messiah. —"judgment and justice." np^*'^ t^BC^D. When these two words are connected, as they are here, they express the whole office of a judge. " Judg- ment," the condemnation of the guilty 5 ** justice," HOSEA. ii63 the absolution of the innocent. This is a very just remark of Mercerus, with respect to the two words, as jointly applied to a judge, magistrate, or sove- reign, in the exercise of his public character. When applied jointly to describe the principles of judg- ment, '^p'^i'', is properly 'equity;' UH)C^D, Maw* of positive institution. Again, as qualities in the moral or religious character of the individual, HpniT, is 'justice,' with regard to the universal natural di- stinctions of right and wrong ; tD3C^*D, is * righteous- ness," i, e. rectitude of conduct with respect to the injunctions of instituted law. The two forensic distinctions of these words are remarkably exemplified in the beginning of the 72d Psalm. 1. " Commit Tt53i:^t:, thy judgments, O God, unto the King, inipl!ik\ and thy justifications to the King's Son." King, and King's Son, are the same person j de- scribed first, simply as King ; then, as King by he- reditary right. The psalmist prays, that God would commit to this King the exercise of his whole judi- cial authority, both in judging, /. e. condemning the wicked, and absolving the godly. R 4. 264,. HOSEA. 2. " He will judge thy people *p^^^, according to equity, and thy poor ^BV12^, according to law.'* The first verse is an instance of k^, used as a title of Messiah. It is very strange,, that Christian expositors, perceiving that '* King/' and '' King's Son," in the first verse, is one and the same person, should not perceive that this royal person is the King Messiah, not King Solomon. The Targum might have taught them better. " O God," says the Chaldee expositor, *' commit the promulgation of thy judgments to the King Messiah, and thy justifications to the son of David the King." (O) — *' proceed." This is the force of "^5^% as is explained at large in note (o). The English word * shall walk,' is very inadequate ; as it expresses not the going straight forward, without obstacle or turn« ing, to a destined end. (P) _" revolters." O^'J^tt^S. This word ex- presses a degree and enormity of disobedience far beyond any thing contained in the notion of * trans- gressors, prevaricators,' or any other denomination of guilt, by which the word is rendered in our Eng- lish Bible. It denotes rebels, in the highest sense HOSEA. 265 of the word. Such as rise in opposition to the au- thority of a Sovereign by right, because he is by right a Sovereign. And, in a rehgious sense, such as wilfully, with premeditation, disobey God from hatred of his authority, ^^n is a fault committed through inadvertence. j^V is iniquity resulting from a perverse wayward disposition. HID, or 1*it:, ge- nerally rendered rebellion, is j'ather ' provocation,' wilful disobedience, in particular instances, either of doing something forbidden, or neglecting something commanded ; and this often repeated ; but, proceed- ing rather from a reluctance of obedience, with re- spect to some particular command, than a general settled aversion to what is good. But y*^S) is be- yond all tliese. It is bold avowed rebellion, or re- volt, disowning the authority of the Sovereign, and having for its end the overthrow of his sovereignty. But it will be said ; Who ever was so mad, as to avow or entertain a design or hope of overthrowing the sovereignty of God ? I say, numbers in all ages of the world. Atheists, deists, idolaters, and secu- lar powers, that persecute revealed religion. jNIany of these, indeed, retain the name of a God, or Gods, as signifying, in their conceptions, an A)iimus Miui- dh or physical powers in different parts of the ma- ^266 HOSEA. terial world. But they all disown and oppose the God of the Old Testament, and the New ; the God of Jews, and of Christians. And they endeavour what they can to overthrow his authority, by unit- ing their efforts (in vain, but much in earnest) for the extirpation of the Christian religion. If those, who, in the present day, are the most forward, and most powerful, in this work of impiety, affect a par- tiality for the Jews ; it is because they hope to draw them in, to take part in the demolition of Christia- nity ; and, when that is effected, they expect to find in Judaism an easy conq^uest^ Whether any part, or what part, of the Jews may be drawn into this snare of Hell, we presume not to predict. We hope, that the great majority of that race will have too much discretion to be duped. This at least we know, that ultimately the whole race of Israel, of the natural Israel, " will return and seek the Jehovah their God, and the David their King. They shall return, and, sitting under his shadow, they will flourish." The head of the faction leagued against us and them, against our God and theirs, is the Devil. If I am not much mistaken, he is more than once nam- ed in Scripture V^? ; the participle Benoni Kal be- ing used as an appellative in the singular number, HCTSEA. 267 to denote, " the Rebel ;" " the Apostate.'* And the same participle in the plural, whicli is the word here, denotes the followers of that chief, " Rebels,'* " Revolters." (Q) This ninth verse, the close of Hosea's writ- ten prophecies, much resemble those grave moral yvcofjjdi, with which the Greek tragedies are usually closed by the chorus. But for the weightiness of the matter, and the simplicity, brevity, and solemnity of easy unaffected diction, it is not to be equalled by any thing the Attic Muse, in her soberest mood, produced. Having given in my Preface, an enumeration of alterations, in the text of this prophet, which, though adopted by Archbishop Newcombe, I have thought proper to reject ; I here subjoin a list of emendations I have myself made j not by mere conjecture, in any single instance, but upon the authority of the most celebrated editions, manuscripts, and antient versions. 268 HOSEA. PRINTED TEXT. EMENDATION. AUTHORITIES. CH. II. 6. ^3^*7 n^s'Ti Syr. See (d). CH. VI. 3. iNitn 1K2f172 Old Printed Texts, and MSS. See note (a). CH.VIII. 5. VP3 P>p3 Complutens. other Editt. and MSS. See note (e). 10. tD^-iW C3''"ii:;i Editt. MSS. and Versions. See (L). 12. 11^ *n"> Keri, and MSS. See (n). CH. IX. 2. Hi tDl Best Editt. and MSS. See (d). 8. vn^N— ^n^K ••nbN — vnbK Editt. and MSS. See (l) and (m). 12. ^^iiyi ^"nD:a Editt. MSS, Versions, Houbi- gant, Newcombe. See (s). CH. X. 6. "jnix inx Editt. and MSS. See (k). 10. CDn3>i; onii^r Keri, and MSS. See (p). 15. ^nu>i 'irr^yi Editt. and MSS. See (t). CH. XI. t.2. t3n>3S72 in one tan ''iS73 in LXX, Syriac, Houbig. NewG. word two See (c). CH. XII. 5. b3>'> bDVI Editt. MSS. See (c). CH.XIII. 2. t=33iini tD^-iinD Best Editt. and MSS. See (a). 5. ni>Nbn niiaixbn Editt. MSS. See (f). 14. l^^in l^in Editt. MSS. and Versions. See (V). CH.XIV. 5. 137073 '•37272 The Oriental Synagogue. 7. si\2;^ iiiy >:n2;i> lai^y^ Editt. and MSS. See (f). 9. 1 £D^p>-JiJ") Editt. and MSS. See (n). HOSEA. 269 These nineteen are the only emendations of the printed text of Vander Hooght (according to tlie edition in 8vo, at Amsterdam, 1705, which has for many years been the standard), which I have adopt- ed. They are all, except the 1st and 12th, support- ed by a great consent of MSS, and old editions of great authority, and sometimes by the antient ver- sions besides. The 1st indeed rests chiefly upon the Syriac version, and the pressing exigence of the place, but not without countenance from the LXX in the most material part. Tltfe 12th is merely a division, of what appears in the printed text as one word, into two, as it was read by the LXX and Sy- riac, without the change or transposition of a single letter. The learned reader wull observe, that I seldom take notice of any such various readings (and such make the far greater part of those which the manu- scripts present) as give only a varied orthography of a w^ord, without altering, or in any way affecting, either the sense, or the grammatical construction. Such varieties might deserve the attention of an edi- tor, but to a translator they are of little conse- quence. I subjoin a list of tlie passages, in which I have altered the stops. ALTERATIONS OF STOPS. CHAPTER. VERSE. IV. 10. — See note (H). VI. 9, 10. See note ( ^l). VII. 14. See note Cm). 15. — See note (m). VIII. 2. — See note (b). 11, 12, See note (m). IX. 1. — See note (b). 4. — See note Ce). 14, 15. — See note (w). X. 7. — See note (N). XI. 4. — See note (g). XIII. 2. — See note (c). 5, 6. — See note (G). 10, 11. — See note (q). 14, 15. — See note (X). APPENDIX, No. I. CORRECTIONS OF THE TRANSLATION, WITH ADDITIONAL EXPLANATORY NOTES. CHAP. II, 10. — ^' vileness.*' — Perhaps — " shame'* — might be a better word. See the reason, note (g). Shame is, indeed, the word in the Bishops Bible. The im- poverishment and devastation of a rich countr)% by invasion and the depredations of the conqueror, seem to be represented under the image of a total denudation of the female person. Compare Ezek. xvi, 36, 37. CHAP. IV, 12. Perhaps this whole verse might be better render- ed thus : " My people consult their wood, and their ^72 HOSEA. staff is their monitor. For a spirit of lasciviousness hath driven them astray, and they play the wanton, [withdrawing] from under their God/* To be *' under God," is to be both under his government, and under his care. And " to withdraw from un- der him," is at the same time to revolt from obedi- ence, and to renounce his protection. See note (i), and Appendix, No. II. CHAP. V, 10. — " bounds," rather — " land-marks." CHAP. VI, 8. »— " lying in wait for a man." Perhaps — ^* lying in wait for the passenger" might be a rendering, which, though less literal, might more clearly con- vey the meaning to the English reader. For the image is that of a banditti, not lying in wait for a particular man ; but generally lying in wait, to take their chance of making booty of any traveller, whose ill hap might throw him in their way. Verse 9. — " committed lewdness," rather — '- wrought lewd- ness," which was the expression in some of the old 6 APPENDIX, No. I. 273 versions. For the priests are taxed, not barely with spiritual lewdness, as committed by themselves, but as the promoters and abettors of it among tlie people. CHAP. VIII, 4. When I say, in the explanatory note (2), that " the only kings of the Israelites, of God's appoint- ment, were those of the line of David in Judah, and of Jeroboam and Jehu in the ten tribes j" I forget not, that Baasha indeed is spoken of, in the First Book of Kings, as an instrument in the hand of God, to execute his judgments upon the house of Jeroboam -, and Zimri likewise upon the house of Baasha ; and Omri upon that of Zimri. But no one of these seems to have received an express commis- sion for what he did, or an appointment to the king- dom, from any prophet ; such as Jeroboam received from the prophet Ahijah, and Jehu from Elisha. CHAP. XI, 6. See No. II. VOL. IV, iS APPENDIX, No. II. ADDITIONAL CRITICAL NOTES. CHAP. IT, 13. — '' her necklace," or, perhaps, " her ear-rings. The word n^^n may be from the root ^^n, to per- forate, of the form of n^nsJ from ^3:1, nv^i^n from ^^\ and ^^^^ from "i*^^ 5 and it may signify an or- nament of gold or silver, in open work, like what is now called filigramme, which seems to have been in use in the highest antiquity j for such, I think, were the ear-rings of Juno. T^iykrivoc, yijO^oiVTcc* II. H. 182. In the pierc'd auricle, on either side, She fix'd the trembling pendant, triple drop. Of tender filigramme. Filigramme — (Jjo^o^vtoc from (Jju^o(ioci, like ^*^^^ from APPENDIX, No. II. S75 CHAP. Ill, 2. Add to Note (B). St Jerome, and St Cyril, of Alexandria, conceiv- ing perhaps that the prophet, if" he had once divorced his wife, could not legally take her home again, imagine, that the adulterous woman of this chapter is a new connection, formed after the dismission of Gomer. And in this opinion tliey are followed by Estius, Menochius, and Tirinus. Some other expo- sitors of inferior note, taken up with this notion, interpret this second connection of the Christian church, considered as a second wife, married after the divorcement of the Jewish. To this it may be objected ; I.s^, That all that passed between the prophet and his wife (or wives, if in fact he took more than one), must be expounded by the analogy of God's dealings with the church, considered as the wife, in every period ; both when it was composed of the natural Israel only, and since the grafting in of the Gentiles. 2^/?/, It must indeed be admitted, that a woman, separated by bill of divorce, accord- ing to the law, Deut. xxiv, 1 — 4, after marriage had thereupon with a new husband, if that second s 2 276 HOSEA. marriage came to be dissolved, either by the death of the new husband, or by a formal divorce from him ; could not be taken again to wife by the first husband. But nothing hindered her re-marriage to her former husband, if new espousals with another had not taken place. And, further, if no divorce had taken place by bill, the right of the husband over her person, notwithstanding any separation (as we would now speak of bed and board) continued in full force. Now the state of the Jewish nation in the aggregate, even in their outcast forlorn condi- tion, is never represented in the prophets, as a di- vorce by bill. The question, in Isaiah li, 1, " Where is this bill of your mother's divorcement ?" amounts to a negation of the existence of any such instru- ment. In Jeremiah iii, 8, Jehovah says, indeed, of ** backsliding Israel," that is, of Samaria, that " he had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce." But nothing of the kind is said of Judah, clearly dis- tinguished in this prophecy from Samaria, and men- tioned as her " sister ;" that is, her sister, not only in consanguinity, but in the mystical wedlock. And, notwithstanding the bill of divorce, '' backsliding Israel," no new espousals having taken place after the divorce, is affectionately invited to return to her APPENDIX, No. II. 277 tormer husband, who revokes her divorcement. * Further, it is to be observed, that the Christian church is never mentioned in prophecy as a second wife. But the converts of the Gentiles are repre- sented under the image of a brood of children ac- quired to the original wife, pardoned, after a long separation, by the injured husband, taken home again, and into favour. From all this it appears, that, to represent the case between Jehovah and his church, the adultress, whom the prophet is in this chapter commanded to love, must be Gomer herself, the offending wife of the first chapter ; not any other woman. And in this opinion 1 am confirmed by the authority of Drusius, Lowth the father, and Wells, among ourselves ; of Tarnovius, among the Protest- ant divines of the Continent; and of Ribera and Rivetus, of the Church of Rome. I must observe farther, that Hosea's marriage was an extraordinary transaction, under the special direction of an abso- lute Sovereign, who had full authority to dispense with the forms of any written law ; and many things in the treatment of the incontinent wife seem to have been more conformable to the practices and * See Jer. iii, 6 — J K S 3 27S HOSEA. custom of mankind in general, in the earliest ages, than to the particular provisions of the law of Moses. CHAR III, 3. — " neither will I with thee/* The negative ^^ is carried over to this from the preceding clause, by the force of the copula. Nothing more common. So that the sense is the same, as if it had been writ- ten T^^* i<^ "^ii^ ^^\ CHAP. IV, 11. When I said that the seven texts, produced in page 45, " are the only instances in the Bible, in which a noun, or what stands as a noun, follow- ing the verb ^'5^, is connected with the verb by ^ ;'* I had overlooked an eighth, in 1 Chron. xvi, 37, in which, taking the passage as it is rendered in our Public Translation, the immediate object of the verb may seem to be connected with it by ^. " So he left there [Dti? ^•J?*'^] before the ark of the cove- nant of the Lord, Asaph and his brethren [^D*^^ WK*7i].»' But, upon a critical consideration of the passage, it will appear, that the immediate object of the verb is not " Asaph and his brethren," but APPENDIX, No. II. 279 the proper names, in verses 38, 39, 40, 41, 42. Anil the sense is, that he left those persons to Asaph and his brethren ; that is, under their direction and su- perintendance. And the whole should be thus ren- dered. " So he left tliere, before the ark of the co- venant of Jehovah, under command of Asaph and of his brethren (to minister before the ark conti- nually, as every day's work required (38) Obed- ^dom and their brethren three-score and eight : Obed-edom also the son of Jeduthun," &c. Ob- serve, that the ^ prefixed to D"1K "iDy at tlie begin- ning of verse 38, should not be rendered ** and," for it is the particle of specification. " He left un- der command of Asaph and his brethren," &c. viz. ** Obed-edom," &c. Of this use of % see p. 4, Verse 12. Add to Note (i). I find I am quite alone in taking this clause, *' let their staff therefore give them answers," as I still think however it may be taken, as a severe menace of dereliction. I have offered therefore, in No. I, another translation of this whole verse ; in which this clause is given as a repetition only, in other words, of the assertion contained in the former ; or, s 4 280 HOSEA. at most, as alleging against the Israelites a specific instance of the crime of idolatry, charged generally in the former clause. In this mention of the staif, as giving oracular advice, some have imagined an allusion to a very antient superstition, mentioned by the grammarian Festus, which consisted in the adoration of a peeled stick, as the symbol of some Deity. And I cannot but think, there is some ground for the conjecture. The Hebrew word ^pD, though given as a root by Buxtorf and most lexico- graphers, is, by some grammarians, deemed a verbal from the root ^^p, ' to polish, or make smooth.' If this be the true derivation of the word, and it is certainly very plausible, its proper sense must be that of a peeled stick, or wand, trimmed by the kiiife of all the lateral twigs and buds, and divested of the outer bark or rind j and so made perfectly smooth and bare. ^varsi, iTTsiBr) '^^cotcc ro[/j7}v h o^zggi "KskofTrei/f Certainly the word is used but once for a growing twig, viz. Jer. i, 11. And it is remarkable, that in the old Latin language, the name of the deified wa?id APPENDIX, No. II. 281 was, according to Festus, a word of similar etymon and import. — '* Delubhum dicebant fustem deli- BRATUM, i. e. decorticatum, quern venerabantur pro Deo.'' Verse 18. — ** her great men." rr^i^D, * lier,' i. c, Ephraim's. Of this anomaly of gender, see the Preface. CHAP. V, 2. I read D'^t??^, not ^^^V.^ Verse 4, Of the six passages, in which the LXX are said (p. 61) to have rendered the word D^'^^yD by l^ya, I find, upon a re-examination of them all, that two are doubtful; namely, Jer. xxi, 12, and 14. For the different editions of the LXX vary very much. Trommius seems to have had no better authority, for giving i^ya as the rendering in these two texts, than the Scliolia of the Frankfort Septuagint. In the Vatican and the Alexandrine MSS, we have nothin^^ into ^ before the suffixes. And this *^ again is frequently omitted. And the omission of the \ in all these cases, is invariably marked by the point kibbutz under the third radical of the verb. I take this omission to be a change in the letters of the verbs by the suffixes, originally belonging to the language, independent of the points; and as * Prov. i, 28. Q 28* HOSEA. such it is considered by the great antagonist of the Masoretic punctuation, the learned Masclef. CHAP. VI, 10. —<* a horrible thingV* nnnji^t^. The form of the noun is certainly very singular. Two MSS give ni^nyti^, in which form, as Archbishop Newcombe observes, the word occurs twice in Jeremiah.* But this seems not a sufficient reason for altering the text. The Keri, and many MSS, as the same learn- ed prelate has remarked, give n^^l^iyti^ j which con- firms the form in the printed text in the most extra- ordinary part of it ; the termination M**, As for the insertion of the ^ between the two reshes, this is not uncommon in nouns formed by the re-duplication of the third radical. CHAP. Vn, 10. — « seek him." ^nii^W. Vide supra, V, 15. CHAP. VHI, 7. — " shall swallow it up." ^'"'^t?-' ^^^^ supra, V, 15. * Chap. V, 30, and xxiii, 14. APPENDIX, No. II. 285 CHAP. X, 14. — *« and all thy fortresses shall be demolished.*' Observe, that in the original, the singular ^^5% not the plural T'l^'StD, is the nominative case to the verb ^D*l\ There is therefore no anomaly of the num- ber. CHAP. XI, 6. — *^ weary itself" Or, ** be weary ;'* or, ** fall furiously upon ;" or, *' play havoc in." The verb J^^n may be either, 1^^, the third person singular preterite, in the masculine form of the root n^n • or, 2dlij, the third person singular preterite, in the feminine form of the verb ^^n ^ or, Sclly, . the third person singular preterite feminine of the verb ^*^n. As the first it will render * weary itself,' or * be wearied,* if an anomaly of the gender, of which the instances are frequent, be admitted ; the noun S'^n, which is the nominative case, being feminine. 2. n7n^ being taken in the second manner, will give the same sense, if an intercommunity of sense be allowed between Tbn and ^^n in the secondary sense of the former, of being exhausted witl; conti- nued toil. 286 HOSEA. 3. ti^9 taken in the third manner, will render * fall furiously upon,' or * play havoc inj' which two last renderings come to the same thing. As for the sense of ' resting upon,' or * abiding on,* given in our Public Translation, and by the majority of interpreters, it is altogether inadmissible. For neither of the roots '^'^n nor ^"^n signifies ' to re- main, abide, or continue in.' The words, which, in the sense of continuance, or abiding, are placed in the Lexicons under the root ^^n, are some to be re- ferred to the root ^^"^ ; others are misinterpreted, and belong to the root ^^n in another sense : none of them to the root ^in. But to the root ^n^, the word n'^n of the text cannot be reduced. The expression in the Bishop's Bible, and the English Geneva, instead of * abide on,' was ' fall on,' which was much better. Of the two renderings, 1st, ' weary itself/ or ' be weary ;' 2d, ' fall furiously upon,' or ' play havoc in ;' either is admissible, and well suited to the con- text. But in my own judgment, I abide by the for- mer, as the better of the two. Verse 7. — " they called them." ^N^^p!. See V, 15, and VIII, 7. APPENDIX, No. II. 2iJ7 CHAP. XIII, Note (d). When I say (p. 194) that the abominable custom of infant sacrifice was more antient in the kingdom of Samaria than of Judah, I speak strictly of the comparative antiquity of the custom, as among the Israelites themselves. The temple built by Solomon to Moloch, was for the gratification of his Ammon- ite concubines. And they, those foreign women, " burnt incense, and sacrificed in it." But it ap- pears not, that the king himself, or any of the race of Israel in his time, nor till long after, were par- takers in those impious rites. The erection there- fore of this temple shewed a propensity to this spe- cies of idolatry, but w^as not the beginning of a per- manent custom. On the contrary, the worship of the Tyrian Baal, introduced by Ahab, was the be- ginning of a practice which, though checked for a short time by Jehu, was daily gaining ground, in both kingdoms ; rose to its height in that of Sama- ria, about the time of Menahem ; and afterwards, in the reign of Ahaz, in the kingdom of Judah. 288 HOSEA* CHAP. XIII, 14. I have said in note (t), p. 213, that the Hebrew names of Hell and the Grave, Sheol and Keber^ never are confounded by the sacred writers. But although Keber is never used for Sheol, to signify Hell, there are five texts in which the contrary may seem to have taken place ; namely, the use of Sheol for Keber, to signify the repository of the body, ra- ther than the mansion of the departed spirit. These five texts are. Gen. xlii, 38 j xliv, 29, 31 ; 1 Kings ii, 6, 9. But upon consideration it will appear that, in every one of these, the thing to be expressed is neither Hell nor the Grave, particularly, and as dis- tinct the one from the other, but * the state of Death j' and this state is expressed under the image of a place of residence of the dead collectively. And for this place, taken in the gross, not as divided into the two separate lodgments of the spirit and the carcase, the word ^^i^li^ is used. It is therefore very ill rendered by the word ' grave,' even in these texts J and * hell ' would be a better rendering : be- cause the only general place of residence of the dead collectively is that of the departed spirit. The grave is no general place, since every dead body has APPENDIX, No. II. 289 its own appropriate grave. Perhaps in these in- stances the word Sheol would be best expressed, in English, by a periphrasis, ' region of the dead,' or * dwelling of the dead,' or * the nether regions.* There is yet a sixth text, Psalm cxH, 7, in which we read, in the English Bible, of " bones scattered at the grave's mouth ;'* but, in the Hebrew, *' at the mouth of SheuL*' This passage is often alleged as an evident instance of the use of ^KC^ for the grave. But the fact is, that here we have no men- tion of the grave at all. For the psalmist is clearly speaking of the bones of persons massacred, whose bodies never were in any grave, but had been left to rot, unburied, upon the surface of the earth. And the mouth of Sheol is this surface, considered as the entrance of Sheol ; which, in the imagery of the sa- cred writers, as well as of the oldest Greek poets, is al- ways considered as in the central parts of the earth's hollow sphere. — -Ta^a^oj/ rie^oivroc 'Ei'^a (jidfj^iiut re 'jrvkai kcai yjctjczog ov^og, ToffGOv m^ff alhiM oaov ov^avog eg cctto yocifjg, Iliad. ^, 15, &c. VOL. IV. T 290 HOSEA. It is very curious to remark, by the way, that the Tartarus of Homer, or his dungeon of the damned, — /V *locreTog rs l^^ovog rs '}i(jtjBVOi, ovT oivyyig VTTS^iovog TjeXioto Te^TTovT, our upsfjijOiai, (^oi^ug Bs rs Toc^ru^og cc(jtj(pig» IHad. ^, 479, &c. the " crassa caligo inferum " of the old Latin poet, is a pit below Hades : to which in position it bears the same relation, as Earth, the low mansion of man, to Heaven, the bright and blissful seat of the immortal gods. Whence it is evident that Homer's Hades was the dwelling of spirits not in punishment. The shell, or crust, of the terraqueous globe, on which we live, is the outer wall of this nether region, consisting, according to this imagery, of two parts ; Hades, the uppermost, and Tartarus, below, in the very centre. The whole, without distinction of its parts, is denoted by Sheol, in the Hebrew language. And the surface of the earth is the outside, or en- trance, of this Skeol in the psalmist. The soul, ex- pelled from its case of clay by the weapon of the murtherer, flees to Sheol, and leaves its exuviae at the entrance. Observe, that in the compound word "'S^, the noun ^B does not always retain its proper and literal signification of * a mouth.' It is used. APPENDIX, No. ir. 291 with great latitude, to signify the edge, properly the outside edge, or beginning, of any thing. In this passage, neither the LXX nor the Vulgate express any allusion to a mouth. — Ta^a tov *A^j^v. LXX. — " secus infernuni." Vulgate. I have the satisfaction to find, that, with respect to the distinct proper senses of the words Sheol and Keber, and in the interpretation of the mysterious text in St Peter's First Epistle, as far, at least, as the general principle is concerned, I have the concur- rence of a very learned writer, the reverend George Bennet, minister of the Gospel at Carlisle, in a book entitled, " Oiam Hanashemoth ; or, a View of the Intermediate State;" which was published about the very time these sheets were committed to the press. It is a work of various erudition, and deep research. And a reader must be very learned, who finds not much in it to instruct him ; very dull, if he is not delighted with the ingenuity that is displayed even in those parts, in which he may see reason to doubt the solidity of the author's argument, and the truth of his interpretations ; and very captious, if in a variety of novel expositions, many of which he may think inadmissible, he finds any thing to give him offence. I take a particular pleasure in bearing T 2 292 HOSEA. this testimony to the merits of an author, whom I suspect to be of a different branch of the Christian family from my own, and who seems to have a dif- ferent notion from mine of the prophecies, relating, as I conceive, to the final restoration of the Jewish nation. CHAP. XIV, 7. ADD TO NOTE (h). Diodati refers this masculine suffix to God. For having rendered, " la ricordanza d'esso sara come il vino del Libano," he gives this note : " Vuol dire, la sua conoscenza e dottrina sara sempre dolcissima al suo populo, a guisa di vino eccellente." He offers indeed another exposition, which refers the pro- nominal suffix to the people. *' Iddio terra carissi- ma la memoria del suo popolo.*' According to the former exposition, *»*^3^ is the people's constant re- membrance of God ; according to the latter, it is God's gracious remembrance of his people. Both seem to me forced and unnatural. APPENDIX. No. HI. CHAP. I, 7. — " armour.'' The original word HDhSd seems to be used here as in chap, ii, 18. See the note (l) upon that place. CHAP, n, 6. — " hedge up." Upon the suggestion of a very learned critic (as he appears to he) in a periodical publication,* I have restored the word " hedge '* of our Public Translation, ill changed into " stop" in my first edition. Verse 16. — «' thou shalt call me husband," &c. Upon ma- ture consideration, I have thought it better to give the sense of the words Ishi, Baali, and Baalim, in this place in our own language, than to retain the * See Monthly Review, March, 1804'. T S 294 HOSEA, Hebrew words themselves ; which, in deference to the example of our Public Translation, I had done in my first edition. These words are mere appella- tives, expressive of certain relations, between those, who are supposed to use them, and those to whom they are applied. The relations, it is true, are alle- gorical. But the words are used in their plain literal meaning, and as appellatives. Not as appellatives turned, by compounding, into proper nam^s, like the words Jezrael, Lo-ruhama, Lo-ammi, imposed upon certain allegorical personages ; that is, upon persons, which, if real, are put however to represent other persons, the circumstances of similitude be- tween the type and antitype being pointed out, by innuendo as it were, in the signification of the proper name resolved into its component parts. But these are used only as appellations of certain well-koown relations in society, by which other relations, real, or imaginary, are adumbrated : a real relation be- tween God and his people ; an imaginary relation between the people and their idols. And without the common meaning of the words as appellatives, not as proper names, the passage is unintelligible. In a translation, which adequately renders that com- mon meaning, the sense of the passage will be clears APPENDIX, No. III. 295 and not made more clear by the introduction of the original words, which can throw no light upon the sense to him, to whom the original language is un- known. In any translation, therefore, all such words as these should be rendered in the correspond- ing appelhitives of the translator's language. 1 must observe however, that, in this instance, either all three should be translated, or all three retained. The middle way, taken by Castalio, who translates the first two, and retains the third, is the worst of all : for in this way it appears not, how the disuse of the second puts the third entirely oiit of the mouth of the spouse. Verses 19, 20. — ** to myself, I say," &c. It seems high time that the antient particle of asseveration, ^ yea,* should be laid aside ; as the use of it is one- of the peculi- arities of colloquial phraseology by which a certain sect is frequently ridiculed upon the stage. Archa- isms, once become ludicrous, cease to raise tlie dig- nity of style, and should be banished from Holy writ. And yet the particle ' yes,' which I had used in my first edition, seems too familiar. I therefore express the asseveration more solemnly by ' I say.' T 4 296 HOSEA. CHAP. IV, 11. — " to devote themselves to dalliance," &c. The more literal rendering of the Hebrew words is cer- tainly what I gave in my first edition, '* to give at- tention to." But the phrase " to give attention to," in our language, seems to imply a serious application of the mind to some weighty business, or grave pur- suit. And it is not without some impropriety ap- plied to a perpetual engagement in those riotous scenes, which destroy all attention. The translation which I now give, expresses the full sense of the Hebrew words, but without distinctly conveying that particular notion of the voluptuary, which the original contains, as a person making loose pleasures the whole business of his life, and having no employ- ment for the powers of his mind, but in the gratifi- cation of his appetites. But as the mere literal ren- dering would hardly convey that notion to the Eng- lish reader, who would only be struck with the seem- ing inconsistency of the expression, of " giving at- tention" to that, by which the very power of atten- tion is taken away, I prefer the translation I now give. Declaring, however, that neither this, nor the former, nor any other version I have been able to APPENDIX, Ko. III. 297 form of the Hebrew words, satisfies myself, as an- swering in every particular to the original. CHAP. V, 3. " At this very moment" — Heb. " Surely now" — *>5 in this place is rather the particle of asseveration, reverdy prq/ectd, than the causal conjunction * for.' Verse 4. In my note upon this passage, p. 54 — 62, I have said (p. 57), that from the poel form of the verb "^"^y, two nouns are derived, both signifying * a little child.' I should rather have said, both understood to signify ' a little child.* But with respect to the latter of the two ^^^V^C, the LXX appear to have followed a very different reading, in the only pass- age in which the word is supposed to be used in this sense, namely, Isaiah iii, 12. The word which the LXX found in that place must have been l^^^^^VD, which they take as the participle poel plural, with the suffix of the second person, and they render it * are gleaning thee.' Now if this of the LXX be the true reading, then the word ^^"^yo no where occurs in the sense of * little child.* 298 HOSEA. Verse 9, — ** working conviction/' The grammatical con- struction I take to be this : that the noun substan- tive rin^in, governs the noun substantive which im- mediately follows it, *>t33ti^, by the preposition ^; as the verb, from which it is derived, would govern its object. This verb n^\ from its primary sense of * making manifest, shewing,' comes to signify * to prove,' by argument. And thence * to disprove' by argument, * to shew to be in error,' or * in fault,* * to refute,' * to convince.' And from the sense of * convincing ' in argument, it acquires the sense of * convincing' by other means. In particular by punishment, which brings a delinquent to a sense of his folly or his crime. Hence the noun nn^^n signi- fies ' punishment,' which produces that effect, or is applied for that purpose. The day of ** working conviction in the tribes of Israel," is the day ap- pointed in God's counsels, for executing those judgments, which should bring the hardened Jews to a sense of God's power, his veracity in his threat- nings, and their own sin and folly in disregarding the warnings of his prophets. The verb is rendered ' work conviction' by Bishop Lowth, Isaiah ii, 4. From him I borrow the expression. The word ' re- APPENDIX, No. 111. 299 biike' of our Public Translation, which I retained in my first edition, is much too weak for this place, though in some it might be properly used. CHAP. VI, 2, 3. — " we shall live in his presence, and attain," &c. I place rebhia only at ^^^S7, and remove the soph- pasuk to the end of the following word nynJ^, with which I make the second verse end ; and I begin a new verse and a new sentence with nsniJ. Thus, understanding the verb i^^'^^ neutrally, I connect the attaining of knowledge with the living in the presence, as the eflTect with the cause: To live in God's presence, is to live in the communion of his church, receiving the instruction of the Divine word, and the comfort of the sacraments. The at- tainment of knowledge, that is, the true knowledge of God, and a right understanding of his word, is the effect of thus living in his presence. And a fur- tlier effect of the attainment is, a taste and liking for the knowledge so attained, a desire of perpetual proficiency in it, and a voluntary pursuit of it. — " Ita nobis veritatis suavitas allubescct, ut pcrpe- tuo sequi cupeamus." d^colampad. 300 HOSEA. CHAP. VI, 8. *' Gilead" — In my note upon this passage in my first edition, I said that Gilead, the son of Ma- chir, might be the leader of the expedition against a city of the Amorites, which is mentioned Numb, xxxii, 39, 40. But it is more probable, that a grand- son of that Gilead, bearing the same name, might be that successful leader. Gilead indeed, the son of Machir, was the great-grandson of the patriarch Jo- seph. Moses and Aaron were great-grandsons of the patriarch Levi. But Joseph was so much younger than Levi, that his great-grandsons may well be sup- posed to have lived with the great-great-grandsons of Levi; that is, with the generation next below Moses and Aaron, and to have had a considerable part in Joshua's wars. And upon this general view of the subject it was, that I thought it not impro- bable that Gilead, the son of Machir, might be the captor of that city of the Amorites, which afterwards bore his name. But when it is recollected that Machir had children born before the death of his grandfather Joseph ;* and that Joseph died not less * Gen. 1, 22* APPENDIX, No. III. 301 than 359 years before the Exodus ; it is quite in- credible, that any son of Machir's, and hardly cre- dible that any one higher in the pedigree of the fa- mily than one of his great-grandsons, should be alive to serve in Joshua's wars. The latitude in which the Hebrew word for sons is used, and the inaccuracy of the Hebrews in the enumeration of genealogical descents, is in no in- stance more evident than in that of the family of Manasseh. In Joshua xvii, 2, the same persons are mentioned as Manasseh's sons, which are mentioned in Numb, xxvi, 30 — 32, as the sons of Gilead j i, e, great-grandsons are called sons. CHAP. VII, 8. — ** mixed himself with the peoples." The word C3**t2y in the plural, always signifies the various na- tions of the earth, the unenlightened nations, in op- position to God's peculiar people, the Israelites. There is indeed a familiar use of the word in com- mon speech, as promiscuously compellative of the individuals of a company j in which it renders the EngUsh phrase ' good folks,* or ' good people.' But as applied to bodies politic, it is never used other- wise than to denote the many nations of the Gen- 1 302 HOSEA. tiles, in opposition to the one nation of the Jews. I have therefore thought it necessary to gi\e it in the plural in English, * peoples,' though not without some violation of the propriety of the English lan- guage, which disowns the word in the plural form. Bishop Lowth in his Isaiah, studious as he was of the purity of his English style, has taken the same liberty for the same reason. CHAP. VIII, 1. ** The cornet at thy mouth be it like the eagle," &c. To my translation and exposition of this pass- age, it has been objected by a learned friend, that eagles never scream. And this I suppose is the opi- nion of modern naturalists. But of the six species of eagles enumerated by Aristotle, the little black eagle is the only one, of which he says it neither cries nor croaks. Of the next species, the Pelargus montana, he says, that when it carries off dead car- rion, it labours much, squalls, and cries. Hist. An. lib. ix, cap. 32. Pliny's testimony is more explicit. He says, of the little black eagle, that it is the only species which never screams or cries : — '* Sola sine clangore, sine murmuratione." Lib. x, c. 3. Bo- chart says, that * clangere ' is the true Latin verb to APPENDIX, No. III. 303 ^press the voice of the eagle. In this he is sup- ported by the grammarians. Homer's eagles scream- ed. Iliad. jM/, 207. -^schyliis's screamed. Tusc. Quaest. lib. ii, c. 30. If eagles have left off scream- ing, it must have been since the time of our first Edward. For when the shores of Caernarvonshire were strewed with the dead bodies of the bards slaughtered by him, the Welch eagles made a pite- ous screammg. On dreary Arvon's shores they h*e, Sraear'd with gore, and ghastly [)ale ; Far, far aloof th' affrighted ravens sail, The famished eagle screams and passes by. From antient authorities it should seem, that three different notes were to be found in difierent species of the eagle. 1. A doleful whining cry, [jt^tw^t^Biu, murmuratio. 2. A hoarse croaking sound, \i\riKiv. 3. A shrill squall, or scream, of furious savage joy |3oav. Clangere, Tikay^ag, Hom. It is not clear to me, that Aristotle says even of the black eagle, what he certainly says of no other, that it is absolutely mute : only that its voice is not ominous, being neither doleful nor hoarse. Cer- tainly they were black eagles, which screamed with 5 204. HOSEA. horror at the sight of the murthered bards; for Snowdon is inhabited by no other. However modern naturalists may decide, I think the prophet Hosea is Hkely to have been in the opi- nion of Homer, ^Eschyhis, Aristotle, Pliny, Bochart, Grav. CHAP. IX, 5. — " All are gone ! Total devastation ! '' The He- brew sounds literally, as it was given in the first edition. " For lo they are gone because of devasta- tion." That is> they, the people of the land, har- rassed with the ravages and exactions of the foreign invader, are fled from their homes to distant re- gions, and have left the country so thinned of its inhabitants, that the few remaining in it are not enow to make an attendance at the stated festivals. This same sense, and neither more nor less than this same sense, the words now given express, as I con- ceive, with more force and perspicuity, to the Eng« lish reader, CHAR X, H. — " shall harrow" — It is matter of doubt, whe- ther the harrow was in ancient times, more than in APPENDIX, No. III. 305 the present, among the implements of husbandry in Palestine. Be that as it may, the two verbs C^*^n and "Tltt^ unquestionably speak of two different ejec- tions, however the same instrument might be em- ployed for both : the one, that which is the proper operation of the plough ; the other, that which with us is the proper operation of the harrow. The verb therefore, * to harrow,' may very well be used to ' render the Hebrew *T^U^ as predicating the work done, by whatever instrument* Indeed, * to bar- row' is the only verb in our language, to render the Greek ^aSkoKO'Trnv, or the Latin offringere. Verse 12. Sow to yourselves for righteousness, ** that ye may reap." So Piscator, " Ut metatis j" and to the same effect Rivetus. Imperativus pro futuro. Sic alio loco ** Accedite ad eum et illuminamini et co- medite bonum," i, e, comedetis. — ** according to mercy," pro ration e Divinae be- nignitatis, quae supra modum compensat. Rivetus. Verse 13. " Ye have plowed-in wickedness." I think the verb U^"^n here is used in the sense of plowing-in, VOL. IV. u 306 HOSEA. the seed plowed-in being the object. And so Ri- vetus understood it. Arando seminastis : nam im- pietas fuit semen mandatum terras, bonorum sterili, malorum feraci. Verse 14. — " and all thy fortresses shall be demolished." Observe, that in the original the singular noun sub- stantive ^5, not the plural T^i^^^D is the nominative case to the verb ^V^'^. In this case therefore there is no anomaly of the number. Verse 15, * — *' brought to nothing." In asserting that the roots ntDT and DH have no connection, I have the misfortune to differ from my late very learned friend Mr Parkhurst. Mr Parkhurst cites Exod. xv, 16, Job xxx, 27, Psalms xxxv, 15, Jer. xiv, 17, Lam. ii, 18, iii, 49, as passages, in which the verb t^'OI is used to sig- nify, *' to be quiet, still, composed," observing, that in the last of these passages, " the final H is clearly radical." Now, in the first of these passages, Exod. xv, 17, the word *!t2T' maybe deduced either from h::j1 or Dtsn. The Masoretes indeed have pointed it^ APPENDIX, No. III. 807 as if they referred it to J^t:i. But not to ^^'^ in tlie sense of Dt:n, " to be quiet or still/* but in its own sense, *' to be like to ;'* for the passage might very well be rendered, " by the greatness of thy arm they shall become Hke a stone," i. e, petrified with dismay. In the second and third passages. Job xxx, 27, Ps. XXXV, 15, the word is "^t^l, and nothing, either in the letters or the points, makes it necessary to refer it to Jit:! rather than to D*»1. In the fourth pas- sage, Jer. xiv, 17, the word is Jli^Din- wliich might be the third person plural feminine of the future tense in kal either of HDI or DI3T • for, in this person, the verbs quiescent Lamed He, and the verbs doubling Ain differ in form in the points only. The Masoretes indeed have applied the points, which, in their system, belong to the verbs quies- cent Lamed He. For thus they write it HTOin, But this is only one instance among many of their want of judgment. Alter only one of their points, place Kibbuts instead of Scheva under "J, thus Tiy^lJl, and the word will be the third person plural feminine future in Kal, regularly formed from DCl. In the fifth passage. Lamentations ii, 18, the word is onn J which by no exploit of criticism whatever can be reduced to HD"!, a root quiescent Lamed u 2 Hc# If muKl be tin; thini [)crnon future feminine nij)hal of the verb cum, arid nothing else. Of the RJx [KiHsageB, therefore, produced by Mr l*;ukhur»t, there rcnrmins ordy the sixth, J^anientations iii, 4fi, in whi(!h any necesKity, or j)roi)ri(;ly indeed, appears of introdueirif.^ the* root HO"! in the seriHe of D11, or ODn. In the hrHt indeed the root may be ^'Oi, bid, in its own sense. Jn LarnerjtatiorjH iii, 4fi, the wojd is HLin. Jn which Mr Paikhurst Hays the H is clearly radical. IJut I cannot agree with him. 'i'he word, disregarcJ- ing the points, may be tlu; third person singular i'c- mininc future of the root orj^n in kal, with the; pa- jagr>gic 1^. The verbs, doubling Ain, in the persouH both of tli(! future and the preterite, frecpiently as- Hume the paragogic ^. And of tluH we have an in- utancc in this very verb, in another passage of the proj)het Jeremiah. Set; Jer. viii, I 1. ft is certain, that many roots cpiiescent Ijuned lie, doubling Ain, and cjiiiescent Ain Van, liave an intercomnumity of DJgnifiration. Ihit this is not to be ext(!nd(!d to all 8ucli verbs at pleasure, but confined to those, oi the jiromiKcuouM use of which we have unexcej)tionable irihtunccH in the sacred text. AIM>T:N1)IX, No. Iir. 309 CHAP. XI, 10. — " Like a lion lie shall roar," kc. The most learned commentators agree, that this roaring of the lion is the sound olthe gospel ; and that the subject of this, and the following verse, is its promulgation and progress, the conversion of the Gentiles, and the final restoration of the Jews. ** (Juasi Leo ru- gicl — Clara et maxima voce pra^dicabit Evange- lium," says Piscator. And to the same effect lii- vetus and Bochart. *' it J^eo rugitu suo advocat animalia sui generis ad participationem pneda», teste I^lutarcho in Libro de Industria Animalium ; sic Christus, potenti Evangel ii voce, vocabit (jentes omnes ad yL*tern« vitae societatem." Livelye. The preaching of the gospel, reaching the remotest cor- ners of the earth, is frequently represented under the image of the loudest sounds. And this loudness of the sound alone might justify the figure of the roaring of tlie lion. I^ut a greater propriety of the figure will appear, if we recollect, that the first de- monstrations of mercy to the faithlul will be the judgments executed upon the antichristian perse- cutors : to whom the sound of the gospel w ill be a ^ound of terror, 'i his seems to have been the no- 310 HOSEA. tion of Drusius ; who says, " Ut rngitiis Leonis tei- ret reliqua animalia, sic Deus omnibus metum incu- tiet, cum supplicium sumet de hostibus Ecclesiae." And this receives much confirmation from a passage in the prophet Joel (iii, 16.) in which, as Rivetus observes, the preaching of the gospel is described as Jehovah's roaring from Sion. And although the lion is not mentioned by name in that place, yet the word for roaring is that which properly denotes the voice of the lion. This, therefore, is another pas- sage, in which the roaring of the lion represents the preaching of the gospel. And as such it is mention- ed by the great Bochart. *' Non immerito rugitus hie (nempe Joel iii, 16.) ut et Os. xi, 10, appellatur Evangelii praedicatio ; cum tam sit clara et sonora, ut per totum orbem audita fuerit, nee solum aures, sed auditorum animos, vi su^ perculerit." Verse IK ' — *' shall hurry," pavebunt, vel properabunt cele- riter se recipere ad eum, nempe Christum. Vatablus* Such is the consent of the most learned interpreters in the general sense of this passage, as a prophecy of the successful propagation of the gospel. And in this general sense of it even they agree, as appears APPENDIX, No. III. 311 by St Jerome upon tlie place, who look not for a final restoration of the natural Israel : although in the detail they must differ from those, who main- tain, as I maintain, the literal sense of the prophe- cies relating to that great consummation of the scheme of Providence. CHAP. XII, 1. *' Every day he multiplietli falsehood and destruc- tion," i, e. in multiplying his falsehoods, he multi- plies the causes of his own destruction. The propo- sition is true, whether the falsehood be understood of their hypocrisy and infidelity towards God, or of their treachery and bad faith in political treaties and alliances. Multiplying their falsehoods in either way, they were daily multiplying the causes of their own destruction. But from w^hat immediately fol- lows, their falsehood in their alliances seems more particularly intended. They are charged with mak- ing their court to the Egyptian ; at the very time when they were entering into treaty with his enemy and rival the Assyrian, — " For while at the same time" — This I take to be the force of the two vaiiSf prefixed th^ one to the noun nnD, the other to the noun pU^. 312 ^ HOSE A. Verse 7. " Canaan the trafficker !" In my former edition I had given it more tamely. " A trafficker of Ca- naan !" For the improvement in the spirit of the expression, which is very great, my reader, with myself, is indebted to the learned critic already men- tioned.* CHAR xin, 15.; — '* Nay in truth." This I take to be the true force of ''^ in this place. Equivalent to Itno or Quinimo. " Nay truly," or " nay rather," or " nay and what is more," Instead of shewing signs of pe- nitence, he is become a total and professed apostate. * Monthly Review, March, 1804. ADVERTISE]MENT. The Author finds, that he owes apology to the or- thodox reader, for an omission, not of any thing es- sential to the elucidation of the prophet ; but in it- self of greater moment, than any errata of the press or of the pen. It is, that he has omitted to add this remark, at the end of the long note on the word " memorial," in chap, xii, 5. [See note (f) p. 183.] Namely ; That the person, of whom it is said, that the name Jehovah is his memorial, is no other, than he whom the patriarch found at Bethel, who there spake with the Israelites in the loins of their proge- nitor. He, whom the patriarch found at Bethel, who there, in that manner, spake with the Israelites, was, by the tenor of the context, the antagonist with whom Jacob was afterwards matched at Peniel. The antagonist, with whom he was matched at Pe- niel, wrestled wuth the patriarch, as we read in the book of Genesis,* in the human form. The conflict * Ch. xxxii, 24. 314 HOSEA. was no sooner ended, than tlie patriarch acknow- ledged his antagonist as God.* The holy prophet first calls him Angelt (1^^^), and after mention of the colluctation, and of the meeting and conference at Bethel, says,t that he, whom he had called angel, was " Jehovah God of Hosts." And to make the assertion of this person's Godhead, if possible, still more unequivocal, he adds, that to him belonged, as his appropriate memorial, that name, which is decla- rative of the very essence of the Godhead. This man therefore of the book of Genesis, this Angel of Hosea, who wrestled with Jacob, could be no other than the Jehovah-angel, of whom we so often read in the English Bible, under the name of the " Angel of the Lord." A phrase of an unfortunate struc- ture, and so ill-conformed to the original, that it is to be feared, it has led many into the error of con- ceiving of the Lord as one person, and of the Angel as another. The word of the Hebrew, ill- rendered " the Lord," is not, like theEngHsh word, an appel- lative, expressing rank, or condition ; but it is the proper name Jehovah. And this proper name Je- hovah is not, in the Hebrew, a genitive after the * Gen. xxxii, 30. t Hos. xii, 4j. % Chap, xli, 5. ADVERTISEMENT. 315 noun substantive '' Angel," as the English repre- sents it ; but the words Hin^ and l^^'O, *' Jehovah" and " Angel," are two nouns substantive in appo- sition, both speaking of the same person ; the one^ by the appropriate name of the essence (rendering, by its very etymology, the Xoyog r;?? ovaiocg, if it may be permitted to apply logical terms to that which is beyond all the categories) ; the other, by a title of office. " Jehovah' Angel" would be a better ren- dering. The Jehovah-angel of the Old Testament is no other than He, who, in the fulness of time, " was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary." Certain things have lately appeared in print, in a periodical publication,* for the soundness of its principles, and the ability with which it is conduct- ed, of the highest merit, by which the author thinks himself called upon, in this manner, to supply his great omission. It is very extraordinary, that a writer, not unacquainted with the Hebrew Scrip- tures, and professing a just abhorrence of the Soci- nian blasphemy, should insinuate, that not more than one passage of the Old Testament is to be pro- * Anti-jacobin Review, 316 HOSE A. diiced, in which Christ is denominated J'ehovah. It is more extraordinary, that the attempt to justify the application of that one passage to Christ, should be represented as the attempt of a very modern writer, in which great pains have been "wasted. When the truth is, that the whole work, in which all these pains have been wasted, is comprised in not quite five octavo pages, not closely printed : * and the ob- ject of that short tract, is not to make any new ap- plication of the passage j but to shew, that the ren- dering of our English Bible, which expressly makes the application to Christ, is so strongly confirmed by the version of the LXX, in concurrence with all the old versions, that it is for that reason to be preferred to another offered by the learned Dr Blaney, of which the defender of the old version, too easily per- haps, admits the Hebrew words to be equally suscep- tible. It is very extraordinary, that this same writer should speak of Dr Eveleigh's pains, as all employed to prove, that Christ is once denominated Jehovah ; when the very short tract, in which Dr Eveleigh de- fends the old rendering of this one text, is nothing * See the learned Dr Eveleigh's Appendix to his 10th Bampton Lecture. ADVERTISEMENT. 317 more than an Apendix to liis " Discourses on the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity," the 9th and 10th of his Bampton Lectures, in which he produces innu- merable instances, from the Old Testament, of the application of the divine name Jehovah to the se- cond person in the Godhead. Indeed, the word Je- hovah, being descriptive of the divine essence, is equally the name of every one of the three persons in that essence. It is applied, in the Old Testa- ment, to every one of them, and to no one more frequently than |the second. This matter has been so ably, though briefly, touched by a Presbyter of the Episcopal Church in Scotland in the Anti- jacobin Review for May, that it is unnecessary to- say more upon it here ; except briefly to remark, that the name Jehovah, belonging to the three per- sons indiscriminately, as simply descriptive of the essence ; the compound Jehovah-Sabaoth belongs properly to the second person, being his appropriate Demiurgic title; describing not merely the Lord of such armies as miUtary leaders bring into the fields but the unmade self-existent Maker and Sustainer of the whole array and order of the universe. CRITICAL NOTES ON JOEL. CHAP. II. Verse 2. — " darkness, as the morning,'* &c, *' darkness. As the grey of the morning spread upon the mountains, [Cometh] a numerous people," &c. Bishop Newcombe and Houbigant divide in this manner. Verse 5. " Like the noise of chariots on the top§ of mountains shall they leap" — A noise as of chariots ! They are bounding on the tops of the mountains ! A noise as of a flame of fire devouring stubble i A strong people, as it were, set in battle array. Verse 6. — " the people." — " the peoples." Verse 14. — ** Quis recogitabit, reverteturque, ac resipiscet, ut relinquat" — Houbigant. 5 JOEL. 319 Verse 17. •— " the people/* — ** the peoples." Verse 18. " Then will the Lord be jealous," &c. ; rather, " And let Jehovah be anxious for his land, and take pity upon his people." It appears by what follows that this is the conclusion of the prayer. To the same effect Houbigant. Verse 19. " Yea"— rather " Then"— CHAP. III. Verse 11. — " thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord." For l'^'^^^-^, read, with Hou- bigant, Di>*'*^^SA. — «< there will Jehovah bring low your mighty ones." Compare Bishop Newcombe. Verse 13. — " get ye down." The LXX and Sy- riac read "^SHI, (instead of "J"^^), which Houbigant and Bishop Newcombe approve. — *' tread." n ssfo CRITICAL NOTES ON AMOS. CHAP. IL Verse 7. " That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor/' " They bruise the head of the poor in the dust of the earth." Vulgate, Houbigant, Bishop Newcombe. Verse 13. — ** I am pressed under you," kc. ; ra- ther, with the margin, " I will press your place as a cart full of sheaves presseth." Or, with Houbigant and Bishop Newcombe, " I will press your place as a loaded cornwain presseth its sheaves." CHAP. in. Verse 3. — ** except they be agreed." — '* unless they meet by appointment," Houbigant and Bishop Newcombe. AMOS. 321 Verse 3, — '* where no gin is for him;" rather, " when there is no fowler;" or, " when no one is fowling for him." — " si nemo erit, qui auciipetur." Houbigant. — '* shall one take up a snare ;" rather, with Bishop Newcombe, " will a snare spring from the ground when it hath caught nothing ?" Verse 12. — " in the corner of a bed, and in Da- mascus on a couch ;" rather, '* in the corner of the divan, and in Damascus on the mattress." See Parkhurst's Lexicon, ti^'^V, and rilOJ. CHAP. IV. Verse 1. — " which say to their masters [rather their owners], bring and let us drink." Under the image of these kine, the prophet represents a luxuri- ous people, rioting in plenty, and without any reli- gious regard of God, expecting to be supplied by the care of Providence with the means of enjoyment, as if it was the business of God to minister to their wants, as it is the business and interest of a herds- man to wait upon his cattle. Verse 2. — " take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fish-hooks." I would render this pass- age thus : — '' take you away in fishing-boats, and VOL. IV. X 322 AMOS. the last remains of you in corricles.'* I think T]}T\ is to be connected both with H'^Ji? and nn'^D, and that each of these words denote a hght boat of a particu- lar construction. Verse 3. — " and ye shall go out at the breaches ^ — into the palace.'* I take the word a*»i»**lH), not- withstanding its masculine form, to be a participle in apposition with the * kine,' the subject of the verb nii^Vn. But this confusion of genders prevails throughout the whole discourse. It expresses the hurry with which the people of Samaria should at- tempt to make their escape from the captivated town. I think, with Mr Parkhurst, that the word HJ'^Dinn, rendered ^ the palace,' signifies the but- cher's * shambles,' or perhaps the slaughterhouse, where the beasts are killed and the meat is cut up. See Parkhurst's Lexicon, cntl. I render the whole therefore thus : " Forcing forward, ye shall go out each by the way which lies straight before her, and ye shall be thrown to the shambles, saith Jehovah.'^ Verse 5, " And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free- offerings." The first two words of this verse, *^^p^ V»nPj I join, with Houbigant, to the verse preced- ing, taking "^^p, not for a verb, but a noun. Then AMOS. 323 in this verse, for '^^^'^p, I read, with Houbigant, '^^np, without the "» prefixed. Rather transpose the words 4 And bring your sacrifices every morning, And your tithes every three years, and suffiraents of leaven. 5 And proclaim a thanksgiving ; publish free-will offerings. Verse 13. — ** that maketh the morning dark- ness." Read, v/ith the LXX and Houbigant, ns*>y\ and many MSS ; — " that maketh the dusk and the brightness of the dawn." '^t^V and ^^y render two different stages of the dawn ; ^^Z\ the obscurity of its first beginning, and Hs^jr its splendor before sun- rise. CHAP. V. Verse 3. riKi'W, MS l, with many others. — " the city that went out by a thousand, shall leave a hundred," &c. — *^ the city that mustered a thousand shall have but a hundred left, and the city that mustered a hundred, shall have but ten left." The words following, ^K^C^-^ n'^3*?, ^ to the house of Israel,' are certainly misplaced, and should follow T\')?'\'t^ < God,' at the beginning of the verse. X 2 324 ' AMDS. ** For thus the Lord Jehovah to the house of Israel; the city that mustered," &c. Verse 5. — ** and pass not to Beersheba;" — ^* and travel not to Beersheba ;" or, *' make no pilgrim- ages to Beersheba." The verb *i^y expresses going abroad to another country. Beersheba belonged to the kingdom of Judah. Verse 8. I think it is an idiom of Amos's style to use the third person plural of the verb for the se- cond, when the verb is preceded by one or more participles in apposition with the pronoun of the se- cond person plural understood, as the nominative of the verb." See 12, chap, vi, 4, 5, 6. Verse 9. *' That strengtheneth," &c. Who causeth devastation to laugh at strength. And bringeth devastation upon the fortress. See Parkhurst's Lexicon, i^5. Verse 1 1 . — " burthens of wheat." Or, " large gifts of wheat." See Bishop Newcombe. Or, perhaps *' an excessive price for wheat." See Houbigant. Verse 12. — '* they affect the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate," Eather, AMOS. 325 Ye who afflict the just, who take a bribe, Ye even turn away the poor in the gate. See Bishop Newcombe* — " turn away the poor of the gate," you drive him from the court of justice, without hearing his complaint. Verse 13. — ** in that time, for it is an evil time." — '' in such a season, for it is an evil season ;" that is, in such a state of government ; when such men are in power. Verse 1 6. — ** streets — highways," rather " squares — streets." Verse 18. '* Wo unto you that desire" — rather, " Wo unto you that affect to desire" — Verse 24. " But let judgment," &c. But judgment shall come rolHng on hke waters, And justice like a resistless torrent. That is, the irresistible judgment and justice of God shall come upon those hypocrites like an inundation, and sweep them away like a torrent. Verses 25, 26. " O house of Israel, will you plead the merits of your forefathers in arrest of judgment? Will you say that, in devout hope that the promises would be i'ulfilled to their posterity, they were con- tent to wander in the wilderness forty years, and X 3 326 AMOS. continued, under all their afflictions, faithfully at- tached to my service? Alas! your own disobedi- ence has extinguished your claim founded on their loyalty, allowing it to have been as perfect as you would represent it. You have forsaken me, and addicted yourselves to idols. Verse 26. — *' Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your gods." If it were certain that Chiun was the proper name of an idol worshipped by the Israelites, I should, without hesitation, adopt the order of the words which is suggested by the LXX, and St Stephen's quotation of the passage, Acts vii, 43, But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch, And the star of Chiun your god ; Your images, which ye made for yourselves. But I rather think that p'^S is an appellative, derived from the root J^'^i, denoting an artificial fire, or the hearth on which it was laid, or the grate or machine containing it, which was kept burning in the taber- nacles of the idols, or carried in procession before them, in imitation of the divine flame of the Sche- AMOS. 827 clilnah. The 25^5, I take also to denote tliat artifi- cial glory produced on the persons of the images by the gold with which they were overlaid, and the clusters of gems with which they were studded. See Parkhurst's Lexicon, Hl^ and ^^5. But ye have carried about the tabernacle of your Moloch, And the hearth of your images ; The glittering of your gods of your own workmanship; ad lit, which ye have made to yourselves. CHAP. VI. Verse 1. " Wo to them that are at ease in Sion." — The version of the LXX gives some colour to Hou- bigant's conjecture. For CJi*?U?n he would read avjK^*n. «' Wo unto them that despise Sion.'' — — '* which are named chief of the nations, unto whom the house of Israel came.'* This obscure pas- sage admits, I think, two readings. l5/, Taking **^p actively : Marking out the first of the nations, Go unto them, O house of Israel. — ** the first of the nations;" the earliest in time, or the first in power. Such as those mentioned in the next verse, with which, according to this rendcr- X 4 328 * AMOS. iiig, this distich is connected, ^d, Taking ''^p pas- sively : Distinguished as the first of the nations, Yet ye resort unto them, O house of Israel. This prophecy might be delivered in the reign of Jeroboam the son of Joash, who " restored the coast of Israel, from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain." In the reign of this warlike prince, the kingdom of Israel would naturally be in great consideration among the neighbouring kingdoms. And the successes of his predecessor Joash against Amaziah, had set the kingdom of Israel greatly above that of Judah. — *' ye resort." See note on chap. v. ver. 7 and 8. Notwithstanding your own superiority, you court the alliance, and worship the idols of heathen na- tions. Verse 3. ** Ye," &c. Set apart for the evil day, Yet ye flatter yourselves with the Sabbath of violence. — ** ye flatter yourselves." Verbum ^^"^^^ " ap- propinquare facitis ;" idem sonat ac " avide expec- tatis." Houbigant ad locum. It rather expresses '* confidentissime expectatis." — " the Sabbath of violence ;" the season when 6 AMOS. 329 violence and injustice will enjoy its acquisitions of power and opulence in a state of security and re- pose. Verse 10. — " that burnetii ;" — rather, " that anointeth." — See Parkhurst's Lexicon, ^*1D. CHAP. VII. Verse 2. — *' when they had made an end of eat- ing up the grass of the land ;" rather, " when they were making an end of eating up the grass of the land," i. e. w^hen they had eaten a great part, and seemed likely to devour the whole. Verse 4. — " and eat up a part ;" rather, " and devoured the cultivation," or, " the enclosures." Verses 7, 8. — " a plumb-line." The word I^J* occurs only in this passage, and its meaning is very doubtful. St Jerome renders it by * trulla caemen- tarii,' a mason's, or bricklayer's trowel. And he understands the verb *^^^V in the next verse, as a technical word for mortaring a wall, which is done by passing and repassing the trowel. ** Et dixit Dominus, Ecce ego ponam trullam in medio populi mei Israel : non adjiciam ultra supra inducere earn." This is the best interpretation that I have seen of this obscure text. The chief objection I have to it. 530 AMOS. is the unusual sense given to the word CDti^, namely, that of laying down, or laying aside, a tool for which one has no further use. See St Jerome's comment. It is to be observed, besides, that the expression "b n^!sy niy 5)^D^K ir? occurs again, chap, viii, 2, where there seems to be no allusion to the mason's or brick- layer's art. Verse 9. — " the high places j" — rather, " the chapels." Verse 12. — " O thou seer, go, flee thee away j'*— rather, " Look to thyself, flee thee away." CHAP. VIII. Verses 1, 2. — " of summer fruit — 2. — of sum- mer fruit The end;" rather, — " of the summers latter fruits — 2. — of the summer's latter fruits The latter end." Thus the paronomasia of the sin- gular is preserved between Vp and Vp. See Houb. Verse 3. And the songs of the temple shall be bowlings j" rather, with Bishop Newcombe (who, with Houbigant, for r\^1^V reads r\MnV), " And the singing women of the palace shall howl." Verse 8. — " and it shall rise up wholly as a flood ; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt." I take "^^5 for a noun, the sub- 5 AMOS. 331 ject of the ^^^V, as it was understood by the LXX. I take the order of construction to be this : nN**^ nK^5 nn^ nS^i rrpv^^ nc^nj^i a-jni'D And the subject of the verbs rW^:^^ and npt:?i, I take to be the pronoun feminine understood, rehearsing And destruction sliall come up like a river, Like the river of Egypt. And [the land] shall be flooded and drowned. — " shall be flooded." The participle V^^^ is used in Isaiah Ivii, 20, as an epithet of the sea, signifying the heaving of the waves upon its surface. Here the land is the subject of the verb ; and the verb predi- cates, that the land is covered with a flood, raging and rolling in billows like a sea. CHAP. IX. Verse 2. *' Though they dig" — <« Though they burrow" — Verse 12. " That they," &c. ; rather, '' That they which are called by my name, may possess the rem- nant of Edom ; and all the Heathen, saith Jehovah, who performeth this." 532 CRITICAL NOTES ON O B A D I A H. Verse 4. " Though thou exalt thyself like the eagle ; — rather, " Though thou tower aloft like the eagle. Ve7^se 5, — " how art thou cut off/* This clause, in- stead of making a parenthesis here, would stand well at the beginning of the next verse, where Bishop Newcombe places it. Verse Y. — '' a wound;" rather, " a trap.'* SACRED SONGS. THE LAST WORDS OF MOSES. DEUT. XXXIII. 1 This is the Blessing, with which Moses, the man of God, blessed the Children of Israel, before his death. PART FIRST. 2 And he said, I. Jehovah came from Sinai, And his uprising was from Seir (a). He displayed his glory from Mount Paran, And from amidst the myriads came forth the Holy One (b). On his right hand streams (c) [of fire]. 336 THE LAST WORDS OF MOSES. IL 3 O loving Father (d) of the peoples/ All the saints^ are in thy hand, And they are seated at thy feet,^ And receive (g) of thy doctrine. III. 4 To us* Moses (h) prescribed a law. — Jacob is the inheritance of the Preacher. 5 And he^ shall be king in Jeshurun (i), When the chiefs of the peoples (k) gather them- selves together In union with the tribes of Israel. 1 « of the peoples ;" i, e, of all mankind. 2 " All the saints" — The faithful and godly of all nations. See note (e). 5 « at thy feet'* — The attitude of disciples, with respect to the master. St Paul was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel. See note (f). * « To us" — But though all men receive of the Divine in- struction in due proportion and at proper seasons, a particular law is now given to us ; and this is the reason of the institution of the law, that the knowledge of the true God might be preserved in one family at least, by miracle. That it should be preserved some where in the world, was necessary. The degeneracy of mankind was come to that degree, that the true religion could nowhere be THE LAST WORDS OF MOSES. 337 PART II. I. 6 Reuben shall live — he shall not die.* But Simeon (l) few shall be his numbers. 7 And this for Judah : and he said, preserved, otherwise than by miracle. Miraclt (perpetual miracle) was not the proper expedient for the general preservation of it, because it must strike the human mind too forcibly, to be consist- ent with the freedom of a moral agent. A single family therefore was selected, in which the truth might be preserved in a way which generally was ineligible. And by this contrivance, an in- eligible way perhaps was taken of doing a necessary thing, (neces- sary in the schemes of mercy) ; but it was used, as wisdom re- quired it should be used, in the least possible extent. The family which for the general good, were chosen to be the immediate ob- ject of this miraculous discipline, and ultimately the vehicle of salvation to all mankind, enjoyed no small privilege, and is here called, with great propriety, the inheritance of the Preacher, and in St John's Gospel, " his own." 5 *' He shall be king" — i. e. he, the Preacher, shall be king. It is evident that the Preacher here is our Lord Jesus Christ, de- scribed in his character of the Teacher of the way of salvation. He has been indeed in all ages the Teacher, the person immedi- ately acting in all immediate communications of Jehovah with the sons of men. G Though Reuben was destined for his crimes never to attain VOL. IV, \ m THE LAST WORDS OF MOSES, 11. Hear, O Jehovah, the voice of Judah; And bring thou unto him the Mighty One of his people : Great for himself shall be his power, And thou shalt be [his] helper against his ene- mies, (m) ^ And to Levi he said, III. Thy Thummim and thy Urim^ are for the Man (n), thy gracious (o) Benefactor, Whom thou hast proved at Massah, With whom thou contendedst at the waters of Meribah : the pre-eminence which, as the first-born, he might have expected, yet here it is graciously promised that the tribe shall not be extinct. 5" " Thy Thummim and thy Urim,'' &c. The eternal high priesthood, of which thine is but the type, belongs to him, who will exhibit in the merit of his intercession, in the perfection of his sacrifice, in the clearness of his doctrine, and in the sanctity of his life, all that is adumbrated in the solidity and lustre of the gems upon thy robe. THE LAST WORDS OF MOSES. 389 9 For him,^ who saith of his father and his mother, I have never seen them, And owneth not his brethren, And his sons he acknowledgeth not ; [But saith] Let them observe (r) thy word, And keep thy covenant. 10 They shall teach^ thy precepts unto Jacob, And thy law unto Israel ; They shall place incense at thy nostrils, And holocausts upon thy altar. 1 1 Bless, O Jehovah, his persevering virtue, (q) And be propitious to the work of his hands. 8 See Math, xii, 46—50 ; Mark iii, 32—35 ; Luke ii, 48, 49 ; viii, 19, 21. 9 " They shall teach" — They, who shall have observed God's word, and kept his covenant, and shall accordingly be acknowledg- ed by Christ as his brethren and his sons, " they shall teach,'' &c. that is, they shall be employed by him in the propagation of his religion, and called even to the priest's office. But though the Christian priesthood is principally intended, there is, as I conceive, an indirect retrospective allusion to the zeal and loyalty of the tribe of Levi, in discharging the painful duty of executing judgment upon the worshippers of the golden calf, Exod. xxxii, 25 — 29. Which good conduct of the tribe is called in the next verse, *' his" (that is, Levi's) ** persevering virtue." Y 2 340 THE LAST WORDS OF MOSES. Smite the loins of them that rise against him. And of them that hate him, that they rise no more* IV. 12 Of Benjamin he said, The well-beloved of Jehovah Shall dwell in security close by him,^* Overshadowed by him (r) all the day. And dwelling between his shoulders/^ V. 1 3 And of Joseph he said, [A land] of the blessings of Jehovah is his land. Of the rich gifts (s) of the skies above, (t) Of the dew, and of the abyss beneath. ^^ 10 — u close by him." It has been a doubt among the learned, whether the city of Jerusalem, where Jehovah held his residence in the Temple, belonged to the tribe of Judah or of Benjamin. The fact I take to be, that it belonged to the tribe of Judah, be« cause it was captured from the Jebusites by David, who was of that tribe. But the site of it was within the border of the tribe of Benjamin, as their border was originally drawn in the partition of the land by Joshua. At any rate, the city was on the confines of the two tribes, and this is Benjamin's dwelling close by Jehovah. ^ ^ See note (r). 1 2 The skies above, and the abyss beneath, are the most general physical agents, in producing, according to the varieties of the soil 6 THE LAST WORDS OF MOSES. 841 14 Of choice fruits (s) ripened by the Sun, Of delicacies fs), the growtli of every moon, (u) 15 Of the chief of the primeval mountains, (u) And of the wealth (s) of the everlasting hills. ^' 16 And of the riches (s) of the earth and its plenty, And the favour of those who placed their tent (v) in the bush,^* on which they have to act, the proper fruits of the several climates; and as such, are mentioned in the first place here. The influence of the skies (the atmosphere) is universally understood and ac- knowledged. But that of the abyss is not so generally obvious. But the central abyss is certainly the great reservoir which sup- plies the far greater part of the fresh water, which fertilizes the surface of the earth. What falls in rain is greatly insufficient for the continual supply, much more insufficient for the first formation of great rivers and fresh lakes. ^^ Crowned with vast forests of useful and ornamental timber, maintaining sheep and cattle on their sides, bearing in some parts rich crops of corn, and containing mines and quarries in her bowels. Although the mountains of Palestine were by no means chief of the primeval mountains in height, yet none abounded more in the articles subservient to the common uses of human life. In this re- spect they were among the chief. i* — « of those who placed their tent in the bush." Tliat is, the persons of the Godhead. Y 3 34.2 THE LAST WORDS OF MOSES. Shall come upon the head of Joseph, And upon the crown of the outcast of his brethren. 17 The beauty of the firstling of his herd (w) is his. And his horns are the horns of the buffalo. With them he shall gore the peoples ; They shall pierce (x) [the nations at] the ends of the world : And they are the myriads of Ephraim, And the thousands of Manasseh. VI. 18 And unto Zebulun (y) he said. Rejoice, O Zebulun, in thy goings abroad,*^ And Issachar in thy tents. ^^ 19 The peoples they shall call to the mountain, ^^ There they shall sacrifice sacrifices of righteous- ness. 1 5 — « in thy goings abroad," in thy foreign commerce. ^" in thy tents,'* in thy domestic occupations. 16 — ti to the mountain j" i. e. to the mountain of God's house. Tliey shall be principal instruments in converting the Gentiles to the faith and worship of the true God. The gospel was first preached and the first converts made m those parts. See Mat. iv^ YHE last words of MOSES. 313 Verily they shall suck the overflowing of tlie seas, And the treasures buried in the sand.^' VII. ^0 And of Gad he said. Blessed be lie that enlargeth Gad;^^ Like a lion he reposeth [in his laire] When he hath torn the shoulder and the head. 21 For he provided a prime part for himself,^ ^ When the commissioner (z) appointed the por- tions, 1 7 .,^tt ji^g overflowing of the seas,** &c. I agree with Dr Durell, and other learned commentators, that the overflowing of the seas, and treasures buried in the sand, are to be understood with particular allusion to the fish affording the purple dye, and the excellent materials for the manufacture of glass, both abounding on these coasts. '8 <« Blessed be he," &c. Blessed be God, who placeth Gad in a condition of independence, ease, and security, in an ample terri- tory. 1 9 — *t a prime part for himself." A settlement in a fine coun- try of rich pasture in the land of Gilead. See Numb, xxxii, 1—5, 33. Y 4 3M THE LAST WORDS OF MOSES. He (aa) was housed, ^° and had lodged (bb) the heads of the people :^^ He executed the just decrees of Jehovah, And his judgments, with Israel. ^^ VIII. 22 And of Dan he said, Dan is a lion's whelp, Which springeth from Bashan.^^ 2 f< When the commissioner appointed the portions, he was housed." Gad had received his inheritance in the land of Gilead, and was settled in it, before the general division of the promised land. See Numb, xxxiv, 13 — 15, 2 1 — «' had lodged the heads of the people ;" viz. in the prin- cipal cities of the conquered country. See Numb, xxxii, 34 — 36. 22 « He executed" — This tribe, in conjunction with the rest of the people of Israel, executed God's judgments upon the Canaanites. See Numb, xxxii, 18 — 32; Josh, i, 12 — 16; iv, 12,. 13 ; and xxi, 43 ; xxii, 6. 23 The allusion is to the successful expedition of the Danites against the town of Laish, at a great distance from their proper territory, in the northern extremity of the land. But the circum- stance of leaping from Bashan, is an adjunct of the lion, not of Dan. For the tribe of Dan had no possessions in Bashan. See note (cc). THE LAST WORDS OF MOSES. 345 IX. 23 And of Naphthali he said, O Naphthali ! satisfied with the favour Of Jehovah, replenishM with his hlessings! Possess thou the sea and the south. '^^ X. 24 And of Asher he said. Blessed in children is Asher, He shall be the delight of his brethren, And shall dip his foot in oil. 25 Of iron and brass shall be thy sandals, (dd) And in proportion to thy days shall be thy strength. ^^ 24. — « the sea and the south." The territory of Naphthali be- ginning north of the sea of Tiberias, occupied the whole coast of that sea on the western side down to the very southernmost corner. 25 — (c jn proportion to thy days shall be thy strength.'* This I take to be a promise of increasing wealth and prosperity to the very end of their political existence. 346 THE LAST WORDS OF MOSES. PART III. I. 26 None is like the God of Jeshurun. Thy helper is he that rideth (ee) the heavens. And the atmosphere (ff) in his might. II. 27 The [only] refuge is the eternal God ; (gg) The [sure] sustentacle (hh), the everlasting arms. He shall drive out the enemy before thee, And shall say, Perish, (ii) 28 And Israel shall dwell in security ; The issue of Jacob, all alone,^^ Upon a land of corn and wine. His skies also shall distil the thick small rain. (k:k) III. 29 Happy thou, O Israel ! Who like thee, O people, preserved by Jehovah 5 2^ The enemy being driven out and destroyed, Israel shall re- main sole possessor of the country, unmolested by his neighbours. I THE LAST WORDS OF MOSES. 347 Jehovah (ll), the shield of thy defence, the sword of thy proud victories. Thine enemies with fawning flattery shall make court to thee, (mm) And thou shalt trample on their heights.^' ^2 7 — « their heights." That is, their great men •, their warriors, and mighty potentates. THE SONG OF DEBORAH. JUDGES, CHAP. V. 1 Then sang Deborah, and Barak the son of Abi- noatn, on that day, saying, PART i# 2******** I. 3 Hear, O ye kings ; Give ear, O ye counsellors ;^ To Jehovah I [will sing, even] I will sing, I will chaunt the lay to Jehovah God of Israel. 3, — *t counsellors ;'' i, e, counsellors of state, privy counsellors. THE SONG OF DEBORAH. S49 ii; 4 Jehovah, at thy setting forth from Seiv, At thy marching from the field of Edom, Tiie earth shook, the heavens also poured down, Even the thick clouds poured down water. 5 The mountains melted down before Jehovah, Sinai itself, before Jehovah God of Israel. in. 6 In the days of Shamgar, the son of Anath, In the days of Jael/^ the highways were de- serted y^ And they who had travelled the highways, Travelled roads of perversity. 2 '< In the days of Shamgar — In the days of Jael ;" i. e. from Shamgar's time to the present ; for Jael was contemporary with Deborah. The circumstance, that this state of weakness and dis- order prevailed in the nation in Jael's time, is mentioned to ac- count for the zeal with which this heroine was animated for the deliverance of her country, ^ — <' the highways" — i. e, the highways of God's command- ments. The sequel justifies this exposition. 350 THE SONG OF DEBORAH, 7 The rural judge ceased* in Israel, Ceased, till what time I Deborah arose, What time I arose a mother in Israel. IV. 8 He^ chooseth new gods. — Strait the besieger (b) at the gates. — Is shield seen, or javelin, Among forty thousand in Israel ?^ V. 9 The leaders of Israel have my heart ; You, who were foremost in the public cause, bless Jehovah. While (c) so many in Israel declined the honour- able danger. For the volunteering of the people, bless Jehovah. ** " The rural judge ceased." There was no regular administra- tion of justice. See note (a). ^ '' He," i, e, Israel. ^ " Among forty thousand in Israel ;" i. c. in the whole tribe of Naphtali. In the enumeration of the Israelites in the plains of Moab (Numb, xxvi), Naphtali mustered 4-5,400 effective men. This tribe was probably the immediate and principal subject of Tabin's oppression. THE SONG OF DEBORAH. 351 VI. 10 You that ride the asses with sleek shining skin/ You that sit in judgment, And you that walk by the way, concert your measures : 1 1 For the watering places resound with the noise of battalions forming, (d) There they shall celebrate the justice of Jehovah, Justice signally displayed in the cause of Israel. (e) VII. 1 2 Strait the people of Jehovah go down by the gates. Awake ! Awake Deborah ! Awake ! Awake ! was the general cry. (f) Arise Barak ! and captivate Thy captives, O son of Abinoam. VIII. 13 Then went down the remnant of each bold lead- er's troop j (g) ' " You that ride the asses," &c. i. e. governors of cities. See chap. X, 4, and xii, H. ^ — " the remnant." The remains of their forces harassed and wasted under the oppression of the Canai^ites. 352 THE SONO OF DEBORAH. The people of Jehovah went down with me against the mighty, (h) 14 ** From Ephraim was their beginning at Mount Arnalek," ' After him (i) followed Benjamin with his (i) nu- merous troops. IX. From Machir went down the delineators, ^° (k) And from Zebulon they that draw the pen of the scribe : 15 And the princes of Issachar [went] with Debo- rah, And Issachar strengthened Barak, *^ " Sent close at his feet into the valley." ^ « From Ephraim," &c. This, and all other lines in my trans- lation, marked with inverted commas, and any single words so marked, are taken from Dr Kennicott- 10 « dehneators." Who were the delineators, and how were they different from the scribes ? I apprehend, at this time, two sorts of writing, the hieroglyphic and the alphabetic, were both in use among the Jews, as among other people of the east. The latter was indeed by this time an invention of very great antiquity; but the other, far more antient, was not yet laid aside. The de- lineators I take to be those who excelled in the first ; the scribes were such as practised the second. THE SONG OF DEBORAH. 35s X. iC At the separation of Reuben great were the impressions of the heart ! " 16 Wherefore didst thou abide between the hil- locks ? (l) To listen to the shrill bleatings of the flocks ? At the separation of Reuben great were the searchings of the heart. XL 17 Gad (m) kept close at home upon the banks of Jordan. And Dan, wherefore slunk he like a coward to his ships ? (n) Asher sat still by the haven of the sea, And kept close at home beside his creeks. XII. 18 '* Zebulon was the people, who exposed their lives to death, ** And Naphtali on the heights of the country." 1 1 <« Issachar strengthened Barak." Barak's own force consist- ed of the men of Zebulon and Naphtali. See chap, iv, 6 — 10. The tribe of Issachar rose at Deborah's call, and was an addition to Barak's strength, forming his rear. , VOL. IV. ^' S54, THE SONG OF DEBORAH- PART II. THE BATTLE. I. 1 9 The kings came — they were brought to action ; (o) Then were the kings of Canaan brought to action, In Tanaach, by the waters of Megiddo. No ransom was taken in money, (p) II. 20 From heaven the stars were engaged in the battle/^ From their orbits (q) they were engaged in the battle with Sisera. ^ 2 Josephus says, that as soon as the two armies were engaged, a heavy storm came on, with much rain and hail ; that the wind set to drive the rain in the faces of the Canaanites, so that they could not see before them ; that the wet rendered the bows and the slings useless, and the cold benumbed the soldiers to that de- gree, that they could not strike with their swords, while the Israelites suffered little from the storm, the wind sitting in their backs. — Antiq. lib. v, c. 25. Certainly the song alludes to extra- ordinary commotions in the atmosphere, produced by the influence of the heavenly bodies. THE SONG OF DEBORAH. 3S6 21 The river Kishon swept them away, The overtaking (r) river, the river Kishon. O Deborah (s), thou tramplest upon strength ! HI. 22 Then were the hoofs of the horses " battered," By the scamperings/* the scamperings of his mightiest chiefs, (t) PART III. THE VICTORY. L 23 Curse ye Meroz, saith the Angel of Jehovah, Curse ye bitterly the inhabitants of that place,^* Because they came not to the help of Jehovah, To the help of Jehovah against mighty warriors. II. 24 Blessed above women Shall Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, be ; Above women in the tent shall she be blessed. i3 — « the scamperings," namely, in flight. — ." his," u €• Sisera's. 1* What place it was, is totally unknown. Z 2 356 THE SONG OF DEBORAH. 25 He asked water, she gave him milk ; She presented butter in a princely bowl. HI, 26 Her hand she stretches it forth to the nail, Her right hand to the workman* s hammer. She hammers Sisera, making deep impression on his head, And she drives in the nail, and pierces quite through his temples. IV. 27 Between her feet he sunk, he fell, he stretched himself at his length, ^ ^ Between her feet he sunk, he fell ; Where he sunk, there he fell, a ruin ! V. 28 Through the window looked out the mother of Sisera, And cried through the lattice, ^ ^ — " he sunk, he fell, he stretched himself at his length." The three verbs describe the progressive phenomena of violent death. First, the body sinks in an heap ; then falls to the ground ) and, lastly, stretches itself at full length. THE SONG OF DEBORAH. 357 Why lingers his chariot to return ? Why so tardy the wheels of his chariot ? VI. 29 One of the most accomplished of her ladies (u) answers her. She even returns answer to herself; 30 Are they not conquering ? dividing the spoil ? A delicious damsel the prize of each (v) valiant chief. * - A particoloured piece [is] Sisera's prize, A particoloured piece of embroidery, A particoloured piece of double embroidery, *' For my neck a prize ! " VII. So perish all thine enemies, O Jehovah, But let them that love thee be as the rising of the Sun in his full strength. 7 3 35S HANNAH'S THANKSGIVING, 1 SAMUEL II, 1 — 10. I. 1 My heart leaps with joy through Jehovah, My horn is exalted by Jehovah ; My mouth is opened wide against mine enemies, For by thy deliverance I am made joyfuL II. 2 There is none holy like Jehovah, Verily there is none just but thee: There is none strong like our God, HI. 3 Wrangle no more: talk no more so lofty, so lofty, Let perversity no more issue from your mouth: For Jehovah is the God universal in knowledge, And by him events are regulated.^ HANNAH'S THANKSGHEVfNa 359 IV. 4 The bows of mighty warriors he withholds from action, But they that tottered as they went are girt with strength. 5 They that were fed to the full hire themselves out for bread, But the hungry are ceased for ever. The barren hath born seven children, While the prolific woman is waxed feeble. V. 6 Jehovah killeth and maketh alive, He bringeth down to the grave, and raiseth up. 7 Jehovah maketh poor and maketh rich, He bringeth low, he also setteth high. VI. 8 Raising up the poor from the dust, He exalteth the beggar from the dunghill. To seat them with nobles, And he will cause them to inherit the throne of glory : For to Jehovah belong the instruments of the earth's solidity, And he hath set the world upon them. 360 HANNAH'S THANKSGIVINa VII. 9 The footsteps of his Saint he will guard, But the impious shall be kept quiet in darkness. For not by strength shall any one become mighty. VIII. 10 Jehovah ! his adversary shall be broken to pieces; Against him he shall thunder in the heavens; Jehovah shall judge the extremities of the earth, And he shall give strength to his king, And exalt the horn of his anointed one. 361 DEATH OF SAUL AND JONATHAN. 2 SAMUEL I, 17 — 26. I. 17 And this was the Lamentation of David over Saul and Jonathan his son. 18 And he commanded, that the children of Israel should learn it, (viz,) The bow. Behold it is written in the Book of Jasher.* 19 O pride of Israel, upon the heights of thy own country slain,t How are mighty warriors fallen ! * See Lowth's Prelections. f Or, '< O pride of Israel, slain upon thy native hills." 362 DEATH OP SAUL AND JONATHAN. 20 Tell it not in Gath, Publish not the tidings in the streets of Ascalon, Lest the daughters of the Philistim rejoice, Lest frantic joy transport the daughters of the uncircumcised. IL 21 Ye hills of Gilboa, upon you be neither rain nor dew, Nor harvest heaps for spontaneous offering ; For there was thrown away the shield of mighty warriors, The shield of Saul — armour anointed with oil. 22 The bow of Jonathan turned not back. The sword of Saul returned not, Till drenched with the blood of the slain. Glutted with the marrow of the mighty. in. 23 Saul and Jonathan were united in affection. They were the delight of each other in their lives. And in their death they were not separated. Fleeter they were than eagles. Stronger than lions. DEATH OF SAUL AND JONATHAN. 365 IV. 24 Daughters of Israel ! weep over Saul, Over him, who clothed you in scarlet, with all the luxuries of dress. Over him, who covered your garments with orna- ments of gold. 25 How are mighty warriors fallen in the battle ! O Jonathan, slain upon thy native hills ! V. 26 It grieveth me for thee, my brother Jonathan. Pleasant beyond measure hast thou been to me; Inestimable thy friendship, beyond the love of women. How are mighty warriors fallen ! The weapons of war destroyed ! 364 THE LAST WORDS OF DAVID. 2 SAMUEL XXIII, 1 — 7. I. 1 David, the son of Jesse, saitb, And the man saith who hath been raised up on high. The anointed of the God of Jacob, And the sweet psalmist of Israel : ^ 11. 2 The Spirit of Jehovah speaketh by me. And his word is upon my tongue ; 3 The God of Israel saith, To me speaketh the Rock of Israel. ^ Literally, « He that is sweet in the songs of Israel." — " Is- raeliticorum carminum deliciae." Castalio. THE LAST WORDS OF DAVID. 365 III. The JUST ONE ruleth^ over men, He ruleth^ hjj the fear of God. 4 And as the light of the morning [he*] shall arise, The sun of a morning without clouds, Shining after rain upon the verdure of the ground.^ - Or, « shall rule" — and so in the line following. 5 nK-i>l, MSS. * " He," the Just One. I see no necessity for inserting Jehovah here, to be the nominative of the verb nnrv The ellipsis of the pronoun of the third person is frequent in all languages, when the subject of the verb cannot be mistaken, which is the case here, when the lines are properly divided. ^ " Shining after rain upon the verdure of the ground." — " Shining upon." ni3)2, participle hiphil of the verb nJ3. — " after rain." The air is generally in the purest state after heavy showers in the spring, and the Sun shines with heightened lustre. — *' the verdure of the ground." Literally, " the young herbage from the ground." This mention of the Iterbage, or ver- dure, presents the idea of spring. What an assemblage of pleasing images ! the dawn — sunrise — sunshine after rain — the vernal sea- son. see THE LAST WORDS OF DAVID- I IV. 5 Is not my house established with God, Inasmuch as he hath settled with me an everlast- ing covenant, Regular and guarded^ in every article. Verily my salvation is complete, complete is my wish/ Will he not make him to grow ?* V. 6 The profane^ are all of them, like the thorn, to be extirpated, ^° 6 « Regular and guarded." n^iDWI— nsi'ijr. I take these words for forensic terms. 7 For ysn, I read, with Houbigant, >2«stT. fi " For God shall make him to grow.** For b3?^ba'j : rr^tti*, I read by^^i : in^)a^% taking ^5 again interrogatively. — " Him to grow." <* Him," that is, the Just One, the subject of the third stanza, and the principal subject of the covenant here mentioned, who is perpetually spoken of in prophecy under the image of a growing plant or branch. See Jer. xxxiii, 15 ; xxiii, 5 ; Zach, iii, 8; vi, 12j Is. iv, 2. In these passages, and particularly in Jer. xxiii, 5, an allusion may well be supposed to this original prophecy of David. THE LAST WORDS OF DAVID- 867 For they will not be taken by the hand.** 7 And whoever shall approach unto them shall be filled With iron and the wood of a spear, *^ 3 '* The profane." Houbigant is mistaken when he says the word br^bi is never used but when attached to some noun sub- stantive, as WHj p, *il1, &c. It is evidently used as a collective in Nahum ii, 1. As a collective, the plurals tun^D, inp^, &c. are properly joined with it. The insertion therefore of the word ^3i is unnecessary. Neither the sense nor the syntax demand it ; and it is without authority either of MSS or versions. h}}>h^, ' the profligate, the profane, the graceless, the reprobate.' 10 — « the thorn to be extirpated." Ti73 V''P^> quasi spina evellenda. 1 1 " For they will not be taken by the hand." They will not accept of the Redeemer's help. 12 <* And whoever with iron and the wood of a spear." Dr Kennicott very properly supposes an allusion to the iron-spikes which fastened our Lord's body to the cross, and the spear which pierced his side. But as these sons of Belial persecuted not our Lord only, but others, the first preachers of Christianity who came unto them, as he had done, with words of friendly admonition and reproof, as before the times of the gospel they persecuted the pro- phets who were sent to them upon the like merciful errand, I think the word ly^K is rather to be rendered by the indefinite pronoun, 6 J68 THE LAST WORDS OF DAVID, But in the sabbath^ ^ they shall be utterly burnt with fire. * siquis,* or * whoever'/ for which it often stands, than by ' The Mariy as Dr Kennicott renders it, understanding it specifically of Christ. Prophecy, I think, rather delights in very general ex- pressions, with very particular allusions. 1 5 — « in the sabbath ;" i. e, in the end of all things : that final sabbatism of the people of God, of which the apostle speaks in Hebrews iv, 9. SG?) CRITICAL NOTES UPON' THE LAST WORDS OF JACOB. GENESIS, CHAP. XLIX. Verse 2. ** Come together"-^ This introductory couplet, composed of tetrameters, containing seventeen let- ters each, is the proem of the whole song. Verses 3, 4. '' Reuben," &c. Reuben's part consists of two stanzas, each a triplet. The first enumerates tlie privileges of his birth-right ; the second declares his crime, and denounces his punishment. (A) " First fruit of my manly vigour." n'>C*inn::D be referred to the root "^50, and the sense be fetched from the Chaldee dialect, in which *^15D signifies ' desponsare,' (see Castell), DriTiniD may signify * their marriage-contracts -/ and the sense will be " Their marriage-contracts are instruments of violence." A A O J572 CRITICAL NOTES Thus the passage is interpreted by Rivetus, and nearly to the same purpose by Kennicott. This ex- position agrees well with the story. But I greatly prefer the rendering I have given, as the best of all, because the simplest, and brought out of the words in their genuine Hebrew sense : " Their swords are weapons of violence." — '« swords." The noun nnit: (plural of nn^D) I refer to the root »^*ll3, ' to cut, or stab ;' thence tT0l2^ any cutting or stabbing instrument, * a knife,' or * sword i* and hence the Greek (juaxoctoa. (F) — " my valour." ''"'^5, * my liver.* Compare Ps. Ivii, 9. But perhaps ^^5 may signify any of the larger entrails, as well as the liver, especially the heart. The liver, however, was probably esteemed the seat of the passions in general, before men re- fined so far, as to make the heart the seat of the mental passions, and the liver that of the appetites only. See -^sch. Agamemnon, line 801. (G) _*' the prince." For "^V^, I read, with Dr Kennicott, "^V. Note, that the words ^">i^ and ^\^, which are evidently antithetic in this distich, are to be understood collectively of classes, not of indivi- UPON THE LAST WORDS OF JACOB. 373 duals ; ^^^^ * plebem ;' ^V, * domiim regiam.' Si- meon and Levi, in the affair of Sichem, made slaughter of the common people ; and the royal fa- mily they extirpated root and branch. Verses 8 — 12. ** Jiidah" — Judah's part takes up four entire stanzas. The first, a triplet, declaring the superior- ity of the tribe of Judah in military prowess : the second, composed of two couplets; in which the same subject is amplified, and the strength and grandeur of the kingdom of Judah are signified, un- der images taken from the actions of the lion. The third stanza is again composed of two couplets, de- claring the duration of the political existence of Judah, as the head of the true church. The fourth, in three couplets, describes the fertility of his terri- tory. (H) — ** lion's dam." i^'*^*^^ properly a lioness suckling her young. (I) — " his foal.'* The Samaritan, and several MSS of Dr Kennicott's, read '^'^'^y, with the mascu- line suffix. A A 3 374 CRITICAL NOTES Verse 13. " Zabulon" — Zabulon has a single stanza, a tri- plet, describing the situation of his district. (K) — " a haven for ships.'* I read, with the Samaritan, and many MSS, ni*»JK. Dr Durell, in his note upon this passage, maintains that the Carmel, which is mentioned in the book of Joshua as the boundary of Asher's portion on the south-west, is not the mountain of that name, but a plain, which, in later times, was called the Plain of Sharon. This plain lies on the northern side of the river Belus. And if this was the extremity of Asher's land, the fine haven, between the mouths of the Be- lus and the Kishon, was in Zabulon's portion. Verses 14, 15. " Issachar" — Issachar has a single stanza, of three couplets, describing the genius of his posterity, their territory, and their occupation. (L) — " two panniers." D*»nH)t:^D. I refer this word to the root HDtt^, which signifies * to stick up,' or ' to be prominent.* Hence the substantive ri3t:tO may signify any gibbosity, or prominence. And the UPON THE LAST WORDS OF JACOB. 375 panniers of the laden ass form prominences, sticking up on each side above the back of the animal, when he is pleased to lie down upon his belly ; which is the posture here described. Possibly some oblique allusion may be intended, in this word, to the moun- tains, which on two sides, on the north and on the south, bounded the fair valley of Jesrael, in which Issachar had his portion. (M) ~" the settlement." J^niD. In this sense the LXX seem to have taken the word -, for they render it by ccmTrocvffiv^ by which is to be understood, not the condition, but the place of rest. (N) — ** tribute service." I have endeavoured to preserve the ambiguity of the original expression. It seems uncertain whether the words "l^V Dt: sig- nify a tribute paid, instead of a service to be per- formed ; or a service performed, instead of a tribute to be paid. See Josh, xvi, 10, and 1 Kings ix, 21. Perhaps they may occasionally denote either; and the first sense seems the best adapted to this place. The LXX have xai lyivri^Yi uvrjo yiuoyogy as if, in- stead of D)D7j their copies had '^^'^, This reading is well consistent with what precedes. Issachar, A A 4 sre CRITICAL NOTES finding himself in a fine champaign country, devotes himself, according to the LXX, to agriculture. Verses 16 — 18. *^ Dan'* — Dan has two stanzas, and a monadic close. The first stanza consists of a single couplet, declaring that Dan, though the son of a slave, should be upon a footing with the sons of Leah and Rachel. The second, of two couplets, expressing the genius of the Danites for stratagem. The mon- adic close, a devout declaration of the patriarch's faith in the promises of the final deliverance. Verse 19. " Gad" — Gad has a single stanza, of one couplet, describing the tribe, from its extreme situation, as exposed to frequent incursions of invaders, but al- ways making reprisal on the enemy in his retreait. Verses 20, 21. Asher and Naphtali have each a single stanza of one couplet, describing the fertility of the territory and t4ie opulence of the tribes. (O) — «< marrow of bread.^' For "i^nS n:i12V, I UPON THE LAST WORDS OF JACOB. 377 read "^tsn^n ptl^, that ^ may be the sign of the geni- tive case, and the ^ merely paragogic. (P) — " spreading oak." n*?*»K, * the evergreen oak,' or * ilex.' The participle ^^^V, which applied to a hind, might properly render * let loose ;' applied to a tree, expresses the circumstance of its extend- ing its branches in all directions. (Q) — *^ graceful shoots." ^^T^^ is the ' extreme shoot' at the top of a growing tree ; and *it:K seems to be used here in the same sense, if indeed the true reading be net ''"^''CK. The poetry of any lan- guage will hardly afford a more pleasing image of strength and vigour, than an ilex with an ample head, still putting forth fresh shoots. Bochart was, I believe, the first who thought of this interpretation of this distich. Verses 22 — 26. " Graceful is the person of Joseph" — Joseph has four stanzas. The first, a triplet, commending the beauty of his person. The second, composed of three couplets, describing the difficulties with which he had struggled through the malice of his enemies. 376 CRITICAL NOTES and referring his deliverance and exaltation to the immediate interposition of Providence. The two last stanzas, consisting of five lines each, promise a continual manifestation of the favour of heaven in all manner of temporal blessings. (R) " Graceful is the person," kc. For n*is, I read, with Houbigant, and many of the best of the Jewish critics, niKs. The verb '^^^ signifies ' to de- corate, to adorn, to make glorious.' Hence come the nouns "^^^s, ^nKfin, niKsn, which signify * beauty, glory, ornamental dress,' in general ; or, in particu- lar, certain ornamental parts of the head-dress. Hence I think that r'Hi^s, or nnKs, niay denote that attractive grace of person, which is the result of na- tural beauty heightened by the ornaments of dress. For this we have no one word in our language. It is true, that ^ni^s occurs in the sense of * a bough,' in which our public translation takes it in this place. But this sense of the word is figurative, because boushs are the ornamental dress of trees. Dr Durell's interpretation may seem, in some de- gree, countenanced by the parallel place of the last words of Moses, where Joseph is described under the image of a young bullock. But where is the UPON THE LAST WORDS OF JACOB. 379 propriety of setting the bullock by a well ? He would be more fitly placed in a rich meadow. The necessity we shall be under, of placing our bullock by a well, seems an insuperable objection to that interpretation. Unless indeed it could be supposed, that the meadow might be expressed by the well, or spring of water, which might be in the meadow, and might contribute to the richness of the pasture. But this appears to me a very harsh metonymy. (S) " Upon him are the eyes" — Although I ren- der, as if the reading were py '^'^^}^, yet I propose not any alteration of the text, py '^''^ would ren- der that ' eyes are upon him ;* py ">^y renders that * he is under the eyes,' which is the very same thing. Either expression denotes that he was the object of the attentive and interested inspection of the ladies, (T) — ** when they walk." The plural noun niJD may seem to require that the adjective Hiyv should be plural. But the anomaly of the construction is not indefensible. In the best Greek writers, parti- cularly the Attic, when two nouns occur one under the government of the other, it is not unusual, for an adjective, which ought to agree wholly with the 1 S80 CRITICAL NOTES one, to be made to agree partly with the one, and partly with the other. Thus, — cczovco (pdoyyov o^vi^o^p zoczAf HXa^^oi/rocg olffT^co, Soph. Antig. lin. 1013. Here o^vi0cou is under the government of (phyyov xXa^ovTocgf which should entirely in concord with the former agree in number with that, but with the latter in case. So in the Hebrew, r\*iJS being under the go- vernment of py, the adjective Jl^VV, which ought to agree entirely with n^^^, is made to agree in number with \y. (U) " They have borne him ill will — —shafts/ ■ In this couplet I have taken the liberty of making a conjectural emendation, which consists however merely in a transposition of the words, which in the printed Bibles stand thus ; Here are five words composed of twenty-six letters, which are twice as many as are usually contained in any couplet of trimeters of the mean length, and more almost by a third part than are to be found in any tetrameter in this poem. Of these five words therefore, since they would make a single line too long, a couplet must be formed. But, preserving the order in which they stand, it is impossible to 6 UPON THE LAST WORDS OF JACOB. 58 1 form them into two lines, which may be nearly of an equal length. For if the three verbs be put into one line, and the two nouns into another, the first line will contain eighteen letters, the second no more than eight. Again, if the first line be formed of the two first verbs, and the third verb with the two nouns be thrown into tlie second, w^e shall then have but eleven letters in tlie first line, while in the se- cond we shall find fifteen. An inequality so rarely to be found in the corresponding lines of the cou- plet, that wherever it occurs, it may be considered as a symptom of a corrupted text. I therefore ven- ture to change the order of the words, for one which seems more natural, at the same time that it is more consistent, with what we know of the laws of He- brew verse : Thus we have a couplet, of which the first line has fourteen letters, and the second twelve. But the first \vord of the second line, the verb "^31^ evi- dently wants two letters, to bring it to an exact cor- respondence with the two other verbs ; namely, the **, the characteristic of the tense, and the ?^ of the suffix. Restore these two letters, (for which we ^ 382 CRITICAL NOTES have the authority of the Samaritan, which gives insn'^l), writing '^ns*l*»% and the two lines become exactly equal. In the order in which these five words stand in the printed Hebrew text, the noun *»^y^ appears to be the common subject of all the three verbs. But if that order be the true one, in which I place them, the noun ^^V"^ is the peculiar subject of the verb ^ns*^\ and the other verbs have the indefinite nomi- native understood ; and the literal rendering of the couplet is this : But they have borne him ill will, they have despitefully treat- ed hinij The masters of archery have taken aim at him. — ** taken aim at him.^' So I render 1MS*1'^\ The LXX have expressed the same sense ; — bsixov avrcu, (V) _« recoiled." Strn from 21;:^, not from ^t'\ (W) ** While the arms of his assailants were en- feebled." This interpretation has the sanction of the version of the LXX, and all the antient versions, except the Vulgate. In the Hebrew text we find only these two words '^}^^* V9^\ The shortness of the line, as well as the form of the word *^V*^\ which UPON THE LAST WORDS OF JACOB. 383 is evidently in construction, requires tliat a third word should follow '^V'^l If ^''"^'' be brought back from the following line, the equality of the lines of the next couplet will be destroyed, without any ad- vantage to the sense of this ; for " the arms of his hands" is, in any language, an absurd, an inexpli- cable image. It seems therefore almost certain, that a word in this place, under the government of "^V^^ has been lost out of the text. To restore it, it will be necessary to ascertain whose arms are the subject of the proposition, whether Joseph's, or his enemies; and this perhaps cannot otherwise be ascertained, than by rattling distinctly, what the proposition is, of which arms are the subject. According to mo- dern interpreters, the proposition is, that arms were strengthened ; which can be understood of no arms but Joseph's. According to the LXX, the Syriac, the antient Italic, Jonathan, and the Samaritan, the proposition is exactly the reverse, that arms were weakened ; which can be understood of no arms but those of Joseph's enemies. According to the Vulgate, the proposition is, that arms were released from fetters ; which, again, can be understood of no arms but Joseph's. The version of the Vulgate, and the other antient versions, although they present 384. CRITICAL NOTES such different senses, seem to have been all formed upon one and the same readmg of the Hebrew text; in which the word, that should be under the govern- ment of "'J?*^^, was wanting, as it now is ; but the verb in some other way expressed relaxation. Ludovicus Capellus, and Houbigant, in the per* suasion that ?'5, the root of "^^s**^ the verb we have in our modern text, predicates corroboration, conclud- ed, that some other verb occupied the place of this in the copies which the antient translators used, and set themselves to guess what that other verb should be. Capellus thinks it was '^^*''s\ Houbigant prefers But upon what ground has the sense of strength- ening been affixed to *i<3% the word of our present text ? As a verb, the root ''kv'7rro(jijim' fcat ravra rrjg VTri^KZiiLZVYig yr,g ahv- h^ov ovffrjg, Strabo, lib. xvi, p. 766, edit. Casaub. And Pliny says expressly, that the productions of the bottom of the Erythrean Sea were not " alga," but " frutex." See Pliny, lib. xiii, cap. 25. I ren- der therefore " the Coral Sea." (E) — " the raging waves." nonn. The general- ity of the old lexicographers make the noun Dnn OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. 39!J itself a root. But I am persuaded it comes from the root CD^''^, ' to disturb ;* and in niphal, ' to be dis- turbed, to be in confusion, to make a roaring noise:' and that the noun so derived, when applied to the sea, involves the idea of the perpetual agitation and tumult of its waves. (F) — «' the wide waters." nbn't:. The word is generally rendered * bottom.' But deriving the word from the root ^^*, or ^^^, (from which also, with Mr Parkhurst, I deduce '^^"^^*), I think it rather sig- nifies the broad covering of a wide bottom, than the bottom itself; and, applied to the sea, involves tlie idea of its vast breadth. (G) — " shook them off." VJ-iyi. Our public translation [*' were gathered together"] supposes this verb to be the third person plural preterite niphal of the verb D*IJ7. But I take the verb to be ^y^, and ^t: to be the affixed pronoun plural, rehears- ing 'T'tDp in the 7th verse. — '* shook them off," namely, off their seats in their chariots, or on their horses. See chap, xiv, 27. The apparent discord of the verb and the noun, in this exposition of the passage, is no objection j D'^12 being one of those 394. THE SONG plural nouns which are sometimes constructed with singular verbs. See Gen. ix, 15. (H) — ** [which love their level.] " These words I add, as included in the idea of the word D^^U, which would be imperfectly rendered without that addition. See Critical Notes on the Song of Moses, note (c). (I) — '« took a form of consistency." '»*^*^p. — " were congealed " is the public translation. But this gives an idea of the operation of frost. The Hebrew verb properly signifies * to be coagulated.* But this is too technical a word for poetry, * To be condensed' would express too little ; * to be conso- lidated' too much. I have rendered the word there- fore by a periphrasis^ which gives neither more nor less than its exact sense. (K) — " shall thin their numbers." Literally, " shall impoverish them." The diminution of their numbers by slaughter is the impoverishment meant. (L) — " thy breath." The hurricane miraculous- ly setting in, and subsiding again, at the critical 1 OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. 395 moment, in a given direction, with a given force, for the purpose intended, is represented under the image of God's own breath. (M) — " danced about hke particles of dust upon the boisterous waters." If a handful of light dust be thrown upon the waters, the particles separate in an instant, and recede from each other in all direc- tions, with prodigious velocity, as if they partook of the expansive nature of the waters on which they float. A very striking image of the sudden disjec- tion of Pharaoh's host; the men, the horses, and the chariots, upon the surface of the waters, suddenly released from the force which restrained them, and swelling and tossing with more than their usual ve- hemence. — "danced about," were vibrated. — '* set a qui- vering," tossed with vehemence. The word is never used of sinking. — " particles of dust." So I understand nis^;;. The word is sometimes used as the appropriate name of lead : but this is because lead is composed, as ap- pears by the chemical analysis of it, of very small particles of dust, united only by phlogiston -, or by S9G THE SONG whatever new name French pedantry may be pleased to describe the principle of cohesion. — " among the gods.'* Read with the Samaritan, and 70 MSS, tD^'^i^:^. (N) — " striking with amazement in sudden mani* festations.'* So I render the words nSin K^ii, See Parkhurst, under the root M^J^, I am inclined to think with him, that the " manifestations" here al- lude to what is mentioned in chap, xiv, 24. The word i^*l^^ is applied to whatever excites admiration or amazement, though unmixed with fear. There- fore I render " striking with amazement,'* though the particular manifestation here alluded to was ter- rible, and produced a panic. (O) -^" claimed and rescued." I know not how to render the word ri7K^ by any one word. It signi- fies not simply ' to rescue or redeem/ but a rescue by the successful assertion of the owner's claim, against the wrongful possessor. (P) — " shall be petrified with dismay." Hebrew, «* shall be like a stone." See Critical Notes on Ho- sea, Appendix, No. 3, OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. 397 (Q) — " fix their settlement." Hebrew, " plant them." — ** upon them." Read, with 32 MSS, orr^^, (R) — '' led the band." ri^vn. See the exposi- tion of this word, see Critical Notes on Hosea, chap, ii, note (n). 39S CRITICAL NOTES OK THE ODE OF TRIUMPH. NUMBERS XXI, 27 — 30. ("A) " Chapels." niDS, the plural of the feminme noun HD^, which always signifies a place, or in the plural, places of worship of the smaller sort, whether appropriated to the worship of God, or of idols. Quite a distinct word from niM, (which makes its plural D'^n^t^S), ' a height, or high place.' See Bishop Lowth on Isaiah liii, 9. (B) — « the fire." For ^m, I read, with the Sa- maritan and LXX, t'i^. 39y CRITICAL NOTES ON THE PROPHETIC EFFUSIONS OF BALAAM NUMBERS XXII, 41 — XXIV, 25. CHAP. XXIII. (A) — ^Miim.** The pronominal suffix, though not expressed in the original, must be understood. (B) — '* in the square of Israel.'* I read, with the Samaritan, J?S*^D, which may signify any thing of a square figure. The Israelites encamped in a square. See Numb. chap. ii. and iii. Therefore " the square of Israel" is a natural expression for the whole en- campment, which met the prophet's eye in that sliape. (C) " And when I am gone, be the fortunes of my family"— All this seems to be contained in the 400 THE PROPHETIC EFFUSIONS Hebrew word ^n^^^nK^ < quae post funus erunt.' The wish of Balaam has no respect to the state of his mind, upon his death-bed, in prospect of futurity ; but merely to the fortunes of Abraham, the ancestor of the Israelites, in this world. He wishes to die, like him, full of years and of the blessings of this life, and to leave behind him a numerous and flour- ishing posterity. (D) I follow the LXX in the interpretation of the names of Zophim and Pisgah. Pisgah seems to have been a small hill, in which were quarries : and the field, in which it stood., from the prospect which the eminence commanded, was called ' the Prospect Field,' or, * the Field of the Lookers-out.' (E) — " will meat." nnpi«. This seems to have been a technical word of the diviner's profession. (F) " I must bless" — I read, with Samaritan and LXX, inSK. (G) — " to be discerned to be seen" — The verbs in the original, ^"^^Jl and HKl, are both active, with the indefinite nominative V"*^ understood. But OF BALAAM. 401 the sense Is best given, in English, as by the LXX in their Greek, by passive verbs. (H) — " the state of royalty." The literal ren- dering of the Hebrew text is, ** the sound of the royal trumpet is with him." For the word nyinn^ which our translators render * shout,' is more pro- perly * the voice of the trumpet.' (1) ** God bringeth him out of Egypt," &c. I give this passage as it stands in the public transla- tion. I take it to be an interpolation here, and shall give what I take to be the true sense of it in chap* xxiv, where it stands In its proper place. CHAP. XXIV. (K) — '* the divinatory invocation.*' I^n *<^ XD^Vr^a HKnpS opD Dys5; literally, '' and went not as time upon time to the invocation of diviners.'* — " the invocation of diviners," /. e, the invocation used by diviners, or the divinatory invocation. So I understand the words a^'ti^'ni HNnp^, I imagine that some set form of invocation is intended, used in those times for the purposes of divination, or en« chantment. Balaam retired not, as before, to try VOL. IV. c c 402 THE PROPHETIC EFFUSIONS the power of any mystic rites, or of any secret invo- cation; but, patiently waiting the event, he staid with Balak by the sacrifices, with his face toward the wilderness of Jeshimon, where the Israelites were encamped. (L) — " strong in the secret eye." DHC^ nDin pj^n. I take CDHU^j which occurs only in this place, to be an unusual orthography of the word DHD, * abditus, intus absconditus/ The holy Psalmist says, (li, 8), " Behold, thou delightest in truth in the inward parts, and shalt teach me wisdom." DHDD, b ra \m kv^guitca, as Mr Parkhurst well explains it. So the prophetic gift, of foreseeing things to come, is here described under the image of a secret inter- nal eye. And, in the same language, ^schylus makes Orestes, in the Choephorse, describe the ora- cular prescience of Apollo : hgoi)VT(A "Ka^tMgav h okotm m^m y h5nn, as it is used here ; and, " the measures of providence," is the only English expres- sion to render the same idea intelligible. (F) '' A blemish," &c. literally, ** A blemish unto him [is] their mark of his Not-sons." In this way of expounding the passage, I suppose an ellipsis of the verb substantive only. I take Die as the sub- 4H CRITICAL NOTES ject of the verb substantive understood, aud ^^^ ag another noun, a nominative after the verb substan- tive, and the predicate of that subject. The passage might be expounded in another way, by dividing it into two clauses, with an eUipsis in the first of the verb substantive in the third person plural, with the pronoun of the third person plural for its subject ; and in the second clause, an ellipsis of the verb substantive in the third person singular, Q'^X: being its subject. Thus, They are corruption in his sight. Their mark is of his Not-sons. But I prefer the former as more simple. — " his Not-sons." The negative ^^ prefixed to a noun substantive often forms, as it were, a com- pound noun, expressing the steresis^ or privation of that which the noun by itself would express, having indeed the exact force of the privative alpha in the Greek language. The reading of this line in the Samaritan text de- serves attention. It gives an easy construction, and a good sense ; it is followed in the versions of the UPON THE SONG OF MOSES. 415 LXX and Syriac, and is adopted as the true reading by Houbigant and Kennicott. DID "JJD "h vh ^nnv Tliey are corrupted; they are not his; children of pollution. (G) — " devoid of thought." See Critical Notes on Hosea, chap, xiii, note (r). (H) The only meaning of this passage which oc- curs to me is, that in the partition of the habitable earth among the different nations, the distribution was so made, and the several boundaries so fixed, as to leave a certain tract unallotted, as the domain of Jehovah himself, sufficient for the accommodation of his own people, the race of Israel. An emendation was offered not long since, in a periodical publication, * which, if admitted, would certainly give a clear, a true, and strong sense. It consisted in a transposition only of the words '^^V and coy. The singular, *^^V, was brought from the ninth verse into the place of the plural, Ccy, in the eighth ; and that plural was carried into the ninth and placed after ^pj?''. Thus the sense would be, * British Critic for the month of August 1 80?. I 416 CRITICAL NOTES He set the bounds of his own people According to the number of the sons of Israel 5 For the portion of Jehovah is Jacob, The peoples are the measured lot of his inheritance. The pronoun his in the last line was expounded of Jacob, not of God, and thus the passage was made to describe the call of the Gentiles as their incorpo- ration with Israel, not without an implied allusion to the exaltation of the natural Israel above all the na- tions of the earth in the last ages. I certainly agree with the critic who proposed this alteration, that transposition is an allowable spe- cies of conjecture. And there is nothing violent in the transposition proposed in this instance. Never- theless, I scruple to adopt it, as all the antient ver- sions represent the order of the words as they stand in our present text ; and the sense it gives, if I have rightly expounded it, is perhaps full as much to the purpose as that which is drawn from the emenda- tion. The reading, which the version of the LXX of- fers, of " the angels of God,'* instead of ** the sons of Israel,'* must come from a corrupted text, as it gives no meaning at all, but what is founded on the absurd heathen notion, of a delegation o^ power to 6 UPON THE SONG OF MOSES. 417 the angels, as a sort of viceroys, or lordlieutenanf?. over the several nations. (I) — ** a desert land, the howling waste," &c. I have said in my explanatory notes upon Hosea, note (n), that the waste howling wilderness (ac- cording to the Public Translation), in which God is here said to have found Israel, is the wilder- ness of idolatry, and that the image expresses the weak, and it should be added, the ill-informed state of the Israelites, when they lived intermixed with idolaters, as strangers in Canaan, and afterwards as slaves in Egypt. And by this opinion I abide, de- cidedly rejecting the reading of the Samaritan, which Houbigant adopts, ^IVOK for >1K:^D% and "in^Ott^"* for \f^V^y which would give this sense : He sustained him in a desert land, In the howling waste he fed him plenteously with luscious food. Referring, indeed, to the wilderness through which the Israelites were led to the promised land. The version of the LXX conveys the same general no- tion ; but neither the Syriac nor the Vulgate con- firm it* vo£. IV. D D 4ia CRITICAL NOTES (K) — " he stretcheth his wings/' &c. The Pub- lic Translation gives, " spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them — ^beareth them." But the pronominal suffixes of the two verbs, * taketh,' * beareth,' in the original, are singular, and can rehearse no other noun than * Jacob,* or * Israel,* as the singular suf- fixes of the verbs in the preceding verse. The young of the eagle are expressed by the plural noun 0*^^:3, which could be rehearsed by none but plural pro- nouns. Instead therefore of ' taketh them,* and ' beareth them,* I render, * taketh him,* and * bear- eth him.' Him, namely, Jacob, Jacob therefore being the person taken and borne ; Jehovah, not the eagle, must be the taker and bearer. The pas- sage is rightly rendered by the Vulgate and Houbi- gant. (L) —' the hard stony soil.** n^^V C^'JD*?^, rather renders ^ chips,* or * small fragments of stone,' mixed with the vegetable mould, than a large mass of solid rock. The soil which the olive loves, isa lean sandy clay abounding with small pebbles. < DifEciles primum terrae, collesque maligni, < Tenuis ubi argilla, et dumosis calculus arvis, ' Palladia gaudent sylvA vivacis olivae.' Georg. Lib. II. lin. 179. UPON THE SONG OF MOSES. 419 (M) [Bullocks] tlie breed of Bashan," literally, " sons of Bashan," which, with the LXX, and Ken- nicott, I take to be young bullocks. (N) In this part I have changed the order of the lines, and restored from the Samaritan a line omit- ted in our present text. The change in the order of the lines is, that I make what stands, in the print- ed text, as the second line of the fifteenth verse, the last of the fourteenth. The omitted line I make thq first of the fifteenth verse. Thus, what stands as first becomes the second, and at the third we fall again into the order of the printed. The learned reader will perceive, that, by this arrangement, the regularity of the composition, which the omission of one line, and the misplacing of the other, had much impaired, is completely restored. Inasmuch as, ac- cording to this emendation, the whole passage will stand thus : Dys'^'j jint^*'^ \12^'>^ ^n^y h^Sk *w^^ D D 2 420 CRITICAL NOTES (O) — ** [imagined] benefactors." "^It:?, '' poui^ ers forth/' The powers of nature deified, and wor- shipped as the pourers forth of all temporal bles- sings, rich crops, and increase of the flocks and herds. The same powers which the adultress in Hosea calls her lovers. (P) — '* bitter plagues of the solstitial disease." The solstitial disease, ^^p. See Critical Notes on Hosea, chap, xiii, note (w). But in this, there is a very singular collocation of the words '''^"ID 3^p, if there has been no transposition ; the governing word being placed after the governed. For the or- der is, :it3? •»*i^»\ (Q) — ** ravenous beasts of prey." Literally, "the tooth of beasts;" (R) — " can make the distinction." Literally^ ** being distinguishers.*' (S) — " berries of the aconite." See Critical Notes on Hosea, chap, x, note (e). (T) —'' immured, or at large." 3Vj? TOy, i. e. UPON THE SONG OF MOSES. 421 in garrison, in walled town, or left out and straggling in the open country. So I understand this prover- bial expression. (U) The 37th and 38th verse contain the taunts of the enemies of God's people, related in the third person in verse 37, and the first line of verse 38 j but in the sequel of that verse, delivered in the per- son of the enemies speaking. This change of per- son is highly animated and poetical. The word D%1^Kj though the true God be meant, yet in the speech of the heathen, is constructed with plural verbs as with plural adjectives and participles, in 1 Sam. iv, 8. — "your place of safe retreat." Literally, "abid- ing place over you j" i. e. let them afford you that security which ye might find in a den or cave, where you would lie concealed, under cover. The image is of the same kind with that which is used, Exod. XV, 2, and Ps. xc, 1. See the notes upon the for- mer place. (V) — " with me is no god associated." Literally, " no god standing by me." D D 3 422 CRITICAL NOTES (W) I place the Soph Pasuk at i^s*^H, and make the next line the first of the 40th verse ; that the sense may be, When I declare my purpose, and bind myself to the execution of it, no one can rescue from my hand. (X) " Flesh- — blood and flesh." The liberty I have taken in supplying these words in the transla- tion, is certainly a greater one than I usually take ; but not greater than the sense of the passage, and the idiom of the poetry in this place demand. That of the two words, * blood and flesh,' at the begin- ning of the last line of the stanza, one must of ne- cessity be supplied, viz. * flesh,' has been seen and admitted by the most scrupulous critics. See Park- hurst, y^^. VIII. That this word ^ flesh' must be supplied in the preceding line, I shall presently show ; whence the propriety of supplying both at the beginning of the last line will be evident. The first distich of this 42d verse declares, that « arrows' shall be drunk with blood, and * the sword' devour flesh. * Arrows' were the weapons of dis- tant fight, the sword of close engagement. The ar- rows, therefore, discharged in battle at the distant ^nemy, were to be drunk with the blood of the UPON THE SONG OF MOSES. 48S slain. But when a prisoner was taken, if his life was not to be spared, he was not set at a distance to be a mark for the archers, but dispatched by the sword, the devourer of flesh. The arrow, therefore, had nothing to do with the captive, who is the vic- tim of the sword. For this reason, ^^^ (flesh), must be supplied before JT^S^ (the captives). But the head of the enemy was equally the object of the arrow in battle, and of the sword raised against the prisoner. Therefore, before ^^"^ (head or scalp)f the two words CDI and "i^^ (blood and flesh), are both to be supplied. When I say these words are to be supplied, it is not that I think they were ever in the text, and have been lost out of it, but that they are to be sup- plied by the reader's understanding of the place, which the English reader would not be likely to ap- prehend, if they were not inserted in the transla- tiour (Y) — " O ye heathen with his people." Not more than two MSS have riK before "^tsy. I follow this reading, as it is confirmed by St Paul, Rom. xv, 10. It has been well observed, in a periodical publica- i24 CRITICAL NOTES tion which I have before had occasion to cite, * that the import of the passage is much the same, whether nK be inserted, or omitted as in the printed text. If it be inserted, the passage insinuates the call of the heathen, and their union with the chosen people. Without ^K, their incorporation into it, in such sort as to make an integrant part of the Israel, For if HK be not admitted, Q*^*!: (not in regimiiie observe) is in apposition with "^tty. And the literal rendering is, ^ heathen, his people,' i. e. heathen nations now become his people by their conversion. And so RosenmuUer seems to have understood the words. Some indeed, in this and some other pas- sages, would expound C'^^ of Israel, as composed of various tribes. But the plural word is never so used. It is used only of the heathen nations, and of them in ^ worse sense than tD^Dy. The verb a'»t:y describing them simply as distinct from the Israelites ; as not in covenant with God ; but not as positively discarded from mercy. The other de- scribes them as avowed active members of the athe- istical confederacy, and objects of wrath and judg- ment. D'^t:;? are the nations not yet called, and in * British Critic, August 1802. UPON THE SONG OF MOSES. ^25 a state of ignorance ; D^^^ are the nations in rebel- lion. See the Psah^s passim, particularly the 9th and 10th. It is true, that this plural word is applied to Israel in Ezek. ii, 3 ; but not applied to them as composed of various tribes, signified by the plural SD'ilJ, It is there applied to Israel in highly figured speech, without any consideration of the composi- tion of the nation out of various parts, as a term of the keenest reproach and opprobrium; intimating, that, by their disobedience, they were become mere heathen, apostates, and outcasts. *' Son of Man, " I send thee to the children of Israel — to heathen — " the disobedient, which have disobeyed me. They, " and their fathers, have been in open rebellion ^' against me to this very day." (Z) — " the land of his people." I read with the Samaritan, HDlK, without the suffix. 426 CBITICAL NOTES OK THE LAST WORDS OF MOSES. DEUt. XXXIII. This is evidently a metrical composition ; the diction highly poetical, and the structure of the verse regu- lar. The whole may be divided into three parts. The first part respects the people of Israel generally. It consists of three stanzas ; the first, composed of five lines, commemorating the awful display of the tokens of the Divine Presence at Sinai ; the second stanza celebrates God*s parental care of all mankind, manifested in the communications with the patri- archal families in general in the earliest ages, and again in the promulgation of the gospel ; the third stanza asserts the selection of the Jewish people, 6 ON THE LAST WORDS OF MOSES. 427 predicts the sovereignty of* the Messiah, and the adoption of the Gentiles. . The second part consists of the appropriate bless- ings of the several tribes. The third and last, composed of four stanzas, re- turns to the general subject of the happiness of the people, under the special protection of Jehovah. (A) " His uprising was from Seir." nn? in this line, as ^lVi< in the fifth, I take to be a noun sub- stantive, and in both places I suppose an ellipsis of the verb. The ^t:, at the end of both lines, I take for the pronoun of the third person singular, rehears- ing the proper name Jehovah. Of this use of ^12, for % Bishop Lowth, in his Third Prelection, has produced many instances. The construction of the Hebrew, according to my notion of it, may be more exactly represented in the Latin language than in the English : " Exortus ei erat a Seir; a dextra ejus [prorumpebant] ei [ignes.]*' (B) — " from amidst the myriads came forth the Holy One.'* — " from amidst the myriads." I read, with the Samaritan, and many of the best MSS and printed editions, not les than 80 in all, n^33"il3. 42S CRITICAL NOTES — " came forth the Holy One." — *' II est sorti d*entre les dix milliers des saints." Ostervald. To bring out the sense which I express, it would seem necessary to read ti^^'^p, (a necessity which I admit not). This would not be a greater alteration than Dr Kennicott would make, to get the proper name of Meribah-cadesh. To Dr Kennicott's alter- ation I have two objections. The one is, that the appearance at Meribah-cadesh was not public, but to Moses and Aaron by themselves. The other is, that the attendance of the angels is a circumstance which the sacred writers usually touch upon, when- ever they have occasion to speak of the promulga- tion of the law, which makes it improbable that so great a circumstance should be passed over un- noticed here : and this will be the case, if Dr Ken- iiicott's alteration be admitted. I must add, that his emendation is purely conjectural. The change of K^lp into ^^"'p, if it be necessary, besides that it would be supported by the parallel passage in Hab- bakuk, chap, iii, 3, is the reading of three of Kenni^ cott's MSS. (C) — «* streams [of fire]." For m m^ I read, with the Samaritan text, a great number of the very 1 ON THE LAST WORDS OF MOSES. 4^f5 best MSS, and with Dr Durell, niC^K. Perhaps the best of all would be nm:rK, which some copies of the Samaritan text give. But whether nn^^^K, or nitt^K, the word is certainly plural. It occurs twice in Deuteronomy, and in four places in Joshua. In Deuteronomy it is written without the \ in Joshua with it. The singular '^^^ occurs but once, namely, in Numb, xxi, 15. Its constant sense is that of streams, torrents, springs. By its etymology it may signify whatever flows, or issues with force and ra- pidity. If in any place in which it occurs, circum- stances exclude streams of water ; it must denote some other streams, which circumstances admit In this passage circumstances admit no streams but of fire, or light. But when it occurs, that the streams, or stream* ings, at God's right hand, must be streams of light or fire, the imagination of a modern critic will be apt to fasten upon flashes of lightning, as the fire or light particularly intended j for which, the name of ' streams,' or * streamings/ seems an awkward meta- phor. But may not light of some other kind be in- tended ? for which * streams' or * streamings,' to those to whom the appearance was familiar, might be a proper and significant name. The subject of 400 CRITICAL NOTES the poetical description, in this stanza, is the ap- pearance of the Shechinah. Of this we have no particular description j and therefore we know only, in general, that it was light. But is it not probable, that it was distinguished from other lights^ by many peculiarities in its appearance, besides its degree of brightness ? Is it improbable, that what the first idolaters substituted for it, the Sun, actually bore some faint resemblance of it ? That the Shechinah therefore was a mass of unparalleled splendour, shooting out long rays in all directions : Might not these rays of the Shechinah, in their shape and un- dulating motions, resemble the meteor which, in our own language, at this day, goes under the name of * STREAMERS?' And might not this resemblance of the things be the occasion of an analogy in the names of them in different languages ? These rays of the Shechinah seem to be mentioned, in the pa- rallel place of Habakkuk, under the name of ' horns;' which the prophet describes, as Moses describes the streamers, as issuing from God's hand. From the translation of the LXX it appears, that for the two words of the Masoretic text ni tyK^ their copies had but one. If that one was nitt^K^ the LXX understood the words to be the genuine ON THE LAST WORDS OF MOSES. 4S1 appellation of any emanations of any kind ; and they took it to be used figuratively here of the angels, as emanations from the Father of Spirits. But this notion of angels, as emanations of the First Intellect, savours too much of the Platonism of a late age to be Mosaic. It once occurred to me, casting about in my mind for some plausible exposition of the Masoretic read- ing of nn Di< in two separate words, that it might not be insusceptible of interpretation, if ni were taken, not for the peculiar law of the Jews, but for the general law of God's wisdom and power, by which the universal system of Nature is upholden. m t^'K, « the fire of law,' I thought might be a peri- phrasis for the lightning, as the weapon of God's government, the sword of his empire, by which all things are kept in awe and subjection. 2o/ Bs '^rag oh KOCf^Log zkiffcoiLZvog '^ept ya/av, Huhrai, rjpcev ayrig, xui Ikcov vtto asto x^ocTBircct, To/ov Ix'^ig v'TTOi^yov avifcrj, ffocig vto %e^(rij', A(/^(p9}K7], 'TTVQOZVrCCy CCei^dJOVTCC KB^avvon, Toy yag vto 'TrkTjyj^g (pvffea>g 't^olvt epptyufft, Cl av KUTiv&vvug koivov "koyovy x, r. X. Hymn. Cleanth, 432 CRITICAL NOTES But this notion of the lightning is pagan. The read- ing nit:fK in one word is sufficiently authorised, and the sense founded upon it is far more simple, and more to the purpose. The joining of two words of our modern text in one is hardly to be deemed an alteration, especially as this is one of the fifteen in- stances mentioned by the Masora of words written together which should be read separately ; which is a confession of the Masoretes that these words were written as one in their MSS ; and for the separation we have only their authority* (D) For r|K, I read, with the Samaritan, with Kennicott and Durell, 2SK. (E) ** The saints"— I read, with the LXX and Vulgate, D^t:^^p, without the suffix. (F) I readj with the Samaritan, and a great num- ber of Kennieott's best Codd. T^AnS. (G) — " and receive"-^ I read '^i^V*^\ upon the authority of the Samaritan version, the Syriac, Ara- bic, Chaldee, and Kennicott. ON THE LAST WORDS OF MOSES. 4SS (H) — " Moses" — The name of Moses seems to be inti'oduced here in a very singular manner. It seems very strange that he should speak of him- self in the third person, and of the persons to whom he gave the law in the first person plural, as if he included himself among those who received the law from him. For this reason, I should readily agree with Dr Kennicott and Dr Durell in expunging the word Moses, if t]ie omission had the authority either of MSS or versions. But being merely conjectural, without any such authority, I have not ventured to adopt it. Dr Durell very pertinently remarks, in favour of it, that no line in this whole song (this first part), except this, contains more than three words. If the word Moses be omitted, the second stanza w^ill form a parenthesis between the first and this last; and the subject of the verb * prescribed' must be the pronoun of the third person, * He,' under- stood, rehearsing * the Holy One' of the fourth line of the first stanza. *' He, the Holy One, to us hath prescribed a law\" The sense however of this last stanza will be the same, whether the name of Moses, in this first line, stand or be omitted. VOL. IV, E E 4S4 CRITICAL NOTES (I) _« in Jeshurun." The LXX render « Jeshu- run*' by o kya'Trri^ivog^ which is very consistent with the senses they give to the root. " The justified'* seems to be the meaning of the word. In either sense, of " the well-beloved," or " the justified," it denotes the whole family of the faithful, and it is no patronymic of the Israelites. When it is applied to them, it is in their spiritual character, as for a time they made the whole of God's acknowledged church. The LXX and Vulgate give the verb substantive at the beginning of this line in the future. (K) — " the peoples." I read, with the LXX, 0>12y in the plural. And I understand this distich of the communion of the two churches of the cir- cumcision and the uncircumcision in the latter ages. Dr Kennicott in this place follows the Masoretic text, reading tDJ^ in the singular; and he renders the third line of this stanza, '' And he became king in Jeshurun," which he expounds of God, who, at the same time that he gave the Israelites a law, be- came their King. The proposition, it must be con- fessed, is true ; but I much doubt whether the terms in which it is supposed to be contained are those which Moses would have used to convey this mean- ON THE LAST WORDS OF MOSES. ^35 ing. I remember no passage that describes tlie rela- tion between God and the Israelites, in which God is simply called their King. " They shall be to me a people, and I will be to them What? a King? More than a King A GOD." This I think is the constant language. The expression in 1 Sam, viii, 7, cannot be allowed to make an exception. The occasion required only, that the Israelites should be reminded that God was to them instar regis. In Hos. xiii, 10, we read in our English Bible, ** I will be thy King:" but in the Hebrew, in the LXX, and in St Jerome, we read something very different. See my Hosea. A further objection to Dr Kenni- cott's exposition is, that there is very little signifi. cance in the definition of the manner, in which this monarchy was erected ; which, in this view of the passage, is contained in the subsequent distich. The " gathering together of the chiefs of the people with the tribes of Israel" is surely a frigid periphrasis for a general assembly. I must add, what has been al- ready observed at the end of note (i), that the LXX and Vulgate give the verb substantive at the beginning of the third line with me in the future, not with Dr Kennicott in the preterite. £ £ M 436 CRITICAL NOTES (L) — ** Simeon"— The tribe of Simeon, as the Hebrew text now stands, has no share in this pro- phetic valediction of Moses. Many commentators have attempted to account for the omission. But of the various reasons that have been imagined, some are manifestly false, and none in my judgment satis- factory. We have the express testimony of Josephus and Philo, as Dr Durell has observed, that Moses blessed every one of the tribes separately. And as neither of them make an exception of any tribe, it is reasonable to conclude, with Dr Durell, that Si- meon's name was in the copies which those antient writers used. And if this be admitted, we must of necessity go to this further conclusion, that the omission of Simeon is a defect, and an error of our modern text. But if Simeon's fortunes, like those of Judah, Levi, or Joseph, were the subject of a separate stanza of some length, the error was less likely to happen, than if he was joined in a short stanza with some other tribe, as Issachar and Zebu- lun are joined, so that the bare omission of his name would produce the defect. This therefore probably was the case. But with which of his brethren could he so properly be joined as with Reuben, to whom he was next in age ? It is true, in the last words of ON THE LAST WORDS OF MOSES. 457 Jacob, he is joined with Levi. But that is on ac- count of the participation of the two brothers in the same crime, and the similarity of the judgment with which for that crime the posterity of both was visit- ed. But the tribe of Levi in some measure atoned the crime of their ancestor by their obedience. And aUhough what Jacob had predicted as a judgment took place, yet under that judgment the tribe was blessed. But the Simeonites continued to the last refractory and profligate. And it is to be observed, that in the two prophecies of Jacob and Moses the whole arrangement of the matter is different, as will appear by comparing the order in which the tribes are mentioned. BY JACOB. 1 Reuben. 2, 3 Simeon and Levi. 4 Judah. 5 Zebulon. 6 Issachar. 7 Dan. 8 Gad. 9 Asher. 10 Naphtali. 11 Joseph. 12 Benjamin. BY MOSES. 1 Reuben. 3 Judah. 4 Levi. 5 Benjamin. 6 Joseph. 7, 8 Zebulon and Issachar. 9 Gad. 10 Dan. 11 Naphtah*. 12 Asher. E E 3 438 CRITICAL NOTES Adding to these considerations, that the name of Simeon appears in this place in the LXX, according to the Alexandrine MS; another MS of Dr Holmes; and the Aldine and Complutensian editions; that the name of Simeon was in the Latin Bible of St Ambrose in this place, as it is quoted by him, " Be- nedixit etiam Moses tribum Reuben, sicut habes scriptum * Vivat Reuben et non moriatur, et Simeon multus in numeroj* '* upon these grounds I have no hesitation, after the example of Houbigant and Dr Durell, to introduce the name of Simeon in this place. For thus I reason : The tribe of Simeon cer- tainly was mentioned by Moses in this his last pro- phecy. For the antient writers, who say he spoke of the fortunes of each tribe separately, make no ex- ception of Simeon. We have no authority at all for introducing his name in any other part of the pro- phetic song. For introducing it here, we have the authority of the LXX, and the Latin Bible of St Ambrose. I would add, that if it was of Simeon that it was predicted that his numbers should be few, the pre- diction, as is well observed by Dr Durell, was strict- ly verified. For Simeon came out of Egypt 59,300 ON THE LAST WORDS OF MOSES. 439 strong,* and forty years after, in the plains of Moab he mustered only 22,200. t (M) The latter distich is the key to the true meaning of this whole stanza. It is so evidently characteristic of the Messiah, who, with greatness of power of his own, in his human nature depended upon God's support, that it can be understood of no other person. And the preceding distich will ap- pear to be equally applicable to the Messiah exclu- sively, when it is delivered from an obscurity in which the Masoretic pointing has enveloped it, which has been the means indeed of disfiguring the meaning of the whole, and given rise to forced and unnatural interpretations even of the latter part, of which the most obvious and literal rendering is that which I have given. But in the former distich, abandoning those blind leaders of the blind, the Masoretes, we shall find the Messiah mentioned under an appellation, which most properly belongs to him, the appellative *?>?, which the Masoretes, by their mispointing, have turned into the preposition * Numb, i, 23. t Numb, xxvi, 14. E E 4 440 CRITICAL NOTES ^^. But point the word with tzere instead of segol, and the entire verse must be thus literally rendered : And this for Judah. And he said. Hear, O Jehovah, the voice of Judah, ii^i? ^if) And the Mighty One of his people ')3N["'nr< bring Thou unto him. Great for himself shall be his power, And Thou shalt be help from his enemies. '^iK'Jisn, « bring him ;* i. e. bring to him. The verb * bring,' and some others, which in Latin require a dative of the person and an accusative of the thing ; in Hebrew, as in English, often admit two accusa- tives, one of the thing, and another of the person. W ^i^, « the Mighty One of his people.' So Ezek. xxxi, 11, D'^'J^ '^^, * the Mighty One of the heathen.' ^^, applied to man, is more than *13Ji. See Ezek. xxxii, 21. The plural D'^^'^i^ is frequent- ly used for * leaders.* And here perhaps, and in Ezek. xxxi, 11, the singular ^K might be rendered * the leader, the captain, or the chief;' but I pre- fer * Mighty One,' because the Hebrew word seems to involve the idea of pre-eminence in valour, and power to help, rather than in rank. See this expo- sition of the text, in preference to others, argued ON THE LAST WORDS OF MOSES. 441 more at large in my Critical Notes upon Hosea, chap, xi, note (b). (N) — " the man." — '* In hac de Levi bene- dictione opponitur sacerdotium Levi sacerdotio Mes- siae futuro. Sic dicit igitur Moses ' Thummim tuuni et Urim tiiiiin Viri Sancti tui est quern tu tentasti.* Perfectio ilia et doctrina ilia, quam pra? se ferunt tui sacerdotes, non tua est ; ut illam vel in te habeas, vel aliis impertiaris : ilia erit propria Sancti tui, ejus quern Dominus non dabit videre corruptionem ; quern tu tentasti ; eundem de quo Paul us apostolus, ' Neque tentemus Christum ;' quern Moses tentavit, cum percussit petram hesitanter ; quem Aaron simul et Moses, cum Moses dixit, ' Num poterimus aquam de petra hac educere ? ' Qui dicturus est patri et matri, non novi eum ; idem, qui sic aiebat, * Qua3 est mater mea ?' Qui facit voluntatem patris mei, hie mens frater, et soror et mater est." Houbigant ad locum. Compare Kennicott's Post, and Spencer De Leg. Heb. lib. iii, diss. 7, cap. 8. (O) — ' thy gracious benefactor." TT^Dn. See the radical meaning of the word '^on^ largely ex- plained in my Critical Notes upon Hosea, chap, vi, 6 442 CRITICAL NOTES note (d). The noun "T^Dn, here and in other pas- sages, is not well rendered in our Public Transla- tion by " Holy One." In any case in which that rendering is in any degree proper, which can only be in the application of the word to a person in re- spect of his religious conduct, to denote a course of life, and a character sanctified by the warmth and constancy of habitual piety to God and charity to man, in every instance of this application of the w^ord, ^ Saint' would be the better rendering; as in Ps. xvi, 10. But when the word is applied either to God or Christ, in respect of merciful dealing with mankind in general, or of particular favour to cer- tain persons, either " Holy One," or " Saint," is altogether improper, and the idea of the original word will be best given by " gracious benefactor/* I am much mistaken if this word T^n is not some- times written without the Jod. (P) — " Let them observe" — Houbigant, after ''^, would insert DJ^; and he connects this with what precedes in this manner : " Ille filios suos ** non alios cognoscet, quam eos qui verbum tuum " custodiunt." But the alteration is quite unne- cessary. The force of *>5 here is imperative, or hor- ON THE LAST WORDS OF MOSES. 443 tatory ; and it might be rendered in Latin by * sci- licet/ or ^ nempe.' A full stop should be placed at yi\ at the end of the preceding line, and *it:Kn is to be understood again, at the beginning of this verse, before ''X (Q) — ** his persevering virtue." See Cocceius and Parkhurst, under the word ^Tl, (R) — " overshadowed by him — and dwelling" — In the grammatical construction, and the interpre- tation of this distich, I follow the authority of the Syriac and the Vulgate, taking the words r^^n and pV as participles, the first the participle present Poel of the verb f|Sin, the other the participle Benoni of the verb p^, both agreeing with the well-beloved, of whom it is affirmed, that he is sheltered, or over- shadowed, and that he dwells between Jehovah's shoulders. If these two words be taken as active verbs, of which Jehovah is understood to be the sub- ject, the sense will be much the same ; for the asser- tion will then be, that Jehovah shelters the beloved, and dwells between his shoulders. The want of the pronoun of the third person to rehearse Jehovah, is perhaps no insurmountable objection to this way of 444, CRITICAL NOTES expounding the passage. And it might be removed, by adopting what Houbigant conceives to have been the reading of the LXX, p^^^y (the Most High) for the first "^"^^y. But there seems to be some discordance in the imagery, if it be said first of the beloved, that he dwells close by Jehovah, and then of the beloved, that he dwells between Jehovah's shoulders. And the change of '^'^^V into p'^^^V, is little better than a mere conjecture of Houbigant's. The single autho- rity of the LXX would not be sufficient, when the text as it stands admits so easy an exposition. But this single authority seems to be wanting. But what were these shoulders of Jehovah, be- tween which, according to the exposition of the Sy- riac and Vulgate, which I follow, the beloved dwelt ? I say, the high mountains near Jerusalem on the south, projecting their shade over the adjoining ter- ritory of Benjamin. (S) — " rich gifts choice fruits — -delicacies — - wealth riches'' By these different expres- sions, I render the Hebrew word 1i» in its different applications. We have no one word in the English language to render it with propriety in all. It sig- ON THE LAST WORDS OF MOSES. i45 nifies whatever in its kind is " excellent, valued, delighted in." (T) — " the skies above.'* In the original, I in- sert the word ^ytits after D''Dw', upon tlie authority of the Syriac. It is evidently required by the law of the parallelism, to answer to rinn in the follow- ing line. I would wish to omit the word ^^^^ and read ^yo insead of it, if there were authority for the alteration. But I have found none that I deem sufficient in the MSS, and the Syriac expresses both words. Perhaps the dew itself is one of the gifts of the abyss. Certainly, in the greater part, it is an exsudation of the earth. Very little of it falls from the skies. (U) — " of every moon." This I take to be the force of the plural DTIT. (V) — *' who placed their tent." So I render "^^^C^. For although the verb p^ renders, * to dwell or inhabit,' generally, and the noun p^, * an inha- bitant,' yet, strictly, the verb is to * dwell in a tent,' and the noun is one so dwelling. And the exhibi- tion of the Godhead in the bush was temporary. 446 CRITICAL NOTES The word '^^'S^ is most evidently a plural in regimine^ and as such it ought to be rendered. It is an un- warrantable liberty to render it in the singular, and still more unwarrantable to expunge, as some would do, the plural Jod. (W) — " his herd.*' I take the word here as a collective, as it is used in Gen. xxxii, 5. (X) " They shall pierce'* — They, i, e. his horns — shall pierce. So I render '»'in'» as the third per- son plural future of the verb "nn in Pihel (to pierce or penetrate). 1 confess I have no other instance to produce of the verb so used. (Y) The name of Issachar is wanting after Zebu- lun, as the stanza of which this is the title relates to both tribes. This, therefore, is an instance of a proper name lost in our modern Hebrew text, and not supplied by any MS, or any version. We have a second instance of the same kind in Hosea v, 13. And these two instances go far to justify the intro- duction of the name of Simeon in the sixth verse of this Song, upon the authority of the LXX and St Ambrose. ON THE LAST WORDS OF MOSES. 447 (Z) — " the commissioner." pp"inD. <' A dclu neator.*' One who traces and marks out. " A de- finer," or ** determiner ;" and hence perhaps, ** a lawgiver.'* But in this place the word denotes a public officer, appointed to set out the boundaries of the allotments of the different tribes. One such person was named by Moses out of each of the tribes and half-tribe, among which the land of Canaan was to be distributed, after the tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh were housed in the conquered kingdoms of Sihon and Og, Num. xxxiv, 17 — 19. And in the progress of the busi- ness, after the death of Moses, when the tabernacle was placed at Shiloh, three were appointed out of each of the seven tribes, which at that time remain- ed unsettled, Joshua xviii. It appears that these persons made a survey of the country, and marked out the districts in a map, Joshua xviii, 9. Each of these persons was literally pp'^HD, < a tracer of boun- daries.'* I use the word ' commissioner,' as the only one for the office, which the English language affords. It is the name given in acts of Parliament, for the inclosure of commonable lands, to the per- sons authorised to make allotments of such lands among the diflcrent proprietors, or persons in any us CRITICAL NOTES way interested in the lands, according to their re- spective interests. If a word might be coined for the occasion here, ' determinator' would more pre- cisely denote the office, and better correspond with the etymology of the Hebrew word. — " appointed the portions." I take ^^ for the verb, not for the adverb of place. ppriD is the no- minative case before the verb, and npbn the accu- sative after it. (AA) " He was housed." p^D. The three verbs, jsif, pU^, and (SD, seem nearly allied. js^% signifies, generally, * to hide,' in any way, or under any sort of cover. \^V, to hide in holes of the ground. But |s&, is a term of architecture, and signifies, to form the inside covering of a house — to line the sides and top with boards. The participle ps©, applied to a building, signifies this finished state of it ; — * wainscoated and cieled.' Applied to a person (of which application this text is, I believe, the only instance), it would literally signify, that he was com- fortably lodged in a house so finished. It is here used figuratively, and expresses the complete settle- ment of the tribe of Gad, in the *' prime portion" he had chosen for himself in the plain, on the east ON THE LAST WORDS OF MOSES. 449 of Jordan; not without allusion to the sheltered si- tuation of that country, under the towering hills of Gilead on the east and north. (BB) — " and had lodged," i^n^i, from the sense of the noun ^^y * a chamber/ — ** of the people." I read with the Samaritan, ^V^; for the individual people of the tribe of Gad is meant. (CC) It is objected by Dr Durell, that before we apply the springing from Bashan to the lion's whelp, it ought to be proved that Bashan bred and harbour- ed lions ; which he seems to doubt. But although the lion might not be an inhabitant of Palestine in the time of Aristotle, and other later writers of na- tural history, it is evident, from the frequent allu- sions to the lion, and the similies taken from it in the Old Testament, that, in the time of the Hebrew writers, it was frequent in that country ; otherwise, how should they become so well acquainted with it, as they appear to have been ? Add the recorded feat of Benaiah, one of David's mighty men (2 Sam. xxiii, 20), who ** slew a lion in a pit in a snowy day." Now, since we must admit, that, in the days VOL. IV. F F 450 CRITICAL NOTES of the writers of the Old Testament, the lion was an animal of Palestine, where is the improbability that it was found in Bashan ? And if there be no improbability in tlie thing, the text is a sufficient ar- gument, in my judgment, that it really obtained. The Hebrew words will not bear the grammatical exposition, by which Dr Durell attempts to apply this springing from Bashan to the Danites. And if his grammatical exposition were admissible, the sense, which the words so expounded would give, would be inadmissible, unless Bashan had lain in the line of march of the Danites from their own ter- ritory to Laisb, which is far from the truth. (DD) *^ Of iron and brass shall be thy sandals." I think the literal rendering of the Hebrew is, " iron and brass shall be thy shoeing, L e, these metals shall be the material of thy sandals. (EE) Riding the heavens and the atmosphere, is a figurative expression of God's dominion and controul over all the powers of nature, inciting or restraining their energies, as a rider manages his steed with the spur and bridle. ON THE LAST WORDS OF MOSES. 451 (FF) — '* the atmosphere." So I render D'^pnt^', not * clouds.' p^ti^, is * to beat or grind to pow- der,' ' to pulverise.' Also colluctari, * to struggle together/ * to wrestle,' but in sport, rather than in earnest. (The Masoretes make two words, pn^ and pnt^, but I consider them as one.) Hence C^pnc* in the plural, and sometimes as pn^r; in the singular, is a name for the atmosphere, from the minuteness and perpetual intestine agitation of the elastic par- ticles of which it is composed. (GG) I would read %'l^Kr! [j;^. And I suppose with most interpreters, not any defect or ellipsis of the pronoun of the second person. I take the sen- timent to be, that God is the only safe refuge for any one ; and his arm the only sure support. (HH) — " sustentacle." I take the word nnnD here to be equivalent to a noun substantive, render- ing, * id quod subtus est ;' the under-prop. (II) '' Perish." 80 the LXX A^oXo/o. (KK) — *' the thick small rain." The word ^tJ, generally rendered ' dew,' signifies dew only from F F 2 452 CRITICAL NOTES the circumstance of its covering the surface of the ground. For the root ^^^, is merely to cover, to strew thick. Hence it may be applied to any other moisture, covering the herbage with equal spissitude of the drops ; and when it is applied to a moisture falling from the skies, from which the dew falls not in any great proportion, it must be understood of that which we call a * growing rain ;' which, from the minuteness and closeness of the drops, and their adhesive quality, the consequence of their small size, wets more than hard rain, and is more con- ducive to vegetation. And it sits upon the herbage, and the leaves of plants, and low shrubs, like the dew. (LL) *' Jehovah." Instead of the pronoun of the original, I repeat the proper name, which it re- hearses. With the pronoun in our language, the sentence would be tame and frigid, and without ei- ther the pronoun or the noun, it would be in some degree obscure. (MM) — '* with fawning flattery shall make court to thee." This I take to be the exact force of the expression 1^ *^C'TO'>. The verb is applied in the ON THE LAST WORDS OF MOSES. 4.13 same manner in four other places, viz. 2 Samuel, xxii, 45. Ps. xviii, 44. Ixvi, 3. and Ixxxi, 15. In this passage, our Public Translation has, '* shall be found liars unto thee." In which, by an attempt to preserve what was conceived to be the literal mean- ing of the word (but see my Critical Notes on Ro- sea, chap, vii, note (e), the sense of the passage is much obscured. Tiie margin gives, " shall be sub- dued j" in which the particular force of the He- brew word is totally lost. In the other four pas- sages, the text has, '* submit themselves ;" the mar- gin, " yield feigned obedience." But the original word expresses not a feigned obedience, but a feign- ed complacency, in a state of complete subjection, and necessary obedience. The falsehood, in short, of flattering professions of duty and affection prac- tised on a superior to win his favour. 4.54 CRITICAL NOTES OK THE SONG OF DEBORAH. JUDGES, CHAP. V. The occasion of this song was the memorable over- throw of Sisera, the leader of the armies of Jabin, the Canaanite king, which is related in the preced- ing chapter of this book. By which victory, the Israelites were delivered from the oppression of that tyrant, who had fixed the seat of his kingdom at Hazar, a town in the heart of the territorv of the tribe of Naphthali, and held the people in subjec- tion twenty years. The entire song consists of three parts. The first, after a short exordium, comprised in the third, fourth, and fifth verses, describes the disorders and ON THE SONG OF DEBORAH. 455 weakness of the Jewish state, under Shamgar, De- borah's immediate predecessor, and the preparation for the war ; the second describes the battle •, the third the victory. The beginning of the whole is evidently at the third verse of the chapter. The distich, therefore, which forms the preceding verse, is misplaced. I remove it to the ninth, where the sense of it will be considered. (A) " The rural judge." So I render, instead of " the inhabitants of the villages, 'p'^^. The words derived from the root ns, which occur in the Old Testament, are these five, viz. ns, Tid, C^nns, nins, and l^r\s. The first, ns^ occurs with the pronominal ^ suf- fixed, Habak. iii, 14. It is rendered by our Eng- lish translators, '* his villages," but in the Vulgate, " bellatorum ejus;" by the LXX, dwocffToju-y and in the other Hexaplar versions, d(jbocorcjkeuv. It is re- markable, that they all render it by a plural ; whence it should seem, that the word in their copies was •^■^ns, which is still the reading of many MSS. The second, "^^ occurs with the prefix H, "^nsn, Deut. iii, 5. and 1 Sam. vi, 18. In the first of these F F 4 ^56 CRITICAL NOTES two places, it is rendered in the English Bible by the word " unwalled ;" and in the second, " coun- try villages ;" and to the same effect in the Vul- gate. It is rendered oirziyjtjrojv in the first place by Aquila, and oirzt^iffTov in the second by Symmachus. But in both passages, particularly in the last, it may, for any thing that appears to the contrary from the context, be the proper name of a people, the Pere- zites, and so it is taken by the LXX. The third, O'^n^is, occurs with the prefix J^, and in apposition with the gentile noun D^mriNI, Esth. ix, 19. O'^nnsn nDmn*»rT, The words are properly rendered in the English Bible, " The Jews of the villages j" and by the LXX and Vulgate to the same effect. The fourth, mns, occurs in three places, namely, Esth. ix, 19. Ezek. xxxviii, 2. Zech. ii. 4. In the first place with the prefix ri • in the two last, witl> out prefix or suffix. In the first place it is connect- ed with other words, which, taken all together, are expositive of the expression D*»nisn D^T)n%1. Thus, ninsn nyn o^jnu^^n ^'^vn^n omn^n. The expres- sion ninsn "iny::, is well rendered in our English Bible, " in the unwalled towns ;" and the sense of the whole passage is given by the LXX thus : oi ON THE SONG OF DEBORAH. 45T lov^uioi hiG'TTu^ijjZvoi \v T/} yjagoL Trj l^co ; and thus in the Vulgate, ** Judaji, qui in oppidis non muratis ct in vilHs morabantur.'' In the second place, H^ns p^, is rendered in our English Bible, '* the land of unvvalled villages 5" in the Vulgate, '* terram absque muro ;" by the LXX, y7}v d'TTSpliitjuevrjif, In the third place, the word seems to be used adverbially. It is rendered in our English Bible, •* as towns without walls ;" in the Vulgate, '* absque muris ;" by the LXX, with what sense I know not, The word I'^Tl^ occurs only in this place, and again in verse 11, where it is probably, as will be shown, a false reading. In the 11th verse, Symmachus renders it by olthxigtoi ; and, after him, modern trans- lators have adopted the sense of, " the inhabitants of the villages." But Houbigant properly observes, that ^'(^^ cannot be a plural noun in the Hebrew language. Adhering, however, to the sense of the villages, he changes *^'(^^ into nins; and, it must be confessed, that some few of Kennicott's MSS have this reading. From the texts, in which this word riins occurs, it is evident that, connected with D^")y or PJ<, or with the proper name of any 458 CRITICAL NOTES particular city or country, it may express the ab- sence of walls or fortifications. But it by no means appears that it is a plural noun by itself render- ing * villages,' or ' unwalled towns/ or ' scattered houses,' or any thing of that sort. The use of the word in Zechariah in particular renders this very disputable. In the passage under consideration, whatever may have been the original reading, Sym- machus is the only one of the antient interpreters, who seems to have thought of ' the inhabitants of villages. The Vulgate, both here and in the 11th verse, has * forts.* The LXX, according to the Roman edition, in this place has hvurot* Other of the Hexaplar interpreters have xaroizovmg. From this variety of interpretation, we may reasonably conclude, that the true sense of the Hebrew word was a matter of much uncertainty and disagree- ment. If nM^s be adopted as the true reading, and that word be supposed to render ' villages,' the sense that will arise, which is that which is given in the English Bible, will but ill suit the context. The disorder mentioned in this verse, whatever it really was, appears to have been of such a sort, as to be set to right upon Deborah's assuming the govern- ON THE SONG OF DEBORAH. 459 ment. But the desertion of villages was an evil that would continue till the fear of the perpetual in- cursions of the Canaanites, which was the cause that produced it, was removed. This was removed, not by Deborah's assuming the government, but by the successful termination of her war with the Canaan- ites. In this part of the song, the subject is the disorders previous to Deborah's government, not the advantages of the victory which she gained. The desertion therefore of villages cannot be the thing mentioned here as an evil redressed as soon as she arose to be a mother in Israel. It is very remarkable, that, in the Alexandrine copy of the LXX, we have the Hebrew word ren- dered by the Greek participle »Dj;3. (K) — " delineators." (^a;yfa